Echo-inspired Season 1 Playlist
So I’ve been meaning to share this for… a really long time. But I’m kind of glad that I waited so long because I found a bunch more songs to add and ended up doing an edit on this playlist this weekend, so this is where it landed. It’s a bit of a beast—40+ songs. (And it’s my shorter Echo playlist… I have another one I’m still playing with that has all of these, plus the show’s soundtrack songs, plus recommendations that I’m still considering for future Echo use…so this is the reasonably lengthen one…haha). If you just want to go to Spotify and check it out, here’s the link.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/14ZIHN2MwjfgFbA6yF3RAO?si=5vPkiahyQw-voaZjqMLWsw
If you want to read my rambles about the progression of the songs and why I picked them, along with some lyrics from each one that make me think of Echo, that beastly monstrosity is below the cut for you! Here’s just the track list:
1. Armor - Sara Bareilles
2. People Need a Melody - the Head and the Heart
3. A World to Explore - Joshua Radin
4. Missed Connection - the Head and the Heart
5. Summer Years - Death Cab for Cutie
6. It’s OK - Natalie Taylor
7. Something American - Jade Bird
8. Anchor - Novo Amor
9. Harvest Moon - Neil Young
10. Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
11. Silhouettes - Oscar Blue
12. The Storm - The Airborne Toxic Event
13. The Space Between - Dave Matthews Band
14. Walls - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
15. Ruins - Jade Bird
16. The Last Time - Taylor Swift feat. Gary Lightbody
17. Run No More - the Talbott Brothers
18. Wild Heart - Bleachers
19. Dream - Bishop Briggs
20. Lullaby - Lord Huron
21. Watch Me - Labi Siffre
22. Grew Up Fast - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
23. 17 - Jade Bird
24. Your Hurricane - Death Cab for Cutie
25. Lose that Light - Folly and the Hunter
26. Such a Simple Thing - Ray LaMontagne
27. Make These Colors Real - Hush Kids
28. Surrender - Natalie Taylor
29. I’ll Be Your Mirror - Clem Snide
30. Courage - P!nk
31. Easy - Camilla Cabello
32. Day Too Soon - Sis
33. Truly Madly Deeply - Yoke Lore
34. Side by Side - Layup
35. Electric Love - BØRNS
36. Duet - Penny and Sparrow feat. Stephanie Briggs
37. Atlas: Two - Sleeping at Last
38. Another Story - the Head and the Heart
39. Come to this - Natalie Taylor
40. Six Feet Under - Billie Eilish
41. Hello My Old Heart - the Oh Hellos
42. Poetry by Dead Men - Sara Bareilles
43. Recovering the Satellites - Counting Crows
44. The Chain - Ingrid Michaelson
PRE-SHOW
1. Armor - Sara Bareilles
Stolen from Carina’s Liz mix, and obviously heavy on the Ortecho vibe in general. I might associate it a little more with Rosa back in the flashbacks, being proud of Liz and protective of her.
You think I am high and mighty mister
Wait til you meet my little sister
2. People Need A Melody - the Head and the Heart
This song just gives me images of Max sitting at home over the years, listening to music, and then Bright Eyes comes on and it just takes him back to that day in the desert when he was lucky enough to be openly in love with Liz for one day before everything went to hell. 💔
All those books in your head, Is that all this really was?
Just a role you play that you could hide behind
Is it what you want? To bury yourself away
Before your time goes
I don’t want a love that holds us back
I don’t want a life that I can’t have
Cause people need a melody to open their eyes
Like a key to a memory frozen in time
Holding onto everything, you’re stuck in the past
Boy, when you gonna learn the world moves fast?
3. A World to Explore - Josh Radin
Liz leaves on her road trip, pushing the past away, and moving forward into her new life.
Yesterday rains came
Everything’s changing
The past has closed its door
Well I know there’s something more
I know there’s so much more
So far to go
On this open road, a world to explore
So far to go
On this open road, away we go
4. Missed Connection - the Head and the Heart
Somewhat self explanatory, I think. Mostly I just think of Max staying in Roswell haunted by all of the what ifs, and how close he and Liz came to being something real.
Did you find what you were looking for?
Had to open every single door
I get the feeling you’ve been here before
From a missed connection
Don’t tell me I lost a step
Criss-crossed in the wrong direction
Found myself in a conversation
From a missed connection
5. Summer Years - Death Cab for Cutie
This is, like, my #1 Max over the 10 year gap song. I just hear him all through it, haunted by Rosa’s death and the coverup, heartbroken by Liz’s sudden departure, and trapped in his life.
Sometimes I’m overcome by every choice I couldn’t outrun…
And I wonder where you are tonight
If the one you’re with is a compromise
Cause we’re walking lines in parallel
That will never meet and it’s just as well
6. It’s Ok - Natalie Taylor
You know in the pilot, Max says he used to think about what he’d say if he ever saw Liz again. Meaning he didn’t really anymore. Meaning at some point he let go of the hope of her returning to Roswell. That’s kind of where my mind goes listening to this song.
It only hurts me to live this way
Holding on to yesterday…
Close my eyes, you’re gone
And I’m the only one still holding on
It’s ok I’ve got to let you go
7. Something American - Jade Bird
I have an old-school song fic just waiting to come out inspired by this song… I hear a lot of different things in it. Mostly I hear Max and the memory of Liz and Cameron in it. With a little bit of Kyle thrown in too.
In my dreams I find
The stars align and they all collide
And it’s you and I back in time
It feels so right
But you don’t call me now
And I don’t think too much about you
When she’s not around
I can feel you’re lonely
PILOT
8. Anchor - Novo Amor
Max’s reaction to Liz finally coming home & hoping she’ll stay.
I hear your ship is coming in
Your tears a sea for me to swim
I hear a storm is coming in
My dear, is it all we’ve ever been
Anchor up to me, love
9. Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Max gets that brief smile on his face when he’s watching Liz dance in the Crashdown, before he lets her know he’s there. And this is what I hear going through his head in that moment.
When we were strangers
I’d watch you from afar
When we were lovers
I’d love you with all my heart…
Because I’m still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
10. Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
It honestly took me a long time to get on board with adding this one, because it’s such an important OG Max/Liz song. But a while back in one of her Q&As, Carina said that if she could give the pilot a title it’d be this, and even with this different version of Max and Liz it still is the perfect song and perfect metaphor for their experience in the pilot.
Lost for you I’m so lost for you
You come crash into me
11. Silhouettes - Oscar Blue
I mean….
Do I need to say anything more? Okay, well here are some lyrics to emphasize my point.
She’s a diamond in the coal
Something that enchants my soul
Graceful and captivating
Just one glance and my mind is invaded…
So should I try really really hard
Or just keep loving you from afar…
Oh can we walk into the sunset
Until our bodies are silhouettes
Cause busy days cause busy lives
And maybe you’ll just keep on walking by
Are my hopes just gonna suffocate in my doubt
Or am I being my anxious self drowning my chances out
SO MUCH FOR THE AFTERGLOW
12. The Storm - the Airborne Toxic Event
I definitely stole this from someone else’s Echo mix…but take it as a compliment! I definitely see a little bit of Liz coming home in this song, both from her perspective and Max’s. But in my playlist’s narrative I also see this as being kind of like the end of 1x02, when Liz makes the decision to stay and investigate Rosa’s murder.
I surprise myself sometimes
The way the days unfold and this road unwinds
You tell me you see it too
And the miles seem like inches when I think of you
It’s been 25 days since I’ve been gone
25 weeks since I’ve seen my home
I spent 25 months chasing this song
and all of this time I’ve been alone
Then you walk right through the doorway
You tell me you’re here to stay
TEARING UP MY HEART
13. The Space Between - Dave Matthews Band
So if the last song was the end of 1x02, that means now we’re in the awkward, heartbreaking period where Max is pouring his heart out, and Liz is pretending to feel nothing because she doesn’t trust him. 💔 Which is basically the running theme for the next few songs…
You cannot quit me so quickly
There’s no hope in you for me…
The space between the wicked lies we tell
And hope to keep safe from the pain…
We’re strange allies with warring hearts…
14. Walls - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
My brother played this song while we were driving from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon in February. It was the morning after Smells Like Teen Spirit aired, Liz had just told Max that she never wanted to see him again, and I heard this song for the first time and said to myself, “YES.”
All around your island there’s a barricade
That keeps out the danger that holds in the pain
Sometimes you’re happy sometimes you cry
Half of me is ocean half of me is sky
But you’ve got a heart so big it could crush this town
But I can’t hold out forever even walls fall down
15. Ruins - Jade Bird
Just…I think about Max and that painful scene between him and Liz at the end of this episode, and how much her accusations throw him off. And the resulting explosion that caused the blackout.
How do we have to do this again? I’ll tell you how I’m feeling
You’re like a cryptomaniac trying to connect the dots and the facts
How do we have to be here? ‘Cause these hotels, I just can’t relax
The more I bend, the worse that I snap I feel like a goddamn maniac
Tell me what did I do to deserve somebody like you?
It’s too hard to tell the truth nothing’s real and nothing’s rude
I’m just a product of my emotions and they’re all setting off again…
You sure you wanna do this now?
Oh, you sure you wanna do this now?
'Cause I mean it when I say that I don’t understand
And I mean it when I say that I’m not sure who I am
'Cause one minute I love you and the next it’s all in ruins
One minute thinking of you and the next my mind’s in ruins
WHERE HAVE ALL THE COWBOYS GONE
16. The Last Time - Taylor Swift feat. Gary Lightbody
Very much the Crashdown “how do you truly feel about me” scene.
Find myself at your door just like all those times before
I’m not sure how I got there all roads, they lead me here
I imagine you are home in your room, all alone
And you open your eyes into mine and everything feels better
And right before your eyes I’m breaking
No past, no reasons why just you and me
This is the last time I’m asking you this
Put my name at the top of your list
This is the last time I’m asking you why
You break my heart in the blink of an eye
DON’T SPEAK
Don’t Speak is one of my favorite chunks of this playlist. I love the pre-pilot set of songs, this set, and then the Recovering the Satellites to the end set the most out of all of this whole thing. Just thought I’d share. Also 3 of my 4 favorite episodes. Hmmm… 🤔
17. Run No More - the Talbott Brothers
So, this is kind of my interpretation of Max’s POV after learning that Isobel sent Liz away. I feel like that knowledge and the realization that Michael and Isobel had manipulated the biggest heartbreak of his life, and lied to him for a decade about it, kind of freed him in a sense. And for the first time he felt like he could stop hiding and release his guilt. If Liz hadn’t been in trouble, I think he would have gone straight to her and confessed everything.
It doesn’t get easier the further I run
It gets harder to carry the weight of what I’ve done
I am speaking from experience
I don’t wanna run no more
18. Wild Heart - Bleachers
Pretty much same themes as above. These two songs to me are kind of the combo of that determination in Max. Above is more focused on his guilt and wanting to reveal the truth. This one is more about his love for Liz and his determination to find her and protect her and love her.
As I sat with the echoes of lies that I told
I felt young, never changed by crooked hearts…
Well, everything has changed
And now it’s only you that matters
I will find any way to your wild heart
19. Dream - Bishop Briggs
I don’t remember who did a fanvid to this…was it Mo? It was wonderful and it’s perfect for the end of this episode. Max running to save Liz from Wyatt Long and wanting to come clean to her, even though he knew it would likely still make her turn away from him. Liz breaking down at the end…sniffles.
Oh, I had a dream that you couldn’t hear me screaming
Trying to tell you everything but it wouldn’t stop you leaving
I wanna wake up where your love is
'Cause your love is always waking mine
I wanna break down where your heart gets
So torn it’s almost breaking mine
I wanna lay here, lost and bitter
So long, I feel like I could die
I wanna tell you what my truth is
But it’s buried down inside
20. Lullaby - Lord Huron
I heart this song… and I think it speaks to Liz in this episode so much. The danger she puts herself in, Wyatt!Noah coming after her, Max desperately wanting to protect her…
You arrive along with the sun
Where have you been darlin’? What have you done?
You were out finding trouble again
There’s a fire in your eyes and there’s blood on your hands
Come inside and lie down to sleep
You ain’t gonna run and you know that you’re beat
Rest awhile, they’re coming for you
There’s a price to be paid for the things that we do
Fall asleep and forget all your troubles
Dream of laughter and old friends and lovers
Dream of when you were innocent
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
21. Watch Me - Labi Siffre
Early in the episode, when they were happy and innocent. I feel like this song just kind of captures that young love, high school vibe.
Watch me when you look my way
See me smiling, be my night and day
Touch me in your own sweet way
Feel me tremble, you take my words away
All of the time I love you
Make you a rhyme, I love you
22. Grew Up Fast - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Here’s another Tom Petty song from my brother’s playlist that we listened to on the way to the Grand Canyon on the day after this episode aired. I heard it, and immediately thought of the Pod Squad (and Liz) and how the incidents surrounding Rosa’s death kind of forced them all out of their youth and into a traumatic adulthood. Also I think it kind of bridges back to the present with Max telling Liz the story of Rosa’s death and her reaction towards him at the end of the episode.
We grew up fast when lies were just a fact of life
We grew up mad cause we never had a home…
Hey, my brother I’ve got no fight with you, I just can’t lie down
Hey, my brother I’ve got no fight with you, I just can’t lie down
No, I just can’t lie down, I just can’t lie down
Well, you know who I am
So don’t treat me like I’m someone else…
You never talk like that to no one else
You never scream like that for no one else
23. 17 - Jade Bird
This…just…the look on Max’s face when Liz runs out after telling him she never wants to see him again. It’s like his heart is breaking all over again.
You asked me to be yours, well you’re tempting fate
How I left a promise but it’s one I can’t make
Lord knows it’d kill me if you walked away
But darling my lies, they hide you from the pain
Stay, let me explain why I act so mean
Don’t look away, baby, it’s not all that it seems
I’m so afraid that you’ll just get up and leave
My heart will break like I’m 17
I SAW THE SIGN & BARELY BREATHING
24. Your Hurricane - Death Cab for Cutie
“Liz Ortecho is my hurricane.” Max is such a ball of anger and angst in this episode. This song may lean a little more on the anger side than really played out in the episode, but I still think it works, considering that Liz spends much of this episode creating the serum.
You used to be such a delicate kid
A lonely fish in a sea full of squid
So I can’t blame you for leaving how you did
You just fell off the grid
'Cause heaven is a hole in the sky
The stars are cracks in the ceiling of night
But you can’t be your own alibi
As hard as you try
It’s a tired refrain you’re singing over and over again
As you try to explain who’s at fault for your mistakes
But I won’t be the debris in your hurricane
25. Lose That Light - Folly and the Hunter
I don’t recall where I got this song from…it may have come from someone else’s playlist. But it makes me think about how rough of a go Max has it in Barely Breathing and how Liz is, like, the light that kind of guides him through it, that he has faith in to save his sister.
In my arms you fell, after fighting tooth and nail.
The convictions you have are all gone now.
You followed that trail, just to take a chance and fail.
Do not let that dark voice call you out
Even if it gets hard, don’t lose that light…
26. Such a Simple Thing - Ray LaMontagne
I see this as the end of the episode, when they are so close to being on the same page, but Liz is still afraid and still puts up that wall. Max sees how amazing she is, how she’s willing to fight to save Isobel for him. And Liz is beginning to feel it as well, because the drive to do it for Max, to comfort him, was so powerful. “My heart is like paper” = Max, “yours is like a flame” = Liz.
Tell me what you’re feeling
I can take the pain
Tell me that you mean it
That you won’t leave again
Tell me what your heart wants
Such a simple thing
My heart is like paper
Yours is like a flame
SONGS ABOUT TEXAS
27. Make These Colors Real - Hush Kids
This song just makes me think about that vibe all through Songs About Texas prior to the kiss. The heart eyes looks, the touches, how close they are to going there, even though it hasn’t happened yet. This is also the only song I couldn’t find lyrics for online so I transcribed as best I can, but I couldn’t figure one line out, so I just left it off the post! Sorryyyy…
I guess you win, I guess I’ll see you around again
Locked eyes, brushed hands. I’ll lie and say we’re only friends
Yes I want you but I don’t want to
Cause I can’t hold you when I want to
So maybe I’m selfish, maybe it’s reckless
Maybe I’m out of my mind
Ooh you make me weak you, you make me seek you
You’d make me dive down to the depth of your ocean
Ooh if I could hold you…
I’d make these colors real
28. Surrender - Natalie Taylor
Throughout this whole episode I feel like there’s a general sense of Liz giving up her fight against Max. She can’t hide how much she loves him anymore. She hasn’t quite decided to be with him yet…but throughout the episode that wall thins more and more until she finally does give in to him.
No one will win this time
I just want you back
I’m running to your side
Flying my white flag, my white flag…
Whenever you’re ready, whenever you’re ready
Can we, can we surrender
I surrender
29. I’ll Be Your Mirror - Clem Snide
I’m pretty sure this came from another Echo playlist…because it’s the perfect song to represent Max’s speech to Liz to reveal how well he sees her.
I find it hard to believe you don’t know
The beauty you are
But if you don’t let me be your eyes
A hand to your darkness, so you won’t be afraid
When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you’re twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
'Cause I see you
I’ll be your mirror, reflect what you are
30. Courage - P!nk
That split second before Liz decides to grab Max and pull him in for the kiss…
See, I let the light in the darkest places
Let the sun shine, pain goes away
Nothing is permanent for me
Have I the courage to change?
31. Easy - Camilla Cabello
It’s almost ridiculous how Echo’s first kiss this song is. Like, seriously, Camilla? Do you watch RNM? Are you an Echo shipper? Is this your own personal fan song?
You really, really know me
The future and the old me
All of the mazes and the madness in my mind
You really, really love me
You know me and you love me
And it’s the kind of thing I always hoped I’d find
Always thought I was hard to love
'Til you made it seem so easy, seem so easy
Always thought I was hard to love
'Til you made it seem so easy, seem so easy
Touch me 'til I find myself, in a feeling
Tell me with your hands that you’re never leaving
Always thought I was hard to love
'Til you made it seem so easy, seem so easy
All I know is you, heal me when I’m broken, heal me when I’m broken
All I know is you, saved me and you know it, saved me and you know it
32. Day Too Soon - Sia
Liz making the choice that it is finally the right time for her to stop running. Okay, Max has been waiting patiently, but for Liz everything has finally perfectly collided.
Pick me up in your arms
Carry me away from harm
You’re never gonna put me down
I know you’re just one good man
You’ll tire before we see land
You’re never gonna put me down
You’ll risk all this for just a kiss
I promise I will not resist
Promise you won’t hold me down
And when we reach a good place
Let’s be sure to leave no trace
Promise they won’t track us down
Now I’ve been running all my life
I ran away, I ran away from good
Yeah, I’ve been waiting all my life
You’re not a day, you’re not a day too soon
33. Truly Madly Deeply - Yoke Lore
Awesome cover of 90’s song? Check! Super romantic to the point of almost cheesy? Check! It’s got Echo getting together written all over it.
I’ll be your dream, I’ll be your wish, I’ll be your fantasy.
I’ll be your hope, I’ll be your love, be everything that you need.
I’ll love you more with every breath, truly madly deeply do
I want to stand with you on a mountain
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until the sky falls down on me
I DON’T WANT TO MISS A THING, CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA, CREEP
34. Side By Side - Layup
Sadly, I don’t have a lot of songs for this chunk of episodes for Echo. But they’re finally together, on the same team, being awesome, so that’s pretty much all I’m getting at with this song.
And so, now I go down all these roads with you, my home
And now, I’ll keep you close I hope you know - I love you most
So here I walk by your side, oh, on our own time
Oh, we’ll be alright, as long as we stay side by side
From the coldest nights to warmer degrees we’ll get by
You and I, side by side
RECOVERING THE SATELLITES
35. Electric Love - BØRNS
I mean… Alien!God Max channeling all that lightning to get the job done is fucking sexy. And then he just marches home to worship his love the way Liz deserves. *nods firmly*
Baby you’re like lightning in a bottle
I can’t let you go now that I got it
All I need is to be struck
By your electric love
Baby, you’re electric love
Electric love
Rushing through me
I feel your energy rushing through me…
36. Duet - Penny and Sparrow f/ Stephanie Briggs
Echo love scene. Just ignore that Liz is not wearing a dress. Everything else fits. And the chorus? *chefs kiss* “Because I’ve seen you and I know you”...ties right back to their first kiss and Max proving to Liz that he isn’t holding onto some high school fantasy. “And I’m not going anywhere”...it breaks my heart because it was 100% true in that moment…but hours later Max is dead. 😭
I bet your shoulders can hold more than just the straps of that tiny dress
That I’ll help you slide aside when we get home
I’ve seen 'em carry family and the steel drum weight of me
Effortless, just like that dress that I’ll help off
I bet your back can carry more than just the weight of your button-down
One by one, they’ll come undone when we get home
I’ve seen you carry family and all my insecurities
One by one, they’ll come undone when we get home
Because I’ve seen you
And I know you
And I’m not going anywhere
37. Atlas: Two - Sleeping at Last
This is, like, the most Max song ever. Especially where his head is at right at the end of Recovering the Satellites after he and Liz make love, when he is straight up in worshipful puppy mode. It makes me both 😍 and 😭, because I love how much he loves her, but I know how unhealthy his devotion is, and that it leads to him dying.
Sweetheart, you look a little tired when did you last eat?
Come in and make yourself right at home stay as long as you need
Tell me, is something wrong? If something’s wrong, you can count on me
You know I’ll take my heart clean apart if it helps yours beat
It’s okay if you can’t find the words
Let me take your coat and this weight off of your shoulders
Like a force to be reckoned with
A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss
I will love you with every single thing I have
Like a tidal wave, I’ll make a mess
Or calm waters, if that serves you best
I will love you without any strings attached
It’s okay if you can’t catch your breath
You can take the oxygen straight out of my own chest
I know exactly how the rule goes put my mask on first
No, I don’t want to talk about myself tell me where it hurts
I just want to build you up, build you up ‘til you’re good as new
And maybe one day I will get around to fixing myself too
I don’t even know where to start
Already tired of trying to recall when it all fell apart
I just want to love you, to love you, to love you well
I just want to learn how, somehow, to be loved myself
Like a force to be reckoned with
A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss
I will love you without any strings attached
What a privilege it is to love
A great honor to hold you, love
Like a force to be reckoned with
A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss
I will love you with every single thing I have
Like a tidal wave, I’ll make a mess
Or calm waters if that serves you best
I will love you without any strings attached
I will love you without a single string attached
38. Another Story - the Head and the Heart
In my head this is another afterglow, Max manic on love & power and it pushes him to do something crazy song...I both see he and Liz happy together in his bed in the morning sunlights and flickering firelight...and Max deciding to heal Rosa. 😍😭
These are just flames burning in your fireplace
I hear your voice and it seems as if it was all a dream
I wish it was all a dream
I see a world, a world turning in on itself
Are we just like hungry wolves howling in the night
I don’t want no music tonight
Every time I hear another story
Oh the poor boy lost his head
Everybody feels a little crazy
But we go on living with it
39. Come to This - Natalie Taylor
Liz crying over Max’s body 😭😭😭. There is no heart eyes here. It’s all just paaaain. 😭😭😭
How can this happen? How can this be?
There is no ending, there is no peace
The darkness is so close
The light so quickly goes
And now it’s all gone
Now it’s all gone
Will you hear me when I speak?
Do you feel the pain with me?
I’ve tried to be so strong
I thought that hope would come
But you’re not here
Oh, the darkness keeps its grip
Oh, how’d it come to this?
Oh, please come back
Please come back
40. Six Feet Under - Billie Eilish
More Liz crying over Max’s body…and just love and pain and death and sadness. 😭😭😭
Retrace my lips
Erase your touch
It’s all too much for me
Blow away
Like smoke in air
How can you die carelessly?
Our love is six feet under
I can’t help but wonder
If our grave was watered by the rain
Would roses bloom?
Could roses bloom?
POST-SEASON 1
These are just kind of my headcanon songs of various post-S1 reactions from Liz at various different dark moments.
41. Hello My Old Heart - the Oh Hellos
I see a lot of people attribute this song to Liz at the beginning of the show, but I think it’s more appropriate at the end of the season. I’d love it if they use this song in Season 2. I see it more as Liz putting the walls she had at the beginning of the show back up again after loving and losing Max, which would break my heart. But I think it’s how she would cope while he’s gone and then those walls would come back down.
Hello, my old heart
It’s been so long
Since I’ve given you away
And every day, I add another stone
To the walls I built around you
To keep you safe
Oh, oh, don’t leave me here alone
Don’t tell me that we’ve grown
For having loved a little while
Oh, oh, I don’t wanna be alone
I wanna find a home
And I wanna share it with you
42. Poetry By Dead Men - Sara Bareilles
I can see this scene in my head. I can see Liz and Max both longing for this scene in their head. Just the simple domesticity of drinking coffee together in the afterglow, while Max reads poetry to Liz. Except that he had to go and die first and that just fucking sucks. So I hear some anger and a little bit of “don’t let the door hit you on your way out” in this song, and I could see Liz occasionally just having moments of anger in her grief where she feels this way. Briefly.
By the time you hear this, who knows where I might be
Singing about another near-miss love that ended incomplete
I was ready, but you weren’t
So jump with your net from this bridge you’ve burned
I wanted to tell you things, all the secrets I’ve been keeping
I saw it in front of me, but then you just kept disappearing
A good dream, almost, now I tell your ghost
I wanted to be your girl in a white T-shirt
Over coffee, stirring in the cinnamon
While you read me poetry by dead men
I wanted to be your girl with your hands on my skin
Stirring in the cinnamon
While you read me poetry by dead men
43. Recovering the Satellites - Counting Crows
This is one of the few episode titles where the lyrics actually get to me, like in a plotty way. But not necessarily from what happens in the episode, so much as the idea of Liz questioning later whether the brief moment of love she had with Max was worth all of the accompanying pain. 😭😭😭😭
So why’d you come home to this sleepless town?
It’s a lifetime commitment, recovering the satellites
All anybody really wants to know is
When you’re gonna come down, when you’re gonna come down
But we only stay in orbit for a moment of time
And then you’re everybody’s satellite
I wish that you were mine, I wish that you were mine
44. The Chain - Ingrid Michaelson
Definitely stole this from someone else, but it’s perfect and I love ending with it, because even though it’s loaded down with all of the pain we’re feeling at the end of the season, it also has a little twinge of hope and possibility for that future day when Max comes back (which we all know he will)! So in other words, it’s 😭😭😍😍
The sky looks pissed
The wind talks back
My bones are shifting in my skin
And you my love are gone
My room feels wrong
The bed won’t fit
I cannot seem to operate
And you my love are gone
I’ll never say that I’ll never love
But I don’t say a lot of things
And you my love are gone
So glide away on soapy heels
And promise not to promise anymore
And if you come around again
Then I will take,
Then I will take,
The chain from off the door
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Interview: Tom Atkins (Trick, Halloween III)
Genre icon Tom Atkins spoke with me about his new horror film, Trick, which will be released in select theaters and on Digital this Friday, October 18, via RLJE Films. We also discuss the change in public opinion of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, his role in the scrapped Halloween 3D, and working with filmmakers like John Carpenter, George A. Romero, and Richard Donner.
Can you begin by telling us how you got involved with Trick and what attracted you to the project?
Patrick Lussier [director/co-writer] attracted me to the project, as well as the part. Trick is the third film I've worked on with Patrick. My Bloody Valentine 3D was the first. I played a sheriff who had my face ripped off and died a terrible death at the hands of the miner. The second one was Drive Angry, which we shot down in Shreveport, Louisiana with Nic Cage. I lived through that one!
We had a wonderful time doing Trick. I play Talbott, this town curmudgeon; an angry, old man. I run the town diner and a movie festival at Halloween time. It was going to be a drive-in, but it turned out to be the interior of a church, because weather intervened and made it impossible. I love the character. He adores the kids of the town even though he would never admit that. He certainly doesn't show it, but at the end he's trying to protect them from the evil, chasing the guy with his shotgun in the church.
He's a terrific character, and Patrick said that he and Todd [Farmer, co-writer] would like to have me in everything they do, so I'm looking forward to the next one. He assured me that I will live through the entire film! [laughs]
You've worked with such influential filmmakers as John Carpenter, George Romero, and Richard Donner, to name a few. How does working with Patrick Lussier compare?
You know, my personal favorite film that I made was Night of the Creeps directed by Fred Dekker back in 1986. And Shout Factory just came out with an action figure of [my character] Detective Ray Cameron from Night of the Creeps all these years later. I found that astounding! I love Fred, and I love Patrick. I feel like I'm with my brother when I'm with Patrick or Fred. I think they're both wonderful directors. I think the years that Patrick spent as an editor for Wes Craven certainly helped make him the fine director that he is.
I really enjoyed doing the films with John [Carpenter]; The Fog and Escape from New York, and he produced Halloween III. George Romero, oh, my God. He was a dear, dear friend. I'd known him since the '60s. I miss him. He was a wonderful guy. He was like a big, old bear. He loved to give hugs and talk about what we were doing, how he was going to attack a certain scene or sequence in a film. He was a terrific guy.
Donner I like to think of as an old-fashioned Hollywood director - in the best sense of the word. He would have screenings of the [Lethal Weapon] dailies for the week every Friday. There was always food, champagne, cocktails, beer, wine; whatever your preference. Everybody was welcome.
I got a kick out of him when we were shooting the sequence where Gary Busey shot me from the helicopter through my French door, in my back and out my stomach, in my eggnog and out my eggnog. He was out front on the street talking to the neighbors that had all gathered around. He said, "This is what we're gonna do. We've got this actor in there. We're gonna shoot him from a helicopter over the back cliff. What do you think? Do you think it'll work? Is it a good idea?" And they would say whether they thought it was or wasn't, and he really listened to them as if he might change his mind and do it differently if they came up with a better way! [laughs]
I thought he was a wonderful guy and that he was so open to everything. Like Patrick, he was steeped in the history of it. He was an old-fashioned director, and he had done a lot of films and TV. I thought he did a wonderful job. I'm biased; I like the first Lethal Weapon better than the rest of them, because I was dead and couldn't be in any of the others. [laughs]
Trick isn't your first Halloween-themed horror movie; as you mentioned, you starred in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. How has it been to see the public opinion shift on that movie over the years?
I loved making Halloween III. I really enjoyed it. It was John Carpenter's intention to make an anthology of Halloween movies; to make a different Halloween movie every Halloween. The money guys at the studio said, "Well, you already have this one ready to go, and we'll do it, but you have to put Halloween in the title. It can be subtitled Season of the Witch, but it has to have the franchise, Halloween, up above."
A lot of people were unhappy when it came out. They saw Halloween and thought Michael Myers would be in it. I love, though, the way that the audience has just grown and grown and grown. I have so many people come to me now and say, "Halloween III is my favorite Halloween movie. I just love watching that one!" It's different than the others, and it stands on its own. It's a really good film.
You were also going to be in Lussier's Halloween 3D before it was scrapped. What do you recall about that one?
When we were working on My Bloody Valentine 3D, he sent me a script of his version of Halloween 3, which was a continuation of the Rob Zombie storyline. I was going to play a really demented shrink who was taking care of Laurie [Strode] in a psychiatric hospital. I was their doctor, and I was up to no good. [laughs] I certainly wasn't going to do them any good. In the script, I ended up being killed by ol' Michael Myers.
I guess Drive Angry didn't do well at the box office, and they took it away from Patrick, and nobody did it. Answer me this: why am I not in the new Halloween with Jamie Lee [Curtis]?
They have a lot of the old cast members coming back! I'd love to see you return.
They do! My dear pal, Chuck Cyphers, is going to be in [Halloween Kills]. I think he's going to be the sheriff again. That's what he was in the originals. He's going to be in it, and Nancy Stephens too. We'll see. There's always a chance!
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