#seeing bm on here is crazy because I DID want to get into it earlier this year and had an exploratory phase w it

[silvermistyy]

[cookiedoughmeagain]

Haven DVD Commentaries: 5.14 - New World Order

Commentary with Brian Millikin and Nick Parker, writers for the episode

BM: We knew going in to this 26 episode season that it was going to be basically two 13 episode seasons. But it was really useful for us to know that from the get go, that it wasn’t going to air in one giant 26 episode season. So we broke it that way; we knew in the season arc road map some of the bigger things that we were moving towards, and we able to spread it out over 26 episodes.

NP: Yeah so season 5A was all about Mara and Duke getting worse and worse and what she was doing to him. And then season 5B is about coming up with some sort of resolution because stuff now is worse than it’s ever been before. BM: Yeah, it was always going to be the Mara season for 5A; she was the big bad and we were going to be dealing with her, and we knew that Mara would die at the end of 5.13 - that Charlotte would wind up choosing Audrey over Mara. And then we knew that the next 13 episodes were going to deal largely with the aftermath of the Mara of it all. Because we knew that Charlotte’s choice would have some ramifications for her relationship with Audrey but we also knew that Mara would have this “evil plan” that would still come to fruition even though Mara herself is gone. And we knew that was going to be turning Duke into what we called a Trouble Bomb. NP: Yeah, she basically weaponised Duke. And weaponised the Troubles in some ways. BM: Yeah, we had become really attached to the idea that the Crockers had been absorbing those Troubles all those years, not just eradicating them. So it became really a convienient story for us that she could almost turn Duke into a Trouble giving machine. NP: One of the things I always liked is that the Troubles had been absorbed and lived in the bloodline rather than being eradicated. So it’s not just Duke and the Troubles that he’s killed, it’s all of the Crockers from the past, ever, which really gives a sense of scope and how long this has been going on for. BM: Yeah it’s the right kind of reveal for me. We detest a retcon; looking back and changing something that was set up earlier. What I prefer is a deepening of the understanding of stuff. So it wasn’t that the Crockers were getting rid of Troubles, they were actually absorbing them, but that doesn’t really erase anything that we had done before. There’s a reveal coming up in this episode about what the Barn was going to do and it’s a similar thing; you just learn a little bit more and look at it a bit differently, but it’s not undoing anything that we had set up before. NP: And I think also, with the Troubles being more visible and out there than ever (which is what this episode is also about) what I liked is that we could live in the reality of that and actually have people talk about it and deal with that in a more public way. Vince and Dave have always been the lore keepers and always hiding secrets. BM: Sure, but look - in this very scene [Vince and Dave talking to Nathan and Dwight in the station] they’re actually *telling people what they know*, which wouldn’t have happened a couple of seasons ago. NP: And I think it speaks to the fact that things are worse in Haven than they’ve ever been before. BM: Sure. And that had always been the plan for 5B. We didn’t know if this was going to be the last season of the show or not (and it may or may not be, even at the point we’re recording this commentary), but we knew that this would be a fitting end point. And so we had always intended to get to this point where Haven was at its darkest hour, both in terms of what’s going on with anyone in Haven could be Troubled, and also what’s happening with the shroud, of Haven being cut off from the rest of the world. It’s kind of set Haven into - I don’t want to say post-apocalyptic (we even joked about it being the Walking Dead in Haven) - but it’s just got, serious. Just more dangerous than it has been before, and pushed things to the breaking point. NP: I think this episode definitely sets that up and then the following two really live in that. And then they start to figure things out. BM: It’s funny, Nick and I at one point were going to be writing episodes 15 and 16 so were really heavily into living into Haven with the shroud. So then when we - for a variety of production reasons - got shifted to the episode 14 slot I think it helped us with this episode to have been working on 15 and 16. Because we ended up understanding a bit more than anyone else did at that point exactly how screwed Haven was going to be. Everyone else was still dealing with episodes 9 to 13, but we had been thinking about 15 and 16. So this episode, 14, was always going to be about watching it get to that point, so that was good preparation for us. This whole episode is kind of a downward slope of things getting worse and worse, and us trying to fix something the solution actually ends up making things more complicated.. NP: I think what’s also interesting about this episode is that it’s the season premier for 5A but because we broke it as part of this 26 episode run, it kind of straddles an interesting line where it’s almost acting as a season finale for 5A as well as the premiere for 5B, it’s a bit of a middle ground - it’s an episode that has to accomplish a lot. But it let us have some fun. Plus, Shawn Pillar, is a great director and loves to do some cool visual stuff so we actually got to go a lot bigger with our visual effects and ideas. BM: Our producers may have felt those ideas were a little too big at times. But we had always talked about it being a little bit like a disaster movie - disaster in Haven. Everything’s going bad and it’s all hands on deck, so even in this scene here [Duke waking up in the wheelchair in the hospital] there’s people running around in the background and sirens going off, explosions and stuff. But that was something we hadn’t done before in this way. There was a bit of it with the meteors at the end of season three, but we didn’t see the full effects of that because of the six month jump between season three and four, whereas now we’re living in it. NP: And that was one of the fun things about writing the season three comic book; I got to live in that moment and talk about the crazy things that were happening then. And this time we actually get to show the crazy things on screen which was a lot of fun. BM: And in addition to what Duke being a Trouble Bomb did for us in terms of now anyone in Haven could be Troubled, we also really liked what it did for Duke. I mean, obviously we don’t like it because he’s now dealing with pretty much the worst guilt ever. But something else that we had known was that in 5A Duke and Mara were going to be doing this kind of dance with each other and in the end she was going to beat him; he was going to kind of get played by here. And the guilt from that and everything else that’s been building up for all of these seasons was going to finally drive Duke to do what he had talked about doing in other episodes (like Crush) and leave town. NP: Oh a brief aside here, I like in this scene with all the people frozen where a Trouble’s been activated but it refers back to a previous Shawn Pillar show, The Dead Zone. Which you also worked on. BM: That’s right. I was just an assistant back then but this was one of their go-to moves, when Johnny Smith would have one of his visions, everyone would be frozen. And it ends up looking really cool, because it’s just kind of creepy. And it’s also one of the cheapest things to do, quite frankly, because everyone’s just standing still. NP: But it looks great. NP: Yeah. There were a couple takes we couldn’t use because someone was blinking, but it totally works. So we threw that in there for Shawn and also because we knew, as you’ll see later in the season, that it would be a Trouble that we would call upon again. And in very useful ways. NP: Yeah this episode sets up a lot of stuff that we’ll play off later in the season. BM: And that was sort of a benefit of us having a 26 episode plan. When we started working on 5.01, we knew what was going to happen in 5.26. And it didn’t really change that much; you always have to make adjustments, but we’re dealing with more and more Croatoan stuff here and we set that up from the get go.

*impressed noises of surprise from both of them as we see the car drive up to the frozen people at the fog wall, get turned around by it and smash into some of the people, shattering them * NP: Ooh, that was pretty good BM: That looked great. NP: Shawn Pillar directing the acting sequences; some quick cuts. I think that guy was probably driving about 25 miles an hour.

BM: I cannot tell you how much we talked about whether cell phones would still work or not with the shroud up. NP: Oh my god. BM: We were dealing with cell phone experts. Because it’s like; If there’s a shroud around the town and they can’t communicate with the satellite then it’s over. But other people were like; Well there’s still a couple cell towers in the town. Ultimately we just kind of wound up going with it. NP: Yeah. I think the rule we settled on was that cell phones inside the shroud would work with each other, but not be able to reach anyone outside. BM: Right. And you and I were in the camp for having no cell phones, but it’s just sort of impractical for a TV show these days.

[As Dwight gathers all of HPD together to tell them the Troubles are real] BM: Now, what’s happening here was something that we were super-excited about doing. NP: So fun. BM: So, so happy that we finally got to do it. And it’s something we’ve been talking about doing since the first day of the series. Which is finally letting the other cops in on it. Rebecca Rafferty maybe knew, and maybe Laverne seemed like they kind of knew. But Stan we’ve always been playing him as pretty oblivious. Which leads to one of my favourite Stan moments in all of the seasons. And this was fun, it’s good to be able to have them break it down and be honest, and just be like; We’ve got to rally, we’ve got to come together on this. BM: This was always a kind of ‘tale of two speeches’ episode. We knew that there would be this speech, and then there would be Dwight’s other speech later. I thought he did a great job with this one. Because he had to dance around the fact that some people maybe already know about the Troubles, other people are going to be surprised. NP: Both of these speeches were really fun to write. And both of them didn’t really change. BM: But what’s crazy is that it took us this long to get to this point. Despite everything that’s happened - meteors falling from the sky… aliens - but it took until now for them to officially let all the other cops in on it. NP: We’ve got to have all hands on deck for this. BM: Most of the cops in this scene are background actors that we’ve used for years. And I thought they really brought it. They often don’t get enough spotlight treatment on our show. Even though we’re a bit of cop show, we pretty much only deal with our main characters. But from Glen, who plays Stan, they all do a great job.

NP: What I really like about the way Shawn lit and directed these post-disaster episodes is that everything’s a little bit dim, everything’s a little bit darker; you really get the sense that they are in a rough, rought spot.

BM: So, going back to what we were talking about with the Duke of it all, we knew going in to this episode that by the end of it, Duke would be leaving. So we wanted to start him in a place here with Nathan where they’re on pretty good terms. We wanted to get the bro hugs in and wanted for things to at first seem like just another episode where maybe they’re going to be able to take care of everything. And then by the end of the episode it all sort of falls apart. The speech to the cops winds up not really working and Duke is about to abandon Haven at the end of the episode. We knew that we wanted to shake it up in 5B, so we knew that we wanted Duke to get out of there. We also knew there was a story to tell with him learning  about himself and figuring himself out, outside of town, and then having to fight his way back in. And we knew that Duke was the only one who could pass in and out of the shroud, so it all worked.

*dramatic pause in the commentary to listen to the end of Dwight’s speech to the cops, and Stan’s confused response* BM: This was our show runner Matt McGuinness’s favourite line in the episode, coming up from Stan [Stan: What?!?!] *laughing* BM: Oh Glen. Glen nails it. Great timing. NP: Matt came in the day after we sent that script, he’d been on the bike in the gym reading it and came in telling us how he burst out laughing, startling everyone around him. And I figured that was a good endorsement from our showrunner.

[Gloria getting her bottle of tequila for Dave to trigger his visions] BM: How much of an alcoholic is Gloria? Would we describe her as a problematic alcoholic? Is she just a social drinker? NP: I mean, she’s functional, I guess. But she stores tequila in a body locker, at her job. That’s a problem.

BM: So this was a complicated dance we had to do with Alex Sena being the son of Joe Sena. I hope that was clear enough for the audience. It was a bit of a tough dance. But we also knew that by the end of this episode that Charlotte was going to have a falling out with Audrey. Even though she chose Audrey at the end of the last episode, and that was a big deal, they’re going to not see eye to eye. And that’s going to be their story for the next few episodes. So we wanted to start them here in a little bit of a good place and then obviously the shit hits the fan when the truth about the Barn comes out.

[Nathan with Duke, briefing everyone about ‘exploding girl’] BM: I really like this as well, this is something we haven’t really seen before - he’s got back up at a Troubled scene. NP: What I really like about this is that now it’s not one little team investigating the Troubles, it’s like, the entire town of Haven vs the Troubles. It takes on more of a war time feel to it.

BM: Now this guy who’s playing Alex Sena NP: Victor Zinck BM: Yes, we loved him in the audition but for whatever reason the role wound up going to someone else. And then the day before we started shooting we heard that the guy who had been given the role had broken his leg, and couldn’t get on the plane NP: I think it was his foot, or? BM: But so we wound up going back to Victor here, and I am happy that we did. No offence to the other guy. But I think he’s fantastic. NP: I think Victor in his audition tape had a really big mop of hair. BM: Yeah, he had to get a hair cut.

[As Alex Sena freezes all the cops and only Duke is left to talk to him] NP: So this is where we establish that Duke is immune to all the Troubles that came out of him. BM: Well we really needed just a little Trouble in this episode to help re-establish that Duke isn’t affected by the Troubles that came out of him. It’s kind of a set up for why and how he’s able to leave through the shroud. But we realised that wasn’t that clear, so it was an opportunity at the same time to tell a story about, what would it be like now if new people were Troulbed without knowing how to deal with it. And we actually haven’t done a Troubled cop before. And at the same time we’re telling a story about the cops trying to handle this crisis but just being a little bit unable do, out of lack of experience. NP: It’s just too big. There’re currently living in a terrarium, trapped with all of these Troubles. It’s intense. BM: They are standing right now [Duke trying to talk Alex down], right behind our production office. NP: Yes, and this was almost one of the last days in this production office before we made the move BM: Yes, just after this we start our move to Halifax. We have been shooting for five years in Chester, Nova Scotia, and now we’re moving about an hour up the coast. Our stages were on a hockey rink that come September we’ve got to give it back to them. But hockey is, let’s be honest, more important than the show. NP: Yep. BM: So we were shooting outside of Chester for the first time. Starting with episode 18 I think.

[Gloria: Oh I need a beer; tequila makes me thirsty] *both laugh* BM: Oh, Jayne Eastwood is an MVP. NP: You can give her any line and she’ll make it funny. She’s great. BM: We were lucky to get her for this episode. She’s a recurring character, not a regular, so it’s a little bit tough because we don’t have what they call a ‘hold’ on her. So every time we want her in an episode we have to figure out whether or not she’s doing something else. So we just got lucky with this episode. NP: It was also fun to write this little bit with Dave getting drunk because John Dunsworth, who plays him, on his other show Trailer Park Boys is a constant drunk on that show; he’s always stumbling around in his boxer shorts drunk as can be. So we’ve had a couple opportunities we’ve jumped at to have him act drunk. Here and in Crush when he had the bends. It’s always fun to see him act that. BM: And this wound up being a really important moment where we needed to see what’s going on with Dave; his tie to Croatoan. Just that name is the trigger for another one of these visions. And again this is something we’ve been setting up since the beginning of the season, with the wound in his leg and everything. We knew that we wanted there to be these visions and for them to realise that they’re not flashbacks at all, they’re real time present day memories now. Memories of somebody else.

[Back with Alex Sena, Duke and all the frozen cops] NP: I really liked this moment here which is that because everyone else is frozen, Duke is the one that has to do the curse whispering. Which is something that Audrey, and sometimes Nathan, has always done. BM: We very rarely see it be Duke. And we really wanted that to be in this episode, and it all kind of came together for us here when - it was almost like a curse anti-whispering as Alex here is whispering himself. But we knew that he could do it if it came from a place where he gets angry at Duke and blames Duke. NP: Which is something that evolved as the writing of this script went on. BM: Yeah there were tons of different versions of this scene. But once we landed on this one where Alex is curse-whispering himself and at the same time pushing Duke towards leaving town, then it really felt right. But again, it was another example of someone trying to fix something [Duke trying to Trouble whisper Alex] and it goes awry. NP: Which is what the show lives in a lot, which I like. [Alex Sena to Duke: You should get out of here. Before you get more people killed.] BM: And there’s no retort there - it’s a big deal when Duke doesn’t have a come back. NP: I think this might have been one of the last sunny days of filming up in Nova Scotia. BM: But it’s raining on Duke. NP: I think Eric Balfour just does a really good job. I mean we’ve talked about it before but he’s a very good actor with his face. He expresses a lot of emotion with just small looks. You can see how pained he is in that moment. BM: Absolutely. We talk a lot when we’re casting actors or watching dailies about their eyes. And it’s hard to put a finger on it but there’s just something that you can see on someone’s face that there’s something going on there; something more, something deeper. You can almost see what they’re thinking. And there are some actors, who shall remain nameless, who you just can’t. It’s weird. And it’s not the be all and end all but - Eric definitely has it. Whatever it is. NP: Yep, when you can just point a camera at him and have other people’s lines on his face and his expressions and you have that as an option, it’s great. BM: Absolutely. And there were plenty of times when we were going through scripts with Eric where we ended up cutting lines because he can do it with a look.

NP: There’s an important mythological conversation coming up here [between Charlotte and Audrey] BM: Oh yes, a huge mythology bomb, I think we refered to it as. But we needed to establish the rings, which we had seen in 5A but which are going to be much more important this season, and we needed to learn a bit about the Barn. And I think as soon as we decided that this was where that truth bomb about the Barn was going to come in, that from a certain point of view was going to cure the Troubles, but in reality was going to cure them by eradicating Troubled people. NP: Which was an important distinction. BM: So as soon as we determined that this was where that was going to come in, I think it really changed everything for us. We realised that Audrey and Charlotte’s relationship is going to be really important this season. She’s the closest thing to a mom that Audrey has, which is a big deal, but she’s about to discover that her and her mom don’t see eye to eye. And it fell in line with something that we always talked about with the Barn which was that it was this punishment device that was built for Mara to try and help teach Mara a lesson - NP: It was a rehabilitation programme essentially BM: Yeah, but we always talked about the idea that, and really liked the idea that the people who built it (Charlotte, really) they kind of didn’t get it. They were trying to teach Mara a lesson but it obviously didn’t work. Because they didn’t get to the heart of it. And by the same sort of way, Charlotte was trying to do a good thing (by cleaning up the mess that Mara made) by in a kind of a cruel way NP: This scored earth approach BM: So Charlotte, her heart’s in the right place but her head, is not. NP: Yes, and what this episode, and really this season is about is getting her head there too. BM: And she did a great job with this because Laura had to carry all of this exposition. And she nailed it. NP: Laura really is great. In this and other episodes, just as a function of her character knowing what she does and being from this other place, she had to download a lot of information and do it in compelling ways. And hopefully the writing does that, but regardless of how well the writing does it, she nails it with the acting. BM: Absolutely. It’s funny, there was a lot of talk before we cast Laura because we knew that she was going to be revealed to be Audrey’s mother, or Mara’s mother. But she’s only I think the same age as Emily. But we were totally confident in casting her because she carries herself in such a way in some of her roles. And we never heard any word from Emily or her or anyone struggling with it. They just kind of fell into it.

[Audrey and Nathan hug outside Lisa Hawkin’s place] BM: We talked a lot about this hug. It seemed kind of incidental on the page, but it was a big deal. They’d been split apart for a bunch of scenes. And this was the first season premiere we’ve ever done where they started it together and the two of them and their relationship is not the problem. There’s no Mara thing, she’s not off in weird Barn space, she hasn’t been kidnapped like at the start of season three, a doppelganger her didn’t show up like at the end of season one. So, for once, they’re not the problem and they have each other. And that was a big deal for us, going into season 5B. NP: Absolutely. I think it’s what differentiates this premiere and this season from others is that really 5B is about the town. The town as a war zone, the town of Haven. Which is nice to be able to come towards what is a wrapping up point and have the show really be about the town as a whole. BM: It’s funny, maybe it’s because of the ‘Save the cheerleader, save the world’ of it all - say what you will about Heroes, but we had sort of shortened it down in our pitch to the network and everyone that 5A was going to be ‘Save Audrey’ and 5B was ‘Save Haven’. And so we always knew that 5B would be, the mission would be to build a new Barn. And we have to finally cure the Troubles. So that’s where this episode came from, and we knew we were going to get to that at the very end, and we knew that in order to get there, because we hadn’t done it in seasons past, it hadn’t been the mission to cure the Troubles before. Both because they never had a way to (but now we’ve got Charlotte) but also because things had been bad before but had always been manageable. The Troubles would come and go but Haven was safe most of the time. But now it is not safe. Now it’s worse than ever, so it’s all hands on deck let’s try and cure this.

[Coming up to the earthquake-in-the-police-station scene] NP: This was a fun thing to write for Adam Copeland. And he nailed it. Because of his abilities as an actor, and maybe also because of his training as a wrestler. But he is a total bad ass in these. Super hard, super determined. And he plays it so well. BM: This scene was great. The idea of an earthquake in the police station was something that I think you and I had pitched to the powers that be really early on, and they were like; We could never produce that. And I was like; We’ll shake the camera, it’ll be like Star Trek. But everyone got on board now because conceptually we liked the idea of the whole mess in town hitting the police station. NP: We also needed to break the police station for a variety of reasons. We were going to move production up to Halifax. BM: That’s right, we were not going to have the set. It was going to be taken down and rebuilt an hour north in Halifax. That’s right. Jennifer Stewart, our fantastic production designer, called us  and thanked us. We were like; We need to break a bit of the set, it needs to be dusty and messy. And she was like; that’s great because we need to pull it apart anyway. So we were making it so that there was no way that we could go back into the police station for a few episodes until it’s fixed. NP: Yeah, a narrative explanation for a real world issue. BM: But it worked in this episode, so it was like; two birds, one stone. That’s what we do. NP: And do you remember the dailies of these scenes when we go them in? They were awesome because they shook the camera and had dust falling down and everything, but whatever was causing the shaking and the dust was really loud that the actors had to scream so loud to get over that noise that it worked great.

BM: So our idea with this sequence was that we wanted Dwight to see the way that the cops weren’t responding to the Troubles very well, they’ve almost shot Dwight, the station’s falling apart and now he gets the call from Nathan to say that there’s no way to take the shroud down. Just when he’s been kicked he gets a call telling him there’s no hope. So we’ve pushed Dwight to his second speech. With the first speech they had broken the dam a little bit, now he’s about to flood the truth out. So this is something else we’d always talked about in what may or may not be the last season of the show, one of the tenets we’d always held on to was that there’s some people in town who know about the Troubles. There are a lot of people who know about the Troubles but not everybody; we’re about, at most, like 25% of the town know. But that distinction is about to be erased. We wanted this episode to let everyone in on it. NP: And I think we always loved the idea of using the old air raid sirens. BM: Yeah, we had to sell some people on it. We figured there’d be these old speakers and Dwight would grab this old timey mic, and it felt Haven-y NP: Yeah it did BM: And we wanted to cut around to see the crowds listening, for this disaster movie feel. And it’s funny we were pretty worried about the speech and how it would come across NP: Both of the speeches BM: But they both worked out really well. I think it was jus tbecause it’s something we haven’t really done before. But it was great. NP: And it was stuff we’ve had in mind for a while. Working on the show for as long as we have, just kind of living in it. You kind of know what you would say to people to explain what it was really like. And so really it was just like putting those ideas down on paper BM: Yeah, when I was working on the speech I would just harken back to how I would explain the show to people. You know; there’s this town, with people who can do things, we call them Troubled. And we’re recording this commentary many months before this episode airs but we imagined when we saw the dailies [for Dwight giving his speech to the town and the residents outside listening] and how great it all looks - you could almost do a commercial with just this. Some shots of Dwight, some shots of the town and the audio and it would be; Wow - that show looks great! NP: This speech as a trailer on Netflix or whatever would nicely explain what the show is. BM: Yeah. Shawn, and everyone, did a great job wih this whole sequence here. And in many way this was the climax of the episode. NP: And a literal mic drop BM: But it felt right for a season premier to pull the rug out on everything that we knew about Haven up to this point. NP: And puts Dwight at total odds with Audrey and Nathan and their approach to things. This was the idea. BM: Yeah. But as big a moment as that was, we always knew, in the pitch, the outline, the script, that there would be another scene after that before the last commercial break, which is this here [Nathan and Audrey meeting Duke at the fog wall]. Even though Dwight’s speech was a big deal, we then come over here and Audrey and Nathan are about to receive one more gut punch. NP: Yeah because important as the town is, this show is mostly about this trio here. BM: Yeah. And for all the problems they’ve had, the three of them have been able to over come pretty much anything. I’m talking about time and space. NP: Yes. Time, space, death, age. BM: But the one thing they can’t really over come is if they’re broken. And Duke’s going to leave. I thought we’d get some push back at the idea that Duke would choose to leave, rather than getting pushed out or thrown out. I was always worried that people would say that it would make Duke too unlikeable. I think it’s because of Eric, because he’s so good that he’s able to sell it. And you feel sorry for him, and understand what he’s been through over the course of five seasons. Audrey’s like; Think of everything you’ve done. And Duke’s like; That’s the problem, I am thinking about it. NP: And it’s bad. BM: He was a happy go lucky Han Solo type, and look what’s happened to him. NP: And the loss of Jennifer. I think that is kind of a critical thing. Jennifer’s been gone for a while, but Duke has never gotten over it. BM: But what I liked about it was we were able to have him refer to history over five seasons of the show. And when you can have characters make decisions based on that kind of history, as opposed to things that happen in just one episode, I think that we’ve really succeeded. So I hope that rewards long time fans of the show, that he would actually turn and walk out through the shroud that they feel we’ve been building to this for a while. And I loved the idea that Nathan would run in to the fog and just come running right back out again. NP: I think the shroud is a cool idea and it looks really good. BM: And it was always in our plan and we thought it would turn the dial up on what’s happening in Haven. And the same with having the Guard take over; it’s another way of making it different. So this scene [Nathan talking to Dwight where Dwight throws down the chief badge] was always about Dwight taking off the vest NP: That was the image we started with BM: And originally there were versions of this season where we had Dwight from this point on become much more of an antagonist NP: Quite dark BM: So you can still feel it a bit in this scene where these two don’t see eye to eye any more and Dwight is going in a direction that Nathan feels like he can’t follow. So it doesn’t quite pay off as much as it used to, but it still kind of does. NP: What I appreciate about it and the way you can walk that line is he can be antagonistic because he is correct. The nice thing about Dwight is he’s pretty much always the rational character. He’s like; I know you’re thinking of Audrey, I know you’re thinking of helping people, but the reality of the situation is ...this. BM: This was a big deal for us too [Nathan picking up the chief badge that Dwight threw down]. It was his dad’s badge and then it was his for a little while  and now he’s got it  back. Of course - he’s the chief of what now? NP: There’s no station. BM: Exactly. There’s no police. But still, that was a set up for where we’re going at the end of the the season.

[Gloria: There is no cause of death. And there’s only one other body found in Haven like that. Vince; The Colorado Kid] BM: Speaking of set ups for where we’re going later in the season NP: This was a fun one to tie this back in to the mystery that spawned the show. BM: Yeah. SyFy; gotta give them credit, they told us straight up right before we started this season just; Pay off what you can and do it for the fans. And that’s exactly what you want to hear. We had what we were worried was maybe too complicated a plan to pay off all the stuff that we had set up. We’d always intended to do that, but there was just a lot; who killed the Colorado Kid, Croatoan, what happened with Barn, everything. But they were completely on board.

[Nathan and Audrey talking to Charlotte] BM: There was a long time where this was the last scene in the episode. The next scene where we see Duke outside of the shroud was something that you and I really fought for. Just because we felt like it felt like the right last beat. And it told the audience, and Duke, a bit more about the situation Haven’s in. But for time and production concerns, it got cut. We didn’t have Eric for a little while and we never shot the scene. And by the time we were going to shoot it, it was weeks later and we weren’t sure we needed it. But we shot it anyway, but then it got cut for time because we were 45 seconds long. So we had to continually argue to save it. But this scene [with Nathan, Audrey and Charlottte] was great. It was the idea that Nathan is the hopeful one, and he comes up with this plan where he’s like; You are our Barn expert, so let’s build another one. NP: Let’s do it the right way. BM: This was pretty much the tent pole for the season; That Nathan kicks of the mission to build a new Barn. NP: This is giving Charlotte her mission statement. BM: Yeah, and we really liked the idea that it would be Nathan. He actually didn’t have lot to do this episode, but we know that he’s sort of the hopeful heart of the show. NP: And that’s something we played with in the next couple of episodes as well.

[Duke hitching a ride outside the shroud] NP: Beautiful shot BM: Yeah it looks great. And you can’t tell - or maybe you can, from his hair or the trees or something, but this was shot I think two months after the rest of the episode. And we cast the role of the truck driver multiple times. It was fun to write Old Man Trucker dialogue. He felt like stock Old Man Trucker, but it felt like what was necessary. But this was a really important moment for us where the guy’s like; Nah, there’s no such thing as Haven. NP: Yeah because we needed to show that the shroud wasn’t just affecting Haven on the inside but was also erasing Haven from the map from the outside. Because you need to know that no help is coming. BM: So yeah, I hope people like this one. NP: It was a fun one to write. Keep watching and thanks for listening.

[prorevenge]

Read the sign, No Parking!

A little context first. About 4 or 5 years ago, I was working at a small B-Movie Horror Movie Production Company (Call it BM) that was housed in these really old Live/Work lofts. My best friend's sister, who ran their shipping room, got us both hired some years earlier. I was the runner for BM, although the 3 of us basically did everything that wasn't movie production related, and even then, we sometimes helped with that stuff too. At the time of the incident, my friend's sister had just been fired and my friend had given his two weeks in protest. That means I had been "Promoted" to head of the shipping room, on top of my very busy job that involved a ton of driving, and all the misc. crap that we had to do, since nobody else wanted to do them. At least I got a nice hefty raise, since my job was not 2 people's worth of work harder... is what I'd like to say. At this point the company wasn't doing as well, so i was often being paid late, if at all. You could say my disgruntled attitude is probably what led to the incident haha.

The parking situation in the building was... not great. The lot was a small gated lot behind the building. It was a single lane that had 2 deep spots to the left, single spaces on the right, and was about 8 cars wide. At the end was loading dock that had a ramp that went up into the back of the building. There was no visitor parking, as every parking spot was assigned by the building, although there was technically a spot in the loading dock that you could park at if you were quick and left your information visible on the dash, so that one of the businesses could call you to move it if they needed it. It was kind of a park at your own risk kind of thing, since there were a ton of signs that said "No Parking in Loading Dock," "No Visitor Parking," "Owner is Responsible for Damage," etc etc etc. All were clearly visible and posted all over the place.

So on this day, we had a pallet of goods, and misc equipment and furnishings being shipped by freight to a convention. It all totaled to about 600-700lbs. I brought the pallet down to the dock and noticed a real fancy looking bmw suv parked in the spot at the dock. It wasn't a big deal, like I said, people park there from time to time and he did, in fact, leave his information visible. There was still a good hour to an hour and a half till the scheduled pick up, so I gave the info to the guy in the office that usually handles that kind of stuff while I went back to work getting ready for my runs for the day. A half hour passes and I notice the car still hasn't moved, so I ask my coworker what the deal was and he tells me that the guy said he was on his way back from where he was to move the car and that he would be back at any minute.

Another 15 minutes pass and the freight driver calls me to tell me he's 20 minutes away and to be ready. And of course, the car still has not moved. I cannot stress how important this convention is to the company, the owner starts freaking out and starts giving me a hard time. I tell my coworker to call the guy for the 3rd time, and the guy tells him very rudely that he'll be back soon and hangs up on my coworker. I talk to the building owner to try and find out which loft the car belongs to and he has no idea. I call around to the other tenants and the ones that answer do not recognize the car. So I grab our heavy duty pallet jacket and head downstairs to prepare for the worst. 15 minutes later, and here comes the freight truck pulling into the parking lot. I try to explain the situation to him, but he tells me that he's on a schedule and that if we can't get the car to move in 20 minutes, he was leaving with or without our pallet. I can see my boss with this worried/angry look on his face glaring at me, so I decide to call the guy myself. This is how the conversation goes:

(Entitled Ass: EA Coworker: CW Nuka: Me)

Me: Hey is this EA?

EA: Yeah, who's calling?

Me: Hey, my name is Nuka, I work with CW. We've been calling you about moving your car, are you almost here?

EA: Yeah man, almost there.

Me: Can you give me an estimate? Cause our freight truck is here and he can't pull into the loading dock with your car here.

EA: Haha I'll be honest with you bro, i'm in "Super far away city" right now.

Me: Dude that's 2 hours away by car! What the fuck man, you've been telling my guy here that you're on your way. Have you even left yet? Or does someone here have a spare key or something?

EA: Chill Bro, I'll get there when I get there. I took the train here and I ain't ready to come back yet. And of course nobody has my keys, why would they? It's my fuckin car.

Me: Dude there all kinds of signs here that say no parking. What are we supposed to do now?

EA: I don't give a fuck, tell the driver to wait or come back later.

I see the driver tapping his watch looking impatient.

Me: Alright man, we tried to do this the civil way. I'm giving you a heads up that we're gonna have to use the ramp to bring down the pallet. It's a heavy ass pallet and we don't have that many guys here, so I can't guarantee nothing is gonna happen to your car. I'll do my best though.

EA: What the fuck does that mean?

I hang up on him and tell CW to get as many of the office guys that are willing to help. I swing by the building office and explain the situation to the owner and he gives me a... not so confident thumbs up, already knowing that it's gonna be a long day for him. I can hear my phone vibrating like crazy, but I was already done with this guy. I get back to the dock and I see my friend and 3 of my scrawniest and out of shape coworkers. I explain to the driver that we were gonna bring the pallet down on the ramp and he insists on helping to get it done quicker. He takes the handle to control the pace while everyone else just braces against the pallet to offset the weight. Literally the second the pallet jack is fully on the ramp, the driver loses control of the fidgety handle and slams the full force of the pallet into the dudes headlights. My friend and I can't help but burst our laughing. We look up and see the building owner and the guys friend who actually lives there watching in horror from the balcony above the dock. I clearly hear his friend say "oh shit, they hit your car!" and we start laughing even more. Honestly, we were laughing probably loud enough for him to hear us.

The driver starts freaking out, because this was technically his fault. I calm him down and tell him that we just need to finish. Holy moly, pushing that 700lb pallet back up the ramp to get it out of the headlight socket was ridiculously exhausting. Honestly, we couldn't even get it completely out. It ended up doing a lot more damage and caused a really deep scratch on that front panel as it scraped loose. I gave the driver my information and told him that the car owner would most likely be the one at fault, but he was welcome to call me if he needed me to make a statement.

We all had a good laugh about it. Probably would've felt worse if the car owner wasn't such an ass. I heard someone making a huge stink when I was leaving for the day, but nothing ever came of it. I did notice a ton of new liability and no parking signs pop up all over the building though haha. I never saw the guys car again, but the friend would give me the stink eye on the rare occasion that we bumped into each other.

The moral of the story, leave your keys with someone that can move your car if you know it may be in the way, or just pay the 7 bucks to leave it in a nearby lot. Also, don't be an ass.

(source) story by (/u/UnencumberedNuka)

[taraknowless]

How to fix the finale with minor changes and still keep the same ending

So as many other people, I wasn’t exactly pleased with the finale. I didn’t mind what happened, but I think the execution was very poor and OOC and apparently I’m still so riled up that I decided to think about how I would improve the finale by making some major minor changes.

This got long so more under the cut

Let me start by saying that I generally wasn’t a major fan of Beth shooting Rio at all, because it felt a few seasons too early and almost not yet warranted, but I wanna stay as close to the episode as I can, because the writers apparently really wanted to have this as their cliffhanger.

My main problems with the ending:

Rio’s complete lack of motivation like are we supposed to believe he just kidnaps Turner so Beth can kill him? Because she has to clean up her mess? Like killing a federal agent wouldn’t create a lot of problems for both of them? Especially since Rio has an on-going trial?

Rio kidnapping Beth. While I understand why the writers did it (so they can have an extremely emotional Beth immediately), it did feel a bit over the top and weird like idk just call her? She would’ve come on her own 110%

Beth’s “sudden” realization that Rio has been playing her the entire time. Or has he? The finale also hasn’t been clear on that and Beth all of sudden going “You’re my problem, you pinned everything on me!!” came out of nowhere

Beth blaming Rio for everything when she couldn’t do a damn thing on her own this season and always called Rio for help also came really out of the blue and wasn’t a big enough reason for me to justify her shooting him, no matter if he actually betrayed her or no

Just the sheer stupidity that shooting Rio in front of a federal agent, who’s had it out for her wouldn’t somehow bite her in the ass later

The entire set up. I talk about it more in depth here but the writers didn’t put Beth in a life or death situation, shooting Rio wasn’t the only option. She could’ve said “You’re crazy” and left and absolutely nothing bad would happen to her. There were no stakes in that scene. None.

This complete lack of “Why?” and that “We’re free. He’s gone” scene made a lot of fans turn on Beth and I’m not sure if that’s necessarily what the writers intended

You’re still with me? Cool. 

Now for the changes. My biggest change is exchanging Turner with Boomer. Turner just doesn’t work. Kidnapping and wanting to kill him is simply dumb and doesn’t make any sense. Sure, he’s been after both of them for a while, but even if he’s gone, he’ll just be replaced by someone else. Boomer, however, is not only the key witness in Rio’s trial, but also Beth’s original rotten egg. If you think about it, he’s also Turner’s only real witness/evidence like what does he really have on Beth? He came up with nothing during the raid at BM.

I’d begin the episode with Beth walking home after ‘killing’ Rio & then it’s a classic “12 hours earlier” moment.

I’d leave Beth’s confession scene almost as it is, but I would change the set up slightly (you’ll see why later). Beth’s story is that Boomer came at her with a gun, they fought, she got ahold of the gun, shot him and then chopped him up.

The Brio scene in his empty apartment can also stay.

Cut to a more or less desperate Beth in the evening, because she still needs the money for Boomer and damn it, where even is Boomer? Nobody can get a hold of him and Beth is getting nervous. She did confess to murdering him and if he doesn’t reappear, she knows she’ll be in real trouble soon. Her phone beeps. It’s a text from Rio. “Changed my mind. You’ll get the money. Meet me at my place in 10.” Beth is relieved. One problem less, right? 

She drives to his apartment. She knocks on the door. “It’s open” she hears Rio’s familiar voice from inside. So she opens the door and is immediately on high alert. Boomer is bloody and cuffed to a column. He seems unconscious. Rio is leaning against his empty kitchen counter, a gun in his hand. He seems distraught. “No, no, no, no”, Beth thinks.

“What is going on?”

“Remember what I said about you rotten egg? It stinks up a whole lot til you get rid of it.”

Beth starts shaking, she can see where is this going. She’s afraid of the answer, but she keeps going anyway. “What do you expect me do here?”

“Get your house in order. Once and for all.” Rio walks over to her. They look at each other for a moment. He pushes her hair out of her face (because I’m a sucker for that). He then takes her hand and slowly gives her his gun. “You can do this, mama.”

Beth is crying now. A million thoughts are running through her head. She can’t kill Boomer. She just confessed to murdering him. She needs him alive and at a police station right now.

“I can’t do this. I’m not a killer. Why don’t you do it?”

“C’mon, Irene, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” 

Something in Beth clicks. We get a mini flashback to earlier, when Elizabeth Irene Boland confessed to killing Leslie Peterson in front of the FBI.

“How do you know my second name? I never told you.”

Rio now seems slightly nervous now. “Yeah, you did. Remember? When we were making sweet love in your bed?”

“No, I didn’t.” Beth raises the gun and points it at Rio. “What the hell is going on here? Are you working with him? With Turner?”

Short break here. You’re still reading? Wow, congrats. Anyway, I know this isn’t the smoothest way to do it, but I wanted to find something that Rio could say and Beth would immediately know something is off. I know that he could’ve learned about her name in a million different ways, but we only got to know about it this episode too so I thought it would be somehow fitting and like I said earlier, I wanted to change as little as possible so I’m trying to incorporate things that were already there. 

Rio is getting angry now. “Just shoot him, okay!” He takes a step towards her, she takes a step back and unlocks the gun.

“Stay.” She is almost screaming now. “One step further and I will put a bullet in your chest.” She’s not convinced at her own words either. Could she really shoot him? “Now tell me why it’s so important to you that I kill him.”

Cut to Rio’s face. You can tell he doesn’t know what to do. What to say. And then it bursts out. “Turner needs him dead, okay? He needs him dead so you don’t have an alibi anymore and he can arrest you for murder.”

Beth’s face is getting even paler, if that’s even possible. This is her worst nightmare. 

“And what exactly makes you think I would do him that favour?” She hisses.

Rio’s face changes. He seems content, like he just won a long and draining game of chess. “Oh, that won’t be necessary anymore. Your prints are all over the murder weapon. That guy is leaving this room in a body bag. Does it really matter who killed him? Just semantics, right?” He was always quick on his feet. Sure, the plan was for her to actually go through with it and kill Boomer, but she is so god damn stubborn so this has to do. Checkmate.

Now this is where I would cut back to a scene six hours earlier. Rio’s at the bar, Turner approaches him.

“Yeah, I’m not talking to you without my lawyer.”

“You might wanna listen to this.” Turner has a slight grin on his face.

“And why is that?” Rio takes a sip from his drink, seemingly unbothered.

“Because it could determine if you ever see your son again.”

Rio gives him a death stare.

Classic time for a commercial break here, guys. Stay tuned because it’s getting juicy. 

After the break, I’d cut back to Turner and Rio in an interrogation room.

Turner puts a picture of Beth on the table. 

“Elizabeth Irene Boland. Is she familiar to you?”

“I’ve seen her around.”

Turner laughs. “Oh, I think you know her a little better than that. The meetings in the park, at the dealership, at the school recital...and what exactly where you doing at her house that one afternoon? You were in there for hoooours.”

“You know, I’m a busy man, I don’t have forever so just cut the crap and tell me what you want.” Rio says, quite annoyed.

“Mrs Boland just confessed to the murder of Leslie Peterson. The name ring a bell? Key witness in your case that magically disappeared at a very convenient time. No body was ever found. We think he’s still alive and we know you do too considering how thoroughly you searched for him after he disappeared - don’t act surprised, you’re not as low-key as you might think.”

Turner continues “Now the thing is...a confession to murder isn’t worth a lot without a body and a murder weapon. And that’s where you enter the game. I need a body and I need her prints on the murder weapon. I don’t care how you do it, just do it.”

“You wanna take her down?”

“Call it what you want. Mrs Boland is not a good person. She should be in jail. Does it really matter for what crime she is locked up in the end?”

Rio is amused by all of this. Turner has nothing on him. “And why exactly do you think I am going to help you?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Turner almost seems giddy with excitement now. Like he knew he’d already won. “That baby mama of yours...what’s her name again? Sam? She ran with you back in the day, right? Told us some interesting things about you...your business.”

Rio’s getting a bit nervous now. He’s sure Turner’s just bluffing.

“She wouldn’t talk.”

Turner laughs “I’m afraid she already has. I can be quite convincing.” Turner puts a file on the table. “Take a look and tell me if I’m lying.” Rio takes the file and skims through it. It’s all there. Everything. Enough to put him behind bars for a very long time.

“Where is she?” Rio asks, now visibly angry.

“Protective custody. As well as your son. I guess you have to make a decision now. Do what I say or you won’t ever see your kid again, I will make sure of that.”

That’s roughly what I would add for Rio’s motives. I feel like it would tie in Marcus and his ex quite nicely. Before the finale, I was certain Marcus would at least play some sort of role because they put such a heavy focus on him in episode 11. I’m actually surprised that Turner hasn’t tried something like this yet. Or maybe he has and it failed, who knows. 

Anyway, then I'd cut back to Beth and Rio in his apartment, she still has the gun pointed at him.

"What's in it for you?"

"My freedom."

"This is nuts. I can't go to jail. I have a family."

"Yeah, me too." Rio hisses.

And then you just have this moment where neither of them is moving, because they're both backed into a corner. And maybe, just in this moment, Rio realizes that brining no back up gun wasn't such a good idea.

I got kinda carried away with this, but I guess you can go in both directions now - they're arguing some more for a bit, Rio raises his voice & takes a step towards her and she shoots him out of panic - so basically like in the show (which I do believe really came down to panic in that very moment although I still think that blaming him for everything is ridiculous).

Or Rio could take a step towards her, trying to take the gun away from her - which again would beautifully mirror 2.01 - and in that moment Beth would shoot. I'd also leave it at one shoot in this version, no need to put three bullets through my boy lol.

Then I'd leave the scene of Beth walking home, crying. At the end, she reaches for her phone and calls the police, anonymously.

"I'd like to report the reappearance of a missing person." Because as I established earlier, it's quite important for Beth that Boomer actually comes back so that her confession is null and void.

I'd then add another scene of maybe Beth in the shower, absolutely numb because she just killed someone. Or so she thinks. I would also take out the last scene altogether. I don't think it did Beth any favours in the actual episode considering the mess that happened beforehand.

That’s basically it. It would leave us at the exact same point we are now, just with better character motivation:

Raising the stakes for both Beth and Rio in a situation that neither of them can just get out of

Beth still thinks she killed him and you actually get where she is coming from because there are actual stakes

Turner still pressured Rio into somewhat of a partnership, but this time with actual evidence -> I actually think the “blackmailing” on the show is based on very thin ice. Rio could just play along for a few weeks and then get out - in the end it would be Turner’s word against his (also depending on evidence - like is Turner even gonna get the police involved or is this all going to be very off the books?). But the biggest thing is obviously the security camera, which we were definitely supposed to know about for a reason. Rio could even argue that Turner was the one who shot him, depending on the way Rio cuts the video (starting when Turner walks up to him with the gun in his hand). It wouldn’t look good for Turner at all so I’d even say it’s fairly easy for Rio to get out of this ‘partnership’ 

So, any thoughts? How would you guys have fixed it without completely changing everything?

Also, if this somehow inspired you to write fic, please. I’d love to read it. I’m a god awful writer, it was just easier to get my point across that way.

& now I’m really done.

[ttherose]

Can you please tell me about the individual members? Sorry if this is out of the blue, I'd hit like to know each of them. :)

alrighty I’m back

Sammy is the oldest, he’s from LA and was a participant on the first season of Kpop Star with Jae of Day6 and BM of KARD. He plays guitar and is one of the main vocalists, along with Dojoon. Sam has an amazing voice, it’s so unique with a low gravelly/growly quality and the emotion he conveys is beautiful, but watch out you might cry (personal experience, especially with She’s In The Rain). He’s such a sweetie who loves dogs, likes to decorate rooms, and can spend hours at Ikea. He’s also a shortie, especially compared to all of his tall friends like Jae, BM, and Jaehyeong, we don’t have an official height for him but tbh it’s probably around 170cm. His family is very important to him and he’s really proud of his lil bro AJ and he’s super cute with his mom byyye

Dojoon is the second oldest, and is the keyboardist, vocalist, and can play the guitar. He lived in New Zealand for about 5 years so he speaks English fluently. While he was there he picked up some…..talents. This boy is a plain meme, he likes to make people laugh and keeps things interesting in groups photos. Whenever they go abroad you can count on him to make bad puns. His voice is so sweet and velvety, it wraps you up and makes you want to smile softly while looking out at the falling snow… wow sorry for getting so sappy there. When they’re performing he always seems to be the one talking, and he loves trying to interact with fans. (tbt to that one time they were asked for an encore and played a song that a fan called out…..then Jaehyeong started choking in the bg) He just wants to make everyone happy and feel loved 

Hajoon is the drummer, he majored in drums at university. His IG is mostly selcas and it’s amazing. I’ve said this before, but he makes the same face in most pics, but sometimes he smiles softly and it’s so beautiful (tbh he’s been smiling more lately so…that’s good abifdkh) He sings too, but just not as much as Sam and Dojoon. His voice is….angelic, it’s so strong and pure, and it has a different tone to it that I can’t quite place…but whenever I hear him sing it makes me feel warm and happy. His laugh is one of the purest things in the world, just whenever he gets happy and smiles it’s a blessing. When I met them in Chicago I made him laugh and I heard it in person with my own ears so now I can die happy and content. He’s the most reserved member, and as Sammy puts it, he ‘lives his life simply’. He does really good impressions of people, and can even rap fairly well! (a little earlier in that vid he sang a Taeyeon song and it’s really good so make sure you go back) Hajoon is the sweetest thing ever and all I want is for him to always have a reason to smile. He’s definitely the most underrated member and I feel like people forget/ignore him sometimes, but deserves the world

Jaehyeong the youngest who is a dork along with Dojoon, and the two of them can be counted on to be doing weird things wherever they go. He’s ridiculously tall like I said before, but he is truly just a gangly child who doesn’t know what to do with his limbs sometimes. Considering all of that, they still voted him as the most motherly member because he cooks and takes care of the rest of them. When he laughs he stomps his feet and slaps his legs, just all of his body gets into it. OK BUT GET HIM ON STAGE AND AAAHHH DID YOU SEE THAT???? IT’S LIKE A SWITCH THAT HE CAN FLIP ON AND OFF, DON’T TRUST HIM. He’s the member that gets the most crazy with his hair and he’s had a few colors so far, nothing too much but I’m sure he will in the future. He’s a very loud child who just wants to be loved, and likes givings hugs. Like Hajoon he sings too, but just not as much. His voice is like champaign, it just bubbles up and makes you smile from the enthusiasm, he’s a little bit shy about singing but he does it very well. Sammy likes to cling to him a lot so in lives you can catch them in the bg being all adorable. Jaehyeong can also play literally all of the instruments in the band, the boy is so talented

I hope that helped! Every single one of them deserves to be loved and appreciated, and if you ever have more questions feel free to come talk!!!

[regrettablewritings]

Storytime: Crazyass Theater Mom

In continuing with swapping stories with @xemopeachx, I gotta share this one. I pray to God my sister never finds this because then she’ll know I run this blog because this is an extremely specific sort of story. First, though, lemme set the stage with the “players” (names have been changed):

Rachel: My younger sister, acts in a theater group

Mr. Delfine: The founder of the theater group, here called CMK (City Musical Kids)

Ms. Theresa: Mr. Delfine’s wife, works with CMK and does party planning in her free time

Mr. Mack: Director

Bitch Mom: Bitch mom

Get it? Got it? Good. Let’s begin.

So last summer, Rachel was in CMK’s summer program. Now, CMK was the winner of their age group or something for five years in a row at an international theater competition that happens every year in Atlanta, so they’re the real deal. Their summer performances tend to be plays they did in Atlanta that year because they have the licensing and costumes, might as well get one more go out of them. Last year, their Atlanta show was James and the Giant Peach. Now, we’re gonna put a pin in this because it’ll matter in a way later on.

For now, let’s talk about Bitch Mom. Bitch Mom was, big shocker, a bit of a bitch. Ms. Theresa had apparently met her by doing party-planning for her for BM’s eldest daughter’s 12th birthday and apparently BM ran her ragged. By the end of it, according to my mom, Ms. Theresa mentioned being glad that she had reached the end of it. Well, either Ms. Theresa mentioned CMK around her, or BM searched for theater camps because soon after, BM’s two daughters were signed up for the summer group.

Everyday, Rachel would come home from practice and be on her phone with friends gossiping about the daughters and at first, I thought nothing of it: they’re 12-14 year old kids, they’re going to gossip. But then I heard her talking about the mom. Now, why would tweens and early teens feel the need to talk about somebody’s mom? Well, my own mother filled me in on both:

The daughters, ages 8 and 12, were headache-causers for Mr. Mack and the dance instructor. During practice once, the 12-year-old told the dance instructor specifically that her little sister “needed to be upfront so everyone could see her.” A pretty bold statement. Honestly, a statement that just sounds . . . weird coming from a kid. They apparently did other things, but they all just sounded strange and arrogant even for kids. But when my mom got to explaining BM, it all made sense.

Apparently, BM spared none of her issues: She was always getting into it with the interns, Mr. Mack, Ms. Theresa, and Mr. Delfine. But she especially got at Ms.Theresa. I think because Ms. Theresa was just too nice to really try and bite back hard? Either way, it was awful. According to Rachel, my stepdad, and the CMK parents with whom my mother spoke, these fights occurred often. My mother, however, had not once seen it, and I certainly hadn’t and believed that there had to be some kind of exaggeration going on.

One day, Rachel came home upset and my mom started getting phone calls from the other CMK parents. Apparently, BM got into a screaming match with Mr. Delfine. Usually, parents are allowed to attend rehearsals. They just have to keep quiet and stay out of the way. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! BM was trying to take pictures and film, but kept getting in the way of the dance rehearsal so Mr. Delfine asked her to leave. This somehow transformed into them yelling at each other until he had her go into the hallway and locked her out. According to Rachel, you could still see her trying to look through the door window and film. That evening, all the CMK parents got an email saying that parents were no longer allowed to attend rehearsals for the remaining two weeks of camp.

But apparently her whole family was weird. You had the two snooty daughters, she had a son I believe was autistic but seemed nice, but then you had the dad. I didn’t see BM or her husband until the day of the performance, but my stepdad told me about him and damn was the description spot-on. My stepdad would always be the one to pick Rachel up from camp so he often found himself waiting with the other parents. Now, because this camp is in New Orleans, most of, if not all of the children and their parents are black or mixed. BM’s husband is white. And for some reason, he didn’t seem to talk to anyone . . .

So obviously, this sends the wrong idea to my stepdad. What’s more is that BM’s husband is a doctor, so the suspicion became both a thing of race and a thing of job level. It wasn’t until later, when it was just the husband and BM wasn’t around, that he would actually attempt to talk with the other parents. This, to my stepdad, set off a lot of alarm bells . . .

Friday evening: I’m in the den watching TV with my mom, stepdad is in the kitchen, Rachel is in the living room in her nook, talking with friends. Suddenly, Rachel walks in and says, “BM and Ms. Theresa got into a fight after camp. It got so bad that she cussed -- and she never cusses!” Dang. About an hour or so later, there’s a knock on our door: It’s Rachel’s friend’s dad, asking about a script. Apparently, Mr. Mack, Mr. Delfine, and Ms. Theresa had all had enough and were strongly considering dropping one of BM’s daughters from the play and replacing whichever one with Rachel’s friend. This is already shaky-looking, but also consider the following:

1. Rachel’s friend, while having done James and the Giant Peach in Atlanta, hadn’t been in camp all summer due to engagements in New York and Girl Scout camp

2. It was the night before the fucking performance.

If you’ve ever read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the idea of what BM might do if one of her kids was dropped fro the play was like when townsfolk started imagining what the Herdman children would do. Ngl I was expecting that bitch to go on stage, scream, “IT’S NOT FAIR!!”, and fling paint on the kids. Obviously, this did not happen. Neither did the expulsion of either of her daughters. What did happen, however, was far more than I could have predicted . . .

Saturday: the day of the performance.

Rachel was dropped off earlier, and my stepdad, mom, and I arrived later for the matinee. My aunt and uncle from Alabama stopped by as a surprise. BM is also there. My mom and I quickly usher my aunt to the side and start hyping up BM with, “So one of the mothers here is crazy--”

But before we can point out who, my aunt goes, “Is it the one in the white dress? She was starting stuff earlier.” . . . Pardon? The story was that earlier, BM was causing a scene: She was trying to drag one of her daughters off, fussing something like, “We have to go. We have to go! Ms. Theresa has no business having you look like that! She’s stressing you out!” The thing was, she was stressing her daughter out. The poor thing was crying and insisting that she was fine and didn’t want to go home. Yikes, what the hell?

Fast forwarding to after the performance, there was a lot of hindsight to be taken into account because my stepdad was more observant than I. But when we (my mom, stepdad, aunt, uncle, and myself) reconvened at a nearby bar for lunch, we started spilling stuff. During the group photo for the performers, my stepdad noted, the daughters were missing. They were off in the corner getting fussed at by BM. And the thing was, none of us could figure out why: To be fair, her daughters were good! One was an exceptional dancer who’s already in pointe shoes at age 8, and the 12-year-old has potential as a singer. Their acting was okay but, hey, they’re kids, there’s literally nothing that could be done. What I found more disturbing was the fact that after she’d finished fussing, my stepdad said the daughters had been tearing up but went to go join the group photos. In my memory, the girls looked perfectly fine. As if they were used to hiding this sort of stuff.

What was more was that one thing BM had fussed about during the camp’s run was that one of the songs in James is called “Plump & Juicy”, which is when James and the Bugs decide to use Earthworm as bait for catching seagulls and have to hype him up as delicious and appealing. The 8-year-old was cast as the Earthworm and BM had a fit. Not necessarily because that was the role her daughter had been given, but because she feared the song would make her self-conscious because she was already on a diet. I repeat: This tiny, scrawny 8-year-old was on a diet and I swear she was thinner than my 7-year-old sister who not only also did dance, but did tae kwon do, swimming, and cheerleading. Needless to say, BM now just seemed beyond unreasonable.

So my aunt and uncle say their goodbyes and leave, my stepdad, mom, and I head back to the university theater where the second and final performance is. We attend the evening performance and everyone lounges about in the lobby, talking. My mom and I head back stage to help Mr. Mack pack up some stuff and at some point, I head back to the lobby. Now, when I first got there, it was regular noise. But not even an entire minute later, there’s suddenly YELLING.

I look towards the commotion, and there’s BM and Mr. Delfine going at each other with some parents trying to tell BM to back off and how “CMK parents don’t act like this.” I’m hearing things like, “HOW DARE YOU THREATEN A LADY!?” and “DON’T YOU TALK ABOUT MY KIDS!! HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST I’M A BAD MOTHER!!?!” and other things. Eventually, the nearby security guard takes control and ushers BM down the stairs. When I ask somebody wtf happened, I was told that at some point, BM start fussing at one daughter, then she started fussing at the other, and then she started fussing at Mr. Delfine and it just escalated from there.

(Sidenote: If I got close enough to the stairs, I could hear thudding as if she was flinging herself to the floor and a stern voice going, “Stop it. Get up” in that voice a parent uses when their kid decides to throw a tantrum. And no, I highly doubt it was security guard brutality or anything if that’s what you were thinking.) Soon after, a couple of the interns come scrambling upstairs and clamoring, “Guys! Guys, she said she’s pressing charges!!”

Uh . . . wut.

After all has calmed down to a degree, people decide, “Fuckit, let’s get ready to go, that was too much.” I return to my mom and tell her what happened (she’s upset for missing BM in seemingly one last exploit) and we shrug and go help Mr. Mack bring stuff to his car. Rachel and my mom’s friend tag along and when we finish, we walk around the parking lot to the front of the building where we see Mr. Delfine, the security guard, the CMK parents (my stepdad included) . . . and a cop. It was in that moment that I realized I had just walked passed a cop car.

After ten minutes, the group disperses and my stepdad comes over and explains: “So BM was waiting down here and she called the police . . .” She was gone by the time we showed up, but apparently this bitch called the police with allegations of Mr. Delfine threatening her. Which might’ve been shaky enough as is, but was made worse by the fact that there were over a dozen other people around witnessing her tomfoolery.

(Second Sidenote: When I came back to witness her acting up, I didn’t see her kids or husband. According to my stepdad, the moment she started getting loud, he must’ve peaced out. It’s highly likely that he’s so used to her BS that he can feel when she’s about to embarrass the family so he took the kids and ran.)

In the end, BM’s kids weren’t allowed back due to a mix of CMK’s school year program being much more selective and the fact that, you know, she kinda blew it for her kids. Such a pity; they could’ve been nice, skilled kids if not for her . . . BM-ness.

The fucking end.

[monkeydluffy19920]

Late thoughts about chapter 853

So, after some waiting the newest chapter is out ! It was already couple of days ago and I wanted to write but was so tired and busy so here are some late thoughts about the chapter

First of all I’m kind of disappointed because I was expecting a epic battle of the “soul royals” but on the other hand it’s understandable choice from Oda to leave the main battle for later chapters. At least we can see our rock star being kept by BM and probably they didn’t fight at all, Momma wouldn’t be that cheery if they did right? 

Also, we don’t know yet if Brook managed with his task but I’ve seen some speculation that if he did success then he hid it inside his head. That would be very clever but also such a risk if BM found out that his head is openable and what would she do if she  also found the tone dial for Laboon?

I’m not sure what to think about BM, on the other she is kinda funny when she is acting like a giant kid with her overly happy atittude but on the other hand she is just crazy..  Wel anyways I’m kind of worried what’l happen to Brook because as we remember from chapter 847 Big Mom collects all kinds of creatures so our humming skeleton is now in danger to be added to ger crazy collection. It also seems like Prometheus, Zeus and Napoleon are party BM’s soul if I understood her (correct me if I’m wrong). 

Big Mom also flashed some informaton about her past. According to her comment she has been involved with the Pirate King Gol. D. Roger and apparentally isn’t happy about what happened. Talks about Roger using a strange power of “hearing all things” or to read raftels/poneglyphs made me think that if Luffy is kind of “parallel” to Roger then would it mean Luffy might have some kind of ability to do this as well? Well we know he was able to hear Sea Kings but reading poneglyphs is Robin’s ability so can it be that Luffy could do that to with the “Will of D.”? and if he could, would that make Robin’s “lifetime work and studying” and role among Straw Hats kind of into waste?  Well maybe I’m just exaggerating things and thinking too much so nevermind that. 

Pudding appears and meets Brook again. As I’ve complained a lot, we don’t know much about her yet but at least she is now in her “sweet girl”-self. It seems like she is heritage of some powerful tribe and Mama is waiting for her true powers to be revealed. I think there has been lots of talk about Pudding’s true power and there has also been lots of discussion that whether Pudding could be a sweet commander (here is one theory from OJ). It wouldn’t surprise if we found out how powerful Puddig actually is because she already showed much potential when she shot Reiju and edited her memories. What I wonder is though is that when she is being “nice Pudding” why does she always keeps her third eye hidden?

About Pudding in general who has caused again lots of talk. People want to still believe that she is good and yes, even though she is now pretty rotten to the core I still don’t count out the possibility that Pudding might change her side during or after the main battle of Whole Cake island (probably Straw hats form an alliance wih Vinsmokes to take BM down). The thing however is that Pudding already has let down not only Sanji but also the retrieval team and doesn’t show any signs of remorse. Therefore I am pretty sure it’s very hard for her to gain their broken trust back, especially if we think about the fact that Sanji happened to hear all the trash she was talking and that she also went to tell Luffy and Nami that someone is going to die in the tea party. 

Elsewhere Pedro keeps fighting against Viscount chick whom he slices easily and he drops some bombs around the enemies. Later he is dragged to mirror  world with Bropper’s team. They change the latest news with each other and start to look for the rest of the retrieval team with the help of the Carrot’s stylish caricature of their crew mates. It worked and mirrors start finally talk so tey cann move on ! (If we want some shipping perspective then we could think that Nami is looking at Sanji’s direction but so does Luffy, hehheh)

Then we have Luffy who is eager to find Sanji. It is kind of interesting how Luffy’s and Nami’s roles has been changing along this retrieval mission. First Nami was the one who pushed everyone forward but after they separated with Sanji with some hard feelings I think she kind of has “lost her battle spirit” and then we have Luffy who first took this case pretty easy going  but after their fight he started to become more determinated to bring him back where he really belongs.

I actually didn’t notice at the first time that it was Reiju who grabbed Luffy’s hand menwhile he was running around (only thought his hand got stuck into a door and Reiju helped him). Luffy is reckless and got men after him so Reiju did a good deed and helped him. This isn’t quite remarkble thing in general but I find it interesting that Luffy doesn’t pay attention if there is a woman with less clothing. Remember in last chapter when they were saved by the prison and Nami’s clothes were pretty much wrecked? Well Luffy didn’t care at all that her clothes were ripped off and even though she was probably changing near them he didn’t notice it or at least said a thing about it. Now he is facing Reiju who appears to wear only panties but the first thing Luffy sees is the bandaged wound. Maybe this isn’t the right time to talk about it but somehow these things make me become even more sure about the posibility that Luffy could actually be an asexual because of these things named above. (it would actually be interesting to see if there was another character like Zoro or Usopp meeting Sanji’s sister in same situation and how they would have reacted.  Chopper’s mind is still too innocent fo dirty thoughts so he is out of the counts)

They shortly discuss about the hostages and we know it’s the people from Baratie (since we saw Zeff’s pictue earlier) BUT what we don’t still know is Vito’s whisper that could be anything “ Actually we talked about this in OJ community and there wre guessings that what if the third threat has something to do with Nami? Again this topic is mentioned but one reason Sanji could be so stressed could be that maybe the Cocoyashi village would be under the knife (we know that at last is something from East Blue that could be linked to both Sanji and his other crew mates) but these are just guessings so nothing will be sure until more revealed. 

I must say that what I love about Luffy a lot beside his adorable smile and characteristics is that he is so unwavering when it comes down to trust in his nakamas. He warned Reiju about Pudding but now that he hears that they already know about her plans he becomes so relieved and doesn’t anymore search for him aimlessly. Even though this arc is far from over and nothing has been resolved actually he still trusts that the poneglyph is secured by Pedro and Brook and that Sanji is able to keep his promise with their help. 

It seems like Luffy will meet Sanji alone and that the importance of Nami’s comment about Luffy consuming energy more than average human (852) and that bento Sanji made in chapter 850 starts to become more and more significant. Because Sanji didn’t left the basket for Pudding so now it’s more possible that we see the moment we’ve been looking for, captain and cook meeting in that spot and Luffy getting fed by foods made by Sanji. This would and if if happens wil be very big moment for these two nakama :’)  

Sanji is now making some important desicions and it seems like he has made up his mind, telling tha he can’t go back anymore. I still despise Judge a lot and you can still see the hatred from his father who just thinks Sanji as a “sacrifice” of alliance, really annoying.... There are many interpretations about his words around the forums but I think he has decided to put an end to his all. Remeber his comment (from mangastream translations) back from chapter 843 “I’ll be the one... to take all this trash back to where they belong” and now he tells that there is no returning back. I think he wants to “finish what he has started” because he kind of needs to “make up” his mistakes (hurting Nami badly with rough words and hurting Luffy physically) for his crew mates. Also on OJ community it was really well written: Sanji is tired of running away from his problems. He got his freedom when Reiju offered him a chance to escape but did that erase anything? no, he has carried all these wounds for years and now he is facing similiar situation where he is again offered with an opportunity to leave behind. Now he has to choose whether to leave everything behind again with all the guilt of “killing his relatives”. (all the credits to fellow shipper who wrote this, hope you don’t mind I borrowed these thoughts !) 

(and ah I still love the following panel especially Nami’s expression  because it’s full of emotions !)  I find it very interesting choice from Oda that Sanji recalls Nami’s teary eyes, not that adorable smile she flashed when they met (but well he was in shock to see them back then) but still, this shows how much this slap of hers has affected him because he can’t forget that and how guilty he must feel after first giving her a fierce glare and then afterwards hurting her feelings deeply.    Then for Luffy there isn’t the one where he declares the hunger strike. Well he apparently thinks about the missing tooth but the main point is that he really regrets everything he did when he pushed his nakamas away.  

One interesting thing I forgot to mention in last review is that Oda has kept Nami and Luffy together as a team since they left from Zou but now that they got free from the prison they are now separated. It means that it’s very likely that Sanji will meet both of them separately which would be good because at least Nami and him will have to have a proper reconciliation. Of course Sanji and Luffy will have to talk things over too but somehow I have the feeling that it will be kind of easier because Sanji knows that Luffy forgives easily and of course he is ashamed to face his captain after all this turmoil.  Then when it comes down to Nami, I think that will require a lot from him as well. This is the very first time there is tension between these two so Sanji has to gather up some bravery and face also the woman he adores (and loves) a lot whom he hurt as well.  I’m looking forward to see how the reunions will be handled !

[lukerhill]

Going out of my color comfort zone

Hey all! Sorry for the wonky posting this week -- we are finally coming out of the sickness fog and things are getting back to normal. Normal is GOOD. I had time to tackle a paint project I've had in mind for weeks and man do I love it!

I went way out of my comfort zone with this paint color and I'm so glad I did. Recently I did a little switcharoo with some furniture -- I found this little table earlier this year: 

As you can see the drapes were kind of in the way. I later moved those over so they ended up clearing the table just fine, but then I decided this one would work better in a spot in our basement. The piece I'm sharing today was down there and was a bit small for the spot. 

I bought this cabinet from a barn sale years ago. It's a vintage piece -- I realized while painting it that it may have been a sewing machine cabinet. The top has hinges and used to open up. If it isn't a sewing cabinet let me know -- I'm curious!: 

I got it all those years ago for the basement at the old house. Yellow is not typically a color I use, but it worked well in that room -- I used a lot of green, blue and yellow in there for awhile. 

Anywho...the switch worked out great. This piece is more substantial and looks better in the family room. But the color wasn't working for me. Plus this was painted with a two tone look (a blue under the yellow) and distressed quite a bit, which isn't my style anymore. 

I knew all along I wanted to paint it, and as I mentioned, I wanted to do a different color than usual. I did not paint it blue! Or black! Can you believe it? 😂 I really wanted to do an earthy green to tie in some of the green accents we have in the great room. 

This piece was painted in chalk paint and then a protective wax was applied on top. I really hate sanding -- I have a weird aversion to it. I'll do about anything to avoid it. Plus, with the detail on the front I knew it would be really difficult to get to all the nooks and crannies. 

My favorite primer to the rescue! I've shared this BIN primer with you many times (most recently when I painted another door black). This stuff is great because it's super thin and goes on easily: 

Another bonus is it dries crazy fast. Because it's so thin it was easy to get in the detailed areas: 

I used a cheap brush to apply to those areas and then a foam roller for the flat parts: 

By the way, this primer is usually white. I have it primed darker because I usually use it for black doors. 

I did a ton of searching online to find the perfect olive green. I found four olive colors I liked -- dark olive, forest floor, tate olive and vintage vogue. They were a mix of Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams colors I believe. I ended up going with the latter -- the vintage vogue color. I got it mixed at SW (they can mix BM colors!). 

This color was out of my comfort zone but when I was done I fell. in. love. I'm obsessed with it!:

Now I want to paint everything green! :) 

The hardware was silver before -- I sprayed it gold and it really pops now: 

The piece has a lot of character and I'm so happy to have it where we will see it more often! I LOVE the detail on the doors. It has plenty of storage inside but we don't need much here. We keep a few card games and the dog leash in here. 

I hung a mirror for now -- we have plenty of mirrors in this room already so it probably won't stay. This wall is hard because of those switches. 

Our drapes have a purple tone in pictures -- drives me crazy. They are more of a blue gray. I'm thinking of moving these to another room and trying a lighter color in here. We'll see: 

I'm SO glad I went with a color I wouldn't normally pick. I'm really digging greens lately and am considering going with a dark green in our basement kitchenette someday. Love it!

If you're looking for something similar, I've found a lot of vintage pieces like this on Craigslist over the years. You can't beat the detail and they add some character to our young house: 

Have you ever used a paint color you were nervous about? Did you end up loving or hating it? Remember my orange (ahem...burnt orange) office back in the day? (Talk about a blast from the past!) That one didn't last too long. ;) Affiliate links used for your convenience!

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[cookiedoughmeagain]

Haven DVD Commentaries: 4.11 - Shot in the Dark

Notes on the DVD Commentary by Nick Parker (Writer for the episode) and Brian Millikin (also a writer on Haven). In which both men talk at a gazillion miles an hour and with much enthusiasm throughout the whole episode. And we learn that the Darkside Seekers are partially inspired by Supernatural’s Ghostfacers. And all kinds of other fun facts.

Both Brian and Nick were previously script co-ordinators for Haven (“the most junior member of the writing staff”) and this is Nick Parker’s first ever episode of TV he’s written. NP is really modest about his writing throughout, balanced out by BM being very enthusiastic about how well written it is and what a great episode it is. And they are both so enthusiastic in general and have so much to say, I love them.

[I haven’t necessarily quoted everything word for word and I have paraphrased sometimes. And they refer to all the full names of the guest actors and the director etc. but I haven’t put the names in (except the ones I already know) because I didn’t stop to figure out how to spell them because … I am lazy :p]

NP: We got to do something really fun here with this hand-held camera, found-footage look. Both Brian and I are big fans of X-Files and one of my favourite episodes was X Cops ... and one of my favourite television writers wrote a couple of episodes of Supernatural called Ghostfacers in this kind of style. And I always thought those were really cool episodes and break the mould of the show a little bit and particularly in this case allow for outsiders to come in and comment on Haven. BM: The found-footage documentary crew thing was something from the get-go that we were always going to try to do at some point in the series. [Brief interlude while they laugh at Seth falling over the pile of trash :) ] And my favourite thing about it is how funny it is. This is not only the funniest episode of the season, but is crucial to the season because it has been so dark that we knew that we needed (particularly before epsiodes 12 and 13 which are like a two-part season finale) a little bit of levity. And because our characters have so much going on, you sort of need that to come from guest characters. And this is easily the funniest episode of the season and I think one of the funniest ones we’ve ever done. NP: You’re being very sweet. I think a lot of that humour actually comes from our guest cast for this episode. Chris who plays Seth is one of the most talented people I’ve ever met. And he and Danny (who plays Anderson) - Seth and Anderson are named after my two brothers by the way, and I based the back and forth teasing between them on my brothers, because that’s how brothers are - are friends in real life and were able to play the humour really well. BM: I remember when we were casting this episode we reached out to Danny (who is good friends with Shawn Pillar) who was interested in the role, but felt that he was better suited to the cameraman role and suggested Chris for the role of Seth. And it couldn’t have worked out better. NP: It could not have worked out better. When Danny made the suggestion and I watched a movie him and Chris did together called Alter Egos - if you haven’t seen it, go and watch it - and as soon as I saw Chris in that and the style of it and the tone that he brings; this very dry humour .. he was perfect for it. He is more perfect for the role than the version I had in my head when writing it. BM: We so enjoyed Chris in this role that Seth is making a return appearance in season 5. They’re shooting that episode right now and from all reports on set, it’s awesome. He’s doing a great job once again. BM: We always knew from the get-go that there was going to be a lot of found-footage and the camera pov in this. And we just hoped that the director for the episode would be on board with it. You know, you hope that your vision and the director’s vision line up. And as it happens, with the director for this epsiode we got crazy lucky. NP: Yes. She is amazing. It was incredible the way everything came together. In the concept of the script, the original drafting of it, there were all kinds of limitations on the script for a variety of reasons but when we started to get on set and look at locations and I was meeting with the director and everything - it all started to fall into place. I was so impressed by how everything came together; from the casting, to the prop department making Seth and Anderson’s props, to the art department and the sets. It really just came together well.

NP: I love this moment here when Gloria goes to flick Anderson off. The timing of that shot where Seth steps into the frame in front of her took us maybe 5 or 6 takes to get the timing just right, but when we did we knew we had it. That parabolic microphone that Seth has there - there was something wierd about the plastic that whenever it would heat up stank like old vomit. It smelled so bad. So Chris was an amazing sport for holding that. BM: This is a small thing but it’s something we’ve never been able to do before; Adam Copeland looking right into the camera. This is something you never usually want to do, and there’s something unsettling and hilarious about our characters finally being able to look back out at us. It’s great, I love it.

BM: Just boucing back to a line earlier, we had a shoutout to the Haven Herald when Seth is mentioning all the crazy coverup stories and he’s like “How many gas leaks can a town have beofre they just buy new pipes?” and that was a line I had always wanted to work in. BM: Yeah and we need to throw in those types of lines once in a while to add some level of groundedness. Because while this is fiction, it is set in the real world. BM: This is the first episode since Fraudrey in season two where we have the outside world arriving in Haven and threatening to expose it. Which is something we always talk about and which is why Vince and Dave - and even Dwight when he was the cleaner - do what they do. And I love it like in this episode when we can make it more than just an intellectual threat that they are forced to protect the secret that is Haven. NP: Yeah, it puts it in context. BM: And it’s something we talk about in the writers’ room that Haven has been like this, with the Troubles, for hundreds and hundreds of years, but keeping the secret of the town is getting exponentially harder and harder in the 21st century and the information age. You know, when the people who made the Barn at the time I don’t think they expected things like the internet or cell phones. NP: Yeah, Sarah wasn’t having to worry about high-tech recording devices being pointed at her or camera phones carried in people’s pockets. BM: Exactly. We talked about it a ton back when we were doing the pilot and conceived the show, and we all knew that Audrey Parker - Emily Rose Audrey Parker - was not the real Audrey Parker, that she had the borrowed memories of a real FBI agent. So one of the questions that we always got was; Why doesn’t anyone try to friend her on Facebook? Why doesn’t anyone google her and look it up? Becuase they would see, clearly, that there is an Audrey Parker and she doesn’t look like Emily Rose, she looks like Kathleen Munroe. And we sort of had to just fly past that for the whole first season and just hope that people didn’t really do that. NP: And I think generally the show has done a good job of cleverly skirting those questions. And I think that’s part of what gives it a bit of a timeless feel, and a feeling that Haven has always been this way. And I think it works well. Ah I love Richard here, playing Vince, he’s amazing. BM: He is so one of our favourites on the show, he is so good. And this [as Vince talks to Audrey in her hospital bed after Nathan and Duke have left to investigate the Trouble] is one of several big emotional scenes about Audrey and who she really is that the two of them have had. There’s that one outside the Gull after he was tortured by Tommy, that was terrific,. There’s that one at the end of season two when she comes to Vince and Dave asking for answers when she’s found out about the existence of Sarah. And now this. And it’s almost like every season we get a chance to have this kind of conversation between the two of them. Because he knows previous versions of her, and here she is beginning to lear more about herself - to learn things now that even he doesn’t know. NP: Yeah, and I think the reason we always end up using him for those scenes - it’s not necessarily a conscious thing - is because he so well represents what Haven is, and the history of Haven. He embodies Haven in an interesting way, and so it just makes sense that it’s always him. BM: Absolutely. And he’s also such a deeply felt actor. He can say a lot without saying anything, which is one of my favourite things about him.

BM: I love how this all looks [as Duke and Nathan confront the Seekers in the warehouse/store room where they are talking to Jemma]. I think this is one of the best directed episodes of Haven that we’ve ever done. They totally nailed it. NP: I was really impressed. It was way better than I could ever have conceived it. And that it all down to the director and the DP Eric Cayla. They did an awesome job. The sequence here after the lights go out, after this was shot, Eric Balfour came over to the director and I and said he thought this sequence was the most dynamic and energetic thing we’d ever shot for the show. NP: There’s one moment here that we buried for Gingersnap fans where Seth repeats the line ‘I think it’s gone’ right before the monster busts through the door. Which is exactly what happens in Gingersnaps so we wanted to bury that for Gingersnaps fans. And there’s the monster, which was a very very nice, and very very tall man in a suit. And this is a very scripted and choreographed sequence to get all this in. We rehearsed it a bunch of times and we were shooting this for the majority of the day. And there’s a couple times where the camera sweeps over the ground [so all you see is darkness] and they would use those moments to match and morph different takes together. So it looks as though it’s one continuous shot but it is actually several different takes stitched together. So we shot several takes of each section, knowing exactly where we were going to sweep to the floor so that we could stitch it all together. And i think it looks great. BM: It does look great. And the director really embraced this approach from the beginning and ran with it. NP: And what I love about her is she’s this really energetic spitfire running about the whole time, so when we were talking about this sequence she’s running up and down the aisles acting like she’s got a gun and everyone else was just trying to keep up with her becasue she was moving so quickly. She was so enthused and really energetic about the entire sequence and I loved it. She was awesome. BM: She’s my hero.

NP: Eric Balfour and Danny [who plays Anderson the cameraman] are good friends in real life so it was nice having them all there together. BM: I could be wrong about this but I don’t think they’ve ever acted on screen together before, despite being really good friends.

NP: So the guy in the suit, is a man in a werewolf costume, which the wardrobe department did a great job of modifying to make it look spooky. And the guy who played that role was probably about 6’10”; he was really tall. And he was so nice to come in because that suit was a lot of plastic and a lot of fur and it was incredibly hot. And he did take after take and was awesome and never complained once.

[As we see Gloria talking to Duke and Nathan in the morgue] BM: I’m jealous that you got to write some Gloria scenes. I didn’t get to do any of that. NP: I love writing for her. And the actor was also in Dawn of the Dead and she is awesome. BM: She was great in Dawn of the Dead. NP: Her energy and her really dry and biting sense of humour is great. And I love the dynamic she has with Duke. They’re kind of oddly flirty, in a way.

[As Dwight is threatening Seth in the corridor outside the morgue] BM: I think Adam Copeland is one of my favourite parts of this episode. He is so good at being frustrated and angry at people. And he seems like he really relishes it. And he is also really good as Dwight, but it’s like with epsiode 9 where he got affected by the paranoia Trouble, where he gets to step out of the usual thing and show some attitude, he dives into it. NP: He nails it. I loved this moment where he’s threatening Seth; I think this is the closest we’ve ever got to representing Adam in his former career as WWE’s Edge. He goes full wrestler on Seth right now. We did a bunch of different takes where he was getting really intense and almost screaming, or a more quiet and controlled threat. But this was a super-fun sequence to shoot, just because we got to see WWE Superstar Edge coming out. BM: Who is in reality the nicest person on the face of the planet. NP: Incredibly nice. BM: I aspire to be more like him one day. NP: That is a goal we should all pursue. He is just a super-nice really good person. And so seeing him act like this is what makes it so terrifying. BM: I would have wet myself. NP: Yes! BM: He is huge. NP: And in incredible shape. I always feel bad that he has to wear this bullet-proof vest all the time, which makes him about 10 degrees hotter than everyone else in every scene. BM: Ardent fans might notice that his vest has changed from the one he was wearing last season. They made one specifically for him; fitted to him and as light as possible but still using bullet proof vest material. Just to give him some relief, even though it is still hot and constricting. [Some back and forth about how hot and humid it can get in Nova Scotia in the summer.]

[As Duke is asking Nathan if he’s OK] NP: So this is the big emotional scene between Duke and Nathan where Nathan reveals his fears about this connection between William and Audrery. BM: Back from when we were first talking about the details of this season, we always knew that was the one where we were going to learn who Audrey really was, and that we were finally going to meet someone who was like her, whatever she is. So that was why we had William in the Barn and he hitched a ride with Lexie to come to Haven and now we’re learning what his ultimate plan is that he wants to turn Audrey back into Mara. But we always knew that we would have Colin Ferguson in the first four episodes, and in episode 9 and 10. And because he’s the Big Bad for the season we knew he’d be in the two-part finale episodes 12 and 13 - and that left out episode 11 which we did not have Colin Ferguson for. And yet he is the main topic of conversation for the episode. NP: Which worked out interestingly. It was a restriction that we knew about and it made things difficult at first but in the end we were able to talk directly about what he was doing. BM: It kind of allowed our characters some space, which we don’t often have, to talk about what’s going on. And how they feel about what’s going on. NP: And the same is true for Jennifer. We only had Emma Lahana for two days of filming for this episode, so that was also a restriction. BM: This location here, the back room of the Haven Herald (which is a real location that we own in the middle of Chester) is the exact same layout as the Gun & Rose diner, which we outfitted this room to be, back when we had Jordan at work. NP: And what a great job the art department did with showing the effects of the rougarou trashing everything. BM: Oh it’s amazing. NP: Every time that I walked onto a set that they had set up as a post-crime scene, I was just blown away. BM: As an example of how good our art department is, when Duke was kneeling down just now [where he found Jennifer’s phone on the floor] there was a golden vase over his shoulder, I’m pretty sure that’s the exact same vase that Dave picked up in 3.12 and knocked Vince out with when they were interrogating Arla. NP: They’re smart about it. BM: They do their jobs well.

[As Duke Dwight and Nathan find the Seekers at their van] NP: So we always knew that we wanted to do this found-footage style, and we knew we wanted to tie that into the Season Four Digital Initiative. So if you happen to follow Haven on Facebook or Twitter you will know that the Darkside Seekers supposedly took over the Haven accounts and were reporting that Haven was this place with this massive cover up and all these supernatural things. BM: And it wasn’t just a few tweets, there was also footage shot for this with Chris and Danny. NP: Yep and it was a lot of fun to be able to do that and tie it in to the episode, which you don’t often see so we were lucky to be able to do that. BM: And we had that pitch from the get go and you were overseeing a lot of that digital stuff. And it was always going to be the Darkside Seekers (though we went through a thousand different names for them before we got that one cleared) and the pitch for that was always that those guys were eventually going to show up on screen in the show in Haven. And it made sense to slot it in to episode 11 because we knew that William wasn’t going to be in this episode so it gave us a bit of a pause for the series arc. NP: Right, and we also needed to build a mouting threat; it needed to be something more than just a normal Trouble of the Week.

NP: Ah Stan the Cop; one of my favourite characters. And Glen who plays him is nice as can be. BM: He’s been around since season one and he’s a bedrock of HPD. NP: Absolutely. Everyone knows Stan. BM: And he has a little bit more to do every year. We love Stan. I’m always wishing that we could do an All Stan episode, but we’ve only got 13 episodes a season and so much other stuff to cover. There’s unfortunately just not enough room. If this was a 22 episode season show, we would absolutely have had a Stan episode. It could have been called Stan the Man, and Stan would be in every scene. And you know, he saves the day and the rest of the characters have no idea what he’s doing. NP: Like that Xander episode [in Buffy] BM: Yep, ‘The Zeppo’

[They discuss the restrictions in terms of actor availability becasue as well as Emma Lahana only being available for two out of the seven days of production, they also only had Emily Rose for a few days becasue she “was also due for a break” because she had been “working like a dog” having been in every scene in episode 10. And also they didn’t have Colin Ferguson, so when we see a glimpse of William in the hospital - that is not Colin.] BM: So there are all these various restrictions and you have to write your scripts within these painted lines that are set out for you. NP: Which is why Chris as Seth ended up with such a big role, and this is one of the biggest guest actor roles we’ve had. It’s good that he’s so good. BM: And it’s not a co-incidence that this has a lot of humour. Not that our cast aren’t often hysterical, but there’s not always a lot of humour just because our characters, after four seasons, are saddled with a lot of emotional baggage and weight. NP: Yeah and the nice thing about a role like this [Seth] is that they can comment on the ridiculousness of the situation. BM: Jennifer and Lexie were examples of the same thing; they were able to bring some of that lightness because they were yet to be weighted down.

[As Seth is telling Dwight how he spent his summers in Haven as a kid] BM: This hill I think is the same spot that William brings Audrey to in 4.09. NP: Yes, I think it’s one of their favourite places to shoot just becasue it has such a beautiful vista and it’s close the production office as well. The prop department did an amazing job building Seth’s equipment here. BM: Everything looks fantastic.

[At the Teagues warehouse where Jennifer is hiding out] NP: This all looks fantastic. We shot a lot of this at this place called the Aspotogan Spa, but if you try and look it up online you’re not going to be able to book tickets for becasue it was this huge multi-million dollar spa idea that they had, up near Chester? BM: Yeah from Chester if you head up eastward up through Hubbards where the Grey Gull is located, around the corner on the tip of that peninsula is this big abandoned structure with parking lots and everything but it’s this half-finished spa that they started building years ago and the economy fell through and they never finished it. NP: It’s actually incredible because the whole thing is built, there’s pools, the windows are in. We filmed in the basement. BM: We filmed there before in 2.08; Friend or Foe. NP: Oh yeah. BM: And we always wanted to go back because inside it was fantastic. And this was the perfect opportunity. NP: But it’s crazy when you go in there, it’s like all of the worker’s just suddenly disappeared. BM: We do a lot of on location filming for Haven … and we could not have possibly built something this big to film in. NP: There are hallways upon hallways and it worked out great because the place was big enough for us to run two units at the same time. Shawn was off with one of these handheld digital cameras with Lucas, Eric and Chris running around the hallways while the main group [Audrey etc] was here. And Eric Cayla, our DP would do a lot of shooting with these handheld cameras, or one of our camera operatives. So they would run around with Danny on their shoulder giving the diagloue, and then they would hand the camera off to Danny and he would do the same thing again for a different take.

BM: I would like to talk about Unstake My Heart for a second, which wound up being extraordinarily important. We always knew that it was going to be. We knew that it would be useful when it turned out to be Fraudrey’s favourite book - oh poor Dwight! NP: Yeah Dwight is knocked out there because Adam had to go do a WWE event. BM: Ha! Amazing! NP: This was a change the day before when we found out that Adam had a chance to go promote Haven at a WWE event. So we wrote him out of the last day. BM: That’s right because the season was about to start airing. So anyway, Unstake my Heart wound up being this important thing that Agent Howard had used, and so here we needed Agent Howard to have left Jennifer something that was going to help her personal journey. And it seems like it’s a magical book but really we always thought of it more that it’s more like a placebo effect that allowed Jennifer to realise some of her capabilities. And this was always how we intended the episode to wrap up, that Jennifer was going to realise a little bit of why she was the target of Williams’ creatures. And sort of end up saving the day as a result (with an assist from Seth). NP: Yes exactly. The guy who plays Sinister does a lot of our stunts and he was Seth in that moment [attacking the monster as Jennifer grabs the book off the floor] knocking the rougarou off his feet. We had so much fun up there saying that word especially with so many French Canadian, they love saying ‘rougarou’; [rougarou in a French accent!] BM: A rougarou if I’m not mistaken is a kind of European werewolf. NP: Yeah, it’s a French werewolf legend, kind of a cousin to the werewolf. Way back in the day I used to play this old role playing game called Werewolf of the Apocalypse, and in that all werewolves call themselves garou and so I suppose ‘le garou’ is what a werewolf is in french. BM: And do they actually eat your hearts? NP: That is a thing that we created for the Haven version, to give them a signature. BM: Like a serial killer calling card.

[As Seth and Andersen get ready to leave and Seth is talking to Nathan] NP: This scene originally was not Nathan saying goodbye, it was Dwight because Dwight had had that moment with Seth before. But because Adam had this great opportunity to go promote the show, we reworked this scene the day before it was going to shoot, to be Nathan instead. BM: That’s crazy. And initially there was also a third Darkside Seeker. There was going to be this host of a reality show and two other guys as his back up. It was crazy because we were initially writing it for (we can’t tell you who) a bigger nam- or I guess a different kind of actor who was going to do the role. He fell through really close to production. NP: Days before. BM: And so we - or rather Nick - streamlined and reconceived the episode and made it just about Seth and Anderson. And it turned out far better. NP: I definitely like this version more. It was always one of those things were I was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. BM: And the amount of restrictions we had on what we could and couldn’t do and who we could and couldn’t use, was more than I’d ever seen in four seasons of the show. But they say in TV you embrace the limitations, and it’s like why a bottle episode can end up being the best eipsodes. Those are the episodes you do to save money because you’re shooting the whole thing on one set; but they can end up being the best. And it’s the same thing here. This is one of the best epiosdes of the season and in many ways it’s because you had these parameters to work in. NP: That’s very nice of you. But I always think whenever you’re writing with restraints, whether they’re self imposed or due to what you’re working on, you’ll often end up with a better product just becasue you have to focus. Having everything wide open and being able to anything and everything doesn’t always turn out as good as you think it will in your head. BM: Yeah absolutely.

[As we see Jennifer joking about being Hermoine] BM: This is a big moment for me in terms of the Duke/Jennifer relationship which going into the season has always been a big deal for us. And here she is starting to learn that she is more than just Troubled. That there is clearly a major stake in what is going on in Haven tht involves her. It’s not just this book; it’s her. And that is going to come to bear on herself and her relationship with Duke. We had always known where we were going with her character when we introduced her and that it was going to get a little bit heavy in the next episode or two. And we love Jennifer and Duke, and we’re really happy that we earned their relationship.

*cell phone rings* NP: Oops that would be me. BM: That was the Game of Thrones theme? NP: In like old, midi form.

BM: Oh this is so sad with Nathan and Audrey too we knew what was going to happen at the end of the season. We knew what William’s plan was going to be for her. And it’s kind of a bookended season in that we started with introducing Audrey as Lexie and then now we’re going to learn who she really was; the original person.

[As Jennifer tells them about the riddle in the book] BM: How many versions of this cryptic message were there? NP: it’s funny, this was being changed up until the moment that we shot it. And actually Emma was nice enough to do a couple different takes with different versions of what she was saying. BM: There was a lot of debate about this. And that was my favourite version!