Episode Twenty.... and behind-the-scenes writer's commentary

"Ragged Isle" episode twenty, "Original of the Species," is up at The Entertainment Experiment web site. If you haven't already, go watch it now. After you've seen it, read on for a behind-the-scenes writer's commentary, which will (of course) include spoilers for this episode and previous episodes.

I've written about our process before. I'm talking about the five original writers:  Barry Dodd, Karen Dodd, Rick Dalton, Jacob Lear, and myself. We had this giant piece of cardboard and these little index cards on which we wrote character descriptions and plot points, clustering them on the cardboard to form loose episode capsules. The first ten clusters, representing the first season, were thickly settled, as a large part of our energy and focus was getting the first season (which we'd be shooting that summer) really nailed down and into good shape. We knew the climax of the whole series, thanks to a brilliant offhand comment from Jake Lear early in the proceedings.  But the clusters of cards between the first season and the climax were a little... thinner.

For example, for the previous episode, we wrote that the "dissident" (which is how we referred to the character who fell in love with Emma Dobson and was exiled to an underwater cage) meets the CDC character (who would be played by me), realizes I'm his son, and tells me so. This is what it said on the card, more or less:  "Dissident meets CDC agent. Tells him he's his son."

When it came time to write that scene, I thought to myself:  Wait, what? Why would the CDC agent believe this guy? Is there anything written on the back of this card? No? Damn it!

After some thought, I hit upon the idea that unbeknownst to the CDC agent, he has the ability to breathe underwater. I wrote the scene that eventually ended up in episode nineteen, in which the "dissident" gives my character a bit of baptism, proving definitively that he's... well, not like other people. Brilliant!, I thought to myself, and happily shared the scene with the rest of the writing team.

To my dismay, Karen pushed back against it. "I think that the CDC agent would have discovered this ability before now," she wrote. Rats! Wait, would he have? Why would he have? We went back and forth on this for quite a while, never quite fully agreeing, until finally, I wrote the monologue my character delivers in this episode, the one about his little brother drowning -- definitively serving up a reason why Dr. Hoffman has never discovered this amazing ability.

Boy, am I glad Karen pushed back, because this is my favorite scene in the whole series (or one of my favorites, anyway). But, boy, was I terrified to actually have to perform it. First of all, I'd be sitting next to Michael Dix Thomas, who's basically great acting personified. Secondly, the tone of monologue is extremely tricky: sad, awed, and capping off with a laugh line about Aquaman that has to be delivered absolutely straight. I'll leave it to others to decide whether or not I pulled it off, but I've been waiting two years to share it with you. I'm so happy it's finally here.

As for the rest of the episode, it has one of the creepiest endings of any episode of "Ragged Isle." I've mentioned this before, but the basement scenes were shot in my basement, which is just inherently creepy anyway, and the sight of a gagged and bagged Paul thrashing around on the chair just gives me chills -- even when I saw it happening on set and I knew Ian was just fine. Yikes.

And oh yeah: I kill a guy in this episode. No sound effects have been added to that slam against the wall. That was really me thumping against the wall. The tricky part was to stay hidden behind actor Denis Fontaine as he advanced towards Vicki until he falls away to reveal me holding the knife. We did a bunch of takes, always starting with me slamming against the wall of the building and then me crouching down behind Denis to stay out of the camera's sight. (When I dropped the knife, I was trying to do it like Michael Corleone drops the gun in The Godfather.)

Also, I throw up again. Dr. Hoffman sure has a weak stomach.  But now we know why he doesn't like boats. Or the water.

This episode also features a quiet scene between Madame Clelia and Louis. This was a very late addition to the script, when we realized we needed a final beat between these two whose friendship has been a part of the tapestry of the show since the beginning (and something that was very much discovered on set, based on the chemistry between the actors). It was a pleasure working with Kathryn Coccyx and Adam Cogswell, both of whom brought so much to their characters. (I'm not saying we've necessarily seen the last of both of them, just that this scene puts a nice bow on their relationship.)

The idea from very early on was that there would be simultaneous investigations happening on the island -- people taking a cold, hard, logical approach (Agent Thorne Homeland Security), people looking for a more supernatural explanation (Sheriff Dalton and Dr. Hoffman), and people digging into the island's history (Paul and Vicki). As we begin to wrap up the series, those supposedly parallel investigations are beginning to intersect more and more. It was fun to bring those separate elements together outside the Ragged Isle Star offices (to be continued next episode).

We're really in the home stretch now, and for me, these final three episodes are the most exciting ones we've done. I can't wait to share the rest with you.

P.S. Those underwater shots are stunning, aren't they? Barry and Derek and David's images are so beautiful. Haunting event.

P.P.S. I keep thinking of other things I want to praise about this episode. How about Kip Weeks and Krystal Kenville acting underwater? Acting. Friggin'. Underwater. Holy cow, these guys are unbelievable.

Episode Sixteen.... and behind-the-scenes writer's commentary

The season two finale of "Ragged Isle," "Where Did It All Go Wrong," is here.  This is the last episode we'll be serving up until spring 2013, so savor it (though there will be some treats and surprises in the meantime).  Fortunately, we packed a lot for you to contemplate into this very short episode.  Watch it below, and after you've seen it, read on for a behind-the-scenes writer's commentary.



Did you watch?  I'm about to start spoiling the episode, so turn back now if you haven't watched.  Fair warning.

Way back when we were shooting season one, we knew exactly where the series was going.  There were drafts of all ten episodes of the then-final season two.   But then in the spring of 2011, during the original broadcast of season one, we decided to split the final season into two seasons, adding two more episodes to make the second and third season six episodes apiece.

There was more to be done besides just splitting the seasons and writing two new episodes.  The structure of every episode had to be reworked, and new plots and characters had to be introduced.

The events on the boat, seen in this episode, originally occurred in episode thirteen, the first draft of which was written by Rick Dalton.  Rick's dialogue between Colleen and Paul remains largely intact (though I think Colleen was originally a man), but when we decided that this was where we would break the season, we reworked it as a cliffhanger.  In the first season, we sent Mac (Dominic Lavoie) into the water.  In the second, Vicki (Meghan Benton) takes the plunge.

Dominic had it (relatively) easier.  He went into the water at the end of August (2010), on a fairly warm night.  We shot Vicki's plunge in early September (2011) on a decidedly cooler night, after a very long day of shooting.  Immediately after Meghan went in, she surfaced and shouted, "Goddamn, this is cold!  Whatever you have to shoot, do it quick!"  That was the closest she came to a complaint, performing the scene with astonishing grace and professionalism (despite shivering uncontrollably and slowly turning blue).  It was amazing to watch, and my hat's forever off to Meghan for the most courageous thing I've ever seen an actor do.  Maybe she can be persuaded to weigh in about the experience in the comments, because after all that, she had to keep the whole thing secret for nearly a year.

(The underwater shots were captured in a pool.  I wasn't there for that shoot, but maybe Barry can also be persuaded to chime in with a comment or a blog post of his own, because I understand that it was no picnic.)

The final script for this episode clocked in at four pages, by far the shortest episode of the season (and maybe even the whole series).  The season one finale was also short on the page, but Barry managed to stretch it in editing with great music and cool lobster festival atmosphere (courtesy of footage from the Rockland Lobster Fest).

To stretch out the season two finale (and strengthen its impact), Barry conceived of Vicki's encounter in the water.  Careful "Ragged Isle" viewers will recognize the woman Vicki sees as Emma Dobson, whose picture hangs on the wall of The Glass Jaw, and whose story Rachel Moody told to Sheriff Dalton in episode seven, "The Unforgettable Fire."  Even more eagle-eyed fans will have seen Emma's picture in the locket Madame Clelia gave to Vicki, and in a newspaper article on Vicki's conspiracy wall.  Emma also appears in a snippet of enigmatic footage after the closing credits of the season one finale, and even more enigmatic footage at the beginning of this episode.  Are you starting to get the feeling that Emma is important to the mystery?  Go with that feeling.  I think maybe it will pay off in season three.  That's actress Krystal Kenville as Emma, and there's a good chance we'll hear more from Krystal fairly soon.

At the close of the season, I want to thank Barry for putting it all together, and Jake and Karen and Rick and our whole tremendous cast for a tremendous season.  That montage during the credits brought back a lot of memories of last summer's shoot.

I feel blessed to be a part of this project, and sad that it's going dark for so long (though I'm happy Barry will be getting a break at last).  But stay tuned to the blog and the Facebook page.  We may just have a few surprises up our sleeves in the months ahead.

Episode Fifteen.... and behind-the-scenes writer's commentary

"Ragged Isle" episode fifteen, "Moment of Surrender," is up. Check it out, and when you've seen it, read on for a behind-the-scenes writer's commentary.



Have you seen it? This is where I start spoiling the episode, so if you haven't watched it, you should probably watch it, or come back later (after you've watched it).

Some of my favorite TV series are serialized, telling a long story via individual installments. But even the most heavily serialized shows occasionally present a stand-alone episode, one that advances the larger narrative but also tells a self-contained story. That's cool too. Last year, we had a nifty stand-alone episode in the form of the Ragged Isle talent show, which was really Barry and Karen's brainchild. Next year, we've got a doozy of a stand-alone (just you wait!) with a core concept that sprang from the mind of co-writer/prop maker/poster designer Jake Lear. This year's stand-alone (well, mostly) tells the story of Gertie Kendrick, and came out of an idea I had long before we had cracked the story for the rest of the season.  I wrote the Gertie scenes very early on in the scripting process, before we even knew where they would fit.

The Gertie scenes tell a macabre short story by themselves, but they also open up our understanding of the mysterious drowning deaths that have plagued the island.  As the newspaper articles on Vicki's conspiracy wall broadly hinted last week, certain entities (whatever they are) are passing their consciousnesses from one Ragged Isle citizen to another, usually from mentor to protege, leaving behind "drowned" corpses in their wake.  This is the first time we've gotten a good look at this process, though we've certainly seen glimpses (and the aftermath, obviously).  I wanted to convey just how seriously these creatures (whatever they are) take it.  Jumping from one body to another is not something they do lightly, or often, and like Native Americans with their kills, they observe certain somber rituals of gratitude when they do make the jump.

Except one of them is not like the others, and is plowing through Ragged Isle residents as if they were items in an all-you-can-eat buffet.  I expect we'll find out what's behind that at some point, just maybe not soon.  We'll see.

The were some character gender changes in the revision process of this episode (and the last).  Dr. Monroe was originally a man, but then I decided there was no reason that character had to be male, and I wanted every episode to at the very least pass the Bechdel Test, if possible.  There's a shortage of strong female characters in movies and TV, especially strong female characters who don't serve exclusively as love interests to the central male characters.  I think it was important to all of the writers plotting out the story (Barry, Karen, Rick, Jake, and myself) that we have a wide variety of interesting women on the show.  Also, the great Cathy Counts really delivers in this role, both as the kindly doctor and as the vengeful whatever-it-is.

On the other hand, Gertie's assistant was originally a woman. But then, pretty late in the scripting process, I got the idea that the dynamic between Gertie and her protege was too similar to the dynamic between Rose and Julie, so we made a swap, and were lucky enough to land Justin C. St. Louis for the role of the doomed Trevor Stebbins.

As I mentioned last week,we shot the Gertie scenes on the very last day of principal photography for "Ragged Isle," as our "summer" shoot lingered into the end of November, 2011.  These were some of the scenes I was most excited about (and also some of the scenes I had written earliest), so it was a long, long wait to see them play out.  But boy was it worth it.  As I've mentioned on this blog once or twice (or three times), it was such a joy watching actress Suzanne Rankin perform as Gertie, and everyone she shares a scene with in this episode really shines as well:  Beth Saufler as Rose, Denis Fontaine as Vance, and the aforementioned Justin C. St. Louis as Trevor.  I love everything about this storyline, including the grisly surprise ending.  (At least, I hope it was a surprise.  Last week, the doctor rang the doorbell.  This week, she knocked.  That was your clue that she was a "changed" woman.)

But the Gertie scenes are not the only scenes in this episode, so there's more to talk about.  After the success of last year's scuba diver monologue, I felt a little bolder this year placing longer speeches in the mouths of our characters.  Hence, Agent Thorne's monologue about lies and poker, Rose's monologue about Gertie's many life experiences, and even my mini-monologue about the grieving process.  As always, I'd rather not spend a lot of time lingering on my acting, but I'm quite pleased with how Kathryn Perry and Beth Saufler delivered Agent Thorne's and Rose's monologues, respectively.

Way back when, Rick wrote an early draft (the first draft, in fact) of episode eleven, the first episode of the second season (back when we thought there were only going to be two seasons).  Rick's draft dealt almost exclusively with the meeting between the sheriff and Dr. Hoffman (my character).  It was pretty great, but it had to be pared down extensively when we revamped our plans for the season and introduced new plot threads and characters (like Agent Thorne).  The exchange in episode fifteen (this one) between Rick and myself emerged out of Rick's old episode eleven draft, and I like that we can still see the lingering effects of the sheriff's grief.  We saw how devastated he was in the first episode of the season, but he has been pretty much all business since, even cracking a few jokes (good ones too: "Control the lobsters, control the world!").  In this episode, we can see that the sheriff's grief is still there, just pushed beneath the surface so he can do his job.

The ending of this episode is just about the grisliest thing we've seen since Harrison Shaw's death way back in episode five. And so, another one of these creatures (whatever they are) appears to have met its end. Who (or what) are they, and why is someone or something (whatever it is) going around carving them up?

The answers to those questions will have to wait for another day.

Episode Thirteen... and behind-the-scenes writer's commentary

"Ragged Isle" episode thirteen, "Drowning Man," is up.  Check it out, and when you're done, read on for a behind-the-scenes writer's commentary.



Have you watched it?  Because there will spoilers in the rest of this post, for this episode and everything that came before.  Fair warning

You know what my favorite thing about this episode is?  I got to take a power drill and drill a hole in Sebastian Carlsen.  Hell, yes!

(Okay, maybe that's not my favorite thing.  But it's pretty damned awesome.)

This episode endured a number of rewrites, many due to logistical concerns, though all the changes ultimately benefited the show, I think.  (One of the rewrites -- of season two as a whole -- actually conjured this episode into existence.  More on that in a moment.)

For example, as scripted, the first scene, between Paul, Eric, and Louis, originally took place in a big office that had belonged to Louis's mentor, Harrison Shaw (played in season one by Todd Manter), the idea being that Louis would look very small behind Shaw's enormous desk, which he has inherited.  But we couldn't secure a decent office location (or a big enough desk), and the scene was moved outside, which I believe works much better.  First of all it looks great, showing off once again Maine's beautiful outdoors.  Plus it puts Paul and Eric in an environment in which they're pretty comfortable (but Louis isn't), and it gives us another glimpse of the island blockade, reminding us of this season's raised stakes.  There's some nice work from all three actors in this scene.

The second scene, between Rose and Julie, originally took place in the grocery store.  But we had too many scenes set in the grocery store, which had to remain open while we were shooting, and we just couldn't cover them all in the limited time we had available.  So the scene was moved to Rose's kitchen, and it ends up being a much more intimate setting for Julie and Rose to discuss Julie's interrogation.  I'm in love with all of the acting in this episode.  Beth Saufler and Amie Marzen serve up a nice snapshot of the intimacy between Rose and Julie, as well as some barriers that still exist between them.

The autopsy scene never changed locations, but there was a lot of back-and-forth about what exactly the audience would see.  Barry really wanted us to have a "Twin Peaks moment," like when Agent Cooper stuck the tweezers deep beneath a dead Laura Palmer's fingernail to retrieve a clue.  For our scene, Barry envisioned a close-up of oversized cotton swab being slowly pulled from a hole in a victim's chest.  (We even discussed -- at length -- just how much blood and other bodily goo should be clinging to the swab as it is pulled out.)  I did some research into tests for drowning, and came up with the diatom test, which compares bacteria found in the victim's lung to bacteria found in the local water supply.  The lung isn't usually reached with a power drill of course, but I figured that on an island without a lab, locked down and with few available facilities, the doctor would have to improvise a bit.  This may be wildly unsound, but I'm keen on the effect of the drill and the cotton swab.  And let me tell you something, that drill was fun to wield.  Our special effects wizard, Eric Anderson, rigged up a rubber torso, and poor Sebastian had to crouch at the end of the table, leaning his head way back to complete the illusion.  There was a Styrofoam cup full of fake blood directly beneath the spot I had to drill (and dip the swab).  I hope we achieved the "ick" factor we were going for without being too stomach-churning.

This sequence also features the first face-to-face encounter between Sheriff Dalton and Agent Thorne (something that fans have been anticipating since the season began), and it does not disappoint.  The sheriff's great line, "Control the lobsters, control the world!" came directly from the mind of Rick Dalton, and I love love love the way he delivers it.  We also get to meet the great Cathy Counts as Ragged Isle resident doctor Gail Monroe.  We'll see more of her.

In this episode, we see more of Vicki's investigation, as she digs up old archived Ragged Isle Star articles—which I like to imagine were scanned somewhat haphazardly over the years by Vance Trundle, who probably didn't catalog or cross-reference his work very thoroughly.  So Vicki's search for relevant stories probably amounts to sifting through tons and tons of fine sand in the hopes of turning up the occasional gold nugget.  Which is the definition of good journalism, come to think of it.  We'll see more of the fruits of her investigation very soon.

If you freeze-frame on Vicki's computer screen, you might be able to read the text of the two articles  Vicki has pulled up -- one an archived story from 1937 about the death of a factory heiress, and one a contemporary story Vicki's working on about the island lobstering ban.  The first one's a clue, obviously, more of Vicki's investigation into what exactly's going on.

Again, I love the acting in this scene, as the tension just rises and rises.  Oh, and  Vance's line, "You're a good man, sister," is a direct lift from "The Maltese Falcon" -- a little present for people who love that movie (as I do).

After season one aired, the decision was made to split the already written ten-episode second season into two separate seasons of six episodes apiece, which meant writing two new episodes and tearing apart all of the existing episodes, and pasting them back together in ways that made sense.  Episode thirteen was one of the "new" episodes (though it contains scenes that had been in earlier drafts of season two).  After my first pass on the episode, it was running a bit short, but I realized we didn't have enough Madame Clelia in this season.  So I added the scene on the street, which is a nice showcase for Kathryn Coccyx and further illustrates how divided the island has become.  It's a nice showcase for Louis too, as he takes control of a situation in a way we haven't seen before.

In case it hasn't become obvious by now, the title of every episode of "Ragged Isle" is also the title of a U2 song.  I'm particularly fond of how well this title, "Drowning Man," fits with this episode, which features Louis drowning in his new responsibilities, Sebastian apparently dead by drowning, and Vance Trundle drowning in a sea of Homeland Security questions.  Each of these characters is, in his own way, the drowning man of the title.

I like the camera perspective we get at the beginning of the interrogation scene, which gives a different flavor from the Julie interrogation scene of the last episode.  Still, Agent Thorne continues to prove her badassery.  Her cold stare at Vance Trundle after he attempts to cut the interview short is a joy to behold.

The interrogation scene and the evidence room were both shot at the Baxter Memorial Library in Gorham, Maine (where we shot the library scene in episode six last season).  They were unbelievably gracious and generous letting us use their facility, and the payoff for us is an incredibly cool-looking, authentic set.  We are so grateful to them.

That's actor Benjamin Row as the agent who answers the phone in the evidence room when Thorne is looking for Griggs.  Ben was one of the people who showed up when we put out a call for extras to play agents.  And then he kept showing up, helping out in about a thousand different ways.  Whenever we needed an agent extra, Ben was there.  Whenever we needed something else, Ben was there.  He became such a fixture on the set that we started giving him lines.  "You've got Murphy," and his mispronunciation of "Katsarakis" last week.

Ben's also a stage actor, and during a recent run of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)," he wore his Ragged Isle t-shirt every night on stage.  He is a "Ragged Isle" hero.  Thanks, Ben!

Have I covered everybody?  Probably not.  But I want to say again that all the actors in this episode brought their A-game, and Barry brought his A-game to shooting and cutting it.

And the music!  Again:  So, so good.

I love this episode.