My extreme apologies for taking so long between posts. Part of my absence was due to the fact that I was writing my second Heroes episode, "Pass/Fail" which aired a few weeks ago, 1/18/10. If you haven't seen it yet you can do so for free on NBC's website (link good until 9/19/10). I encourage you to do so not only because I believe it to be a highly entertaining episode, but because I'm going to spend the next several updates talking about the episode in detail. Think of it as as a DVD commentary sans DVD.
I'll break the commentary up into parts, starting with the Claire/Sylar storyline, or as it's known online "Sylaire". I'll start at the beginning and go through in rough order.
THE CAFETERIA • Gretchen's bag. You can't really see it here, but on the side of Gretchen's bag is a white knot for marriage equality. Not only was it in keeping with Gretchen's character but it was also going to be a way to identify the bag as Gretchen's when Claire later saw that Sylar had it. The original plan in that later scene was that when Claire says "I wouldn't help you if my life depended on it" she would turn around to leave and Sylar would TK the bag across the room and it would fall open at Claire's feet. Claire would see the white knot amongst books etc. and know it belonged to Gretchen. Because the bag was going to fall open, the knot ended up on the side of her bag rather than featured on the front. When it came time to shoot the scene with the bag flying across the room, we simply didn't have time, and instead Sylar shoots a look to the bag and Claire follows his gaze and says "Gretchen..." (dun-dun-dunnnnn). In short, I wish we'd been able to see the white knot a little more clearly/feature it a little bit more. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way, but if you look you can still see it ever so briefly when Claire sees the bag.
• "Bapst Hall" is a shout out to Boston College where I attended. Bapst Hall is a library and one of the oldest buildings there on campus. I didn't study there very much, but I always thought it had a cool name.
• This was filmed at the cafe on the lot at Sunset Gower Studios where Heroes is filmed. It closes every day at 3pm after which we're able to use it for filming. The tricky part is that when you're filming in November it doesn't leave very much daylight before the sun sets. That's where the talented Nate Goodman and John Newby and our lighting team come in and make it look like it's day time even though this and the later cafeteria scene were filmed at night.
CLAIRE FINDS SYLAR •These study room scenes were filmed at UCLA, I forget which building but we had to do it on the weekend (a Sunday I think) so as not to disturb too many of the students.
• "Professor Yanno" is a shot out to my college screenwriting professor Drew Yanno. He's a great professor and has also written an excellent book called "The Third Act" which discusses the art of writing the third and final act in a (feature) screenplay.
• The "Why Claire Bennet" board was an homage to Sylar's apartment in season one which had a closet scrawled with "Forgive me" on it. So much so that it was actually done by the same person in the props department who's been with us all this time.
• Sylar throwing the chalk was not in the script and ad-libbed by Zach Quinto, I thought it was a nice touch.
CLAIRE FINDS SYLAR - PART 2 • This was originally filmed as one scene with the previous scene but we ended up splitting things up a bit just to get the Sylar/Claire meeting a little earlier in the episode, so you knew where the story was going. Claire's line was actually a response to his question: "I came here to learn" and she replies "Learn what, how much I would love to kill you?" When the scene got split we just ADR'd (Additional Dialog Recording) her line to "Do you know how much I would love to kill you?"
• Just after Sylar says "It's not your life you should be concerned about." They look to see Gretchen's bag. If you freeze frame you can see the white knot for marriage equality I was referring to earlier.
THE COMPARISON CHART • In the script, Claire doesn't pick up the pencil here, it's wasn't until just beforeshe stabs him in the eye that she was supposed to grab it. The Director, Michael Nankin, saw an opportunity for her to pick it up here and hide it up her sleeve which really added something to these scenes. They're having a very intense and honest discussion but in the back of your mind you're waiting for that shoe to drop (or pencil to go in the eye as the case may be).
• Zach and Hayden are brilliant in all of these scenes, but I especially love Zach in this one. He's pouring his heart out to her and she (understandably) doesn't give a hoot. His subtle facial reactions to her are brilliant. The director and I met with Zach and Hayden before filming any of this and rehearsed all of their scenes together. They had some great input and had clearly thought about the scenes and their characters. Actors typically don't film every day but that doesn't mean they're not working. Getting a script is like getting homework or having to study for a test. These two really studied the material, came in mentally prepared and I think it paid off on the screen. I can't commend them enough.
• Zach's delivery of the line "Or don't you care how many fillets I slice your (pause) roommate into" is brilliantly. Not only because he highlights the complexity of Claire's and Gretchen's relationship, but because it shows (as we're about to learn) Sylar has used his object-memory ability on Gretchen's stuff. That's what I mean by understanding the material.
• The kiss. It was amusing to see people freaking out based on the promos that featured the kiss, thinking that somehow Claire and Sylar were going to kiss willingly. Promos are tough because you want to entice people to watch the episode without spoiling too much. One way (for better or worse) is to mislead people a little bit. Either way, it got people talking about the possibilities of how and why, which I think is a good thing. For what it's worth, the writers and producers have nothing to do with the promos (that I'm aware of), it's handled by NBC.
• As for the kiss itself. It's supposed to be creepy and unsettling and it still is for me even having watched a dozen versions of it -- live, dalies, various cuts etc.
PENCIL IN THE EYE • It's worth keeping in mind here, especially on a second viewing, that Sylar is actually running a con here. He's deliberately telling Claire where Gretchen is with the plan to impersonate her. He knows Claire won't open up to "Sylar" but after the kiss and using Lydia's ability, has an idea of who Claire will be honest with. So for people wondering how Claire was able to get out of his TK hold on her, it's simple. He let her.
• I think the pencil in the eye looked great. It was made by our special effects make up team, Optic Nerve. It was all practical, no digital effects. Claire makes the stabbing motion, Sylar falls to the ground, we cut (put the eye makeup on) and find Sylar with his back to camera where he turns around and you see it. We had plans to add some digital pencil when he gets stabbed, but the practical gag worked so well, we found we didn't need to. A worthwhile note to anyone out there trying to make something on a budget. Sometimes a practical trick is all you need.
• Kudos again to Zach for his part in this. The makeup covered up his entire eye and we were warned not to leave it on for too long as it could cause dizziness, and there was no air getting to his eyeball. Even after having it on for all that time, as he was leaving set to get it removed, he still stopped to take some pictures with UCLA students and one pesky writer.
CLAIRE SPRINTS ACROSS CAMPUS • Claire sprinting across campus was also filmed at UCLA. To track with
her as she's running we used a rig called "griptrix" -- it's
essentially a go cart with a camera mount on it, where 4-5 people sit
including a driver, the camera operator, focus puller and director.
It's pretty cool. Here are a couple not-so-great shots of it: CLAIRE FINDS "GRETCHEN" • Sylar used TK to blow out the windows in Claire's dorm room. We used "air cannons". They are exactly as the name describes, cannons of air. The "building" that you can see on the left is a backdrop that you would typically see in soft focus when looking out Claire's dorm room window.
• Claire's dorm room, the hallway are the closet are all filmed on set at Sunset Gower.
IN THE CLOSET • Madeline Zima (Gretchen) is great to watch in this scene on a second viewing for the ever-so-subtle Sylar-isms. Her reaction to Claire's line "No wonder Sylar's so messed up." And her line "Maybe that's his answer...
• Yes it's in a closet. Yes that matters.
CAFETERIA, TAKE TWO • The guy in the light brown jacket that Claire walks past is my friend Matt. "Hi, Matt!"
• To kiss or hold hands? I went back and forth on this for a while. Initially I wanted Claire to be "impulsive" and kiss Gretchen here. I wanted to definitively say Claire was accepting this relationship. But some smarter, more experienced people than I suggested I consider them holding hands, and here are the two big reasons why I think it's the right choice: It completes Claire's arc for the episode and it's more intimate. Claire was unwilling to hold hands (accept Gretchen) at the start of the episode and by the end she's literally doing what she couldn't before. As for the "intimacy", having them kiss could have been seen as a "ratings ploy" and probably would have been promo'd etc. What I like about holding hands is that it more definitively says "relationship" and acceptance. With college-age people, I think that holding hands is a much more intimate and serious step in a relationship than kissing.
• Zach Quinto in five seconds of screen time and no dialog says so much here. Claire has found what he's incapable of having. And it's crushing him. I can't say enough good things about Zach's performance in this episode.
THE MONTAGE • This was one of those "got lucky" moments for us in filming. Originally, this montage moment was scripted with Claire crying as she's talking to Gretchen -- presumably opening up about what it's like to have lost Nathan, the father she never really knew. I wrote something for Hayden along those line (even though we knew it would be MOS) and we filmed that version, Claire is crying and talking and Gretchen gives her a hug. Then the director, Michael Nankin did something simplistically brilliant. He let the camera keep rolling. Hayden and Madeline stayed in the moment for a while (no one had said "cut" yet) and then they began to be themselves, kept talking a bit and inevitably burst out laughing. It was sweet. Cut to a few weeks later and I'm watching an early cut of the episode. And, as scripted, Claire is crying and Gretchen is hugging her. But, it just didn't feel right. Having seen them holding hands in the cafeteria and walk off happily, we wanted to keep that energy going, and fortunately we had just the right piece of footage to use. It also created a nice juxtaposition between seeing the Samuel/Vanessa relationship fail and Claire/Gretchen succeed. That sort of serendipity happens during film making more often than you'd expect and it's one of my favorite things about the process.
SYLAR "MEETS" JANICE • Sylar saying "hey buddy" to baby Matt was an ad-lib by Zach. It's a very sweet gesture... were it not coming from Sylar.
That's it for now. I'll try to follow up again soon with the Samuel/Vanessa and Hiro stories. Please feel free to post questions and comments about the Claire/Sylar storyline and I'll see if I can answer some of them in a follow up post. (I believe you need to have an account on 9thWonders.com to post a comment). And if you're not already, follow me on twitter, I do my best to answer questions when I can. And of course, don't forget to watch tonight!
"Pass/Fail" was one of my favorite episodes of the season. I LOVED Hiro's "trial" - very entertaining stuff with some great, funny dialogue. Nice to see David Anders & George Takei again. (Coincidentally, David appeared on "24" that night.)
I thought Zachary Quinto was brilliant, although that's pretty much par for the course.
As I've said before, I hope Claire & Gretchen stay together for a few reasons:
1) All Heroes relationships seem to end in tears (Peter & Simone, Niki & D.L., Matt & Daphne, etc.) And look what happened to Samuel after he got rejected. Let's see a happy couple for once!
2) I like Gretchen a lot. Like she told Noah in "The Wall", she wants Claire to be happy, even if it means letting her go (as she did when she left her at the Carnival). Gretchen only tried to get her to stay after Noah threatened to have her "Haitianed". I really don't want to see her killed/cast aside/forgotten, and I think I'm not alone.
3) Claire & Gretchen seem to have genuine chemistry.
4) I know from comments on AfterEllen.com and elsewhere that the storyline has piqued the interest of members of the lesbian community (I try to keep my ear to the ground). They've been waiting for a genuine relationship between women on network television, unlike rating gimmicks like the "OC" subplot. Claire deciding that she's "straight" or Gretchen being "stuffed in a refrigerator" may alienate some people. I know there are other considerations (like contracts) but it's something to consider.
It was a treat and an "awesome"episode. Thank you, Oliver!
However the Clair scene was a very, very uncomfortable scene for me to watch. I never felt that Clair would ever willingly kiss Sylar except as a ruse to eventually turn the tables on him. I found the scene was both empowering becaus-- Clair eventually does take action and revenge-- but also a continuation of a victimization begun in S1 but made text in S3.
Question:
1)My question is knowing how Clair feels about Gretchen does Sylar still believe he and Clair are still meant to be together ala "Invisible Thread"?
2) Or is he on a whole 'nother path now and his knowledge of Clair & Gretchen is what helped change that?
3)Or does he dismiss Gretchen & Clair and all other relationships Sylar or Clair may have as "temporary" because he and Clair are immortal?
Oliver- I loved reading your blow by blow account of the episode. I had to agree with you concerning Madeline and Zach's performances. At one point, Claire is saying something derogatory/examining about Sylar, and she (Madi) swallows hard. The facial expressions were subtle but telling too. Kudos to her! And Zach! He is the King of Subtle Facial Expressions. I noticed that throughout the episode, and season. You can practically tell what Sylar is thinking by watching his face. Kudos to him as well. I did notice, and maybe you did too, that the notorious "Kiss" scene was a bit awkward for Zach. It was like he didn't know how to place his hand on Claire. Check it out if you haven't already. Love your episode, Oliver. You put a new face on an old evil. Well done!
As to the post re Invisible Thread, a big fave of mine,I feel Sylar merely meant his getting Claire's forgiveness and love, but not as in romantic. The first First Lady bit seemed more of a little jab at her he couldn't resist making. His ever present warped sense of humour.
The Claire/Gretchen thing in your episode was just great! I wouldn't have minded a kiss at all, obviously, but the holding hand was also absolultely beautiful! And the last scene, with the candles, I like to think they did more than just holding hands! LOL ^_^
But seriously, it was great, and I'm hoping, if there is a next season, that Madeline Zima will stay around! Forever, really! Those two girls are just the sweetest couple there ever were on the show, with the possible exception of Hiro+Charlie! So it has to work! :)
Oh, yeah, speaking of Hiro, I also really loved his trial part! That was really fun, metaphysical-like, I love that kind of stuff! :) Great job on that, too!
I loved this episode. It was one of the best written episodes of the season. I'm a sucker for metaphors and symbolism, and it was artfully displayed throughout so kudos to you for that. Thanks for the blow by blow account. I wish more writers would do that after an episode airs. It's nice to get in your heads every once and a while.
Also, you're so right about the acting. Madeline Zima was so good in her Sylarisms that I figured out pretty early on, it was Sylar. All the actors were great in this episode.
I enjoyed the episode very much; It was very pleasing for a Sylar/Claire fan (until the end that is, because while I do like Gretchen (she’s a very interesting character), I do not like her and Claire as a couple). The end of last season had Sylar acknowledging that he and Claire will be the only ones left and therefore are destined to be with one another. I agree with what someone above me posted that Sylar was messing with and just trying to unsettle her, but I also feel, given what we saw with his father, that he believed what he was saying. In this episode we have the same issue of Sylar not wanting to be alone, he then goes to the only other immortal, one that he’s already had a discussion about destiny with, and he doesn’t bring the issue up again? While I feel that the lesson, don’t shut others out and you’re not just your powers and so on, was necessary to help Sylar out, I just can’t believe that the thought of her and him didn’t come up again, especially given what he’s afraid of. Or did this thought occur to him and is still part of his plan, but in this episode he’s attempting get on her good side (which wouldn’t make much sense since he then decides to get rid of his powers)? Overall, I just find it odd that their last time together wasn’t mentioned at all in some capacity.
While I understand your choice to have them hold hands rather than kiss (I feel it was a more mature move too), it seems to have added to the confusion about Claire and Gretchen. By reading numerous boards, it seems people are split about whether these two are actually together or not. While Claire’s actions in this episode could imply romantic intentions toward Gretchen (especially if you take Sylar’s word at face value, but that’s part of the problem, it’s Sylar) they also could very will mean friendship. Claire doesn’t let people in, telling Gretchen she wants to hold her hand and talk to her, open up, doesn’t necessarily come across with romantic undertones (and there has not been very much in past episodes to compensate, Claire’s appeared to be too busy with other things than to think about her sexuality and feelings for Gretchen). In your twitter you said it was more liberating than romantic as well. I was wondering why you didn’t add a little more (even just one line from Claire like “I want us to give it a try” or something) to make it more definite or why was there no conformation in the next episode (I know you didn’t write it, but still). I was just left with this ambiguous feeling as to whether Claire really has “those” kind of feelings for Gretchen or not, and by talking with others I’m not the only one. I think there was just too much similarity/parallels to Claire accepting her power/letting others in and Claire deciding to embark in a relationship with Gretchen. I understand that was the point, but I feel the two were not separated enough to make the two storylines clear; which is why I feel this type of relationship would have worked better with a hero that was more confident and accepting of themselves and their power than Claire was. Also, was it the intention all along to have the two characters end up together or was it decided later on in the season?
I too am in a sort of agreement, to a certain extent, with the most recent comment (andtototoo's) - I actually loved the hand holding, it was perfect, but then we don't see anything else in the next episode(s) and in general, especially since Heroes is potentially over (hopefully not of course), idk, I just think we should have seen them kiss at least 1 more time after Claire said "I want to hold your hand" - which made the Beatles pop into my head when I heard that, by the way.
I did NOT pick up on the fact that it wasn't really Gretchen but rather Sylar on my first viewing, you definitely tricked me, FYI.
I adored all the symbolism from coming out of the closet through to ALL of the Hiro stuff. This was a brilliant episode and if I had to pick a favorite episode in the series this MIGHT be my favorite, no lie. Definitely within the top 5 for me. I mean Peter's my favorite character so it's hard for me to pick an episode that doesn't include him AT ALL lol but I really loved EVERY second of this. I've only read this Part 1 and Part 3 of your commentary on the episode, now off to read Part 2 on the Samuel/Vanessa stuff and all that. All these behind the scenes tidbits are extremely fascinating though and I really appreciate you taking the time to share all of this with us. Extremely fascinating. I
I got cut off before I was done! And oh I got confused by how the comment system works, i was trying to refer to agreeing with goldensage, not andtototoo, sorry. LOL. Although I, like andtototoo, also am a sucker for all the symbolism. :D
Glaire (Gretchen/Claire) FTW! ;) They are the cutest thing ever. Well. And Peter/Emma. I need a season 5 of Heroes and I need both of those couples to actually become couples!! Seriously. NEED. Yeah. Just saying.
You better write another Heroes episode... you're too amazing not to. And if Heroes gets canceled, which I of course don't want to happen, I for one will be very curious to see where you go next. ;)
Mr. Grigsby, Thank you for writing this, I really appreciate it when writers reach out to fans!
As with several posters above, I am confused by the resulting ambiguity of Claire and Gretchen's relationship that this episode created. You stated it was "liberating" on your twitter, but present it here as "romantic," so I'm a little unsure as to what ultimately is canonical to Heroes' storyline. Are Claire and Gretchen together? According to Heroeswiki they are, but I've yet to see definitive proof of that on the show and probably never will. That's not a slight against your writing, I enjoyed this episode, but I have problems with shows that abandon plot lines willy nilly, especially when I find the plot lines to be contrived to begin with (cough**lesbian college storyline**cough). I get that the hand holding was more mature (and obviously would be seen as less of a ratings ploy then having them kiss, but as I'm not unconvinced the whole relationship isn't a ratings ploy...well why not have them kiss?). Holding hands didn't clarify anything as to the status of their relationship, I hold hands with my female friends all the time and ultimately made me feel like they are in the friend zone completely.
Finally, I'd like to address the ongoing issue of Sylar and Claire because something has always intrigued/bothered me about their interactions. I agree with the poster above who said they have a victimizer/victim relationship but its the pervasive sexual nature of it that always rubbed me a little the wrong way, like always, all the way back in season one always when he dragged his hand across her bed and called her "ripe." And then this episode brought that idea to the forefront when he kisses her against her will to see into her soul and has a tattoo of her on his arm. Technically to utilize Lydia's power he didn't need to kiss her, right? Lydia was able to use it on Hiro just by having him touch her, so shouldn't Sylar have just been able to touch Claire and used the ability as well? I suppose you could argue that Claire's walls are so deep, Sylar needed more meaningful contact or that he had only ever seen Lydia do it in such a way but I don't know if I buy either of those explanations; Sylar has always been able to do more with in an ability then its previous owner, not to mention know the inns and outs of it, and the first explanation just seems like a coup out. It just kinda strikes me that he kissed her...because...he could? Because he wanted to? I'm not really sure why and I don't know what purpose it served but to play on the sexualized nature of Sylar's victimization of Claire, which is frankly bit disconcerting. As for the tattoo, did it vanish once Claire answered Sylar's question? It was never mentioned again, so I'm assuming but you know what they say about assumptions? If the tattoo only showed him his desire to find answers, why didn't it morph into Matt Parkman when he went looking for him next? I wish the issue of the tattoo would be addressed because I can't help thinking that if it showed him what he desired, why wouldn't it do so again? And again? Or is their a limited supply of ink in his skin?
Hope you have time to answer, would really appreciate your comments! Thanks again.
Hey, I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say GREAT blog!…..I”ll be checking in on a regularly now….Keep up the good work!
