AUGUST 6, 2006
THE STARZL MUTATION
by Amy Berg
Craig Sweeny is away on his honeymoon, so I'm afraid you guys are stuck with me this week. I'll try not to suck at this. No promises, though.
By the way, I'm now officially the only single person on our writing staff. At the start of the season, there were four of us. But three of them have since gotten married, so now it's just me. Don't worry, it's not as depressing as it sounds. Oh, who am I kidding. It's totally depressing. But don't cry for me, Argentina. I'm the youngest and I don't own any cats. So there's hope for me yet.
Anyway, I wanted to first talk a little about "The Ballad of Kevin & Tess" since there was no blog last week. I don't know if you guys listened to Ira and Craig's podcast about it, but it was Hawesome. Yes, with a capital H. Even I learned some things I didn't know before. I'm going to harass the guys so they keep doing it, because I get a kick out of listening to them just as much as you do.
Ballad was a really fun episode, I hope you guys enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed conceiving it. It was one of those episodes that when you're breaking the story, it feels like it's breaking itself. All the pieces just seem to fall into place. I had a blast working on that one with Mr. Sweeny, who is a genius by the way. Between him, the sublime Ira Steven Behr and our fabulous cast... wow. It's like an embarrassment of riches. I pinch myself every day. Well, not every day. That would be weird.
Also, how cute are Jeff Combs (Kevin) and Summer Glau (Tess)? Don't they make a great couple? It's amazing the depth of emotion that two great actors can convey with just a look. I can't say enough about these two, so I should probably stop now before this post gets too long.
Onto the reason we're all here... The Starzl Mutation. Now this is what we call a jam-packed episode. I hope you made sure to handle all your business before you sat down to watch, because this is one of those episodes that demands your undivided attention. If you give it anything less, it will eat you alive. Okay, clearly that's an exaggeration but you get my point. There's only a handful of episodes left in the season and we're not waiting until the finale to unleash some major revelations.
So we're well into the third season of the show and we still hadn't answered one of the biggest questions in our mythology: Why Seattle? Well, now you know. And I'm sure the answer isn't what you expected, which is a difficult thing to pull off when you have a rabid fan base full of smart people constantly doling out their own theories. So hopefully we were able to sneak one past you there. I think we might have.
And I have to say, we were pretty pleased with ourselves when we came up with the flawed radiation machine as the source of the Starzl Mutation. We went back and forth on what it could be, but this was the coolest idea in the bunch. We actually spent more time debating this than we did the "Why Seattle?" question. That might sound ridiculous, but it just goes to show... details matter. Especially to sci fi geeks like us.
Before I go, I just want to mention a word or two about the casting of this episode. We were lucky enough to be able to bring back a few familiar faces, including Chilton Crane as Susan and Kaj-Erik Eriksen as Danny. We wish we could've given them more to do, but this episode was so packed there just wasn't time. Don't fret, this won't be the last you see of them.
Also returning is the brilliant Peter Coyote as NTAC's favorite nemesis, Dennis Ryland. And for all you Richard Kahan fans, Marco gets some meaty stuff in this one as well. Maybe breaking up with Diana was the best thing for him, because Marco's clearly more focused and, dare I say, smarter than ever.
But possibly the most pivotal role in the entire episode is that of Sgt. John Shaffner. There was crucial information that this character needed to relay and if it wasn't delivered convincingly enough... well, let's just say it wouldn't have been good. When Craig and I looked at the list sent over by our casting office, both of us immediately brightened at the sight of one name in particular.... J. August Richards. We're both huge fans of his and knew if there was a guy who could pull this off, it was him. Thankfully we got him. And he's fantastic.
Last but not least... a shout-out to our regular cast. You guys are all fabulous, and we don't get a chance to say it enough. I'd specifically like to thank Mr. Joel Gretsch, who gets batted around a little bit in this one (my apologies) and Mr. Patrick Flueger, whose emotions were required to run the gamut... and that they did. Bravo.
Let's see, did I forget anything? Hmm, I don't think so. I think I covered just about everything... why Seattle, flawed radiation machine, evidence as to why I'm still single, J. August Richards. Yep, I think that about does it. I mean, it's not like there was any huge, monumental, show-altering, someone's-back-from-the-dead kind of surprise at the end of the episode or anything. Oh, but that reminds me. You're really gonna want to tune in next week.
Welcome back, Billy. We missed ya.
Past Entries:
- (7/23) Blink
- (7/16) The Home Front
- (7/9) Graduation Day
- (6/25) Gone
- (6/18) Being Tom Baldwin
- (6/11) The New World, Parts I & II
- (6/1) Ira Steven Behr's Season 3 Sneak Peek
