JULY 30, 2006
SYMMETRY

I always thought "Symmetry" would become a fan favorite much like "Precipitate" was in Season 2. It's one of those episodes that's a real brain twister. You kind of have to be patient with it and stay with it, sort of trust the writers and the director. And trust the series, that it's going to actually provide an answer at the end of this episode-long puzzle that satisfies. You enjoy the ride and, just when you think you start to understand it, we add a new twist.

It's always fun to see Michael Hall play all these different characters. We're so lucky to have an actor that's so versatile. Not only is he able to improvise and do different characters and take on different personalities and personality traits, but he can do the humor and the drama at the same time.

This episode was a great character study for him -- four different characters, really -- and, by the end of it, you realize that he's been playing five different people, including Johnny as both observer and observed. And, of course, it was great to see John Adams playing a different aspect of Johnny's personality, too; John (as Bruce) gets to play a sort of part of Johnny's own subconscious.

For Rachel Talalay (the director) and Chris Lynch and Loren Segan (the writers), it was a difficult episode to define the rules for and to figure out exactly how to navigate all these different points of view of the same story, told by having the audience see it through different people's eyes without them knowing who's eyes they're seeing it through. So, it's sort of this weird, twisted, Roshomon-on-crack kind of story.

Needless to say, we went through a lot of different drafts of the script for this episode. I remember a lot of calls with the studio and a lot of calls with the network. They were confused. And we were all trying to figure out the best way to tell this story and how to not only convey it to the audience, but to help the writers and the director figure out how to convey it to the actors and the production departments.

It was actually one of the episodes that, even though my father was ill at the time (it was late in his fight with throat cancer and he couldn't talk very well), we had to call and get his help with this one. We -- myself and the writing staff -- sat at our conference table at the Piller Squared offices and put ourselves on the speaker box, while Michael (aka Big Piller) listened to us at home and typed his responses in an Instant Message window to our writers' assistant who would then read his responses out loud to us.

So, basically, we had to call in the big guns in on this one! Ultimately, though, Chris and Loren saw it through and did a terrific job.

We're pretty proud of this one and, visually speaking, I was really, really stoked with Rachel Talalay and how she stayed calm under pressure trying to pull this one together. At the end of the day, it all looks easy and comes together, but there were many meetings just to figure out something as simple as costume changes and wardrobe.

We had to decide what Johnny would wear as himself so that it was like what the other characters wore: the woman, the ex and the friend. Johnny wore a sort of hybrid of what each of their outfits was and, yet, he wasn't wearing any of their outfits specifically. And he wasn't even wearing what he actually wore as Johnny Smith! We didn't want the outfits or wardrobe to give away the secret of the episode or, basically, to confuse or cheat the rules that we had set up in The Dead Zone universe.

Hopefully, the audience will watch it and just go, "Hey! That was really kick-ass" or "I didn't guess what was happening" or "What a fun ride!"

We got some great production value in terms of that cliff and Maiya's fall and that day we spent at the beach. I ended up showing up on that day to help Rachel a bit. Normally, I'm in prep on the next episode. Although she had it under control in terms of all the transitions in the rest of the show, the big four touches shot (the Johnny-touches-Johnny-touches-Johnny-touches-Johnny shot that changes into the four different characters locked in their struggle) was a big one that really took Rachel, myself and visual effects supervisor Jason Stritch working together to try to figure out how to shoot it and how to shoot it without motion control.

I draw diagrams when we're in the Viz Effects meetings and so I understand how to do it. And so does the director. But the second we leave that room, life happens and the director begins worrying about all the other stuff. So, a lot of times on those big days, I will show up to back them up. To me, the meeting is fresh in my mind, like we just talked about it. But the director may be worn out or hasn't slept in several days. I was really happy with the work Rachel did and that Stargate Digital pulled it off.

Not only is "Symmetry" a brain twister and entertaining to watch, but it was -- I won't say it was entertaining to make -- very hard to make. It all eventually came together and, I think, it ended up being pretty seamless. I'm hoping that the fans will dig it as much as we did in the end.

At the end of the day, I think there's nothing more satisfying than when one of these shows comes together. It becomes one of these great little pieces of science fiction ... or not even science fiction, just a great character drama told in a way that only The Dead Zone can do: through Johnny Smith's eyes, using his powers in a unique way.

Until next week,

Shawn Piller
Executive Producer

Past Entries:

• (7/23) Lotto Fever
• (7/16) The Inside Man
• (7/9) Articles of Faith
• (7/2) Panic
• (6/25) Independence Day
• (6/18) Forbidden Fruit