“Backlight” - The Final Year, Part 4
I don’t know why this quote stuck with me, but I always found it humorous, as I often did when Kim Zimmer (Reva, GL) answered questions in the soap magazines. She was asked about onscreen sex scenes or something along that topic, and she responded that she had reached an age when she had “commercial sex scenes.” Meaning, the lovemaking happened during the commercial break. Viewers knew it happened when Procter & Gamble were busy selling paper towels and toilet paper.
It’s hard to write a love scene for yourself. As you can imagine, Misguided didn’t have the budget for much, let alone an intimacy coordinator. So instead of writing a love scene, I figured I’d have one of those famous Kim Zimmer Commercial Sex scenes. I would start the episode with Bennett and Paul in bed, and viewers could piece together what happened between the end of the last episode and the start of this episode. It was really wonderful to work with Kasey (Bennett) in this particular moment, though, because up to this point, we had developed a great working relationship, and it made this particular scene easy.
Jumping around for a brief moment, if you’ve watched the episode, you’ve now seen the scene where Kyle is comforting Paul in his bedroom. Well, we shot those scenes a couple of weeks before filming the bedroom scene with Bennett. At the time, Scott, the director of photography, asked an innocent question: “Paul, are you sure you want those handcuffs in the shot?” You see, that wasn’t set dressing; that was just what was next to my bed. I got them in a bundle deal on Poshmark and figured, why not put them on display? Well, when filming came around, I didn’t even consider that they would be in the shot and how that would look. I told Scott we’d leave them in, and I’m so happy we did because, on the day we filmed the Bennett scene, it occurred to me we could use those same handcuffs, and it would all make sense and play out in a fun way. Of course, Paul’s imagining the whole scenario, but that just makes it all the more enjoyable.
So now that we’ve gotten through the sexiness of the episode, it’s time to address the elephant in the corner. I wrote this episode, we filmed this episode, and it never once occurred to me that we were dealing with such a sensitive topic. As I was editing this and watching it over and over, it occurred to me that this could be a little too emotional or “triggering,” for lack of a better word. It’s why I chose to put a content warning at the beginning of the episode, to set the tone that we’ll be dealing with a little bit of heaviness in this particular episode. I also think that multiple versions of the previous scripts came together in this Kyle/Josephine/Paul scene. Kyle was in a coma, Kyle was drugged and detoxing, Josephine kidnapped and ultimately rescued Kyle… if you kept up with all that went down, kudos! I think I’ve helped turn you into a soap opera fan because sometimes those stories go all over the place, and you may need a roadmap to find your way through a scene or storyline.
I do have to say, writing the Paul and Kyle scenes brought me so much joy; getting Kyle to reference Guiding Light stories (which I explained in great detail to Daniel while we filmed so he had some idea of the context). There was a moment in the script I truly wanted to make work, but ultimately we found it didn’t do anything for the story and wasn’t necessary, but I thought I would touch on it briefly here. There’s a point in the scene when Paul tells Kyle how bad the soap genre has gotten, with so few shows left. Paul lists all the shows that have been canceled pretty much since 2000. During this moment, I had written that the camera pans over to Paul’s dresser briefly, and the audience sees a set of audition sides for a soap opera called Beyond the Gates. We never mentioned it in the script, but I wanted to, at the very least, acknowledge that all is not lost within the soap opera genre. And if you aren’t aware, CBS, P&G, and the NAACP have a new soap opera called Beyond the Gates, which was in production when we were filming. All is not lost, and I am excited to watch all that’s happening within the community of Fairmont Crest.
Filming for this particular episode happened in September 2025, well before the continuation of Wicked happened. When I saw Wicked: For Good in theaters and saw through my tear-filled eyes the “door scene,” I couldn’t believe I had my very own door scene moment that I had filmed months earlier. Writing that particular goodbye and ending the Kyle/Paul relationship continued to bring tears to my eyes, and knowing that I was ending this couple I was rooting for hurt, so I suspected I was onto something. Having the goodbye kiss, Kyle saying he would “hold on to our love” and “always”...both key phrases in the Guiding Light universe, the first being the theme song title and the second being the term Josh and Reva always said to one another. Closing the door on that story definitely gives way for the final two episodes, and I can’t wait for you to see what happens next…
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