“Backlight” - The Final Year, Part 5
I think before we begin this installment of “Backlight,” I need to let out a sigh of relief from holding on to a secret. Obviously, there are so many plot points revealed and storylines coming close to a dramatic finish, but the big secret I am excited to finally release is the major meta moment in the first scene. And maybe, if you aren’t a Guiding Light fan nor a fan of soap operas, this moment flew over your head, but when I realized I could navigate this high school scenario in this particular direction, I truly geeked out on the inside. You see, in high school, I wrote letters to Guiding Light, like, a lot of letters. And the letters weren’t just to the actors; I also wrote to the head writers, the executive producers, and yes, even the powers that be at Procter & Gamble. (See my Mortified story live on stage sometime for a reenactment of these letters!) Well, when I was in high school, one particular actor, Terrell Tilford, answered my fan mail letter and asked me to write him back. Always one to follow directions, I did, and thus began a small pen-pal relationship with Terrell Tilford, a.k.a. “the new David Grant.”
The scene originally had me talking about a fan letter I got from an actress on Guiding Light, and it was sweet and cute, and I almost cut the whole scene. But when Terrell Tilford agreed to join the cast, I rewrote the scene to have this beautiful moment play out. I hope it was a treat to witness, because I have absolutely loved watching it replay over and over again while editing. It keeps reminding me of the high school kid who had big dreams, and the grownup he turned into who never stopped believing in those dreams.
The Terrell Tilford reveal isn’t the only major reveal, either. So much happens in this episode, and in an alternate version of the script, this was the final episode of the season. That cliffhanger at the restaurant was how I was ending the series… but you’re in luck because I couldn’t leave the show hanging like that, so there will be one more episode before it’s officially the end.
Before we get to the ending of it all, though, we should probably break down a little bit of what happened in this episode. Paul’s breakdown, I think, plays so nicely, in large part because of Scott (our brilliant DP), who thought maybe we ditch the tripod and bring the Bennett/Paul scene to life going handheld so that the image is just a little bit shaky, a little less perfect.
And speaking of not being perfect, I look at this episode and I do my best to make peace with what we were able to achieve, even when my brain and the script called for other things to happen. For example, when Bennett brings down the hammer to the camcorder, I had envisioned a more impactful wreckage. What we got was a little jump. That camera was solid, and no matter how hard we hit it, it didn’t want to break in the way anyone anticipated! The second thing that played out differently in my mind was that explosive device Josephine had at the table. Well, it has a digital countdown, and as I was setting it up so we could get the shot of the countdown, I pulled a wire too hard and busted it. Making peace with the lack of that shot in that moment was a true testament to “the show must go on”… and playing out the scene through the edits, I really didn’t need it after all to be impactful.
The final thing I want to call out about this particular episode is the brief case of mistaken identity. When Paul arrives at The Lighthouse, he’s fully ready to end Tamara once and for all, and his weapon of choice is one of the candlesticks at the bar. I love those lighthouse candlesticks, another stellar find on Poshmark. It took a minute to find just the right candlestick, though, and yes, he had to hit her with a candlestick because I was paying homage to the way Jean Carol’s (Tamara) character on Guiding Light, Nadine, was written off. Nadine met her untimely death at the hand of Brent Lawrence/Marian Crane by way of… a candlestick. So when Paul thinks he’s ending Tamara, I knew I wanted to have a nice callback for Guiding Light fans to think of at that moment.
This episode truly did signal to me that it was time to end the series. I took care of The Lighthouse Restaurant, Paul’s red camcorder, and Josephine with just a few quick scenes. Wrapping up a series has been hard, but I am excited for it to be out in the world and complete. So stay tuned: I have one final episode to go, and it is a doozy.
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