This sundays episode changed many of our characters forever and also changed alliances and opinions among others. One of the hardest things about this episode, and the best was the creepy and methodical way Karen broke Ben down to the point that he ran off with her, and nearly killed his brother.
Greg Beeman commented on finding Karen.
I also really like the scene where Karen is coming-to in bed and Hal is trusting her, and Anne is nurturing her, and Tom is interrogating her and Ben is challenging her and Margret is quietly, distrustfully observing her. I like this scene because every character has such a specific point of view. I tried to be mindful when shooting this scene of something Steven Spielberg had told me early on in the process. He said he wanted a lot of group shots and not too many close-ups in this series. It’s more movie-like and less TV like, and it requires viewers to make their own choices of which character to pay attention to. I shot one Close up of Noah from a little bit lower angle – which gives him more power in the scene. And I shot two close-up of Jessy, one from a low angle and one from a higher angle. In editing I tried to use the higher angle whenever she was vulnerable and “losing” within the scene, and the lower angle whenever she was ‘winning” her point. Other than that I tried hard to stay with wider group shots, even though at different times different characters may step forwards and “take over” the frame.
In a later scene Karen and Ben both have their spikes light up and we are lead to believe initially by Karen that Ben caused this and Hal was afraid Ben was hurting her. We find out later that in fact Karen is using Ben and trying to get him to leave the 2nd mass. The scene where they kiss was not only a surprise to us, but to Connor as well. According to Greg,
The last thing I’d like to talk about is the scene where Karen and Ben “connect” through their spikes. In the script they merely touched hands, which set off the spikes and their intense alien-induced moment. But as we shot the master, I was feeling like the scene was missing some level of intensity and surprise. I also felt that Connor – as much as I love him, and as much as he’s been fully committed and kicking-butt this year – was holding back a little. I tried a number of ways to talk both actors through the scene, but it just wasn’t happening. So, I did something I don’t usually do. When there was a lighting break, I sidled up to Jessy and said “On the next take, I want you to kiss Connor. I’m not telling him, because I want the surprise, are you cool with that?” She nodded that she was “in.”The next take was Connor’s close-up and I also had a second camera getting a 50-50 profile shot. Jessy did kiss him. And she did it better than I’d hoped for, slowly and hesitantly. Connor was surprised, but he went with it – and I didn’t cal “cut” for a long time – I wanted the moment to evolve in it’s awkwardness – and I was very happy with the result.
