laundry and taxes

Find Part 1 here, with full details of where the scripts are from

Let's finish up the highlight reel in chronological order

When Dana calls Frank over to assist with Becca he says "need something?" and in all caps Mel says "YES"

"Mel stands at the door as Langdon sits at Becca’s beside. He’s gentle and attentive" HELLO??? He's gentle and attentive???

When Frank asks Mel to dim the lights when she leaves the room she is "pleased"

The script has Frank telling Mel that Becca is "in good hands" BUT did not have the line from the episode of Mel replying "I know"

The script has Becca telling Frank "Mel says lots of nice things about you" but initally has Frank and Perlah sharing a smile versus the little smile that Frank does afterwards so they intentionally changed it to make it about him being flattered

In the episode we get this lovely moment of Mel being taken aback and confused with Frank asking about her, and while the dialogue is the same in the script, there's no direction or notes about her acting like that or stammering

When Becca tells Mel that she can "see why you like him" the script says "Mel blushes. Slightly embarrassed"

In the episode, when Mel is getting upset with Becca, Frank says "Dr. King, why don't you get some air?" but in the script the line was "Why don’t you get some air, Dr. King? And I’ll stay with Becca"

The ambulance bay scene dialogue was basically exactly what we saw in the finished episode, and there were no interesting directions or other notes

After Frank feels like he made a mistake with Grady (the kid with asthma) we have the direction notes of "unnoticed, Langdon slips out the door and Mel picks up on his funk" and "Mel moves to throw out her gloves and looks out the trauma doors, watching Langdon disappear into the North Corridor"

In the break room the script has Mel saying "We don’t always get everything right immediately" while we get "we don't always get everything right the first time" in the episode

After the Kelly Clarkson joke they are "sharing a much needed smile"

After the final scene with Grady we get this incredibly buzzy moment of Mel and Frank leaving the room together while looking at each other, which was not in the script!!

What we get is "Off Langdon, heading out to Central and not feeling on top of his game" they intentionally decided to make a change to have the two of them leaving together happily, rather than Frank leaving by himself dejected

Then we get to the finale ambulance bay scene, which is very very different in the script. We know from a still that there was a high five that ended up getting cut, but the original script didn't even have them standing and watching fireworks together

The ambulance bay scene starts with Frank walking outside and seeing that Mel is sitting in the back of an ambulance (think the Rollins s1 scene)

Frank asks if Mel is staying for fireworks, and she tells him that she was supposed to watch them with Becca, but now Becca's watching them with Adam, and then Frank sits down next to her in the ambulance

They have a slightly more condensed version of the conversation that happens in the episode, and after "I could have paralyzed that guy" "but you didn't" "no I didn't" there's the direction "She offers a high five. He offers a fist. They both adjust to the other. Well, it was the thought that counts" what do you mean "they both adjust to the other"

Find Part 2 here

For context: the Writer's Guild Foundation Library in LA allows you to visit the library and view any of the scripts that they have. They are only available in person, and you aren't allowed to take pictures, but you're allowed to take as many notes as you want. If you have any questions on this process feel free to hit me up!

I also want to preface this with saying that anything that was cut from the original scripts is not canon, however it's interesting to see what the writers were thinking at one point. It's also interesting to see what was not originally in the script and got added in later on

Let's do the highlight reel in chronological order

When Frank and Mel are first reunited with the "Dr. Langdon!" scene, the direction notes are "Mel’s mood suddenly brightens and she almost hugs him, but comes up short and awkward"

There's a moment that was cut of Liam (the bike injury criminal) and Mel, where he asks if she has "anyone special" and she says "No. Work keeps me very busy"

When Liam asks what Mel herself likes to do the direction notes are "It’s been a while since anyone asked Mel this – if ever. Hell, she isn’t even sure what she does for fun and has to think about it"

When Mel is hurt: "Langdon spots Mel, getting checked over by Dana and Perlah at the North Hub. Sensing something’s wrong, he moves away"

The script had Frank originally saying "inside joke" rather than "inside thing"

This scene ends with the direction that Mel is "glad Langdon’s here"

After Frank tells Mel that he was gone due to his benzos addiction, the direction is "Mel nods – this may be the worst news she’s ever heard"

"You didn’t let me down" in the script when the episode had "you never let me down"

and Frank responds "Yeah, I did. I should be setting an example, not a cautionary tale"

When the cops are telling Mel she might need to testify with Liam "Langdon realizes she needs some space"

They start to leave, but Langdon pauses. He turns off the lights "The ER can be a little bright as noisy" Langdon winks at Mel, then closes the door behind them (HELLO?????)

When Frank is talking to Dana in the break room in ep6 "I almost lost everything. There are plenty of women who would’ve left me and taken the kids. But Abby stayed. I don’t know why, but she stayed"

“Sometimes I’ll be reading a script and I’ll hold myself in a different way while reading it… I picture a certain thing. Sometimes a director is a huge influence, just the way they move. But the twitch was this idea that… first of all, Loki was asking so many questions. The hardest thing for me as an actor is to ask questions. It always implies some sort out of overload somewhere else; you have to multitask. As a detective, you have to hold the mind of a psycho killer, the mind of a father who just had his father abducted, etc. I just had a feeling of what would someone do if they were overloaded.” 

PRISONERS (2013) dir. Denis Villeneuve

JAKE GYLLENHAAL as Detective Loki in PRISONERS (2013)

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JAKE GYLLENHAAL as detective Loki in PRISONERS (2013)