#safeflashbacks

warning: this will be long because it includes a whole scene from the safe shooting script, which can be found here.

i wanted to explore the flashback sequences in the safe shooting script, because they're all pretty different from the final version in the show.

the other two still incorporate some elements from what we see in the show, but the first one is an entirely different scene.

*any bolded emphasis mine. gonna have some line by line commentary but also talk a bit about it at the end.

CLOSE ON: Rich expensive BRANDY as it pours into a rich expensive snifter. Pull back to see: INT. TAM ESTATE - DAY The room, tasteful, lit by candlelight, feels warm. SIMON holds the snifter. He swirls the brandy around a bit to warm it, inhales the aroma, looks up and smiles. SIMON This is a joke, right? We see Simon's father, GABRIEL, 50, refined, used to having control, standing in front of him. At the moment, he seems warm and jovial.

definitely already setting up gabriel tam as a father - used to having control, used to things going how he plans them to (including the lives of his children). and he SEEMS warm and jovial... right now.

GABRIEL Yes. That's exactly right. Because brandy is funny. SIMON It's just, this is... this smells like New Canaan brandy. Gabriel pours brandy for himself and for Simon's mother, REGAN, late 40s, elegant. SIMON (cont'd) Aged New Canaan brandy. How much did you pay for this? I thought business was slow.

not quite sure what to make of this, honestly. while the tams are clearly still wealthy and living in comfort, it seems to suggests that they've had - if not current money issues, money troubles potentially on the horizon. this COULD theoretically lean into the theory that the tam parents intentionally gave up river as some kind of deal, but i don't particularly like that theory or think the episode itself (or even the rest of the shooting script flashbacks) do much to corroborate it.

also, a focus on simon being concerned about it. always maintain he is a worrier in general and has been likely expected to act like an adult long before he actually was one.

GABRIEL Pierre owed me a favor. Seeing how it's a special occasion. SIMON Is it? Simon tries to read his father's grin. Then: REGAN For god's sake, Gabriel. Just tell him. Gabriel chuckles. GABRIEL Fine, spoil my fun. (to Simon) I had a talk today with Jerome Stuart. Seems he's about to take over as Head of Surgery at AMI. Said when you're done with your internship, there'll be an attending position waiting for you. This is a huge moment for Simon. He's thrilled.

just, so many points of fascination here. first of all, if we take this as canon, then simon was not even done with his (8 month, according to the pilot) internship when river went to the academy. also, the way i understand it in our universe, after an internship, you would usually have a residency before becoming an attending, would you not? maybe it works differently here idk.

but also - again, gabriel as the (likely, in many circumsmtances) well-meaning but controlling patriarch who information comes through. this is simon's career and life, but he's getting told what's going to happen - this isn't framed as like "oh, this is one opportunity for you" - this is The Plan, getting told to him by his father.

of course, simon's not upset about it, because this is what he wants, and this is the life he knows - it may be something that's been Decided For Him, but it's also what he wants to do. in this moment, what came first isn't so relevant, and he has little reason to question it.

also worth noting that there does seem to some sort of quid-pro-quo who-you-know society politics going on here. while i maintain that i'm sure simon IS very smart, talented, and a hard worker - and maybe would have gotten this opportunity on his own - he's alos been afforded privileges other haven't, and would never entirely know if this is on his own merit.

REGAN (smiling) Congratulations, son.

i know it's common for some, but there is something so formal and stilted about calling someone by their familial title.

Simon stares into his glass, embarrassed. SIMON It's not a big deal.

despite my earlier tangent about this being an admitted moment of privilege for simon, this moment was legitimately so fascinating to me and since first reading it, has informed my view of simon a fair bit. simon is confident and assured in his medical abilities in the show, but he's not actually that arrogant or showy about them. and the script could easily say he's simply feigning embarassment or humility because it's the "proper" thing to do if that's what they meant, but he seems legitimately a bit uncomfortable with the praise.

GABRIEL Oh. Well, all right then. Playing along, Gabriel reaches for Simon's glass. Simon pulls it away, grinning.

okay hshshs this is cute! i want to acknowledge this because it's like, Such A Dad Thing, and clearly brings simon back out of his shell a bit. and in a story like this, where a big part of the focus is the deterioration of the family and what simon actually lost, it's important to show he did actually lose something positive. i'm (as i think the narrative encourages the audience to be) fairly critical of the tam parents, and i think in many ways there love was performative and conditional. but people are complicated, and i Do think they loved their children, or at the very least, thought they did.

BUT (and i am so full of contradiction here), while this is played as funny and playful, there is another fore-shadowy reading here of "if you don't react the way i think you should, i will take things away."

SIMON Okay, okay. It's an enormous deal. AMI, that's, I can really do good work there-- GABRIEL Good work, good pay. There'll be an announcement at the term-end ceremony.

we get an immediate contrast on their focus as well. simon is excited because of what he'll be able to do while he's there - gabriel gives a sort of passing acknowldgement but is the one who focuses on the pay component as well. while i'm sure simon wasn't put off by the financial gain, i don't get the sense that was ever the sole reason he was interested in becoming a doctor; we see pretty clearly here that he wants to make a difference.

REGAN We're so proud, sweetheart. SIMON Is River coming back? Gabriel and Regan stare at Simon. SIMON (cont'd) For the ceremony. Did she say she'd be able to get away? REGAN We didn't... (brightly) We'll write to her immediately, tell her all about it.

i'm very <3, actually, about simon having this big prestigious thing going on in his life and immediately going "yeah okay but will my little sister be there" lmao.

but i don't get the sense that this is about the ceremony specifically - i'm sure he'd like her to be there, because it's a big thing happening, and you want the important people in your life there when big things are happening, but it seems like he's more taking the opportunity to ask about something that's been on his mind a while.

curious about what regan was going to say here before cutting herself off, too. we didn't... tell river? think you'd care whether she was there? that seems odd, considering they clearly know close simon and river are. definitely the first sign of trouble, and i am getting the sense that the tam parents already know something is wrong here and are evading the question.

GABRIEL I doubt she'll come. You saw the schedule at that school of hers. I took one look at it, had one of those school dreams. You know, "I didn't study"... Gabriel chuckles to himself. SIMON I just... I haven't heard from her in a while. I thought she'd come home sometimes, or at least send a wave, but there's only been the occasional letter, and half the time she doesn't sound like herself.

river has been gone long enough that simon finds it odd that she hasn't visited home at this point, and he's already started to receive her strange letters...

REGAN She's changing. Finally starting to fit in. You should be happy for her.

there is a note here that i think probably has an element of truth here - it seems likely river (as many tiny child prodigies often don't) never really fit in anywhere before. and it's plausible that simon may even be a bit perturbed by the idea of her changing, because that's a hard thing to wrap your head around with someone you love sometimes.

but - you could read this differently, but it does honestly just read like straight-up emotional manipulation to me. while maybe there is a part of simon that doesn't want river to change and is uncomfortable with the idea (because they are close and it can be scary when someone you love very deeply is changing) he's not bringing this up for no reason. he's also not suggesting anything nefarious is going on at this point... just expressing mild concern at things that seem strange. because schools, again, should have like... breaks, long weekends, something. the focus on river not sending a wave (which i think is usually a video message or call, right?) as opposed to sending letters is signficant, because we see in the river tam sessions that her physical appearance and mental/behavioral state would have made it obvious at this time that something was wrong.

and while people can change to varying degrees, it's odd for someone to change so much even in their writing that they don't sound like themselves. simon is picking up on this BECAUSE he loves her, not because he wants there to be something wrong.

and his parents are immediately reacting like he's just like - being jealous, almost, or not wanting to river to succeed. it's (subtly) making him out to be a problem for feeling this way, and implying that he doesn't want the best for river, which is, of course, laughable.

Simon forces a smile. SIMON Of course. GABRIEL Your position will still be there for her to admire when she gets home, Doctor Tam. Come on... let's have a toast. I've been working on this all day. The three of them rise and lift their glasses... GABRIEL (cont'd) May your future always be as bright as it is this very moment -- The three glasses meet... CLINK.

that's really not what it's about for simon, though. gabriel is bringing it back to being about simon's new position, but i truly don't think simon wants river there to like, fawn over him, lol. he wants her there because he misses her and is already suspecting something's odd, but, of course, doubting himself because (of his parents) he probably DOES just miss her and he doesn't want his parents or river herself to think he's NOT happy for her.

so, yeah, entirely different scene from what we get in the show. i understand why - to truly understand the loss and magnitude of what's been done to river, as well as the bond between her and simon, it's necessary to see her playful and exuberant as a child, and paint a picture of how close the siblings have always been. so in that sense, i don't mind the change.