2.10 DVD commentary

[lwhite53]

Following is from the 2.10 DVD commentary:

-In the opening scene, Howard Brenton wanted "The Sopranos" to be playing on the tv but it was too expensive; went with "The Thin Man" instead.
-The idea of using a "dead man" to do the dirty work was nicked from an old WWII movie.
-There was a long discussion re the bedroom scene between Tom and Christine as to how far they could go, how undressed they could be, etc, in order to get the scene approved by the BBC sex police.

Spoiler: show

Kind of interesting, given that some six years later the bedroom scene between Lucas and Sarah was basically soft porn!

-There were 11 or 12 script drafts for this ep because they needed to make sure the deep backstory was understandable to the audience.
-Very long initial scene between Tom and Christine was necessary in order to convey a lot of info.
-The script was written so that Tom, Danny and Zoe become their own little covert op group -- at an early point, Zoe is already a little suspicious of Tom's motives re Christine.
-Zoe resents Tom's allegiance to Christine over them and Tom's asking them to act in an illegal and dangerous manner. Tom's actions are driving his team apart.
-Brenton made up the nano tracker gizmo for this ep -- found out later that the CIA had invented similar technology in the 1990s.
-Lots of red herrings peppered throughout the ep -- telex about assassin, nano tracker, passport and visa in leather store, dead drop, Christine's Slovakian heritage -- all to get the audience to buy into the story.
-Joyce's aim is to destroy Tom's professional reputation, which is all Tom really has.
-Joyce is a modern Moriarty to Tom's Sherlock Holmes, the master criminal always one step ahead.
-In the ep, you never really know what's true and not true -- the truth is constantly shifting.
-Tom is shown to be in real trouble when he chooses not to open the door when Harry comes to his house.
-Location for "dead drop" scene -- cold, wet, barren, dirty, desolate -- mirrors Tom's internal emotions and conflicts. "Pathetic fallacy" in 19th century literature -- the world around you looks like you're feeling.
-"Are you for me or against me" -- moment of truth for Danny and Zoe.
-"Need to know" scenes off grid -- always played on the same bench on the Embankment.
-Barn torture scene -- deep psychological game being played by Joyce to convince Zoe and Danny that Tom is in on the assassination plot.
-MI5 is totally suckered by a rogue agent (Joyce).
-Whole ep an exercise in "black" propaganda.
-Harry is quick to accept that Tom has gone bad because of the problems between them in the past several eps -- his suspicions have been building up over time.
-In interrogation scene, Christine looks directly at Ruth when she says, "I love Tom Quinn." Camera only records Ruth's reaction.
-Joyce's telling the backstory of his daughter to Tom -- "word painting." Need to make the audience "see" Lisa Joyce, to understand why her father went to such extremes to destroy Tom. Whole ep rides on audience's ability to empathize with Joyce, even though he's the villain. Written like a theatre scene -- you don't really see but imagine.
-Two indeterminate time lapses in ep -- Danny and Zoe in barn and Tom in field. Audience has no idea how much time has passed and what's happened in the interval.
-The silent "conversation" between Tom and Christine at the end (on the cellphones) -- sums up their whole relationship, in a way -- the conversation they could never really have.
-Didn't know, when ep was shot, whether or not MM was staying in series. Cliffhanger was written to allow for either eventuality.
-There was a meeting to decide what Tom was likely to do in a situation like at the end of the ep (cornered by team and unable to prove his innocence) -- it was decided that he would indeed shoot Harry. Whole group gasped at the possibility.
-Tom going into the water -- shot in March -- COLD! MM was wearing a wet suit under his costume.