What was your favorite scene of this episode, and why?
I really love Arianna’s progression toward her goal, specifically in the last few episodes. I like traveling with her deeper into Crest Forest (I always feel like there’s something magical in Crest Forest we can’t write about because Mariel Cove is a drama, not fantasy) and learning more about her.
Kennedy finally puts her big plans to protect her and Kitty from Rei into action in this episode. She manipulates Lia, she confronts Rei, and she seems to have won. She even ends the scene believing she has complete control. Tell us about what has happened here.
Kennedy is desperately clinging to a relationship she already knows is over. Her conscious mind thinks that by removing the people that are critical of her relationship from her life that she and Kitty will bond again, that they’ll be close like they were when they traveled together. In the back of her mind, however, she knows things are coming to an end and she’s angry. She’s taking out all her insecurities, her pain, her fear on Rei and Lia. She doesn’t want their relationship to work. She doesn’t want Rei, who has become this symbol of everything that’s being taken away from her, to be happy, to feel secure.
She’s being a true bully. She thinks that by hurting and drawing energy and happiness from Rei she can find joy again in her own life. She can’t, of course. But for a moment, this final blow of destruction brings her peace. Unfortunately, this is just a high before a serious crash.
Later, the scene between Rei and Lia ends with Rei announcing to the reader that Kennedy *isn't* in control. Tell me about this line, and how it's being used in this later scene? What is the significance of it coming after the Kitty/Kennedy breakup scene?
Rei is realizing what’s really going on. She’s been victimized and she didn’t truly understand why. She knew Kennedy was angry about Rei’s offer of help to Kitty, but Kennedy’s actions have been too brutal and intricate to be a response to a single offer of help.
I wanted to show the reader the reality of Kennedy’s world and her thought process even when Kennedy is too intoxicated to see it herself. Kennedy’s anger is rooted in her fear and hurt. In her terror that kitty will leave her (which we see happened despite Kennedy’s best efforts.) Rei finally sees this. She sees that Kennedy is targeting her because Kennedy is afraid and helpless. This knowledge removes some of Rei’s fear and allows her to start standing up for herself.
You write for the character Lia, who is being manipulated by your other two characters. How do you feel Lia has grown and changed over the course of the book? What do you want the reader to take away from her experiences? Is there a lesson here?
For starters, I don’t feel like Rei was manipulating Lia. Rei genuinely had feelings for her (or, at least, the idea of her) and if Kennedy hadn’t inserted herself into their lives, they probably would have gone on to date for quite some time. What attracts Rei to Lia and what is eventually Lia’s downfall, however, is her naivete.
This question really made me think, to be honest. I feel like Lia is, in a way, a version of myself from when I was just coming out. She isn’t ignorant of the world, but I feel Lia came to Mariel Cove with the subconscious assumption that another woman, particularly one she cared about and who professed to care about her, wouldn’t be cruel to her. She’s impulsive and nomadic. She’s almost childlike in her trust and almost inability to see long-term consequences.
She really cared about Rei. It hurt her when Rei pulled away from her (for reasons I’ll discuss in the next question.) She was lonely and hurt in a way she’d never really experienced before. Then Kennedy showed an interest in her. Kennedy is gorgeous. She’s exciting and passionate and made Lia feel special and wanted in every way she wanted Rei to make her feel. She didn’t expect Kennedy to turn on her.
Lia changes quite a bit throughout the season. In a way, her innocence is lost. She’s slapped across the face with the truth that people you care about can change and hurt/play you. She also has to face the fact that she can screw up. Finding out she’d hurt Rei, that by not communicating she lost a chance with someone she cared about, rocked her. In the end, she had to leave. Mariel Cove became a moment in time where some of life’s realities carved a hard truth into her skin and she had to move on, a little sadder but hopefully wiser.
Rei's scene in this episode is a powerful one for her - this could be a huge turning point for her. What do you feel about Rei's ultimate decision in regards to Lia? Do you feel Rei has grown from this experience, that she's stayed true to herself in a way that she must, or do you feel that she passed up an opportunity to forgive and find happiness amidst all of the pain she has suffered?
I have a lot of feelings about Rei, to be honest. There are a lot of aspects of her personality and life that I’d love to explore but the storylines haven’t really set up right for it. I want to write about Rei’s body dysphoria, her warring senses of duty to her family and land and honesty about herself and the way she wants to live/sees herself. About her strong butch identity and how she feels she has to constantly police herself and her presentation so as not to offend her family. I want to talk more in depth about her problems showing emotion or sharing her feelings with other people. I especially want to talk about her plans to have a family. She carries a painful secret that won’t be revealed in season one or even two in regards to her desire to have a child and that plays a major part in why she feels unlovable and has a hard time keeping and embracing lovers and potential partners.
I think Lia became a symbol for Rei. A reminder that she is desireable and someone she cares about could want her back. She saw the potential of a less lonely future in Lia. She cared about Lia as a person definitely, but she was a lot more than a potential partner.
When Lia gets involved with Kennedy, it was like Kennedy stole Rei’s fragile new sense of self-worth. Kennedy stole the idea that Rei could have a partner in her future, not just a child. That someone could love her despite her cracks and weaknesses.
Rei was being true to herself when she talked with Lia, but I don’t think that truth is a healthy one. She was falling back into assumption that she’s not good enough to be loved, that she’s a stepping stone for her lovers to grow or a source of healing but never anyone that someone would choose to be with as a partner. I don’t think Lia and Rei would have been together for life (though the relationship would have been very healing for both of them) but losing Lia in that way at that time took every bit of hope and sense of rebirth she’d felt when they were together and ripped it out from under her feet, dropping her even lower than she was at the beginning of the season. And because she’s so steady and careful about her emotions, no one is able to see this hurt and until her assumptions are challenged again, she’s going to continue living exactly as she is now.
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Conversations with Noel Meredith:
What was your favorite scene of this episode, and why?
This is a tricky question because as the central mystery for Season 1 comes to a climax, Arianna has more and longer scenes -- many of which were my favorites to write. However, my favorite scene by another author in this episode was Kitty's scene with Kennedy. It was powerful and gritty and over-do in the best way.
Noel, episode 11 begins with a dream Arianna is experiencing. Why don't you tell us a bit about it?
The convention of using a dream to slip extra information to the readers is a tried and true method -- and I actually wasn't the first to use it in Season 1. In this case, I was able to make several points bluntly as well as hint at others. I use the dream trapping sparingly but I have always loved it because of the surreal qualities we're allowed. Earlier in the season, Celeste had a dream that shared more information about her past then any other scene!
Several points in time, we find Arianna moved deeply by art: first by the paintings of Rosario and then later by Kitty's sculptures in the Sculpture Garden. This is so important that Arianna actually points out that something must be changing in her, as she usually doesn't care as much about the visual arts as she does about music. What do you see this doing for her character, overall? Why is this so very important for Arianna?
This is Arianna subconscious mind putting pieces together before she even realizes what's happening. Music was a big part of her adopted family. Art was a big part of her biological family. The symbolism I was playing with was that more and more, as Arianna unfolds the mystery, she is becoming her mother's child.
You discuss, in the epilogue, how Arianna's adopted mother referred to her as a wild thing when she was a child - which Arianna then uses to describe herself. Tell me about the symbolism here.
This is a direct reference to the '70s song, "Wild Thing," by Cris Williamson. I think Arianna's adopted parents are very open-minded, liberal people. Maybe her mother just called her a wild thing because her daughter was up a tree. But, symbolically, I was playing with the fact that Arianna's parents knew Arianna was gay and adventuresome even when she was a child. They knew, like the song says, that they would eventually have to set her free.
Arianna is the main starring character of Season One, and she's finally on the verge of answering all the questions she's had. What do you feel is the most important thing for the readers to take away from this particular episode in regards to Arianna's storyline? Is there an event that you feel is most significant, or a revelation, or something about her journey or her state of mind? Or something else entirely?
Arianna's journey in ths episode is a rebirth. She travels in the darkness, growing and learning as she discovers more paintings. Then she leaves the darkness to enter a world of exceptional art. This is the birth she would of had, had she not be adopted by the Trentons. One fascinating point, however, is that some of Arianna's (and the readers') biggest questions will not be answered in Season 1 but rather in stand-alone epilogues in Season 1, Episode 12 and throughout Season 2.
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Conversations with Neale Taylor:
What was your favorite scene of this episode, and why?
My favorite scene was where Kitty finally leaves Kennedy. It was interesting to me that this is the scene that spoke to me the most in this episode, since I've found Kennedy to be an incredibly engaging character over the course of the series, and this scene is very strongly from Kitty's perspective. But... the scene was raw and real and it threw me immediately back to my first divorce. That line: "One load; that was all it took." I was there. I became Kitty. Though my relationship hadn't been as toxic as Kitty's, it spoke to me on a very real level.
Neale, early on in the episode we get to see Aidan and Mikayla arriving in town. Aidan is still in her caretaking mode, pulling over and attending to Mikayla when Mikayla's lip begins bleeding again and making sure not to speak about the fight in front of her to avoid forcing her to relive it. We've already discussed how friendships can be closer and more important than sexual relationships; how would you describe the friendship between Aidan and Mikayla?
Aidan has always been one of those people who need to be close to someone, as a friend, before she can have a real relationship with them. This is one of the reasons, in my opinion, that it doesn't really work between Aidan and Arianna. Everything is rushed and immediate, which can be very sexy, but they don't connect on a deeper level.
Mariel Cove is full of kisses - deep passionate ones, perfunctory ones, the sneaky stolen ones...in contrast, the kiss at the end here is very small. It happens at the end without much excess description, which allows the kiss itself to carry its importance - and it is very important. Could you tell us about that kiss and how it leads into what happens later in the episode between the two?
With the first kiss between Aidan and Mikayla, it isn't how they kiss that holds importance; it's the fact that they kissed at all. It has a great significance. It is the end of Aidan's relationship with Arianna. It's the beginning of her relationship with Mikayla. It takes their friendship, for better or worse, to a completely different place.
We already know that Tal's commitment issues stem from a past relationship where she was with a woman who wanted an open relationship. Now, Tal is sleeping with Anna - who is in an open relationship of sorts with her husband - and wants to be with Madison - who is also in a relationship with another person, although not an open one. How does this affect Tal? What is the point of it?
Desire is a very complicated thing. It doesn't listen to logic. It wants what it wants, despite every other circumstance.
Tal's relationship with Anna is very non-confontational. It's very straight(haha)-forward. There are no strings attached. Anna doesn't want to be in an (emotional) relationship with Tal. Tal doesn't want that with Anna, either. But Anna breaks Tal's rule of not knowing the person she sleeps with. Anna is the first step for Tal to really heal after Colby.
Madison is the wild card. Madison is Tal's heart desiring something without reason, without logic. Without rules. Here, we also see Tal's moral code, though. She doesn't want to have a wild affair with Madison. She wants a real relationship. It means more, for Tal, if she has to fight for that real, monogamous relationship, than if Madison was just single.
It seems as if Madison is truly prepared to end her relationship with Emery. As Madison drifts off to sleep telling herself that she'll do it in the morning, I have to ask - how hard or easy was it for you to take her to this place? Was it difficult to develop a relationship like that and then end it, or was it easier because Madison truly doesn't feel the connection with Emery anymore?
It was hard. I'm not the kind of person who ends relationships easily, and so I think that makes it harder for me to write the ends of them for my characters, too. For some of the scenes (especially with Madison) I would feel almost emotionally drained after writing them. I felt like I was there, with the characters. Experiencing what was happening first hand.
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