Written by Trevor Munson & Ron Koslow
Green Revision 7/25/07
This article describes creative differences between the script and the episode that aired. Minor differences from the actors not delivering lines exactly as written are not included.
The article assumes that the reader has seen the episode enough times to
recognize scenes from short descriptions, e.g. "the scene with Mick at Josef's
house in the Hollywood Hills." Probably the best way to read the article is to
cue up Moonlight on the computer or DVD player and watch or listen to
the episode as you read the article.
Abbreviations used in the script
- EXT. Exterior (location)
- INT. Interior (location)
- V.O. Voiceover
- O.S. Offscreen
Teaser
The interview with Mick was a late addition to the first episode of Moonlight. The original script had a totally different teaser:
TEASER
EXT. LOS ANGELES - DUSK
The SUN SINKS OVER LOS ANGELES...
EXT. MELROSE AVENUE, WEST HOLLYWOOD - EVENING
A FULL MOON illuminates the deserted street.
An ATTRACTIVE YOUNG WOMAN, KELLY FOSTER, dressed for the LA club scene, exits a restaurant, says good-bye to a few FRIENDS, and heads down the street. She's young, pretty. Her whole life ahead of her. But not for long.
She heads toward the looming Blue Whale of the Pacific Design Center. Seeing the fountain, she mischievously takes off her shoes and runs right through it. AN OMINOUS SHADOW rapidly approaches from behind. Hard to tell if this is something human or something more. Then, WHAM she's hit hard. As she disappears from view, she SCREAMS.
INT. MICK'S DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES OFFICE/LOFT - EVENING
CLOSE ON: A DOOR, that reads: Mick St. John Investigations...
WE MOVE THROUGH THE CLOSED DOOR and into Mick's modern, clean-lined OFFICE. CAMERA CONTINUES TO MOVE through the office and THROUGH ANOTHER CLOSED DOOR into Mick's inner-sanctum/LIVING AREA.
WE HOLD ON: A LONG HORIZONTAL glass-topped FREEZER. Weird. Weirder still as --
CLOSE ON: MICK ST. JOHN covered in frost inside his freezer.
MICK (V.O.) Being a vampire sucks. Bad joke, I know, but it's true. And the whole immortality thing - not all it's cracked up to be.
HIS EYES OPEN. He yawns and pops the lid from inside.
MICK (V.O.) (CONT'D) I used to be a morning person...
Mick climbs out of his freezer. Naked. Brushing at the frost.
MICK (V.O.) (CONT'D) But you adjust.
KITCHEN AREA - wearing pants, no shirt, Mick enters, opens the FRIDGE. INSIDE WE SEE a test tube rack with a few vials of blood in it. Mick grabs a vial.
MICK (V.O.) (CONT'D) You don't have to like what you are, you just have to find a way to come to terms with it.
He heads into his LIVING AREA.
Passing his laptop, Mick opens it. A news site starts streaming up to the minute entertainment, breaking crime news, body count. We hear it in the background, as Mick sits at a 50'S MODERN DESK and (off camera) INJECTS himself. He leans back and CLOSES HIS EYES, the blood takes its effect.
MICK (V.O.) (CONT'D) I know what you're thinking. Vampires evil. And some of them are. I've done things myself over the years. Things I don't like to think about.
AS THE BLOOD COURSES THROUGH HIS VEINS, REVITALIZING HIM --
MICK (V.O.) (CONT'D) But now I have rules: I drink my blood out of a cup or take it with a needle. I don't kill women, children or innocents -- but predators, that's a different story.
FEMALE VOICE (V.O.) ...a brutal slaying of a young woman...
Mick looks at his computer where a real time report plays. We see a beautiful young reporter BETH TURNER. Mick pays close attention to the story --
MICK (V.O.) And if you live long enough -- and trust me, I have -- the past always catches up with you.
BETH (O.S.) ... a promising life cut tragically short. Tonight a killer is on the loose. This is Beth Turner for Buzzwire --
Mick is on his feet and moving and we --
TIME CUT TO:
EXT. PACIFIC DESIGN CENTER CRIME SCENE - NIGHT
Mick's voiceover is not in the script: "When you've been around as long as I have, you think that nothing can surprise you anymore. But that was before tonight. Before I saw her walking barefoot through a freezing fountain at two in the morning." As seen above, Kelly Foster is the one who walks barefoot through the fountain.
In the script, when Carl is distracted by the other reporters, Beth heads for the dead body with no mention of removing her shoes.
Mick and Beth's first exchange is also slightly different:
BETH Murder on Melrose... no... Southland Student Slain... eh... vampire, something with vampire in it...
She passes Mick, standing in the shadows. Stops, looks back. There's a LONG BEAT as Mick and Beth LOCK EYES. Something about him seems familiar. Does she know him? Mick starts to move away. Beth stops him with:
BETH (CONT'D) You a cop?
MICK No
BETH Then who are you?
MICK Nobody.
Beth looks him up and down, appraising. There's something about him, but she can't quite put her finger on it.
BETH Okay, Mister Nobody, what do you like better? Vampire Slaying Rocks LA or....
Carl yells from the perimeter --
CARL Beth, away from the body.
MICK There's no such thing as vampires.
She looks at Mick, then back at the dead girl.
BETH Tell that to her.
Beth turns back and Mick is gone. Off Beth --
END OF TEASER
Another small difference is that Carl asks Beth to step away from the body during
her exchange with Mick in the script excerpt above, not before the
exchange, as seen in the episode.
Act One
Steve's first words as he and Beth are walking through the parking lot is slightly different:
STEVE What are we doing? And I hope it's something good, we've been out here all night.
BETH Looking for the girl's car.
The short bit with Beth and Steve at Buzzwire after the parking lot scene is not in the script. (The rest of that Buzzwire scene starting where Maureen says,
"200,000 unique visitors on your vampire story..." occurs later in the script.) Instead, the script moves from the parking lot scene to Mick at Josef's house in the Hollywood Hills.
The script describes Josef as:
A wealthy hedge-fund trader, he is a bon vivant, a sensualist.
The script also names the guy Josef is speaking to on the phone:
JOSEF (into phone) Edward, you don't get to change the rules of the game after the game's started.
Mick and Josef's first exchange is slightly different:
MICK (V.O.) My friend Josef. One of the oldest vampires in L.A. Four hundred going on thirty.
Josef drops the phone to bump fists with Mick and give him a bro-hug.
JOSEF Hey buddy, let me get rid of this guy.
Mick throws himself down on the couch and puts his feet up on the table.
In the episode, Mick's meeting with Guillermo comes next, but in the script, the first flashback comes between the Josef and Guillermo scenes. In the episode, Mick's voiceover at the beginning of the flashback is:
"I didn't intend to end up a do-gooder. For the longest time I was like most people, just kind of looking out for myself. Then twenty-two years go, I took a case that changed my life forever." The
script has a different voiceover:
INT./EXT. MICK'S MERCEDES (MOVING) - NIGHT
Mick drives down Hollywood Blvd.
MICK (V.O.) I want to help people. It's why I became a P.I. I saw a shrink once for a few decades, apparently it has something to do with compensating for what I am. (beat) Twenty-two years ago a case walked through my door and made me realize there's more to it than that.
Mick spending a few decades on a psychiatrist's couch? Um, no. That line deserved
to be cut.
The flashback in the script, recycled from the pilot presentation, is longer but stops after the mother hugs Mick instead of flashing back further to show
little Beth's abduction as the episode did:
FLASHBACK TO THE PAST (1985) - BACK TO MICK'S SEMINAL CASE...
INT. MICK'S HOLLYWOOD OFFICE/APARTMENT (1985) - TWILIGHT
CHYRON: 1985
Mick is in his office when there's a KNOCK at the door.
As Mick answers the door, we see the BLACK LETTERING ON THE FROSTED GLASS-- MICK ST. JOHN. PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS.
A distraught MOTHER, looking as if she hasn't slept in days, stands there. L.A. NEWSPAPER in hand.
MOTHER Mr. St. John?
Mick nods, a little wearily, emotion was not his strong suit in 1985.
MICK Yes?
She shows him the newspaper. HEADLINE reads: "Four year-old Child Abducted". Under it, WE SEE A PHOTO of the missing girl.
MOTHER This is my daughter... I think you might be the only one who can help me...
She tries to go on but then falls into his arms and begins to weep. He stands there a little awkwardly - clearly not used to human touch and interaction -- but he doesn't pull away, letting her cry...
CUT BACK TO THE PRESENT --
INT. L.A. COUNTY MORGUE, HALLWAY - NIGHT
As Mick walks...
MICK (V.O.) Back when I was mortal I was a toasty 98.7 degrees, but now I'm lucky if I get to room temperature.
He passes a couple of LATE NIGHT ORDERLIES who (in Mick's POV) radiate a visible heat signature.
MICK (V.O.) (CONT'D) Vampires have infrared vision, that's how we recognize each other.
Mick pushes through a pair of double doors and enters...
INT. L.A. COUNTY MORGUE, AUTOPSY BAY - CONTINUOUS
There's an antiseptic stillness about the place. Camera pans across a CORPSE on the slab.
MICK'S POV
It gives off no visible heat signature.
Camera continues to move to the head of the corpse, where another BODY, this one standing and working, also gives off NO VISIBLE HEAT SIGNATURE.
It's GUILLERMO, an ASSISTANT CORONER, who is alone stapling an incision on a corpse. Mick moves up behind him.
GUILLERMO (without turning) Hey Mick, what can I do you for?
Mick's voiceover is not in this version: "My guy at the morgue, Guillermo, deals in information and blood. Tonight I needed both." Instead, there's a different voiceover during the scene:
Guillermo opens a refrigerated compartment and pulls out a cooler filled with BAGS OF BLOOD.
MICK (V.O.) It's true that vampires survive on blood. Some hunt humans, some have willing donors, others, like me, have a guy like Guillermo...
Guillermo counts out six bags of blood and puts them in a plastic supermarket bag, as Mick peels a couple of benjamins off a roll. He holds the bills out to Guillermo who makes them disappear.
GUILLERMO Still don't know why you like that A-positive so much, the O-positive has a much better finish.
The scene ends with a longer comment from Guillermo:
GUILLERMO Yeah sure, cause I work for you. Lots of stapling left to do. (tiny) Bye.
Next comes the Buzzwire scene that starts with Maureen saying, "200,000 unique visitors on your vampire story..." Beth gives a longer explanation for how she got Kelly Foster's address:
BETH Steve greased a campus rent-a-cop. Got our dead girl's address from her parking permit.
In the episode, the first flashback (described earlier) follows the morgue scene. The flashback ends with a voiceover that segues to the scene where Mick and Beth meet at Kelly Foster's apartment: "Whether it's a missing child or a murdered co-ed, victims always leave a trail. You just have to find it. Cops had been at the dead girl's apartment since morning. I'd been waiting since six."
In the script, Mick and Beth's meeting at Kelly Foster's apartment follows the Buzzwire scene. No voiceover segue needed. In the script, Beth opens the door with a large Swiss army knife.
Act Two
There are extra bits of scene after Beth breaks the vase over Mick's head:
BETH Get back! I have mace!
He just looks at her:
MICK And I have a headache.
BETH You. Were at the crime scene--
Mick shrugs, nods.
BETH (CONT'D) Stay back!
MICK Easy with the mace. (reassuring) I'm not going to hurt you.
BETH Oh. That's comforting. You're not going to hurt me. How do I know you're not the killer?
MICK Well, mostly because I'm not killing you...
BETH Okay, if you're not the killer -- and let's go with that cause it's comforting -- what are you doing here?
MICK Breaking and entering. Same as you.
BETH Yes but I know why I'm breaking and entering. Why are you?
MICK I'm a private investigator.
In the episode, Kelly Foster has a studio apartment. In the script, the apartment has a separate bedroom and Mick and Beth continue the rest of the scene while searching the bedroom.
Next in the episode is Kelly Foster's funeral. The script instead inserts a second flashback showing the little girl's abduction. The episode uses a shorter version of this flashback as part of the first flashback (described earlier).
INT. MICK'S DOWNTOWN LOFT - DAWN
Mick sits in his freezer, ready for sleep.
MICK (V.O.) Some cases really sucker punch you. You think you know what you're getting into then wham...
FLASHBACK TO 1985 --
INT. FIVE-YEAR OLD GIRL'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
CHYRON: 1985
Mick and the Mother of the abducted child enter the little girl's bedroom.
MOTHER The police have nothing. It's been two days...
Mick nods and steps forward. His acute vampire senses are assaulted by a flood of sensations...
He closes his eyes and INHALES. In a RUSH OF IMAGES WE SEE--
FLASHES of the LITTLE GIRL'S abduction...
-- the Little Girl wakes up in her bed.
-- SHE SEES the silhouette of a FEMALE FIGURE backlit against the window.
-- When THE FIGURE STEPS into the light we see she is a beautiful raven-haired FEMALE VAMPIRE: CORALINE.
-- CAMERA moves towards little girl.
THE LITTLE GIRL - mesmerized by the beautiful creature in her room.
Coraline reaches out, slowly rakes the little girl's neck. A tiny bit of blood follows the fingernails. The girl is frightened but unable to call for help, so enthralling is this strange and wonderful creature.
And then, with supernatural speed, Coraline scoops the girl up and is gone.
BACK TO SCENE
Mick is reeling. Realizing who abducted the child.
MICK (to himself) Coraline.
Mick turns to the woman.
MICK (CONT'D) How did you find me?
MOTHER A woman gave me your card. Said she met you at the Brown Derby and you'd know what to do.
Off Mick, realizing he's being set up --
BACK TO THE PRESENT DAY --
INT. MICK'S LOFT - DAWN
MICK lays back in his freezer and pulls the lid closed...
Kelly Foster's funeral is next. Mick's voiceover in the episode is different from the script:
"Nine out of ten murders, the killer is someone the victim knew. That's why I wasn't about to miss Kelly Foster's funeral. Too bad funerals always take place during the day. That glance in the grave always puts everyone on edge. But when it's murder, keep your eyes open. You're going to see more than just tears." The script continues
to use the voiceovers to explain the "rules" of vampirism:
MICK (V.O.) I've been to way too many funerals. And it doesn't help that they always take place in the day. Sunlight won't kill me right away. No bursting into flames, but prolonged exposure and I'm vampire jerky.
The dialogue is in a different order in the script:
BETH Thanks for ditching me the other night.
MICK I knew you'd be all right. You're resourceful.
BETH You took a vial of blood from Kelly's apartment. (nothing from Mick) I want it.
Mick watches as mourners continue to place red roses on the coffin and file away. Professor Ellis and his goth brigade hang back.
MICK Why'd you take his picture?
BETH You saw that from here?
MICK (nods) Vitamin A.
BETH Professor Christian Ellis. He was Kelly's anthropology professor. I'm guessing the emos with the black roses are part of his Ancient Mythology Studies program.
MICK Did your homework.
BETH Which I'm sharing with you. Your turn: where's the blood vial?
Their attention is drawn to:
THE GRAVESIDE
As Professor Ellis and goth-students now file past, dropping their BLACK roses on the coffin.
Christian stops and looks down at the coffin:
CHRISTIAN Kelly was a bright and promising student and we all mourn her loss. (then) We inhabit our physical bodies for what we call a lifetime-- but death holds no dominion. Kelly Foster lives as our sister in blood...
Christian and his goth brigade start to head off (in the direction of Mick and Beth), when...
Chloe's slashing of Christian's neck and the rest of the scene is the same as the episode, except that Mick's voiceover isn't in the script:
"A whiff of fresh blood on the air. Blood I'd smelled before."
Next Beth meets Chloe in the diner. The diner is described different than what ended up in the episode:
The MUSIC comes from the juke box. Beth enters to see Chloe, the girl from the funeral, wearing an old-school waitress uniform, as she works her late shift in this Hollywood diner. Chloe pours coffee for a booth full of CLUB-GOERS. When she returns to the cash register to ring up a bill, Beth approaches. We watch Beth make contact over the sound of the juke box.
Beth and Chloe's introductory dialogue isn't in the script. Beth: "What's going on with you and Professor Ellis, Chloe?" Chloe:
"What do you mean?" Beth: "Well, you tried slicing the guy open at the funeral today."
Next Mick goes to Christian Ellis' house. Mick's voiceover in the episode is different from the script: "When I was turned into a vampire, all my senses were heightened to eleven. I'm able to smell the past, glimpse the future, and I can hear a marriage going down the drain from a hundred yards."
MICK (V.O.) Parabolic multi-directional microphone, twelve hundred retail. Enhanced vampire hearing, priceless.
After Christian drives away, there's another voiceover before Mick approaches the house:
MICK (V.O.) Christian's had a rough day. When a married man has problems with women, I like to start with the wife.
The script gives Christian's wife a name:
Martha looks at hunkalicious Mick.
The script also makes Mick more touchy:
Mick reaches out, gently touches her shoulder --
MICK (CONT'D) This must be very difficult for you. What if I come back another time.
He doesn't move.
MARTHA No time like the present. What do you want to know?
There's an extra bit at the end of the scene:
MARTHA Christian can be very charming... like a snake. He's a vampire, by the way. Don't know if you knew that.
MICK I didn't.
MARTHA (nods) That's what he tells them. (beat) Right before he seduces them in the basement of Chandler Hall. (then) One of these days, I should go down there and catch him in the act. Wonder what he'd do then?
MICK Do you think your husband killed Kelly?
MARTHA That girl was bitten in the neck, right? He's the only vampire I know.
Beat.
MICK Why do you stay with him?
She thinks for a moment. When she speaks, we see the cold steel in this woman.
MARTHA It's just a matter of time until one of these girls destroys his life. That's something I really don't want to miss.
The next scene, with Beth in Christian's anthropology class, is the same as the episode. Following that is a scene not in the episode:
EXT. CHANDLER HALL - NIGHT
Beth waits in an alcove. It's dark. Perhaps a marine layer gives a spooky feel.
She watches from the shadows as Christian leaves the building. She follows him across the mostly deserted campus.
She keeps her distance. He moves in and out of the dimly lit spots way up ahead. Then, suddenly, he is gone.
She hurries her pace, but he is nowhere to be found. Then she gets a little lost, looks around. The campus is dim and deserted now.
She makes a decision and heads off in a new direction. Walking quickly.
And that's when she hears FOOTSTEPS.
Behind her. She looks back, but no one's there. Beth picks up her pace and the FOOTSTEPS BEHIND HER QUICKEN. Frightened now, she begins to run.
As WE TRACK with her, as a SHADOW RAPIDLY approaches behind.
Something WHOOSHES OVER HER and suddenly envelops her in darkness. Beth SCREAMS as she's pulled to the ground. She begins to fight for her life, and then realizes...
It is Mick. Holding her down, but instead of attacking her, he smiles tenderly and moves to kiss her. Caught up in the moment, Beth's lips part, but JUST BEFORE THEIR MOUTHS MEET--
INT. BETH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Beth SNAPS AWAKE in bed. Alone in her room, she reflects on the bizarre dream and what it might mean...
END ACT TWO
Act Three
Next is another scene that's not in the episode:
INT. MICK'S DOWNTOWN LOFT - DAY
Mick plays with a cigarette lighter, passing his hand through it occasionally. Deep in thought.
MICK (V.O.) Vampire or mortal, one thing we have in common... relationships are always complicated. More so in my case, what with the ex-wife from Hell.
FLASHBACK TO 1985 --
INT. BROWN DERBY NIGHT CLUB, BASEMENT HALLWAY - 1985
Mick moves down a dark hallway in the basement of this iconic Hollywood nightclub.
NOTE: This is where Mick and Coraline first met and fell in love. In episode 101, Coraline tells Beth's mother that the P.I. she recommends is someone she met at the Brown Derby. This resonates with Mick, he knows Coraline will be waiting for him.
INT . BROWN DERBY NIGHT CLUB, STORAGE ROOM - CONTINUOUS
The room is filled with old framed celebrity patron photos, old booths and chairs. Mick bursts into the room, gun drawn and ready. He finds Coraline kneeling next to a terrified Young Beth.
CORALINE I knew you'd come.
MICK Let the girl go, Coraline.
Mick waits, gun trained on Coraline. Young Beth starts to cry.
CUT BACK TO THE PRESENT --
INT. MICK'S LOFT - DAY
Mick's eyes pop open. He looks shaken by the memory.
MICK (V.O.) Very complicated.
Instead of this flashback, the episode has Mick on a rooftop looking out at the city and a voiceover:
"Somewhere in the city, a killer is on the loose. Josef wants me to hunt him to keep our secret safe. I just want to make sure he doesn't do it again.You don't have to be a vampire to get a taste for blood."
The next scene, with Mick in Christian's office, is the same as the episode with one small line change. Instead of Mick saying
"Coudn't you just have a double expresso or something?" he says:
MICK Couldn't just have a Redbull, huh?
The line was probably changed because it mentions a brand name.
The next scene, with Beth and Carl at Hamburger Haven, is the same as the episode. The
scene that follows with Mick and Josef is missing bits that are in the episode. Instead of:
JOSEF I didn't say that. You don't have any freshies around?
The episode has the following exchange instead. Josef: "I didn't say that." Mick:
"Are you sure?" Josef: "Get out of here. (pause) I assume you don't have any freshies around?"
And the rest of the scene is a lot shorter in the script:
Josef turns off the TV.
JOSEF So, now the food's talking about the farmer.
MICK The killer's not a vampire.
JOSEF You're telling me some poser wannabe drinking blood out of a Snoop Dog chalice is behind this? Why haven't you killed him?
MICK There's more than one suspect.
JOSEF Then we kill them all.
Mick gives him a look.
JOSEF (CONT'D) I know you have morals and scruples and I respect that about you... sort of...
Josef polishes off the blood and stands.
JOSEF (CONT'D) (checks his watch) But I have no morals or scruples.
MICK Josef. Don't get agro with me.
JOSEF Sorry. I'm outta line. I'm serious, but still I'm outta line.
MICK And don't forget, I'm your only friend who doesn't like you just for your money.
As Mick ushers Josef to the door.
JOSEF True. Sad but true.
And Josef's gone.
The next scene with Chloe closing up the diner has an additional line of dialogue:
The person in the mask doesn't speak.
CHLOE (CONT'D) Look, I'm not apologizing. I'm not going back. I'm through with the 'true path'.
The figure still doesn't speak.
CHLOE (CONT'D) Why are you wearing that stupid thing anyway?
The episode starts the next scene with a voiceover that's similar to the one used in the third flashback in the script (in the Brown Derby, described earlier). Mick:
"Relationships are complicated--vampire or mortal, that's one thing we have in common." Then Mick answers Beth's buzz at his office door.
The script starts with Mick answering Beth's knocks at his office door. The dialogue is slightly different (and in a different order) in the script:
BETH How'd you know the blood we found in the pendant was Christian's?
MICK I'm fine. How are you?
BETH Christian gave the police a DNA sample. You have a source in the department?
MICK No, but obviously you do.
Beth looks at Mick for a beat, he's kind of familiar.
BETH Have we met before?
MICK Sure we have. The other night.
BETH Before that.
MICK I've got one of those faces.
An awkward moment of silence, then...
MICK (CONT'D) (changing the subject) What'd you find out from Chloe?
BETH She's got a few anger management issues. Turns out our murder victim filed a harassment charge against her a couple months ago.
She hands Mick a piece of paper with an address on it.
BETH (CONT'D) Here's where she works, give me the guy perspective. Tell me if you think she's our killer.
MICK I talked to the professor and his wife. She thinks he's a snake and he thinks he's a vampire.
BETH I know you said there are no such things, but I'll bring a little garlic tonight, just in case.
MICK What are you talking about?
BETH I wrangled an invite to the Professor's 'study group'.
MICK I'm not sure that's a good idea.
BETH I have 200,000 eyeballs waiting for my next upload.
MICK (softly) I just want you to be careful...
Mick and Beth lock eyes. She sees the concern in his EYES... It stops her. What is it with this guy? Why does this stranger seem so familiar?
BETH I'll be careful...
MICK Okay...
They move to the door. Mick leans across her to open it. In that moment of proximity, time seems to stop.
Without another word, Beth exits.
The next scene in the episode is the flashback where Mick follows the trail and finds Coraline in the bedroom with young Beth. This scene replaces the Brown Derby flashback in the script (described earlier).
Next, in both the episode and script, Beth is getting the hidden mic taped under her blouse. Steve's line that ends the scene is not in the script:
"Maureen's a real humanitarian."
Next, Mick enters the diner and finds Chloe's body. The only differences are the script mentions that the juke box is still playing; that Mick finds Chloe's body in a booth at the back of the diner, not in the kitchen; and that the scene ends with Mick pulling out his cell phone to call Beth.
The script starts the next scene with a voiceover of Beth's voicemail as Daniel is leading her to the study group at Chandler Hall.
In the episode, the voicemail shows up later in a short scene of Mick driving
the Benz and listening to Beth's voicemail on his cell phone.
Act Four
The beginning of Christian's lecture is not in the script: "The spiritual sexual vampire lurks between the lines of Sanskrit tablets. Numerous cultures of antiquity believed that blood was the vital element in the lovemaking and life-giving process."
In the script, the study group also ends with a shorter blessing:
THE OTHERS Blood is life and life is blood.
The blessing in the episode is: "Blood is life and life is blood. Born into light, we seek the dark."
The script names of some of Christian's followers:
Christian gently touches each student, some on the shoulder; a couple of the females he kisses paternalistically on the forehead.
CHRISTIAN Good night Janice. Good night Leigh...
Christian's one-on-one dialogue with Beth is in a slightly different order:
CHRISTIAN Let's sit down, I want to show you something. We are only now rediscovering what the ancients knew. We are simply energy, we both radiate and absorb it.
He holds out his hands, palms up.
CHRISTIAN (CONT'D) Here, hold your hands above mine. And concentrate. You feel that?
BETH Um... maybe...
In the script, when Christian discovers Beth's hidden mic, he pushes her against the wall and her purse (with cell phone and mace) goes flying.
In the script, Mick is still trying to reach Beth on the phone:
INT. MICK'S MERCEDES (MOVING) - NIGHT
Mick floors it, trying to get to the campus and to Beth. Talking into his cell phone --
MICK Beth - pick up!
Then, in the script, a surprise guest shows up in the boiler room:
Christian rips at Beth's clothes, looking for the recorder. As Beth claws at Christian's face, a voice speaks behind him--
MARTHA (O.S.) Well. This is even more pathetic than I imagined.
Both Beth and Christian turn to see Martha, Christian's wife.
MARTHA (CONT'D) Don't let me interrupt.
CHRISTIAN Shut up Martha! She's recording this --
WHAM! Beth elbows a distracted Christian and runs out the door.
INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT
Beth rushes down the darkened hallway toward the exit.
INT. CHANDLER HALL (BOILER ROOM) - NIGHT
CHRISTIAN We need to stop her!
MARTHA "We?" She's your problem not mine.
Martha walks out the door.
Next, in both the script and the episode, Beth runs into Daniel, who drugs her with a hypodermic needle.
Next, Mick confronts Christian. In the script, Mick slams Christian against a wall instead of down on a table.
In the script, the scene in Daniel's car explains a bit more about Daniel's motive for killing the girls:
BETH Why are you doing this?
DANIEL There are certain ones... the ones he likes... and they're always trouble. You wouldn't understand.
Beth knows she only has one chance with her attacker: keep him talking.
BETH I might... (nothing from Daniel) You're involved in something extraordinary.
DANIEL I'm involved in something transformative. Christian's a prophet. His teachings reveal the powerful truth about our vital pranic energy. We must absorb this energy, preserve it and cherish it... not waste it on women.
Beth nods, just keep him talking.
BETH So Kelly had to be killed because she wasn't... a true believer?
DANIEL She was a syphon. A succubus. You all are. Without these distractions, Christian can fulfill his true destiny.
Daniel takes out a set of BRASS KNUCKLES which feature two WICKEDLY LONG, fang-like SPIKES. And very simply puts it on his hand. He's not threatening her with it. Yet.
Beth stares at THE WEAPON, transfixed...
Next, in both the script and the episode, Mick collides with Daniel's car. It's not clear in the episode, but in the script:
Using all of her strength and focus, Beth grabs the steering wheel and jerks it, sending the car CRASHING INTO A LIGHT POLE.
Mick dispatches Daniel less dramatically in the script than in the episode:
MICK'S POV: WE SEE Daniel yanking a barely-conscious Beth from the crumpled car, STEEL SPIKES pressed to her throat.
Clutching his sprained ribs, Mick begins to run, closing the gap. Fast.
Daniel sees Mick coming -- can't quite believe what he's seeing -- Daniel instinctively lets go of Beth who crumples to the ground. Mick is on him in an instant. Daniel blindly lashes out with the steel spikes and manages to sink them in Mick's chest (or shoulder.) Mick looks down at the wound.
MICK This is a new shirt.
Mick grabs Daniel's wrist and slowly, inexorably removes the spikes. Then with a quick flick, BREAKS Daniel's WRIST.
Writhing in agony, Daniel is knocked unconscious by a vicious right hand to the jaw from Mick.
Mick then goes to Beth. He kneels over her, and studies her face...
In the script, the final flashback is different, more similar to the "Twilight" pilot presentation:
INT. BROWN DERBY NIGHT CLUB - NIGHT
CHYRON: 1985
MICK (to Young Beth) It's all right, it's going to be all right.
CORALINE It's going to be perfect. (to Mick) You, me and baby make three.
She bares her fangs and moves to bite Young Beth.
MICK These are silver bullets. Don't make me do this.
Mick cocks his gun.
CORALINE (taunting) You won't. You love me.
Without hesitation, Mick fires a single silver bullet into Coraline's chest. Coraline staggers back, releasing Young Beth, who dives under a table.
An enraged Coraline goes FULL VAMP and lunges at Mick. Mick also goes FULL VAMP. THE FIGHT IS ON.
Coraline knocks the gun out of Mick's hand, as they exchange vicious blows.
Mick slams Coraline against a wall, this dislodges a GAS PIPE that hisses wildly. They fall to the floor, trying to get the advantage.
Rolling. Entwined in each others arms. For a brief instant Coraline is looking up at Mick on top of her. She grabs the back of his head and pulls him into a sudden erotic kiss. For a brief instant Mick is kissing her back.
Then Mick furiously breaks the kiss. Coraline smiles at him, then sinks her fangs into Mick and starts to drain him.
Mick desperately tries to throw her off of him but he is rapidly weakening. He sees his gun a distance away on the floor. He reaches for it, but it lays just beyond his grasp.
Suddenly, Young Beth appears and pushes the gun toward Mick's outstretched hand. Mick grabs his gun and empties his clip of silver bullets into Coraline, throwing her backwards.
Mick scoops up Young Beth and runs to the door.
INT. BROWN DERBY NIGHT CLUB, HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS
Mick, with Young Beth in his arms, reaches into his pocket and pulls out his LIGHTER. Flipping it open, he sparks its flame. Mick hesitates for a moment, then tosses the LIT LIGHTER back behind him into the Storage Room.
We HEAR an explosion (the lighter ignited the gas pipe that had been broken during the fight).
Mick looks back over his shoulder and sees a CGI FIREBALL whooshing down the hallway. Mick uses his vampiric speed to outrun the fireball as the structure of the Brown Derby begins to collapse.
Mick carries the unconscious Young Beth to safety in his arms.
EXT. CAMPUS - NIGHT
MICK WITH GROWN-UP BETH IN HIS ARMS
Virtually the same shot.
MICK (V.O.) The last time I held her in my arms, she was only a child...
EXT. CAMPUS - NIGHT
Mick carries the unconsious Beth in his arms as we now realize that the little girl he saved so long ago was Beth.
MICK (V.O.) ...over the years I tried to stay close, just out of sight. In case she needed me. And tonight she did.
Mick carries Beth across the widening arc of night, the full moon behind them.
MICK (V.O.) (CONT'D) They say everyone has a soulmate.
Mick looks down at Beth.
MICK (V.O.) (CONT'D) What if you finally found her and she had no idea... that you were a monster?
BETH'S EYES flutter open. She looks up at him...
MICK (CONT'D) No idea...
FADE TO BLACK.
The script ends here, without the additional scene (and hug!) back at Mick's loft that's in the episode.