DWM Newsletter #4

Hello from all of us!

If you’ve not caught up with The Hidden People up to the latest episode (which is season 3, episode 14, released on 13th October), beware of spoilers before reading on.

Latest from The Hidden People

Speaking personally here, this is a part of the plot that I was waiting on for… a while. (Yes, I don’t get told a lot of what’s going to be in the scripts for a season until they are finalised, so I get to enjoy some of the twists, too!)

I, like many of you, had been vaguely curious about Nissa’s parentage and the potential for a supernatural backstory since… a while ago. For example:

“I know who your father is, Nissa.”    (season 1, episode 3 – “Official Statements”)

“We aren’t afraid of you –” / “She speaks the truth, Magister.”  (season 1, episode 15 – “Two Roads Diverged”)

“And you looked me right in the eyes and said that he…told you who your father was.” / “Oh.” (season 2, episode 16 – “Date and Switch”)

“I… genuinely do not know why the computer is beeping.” / “She doesn’t have the power to do this. None of them do.” (season 3, episode 6 – “Two Truths and a Lie”)

– The Hidden People

How much I enjoyed, then, reading this so very human story as the payoff to these teases. I should have known. This has never been a story where fathers are the special ones. It is an… anti-patriarchal story.

I found much authenticity in the portrayal of Nissa absorbed in processing her mortality, both in the script and in Luna’s sensitive performance – which made me believe in the many thoughts and memories constantly happening under the surface of this super-intelligent person.

This is one of the many occasions on this show that I found myself adding music to express some of what I felt was suggested but not spoken in the dialogue. From the notes I sent to Chris about my first draft of this episode:

‘All music [in the second half] is derived from the new, more subdued and contemplative, development of [Nissa’s] music that I introduced in her scene with Shaylee in the previous episode. As you will hear, I wanted to give her a tune, and eventually – perhaps rashly! – decided to use vocals for this, to represent Nissa’s unspoken private thoughts. The final version of it has some fuller textures and a lot of internal movement – I was thinking of mental restlessness, turmoil?’

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