Entertainment Weekley has been kind enough to grace the lot of us with not one but two postmortems this week.
From Grahamn Yost:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s go right to Boyd’s proposal.
GRAHAM YOST: There are a bunch of pivotal episodes this season, this is certainly one of them. It’s a pivotal episode for the series. We knew Boyd and Ava were a devoted couple, but a proposal ups the ante. With what’s gonna happen specifically in episode 7, and the things they have to do, we just thought this was the time. Now in the execution of the scene, we were going to shoot it in one place, then scheduling kind of fouled up and we couldn’t do it, so we ended up just shooting it essentially at the same spot we shot a scene between Raylan and Ava back in season 1, where they were sitting on the hood of his car looking out over the lights of Lexington. We shot it here in the studio, so they’re actually looking out at the lights at Santa Clarita. You get a nice long lens, and you can’t tell where you are. The big thing to me about that scene is when Boyd says something to the effect of, “This is not how most people will do it, but we’re not like most people.” And Ava says, “No, we’re not.” That’s my favorite bit in it: They know who they are. And it’s also the idea of Boyd talking about the future. Again, that’s the focus of the season — Raylan thinking about the future, Boyd thinking about the future, and Ava as well. The original pitch was that he just gave her money, and then the next episode he was gonna go the store. We went through a lot of things, and then it was like, “You know what, let’s just put it all in one.”
And Ava’s line “Oh baby, it’s the other hand” wasn’t scripted?
I’m pretty sure that was improvised. That little bit of sloppiness is the kind of thing that makes a scene pop. It’s funny, I think if you try to write those too much, you don’t get it. It’s better for them to just find it in the moment.
Source: EW
GRAHAM YOST: There are a bunch of pivotal episodes this season, this is certainly one of them. It’s a pivotal episode for the series. We knew Boyd and Ava were a devoted couple, but a proposal ups the ante. With what’s gonna happen specifically in episode 7, and the things they have to do, we just thought this was the time. Now in the execution of the scene, we were going to shoot it in one place, then scheduling kind of fouled up and we couldn’t do it, so we ended up just shooting it essentially at the same spot we shot a scene between Raylan and Ava back in season 1, where they were sitting on the hood of his car looking out over the lights of Lexington. We shot it here in the studio, so they’re actually looking out at the lights at Santa Clarita. You get a nice long lens, and you can’t tell where you are. The big thing to me about that scene is when Boyd says something to the effect of, “This is not how most people will do it, but we’re not like most people.” And Ava says, “No, we’re not.” That’s my favorite bit in it: They know who they are. And it’s also the idea of Boyd talking about the future. Again, that’s the focus of the season — Raylan thinking about the future, Boyd thinking about the future, and Ava as well. The original pitch was that he just gave her money, and then the next episode he was gonna go the store. We went through a lot of things, and then it was like, “You know what, let’s just put it all in one.”
And Ava’s line “Oh baby, it’s the other hand” wasn’t scripted?
I’m pretty sure that was improvised. That little bit of sloppiness is the kind of thing that makes a scene pop. It’s funny, I think if you try to write those too much, you don’t get it. It’s better for them to just find it in the moment.
Source: EW
And from the lovely Joelle Carter:
Entertainment Weekly: What kind of things did you and Walton discuss with the writers?
Joelle Carter: Honestly, they wanted a big wedding this season. The way the story line started unfolding, and the mess that these people get in, there’s not a moment to stop and have a wedding, really. [Laughs] I think they chose to have this engagement [instead]. At the beginning of the season, Walton mentioned that he wanted Boyd to give Ava something that shows he values her and their love. We just had to think about what would be a nice, unique way to get engaged. I’d like to think Boyd had a completely different idea [of how he would propose]: He was gonna maybe buy the house first and have the ring inside. But I think it ended up more perfect the way it had to happen, like life does sometimes. There was a back-and-forth between us and the writers: They knew he was hoarding this money away so he could give it to Ava and say, “I want to buy you a home, a place where I feel we can actually build a life.” It was like, would you just give her the cash? Me and Walton were like, “It’s so romantic that he bought the ring, and that he wants to do this.” It was just going to be one or the other. And then it became both, and it was genius. He gives her a big wad of cash and a ring. It’s so country. [Laughs]
Source: EW
Joelle Carter: Honestly, they wanted a big wedding this season. The way the story line started unfolding, and the mess that these people get in, there’s not a moment to stop and have a wedding, really. [Laughs] I think they chose to have this engagement [instead]. At the beginning of the season, Walton mentioned that he wanted Boyd to give Ava something that shows he values her and their love. We just had to think about what would be a nice, unique way to get engaged. I’d like to think Boyd had a completely different idea [of how he would propose]: He was gonna maybe buy the house first and have the ring inside. But I think it ended up more perfect the way it had to happen, like life does sometimes. There was a back-and-forth between us and the writers: They knew he was hoarding this money away so he could give it to Ava and say, “I want to buy you a home, a place where I feel we can actually build a life.” It was like, would you just give her the cash? Me and Walton were like, “It’s so romantic that he bought the ring, and that he wants to do this.” It was just going to be one or the other. And then it became both, and it was genius. He gives her a big wad of cash and a ring. It’s so country. [Laughs]
Source: EW
Be sure to check back here in a few mintues for my recap. Excuse me while I bounce for joy at that ending!
