Elizabeth Mitchell - Dead of Summer Episode Discussion: 1x01 - Patience

Hawthorn · 06-27-2016, 04:04 PM

Seven camp counselors plan for the best summer of their lives, but the evil lurking at Camp Stillwater has other plans in store for them in the series premiere of “Dead of Summer,” airing TUESDAY, JUNE 28 (9:00 – 10:00 p.m. EDT), on Freeform.

Set in the late 1980s, school is out for the summer, and a sun-drenched season of firsts beckons the counselors at Camp Stillwater, a seemingly idyllic Midwestern summer camp, including first loves, first kisses—and first kills. Stillwater’s dark, ancient mythology awakens, and what was supposed to be a summer of fun soon turns into one of unforgettable scares and evil at every turn.

In the premiere episode, “Patience,” Camp Stillwater is about to reopen after being closed down for years. Deb (Elizabeth Mitchell), the new owner, has thrown her heart, soul and life savings into renovating the camp she loved as a child.
She isn’t the only one excited to return as six former campers—Alex (Ronen Rubinstein), Jessie (Paulina Singer), Cricket (Amber Coney), Joel (Eli Goree), Blair (Mark Indelicato) and Blotter (Zachary Gordon)—join her as counselors hoping to experience the freedom that camp brings now that they are older. Not part of the old crew, Amy (Elizabeth Lail) is not just new to Camp Stillwater, but to camp in general. While Amy tries her best to fit in with the already tight group, Drew (Zelda Williams) is content to be left alone. As everyone settles in and prepares for the campers’ arrival, Amy is the first to get a feeling that something is not right with this idyllic summer camp.

The series stars Elizabeth Mitchell (“Lost,” ”The Purge: Election Year”) as Deborah “Deb” Carpenter, Elizabeth Lail (“Once Upon a Time”) as Amy Hughes, Zelda Williams (“Teen Wolf”) as Drew Reeves, Mark Indelicato (“Ugly Betty”) as Blair Ramos, Alberto Frezza (“Charlie’s Angels”) as Deputy Garrett Sykes, Eli Goree (“The 100”) as Joel Goodson, Ronen Rubinstein (“Orange Is the New Black”) as Alex Powell, Amber Coney (“Class”) as Carolina “Cricket” Diaz and Paulina Singer (“Gotham”) as Jessie Tyler.

“Dead of Summer” is produced by ABC Signature Studios and Kitsis/Horowitz. Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis (“Once Upon a Time,” “Lost”) and Ian Goldberg (“Once Upon a Time,” “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior”) write and executive-produce the series. Steve Pearlman (“Once Upon a Time”) serves as executive producer. “Patience” is written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz & Ian Goldberg and directed by Adam Horowitz.

***Sulieter*** · 06-27-2016, 10:10 PM

Thanks for the thread.

IloveJules! · 06-28-2016, 05:28 AM

Thanks for opening the thread, Fran.

I've found an article listing reasons to watch Dead of Summer and Liz is one of the reasons.

Quote:

[...]

Elizabeth Mitchell | On a teen-skewing network like Freeform, it’s important that its series cast hot, young talent. But on Dead of Summer, it’s the adult cast that is grabbing our attention. Like millions of others, we first discovered Elizabeth Mitchell on the MASSIVE sci-fi series LOST. We fell in love fast with her character Juliette Burke, and is possibly our most favorite character from the entire series. Our love for Juliette transferred onto her portrayer, Elizabeth Mitchell, who is adorable beyond words. If you don’t fall in love with her after watching this video of LOST‘s season 3 bloopers and hearing her infectious laugh, then you’re dead inside.

Since her time on the island, we’ve followed her TV career from ABC’s V, to NBC’s blackout drama Revolution. She recently reteamed with Horowitz and Kitsis on Once Upon a Time, where she played Ingrid, a snow queen in search of a family, in the drama’s take on Disney’s blockbuster Frozen. Horowitz, Kitsis, Goldberg and Hatem are great; Elizabeth Mitchell is the sweet icing on the already-delicious cake. We can’t say it enough: we love, Love, LOVE her!

Why We're Looking Forward to Freeform's Dead of Summer - OMFGTV

***Sulieter*** · 06-28-2016, 06:17 AM

That's great.

Hawthorn · 06-28-2016, 09:38 AM

Liz is THE reason to watch this series.

***Sulieter*** · 06-28-2016, 10:06 PM

Indeed.

IloveJules! · 06-29-2016, 03:31 AM

^
what they said.

Hawthorn · 06-29-2016, 08:58 AM

I just watched the first episode.

The opening scene was nice.

Lots and lots of cliches after that, not always well used. (I'm glad the janitor/gardener is already gone because he truly came off as a walking trope in his few scenes)

We didn't see much of Deb in the premiere - we only get an idea that she's either creepy, or disturbed, or hiding something huge... or all of those things. That said, she could still be the big hero of the story.

The main occupation of the lead character, Amy, in the pilot was running around and freaking out. At the end of the flashbacks you understand why she's always so jumpy, but I hope they tone that trait a bit in the next episodes because those scenes could become annoying after a while. And not always it meshed well with her trying to defeat her fears as she seemed so focused to do because the cuts were so abrupt.

Intrigued to see what they do with Drew. (I had no idea the actress playing the part is Robin Williams' daughter /livesunderarock)

Not so intrigued by the potential of a love square already set up in the very first episode.

The young Deputy remains hot but came off so vanilla.
They saved Alex with that last scene with the suitcase, instead.

Charles Mesure had little to do, as well, and yet he was very convincing in the part, I thought.

IloveJules! · 06-30-2016, 02:59 AM

I can't read what you wrote yet because I didn't watch the episode. Hopefully I'll watch it later tonight.

Here are some BTS/B-Roll footage from the pilot (with Liz):

Hawthorn · 07-02-2016, 04:18 AM

Let me know what you thought of it once you do.

And thanks for the clip!

For anyone who missed the episode, you can catch up with it on the Freeform YT channel, too:

IloveJules! · 07-05-2016, 04:04 AM

Finally watched it.

It was a good first episode! I liked it much more than I thought I would.

Being a TV show written for teenagers, I kind of expected some cliches and stereotypes ~~and triangles~~. So... I just tried to ignore those things.
And being a TV show written by the same writers of Once Upon A Time, I kind of expected some silly and cheesy stuff too. I don't mind it though.

What I liked the most was the vibe. The summer camp, the 1980s, the music, the horror/supernatural storytelling. The essence of the horror/supernatural storytelling was in this first episode. Jump scares, weird/scary noises, lights going out, visions/ghosts, blood, mysterious people and deaths. ~~Also, people doing stupid things...~~
The Dead of Summer logo intro in the beginning was very 1980s. That was nice.

I just didn't get as scared as I wanted. The only moment that really scared me was when Dave appears for Amy while she's searching for firewood.
Maybe it's because of the target audience, but it would be nice if the show gets scarier as it goes on.

I like that the show is going to have flashbacks. For a show like this, that's probably the best way to give depth to the characters.
It was a nice twist in the end with Amy's only friend dying and knowing how it is affecting her.

I like Joel with his camera too. I think that's neat to have someone filming things, so we can see ghosts/visions through his camera. For this episode, at least, it was a good thing.

I didn't like at all to hear the details of Cricket's adventures when she was 13 years old. I thought that was completely unnecessary. But then we find out that she's the one actually writing those things, so it makes more sense.

I was wondering all the time why everyone is treating the girl as a male. Drew's a girl! Because the actress was promoting the show with Liz, so I knew she was a girl all the time. But the character seems to be one of the most interesting.
Had no idea she was Robin Williams' daughter too. Only got to know it because she was promoting the show with Liz.

Of course, I loved seeing Liz as Deb. It's hard to say anything about her though.
She seems to be someone who genuinely cares about the camp and genuinely wants people to have the best time of their lives at this camp. Something really good/powerful must have happened with Deb while she was a camper. But at the same time, it looks like she could do anything (including very bad things) to protect the secrets of the lake/camp.

Or it's the opposite. Something very had happened to her while she was a camper and she didn't get over it and wants to solve the problem, hence re-opening the camp.

She seemed to know that the Deputy was holding a map of Lake Stillwater. And she seemed worried about it. They also implied it was Deb who killed Dave and burned his house. But that's too obvious...

Also, the way she showed up on the window while Joel was filming, I felt it was on purpose.
Now he's "in love" with her.

Anyway, that box seems to be the most precious thing ever for Deb.

Charles was great as the Sheriff and that very American accent.

I thought the Sheriff and Deb were behaving like they know more. I mean, they seemed to not care that much about Dave's death. And the way the Sheriff was trying to stop the Deputy from wanting to know more. Also, the way the Sheriff looked at Deb and the way she looked back. The way she behaved throughout the whole conversation, actually. Very suspicious.

It was good to see Liz and Charles having one scene together. I hope they have more scenes together.

That sequence with Patience by Guns and Roses was nice.

I, too, thought the opening scene was really cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawthorn (View Post)

Not so intrigued by the potential of a love square already set up in the very first episode.

3 triangles, right? Amy, Alex, Cricket. Amy, Deputy, Jessie. Alex, Amy, Deputy.

At least Deb is out of it.

Jessie is probably going to die because of it.

Kelaine · 08-25-2016, 10:30 PM

Am I the only one wondering what the hiring process was at this camp? Can you imagine what any of the job interviews looked like? Shouldn't Drew have displayed some ability to interact with people and obey simple rules like not smoking?

Also, the slightly creepy janitor was using nonlethal traps for the rodents, which cut down his creep factor considerably. But . . . you don't put traps like that outside in the woods. The woods are full of rodents. That's where they're supposed to be. Mouse traps should be in the cabins. Otherwise, he's catching live mice and releasing them . . . into the woods.

I know, I know, that was there so we'd see Amy freeing a live mouse and see the janitor get upset. But, still.


Fan Forum > Archived Celebrities > Elizabeth Mitchell > Dead of Summer Episode Discussion: 1x01 - Patience