He's dead.
Now keep in mind, he's dead on "Alias." The show that has "killed" Emily Sloane twice. Irina. Francie/ Evil Francie (two or three times). We've even "killed" Sydney. The only thing he doesn't have going for him is he doesn't have ovaries.
But... did anyone happen to catch that when we last left Dixon... he was in the hospital...? :) See, ANYONE can recover on this show without their friends batting an eyelash.
I thought Capetown looked really great - and I really loved that actress April cast as the daughter. The other little inside joke - Peter Godoy - the guard in the scene with Sloane in prison... Peter has been the guard for nearly EVERY prison scene in the past four seasons. He guarded Irina, Sark, Lauren... anyone in custody, he has watched over.
And even knowing what was going to happen... when they kissed goodbye and she walked away, tears... tears streaming down my face.
When we went back into production back in late August, we all received the script and in the end, his body was taken from the hospital. During the concept meeting, one of the producers stood up and closed the door, informing us that the script we had read and prepared for, was in fact a "dummy" script and that Michael was going to die in Act 5. The actual script pages never appeared in our network. We received them in hardcopies on set.
(This of course would begin the giant secret, which thanks to moles, revealed it. Once the secret was out, all anyone could do was deny what was happening. Four very important words to learn and live by in Hollywoodland: Deny. Deny. Deny. Deny.) Once the secret was out, it was frustrating to everyone involved.
One of the things Ken Olin wanted for the funeral was a real minister. I said, "no problem, I'll ask mine." So the minister you saw, was actually my own Rev. Ed from the Hollywood United Methodist Church. He was so funny, because he had never been on set before and once he got there, was surprised (we all were) that they wanted to actually DELIVER a funeral. He had never seen the show, so he gave an impromptu funeral for someone he had no idea was dead. (I think they originally wanted the Coldplay song, "Fix You" - but thanks to the fact it's now a hit, I'm sure it became too expensive.)
In the service the following Sunday, he said, "I had the opportunity to work on the television show, "Alias." I'm sworn to secrecy as to who is dead, which is just as well, because I have no idea who I preached over." He was also troubled that Jennifer kept crying as he delivered his service. He thought he was doing something wrong, not realizing at first she was acting.
The APO from last season (and this season) attended the funeral. Those are the guys that helped carry the coffin out and I couldn't resist the chance to bring back Barry and Paula Burdett, the most talked about members of the CIA/ SD-6 as well. They were behind the coffin as it came out. It was our own little inside story.
What can I tell you about Michael leaving that answers questions without being disrespectful to everyone behind the gates? Michael came back to visit several times after his episode was shot. We loved Michael and were sad to see him go. I've heard all these "sources" say that he was fired and that is simply not the case. Believe whoever you want to believe - but I'm on the call sheet and I'm telling you right now, he was not fired. He's looking forward to vacation and traveling and working on features.
So is he really dead? I mean, sure he got shot like 25 times and managed to drink through a straw without looking like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. But this is Vaughn. He's been a human pin cushion for four seasons. He's been in and out of the hospital more more times than Jennifer has worn wigs. I'm surprised they didn't wheel him in and have a nurse say, "you again!?"
Is he dead? Maybe.
Maybe not.
As I was writing this, I wrote it before and during the episode. I have to run down to "Bones" and then over to "Alias" which are shooting downtown tonight.
I hope you liked the show tonight. And I hope you enjoy the ride that the show will present this season. It's kinda cool. You've never seen a spy show with a pregnant spy girl - and I think that's going to be part of the cool factor. Pregnant chicks are hot!
And so far - so fun.
-C
