Behind the Scenes Commentary 9 Tangled Up In A Mystery

The season one finale is titled "Tangled Up in A Mystery" which comes from the season 4 song "Suspense"! For me this was the perfect title as every little plot line that had been built throughout the season was brought back in this episode. "Hail To The Chief" was just a perfect episode to put this story in as all the season 3 cast were there and we had the security agents who ultimately wouldn't be fooled by Doris' lies.

I loved how this episode flowed and ultimately reached it it's crescendo. With a little fun and emotion along the way.

In order to remind the reader Doris reconnects with Dwight and Holly and we have throwaway lines that just indicate plot line that were going on in Hail To The Chief" that we don't see here.

The scene with Holly not only serves as a reminder but also gives us an indication as to what is happening for teenage Doris that could have led to her suspension.

Then we have the bitter sweet scene with her mother. Readers might have thought having Doris resolve some of her issues with her mother over the phone in episode 4 that that may have been the end of that plot line but as Angela was in "Hail To The Chief" it was an opportunity not to be missed and ads to the emotion.

It was a little complicated how to explain all the various character meetings we had previously seen and have it all come out in one scene but I think it worked very well.

I'm not sure if it's spelt out clearly enough here as I didn't really labour the point but my intention with Bruno realising that his friend, teenage Doris isn't actually the same person as the older woman goes some way to repairing their friendship, which in turn helps teenage Doris who doesn't then get expelled. I never refer to this plot line again as for me it was over and things just got so much bigger in the future seasons. Plus Doris doesn't interact with the core characters in quite the same way again as she does in this season.

The Bruno realisation also is where I wrote myself into a corner because in the official time line his confrontation with middle aged Doris when he leaves "The Best In You and Me" was after the events in "Hail To the Chief". In my head I justified it by deciding that what is now happening in the "Hail To The Chief " setting hadn't previously happened and we were seeing an alternate time line of events with Bruno and Doris not being friends and Doris being expelled, which is why that all changed after this season finale! Phew did I get away with that?

The alternative would have been to reset Doris and Bruno's confrontation to a timeline before "Hail To The Chief" but for me it worked well enough where it was.

After I initially posted this episode I did go back and slightly amend Morloch's reaction to seeing Doris without the wig, just to ad continuity to events that happen in future episodes. I could have left it and explained it away as I did above but decided to just amend it slightly, which is a bit of a cheat I know but new readers will never realise and it doesn't really alter this story in anyway!

The mysterious voice and Mrs Berg's involvement are brought up again although I still wasn't sure how they were going to develop. Also the cliffhanger of having Doris led away by the agents at this point I didn't know how I would resolve. Yes I could use the obvious she moves in time but the fact that she was exposed to all the characters meant things would change a little in the future.