Does anyone else smell a new iconic TV dance scene being added to the history books?
**Spoiler alert: Details ahead from Episode 6 of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, now streaming on Hulu**
Just six episodes in, Love Story has already carved out a place for itself on the list of TV shows with incredible soundtracks, but this week’s episode proves just how above and beyond everyone involved in the production is willing to go to make the best possible series. According to the episode’s writer, Juli Weiner, when the rights to one song included in the script were denied, the show’s music supervisor took matters into her own hands.
“The music supervisor, Jen Malone, just knocked it out of the park. Just every needle drop is like, ‘Oh my God, I love this song.’ I can also share that the dance to “Common People” by Pulp at the beginning of the episode was something that I had written in the script from the first draft. And it wasn’t until Pulp initially denied the request to use the song, Jen intervened and wrote Jarvis Cocker a personal letter, speaking to how much Pulp meant to her, how much that song meant to her, and at the very last minute, Jen was able to clear the song,” Weiner told DECIDER in a sitdown for Episode 6.
While not the only genre and period-defining piece of music in “The Wedding,” it is one of the most organic scenes in the episode, according to Weiner. In the scene, Carolyn (Sarah Pidgeon) and John (Paul Anthony Kelly) are finally getting into wedding planning and dancing around their living room and embodying the upbeat and hopeful but class-critical themes of the song.
For that reason, alone, to Weiner, director Gillian Robespierre, and the rest of the cast and crew, it was the perfect song for the moment leading up to the nuptials. That’s why Pulp clearing it last minute became a celebration among those involved.
“I remember we were on a conference call and everyone was just so excited that she was able to do that because it’s one of my favorite scenes in the show, them dancing just sexy and goofy and sort of very lived in. So I was so glad that they were able to pull that off,” Weiner said.
Some things still had to be cut, however, to make the episode — which, as is, came in over an hour long — as compact but complete as possible. One thing that sadly didn’t make the final cut was an oceanlit version of the skinny dipping scene on the evening before the wedding.
“Initially in the script, the skinny dipping, I conceived of it as a nighttime skinny dipping that would be scored to RPM’s “Night Swimming.” I think the dawn swimming, that is the version that we see in the show is absolutely magical and ultimately far more producible than a than a nighttime swim,” Weiner said with a laugh.
Ultimately, the story shook out with John and Carolyn falling asleep on the beach and waking up wrapped in each others arms on the sand. Blissful and still half-asleep, the two dive into the waves to “Suzanne” by Nina Simone, another song that encapsulates the energy of the scene.
“Suzanne takes you down to her place by the river, you can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night forever, and you know that she’s half crazy, and that’s why you wanna be there,” the song sings.
The episode also ends with a first dance scene set to Radiohead’s “(Nice Dream),” which Weiner said also came from Malone and which everyone knew was the perfect way to bring about the ethereal and somewhat bittersweet feeling that they wanted John and Carolyn’s first dance as a married couple to have.
“We were so thrilled that she thought of that and it couldn’t have been more perfect,” the writer shared.
The first six episodes of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette are now streaming. New episodes premiere on Thursdays at 9 p.m. PST on Hulu.
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