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33: Catching Fire Part Two
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In this episode of BookWatch, the tributes officially re-enter the Arena for the Quarter Quell. Special guest J Scotty St. Clair joins the alliance as we navigate all the differences between the book and movie adaptation of Catching Fire, book 2 of Suzanne Collins’ original Hunger Games trilogy. From the moment Katniss and Peeta enter the arena until the big reveals at the end, we break down every thrilling moment as we figure out the secrets of the arena and what it really means to be The Mockingjay.
Join hosts Chris, Jordyn, and Sarah-Daye as they break down what worked, what didn’t, and whether this adaptation does the book justice.
Tell us your thoughts! Did you love or hate this adaptation? Let’s discuss in The Book Watch Lounge on Facebook
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to book watch. We are continuing our discussion of the hunger games fire by Suzanne Collins and it's 2013 film adaptation directed by Francis Lawrence.
00:00:12
Speaker
In our last episode, we covered the first half of the story from Katniss and PETA's victory tour through the districts, the growing signs of rebellion and the shocking announcement of the 75th hunger games quarter quell, which would force previous victors back into the
Victory Tour and Quarter Quell Announcement
00:00:28
Speaker
arena.
00:00:28
Speaker
Today we are picking up at the just after the reaping where Katniss and Peta are selected once again and diving deep into the quarter well itself. The Alliance forms the horror of the new arena and the explosive finale that changes everything for Katniss and the future of Panem. I am Sarah I'm Chris.
00:00:51
Speaker
And I'm Jordan. and we will introduce our returning guest after these messages.
00:01:05
Speaker
Welcome to Book Watch, the podcast where pages meet screens. Each week, we dive into the world of adaptations, comparing beloved books with their cinematic counterparts. From faithful retellings to bold reimaginings, we'll break down what worked, what didn't, and what made each adaptation unforgettable.
Guest Introduction - Jay Scottie
00:01:21
Speaker
Whether you are a bookworm, a movie buff, or both, grab your bookmark, grab your popcorn, and let's watch some books.
00:01:30
Speaker
ah Jay Scottie, welcome back to another episode of Book Watch. Thank you. i've I've made it this far. haven't died yet. No canon has sounded for J. Scottie yet.
Character and Actor Analysis
00:01:44
Speaker
So this second part of the story, we are introduced to some other previous victors. I'm going to run through those characters and the cast that plays them. And then we can sort of just talk about those characters before diving into the second part of the plot.
00:01:59
Speaker
So we have the beautiful Finnick O'Dares played by Sam Claffin, Mags played by Lynn Cohen, Johanna Mason played by Jenna Malone,
00:02:12
Speaker
BD played by Jeffrey Wright. Wiris played by Amanda Plummer. Brutus played by Bruno Gunn. And Abaria played by Meder Golding.
00:02:23
Speaker
Kashmir played by Stephanie Schlund. Gloss played by Alan Richen. And Chafe played by E. Roger Mitchell. What were our thoughts on this cast?
00:02:35
Speaker
Bruno Gunn, is that another James Gunn sibling right there? there you Or is that just ah Kirk playing another part? That's a good question.
00:02:46
Speaker
I love Jeffrey Wright, so BD is one of my favorites. I think he did a great job with that role. ah Finnick felt like he ah matched the story a lot. and I think the rest of them felt pretty consistent with the book, but I don't have any other real major thoughts on those.
00:03:04
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. As you're running down the list, I think you know some of these characters and performers were given more opportunities to do things than other ones, but that's just that's kind of in keeping with the book. But I think the the casting is pretty spot on across the board. I think everyone is realized from page to screen pretty faithfully. And again, we were talking about what a faithful adaptation this is now that we're in the back half.
00:03:25
Speaker
I feel like outside of a few minor things, this is this is where it it really is. like so, so faithful to what we had in the book. But yeah, I'm going to hone in on Finnick O'Dare, or Sam Claflin as Finnick O'Dare specifically, one of my favorite characters in the book, one of my favorite characters in the movie, and he's just casted perfectly. He he really...
00:03:46
Speaker
lays the charm on well but there's always there like this undercurrent of like hey can I fully trust him what are his motivations and and you know what what is he trying to do here I i will say just because you know I'm a stickler when it comes to accents and replicating accents and stuff there are a couple of times particularly when he's screaming and being very emotional so like when he says people's names like I noticed it when he said Joanna's name one time and then Annie particularly his accent slips just a little bit but beyond that it's it's spot on
00:04:17
Speaker
I'm also going to nitpick Finnick, whom I love. I love Finnick dearly and I love Sam Claflin as Finnick, but I didn't really realize this until I just reread the book, but Finnick is supposed to 24 years old.
00:04:31
Speaker
oh And that just makes everything about him like just like all of the things about the hunger games are even more heartbreaking when you consider the fact that you're talking about kids, like he's the youngest winner ever. And he was 14. And now he has to go 14 years old. And now he has to go back in and he's still 24. Like he's younger than I am. And I'm like the youngest person here. in No shade. um But so like, that's, that's literally the only thing about, about it that I'm like, that I just question a little bit, but like,
00:05:05
Speaker
when you've already kind of had to age up Katniss and Peeta a little bit because just, you know, J-Law and Josh Hutcherson have grown up and you kind of also have to age up Finnick. So I totally understand it, but i wish all of them had been their proper ages so that way we could really like grasp the horror of what the Hunger Games are and what they do. And then the horror of what Finnick has had to go through it's alluded to and it's explored more in other books but Finnick was you know ah he's a sex slave he was sold in the capital for his body and he was a victim of of that um and so I think like they don't really touch on it that much in the movie or at all really and so I think like
00:05:55
Speaker
It should have been explored, especially you know with recent events and recent news happenings coming out. like It is something that could have been really important to to hear about and and face the facts of 10 years ago when this movie came out. And to have a younger person playing that role could have been really, really significant. um if they were ever i will say that um if i'm doing my math correctly he was 27 when the movie came out so he was probably 25 24 26 when they filmed oh really oh i thought he was much older than that my bad again if i'm doing my math correctly
00:06:36
Speaker
and Just looking at the list here, I might call out ah Gloss there, a young ah Alan Richson, our Reacher himself, being in that role of one of the careers. That's that's pretty – I didn't catch that watching it, but that's kind of fun.
00:06:49
Speaker
I definitely did the Leo meme because I forgot he was in this thing. So, yeah, I was like, I know him. What are you doing in this Reacher? And I just, i think, i think when I watched it, I just finished watching through that. So I, um, I haven't seen the show, so I didn't catch that on my rewatch, but I do recognize his current, his pictures. I did that in the first hunger games with, um,
00:07:13
Speaker
one of the careers. I was like, that's Huey from the boys. Oh yeah. Jack Quaid. Yep. Yeah. He horrible. Yes. Yes. yes i was like, Huey, what are you doing here? So I had that, is that same moment in the last movie. Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:27
Speaker
All right. Well, I take back what I said about Sam Claflin, that if he was actually 25, 26, he just looked like he was in his mid thirties. So my bad brother, sorry. i take it back. but Yeah, you know, I think he's always looked a little older ah because he was just in Daisy Jones and the Six. And I think he looked a lot older than he is, although he that character is like an alcoholic and drug user. So maybe they tried to make him look older and more rugged. But I first saw him in Pirates of the Caribbean. I think it's on Stranger Tides and fell in love with him in that movie. And then believe he was. in yes That's right. Okay. And then i think he was in something else I saw before Catching Fire. So I was very thrilled to have him cast as Finnick way back, gosh, 2013. So I guess it was 2013.
00:08:15
Speaker
three i think you guys know I'm not good with math and numbers. but Anyway, i little younger Sarah Day was so excited to see Sam Claffin as Finnick. Finnick was one of my favorite characters, too. He's a great character. and I was really excited to see Sam play him. I think, and of course, Jeffrey Wright, as we mentioned, always going to nail his roles.
00:08:37
Speaker
I also was a Jenna Malone fan, so it was excited to see her as Joanna. I thought she did such a good job as Joanna playing, you know, that that very harsh truth type of character. um So, yeah, no complaints from me for this cast.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah, and and since we're just kind of running down, you know, Jeffrey Wright as Beatty is inspired in the book. They really do a good job of like noting like he feels like a teacher kind of speaking down to the other tributes to make sure they can understand what he's going for. And I thought that was just captured perfectly. And Jeffrey Wright is like the perfect person to um to lend that kind of petigree
Thematic Elements of the Adaptation
00:09:13
Speaker
pedigree. But also Wyriss, Amanda Plummer. I mean, I think Amanda Plummer is great.
00:09:19
Speaker
as wyrus but if i'm not mistaken amanda plumber her big claim to fame is from the saw movies i think she plays an accolade i won't give things away if you haven't watched those movies but she plays a pivotal role in those films so to see her kind of transition from more of these like indie horror films i mean they they got more and more popular as they went on but to make the transition to like blockbusters i don't know that she's done as much with her career since but it's it's nice to see that name there And um correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm just kind of noticing Meta Golding as Inobaria. Does she also play a member of the prep team? she she um
00:09:59
Speaker
She's Vinya as well. So we've got an actor doubling up on roles here, maybe? a dual performance? I don't think so. Let me score back up. Are you talking about like, Vinya in the, oh.
00:10:13
Speaker
I see what you mean. I must have gotten that wrong. Let me see if I can correct that. So in the last episode, did say- I wasn't trying to call you out. I thought it was just an interesting- No, I'm glad you did because I would like to acknowledge the actor that did play her.
00:10:26
Speaker
Sure. So Metagolding for sure plays in Obari. In Obari. That's correct. yeah It seems like Venya is not in the ah movie. It really just focuses on Flavius and Octavia. I think there is another prep team member that we see, but they might not have been, you know, ah they might have been uncredited.
00:10:46
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, well, I hope I didn't derail things too much. But Chaff is interesting, too, because I don't think E. Roger Mitchell is given a ton to do. But in his short sequence there where he kisses at Katniss and then Hamish is able to give you a kind of a little bit of an inclination of what their history and relationship is.
00:11:03
Speaker
I may be wrong about this, but when I was reading the book, I don't think we're ever given a definitive excuse me. a definitive answer on the fate of chaff like towards the end there are a lot of cannons going off and katniss doesn't know who those are representative of but if i'm not mistaken in the film during one of the night sequences where you know you get the the faces displayed in the sky i think you see the guy that's playing chaff is confirmed to have died yeah yeah i think think so i remember in the in the book she's like doing the math she's like okay there's eight of us left and one cat cannon like she's she's doing the math in her head and she's like i don't know what happened to um chaff in abaria and and somebody else she's i don't know where they're at um so yeah he he is left undetermined and then i think later after she's pulled out and she's on the plane with um with hamish and plutarch they they confirm the whereabouts of some people but i don't think chaff is one of them so i think it's he's presumed dead um in the arena explosion to my knowledge that tracks any other thoughts on the cast before we move into our plot
00:12:13
Speaker
Well, just a little love to Lynn Cohen. Mags is a like non-verbal character, so there's but the facial acting and the physical acting that she does is is really well done.
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. um She really makes you fall in love with her, and we only get her for a short portion of the film, unlike we get her a little bit more in the book. But yeah, she did a great job.
00:12:39
Speaker
Yeah, and even Hamish's line where he's, you know, she's a good lady like you know I'm not happy that she's here because even even now with victors like you talk about like the careers like they're still kind of like the bad guys or like the others out of the victors um but for Haymitch to like speak fondly of Mags and say you know she's a nice lady and you know i I don't want to see anything too terrible happen to her goes a long way towards making Katniss know affectionate towards her as well
00:13:10
Speaker
yeah And it looks like that character is in sunrise on the reaping as well. Oh, great. So we left off the last episode with our reaping and abruptly taking pia and Katniss away without being able to say goodbye. So we head to the Capitol. We have the chariot, you know, entry, um,
00:13:34
Speaker
She ignites the outfits on fire when she makes eye contact with snow. We're meeting, we meet Finnick. We meet, is Chaff the one that gives her the kiss? That's right.
00:13:44
Speaker
Joanna stripping down. Let's talk about like all these introductions before we get into like the later half of the ceremonies before we go into the arena and the interviews and the wedding dress and all that. What did we think about meeting all these characters?
00:14:00
Speaker
Very, very well done. It was all pretty spot on. Yeah. and And again, this is where the book is like, or excuse me, the movie is basically doing exactly what happened in the book. Like I think about Finnick, you know popping the sugar cube in his mouth, like all of that straight from page to screen. and And that's such a simple little thing to include, but it was so great to see because it's just a little detail. Like he could have been munching on anything, nuts, chocolates, anything. But the fact that they included the sugar cubes was really fun.
00:14:32
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And ah Joanna, her her scene in the elevator. Yeah, I was glad that they included that because it is such a memorable scene. And to ah in the book, it's very much isolated to Katniss's kind of reception in that moment.
00:14:49
Speaker
But in the film, you get to see Peeta's reaction as well as Hamish's. And I just found that to be really funny and some much needed comedic relief in that moment. Yeah, Jen Law's facial expressions in that scene are top tier.
00:15:03
Speaker
oh yeah. Yeah, I think the only thing they didn't include was when Hamish introduces Chaff and his partner from District 11 to Katniss and Peeta. Katniss asks the female tribute about Rue's family and Thresh's family after the mini uprising that we got to see.
00:15:25
Speaker
And they get a tiny update there, yeah. Yeah, and so she she just knows that their families are alive and that's all the information that they're able to pass because, again, they live in a surveillance state and everything is on camera and can be heard. um But I thought that that that could have been a nice scene because we don't really hear that much about Rue or about the aftermath of the Victory Tour through the rest of the film. So that could have been a nice like little tie-in if they had included it, but it's so small that it makes sense why they didn't.
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah, like another way to show it or something like, you know they pass some sort of note saying, hey, you know, everybody's OK still would have been kind of a interesting idea maybe during training or something. But, yeah, I think it's OK to have admitted omitted it. We don't need that at this point in the story. It doesn't add enough to make it to sway it one way or the other.
00:16:17
Speaker
The next portion of their time in the capital is the training sequences. They're getting to know these people more. Katniss is like, how do i how are we going to kill these people? um They're trying to pick their allies. And of course, she wants mags um and then nuts and bolts. And they also have their final showcase where Peta ends up painting Rue with when she has died and Katniss has done the flowers around her and then Katniss hangs a body and writes Seneca Crane and in the book they don't realize that they have done that but in the movie she does see the painting of Rue and that's what kind of sets her anger ablaze and makes her do that hanging what did you think of that small change
00:17:13
Speaker
I thought it made a lot of sense. Yeah, in the book, they go out of their way to say like, hey, the Capitol has gone to lengths to cover this up. And the fact that she had to wait like 40 minutes and can smell like the cleaning products when she gets there, she knows something went down, but she doesn't doesn't know what. So it's a kind of a little mini mystery you have at that point in the book. But again, when you've got limited screen time, you just show it right then and there and kind of get all the the sentiment across. So ah yeah, it made sense to me in the moment. And it was, you know, they had...
00:17:43
Speaker
the sequence in District 11 where they flash, you know, Rue up on the screen. So it's a good reminder for people. So when you do see that painting, you know who the character is and it's effective.
00:17:54
Speaker
i particularly liked when she hung up the dummy of Seneca Crane because i i don't think the book goes into as much detail about what exactly she did. Like she says she marked it up and wrote Seneca Crane on it. But in the movie, like she makes his like weird facial hair that he has and everything. It's just so recognizable. I thought that was i love seeing that brought to life.
00:18:17
Speaker
And it really does. The Rue painting being right there for her to see adds to what her she's what she's already feeling in her emotions of I want to do something to fight back. I don't like that they've put us all through this, so I want to use this as time to make another statement. and And she does. So I think that makes sense and flows pretty well.
00:18:36
Speaker
Yeah. And going back to the training scenes again, very nitpicky. I understand why they didn't include it but there's the moment where PETA organizes all the victors and they put all the tables together and they share a meal together, all 24 of them. And again, another moment of districts having unity with each other in a positive way instead of being at each other's throats. And even the careers are in that, like districts one and two are included in that. Um,
00:19:06
Speaker
So, and it goes towards, you know, her line in the movie where she's like, how are we supposed to kill these people? Like, even the careers don't want to be here. there They don't support this. Like everybody is. And so you kind of could have started that thread of like all of them being upset that they're back instead of waiting until the interviews with Caesar later. and So that's, again, very nitpicky, but I would have liked to see that scene in the film.
00:19:33
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
Symbolism and Rebellion
00:19:34
Speaker
So speaking of the interviews, we wrap up our pre-games celebrations with the interviews.
00:19:43
Speaker
They, PETA and Katniss have gotten engaged and they were going to have this massive wedding, but then they got reaped. So now they can't have a wedding, but president snow makes her wear the wedding dress to those final interviews. Um, um and of course cena has added a little touch to it and what she doesn't realize until she does spin and the wedding dress burns up in flames and we get to see the makin j dress
00:20:15
Speaker
um And then of course in PETA's interview, he drops another bomb like he did the previous year. But instead of saying he's in love with his district partner, he lies about Katniss being pregnant and them having gotten married, the doing the bread ceremony in the book. um The toast actually, because I love that little how a toast turned into an actual toasting of the bread.
00:20:40
Speaker
Right. And then we kind of end this moment with all the tributes standing on the stage and holding hands. And it's one moment of unity before they into the games and bloodbath.
00:20:54
Speaker
I wish the line, or I don't remember if the line from Cinna... was included in the film, but there's a line in the book where he talks about like, I channel my feelings into my art, into my fashion. So that way nobody else gets hurt by it but me. And like him turning her into the Mockingjay on a big stage like that. is an act of rebellion again like all these little things that you know if you're just a citizen in the capital you're like oh my gosh it's so cool it's like her pin it's whatever but if you know you know and he senna knows what he's doing he knows there's going to be consequences and he still is you know supporting the rebellion in his way and supporting katniss in his way um and so like to give him that line where he like
00:21:41
Speaker
He knows what he's doing and he knows that he will be punished for it, you know, gives him that extra layer of courage that I think, you know, could have been really valuable for him since he's such a small character. Like any extra line or extra moment with him, you know, is going to be that much more powerful.
00:22:00
Speaker
Yeah, the special relationship that they share is really well covered in the book just through Katniss's inner thoughts and just the opinion that she holds of Senna. So yeah, this is another instance where again with limited screen time, Lenny Kravitz was just the perfect person to convey all of the nuance that we're talking about. And yeah, he doesn't get as many lines or opportunities to convey those things in the movie. But they really work and they when they do. you like you You know the sacrifice that he's made, the way the camera pans to him.
00:22:32
Speaker
He takes the bow. He is a capital darling as well. like His fashion team talks about how you know, everyone's wearing Senna these days. And so it it it is such an effective blow against the capital. And um yeah, just the, that move coupled with the reaction to when, you know, PETA has the the bombshell about the baby, like people start, you know, screaming to cancel the games and stuff like that.
00:22:57
Speaker
You really do get the understanding that this sentiment of ah unrest and rebellion is finally making its way to the capital. Hmm. And I like in the montage of the interviews too, they do show the other tributes like laying the groundwork.
00:23:14
Speaker
And like in the book, it's described as like getting the crowd riled up. Like now all of a sudden the crowd is questioning what they've been told by the Capitol. And like, you know, they like we said before, like they do have an attachment to these people who that they've been watching and, you know, living alongside with for for many years in some cases. So to and to include the, you know,
00:23:38
Speaker
Cashmere and Gloss and these other and Joanna, you know, getting to make their stand and Joanna, Joanna's interview a little bit different, but even better in the movie, I think, than the book where she goes off like it including those things and then having it all end with PETA's big bombshell and then them all united holding hands. Like, we don't want this. We don't support this. We all agree. And then even the crowd supporting them and not agreeing with it and trying to call off the games. Like, that was all of the way that everything it was structured there was really, really well done.
00:24:13
Speaker
Jordan, you mentioned Sina and making such a statement with this dress and how he knows there's going to be consequences. And we do see those consequences a few scenes later. They are saying goodbye and she is going into the tube to be raised into the arena. But there's a pause. She's not going up. They are both confused. And then, of course, peace creepers come in and start beating Sina up right in front of her. And this is to cause her a lot of emotion and confusion and stress right before she's thrown into the arena um but she does um you know calm herself down well she makes herself focus um on what is around her but before we get into the arena let's talk about that moment where they come in and you know we see the end of cinna
00:25:05
Speaker
It was a lot. to you yeah This is a person you've grown in the audience. We've grown to love ah watching it. Even just these few scenes, he's helped build her into this character. So to ah go from that and have him, you know, last moment of I believe in you, i i still am rooting for you. And then all of a sudden she's just got to watch him um be brutally murdered in front of her or at least yeah i all the way to murder. um It was a lot for everybody, I think, including her. so I liked the way they did it, but I was like, oh, I don't want to be watching this.
00:25:40
Speaker
Not, not Sina. Not Sina, not Lenny. Yeah. I think one of the last things he gets to say, it might be his last line of dialogue, but he says something to the effect of like, I'm still betting on the girl on fire.
00:25:54
Speaker
So for her to know the stakes and see the direct consequences of what happens to people that bet on her, i mean yeah, it's just the worst headspace to go into. And again, just another instance of basically, you know, word for word, what happens in the book you see brought to life on the screen. It's not easy to read.
00:26:13
Speaker
It's even harder to watch when it like, like you were bringing up, Chris, just such a beloved character to see him writhing in such pain and the brutality that is being, you know, released on him is it's, it's not easy.
00:26:27
Speaker
but important. This is one of the few times where the level of brutality that's in the book is portrayed on the screen. Because again, you know, the Hunger Games has children in it. And so it's very disturbing as a viewer to watch children, especially like the fert the first movie and the first Hunger Games that we see to watch children like actively killing each other is very difficult. And so a lot of the killings happen off screen because we're following Katniss. And so to actually see the level of brutality that the peacekeepers and the Capitol are capable of is just a a good reminder before we go into the Hunger Games that these are not a game. This is like literally life and death. And it is that serious. And like the rebellion
00:27:11
Speaker
is going to be a war and it's not just you know silly ha-ha fun time where we don't like we don't like this or that, and but it's not that serious. like It is that serious.
Arena Challenges and Survival
00:27:22
Speaker
So we're introduced to the new arena She gets her bearings. um She notices all the waters, the cannons go off, she swims. She immediately gets her bow and arrows and forms a quick alliance with Finnick and Mags. Peeta is struggling in the water. They go to save him. And then the four of them make their way to the beach. um
00:27:51
Speaker
Before we get into the first few kind of wedges of the clock and the trials that are in those, what do we what do we think of ah you know the set design of this arena and what happens in the beginning of the scene?
00:28:08
Speaker
i mean, they pretty much nailed it. It's exactly what's described in the book is is brought to life on the screen there. and really selling like the tropical environment and just the abrasive heat and the dehydration factor. Again, this is one of those things that in the book you're you're really spending time in Katniss's head. So you you get to hear her thoughts about how the dehydration is affecting every part of her ability to function.
00:28:35
Speaker
um So to just be able to represent that visually. I thought was was very, very well done. And I'm sure we're gonna get there, but you know one of the other things that happens pretty early on in this alliance is the sequence where Peta hits the force field with the machete and gets blown back and gets knocked unconscious, and then you have Finnick bring him back with CPR. So between the first sequence where Finnick shows that he has Hamish's bangle and says, you know, a good thing we're allies, don't trust. I think he says don't trust one and two, i think is what he says.
00:29:11
Speaker
So yeah, just to have this couple remember in the book, it was really, she's she's like, why is he going out of his way to save someone that he's going to eventually have to kill? And her whole thought process is just like,
00:29:25
Speaker
I should cut my ties while I should cut and run while I can before it becomes more and more difficult to kill these people. So yeah, I, this is where, i mean, it's, it's a great ah adaptation through and through, but this is where I felt like it really, like, again, we've been talking about where the filmmakers wanted to spend their time and their money.
00:29:42
Speaker
I think this is where it starts to come across like very clearly. This is what they were excited to adapt. There was a little banter between the two of them in the book that I would have liked to see. um but you know, it's not,
00:29:56
Speaker
a deal breaker for me to have that those few lines cut but I think throughout the book their banter with one another is really fun and I don't think we get and enough of that in Catching Fire because it just you know makes their relationship mean more in the next book but I do think that you know what we did get was fine. Yeah.
00:30:24
Speaker
mean There are some lines that came directly out of the book. Oh, sure. I thought the, ah the, um the CPR scene was interesting in the book, at least because she didn't realize that what he was doing, even she didn't had never seen CPR. And i think she makes a comment about how ah Prim would have been right at home here in the, like, you know helping people side of the, of the hunger games here. And where she's kind of useless to them in that moment, even though she has her strength, she was doubting herself. And I thought that was an interesting way for that to, uh,
00:30:55
Speaker
um to go where she's feeling inadequate on ah one thing that she can't do well and i think they touched on that a little bit by having her pull her bow um and aim it at him before he she's you know she and she has a little bit of a confusion on her face so i think they did a really good job of showing that like she didn't quite know what was happening and then she kind of caught on yeah want to go back to the cornucopia for a second um because Katniss can swim and that's a huge advantage here where a lot of these other districts are landlocked. And so the, like the reason they have to say PETA is because PETA never learned how to swim because he didn't have a parent taking him beyond the fence to the lake and learning how to swim.
00:31:40
Speaker
so she's one of the few in her district that even knows. Exactly. And then going back to the training scene in the book after she has like her super cool moment of like killing all of the, you know, pretend people and like the holograms in the book, it explains how all the other tributes go to Hamish and like, I want her as my ally after they see that. Mm-hmm. Like she's a threat. She is a dangerous person in these games. And the only one who doesn't get that is her.
00:32:08
Speaker
Like she's like, she's like, who ah I can't win. Like, I just have to save PETA. It's like, you could win. Like you won the last one. She has, she is a killer. She has killed before. She has that, you know, self-preservation instinct and especially the instinct to save PETA. she is a fighter. She can swim. She has all this knowledge about, you know, the spile, where to get the water, like all these things that, you know, her father trained her on knowingly or unknowingly.
00:32:37
Speaker
She is a real threat in these games. And it just goes to show like, you know, the power of the point of view where like all these other tributes recognize her for the threat that she is. And she doesn't and, Again, like I said last episode, she's so single-minded focused on protecting PETA that it never occurs to her that you know she could win again on her own merit because she is that equipped. She's just like, I got to save PETA, whatever it takes.
00:33:06
Speaker
Or even that there's something else going on that she's missing. She was so and oblivious to that for the most part because she was ah set on that goal. And she doesn't even start to really question that at first with Finnick in the Bengal. It's not until they get with Joanna and Wyriss and Beattie later that that's when she, in the book at least, that's when she really starts to question what the heck is going on here. Like something is up.
00:33:31
Speaker
At first, she's just like, whatever. finni If Hamish says ah to be good with Finnick, then I'll be good with Finnick for now. But like you said, J. Scottie, like she still is like, I should kill him in his sleep. gotta get Peta out of here. like He's a threat. He's dangerous. And it's not really until Finnick goes out of his way to save Peta...
00:33:50
Speaker
that she's like, okay, maybe maybe I can trust him because this is the Hunger Games. In a normal Hunger Games, if somebody dies, you let them die because it's either that or you have to kill them later. So for him to go and actively save Peeta's life is huge for earning her trust.
00:34:08
Speaker
And so that with Haymitch is a game changer for her at that point. But she never really loses sight that – is the hunger games because she does say when it comes down to it i hope that he just dies and that i don't have to kill him because she knows she won't be able to because he saved pita correct yeah twice from drowning and from uh now i did want to mention that in the book he doesn't leave the platform right he's still on the platform yes and they have to go get him yeah yes right
00:34:41
Speaker
While we're highlighting some of Katniss's talents and advantages, like knowing how to swim, it is bringing to mind a few things. Like on the subject of talents, the talents are not mentioned in the book or in the movie at all. I don't think that's i don't think that's a big loss. Katniss doesn't even really have that much interest in her fake talents.
00:34:59
Speaker
fashion hobby so not a big loss there i think you lose a little bit of something with with pita and the paintings that would have been nice to maybe have some foreshadowing to what he was going to do in the training sequence but what it also brings to mind is um when you know when katniss shows off her abilities to shoot and everybody wants her The other revelation that I don't think we get in the movie, correct me if I'm wrong, I might have just missed it, but after they do their private displays, they get 12s. They get rated 12s for even though they were open acts of rebellion, they still get rewarded with a 12, but it's not a reward because that just makes them a target. It's like, oh, the two people that got perfect scores, of course, everybody's going to be gunning for them. Right.
00:35:41
Speaker
And that is something we see in the first movie is the scores. they They do have a whole sequence about the scores in the first movie. Oh, yeah. yeah And then um one little, i know you have another point to make.
00:35:53
Speaker
You mentioned getting the foreshadowing to his artistic ability, but... Yes, we don't have that in this film, but he does. They do make a point to showcase that in the first film because he paints the himself as the mud. So it would have been nice to have a reminder before that. But I think we can all remember that from the first film, at least.
00:36:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's a fair point. It's a fair point. But while we're kind of talking about Peta's artistic abilities, we're not quite there in our you know breakdown of the story here, but he does eventually provide a map that doesn't really get visit visited in the in the movie. but nor does the like scrapbook that he's helping Katniss put together, like her family, you know, the collection of her family's knowledge about roots and plants and stuff like that. So again, Katniss kind of has that identity crisis where i think we were talking about it previously in connection to Prim, like Katniss is not a healer. And there's a line of dialogue where Peta says something to the extent like you've got you've got the healing blood in you, like that's in your genes. And she's like, no, I i got my father's blood. I'm not a healer like that. So...
00:36:59
Speaker
And I think she has some similar thoughts about like, I know the plants back in in District 12 and I can identify those, but in the jungle, i have no idea you know what could be a food source, what could be poisonous, what have you. So that kind of leads to like her not wanting to eat these nuts that uh mags is just going to town on but she does get to use those as like the way to throw them at the force field to reveal it which in the book she has to make up this whole convoluted lie about like oh when they reconstructed my ear i've got supersonic hearing now and and you just don't really need that in the um right in the movie so i wasn't super missing it but just uh you know it is a notable difference mm-hmm
00:37:37
Speaker
Okay, so our first look at one of the – trials is not the right word, but I can't – the right word is escaping me at the time. But the first one we get is the fog. um And the group is, you know, sleeping. Katniss is taking the first watch, and she notices this fog, and it turns out to be poison. She wakes everybody up, and they they try to escape the fog. They're getting burned.
00:38:03
Speaker
um There is a difference here between the book and the film, and that is – And tries to carry Mags when PETA goes down because Finnick will carry PETA.
00:38:15
Speaker
And then she just can't do it anymore. She asks if Finnick can carry both. He's like, there's no way. That's when Mags takes her own life and sacrifices herself. And then they they they end up escaping the fog and finding the pool of healing water.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, this this was pretty gruesome. Like, this was a good showcasing of some, ah like, I think they used some practical effects when it came to, like, the boils that appeared on their skin and whatnot. And the book does a pretty good good job of describing how horrific this toxic fog is. But to see it on screen, I was just like, some of those boils were...
00:38:53
Speaker
pretty gross to look at and look super, super painful. So yeah, I think that was definitely with the small um alteration you mentioned about, you know, who's carrying who at what point. And yeah, I mean, Katniss never carries mags at any point in this one.
00:39:09
Speaker
But I think it was pretty faithfully ah adapted, got all of the emotions and sentiments conveyed. The one slight thing is is maybe it takes a little bit away from how capable and heroic and self-sacrificing Finnick is in that moment because it's like he could have got away scot-free if it was just him left to his own devices to run outrun the the fog, but he goes out of his way to try to save as many people as he can, and that makes Mags' sacrifice that much more heartbreaking.
00:39:37
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Well, even if it was just him and Mags, that would have been another thing. but Oh, yeah, they could have got away for sure. yeah Trying to save Peta and trying to save Katniss, keep them alive too. They all lose Mags, who I think everybody had been com been growing connected to her throughout the training and everything too. So I think it was ah it was a it looked like it was painful for everybody to lose someone of that caliber. and And Hamish, we know he had a connection with her too. So Katniss was thinking about that, I think, in the book. think that added to it.
00:40:08
Speaker
Yeah, I always I always cry at that scene because it's just so tragic to lose Mags that way and for her to make that sacrifice. And that's another one of those kind of puzzle pieces that Katniss has to put together of like everybody's acting or at least, you know, Finnick and Mags and Joanna, like these people are acting weird. Like this is not something's happening. And this is just another one of those moments where, like you said, J. Scottie,
00:40:30
Speaker
If Finnick really wanted to, he could have got away. And if Finnick really wanted to, he could have taken Mags and gotten away. But he chose to stay behind and help Peeta and Katniss. And Mags chose to give up her life to save Peeta and Katniss.
00:40:47
Speaker
The only other difference that I can think of is the gas is also a neurotoxin. And so like their limbs start working. And that's part of why they're so slow is because their legs literally stop working. And like PETA, like his face is drooping as if he's had a stroke. And, you know, Katniss able to identify those signs and symptoms. And that's that's why, you know, she can't help PETA. And that's why, you know, Finnick can't carry both because he's also suffering from that. um And it's just that extra layer, not necessary for the movie by any means, but that extra layer of it in the book, like, you know, you're trying to run for your life and your body is failing you and there's nothing you can do about it. Like that kind of terror is really brought forth in the book and the way it's written. Mm-hmm.
00:41:38
Speaker
And speaking of the sacrifice and the puzzle piece of putting together, like, why are they saving Katniss and Peeta? The next um thing they need to face, I don't want to try trials again, but the next thing they have to face is the monkey threats. Yeah. Like each section of the clock is a different threat and the monkeys is the next one. And they almost like immediately leave the fog into the monkeys like especially in the movie, like immediately they're saved. And then they like face these, she notices the monkeys as she's, you know, have just escaped the fog and the morph wing saves Pita after the monkeys. And he comments on that. Like she jumped in front of this monkey to save me.
00:42:24
Speaker
Again, another instance where I think it's very faithfully adapted. The morph wing was not a character that we spent a lot of time with in the book. nor in the movie, but it still is just a great showcasing for the sacrifice that even districts that we don't know that much about are willing to make for these icons of the rebellion.
00:42:45
Speaker
And you know I'm not going to bag on it too much, but I will say, like we talked about it a little bit with the first one, the mutations towards the end, we thought you know the CG was a little spotty. I will say, I think the CG holds up better throughout this film, but bear in mind this was 2013. It was sandwiched between 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes in two thousand two thousand and 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes where we had some of the best CG apes and monkeys that we've ever seen.
00:43:12
Speaker
i do think you know this is the one instance of the film where I'm like, oh the CG did not quite age as as well as the rest of the film, but it's a small, minor, minor complaint. They are still terrifying.
00:43:23
Speaker
And yeah, it's a very palpable threat. Yeah, I think that ah the the way people um are acting is definitely starting to um to ah change her mind about, okay, there's something going on here. And I think that's really interesting. I think that the clock ticks is a really interesting way to um threaten things. And so they and they have to solve that that equation. and That it goes back to Plutar's hint to her that we have to she has to try and remember at some point.
00:43:53
Speaker
um And I think that this group is definitely starting to ah work a little more cohesively, but also still not trust
Strategic Alliances and Emotional Sacrifices
00:44:00
Speaker
each other. So I think that the monkeys was, I didn't stick in my brain very well. um That one it just kind of was another thing that, okay, we jumped from fog to this. Now what's what's next in my brain? So kind of move forward and don't barely, barely remember the monkeys, what they look like from my, even a month ago. So.
00:44:19
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's two heartbreaking scenes back to back. You lose Mags and then this, you know, the Morphling who like, we don't even know what her actual name is. Like Katniss just calls her the Morphling, one of the Morphling twins. um She comes out and saves Peeta and then Peeta and Katniss have to hold, you know, with Mags, she got to make the choice to sacrifice herself, and but you didn't really get to say goodbye because it happened too fast and you're still in danger and you have to keep running. but for this woman, like they had to hold her in their arms while she's dying and Katniss, you know, gets put back in that moment with Rue and like she, in the book, you, she questions like, should I sing to her? Should I, should I do something for her? Should I, like, I don't and know what to do. I don't have a relationship with this person the way I did with Rue. Like, I don't know how to act right now. And PETA takes over and PETA starts talking to her and
00:45:14
Speaker
Peeta is, you know, able to comfort her as she, as she dies in his arms after saving his life. Um, and it's just a really beautiful scene. And, and this actress who gets, you know, all of about 30 seconds of screen time, like it has such an impactful role for these characters. Like, you know, Peeta and Katniss both are never going to forget that she saved his life. Um,
00:45:43
Speaker
There's a lot that happens you know in the sequence of events in the rest of this book and the book after. But this is one of those another one of those moments from The Hunger Games that is going to stick with them for the rest of their lives. And they're going to wake up one day and know that I'm here because she made that sacrifice. And so it's it's really well done in the book and in the movie. you know like Look at the sunrise, like how beautiful it is. And she gets that last sight of something beautiful as she dies in this horrible, horrible way.
00:46:13
Speaker
After that emotional moment, we are reconnected with Joanna, Beanie, and Oiris, their alliance grows and they you know spill out of the forest covered in what Katniss describes as like red paint.
00:46:34
Speaker
come to find out it is the blood rain and joanna is kind of filling everybody in on what happens and i got them for you and she's like what what does that mean and it's another puzzle piece like you mentioned um and beaty had gotten a knife in the back which he did not get in the film um you know virus is just going on and on about tick clock clock stuff i think I think he did take the knife to the back in the film. It just is not incapacitating him in the same way because Joanna has like the passing line of dialogue when they're discussing the copper wire. like it's like
00:47:10
Speaker
He made a beeline to the cornucopia for that, took a knife to the back for it. it's it's It's a passing kind it line of dialogue. it. um And speaking of getting the wire, I did want to mention that as we were talking about how Plutarch was laying clues and and kind of helping behind the scenes. And, um you know, I would love to have known what that conversation was. Like, I will have wire for you. Like, was that there for him specifically? Because he did make a beeline for that. And so did he know it was going to be there or did he see it? I would love to know more, you know, behind the scenes kind of stuff.
00:47:45
Speaker
I think in the book, when she's like on the plane and she's in and out of consciousness, I think it is mentioned that, or Hamish is explaining to her what happened. And he does mention like certain districts, like four, three, ah you know, a bunch of districts were in on this plan in varying degrees. And so I think it is, it is explained later, albeit very briefly, that the wire was put there for b four BD so that he, they could have this rescue mission for the Mockingjay.
00:48:18
Speaker
And I think in the book, they mentioned that he used wire like that, that he like, he's the designer that used it in his Hunger Games. Yeah. So it was something they wanted to make sure it was there for him.
00:48:29
Speaker
it would make sense to six tributes at once by electrocuting them in a similar trap that he rigged there. But, um, It's also revealed in the book and the the parachute gifts that we get are not as highlighted in the in the movie outside of the spile that they get as a source of water. But they also reveal that the food rations that they get, like it's bread from four or three, like that was code. It was like the district that it's coming from is like the number of days and then the number of pieces of bread is like how they were able to calculate the hours. So I do think there was, there i think Beattie amongst others had a lot more, were working with a lot more information than than some others.
00:49:09
Speaker
um So the next kind of threat that we run into, um actually, forgive me, this is before Ryrus is killed, the birds, or is it after Ryrus is killed?
00:49:23
Speaker
In the book, I believe it's after. but I'm not, I don't recall the film if they reversed the order. Well, so two things happen. We've, Wyriss is killed because they're at the cornucopia kind of talking about the map. They've discovered that it's a clock because of her singing the song, the mouse runs at the clock and saying tick tock Katniss poses together.
00:49:46
Speaker
and then um one of the other threats we get is the Jabber Jays that mimic Wyriss um I almost said Rue, mimic Prim. um She hears Prim first. She runs into the forest. Finnick chases her and Finnick then hears Annie. And then all the birds are coming and it's everybody's voices that they care about. And it's a whole hour that they have to listen to their loved ones being tortured. Yeah.
00:50:13
Speaker
And again, that's just another acting for not just Jennifer Lawrence, but also Sam Claflin, because in the book, again, she's able to say how much of a torment it is for and how she just basically has to cover her ears and wait for it to ride out. But you don't really, you can't have that happen in the in the film.
00:50:31
Speaker
So the just visibly shaken, like power expression that they both have, even when it stops, you can just see the immediate impact that trauma has had on them. So I wanted to call them out for so effectively portraying um what is only, you know, described in the book.
00:50:50
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Did they talk about in the film, I can't remember, did they talk about how they thought they must be actually being, have been tortured somewhere? is that like, ah you know, in order to get those sounds, they would have to have our people or our families.
00:51:05
Speaker
noted They spend a lot more time on in the book, but in the movie, as I recall, Finnick just has like a quick line, like where they get, they had to get those sounds from somewhere. Yeah. Yeah. And I, and I'm glad that they did bring that in.
00:51:18
Speaker
um to the movie to to remind them and the viewers like the Hunger Games is beyond the arena like Hamish said earlier like you never get off this train just because you're you survived your Hunger Games doesn't mean that you have to stop pretending and just because you're in the arena in the Hunger Games doesn't mean that there aren't still threats to your friends and family on the outside um So yeah, that that reminder from Finnick and him and Katniss having that conversation, like she's she's relieved at first. She's like, oh, they're just jabberjays. It's not real. It's not real. And he's like, yeah, where do you think they copied that sound from? And then she's like, oh, shoot, like you're right. And that's when you see, like you said, the incredible acting of her just...
00:52:02
Speaker
holding her head and screaming it's just so painful to not only hear the voices but to imagine what had to happen in order to get those voices. um And we do get, like you said in the book, a little bit of explanation after the fact that it's very, you know, from BD, he explains how it's very easy and in fact, common to alter voices. And that's probably what happened.
00:52:33
Speaker
And Peta actually has the great moment where he's able to comfort Katniss and Finnick and say, When there's eight of us left, they do family interviews back home. And everybody knows that Katniss has a little sister. Everybody knows you know that she has a mom and you know her cousin Gail and you know all these things. you know they're goingnna They have to do those interviews with those people. So you know for sure that they're going to be okay for that reason. and so...
00:53:03
Speaker
Again, another another explanation, another moment that like would have been nice to have in there, but if you've got to cut it, like it is what it is. And that does bring to mind, like, it's an interesting kind of pendulum swing from not only the first book and film, but to this one, whether it was Katniss's inner monologue or if it was like checking in with Caesar Flickerman to get his kind of correspondence and punditry on the ongoings. There's so much less of that in this one. And it really does kind of create this sense of like,
00:53:39
Speaker
paranoia and doubt about what is actually taking place outside the walls of this arena. Because to your point, Jordan, the games always extend beyond the walls of the arena, but we have such less inclination to what that looks like this time around, which just increases the tension overall.
Climactic Confrontation and Ending
00:53:56
Speaker
That's great point. So the we kind of wrap up the story here with the lightning tree plan. they um Within the game, their plan is to, you know, utilize that lightning tree with the wire and electrocute the remaining careers.
00:54:13
Speaker
um But there's a secret plan of kind of breaking the arena with this wire. And you see Beattie try to, after all hell breaks loose with the cutting of the wire and Anabaria and is it Brutus? Mm hmm.
00:54:31
Speaker
that attack um Joanna and Katniss with the wire. She cuts out her tracker. um She runs back up because there's a cannon. She's fearful of PETA. Then she sees BD throw the spear into the wall. Finnick comes running back and she realizes what he was trying to do and she shoots the arrow into the sky.
00:54:57
Speaker
um And then we can talk about that before we move into kind of like the cliffhanger here at the end. Yeah, i I think the big difference between the book and the movie and this one is that line that Katniss recalls when she's kind of she's got her bow drawn and she's deciding whether or not to take out Finnick.
00:55:15
Speaker
And she recalls the last thing that Hamish said to her before she she goes into the game, since, remember who the real enemy is. And you know you can't, I guess you could if you wanted to have some narration and and have her recite the line or something like that in her inner head, but instead they decided to give that line to finnick which i i think makes a lot of sense um it works and uh yeah i guess another thing is i felt like i had a little bit of a clearer sense of what exactly was going down in the book as far as what she was doing with you know tying the wire to the string and shooting her arrow and the impact but in the movie i felt like
00:55:55
Speaker
she waited till the last second in a different way and it was like almost like the timing was like a little weird like she had to wait for the lightning to strike a little bit differently which caused her to get blown back and everything like that so maybe i'm just misremembering but i thought was like um i'm a little bit more confused about what i actually needed to go down which is not not usually the case when it's visually being represented for you Right.
00:56:16
Speaker
Yeah, I think in the book, she she by the time she gets back to the tree, BD is unconscious and he has a similar wound in his arm to the wound that she has from Joanna. oh good catch.
00:56:28
Speaker
And nobody else is there. She sees a knife with wire wrapped around it and she puts together what she thinks BD was trying to do. and she i believe she shoots the arrow. She finds a chink in the armor that they've been referring to She shoots the arrow there.
00:56:44
Speaker
and then there's like a half second until the lightning strikes. And that's when the explosion happens and she gets knocked That sounds right. I think there is a little bit more time for her to like think and process versus in the movie. It's very like I got to make a move. So I'm going to kind of panic and do this and shoot the arrow instead of her like having the opportunity to think it through a little bit more.
00:57:08
Speaker
But yeah, I did like how Finnick got the line you know to remind her, like, remember who the enemy is because she she was ready to kill him. She was ready because she still – she has no idea about this bigger plot still, right? So she's still in the minds of just being in the Hunger Games and where's PETA? Where am I? How do I protect PETA and get him home out of this? Everybody is a threat now. Joanna turned on me and, you know, sliced me open for some reason. She doesn't put together that it was to remove the tracker because she's in a life. Now she's panicking. She's in a life or death. She can't process it. um
00:57:45
Speaker
so yeah, the the movie and the book like. go so fast at the end that it it can be a little confusing like keep track of what's happening and where everybody's at um but i think the movie does a good job of portraying that like panic that she's feeling where she's she fear is fearing for her life and for PETA's and so she goes and does you know as is her prerogative and how she's been doing she just goes and does the craziest thing she can think of and hopes for the best and
00:58:16
Speaker
lucky enough that was exactly what she was supposed to do. And so it all worked out for her this time. And I think that the confusion part is kind of part of the point there. I think you're supposed to feel at the audience. We're supposed to not know exactly what happened here. We're we're supposed to be with Katniss in this. Where am I? What am I? What's going on here?
00:58:35
Speaker
How did i how do I move forward from this? What's happening next? So I think that's why it felt that way to me in the visual medium. I thought that worked well.
00:58:46
Speaker
um But I think that it also that um questioning of where's Peta, all that leads us into the next part, too, where, you know, after they get the blackout and everything that happens after that, it gives the emotional resonance now to where she's at. So, yeah. So speaking of the the second part in Where's Peta, they she wakes up.
00:59:13
Speaker
and here's talking. um and she grabs the syringe and she discovers ah Plutarch, Finnick, and Hamich making plans, discussing things. She's confused. She tries to attack Hamich and they break the news to her that Peta was captured along with Joanna.
00:59:44
Speaker
And they sedate her again because she's, you know, a lashing out at Haymitch. So they sedate her She wakes up again. gail is with her this time. And um she's like, where's Prim? They're safe.
01:00:02
Speaker
um We're on our way to them, but we're not going to District 12. We're going to District 13 and the bombshell that there is no District 12. It has been blown to bits. And that's, you know, her reaction going from sorrow to anger is how we end the film. And what a strong ending that was for this one to, you know, there is no more District 12 finding out that everybody she knew there that didn't make it out with Gail is gone now and that she's right in the middle of this rebellion now. Pete is gone. Joanna's gone. They don't know where these people have been taken. And ah yeah, that was honestly a great way to end this this stage in the story.
01:00:48
Speaker
i her I know we talked about her like kind of overacting a little bit earlier in the first half of the film. And you the argument can be made that she's doing that here when she's screaming at Hamish like, you're a liar. But it's, again, like Hamish promised her that he would save PETA. and do everything to save pita and he likeed he lied to her and she not only about that but about this whole plot and one of the lines in the book that really hits is um she's like i was just a another pawn in somebody else's games like at least in the hunger games i knew i was a pawn
01:01:27
Speaker
But now I'm being used by other people, people that I trusted. I trusted Hamish and being used against my will still somewhere else. And I didn't even know it. And that is part of that anger, I think.
01:01:40
Speaker
um And I want to when she wakes up and she grabs that syringe, In the book, she explains like her. She thinks that she's on a capital plane and that she's being taken prisoner to the capital. So her plan is to find Peta and kill Peta to protect him so that he doesn't have to go through any sort of torture or pain or suffering at the hands of president snow and the capital and that's why she has that syringe she and that's all she's got in this moment and then she finds out that like okay great i'm safe i'm not with the capital haymitch is here finnick is here plutarch question mark he's here but whatever okay and then she is hit with that betrayal and it's so devastating for her and then like like you said describing it sarah day like
01:02:26
Speaker
She gets knocked out. And then the next thing she hears when she wakes up is, oh, yeah, by the way, your home got blown to smithereens, too. So PETA's gone. Your home is gone. By the way, District 13 exists. Like, she's going through everything right now. She's going through so much.
01:02:42
Speaker
she Hey, she's 17 years old. So, yeah, she's going to... you know to use a popular phrase with the kids, she's going to crash out. And she's very valid in crashing out. And she should have crashed out harder, in my opinion. Because of what do you mean? You've been lying to me this whole time. And everything is not what I thought it was. um So yeah, it's it's a crazy ending full of lots of plot twists. But the setup for the next one um is great. And i think J-Law acted the hell out of these scenes.
01:03:15
Speaker
Agreed. You mentioned that line where she says, you're a liar. And at first I was going to say, I love that, but I hesitate to to say that I love it because it is, it's, it's heartbreaking and it's hard to watch, but it's so compelling and captivating because those are the parts of the performance that I really appreciate because again, we as readers know,
01:03:35
Speaker
the constant back and forth and they do as good a job they can in the film to be like she wants to protect peta she's made this arrangement with haymitch but peta's you know clearly doing his own thing and they get to have that nice moment on the beach where he shows what he has inside his medallion with the locket it's like hey this is why i want you to let me die for you because you have something to go back to So yeah, you you lose a little bit of that, but that's when all that raw emotion is just so well captivated and portrayed because yeah, she's taking her voice and her emotion. It's so raw to the voice that to the point where her voice is coarse and breaking.
01:04:09
Speaker
And yeah, it's just, it's, I mean, tour de force performance in my opinion, but in the same breath, I do have to call out. I love Philip Seymour Hoffman, the late great Seymour Hoffman, and I would never say anything to disparage him.
01:04:24
Speaker
But there's that moment where he has to deliver the line. This is the rebellion. You are the mockingjay. And he just says it like so matter of fact, with like with no passion whatsoever. I'm like, really? couldn't have done like one more take, my guy? Just like one more take.
01:04:39
Speaker
But maybe that's what they were going for. It seemed that way. It might have been that way, but yeah, have to rewatch it. Could have been a little more passionate scene. I promise you, it's just like, this is the rebellion.
01:04:51
Speaker
You are the Mockingjay. You know, he's taking off his his game maker hat and he's just having a smoke over by the table. Look, we're at the rebellion. You know, this is it. Yeah, I think it that is that's fascinating because he he's been orchestrating this for so long behind the scenes that I think he also has kind of suffered from a level of dehumanization of of the victors and the the people in the games because they're like like she says in the book, like
01:05:22
Speaker
They're all just pawns. Like he what he's doing the right thing. he's on He's one of the good guys, but he still is treating people like pawns on a chessboard and not like human beings with feelings and relationships. and stuff like that. So for him, it is very matter of fact, like this is the rebellion and you are the Mockingjay and you're ah a tool for propaganda to make all these other things happen in other places with other people.
Foreshadowing and Future Narratives
01:05:50
Speaker
You're not Katniss Everdeen, who has a mother and a sister and ah and is you know married to Peeta and loves him deeply and you know has all these thoughts and feelings and opinions on what's right and what's wrong and did you even want to be a part of this um so yeah like we know philip seymour hoffman was a great actor and he could have done something different but i think that was an intentional choice for him to you know
01:06:18
Speaker
Because in a lot of ways, and we, you know, spoilers for Mockingjay, like we discover that the good guys in a lot of ways are just as bad as the bad guys. and and so so I was going to say this all kind of continues on through the next book. And that's kind of what the whole point is, is everything is connected to that pawns and chess and how it's played.
01:06:36
Speaker
I buy that. That's a good interpretation. And now that you're talking about it, he talks that way to snow, too. Like, he is just matter of fact. Like, he he was telling things to snow in that very monotone way, too. ah But, Jordan, you were talking about.
01:06:52
Speaker
Exactly. um And that whole thing is like that's such a foreshadow to. catnus's big problem with district 13 is that they're still just playing a game um you know that's basically the finale of mocking jay is why she has a problem with coin um and plutarch is you know coins right hand man okay okay all right i retract everything i said it was a Very appropriate line read.
01:07:25
Speaker
I had to retract everything I said about Finnick. So, you know, i had to we just say stuff and then, you know, we get that's the point of the conversation. yeah We get those different perspectives. Yeah, exactly. we get new facts. We change our minds. That's what good people are supposed to do. That's right. That's right.
01:07:44
Speaker
All right. So any any final thoughts on catching fire before we wrap up? No, it was just a real pleasure to revisit both the book and the movie, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do it. And it just, like I said, increases my excitement to go back and watch both Mockingjay's as well as read the book and just really kind of get me chugging along when it comes to catching up on all things Hunger Games. Because, yeah, I've got The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I love the movie so much. I can only imagine I'm going to love the book.
01:08:16
Speaker
And then, ah yeah, Sunrise on the Reaping seems like it's going to be... integral and and and really substantial so i think we're in a good place whatever level of uh fandom you have for the hunger games yeah for me mockingjay is where i felt like the adaptation part kind of fell a little bit flat but i'm excited to see how going back to it now if i feel differently or if it's going to change anything about that or listen to you guys talk about it too but i felt like some of the changes were bigger so but we'll see
01:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, it is important to know that that was split into two. So we'll have a lot to talk about. Long episodes. All right. So do we want to talk about our bookmark moments and go around and say what our favorite part of this adaptation was?
Final Thoughts and Favorite Moments
01:09:03
Speaker
What did we think the adaptation did best?
01:09:06
Speaker
We can start with you, J. Scotty. Sorry to put you on the spot. No, no, no problem at all. I think I've already kind of forecasted my thoughts as far as this goes, but I think the movie just like hits a great stride once we get into the Capitol and particularly like the arena is just so, so well adapted that I, this may be controversial to say, but I, I appreciate the ongoings in the arena in the book.
01:09:34
Speaker
But again, with the book being kind of a slow burn, I think the parts that I really kind of liked more was the the time in District 11, or yeah, excuse me, District 12, and getting more context for the world of Pan Am.
01:09:48
Speaker
Where in the movie, it's it's really like, it's the it's the stuff towards the the back half that I really glom onto. Yeah, it was a good set to decide. Mm-hmm. I think that for me, I um found a lot of the District 12 personal moments in the book to be my bookmarked moments. I i think I messaged you guys about the memories book or the the knowledge book of knowledge and thought how cool that is and learning more about that district overall and her relationship with the place and the fence and you know all the stuff when she goes to the lake. A lot of those the time she spends in 12 was my favorite, I think, and getting to dig in deeper on those relationships and that world building there.
01:10:32
Speaker
My favorites are of the moments between Katniss and Peeta, both in the book and in the movie where. just speaking on their relationship, like they're the only one who truly knows what the other one went through in their games.
01:10:47
Speaker
And the fact that each of them are the only people who can ever comfort the other when they're having their nightmares. And it said, you know, at least two or three times just in this book that,
01:10:58
Speaker
you know, when they do sleep in the same bed, they don't have the nightmares because they have each other. um And so for me as a, as a big romance person, like it's, it's very chaste. It's very, you know, they're, they're still kids. They're not, you know, having sex or anything like that, but that is such a,
01:11:18
Speaker
profound level of intimacy where finding ah another human being that is safe and where you can escape, you know, the horrors of your life when you're with that person.
01:11:33
Speaker
It was really well described in the book and really well portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Husterson in the movie. So I always love those tender moments between the two of them.
01:11:44
Speaker
Speaking of Jen and Josh, it's kind of a cop out, but the acting in this film is my bookmark moment. I think all the acting is so good. I love Sam Claffin as Finnick and Jenna as Joanna. And then even...
01:12:01
Speaker
even Elizabeth Banks as Effie. I think really she does such a good job of making Effie much more well-rounded character in the movies than she is in the books, particularly the the next one where she gets a lot more character development in the movie than she does the book. but um there's just so many moments cute little moments that elizabeth does in the film that just make you fall in love with effie um but yeah everybody on the cast did such a great job bringing the story to life so i really wanted to shout out their acting love that
01:12:43
Speaker
Yeah, and on that note, um Jay Scottie, thank you so much for joining us on the coverage of Catching Fire. Will you please let our listeners know where they can find you on other podcasting adventures?
01:12:55
Speaker
Yeah, if you check out the Stranded Panda Podcast Network, i'm a pretty frequent contributor to most of the shows on there, but I'm going to give a special shout out to Multiverse News, where we talk about the latest and greatest in movie, TV, and sometimes video game news. So if you're a fan of any of those things, I encourage you to check out Multiverse News wherever you get your podcasts. And thanks for having me.
01:13:14
Speaker
And I will say that Multiverse News is like one of my favorite podcasts. Other than Bugwatch, of course. yeah, if you are if you are a nerd, please go check out Multiverse News. it is a It's a great way to keep up to date on all that stuff.
01:13:29
Speaker
Thank you. We work hard and it's a a labor of love, but we're very proud of it. So thank you. All right. We'll see you next week, listeners. Thanks for joining us. May the odds be ever in your favor.
01:13:40
Speaker
in
01:13:43
Speaker
That's a wrap for this week's episode of Book Watch. We hope you enjoy diving into the world of page-to-screen adaptations with us. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a rating and review wherever you listen, and share it with a fellow book and movie lover.
01:13:58
Speaker
If you prefer to watch along, you can check out the show on YouTube, youtube.com slash at bookwatchpodcast. You can follow the show on Instagram at bookwatchpodcast. And you can follow me, Sarah Day, on Instagram at captain.mcd. That's M-C-D-E-E.
01:14:17
Speaker
And you can follow me, Jordan, on Instagram at jjcorrito. That's C-A-R-R-I-D-O. And you can follow me, Chris, at cyborgnight404. That's night with a K.
01:14:29
Speaker
You can also join the conversation in the Book Watch Lounge on Facebook at facebook.com slash groups slash bookwatch lounge. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can join the Patreon at patreon.com slash bookwatch podcast. Tears start at only $4 a month and we would love to have you over there. Have a favorite adaptation you'd like us to cover or a book you think deserves a screen adaptation or just want to let us know of any feedback. Send us an email at bookwatchpodcast at gmail.com.
01:14:59
Speaker
Until next time, keep reading, keep watching, and we will see you next week.