As this episode starts we are again thrown into the time lines merging with Cleo and Leroy in events that happened originally in season 4 and Julie and Montgomery in season 1.
We are seeing Leroy's story out of order at the moment but I wanted him to confront Doris so I continued inputting scenes that I could come back to when I tell Leroy's story.
Of course it's still too early for us to deal with that, so has to Doris move to another time line. This main basis for this episode was really just a one off and its purpose was to add a question over Doris' situation in the terms of is she dead and is this some kind of purgatory that she finds herself in.
Other shows like "Lost" and Ashes to Ashes", that had used the concept of characters being in the past or existing outside their normal lives had used the purgatory concept so I thought I would throw in a red herring and allure to that is what is possibly happening to Doris.
Also using the idea of including other characters this time we use Tracey whom Doris had met in "Street Kid". I thought it would be interesting find out what may have happened to this character as well as add to the mystery of Doris' story. The original Fame stories often ended with a happy ending but as real life isn't like that and I never believed Tracey's story would end so simply, I came up with a tragic backstory for her which sadly ended with her being murdered.
We flashback "Life Is a Celebration", again to include a full song in the story but also I wanted to contrast the hope of youth and how both Tracey and Doris were feeling when they were teenagers, with how they feel now after dealing with the hand that life dealt them. Despite what has happened to Doris her natural personality is to be optimistic but Tracey's circumstances are nothing to be optimistic about.
One thing I wanted to develop, in the vein of the original episode "Lisa's Song" was that people who had died with unfinished business wouldn't pass over to the other side and would be stuck in this World in some kind of Purgatory, as I knew I wanted to used that story idea with Nicole and Leroy later on.
I also think it is interesting that as Tracey hasn't passed on she has decided to hang around the school. Although I haven't laboured the point the implications is that she chose this because she was happiest at that time she spent at the school. Initially I wasn't sure how to reveal the truth about Tracey apart from her to blurt it out to Doris but after some thought it seemed the newspaper report would actually serve that purpose well. Also at the time of writing I wasn't sure if Tracey's story would continue and I would her utilised again in the future. As it turned out I couldn't actually think of another way to use that character. She had served her purpose so we don't see her again.
I personally find the end quite chilling as Doris starts to wonder what might have happened to her.
Read "Lost On A Winding Road"
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