I gravitated to “Dangerous Assignment” because I love that the series has each episode in a new exotic location. I liked the idea of putting Madison someplace different. I chose “Operation Fishhook” due to the twist at the act break. In the original, I was truly surprised! Okay, so how to handle Madison, Haiti and Vodou.
Since this original script was from the early 1950s, I was a bit hesitant with how they might treat the Haitian people. I will say, I altered their portrayal just a bit to be more palatable. The two major choices I made was never to refer to them as “natives.” My gut reaction to that was a dehumanization of the people. That they were more animal like because they weren’t Western Civilized. So I changed every “native” to “villager.” They live in a village. That’s all. Nothing sub-human about that. Next, the guides in the script, Lubo, Bala and Beshek, were all written like Tonto in “The Lone Ranger” (I’ll be addressing THAT character in our June episode). They had broken English and always referred to themselves by their own name; “Lubo guide you good.” So I changed those to “I guide you good.” I do feel like it’s okay to have them speak broken English because they are living in a country where English isn’t the first language of the people. I felt it was very much like our French botanist, Trembley, who spoke broken English with a French accent. Overall, though, the episode in no way demoralized any of the Haitian characters. And I was proud of them in 1950 to not automatically make them “savages.”
Next was the Vodou. I actually researched the heck outta Haitian Vodou. Firstly, yes, that is how you spell it. If it is Louisiana Voodoo then it has the spelling I’m sure you’re more accustomed to seeing. But in Haiti it is “Vodou.” Pronounced exactly the same. While the original episode didn’t really explore the facts of Vodou, I decided to make sure whatever the characters referred to, it was true. I added the “Mambo” after looking up her role in the Vodou community. I added the ceremony being specifically for Damballah, and explaining what a Lwa is. In the original, Bala is, indeed, participating in the ceremony. But he’s doing it to get away from Beshek. So he fakes being in a trance so he can sneak off and meet up with our lead character. But Madison wasn’t going to sit still on the sidelines! She absolutely would embrace the music, be enamored by the Mambo, and approach Bala directly. The ceremony music we used is actually a recording of a Haitian Vodou ceremony. The drums you hear throughout the rest of the episode Jeremy played himself on his keyboard with specific drums that are used in Haiti. We tried our best to capture the amazing backdrop!
One last interesting fact, the hotel Madison goes to is the Hotel Christophe (or sometimes called Christopher). This is the hotel they refer to in the original episode. With good reason. It was world renown, especially in the 1950s. Named for a great Haitian leader, and a gem of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the Hotel Christophe was the height of elegance where any important travelers of means and station would stay. In 2004, it became the headquarters for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. And then came 2010. Think back just over a decade to the devastating earthquake in Haiti. The natural disaster left much of the county in ruin, and, unfortunately, the Hotel Christophe was not spared. Many UN personnel perished in the earthquake. It has never been rebuilt.
-Chrisi (aka Madison)
