From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

The entire scene was silent, Eric having forgotten to breathe—

So, this was the emotional throughline that Anson, Heath, and Rachel had been discussing and refining.

The three had reached a consensus: because Keller tried to dissuade Tommy from his actions, Tommy interpreted it as Keller abandoning him to choose Evan, which enraged Tommy and led him to consider a suicidal course of action.

So, what was the critical point?

Three characters, three independent individuals, each with their own personalities and motivations, converged at one point in time, igniting the conflict.

What the three actors needed to do was to sort out their respective performance threads and find this point of convergence, completing the explosion in their own way.

However, this critical point was always off. Either Tommy's emotional turning point came too early, or Keller's subsequent actions didn't fit, so the three actors were constantly adjusting and working together, seeking the perfect explosion point—

Until now.

When Tommy was severely punishing Evan, Tommy's anger had been mostly vented. He was hesitating whether to continue or stop, but then he saw Keller's desperate and fragile gaze fixed on Evan, repeatedly stopping him, which caused Tommy's heart to collapse.

At that moment, Tommy fell into despair.

And Keller also captured that instant—

According to the script design, there was a clear loophole here:

Keller's time to call the police.

In the script, Evan seized the opportunity to reverse the situation and beat Tommy. Keller turned around and pressed the emergency notification button, summoning the campus security.

From the scene, Keller seemed to be preventing Evan from beating Tommy. But in terms of timing, Keller saw Tommy preparing to beat Evan to death but didn't call the police. Keller didn't have time to see Evan lose control. She only saw Evan reverse the situation and then called the police. So, what was Keller's mentality? Purely protecting Tommy?

This seemed strange.

Returning to that sentence, all three characters have their own emotional threads. Only by finding the correct timing can the details be filled in and all three characters become complete in a strong emotional conflict.

Thus,

They were working together, they were searching, they were exploring each other in the performance.

He was in tears, his eyes filled with pain, sadness, and despair, as if struggling in purgatory, yet a hint of determination arose, severing all remaining thoughts, and a wild madness burned in the depths of his pupils.

Second, it landed on Keller.

She was full of tears. A second ago, she was still attentively watching Evan, but because of the intensity of that gaze, she suddenly looked up and saw Tommy's madness and despair, dragging her heart into the abyss.

No—

Keller tried to speak, but was half a beat too late.

Her heart soared high, and as Tommy coldly and ruthlessly swung the baseball bat down to the ground, it shattered into countless pieces.

"Tommy!"

Keller roared in despair, but closed her eyes the moment the shout ended—

Unable to bear to watch, and afraid to watch.

Suddenly turning around, Keller rushed towards the phone booth in the campus with all her strength.

Sprinting. Running wildly.

As if her whole person was burning, fragments of her soul scattered all over the ground.

She lunged forward, lunged towards the phone booth, pressed the campus alarm button, her eyes vacant, only murmuring repeatedly in a low voice.

"Help. Help. Help..."

She even forgot to cry.

Suddenly, turning around again, Keller saw an incredible scene, the heart that had shattered into countless pieces instantly gathering together, cutting off her breath.

"God."

…

On the other side, Evan was gasping for breath, trying to breathe in a flurry of activity.

However, it wasn't easy.

The world was spinning, his senses were collapsing, he couldn't even feel his hands and feet, his entire head was swollen to the size of a watermelon, sounds and lights were fading away, as if everything had been thrown into a blender.

He lay on the ground, unable to see Tommy and Keller's eyes, naturally unaware of Tommy's change, but he knew that Tommy wouldn't give up easily, he needed to fight back.

Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.

He held his breath, constantly looking for opportunities, patiently waiting, struggling to raise his head to observe Tommy's state, looking for a moment of distraction.

Then, it appeared—

Tommy's emotions were clearly fluctuating. He raised the baseball bat high, and the entire swinging motion became so large that a gap appeared under his armpit and on the right side of his body.

Opportunity.

He didn't know if this was the best opportunity, but he couldn't wait any longer.

Maybe this was the only chance.

Struggling, curling up, swaying, Evan stumbled to his feet, unable to resist, leaning his body directly into Tommy's vulnerable right side.

A close fit.

Bang.

Tommy was about to exert force, but found that the gap under his arm was filled, and the weight of his body pressed over like a small mountain, disrupting his center of gravity.

"Damn it!"

Tommy tried to push Evan away.

However.

Evan seized the gap in Tommy's flustered state, taking advantage of the situation to break his balance. He took out a can from his pocket and sprayed it on Tommy's face, regardless of the consequences—

Pepper spray?

No, it wasn't, it should be snow spray.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

A flurry of snowflakes covered Tommy's eyes. The seemingly harmless snow spray caused Tommy's eyes to sting, and he retreated repeatedly, trying to dodge.

He tripped over something.

Evan stumbled forward, taking advantage of the momentum to crash into Tommy, like a tackle in football, hugging Tommy's waist, and the two fell to the ground at the same time.

Finally!

The situation reversed!

Evan was still weak, still confused, still dizzy and unable to grasp his center of gravity, but swaying and stumbling, he barely managed to grab some strength, straddling Tommy and raising his fist high to smash it down.

"You're crazy."

"You're crazy!"

One punch, then another.

Evan continued to land his fists on Tommy, but without much strength, like cotton, only forming interference to continue suppressing him.

This allowed Tommy to calm down and start struggling—

Like Sun Wukong, suppressed under the Five Finger Mountain but unwilling to be lonely, stirring restlessly.

Danger, danger!

In the chaos and turmoil, Evan sensed the danger, so he clenched his teeth and grabbed his center of gravity, and the strength and frequency of his fists clearly increased.

This time, Evan found his center of gravity, a hint of killing intent bursting out in his eyes, trying to use his strength to suppress Tommy's resistance and consolidate his advantage.

Fists, in a flurry of activity, desperately landed on Tommy's face.

However, Tommy wasn't afraid.

Tommy blocked his cheeks with his hands. Although he couldn't breathe and couldn't resist, to be honest, it was simply a fantasy for Evan to suppress him with such fancy fists and embroidered legs. Everything that was happening in front of him made him want to laugh.

Absurd. Ridiculous. Laughable.

Through his palms, Tommy looked up at Evan. Clearly he was so embarrassed, clearly he was at a disadvantage, clearly he was unable to resist, but he seemed to be the one in control, looking down at Evan with contempt.

Then, he laughed.

Heh heh.

In his eyes, Evan was like a clown.