Previously, “The Sympathizer” episode 3, streaming on Max, showed the Captain trying to implicate Major Oanh of being a traitor and a spy. Due to the General’s growing suspicion, he killed Oanh with Bon’s help. Later, an American filmmaker demanded his help with a film about war. He also insulted the Captain and didn’t care to apologize. So, the Captain tried to remember the perspective his mother taught him about his biracial identity. Now, “The Sympathizer” episode 4 follows the production of a Hollywood film under the helm of an auteur. The captain shares his experience of working as a consultant for an ignorant director.
Spoilers Ahead
The Sympathizer Episode 4 “Give Us Some Good Lines” Recap:
“The Sympathizer” episode 4 follows the Captain (Hoa Xuande) reluctantly working on a Hollywood production. The auteur, Nicos Damianos (Robert Downey Jr), expects the Captain to work without expecting any reward or gratitude. Nicos suspects that Ned (the politician) and Claude (the CIA agent) are trying to use the Captain as a secret agent to spy on him. The Captain doesn’t entertain his suspicions. He objects to the Vietnamese characters in Nicos’ film having no dialogue. The Captain sees it as them being considered voiceless.
Nicos hides his ignorance and utter indifference under the guise of cinema theory. He notes that he doesn’t want too many dialogues in his film. Nicos cites Murnau and Dreyer as his points of reference to mention the importance of mise-en-scene in cinema. He claims that the Vietnamese live on in a ‘metaphoric space’ to justify not writing any dialogues for them. The Captain points out that the Americans in his script are quite chatty, more like Wilder and Hawks’ films. Nicos takes this insult personally. Still, he. refuses to believe he did anything wrong.
Before the Production
Despite his disagreements with the Auteur, the Captain had to continue working for him. Man (Duy Nguyen) tells the Captain to focus on how he can positively influence this project. On the other hand, Sofia’s (Sandra Oh) deep-rooted skepticism about white men makes her not want to visit the film’s set at all. The General (Toan Le) expects the Captain to fulfill his responsibilities since Claude expects that from him. Before the Captain leaves, the General hints at their probable return to their homeland. While driving to the film set, the Captain realises that the General’s daughter, Lana (Vy Le) is in the car trunk. She tries to get to the set without them realizing it.
Lana manipulates the Captain’s emotions to let her tag along with him. During the drive, he tells her about the film’s cast. It includes James Yoon (John Cho), who is Hollywood’s go-to actor for any Asian person’s role, irrespective of their nationality. Besides James, there’s Jamie Johnson, aka the Idol (Maxwell Whittington-Cooper), who is a heartthrob of their generation. Lana also has a crush on him. The Captain tells her that the film’s story is said to be about the six Green Berets who get stranded in a Vietnamese hamlet. But in reality, it is about a small Vietnamese farming community that is forced to take in a bunch of uninvited guests.
The Hamlet’s Production
Nicos’ ‘The Hamlet’ follows American soldier Captain Shamus’s paranoia after having to live with the Vietnamese villagers. Ryan Glenn (David Duchovny) plans to play Shamus through the method acting approach. This means that he will always stay in the character and should be referred to only as Shamus. His arrogant insistence leads to some arguments with Jamie, which also brings out his inner racist side. Nevertheless, Jamie tries to stay true to his likable persona. Meanwhile, the Captain meets James, a Korean-American actor who is playing a Korean person for the first time.
The film’s production designer, Monique Thibault, takes the Captain through the set she built, trying to adhere to the authenticity Nicos craves in his film. While walking through it, the Captain finds it so true to life that he gets emotional. When Monique shows him the gravestones, the Captain hands her a letter addressed to his late mother. He recalls the time of her death and how he couldn’t attend her funeral. Then, he calls Bon to let him know that their mutual American friend, Freddie (Jarrid Masse), is on the set. The Captain wants Bon to come to the set. He hopes it will prove good for his mental health.
The Egos on the Set
While on set, the Captain tries to find his way through different personalities and their egos. Ryan is difficult to handle because of his stubborn approach, which often irritates Jamie. During one of their scenes, the Captain realizes that the Chinese-origin actor doesn’t speak Vietnamese. Nicos and his AD were clueless about Vietnamese and Mandarin being different languages. The AD even asks her to speak Vietnamese as if it’s a magic trick! Still, instead of accepting his fault, Nicos blames the Captain for making him write dialogues. Suddenly, Nicos insists they bring some Vietnamese extras for acting.
The Captain realizes their predicament and offers to help. He calls the General, who agrees to send some people as extras. However, Lana refuses to speak with him, which irritates him. She tells the Captain that he should not be scared about her father now that they are in America. Once the General’s troops arrive, they don’t show the aggression Nicos expects from them. So, the Captain explains the subtext to them. But, the extras refuse to side with communist beliefs. So, during the scene, they express their frustration to act it out. Nicos considers it a great scene because he doesn’t understand a word from their language.
Ghosts from the Past
On the set, the Captain imagines Major Oanh’s ghost around him. It indicates his overbearing guilt for murdering Oanh. Later, Bon becomes a part of the film’s Vietnamese cast and happily performs multiple scenes that involve his character getting violently killed. Still, the Captain feels good that Bon is getting back to his jolly self. But when Lana volunteers to act, it irks him. Eventually, he learns that she is going to play a woman getting raped by Ryan’s character. It brings back the horrifying tragedy his mother had to live through. So, he goes to appeal to Nicos against it.
Nicos doesn’t entertain Captain’s concerns. But he is ready to do anything to caress Ryan’s ego. Meanwhile, James gets ready for his scene with a stoic submission. Unlike the Captain, he doesn’t object to the brutality and plays his part as just another job. Nicos applauds James’ performance, which angers Ryan. He insults Jamie, which directly reflects his racist prejudices. But no one on the set objects to his behavior. Later, he suddenly disappears with a gun meant for the role of Shamus. He returns with a hunted deer on his back.
The Sympathizer Episode 4 “Give Us Some Good Lines” Ending Explained:
Nicos paints his vision of a perfect final shot for their film that involves explosions and utter chaos. Monique realizes that his ideas look eerily similar to Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point.” Still, she has to follow the Auteur’s demands. Then, the Captain comes up to Nicos to speak about his issues with the film’s portrayal of Vietnamese people. His observations hurt Nicos’ ego. So he tells the Captain to leave his set. Nevertheless, the Captain stays back. Before James leaves the set, he hints that Ryan’s ego is keeping him away from getting any other role.
What happens during the final scene of Nicos’ film?
During the final scene, Ryan’s character proceeds to assault Lana’s character. Jamie gets as angry at it as the Captain. But Nicos doesn’t let Jamie come into the scene and save Lana’s character until he thinks it is right. The Captain doesn’t want Lana to be assaulted by Ryan, who is notoriously unpredictable. So, he gets impatient and makes Jamie enter the scene. Because his scene gets prematurely interrupted, Nicos gets furious at the Captain.
Lana also gets angry at him because he ruined their scene. Perhaps she believes her entry into the film industry is her way to escape her father’s control. But the Captain didn’t think of that. Later, he gets caught in a scene that involves bomb blasts. So, he has to run away and save himself. It seems to be his constant struggle. Back in his homeland, a Vietnamese officer tells him that he hasn’t made the change he was hoping to make in Hollywood.
