Achilles Beach

Mise-en-scène

The series opens at the Achilles Beach Resort. A grand old pink stucco Mediterranean-style hotel replete with classic coastal decor and elements - barley twist columns, rattan furniture, Moroccan tile, pecky cypress ceilings.

The hotel comprises a two-story main building with a reception area highlighted by a grand staircase. Off of reception to one side is a formal dining room fronted by a bank of French doors leading out to the lanai (outside dining), and pool, to the other side a clubby bar/library. Beyond the pool is the beach bar and grill, and a path leading to the hotel. There are 8 varied rooms, a full-service spa, and several small cottages dotting the property.

The Mediterranean Revival Villa was built in the early 1920s by Achilles Horatio Parrish as a wedding gift to his son, Harlan, who passed it on to his son, Harlan Jr. Unfortunately, by the late 1960s, the family fell on hard times, and, to hang on to family manse, opted to turn the grand old home into a resort. Harlan Jr originally had called it Rainbows as it sat on an obscure and private little spit of Georgia oceanfront the locals called Rainbow Beach.

Being Southern Christians, they had geared the resort to cater to wholesome, conservative Christian families from across our great nation, a place to holiday with like-minded folks who shared the simple values of family, flag, and God. The resort did well initially, however, by the late 1970s, the Alexanders began to notice that they had started to attract some interesting couples from the North East and California who seemed to be attracted by not just the charming architecture and idyllic beach setting, but by the name Rainbows and its logo.

By 2010, when the property was passed on to Harlan III, along with his slightly younger sister Helena, the clientele was decidedly gay. To rectify the situation, they rebranded it Achilles Beach Resort, as a nod to the family’s founder and homage to Harlan III’s passion for Greek/Ancient History.

Cast of characters

The owners/staff

• Harlan Alexander III, 41 - Brother of Helena and with her co-owner of Achilles Beach Resort. He and his sister are the great-grandchildren of Achilles Horatio Alexander, who built the property.
• Helena Alexander, 39 - Slightly younger sister of Harlem III, mother of Athena
• Athena Alexander, 20, Helena’s beautiful bi-racial daughter, the product of a college romance. Her father remains a mystery.
• Zeus, the family dog, is an old, lethargic English Bulldog who’s always in the way - he’ll be tripped over, will block people, etc.
• Sam 50, bartender, local lothario, and Helena’s high school sweetheart
• Maria, 40’s, Mexican maid, motherly, a little grumpy, but wise, loving and sweet at heart
• Conchita, 20 - beautiful Mexican-American maid known to most as Connie, except for Maria who always calls her Conchita. She and Maria speak perfect English, but occasionally let the more difficult guests think they speak only Spanish - they’ll have hilarious subtitled mini-conversations about guests and owners.
• Gianni, the 50-something irascible Italian chef who sees himself as an underappreciated culinary artist
• Tanya, the Spa Manager, is a woman of a certain age who has remained dubiously blond and well-preserved with a couple of decidedly augmented curves.
• Nathanial Chivers, nominally the front-of-house restaurant manager - but will pinch hit where needed. He hardly says anything but is invaluable - he holds it all together.
• Groundskeepers
• Wait-staff

Family/friends/guests

• Blaine Chambers, 24, Doctoral candidate in Computational Physics
• Brock Thoroughgood, 40’s - local success story, the area’s resident billionaire, often divorced, and father to Lucas
• Lucas, 21, Brock's slightly spoiled college student son, working as a beach restaurant waiter for the summer.
• Guests Chuck and Penny Miller and their 11yo daughter, Eve
• Guests Doug and Peter Miller and their 11yo daughter, Amelia

PILOT EPISODE

“Look Who’s Coming to Dinner ”

The action takes place over two days Thursday/Friday in July, leading up to the big celebration on Saturday. (Episode II)

The arrival

It’s 10 AM. A drone-mounted camera pans up from the Atlantic past two windsurfers, a woman taking a selfie with the resort behind her, over the beach with the typical couples and families walking and lying on towels. The camera then traces a white stone path up to a swimming pool. In the pool, two kids are squirting their father with big water guns. There are two women with broad straw hats lying on loungers with an inappropriate amount of jewelry. The rest of the loungers lie empty except for red and white resort towels claiming possession.

The camera then crosses a stone patio next to the pool. On the patio are cafe tables and chairs - all unoccupied. At the back of the patio is a tiki bar with a palapa roof and bar stools lined up against a well-preserved teak bar. The bar is well stocked. Behind the bar is a deeply tanned, very attractive man of about forty, who is cutting various fruits and putting them into containers lying on a bed of ice.

The drone then flies up another path, resembling the first, running up from the pool. It pans across tennis courts and a bocce court. A few small cottages dot the lush landscape. Turning to the left, it flies past a broad lanai shaded by expansive awnings. On the lanai are dining tables covered in white linen and white rattan chairs. A few remaining breakfasters are idling over coffee. While the staff are bussing the tables for lunch and the breakfast chef is cleaning up his omelet station. A couple of stragglers are loading their plates with croissants and fruit from the breakfast bar.

The camera then flies around to the front of the Mediterranean Revival Villa where two families are walking up the broad front steps towards the tall wide front door, through which can be seen the reception desk. To the left of the building is a parking lot hidden behind a screen of ornamental hedges. The parking lot and circular front drive are the same white stone as the paths. Colorful flower beds and tall palm trees prove a contrast to the pink of the building.

The hotel is abuzz with preparations for the hotel’s Centennial Celebration.

The scene switches to the POV of the hotel manager, who prepares to welcome the two parties approaching the front desk.

Checking in two Miller Families

One of the parties is a gay couple, Doug and Peter Miller, with their eleven-year-old daughter Harper. They are beautifully dressed with exquisite luggage. They are welcomed by Noah as he tells the other family, a father and mother, Penny and Chuck Miller, with an 11-year-old daughter Eve, he will be right with them. Doug tells Noah he has a reservation under the name Miller. The couples surreptitiously check each other out, uneasily chuckling as they realize they have the same surname.

Noah acknowledges Doug and tells him their room is ready. Meanwhile, Peter and Penny are chatting about the difficulties of raising children while the two girls, Harper and Eve tentatively say hello to each other.

Doug asks Nathaniel can help get a get a tee time at the local golf course for Friday. Nathaniel says he will take care of it. Doug and Peter, now checked in, head for their room.

Chuck is next at the desk. Noah checks the second Miller family in while commenting on the similarity of the family names. Chuck is brusque. He is obviously not in the holiday mood. His clothes do not fit particularly well and his khakis have pleats. His wife Penny wears Lilly Pulitzer.

Chuck also asks to get a tee time. And the second Miller family heads for their room.

Cut to the pool bar

Brock, Harlan, and Helena sipping drinks at the pool bar. Brock is thanking them for hiring his son, Lucas, for the summer, as he had been consorting with the wrong types recently. There is some chemistry between Helena and Brock. Brock invites the siblings for lunch the following week and a little fishing on his boat - the “small one” - just about 60’ - “I keep this one at the local marina” as a thank you - he is clearly trying to impress Helena, as is Sam who passes her drink with a tiny umbrella in it - “just the way you like it” with a wink - she replies “yeah, when I was eighteen”. Lucas can be seen, somewhat surly, in the background, working the tables on the adjacent lanai. He brightens considerably at the sight of Conchita, (Connie), who is picking up wet towels from the pool area.

There is tension as both Brock and Sam (who was her high school sweetheart) are attracted to Helena, whose desires are unclear. She remains connected to Sam via their shared history. And Brock is clearly a wealthy man, well put together and fit, and very confident.

Helena gets a call

Helena is on the phone with her daughter Athena, who is excitedly telling her all about her dreamy physicist boyfriend, Blaine, who she will be bringing down with her for the hotel’s centennial celebration. Helena, who has listened to her daughter extol Bline’s virtues for six months while she has not met him, expresses her excitement, teasing Athena that things must be getting serious if she is bringing him home.

Lucas tries to speak to Connie

When Connie walks past Lucas to take the towels to the hotel's laundry, he speaks to her in second-rate Spanish with a Southern accent. Connie is friendly, but she has been hit on often enough in her young life to worry much about this fumbling mixture of braggadocio and fear. She answers him non-committedly in Spanish. Lucas is heartened by what he thinks is her interest in him. He tries to ask if she would be interested in seeing him when she is off duty sometime. Connie answers in rapid Spanish with a big smile before turning on her heel and leaving. Lucad stares at her retreating form, wondering whether she had agreed to his proposal, or not.

The guys agree to golf together.

Noah’s attempts to organize tee times for the guests result in them having to play together as the course is almost completely booked. He manages to catch up with both families lunching, (separately, but sitting near one another), on the lanai. The two men agree, Doug without reservation, Chuck a bit dubiously. Penny whines that she’ll be a golf widow for the day tomorrow. Peter commiserates. Noah mentions the hotel spa is offering a two-for-one facial special and asks if maybe they’d like to team up for that.

Peter and Penny agree but realize they have no one to keep an eye on their girls - Noah suggests that one of their housekeepers, Connie, would likely be available to watch the girls, and arrangements are made.

Staff meeting to prep for Centennial Gala

Later in the afternoon, a group meets in the dining room to discuss preparations for the centennial celebration on Saturday night. Present are Nathaniel, Gianni, Sam, Maria, Tanya, Harlan, and Helena. Gianni, originally from Baltimore, presents himself as a native Italian from Coserta near Naples. He ends every argument with “as we used to do in Napoli” However, he is an exceptional chef with an affection for soap operas. He complains that everything is going wrong. He cannot possibly be expected to create “art” with wilted vegetables and supermarket meat. Harlan and Helena, who have contracts with excellent local farms, get their fish and meat from local butchers, and use a quality seafood wholesaler, have heard Gianni’s endless complaints before and largely ignore them.

Gianni’s theatrics are, as always, countered by Nathanial’s preternatural calm. Athena and Harlan, as used as they are to Nathaniel’s laconic persona, still constantly wonder if he is paying attention - or even awake.

FRIDAY

On the golf course

Doug is sedately dressed and has a modest golf bag with a small discrete selection of clubs. Chuck, on the other hand, is wearing a loud ensemble of brightly colored golf clothes and has a massive golf bag. His clubs have all the bells and whistles. It is soon apparent that Doug is the far superior golfer. He shoots close to par, while Chuck can hit the ball a mile without ever knowing where it's going.

After a few holes, punctuated by Chuck swearing at his wayward balls, a frustrated Chuck complements Doug on his swing, saying, “Thanks - I worked as a golf pro in Westchester to pay my way through law school at NYU - I’d be happy to give you a few tips if you like”. Chuck says jokingly, “Why thanks Doug, I sure would appreciate that, but put your hands around my waist and there’ll be tears. Doug laughs and says “ Dream on buddy, you’re not exactly my type”. An unlikely friendship is emerging.

At the Spa

Peter and Penny meet outside the Spa at 11 am. They go in. Tanya, dressed in hot pink, body-hugging scrubs, welcomes them and offers them sweet tea or white wine. Penny is hesitant as she is rarely called on to make decisions. Peter is made from sterner stuff and says they will have the wine - after all, they are on vacation.

They pair chardonnays with facials, and after an hour of attentive service from Tanya, they are chatting away, complaining about their husbands. After some pampering, they head off for lunch and further dissection of their partners.

Meanwhile….

Connie, with Eve and Amelia in tow, is overseeing the girls as they play in the pool. Lucas seizes the opportunity to chat her up again while the senior staff is at the centennial celebration meeting. Connie’s friendliness offers hope to Lucas. And he is also stunned to learn she speaks fluent English.

At the restaurant

The Millers have agreed to have dinner together. They are child-free as Connie had taken the girls to the tiki bar for hamburgers as the sun sets over the beach, where Lucas sees and joins them feeling good about life.

In the restaurant, the two sets of Millers open up. While they are not drunk, alcohol has loosened their tongues. Doug and Chuck had spent time at the golf club’s ‘nineteenth hole.’ While Peter and Penny had refilled their wine glasses several times at the spa. The four are delighted with each other's company, amazed as they find they have much in common.

Last scene

As the Millers are dining, Athena arrives with her boyfriend Blaine. Athena is biracial (white/Indian). Blaine is Black. Helena, thrilled to see her daughter back home from college, greets and hugs her, but is a bit nonplussed at Blaine - let’s just say the young physicist is not exactly as she had imagined.

Fade out