CF Caesar Flickerman
We have seen a lot of tears here tonight. But I see no tears in Johanna's eyes. Johanna, you are angry. Tell me why.
Johanna Mason
Yeah, well, yes! I am angry. You know, I'm getting totally screwed over here. The deal was that if I won the Hunger Games, I get to live the rest of my life in peace. But now, you wanna kill me again. But you know what? **** that! **** everybody who had anything to do with it!
CF Caesar Flickerman
[startled]
All right, then. One woman's opinion.
Haymitch Abernathy
[points to a TV]
Cashmere and Gloss, brother and sister, District 1. They won back-to-back games, Capitol favorites, lots of sponsors, they will be lethal.[TV changes] and the other half of the career pack, Brutus and Enobaria.
Katniss Everdeen
What's with her teeth?
Haymitch Abernathy
She had them filed into fangs so she could rip people's throats out.
Peeta Mellark
She's committed, I'll give her that.
Haymitch Abernathy
[TV changes]
Wiress and Beetee. Not fighters, but brilliant. And weird. Real tech-savvy. He won his games by electrocuting six tributes at once. [TV changes] The Morphlings, masters of camouflage. They won their games by hiding until everyone was dead. Self medicating ever since, which I applaud; not a threat. [TV changes to Finnick Odair]
Katniss Everdeen
Finnick Odair, right?
Haymitch Abernathy
Yes he won his games at 14, youngest ever. Extremely humble.
Katniss Everdeen
You're kidding.
Haymitch Abernathy
Yes I'm kidding, he's a peacock. A total preener. But he's the Capitol darling, they love him here. Charming, smart, and very skilled in combat, especially in water.
Peeta Mellark
Any weaknesses?
Haymitch Abernathy
One. Mags. She volunteered for Annie. Mags was his mentor and basically raised him. If he's trying to protect her in any way, it exposes him.
Katniss Everdeen
A guy like that should know she's not going to make it. I bet when it really comes down to it, he won't protect her.
Haymitch Abernathy
Well, Katniss, I hope when she goes, she goes quickly. She's actually a wonderful lady.
Haymitch Abernathy
Good news. At least half the tributes want you as allies.
Peeta Mellark
They saw her shoot.
Haymitch Abernathy
Well, sweetheart, you got your pick of the litter.
Katniss Everdeen
I want Wiress and Beetee.
Peeta Mellark
Johanna calls them "Nuts" and "Volts".
Haymitch Abernathy
OK, good. Who else?
Katniss Everdeen
Mags. [Peeta turns away in disapproval] All right, fine. Then no one.
Haymitch Abernathy
I'll tell them you're still making up your mind.
Peeta Mellark
Katniss, I don't know what kind of deals you made with Haymitch, but he made me promises too. [pulls off the locket around her neck] If you die, and I live, I'd have nothing. Nobody else that I care about.
Katniss Everdeen
Peeta...
Peeta Mellark
It's different for you. Your family needs you. [opens locket to see three pictures - Gale, Prim, and Mrs. Everdeen] You have to live. For them.
Katniss Everdeen
What about you?
Peeta Mellark
[smiles sadly]
No one needs me.
Katniss Everdeen
I do. I need you.
Johanna Mason
[kisses Peeta]
Alright, lovebirds!
President Snow
[observing a video of Katniss's actions in the Hunger Games]
Such bravery. Such spirit. Such... contempt.
Katniss Everdeen
President Snow. What an honor.
President Snow
My dear, I think we can make this so much simpler if we agree not to lie to each other. What do you think?
Katniss Everdeen
Yes, I think that would save time.
President Snow
Sit down, please.
President Snow
[Katniss sits down in a chair on one side of the desk; President Snow sits down on the other.]
I have a problem, Miss Everdeen. A problem that began the moment you revealed those poisoned berries in the arena. If that Head Game-Maker Seneca Crane had had any brains at all, he would have blown you to bits then and there. But here you are. I expect you can guess where he is.
Katniss Everdeen
Yes, I think so.
President Snow
And after that fiasco, there was nothing left to do but let you play out your little scenario. [smiles] And you were very good. That whole love-crazed, besotted schoolgirl routine. Impressive. Truly. You convinced the people in the Capitol. Unfortunately, not everyone in the Districts fell for it. I mean, you can't know this, but in several of them, people viewed your little trick with the berries as an act of defiance, not as an act of love. And if a girl from District 12, of all places, can defy the Capitol and walk away unharmed, what is to prevent them from doing the same? What is to prevent, say, an uprising? That can lead to revolution. And then in a fraction of time, the whole system collapses.
Katniss Everdeen
It must be a fragile system if it can be brought down by just a few berries.
President Snow
Yes, it is indeed. But not in the way you imagine it.
Katniss Everdeen
How should I imagine it?
President Snow
You should imagine thousands upon thousands of your people dead. This town of yours, reduced to ashes. Imagine it gone. Made radioactive. Buried under dirt like it had never existed, like District 13. [pauses, looking at Katniss pointedly] You fought very hard in the Games, Miss Everdeen. But they were games. Would you like to be in a real war?
Katniss Everdeen
No.
President Snow
Good. Neither would I. [picks up a biscuit from the desk] Did your mother make these?
Katniss Everdeen
Peeta.
President Snow
[smiles cruelly]
Ah. He's a lovely boy, isn't he? Tell me, at what point did he realize the depth of your...indifference towards him?
Katniss Everdeen
I'm not indifferent.
President Snow
Don't lie! You promised. [Eats biscuit]
Katniss Everdeen
Why don't you just kill me now?
President Snow
...I don't want to kill you. I want us to be friends. But if not friends, then allies.
Katniss Everdeen
What do I need to do?
President Snow
When you and Peeta are on tour, you need to smile. You need to be grateful. But above all, you need to be madly, prepared-to-end-it-all in love. Do you think you can handle that?
Katniss Everdeen
Yes.
President Snow
"Yes", what?
Katniss Everdeen
I'll convince them.
President Snow
No. Convince me.
[plays video of Katniss and Gale kissing] Do convince me. For the sake of your loved ones.
President Snow
Look at them. She's not who they think she is. She's not a leader. She just wants to save her skin. It's as simple as that.
PH Plutarch Heavensbee
I think that's true.
President Snow
But she has become a beacon of hope for the rebellion, and she has to be eliminated.
PH Plutarch Heavensbee
I agree she should die, but in the right way. At the right time. It's moves and counter-moves, that's all we've gotta look at. Katniss Everdeen is a symbol. Their Mockingjay. They think she's one of them. We need to show them that she's one of us. We don't have to destroy her, just the image. Then we let the people do the rest.
President Snow
What do you propose?
PH Plutarch Heavensbee
Shut down the black markets, take away what little they have, then double the amount of floggings and executions, put them on TV; broadcast them live. Sow fear- more fear.
President Snow
It won't work. Fear does not work as long as they have hope, and Katniss Everdeen is giving them hope.
PH Plutarch Heavensbee
She's engaged. Make everything about that. What kind of dress she's gonna wear? Floggings. What's the cake gonna look like? Executions. Who's gonna be there? Fear. Blanket coverage, shove it in their faces. Show them that she's one of us now. [laughs] They're gonna hate her so much they just might kill her for you.
President Snow
Brilliant.
RT Romulus Thread
[Commander Romulus Thread is whipping Gale Hawthorne in the town square for poaching when Katniss intervenes.]
Move. [raises his whip] You want another?
Katniss Everdeen
Go ahead.
Haymitch Abernathy
[Thread shifts the whip to his left hand and draws his sidearm with his right] [hurrying in between them]
Whoah, whoah, whoah!
RT Romulus Thread
[aims at Haymitch]
Get out of my way!
Haymitch Abernathy
Y-you don't wanna shoot her.
RT Romulus Thread
How 'bout I shoot both of ya?
Haymitch Abernathy
Look, Commander, you're new here. Trust me, I'm trying to help. I'm Haymitch. You recognize her? Katniss Everdeen? Darling of the Capitol?
RT Romulus Thread
She interfered with a Peacekeeper.
Haymitch Abernathy
I never said she was smart! Look, I- you already got a couple of lashes in-
RT Romulus Thread
That's not good enough; she's an agitator! [jerks his pistol to the right as Peeta approaches him]
Peeta Mellark
Easy. Easy.
Haymitch Abernathy
Look, you sure Snow wants three dead Victors here? Cause that's what we're looking at. It's bad enough that you marked up her face on the eve of the big wedding. Let it go. And we will, too.
RT Romulus Thread
[After a few seconds, Thread holsters his weapon.]
All right. Okay. But next time, it's the firing squad.
Haymitch Abernathy
Excellent idea.
RT Romulus Thread
I don't care who she is. [shouting angrily] Clear the square! [turns to the crowd, still shouts] You’re all under curfew! Anyone out after dark will be shot on sight! [turns back to Haymitch] Get 'em outta here.
President Coriolanus Snow
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the seventy-fifth year of the Hunger Games. It was written in the charter of the Games that every twenty-five years, there would be a Quarter Quell to keep fresh for each new generation the memory of those who died in the uprising against the Capitol. Each Quarter Quell is distinguished by Games of a special significance. And now, on this the 75th anniversary of our defeat of the Rebellion, we celebrate the third Quarter Quell … As a reminder that even the strongest cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, on this the Third Quarter Quell Games, the male and female tributes are to be reaped from the existing pool of victors in each district … regardless of age, state of health, or situation.
