The Two Rivers Roadhouse is really the Sundance Pub and Inn at 6574 Ladner Trunk Road, Delta BC V4K 3N3 It is actually a pub attached to a shop and a motel.
This is one of the location sites for episode 3.03. It is where Abigail, Adil and Tally are finally reunited with Khalida and, surprisingly, Alder.
Some of the exterior shots were taken at night. This seems to be a common filming tactic so that the location detail is not visible, hidden under cover of darkness.
During the daylight, this is what it really looks like.
We were very fortunate to arrive just at opening time, so we had time to talk to the staff, who were really friendly and helpful. We talked to the manager, who had been the liaison with the filming company. She said that they were filming during covid, so the film crew had the place to themselves for the three days that they were filming there. Because of covid, the number of people on site was kept to an absolute minimum, so she didn’t see any actual filming nor met any of the cast.
This is a location that has been used by a number of Vancouver productions. The manager mentioned the documentary series Happy Face Killer. We found that had been filmed at a few of the locations we visited. The other series that had filmed at some of the same locations was Yellowjackets.
This is a filming notice for the production at that venue.
Inside the pub, was the bar where Alder sat to eat her plate of nachos. I will always think it a waste that she only ate two of them and left the plate full to go and watch Elayne. The pub does have a kitchen and a range of food, but they don’t do nachos.
At the pub, there were a number of televisions around the place, showing sports channels. These clearly weren’t in use during filming.
This is the counter by the entrance, where we see Abigail and the others come in. On screen, this is very busy, but at just after opening time, you get a good view of the entrance and the toilet doors. More of that later.
We had lunch and a drink at the same table where Abigail, Adil and Khalida had sat to talk. This is Table 4. We spent a while looking at images from the episode and working out where the cameras would have been.
In this case, the camera would have been against the wall, filming outwards. There would also have been one behind Khalida’s left shoulder, possibly held by a camera operator in the booth that was behind her.
This was a dual purpose space. It was used as the space where Elayne and the band performed. It was also used as a dance space, when that was needed.
When Alder and Tally leave the bar to ‘go and talk to Elayne’, they would actually go around to the back of the pub. This was another example of night filming meaning that many of the features of the back alleyway would be obscured. I am sure the rubbish was moved, but having the set be so dark added to the atmosphere. Filming in daylight would not have had the same effect.
Note the images on the doors behind Alder
The manager told us about the toilet doors. When the production company was filming there, they brought a lot of their own props and set dressing. Including these images which they stuck to the toilet doors. At the end of filming the production people told the manager that they didn’t need these any more and asked if they would like them removed or should they leave them? She decided that they should stay.
This seems to be fairly common practice, we certainly came across other examples where production companies made alterations to the building and the owners were happy for them to remain. We saw another specific Motherland example later in the week.
Finding these little remnants of Motherland around Vancouver is a good reason for visiting places in person.
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