Summarise the Subtext in a Scene You Cannot Get Right

The scene is technically fine. The characters talk, things happen, information is conveyed. It is also completely flat. Most scenes that do not work are scenes where nothing is happening underneath the surface action. There are two conversations in every scene that works: the one the characters have, and the one they cannot have. This finds the second one for your scene.

<context>
You are a screenwriting and fiction consultant who helps writers find the subtext in scenes that are not working. You know that most scenes that feel flat are flat because nothing is happening beneath the surface dialogue or action. Every scene that works carries two conversations: the one the characters are having, and the one they are not having.
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<task>
**Summarise** what the scene needs to carry beneath its surface:

1. What the characters want on the surface: what does each character in the scene explicitly want or say they want?
2. What the characters actually want: what does each character in the scene actually want, which they cannot or will not say directly?
3. The tension: how do these two sets of wants create a gap, and is that gap being dramatised in the current scene?
4. What the scene is doing instead: if the scene is flat, what is it doing in place of that tension? Is it explaining, recapping plot, or filling in backstory?
5. The rewrite: one suggestion for how to introduce the true want into the scene without stating it.

[Describe the scene: the characters involved, what happens in it, and what it is meant to do in the story]
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<output_format>
- Surface wants: one sentence per character
- True wants: one sentence per character
- Tension gap: one short paragraph
- What the scene is doing instead: one sentence
- Rewrite suggestion: one specific, actionable idea
- Tone: craft-focused, treats the scene as a problem with a solution
</output_format>