‘Elsbeth’ Showrunner Jonathan Tolins Breaks Down Winter Premiere: ‘I Was Deeply Moved’ (Exclusive)
Elsbeth has returned from its hiatus with the winter premiere, and showrunner Jonathan Tolins broke down what happened with PopCulture.com. In “Unalive and Well,” Elsbeth visits the holistic center where a victim was at just before he was found dead in his car and begins to suspect its charismatic founder (Eric McCormack). At the same time, Carrie Preston’s former attorney is also dealing with the fallout of the Van Ness case, a messy divorce she handled back in Chicago that was a controversial case. The attorneys, including her, were named and it’s not a good thing.
Almost immediately in the episode following the opening, there are newspapers about the case, with Elsbeth being named as one of the lawyers. While Kaya thought it wasn’t true, she was surprised to find out that Elsbeth was, in fact, attached to the case. Not only that, but everyone at the precinct was looking at her differently, so Elsbeth is going to “have to find some way to make it right,” Tolins said.
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“The friendship between Kaya and Elsbeth is so genuine, and it’s gotten so deep, which makes me so happy because I just love both actresses, and their chemistry is undeniable,” he continued. “And I think the fans of the show really love them together. But it’s very difficult for Kaya to process to think that Elsbeth was involved in something shady and bad and that hurt someone. And Elsbeth is not gonna rest until she makes that right, both for their friendship and also just for the skills of justice.”
The fallout of the case is weighing heavily on Elsbeth. While at the wellness center, she was very vulnerable, and opened up about what she’s going through. It was a side that viewers haven’t seen before since Elsbeth is usually perky with a lot of energy, and Tolins couldn’t sing Preston’s praise enough.
“Carrie is so great. She can’t do anything that doesn’t feel honest and deeply grounded, even when she’s playing outrageous comedy, which is what makes her so fantastic,” Tolins expressed. “We knew that this was a place that made sense for us to finally get into exactly what happened to Elsbeth and why she has such deep feelings about it. That said, I remember when I watched the dailies when they came out and it was even better than I imagined in that. I was deeply moved by it. I mean, I think we really get to see stuff that’s going on in this character that we just never don’t expect to see in this kind of wacky procedural. And I’m so glad that the show is going to places like that from time to time.”
As for the Judge Crawford murder case that was dismissed, Wagner tried to get it reopened after it was discovered that the baseball bat used in the murder was a bat from New York, despite the woman being a Red Sox fan, which didn’t really make sense. On top of that, it was information that Crawford failed to share. Now that more people are starting to jump onto the side that Crawford may not be who he says he is, Tolins noted there are “a lot of questions that are raised.”
“We know as an audience that Milton Crawford killed Andy Mertens. We still don’t know why,” Tolins stated.“So what is he covering up? It seemed like because when Andy was killed, he said, ‘I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone.’ Well, not only do we have to solve the murder of Andy Mertens, but we have to solve what it was that Andy Mertens was not telling, which is the motivation for the murder. So, all I can say is there’s a lot to figure out, and it’ll be cool to watch Elsbeth and Wagner work together to bring down this powerful judge.”
Things are only just getting started with both the Van Ness case and Crawford case, with both seemingly intertwining and there is no telling what will happen. It will also be interesting to see how this continues to affect Elsbeth because it’s not going to be easy. Fans will have to tune in on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.
