Last year, I had the chance to visit the set of a then-brand-new show on ABC- The Catch. The show had only aired a couple of episodes but I already loved it. The style was amazing, the dialogue was witty, and the story was incredibly interesting!
The Catch is back for Season 2 and they’ve changed a few things around, but for the better! They made one of my favorite characters, Rhys, a full time character and the relationships between even the more intimidating characters {like Margot} have so many fun and interesting layers to them. They even added two new characters that I’m loving- T.R. Knight as Tommy Vaughn, the main character Alice’s brother, and Gina Torres, who plays FBI Agent Justine Diaz, Rhys and Ben’s handler. I’m so excited to see where this season- and hopefully many more to come- takes us!
A few weeks ago I had the chance to sit down with Sonya Walger {who plays Margot} and Showrunner and Executive Producer Allan Heinberg and talk all things The Catch. Read on to see what they had to say about including so many strong female characters, what the show used to look like, and more!
Sonya, there are so many twists and turns in the show. Is there one that surprised you?
Sonya Walger: Yeah- you haven’t seen it yet.
So you’re now having to go to Alice and work for her, and from season one, there was everything with Ben- maybe you won’t get to tell us, but is there something along the lines later on where you’ll come back and change the relationship you have with her now, like working with her? Is something going to happen later on or that something that’s just gonna keep going?
Sonya: I think what’s really fun is that Alice and Margo discover they have perhaps more in common than they thought, and there’s a sort of begrudging mutual respect while still there’s a lot of wariness because, you know, because Margot is Margot, so you wanna be careful of that. But those beautiful therapy scenes that Allan wrote us in season one- what I think was so lovely there was Margot had this moment of realizing they were both betrayed by the same guy. They actually have all this common ground, and so that sort of moves into season two where I think they sort of realize they’re both strong, empowered, intelligent women who can go toe-to-toe, and neither one is gonna stand down. And then when they realize neither one is gonna stand down, then they have to kind of work together. I love the relationship. I obviously just love doing scenes with Mireille, so it was fun.
I have to know, how long did it take you all to film the umbrella scene? {From Season 2, Episode 2}
Sonya: So long. I mean, that was John Stuart Scott, our fantastic director who had done some episodes on season one, and that does them for several more on season two. One of things we all love about John is he comes with such a game plan- he arrives so prepared. To do a scene like that with so much coverage- meaning you’ve got big, wide shots and close-ups, and so many different angles that you wanna have-not just to tell the story, but then to tell the story in an exciting way, you want to have someone who comes in having really mapped out what the day is gonna look like. And John is impeccable at that- really wonderful, and we are blessed with an amazing efficient crew. That said, it took forever. But he was great.
Allan Heinberg: And you have to get it all before it gets dark.
Sonya: Right, so you’re up at stupid o’clock to get that ready.
Where does the title, The Catch, come from?
Allan: Before I came onboard, a version of the show already existed and it was, I think, a reference to Alice catching Ben. That was her drive. But for me it was about love, like, you can’t have it all- there’s always gonna be a catch. The guy you fall in love with who turns out to be your soulmate- it’s also the guy who stole all of your money and is a career criminal. So in love, it’s never the whole fantasy. There’s always something pulling you back down to Earth. I think a lot of us look at love as an escape from our daily lives. And the catch is that’s what real love is- something less romantic and a lot harder to achieve. So that’s the way we’ve been proceeding- there’s always a catch with these relationships and how do you work through it?
So you came in and basically redid the pilot episode?
Allan: Yeah, they shot a pilot, and Alice was a forensic accountant, and everybody played different characters. Sonya was not in it, Pete Krause {Ben} was not in it… and then those two roles were recast, so they were just about to shoot Pete and Sonya into that existing script but the network couldn’t figure out what the show was. So that’s when I was brought in to say, if you reimagined it, what would it be, and how much would it cost us.
I had been on Scandal when I got this job, and Grey’s Anatomy before Scandal, so I’d been in Shondaland for about ten years. I had a real sense of what I would want to see if I were watching Thursday nights, and I knew that murder is pretty dark for me, so I knew I wanted a sort of lighter, more fun, sexy, fashion forward show. I worked on Sex in the City; I sort of miss that- I miss smart people talking smartly to each other, wearing amazing cloths, and talking about real love issues like how relationships really work.
Can you talk a little about the fashion?
Sonya: Isn’t it killer? I tell you, my favorite thing is going in for a wardrobe fitting, and that is not usually the case. Usually, you go to wardrobe fittings and there’s a tired lady who’s, like, “Hi, we don’t do black on this show, so here are the pantsuits.” That’s usually what wardrobe is like. When you go in with Peggy [Schnitzer], and there’s just a rack of the most exquisite dresses. She’s wonderful, and has just the best eye, and I think this is the fun of doing season two of the show is she now knows my body better than I do, so the dresses are not ones that I would pick. I’m a mother of two- I’m lucky to get dressed in the morning, so just to be zipped into a thing with heels, and the hair, and it’s glorious. It’s glorious. And it just means by the time I’ve been through the works, Margot’s there. It’s such an enormous part of being a character is having the right look and jewelry, and hair, and makeup, and things- it really is. It’s like zipping on a suit and then half your work is done.
Allan: I have to say, the show is crazy. It’s just crazy in like a great way, but it makes it really fun wardrobe-wise. But Peggy has such a clear sense of the actor and the character, that it just is a delight. One time Gina Torres wears a terrible coat in episode six or seven, but it’s supposed to be terrible. But I was like, just maybe too terrible? You’ll see it. You’ll know what I’m talking about. But that was the one time in two seasons where I was like, does it really have to be on television? Otherwise, perfect.
Do we get a lot more of Gina in season two?
Sonya: She’s in every episode. She’s fantastic, and she can wear clothes like nobody’s business.
There are so many strong female leads. Are the guys starting to feel a little outnumbered?
Sonya: A bit.
Allan: I think when we brought Rhys on full time, Pete Krause was like, alright, we’re okay now, I’ve got my partner. He feels a little bit better, and now they’re sort of a comedy trio with Gina joining them this year, so I think this year that’s sort of went away. In the beginning, I think for Jay and for Pete, there may have been a little, like- “There’s a lot of ladies. I’m not sure that our side is being represented,” We used to have that on Grey’s quite a bit, too.
Sonya: Totally fine with that. Just don’t care.
Allan: But Pete, I mean- its a duet. Really it’s an ensemble but he and Mireille really- it’s interesting because I think the biggest change that I made was to give his character a point of view. If you’d seen the original pilot, you’re in her head the entire time. You have no idea what he’s thinking or why he’s doing what he’s doing. So the big change was act two of that original pilot is all from Pete’s point of view. So you fall in love with him, you understand that he’s in love with her- it really is a duet in that sense. We do have a lot of really strong women, but what a great message to send.
With Margot having so many pieces to her puzzle and you find out more and more every episode, how much of that do you know in advance? If you’re filming episode three, how many episodes down the line do you know about to have in your mind when you’re filming?
Sonya: Well I have the most collaborative showrunner in the world. I would say I have as much information as Allan has. So if he knows, “Hey, you’re gonna hook up with so and so, and it may turn ugly, I don’t know,” then that’s the information that I have.
Allan: And I’ll try to be careful because sometimes if you know too much about what’s coming down the road, if you’re not a genius actor like Sonya, it’ll pull you away from the present moment. So I think a lot of showrunners withhold in order to protect the actor to keep them present in the moment, but because we’re cooking this up together, and because I want her as invested, and because her writer’s mind is so strong, I will usually- and I do this with Mireille, too, and with Pete. Everybody really, if they’re interested in having that much information. I’ll tell them as much as I know. I’ll tell everybody as much as I know. Sometimes I’ll call from the writer’s room and say, “This is maybe a terrible idea, but what do you think?”
Sonya: I love it. I’ve had both, honestly. I mean, I’ve had showrunners who the ink was drying as get the script pages so there was no heads up there. That’s okay, too, truly. In life, I don’t know what’s happening in ten minute’s time, so this is what I play. It’s not terrible. And I’ve had the other where I’ve had all ten episodes ahead of time before we even shot a frame, to sort of process the whole arc which is more like doing a movie. They honestly both have their benefits.
A new episode of The Catch airs tonight! Watch a clip from the third episode in the season, The Dining Hall, below!
THE CATCH – “The Dining Hall” – Alice discovers some very hard truths about her brother Tommy and Val is forced to dig into her past in order to help with his case. Meanwhile, relationships are tested as Margot and the AVI team have to navigate their current realities, and Ben and Rhys’ latest con may turn out to be a little too risky, on “The Catch,” airing THURSDAY, MARCH 23 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network.
I loved this episode. It really dove deeper into the relationship between Ben and Alice in the aftermatch of the events of last season. It also showed us more about what Tommy’s about- and I love the drama with Margot this episode! You never truly can read her because she’s always up to so many different things. This episode is a must-watch- you can catch up on the first two episodes right now and be sure to tune in for this one tonight!
{You can read about my set visit here– and take a peek into the wardrobe, too!}
