[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Accused Season 2, Episode 7, “Eugene’s Story .”]
Ken Jeong is finest identified for making viewers chortle, however they could have been left in tears watching his dramatic efficiency in Accused‘s Season 2 finale installment, “Eugene’s Story.”
Portraying the titular Eugene, Jeong’s character owns a jewellery retailer, and he finds himself in a dicey state of affairs when his spouse Grace’s (Jamie Chung) previous comes knocking at their door. When her ex Rex (Zane Holtz) begins blackmailing her after getting out of jail, Grace tries to assist the person, mendacity to Eugene within the course of. Ultimately, she comes clear to Eugene, revealing that her ex went to jail for a theft that resulted in a loss of life that she was truly accountable for.
Considering he pays the person some cash to sever ties, Eugene makes an attempt to take away Grace’s ex from their lives, however a theft on the jewellery retailer leaves Eugene offended and he goes after the person. When he tracks down Rex at a motel, Grace is with him and makes an attempt to go away as a manner of stopping hurt to Eugene and her father, however a scuffle over a gun Eugene dropped at the scene finally ends up leading to Grace’s loss of life. It’s a tragic flip of occasions that permits Jeong to ship a surprising dramatic efficiency.
Under, the performer who is understood for his work on Fox‘s different exhibits like The Masked Singer and I Can See Your Voice will get candid about dialing up the drama, collaborating with Chung and director Michael Chiklis, and extra.
Peter Stranks / FOX
How did you get entangled with Accused?
Ken Jeong: I’m very blessed. [Howard Gordon] and Albert Shin who wrote the script, “Eugene’s Story,” they wrote it with me in thoughts and we had a gathering about it… and I completely understood what they had been eager to do with [the episode], and being an enormous fan of Howard Gordon’s work with 24 and Homeland and his innate potential to inform a narrative from begin to end and construct up a lot pressure in an hour… It’s a extremely, actually uncommon talent of storytelling available. And I used to be simply drawn to the story. After which once we acquired Michael Chiklis concerned… I’m an enormous fan of The Defend and really, early on in my profession, about 18 years in the past, I guest-starred on The Defend as a day participant.
I by no means acquired to fulfill [Michael Chiklis then], however [The Shield] was a type of issues [that was] actually massive in my worldview. So to be directed by him [was special], Michael Chiklis has actually developed into an actor’s director. After which the primary ensemble forged, all of us acquired very shut. It was among the finest experiences I’ve ever had in my profession. I’ve by no means been a dramatic lead earlier than. I’ve achieved dramas and I’m presently in A Nice Divide out proper now on VOD, I’m so blessed to be part of that. After which to bookend it with Accused as my first dramatic lead… there was quite a lot of duty hooked up to this, and I wished to do proper by not solely Michael and Howard but additionally by the followers and by the story, I wished to service the story as finest as I might. It was extremely fulfilling.
Faith performs an enormous function within the episode, why do you suppose it was so necessary to incorporate that?
The Korean church is a big a part of the Korean American neighborhood, and I assumed they captured it fairly nicely. I imply, you see exhibits like Beef that actually captured that… I keep in mind texting Steven Yeun and I simply instructed him that it provides me goosebumps of how correct the pickup video games are, that dynamic of the reward band. And I undoubtedly considered Beef whereas we had been taking pictures the Korean church scenes as a result of church is a big element of Eugene’s story and as a part of the redemption of this morality story that Howard and Albert have weaved.
What was it like working alongside Jamie Chung on the dynamic between Eugene and Grace?
We’re lucky, we had been each in The Hangover 2 and [The Hangover] 3, and so I’ve gotten to know Jamie fairly nicely, and in order that made it much more particular that my scene associate is a buddy and an actor I fully belief. And I believe due to our friendship, it actually lent to the dynamic that we had. It was very thought out. I believe it’s possibly on the floor thought-about to be an odd couple pairing, however possibly that’s the purpose. And Jamie and I undoubtedly leaned into that dynamic. Possibly there’s a purpose why. And but there’s a bond and a way of affection and obligation to one another that’s deeper than anticipated from the viewer.
Did Eugene get a good consequence at his trial?
I do sadly imagine that that verdict was simply because Eugene got here to the motel with the intent to kill Rex. And [he could] have gotten the authorities concerned. Sadly and tragically, there was a fair worse consequence concerned in Eugene’s story. However it’s, I’d dare say, by way of regulation, by the e book, no matter feelings, no matter emotions. And that is an emotional story… I imply, Michael Chiklis and I had been saying this is sort of a modern-day Shakespearean tragedy. And it was an honor to serve that story.
It actually does make you suppose.
It makes you suppose. My spouse and I watched it collectively and the strain and the emotionality after which the pondering once we’re discussing that afterward. For that to linger and make you suppose in an sudden manner, [that] is why I give up my day job as a physician to be an actor. It’s why I wished to be an actor within the first place and why I wished to be a storyteller as a result of this was a tremendous story to inform.
Accused, Season 2, Streaming now, Hulu