[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Murder in a Small Town Season 2 Episode 3, “Mother Love.”]
The third case of the season on Murder in a Small Town was an incredibly emotional one for more than one reason. First, it was a somber story that centered the episode, titled aptly, “Mother Love.” Second, it featured the final screen performance of the late, great Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who died of an accidental drowning in July at the age of 54.
Warner starred in the episode as Richard Bannister, a father who grew ferociously protective when his ex-wife decided to return to town after five years to make amends with their teen daughter. When the woman later wound up murdered in her rental home after a home invasion, all eyes were, understandably, on Richard. As is always the case with Murder in a Small Town, though, there was much more to the story than met the eye.
As it turned out, the former Mrs. Bannister had also recently reconnected with the biological father she didn’t know she had — played by William B. Davis — and when his son found out he’d changed the will to include his long-lost daughter, the son went after her and, later, her own daughter to protect his inheritance.
While decoding the mystery at hand, Karl Alberg (Rossif Sutherland) was reminded of his own past inadequacies as a father in a moment of introspection, and that wasn’t the only emotionally poignant moment of the episode for him. He finally spent some time with Cassandra Lee (Kristin Kreuk) at her house and learned just how guarded she was about her space and her things. The two also had a major dust-up over her decision to protect a knife-wielding unhoused man, Todd (played by guest actor Joshua Close), from both bullies and Karl’s own officers. While Karl and his deputies saw Todd as a threat, Cassandra trusted her instinct about him and demanded Karl do the same. Watch this space.
Elsewhere in the episode, Karl’s daughter Holly (Dakota Guppy) also unlocked a new mystery in the identity of the “creeper,” who Cassandra thought was merely an urban legend. Turned out, a childhood friend of Cassandra’s was killed in an unsolved hit-and-run many years ago, and their mutual friend who was supposed to give her a ride home that night checked on her roadside grave every month to keep it tidied up — earning the name of the “creeper.” Oddly, though, her friend did not take credit for the flowers that have been showing up on the grave, which leaves more to be discovered about this case.
Put simply, there is a lot to unpack about what happened in Tuesday’s newest episode of Murder in a Small Town, so TV Insider turned to some of the series’ main producers — Sepia Films’ Tina Pheme and Kim Roberts, along with Future Shack’s Jared Berenholz and Jeff Wachtel — to break down the key moments of the episode and get some insight into what’s ahead for the rest of this season and beyond!
This was Malcolm Jamal Warner’s last TV appearance, and obviously, you guys include a nice dedication, and it is a cool character. What does it mean to you for him to have been part of this?
Kim Roberts: Well, just to start off, he was so dynamic in the role. It was actually not meant to be a huge role. And he found a way of bringing that character to life beyond any of our expectations. And he had to walk a really fine line between protecting his daughter and making sure that she wasn’t going to be further traumatized and being sympathetic. And I think he did an amazing job at doing both — that is, that we really cared for him and understood the dilemma, while at the same time… [he was] someone who was definitely a suspect in the murder. So we were thrilled to have him, and he was such a joy to work with as well. So he was amazing to have for this episode.
Tina Pehme: I think he really touched all of the crew, just because he is genuinely the person that you see, like he’s just so — was, unfortunately — just so full of life, so full of goodness, and said really, really positive things to everyone, and it’s very sad. We’re very lucky to have had him.
Jeff Wachtel: One of the things that’s most important when a guest star comes into a show is not just doing your part, but elevating the principles. And the stuff that Malcolm and Rossif found together in the interrogation scene between the two of them, touching on issues that are social issues, not just parenting issues or legal issues, it elevated Rossif’s performance. So not only was, as Kim and Tina were saying, it was a lovely experience to have him on set, but one of the things that happened was that not only did he punch above his own weight, but he’s he brought out the best in our lead.
Yeah, he was definitely not a one-dimensional character. And the way it’s written, I have to wonder, do you think if the tragedy hadn’t happened to the Bannisters, that they might have had a happier ending together, reuniting as a family?
Jared Berenholz: Great question… I think it’s really a question for Ian [Weir], who holds the creative in his head and his hands, and we trust and rely on him. I’m not sure. I think the family went through a lot, and certainly the father and daughter will have a happy ending together, and the grandfather, too, at the end, right? There’s a fractured family at the beginning, and maybe it doesn’t come together by the end of the episode in the traditional sense of mother, father, daughter, nuclear family. The family has grown by the end of the episode.
Kailey Schwerman / Fox
In the episode, Karl makes a comment to the grandfather, Captain Stewart, that his own daughter felt abandoned when he was trying to get kind of into his head. Are we going to dig into his own realization of that a little bit more?
Wachtel: Absolutely, and actually Season 3, because I think, OK, shows are about plot, good shows are about plot and character, and great shows also are about theme — I’m not saying we’re a great show; we love doing it, though, and we care about themes, and in enunciating that this year, and as Jared said, it’s mostly Ian’s baby to carry. But one of the things that we’ve talked about is building a family, and the notion of inclusion, and also how inclusion is messy, right? It’s easy to exclude people, but once you start to bring people in and try to create a family, that gets kind of messy, and Karl blew it the first time. And he’s a very fortunate guy that he didn’t lose the relationship with his now-adult children, or almost-adult children, and he gets a second crack at it. And for him to have success this time, he is going to really need to lean into his more thoughtful, caring, intuitive self, which is certainly there, and it’s there in the person of Alberg, but it’s really there in the person of Rossif, who is so much that man. So it’s going to be not just a subtext tool… It’s going to be part of the text of Season 3 as he tries to do better this time.
Speaking of inclusion, there’s a moment between Karl and Cassandra when they finally go to her house, and she doesn’t want to let him in. She’s kind of protective of her things. I mean, is she gonna have to make some changes, too, in that regard?
Pehme: Absolutely. What I think is interesting is, when you come into a midlife romance, is that is so very real, especially when you’re in another space that they’ve set up in a particular way, and if they’ve been single for a long time, as Cassandra’s character has been… That’s another thing that I think is going to be a really interesting dynamic that we explore in Season 3, it is about family and about compromise and also holding on, and all the things that you were mentioning, it’s like, “What is she going to hold on to? What do they give back? What do they give to each other? What do they crack open?”
Berenholz: Even later in Season 2, we do get more of a glimpse into Cassandra’s history and how she came to Gibsons, and how she came to be the way she is in her space, and why she lets people in when she does, and why she holds people out when she does. And Kristin does a really wonderful job bringing that arc to life. We’re excited for people to see, if this scene in Episode 3 is the beginning of that arc, where she takes it over the course of the season?
It also seems like this is the beginning of that season-long mystery that’s been kind of hinted at, with the case with Holly and the Creeper. It seems like we’re just getting started with that. Can you tell us what to expect from them past this episode when we find out the woman was the visitor to the grave but did not place the flowers?
Wachtel: We shouldn’t, though, right? [Laughs.] Ian is very carefully constructing a story that starts off small and incidental — my daughter’s homework assignment — and actually involves everybody in a very dangerous situation by the end of the season. It goes all the way and creates a threat, not only to the people in the community, but to some members of our principal family.
Kailey Schwerman / Fox
Okay, going back to Karl and Cassandra, they have an impasse in this episode over the Todd situation and her reaction. Is that particular issue resolved? Are we going to see more conflicts like that between them?
Berenholz: Another good question. I mean, we’re not going to rehash this particular conflict over the course of the season, but we’re definitely going to have conflict over the course of the season as they get to know each other better. By the time Season 1 started, I think they’ve only been together for six months or a year, so they’re still figuring out who they are, and as new circumstances come up, “Oh yeah, how would I react in that situation on the street?” We got really lucky with Josh Close, who’s a wonderful actor and does an incredible job playing Todd. He does continue to recur over the course of the season. So the Todd story is certainly not resolved at the end of at the end of Episode 3.
Wachtel: By the way, because we like working him, that was Tina’s [addition]. She brought him into the mix. She thought he’d be perfect, and we thought, “I don’t know if we can get him for a guest star.” And she really worked that. One of the things you raised, Amanda, though, which is so interesting, good questions, is their fundamental nature, Karl and Cassandra, and how it generates friction? And in some ways, he’s a protector and she’s a provoker. And that’s not always an easy match, because when he sees Todd, he sees a threat, and she sees — she’s a nurturer. They’re both nurturing. But she says, “No, no, this is the type of risk that it’s good to take,” and that’s where they engage, and the way they engage in Todd, they will continue to engage in other areas as they both take that different perspective on events.
One of those, I imagine, is maybe the mayor, who we didn’t get to see this episode, but I know there’s still a lot lingering there. What do we have to look forward to from her throughout the rest of the season?
Wachtel: Marcia Gay Harden, one of the best actresses on the planet. One of the challenges we had in Season 2 was, well, we’ve established Karl and Cassandra, and thank God, the chemistry between the two of them is literally undeniable. But you don’t want it to be smooth sailing, or else there’s wedding bells by the third episode. And so what do you do? And Ian had kind of a brilliant idea to integrate [the character]. We wanted to have a star, and Fox wanted to have somebody important come into the mix. And he said, “OK, how about if that person was…” and he pitched us out the character of Christy Holman, the mayor, and it was somebody who really stirred things up between the two of them, added a whole new perspective on the show, and then it was a good enough part that we got somebody like Marcia to come in. So for us, knock wood, she was a real win.
Pehme: I think what she also brings is what you were talking about with Malcolm, which is elevating everyone else around her. And also, she’s just such a collaborative, experienced creative force that you know she’s always adding. And I think that just when you get that kind of ensemble, you really get the best of all of it.
Roberts: She made cupcakes for everybody on the crew on our last day on the set.
Pehme: Yeah, she got very integrated. She was doing bonfires and game nights and just, I think, the whole experience for her and for us was tremendous.
Also on the political side, it does seem like Phyllis did maybe want Cassandra to intervene in her housing issue, but she changed — I read it as she changed her story at the last minute, “Oh, just, let’s do painting.”
Wachtel: Oh, that’s interesting!
Berenholz: Yeah, it’s, it’s one of my favorite scenes in the episode, I have to say, because, first of all, when you have Fiona and Kristin on camera together, it’s just always a good time. That’s not how I read the scene. I’m curious what everybody else thinks. I think Cassandra misinterprets it because so many people are pummeling her: “Oh, I have a problem with the pothole”; “Oh, I gotta, gotta get this permitting issue fixed”; “Oh, Councilwoman, can you help me with my nosy neighbor?” Her defenses are up right away, “Oh, housing issues? I don’t know…” And Phyllis is just, “Oh no. I just wanted to ask my friend for help around the house.”
Roberts: I think that that’s who Fiona is, and she isn’t someone who is going to ask her friend to do something like that, going to ask a friend to help her out with the work that she needs to get done. And I think it’s really, was really important for us to have that relationship protected in terms of the sorts of asks that they would be asking of each other, and I think it’s why it works so well.
On another painting subject, we see Cassandra make the effort to gift Karl his mother’s painting that has his father in it. It’s hinted that we’re going to learn a bit more about the father because of the comment Karl made about him to know he’s still alive. Are we going to meet the father?
Wachtel: Yeah, big, big spoiler alert, just for you. A lot of Season 3, knock on wood, should we be fortunate to get there, is going to be about that, and in Season 2, we really lay a lot of that framework of that abandonment, that Karl felt from his dad, and how it impacted the way he looks at relationships and has kind of damaged him as a grown-up. So we’ve experienced a lot of that as these two people, Karl and Cassandra, are getting to know each other and each other’s relative vulnerabilities, and then knock wood, if we get our show continuing, that’s something we’re really going to dive into.
It seems like we’re really digging into the character of Sid a lot this season, what with his family struggles, and then also him and the medical examiner have a moment where there’s like a history. Are we going to continue to learn more about him and delve into his family life?
Berenholz: Yeah, absolutely. One of the most important things for us in this season — beyond kind of the two core things of the show, which are (a) Karl and Cassandra’s relationship and that family relationship, and (b) compelling, surprising, unexpected cases of the week every week — a big focus for us in this season was not just Sid, but fleshing out the personal lives, the internal lives of all of our secondary cast, the cops in the cop shop, Phyllis. And Sid is such a huge part of the day-to-day life in the cop shop in this season. And getting to spend time with his kids, with his family, we see not just the happy, jovial side of him, but the human side of him that has to deal with the tough things in life that anybody has to deal with was a real key part of the story and the theme this season.
Roberts: Fox has been extremely supportive of, almost demanding, of really building out the characters and the world. As a network, they have not only wanted us to focus on making sure the crime works and the procedural elements, but they’ve always wanted us to be pushing to build out as much as we can the characters beyond Karl and Cassandra.
On a similar note, it seems like Layla and Isabella are kind of going somewhere, whether it’s the best friendship or maybe even more. Can you tease what’s ahead with them?
Roberts: There is definitely chemistry. I think that you can see, both on set and I think between the two characters, the two actors, they really, again, have brought something elevated to that story, and it’s because of the personalities of these two characters, and bringing sort of a reality, a grounding to what the relationship is. And they don’t have a huge number of scenes together, but they really bring something real, I think, when you see the two of them interacting.
Pehme: And we think, just to tease a little bit, that Layla is going to have some sparks with someone. We won’t say who it is.
Noah Reid is coming back… Is there anything you can tease about that?
Berenholz: I want to be careful with my words here because we want to leave this as a discovery for the audience. But the way I think of Tommy Cummins is if Alberg is our Sherlock, Tommy might be his Moriarty. And seeing the rapport, the back and forth, the mano a mano, high-intensity, cat-and-mouse game between the two of them playing out in a very different context has the potential to be really fun for audiences.
Wachtel: It definitely amps things up.
Pehme: It really does.
Roberts: And Noah takes a lot of delight in his character.
Pehme: He sure does. He has a lot of fun.
Love it. What can you tease about the case of the day in Episode 4?
Pehme: We’ve got a musical element to it…
Wachtel: And Fiona is kind of front and center. In Episode 4, Phyllis really gets to shine. There’s a lot on her shoulders in the case. So it’s fun and builds out one of our other principal characters.
Pehme: It really does. And it’s got some fun guest stars as well. Really pops.
And then what else do you want us to know about the rest of the season?
Berenholz: Well, I think one thing is, despite the fact that the show is called Murder in a Small Town, it can’t always be all murders. So we have a couple of other fun, unexpected crimes that might be thrown the way of Alberg and the cops.
Pehme: And we’re gonna see a lot of Marcia.
Roberts: She’s going to have some fun with our characters. That’s for sure.
Pehme: She’s really a delight to watch.
Wachtel: So far, you’ve only seen just a little bit of her, but she really gets in there and gets in between Karl and Cassandra in really interesting ways.
Roberts: And gets under their skin in very interesting ways…
Pehme: Very interesting and entertaining ways. She does it with, as I said, there’s just a delightfulness to it. She really has fun with it.
Berenholz: And we also get into it, like with Sid and Layla, we really explore the mayor as a character, and Marcia really explores the mayor as a character, not just as a person who’s kind of motivating, shaking things up between Karl and Cassandra. We get to know a little bit about her family and her personal life, and she does incredible things with that part of her role.
Pehme: I think they all do, actually. I think that depth has really given the actors something to dive into, and we really see it this season.
Roberts: We were really lucky with Dakota, who plays Holly, who just grows visibly every day. And his other daughter, Steph, with Cassandra, is great, and we’re going to be seeing a little more of her, too. She starts to work her way back into the family.
Pehme: Bethany Brown, just to mention her, she’s a new addition to the police station, and you mentioned her with Isabella, but we have been thrilled with Bethany. She’s been a fantastic addition.
Berenholz: One more cast shoutout that I’d throw in for Episode 3 this week, who you mentioned briefly is William Davis, who plays the captain. Hopefully, Fox audiences will get a kick out of seeing a legend of Fox from The X-Files back on the network, and he just did a great job.
Roberts: He did a great job with the role.
Murder in a Small Town, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox