SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses plot details from the latest episode of “Elsbeth,” which airs Thursdays on CBS.
Carrie Preston and Michael Emerson met 30 years ago during a production of “Hamlet” at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival — she played Ophelia; he was Guildenstern — and they married in 1998. Since then, they’ve acted opposite one another a few times: Preston made a guest appearance on “Lost,” playing the mother of Emerson’s character in a flashback and she also recurred as his fiancée on “Person of Interest.”
But Emerson’s arrival as a recurring guest star on Preston’s CBS show “Elsbeth” marks the first time the married couple play enemies.
In the episode, titled “One Angry Woman,” Elsbeth gets summoned to jury duty (an obligation that means she’s finally a true New Yorker) and she lands on the jury of a murder trial presided over by an unusually challenging judge. Emerson plays the bespectacled Judge Milton Crawford whose haughty demeanor hides a much darker secret — that he’s committed the murder in question.
naturally, Elsbeth is quick to sniff out Judge Crawford’s strange behavior, but she can’t put her finger on exactly what is off, setting up a contentious situation between the two as the trial progresses. By the end of the episode, it’s clear that this was only Round 1 for Elsbeth and Judge Crawford.
“Let’s think of him as the Moriarty to Elsbeth’s Sherlock,” Preston teases.
It’s so fun to watch the two of y’all verbally spar. But I’m very nervous for Elsbeth, as this man is a cold, hard killer.
CARRIE PRESTON: You should be nervous for her. This man is a cold-hearted killer who’s also extremely powerful.
Michael, what did you make of Judge Crawford? Because this character is a different kind of dastardly than Leland on “Evil.”
EMERSON: When you are on a series for a long time, you forget what it’s like on day one of something new. Where you have not established a character yet and you’re having to come up with it. You’re having to make something three-dimensional in a hurry, so it was tough the first day.
The first day I shot was the murder, and I’m just a guy with a baseball bat. I hadn’t really settled on all the different angles of his character. They came eventually, as we went along. It makes you realize how nice it is indeed if you’re on a series for a long time — you really don’t think much about coming up with a character. You have been doing it. You just put the clothes on, and you’re it.
Is this the first time y’all have played characters that are foils to one another?
EMERSON: I don’t think we’ve been antagonistic to one another. We’ve always had scenes of warmth and love — not like enemies.
PRESTON: We haven’t gone against each other in that way. He plays a lot of evil characters and a lot of dark characters, and I play a lot of light-hearted ones, and to see both of those energies go head-to-head, it was really fun. It was truly,like good and evil.
PRESTON: Michael and I don’t rehearse together. We don’t even talk about the scenes at home. I don’t know what that says about us, but I guess I implicitly trust him. I also like the element of spontaneity that comes with not knowing what the other actor is going to do. Come in knowing my role, having an idea of where I want to go with it, but it’s more like playing jazz than anything.
We found a very easy rhythm playing these scenes, mostly because we have such a trust for each other, and the scenes were incredibly well written. If it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage. We had great writing to work with, and then we just tweaked it. We had a fantastic director who helped us find little nuances, and we just ran with it.
PRESTON: We did the courtroom first. Those are long days; they’re very arduous to shoot and the poor judge is always the last to be on camera.
PRESTON: As they want to shoot the bigger stuff first, and then whittle it down to where it’s just one person on camera — and that’s always the judge.
EMERSON: We did those courtroom scenes in chronological order too, so as the audience gets to know the characters and those relationships, we were getting to know them at the same time.
EMERSON: It’s one of those kind of scenes that I like best, which is one on one. It’s quiet, but the subtext is very hazardous. A lot of messages are being sent that are off text.
PRESTON: They don’t show me shows until it airs, so I see it with the audience. So I’ll be curious to see. I can’t wait to see how it cuts together. Because it’s one thing to play it in the room — that’s when all possibilities are infinite, and then when we see it on TV, it has become the definitive. I sometimes don’t even want to watch it, because I know what we did, and I know what it could be in my mind. But ther were so many different ways that we did it that were equally fascinating; we gave them some good choices.
Michael, what was it like watching carrie work?
EMERSON: I’m a fan of Elsbeth, but when you’re on set, you get to see Elsbeth just before they say “Action,” and just after they say “Cut” again. I get to watch her do that thing, and then go into it and then come back out of it, it.
EMERSON: I observed her relaxation. How it’s just so there for her. It doesn’t require a lot of deep breathing or pinching herself or anything like that. When they say action, she’s full-on Elsbeth right there, seemingly without any effort at all.
Carrie, you’ve played this character for so long — 14 years with “The Good Wife” and then “The Good Fight.” But this is a new iteration of her and a new tempo, being the center of the action. How much have you relished this version of Elsbeth?
I’ve also never worked so hard before — because the hours are challenging. it takes a lot of hours to make this 43 minutes that you’re watching. And when you’re called Elsbeth, you’re there a lot and that can be a little challenging on the stamina. But whenever I find myself lagging in any way energy-wise, I just remind myself that this is an incredibly rare thing. It’s a gift.I just turn to somebody on the set and tell them how great they are. I just try to put that love and joy in what I’m doing and share it with other people so that everyone feels as lucky and as joyful and as appreciated as I feel being trusted with that job.
At the end of this episode, audiences get the idea that Elsbeth has figured out that Judge Crawford knows more about this murder he has let on, after he lets it slip that Donna Summer was playing. What comes next?
PRESTON: He’s somebody that is not going to be easy to catch as of his reach and his power and his influence. But I don’t think he quite understands the tenacity of Elsbeth Tasioni either. He is only starting to realize that she’s not all that she appears to be.
EMERSON: The judge is going to go to work to try to undermine her in a number of ways. We get little glimpses of him in three more episodes scattered, and then there will be another big episode where they…
PRESTON: Yeah, that’s something when you give birth to yoru husband in the woods. Not many people can say that they’ve done that.
EMERSON: I can’t give birth to you, but I could teach you some valuable life lessons around the campfire.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
What are the main themes explored in elsbeth’s dynamic with judge Crawford?
You see the final product and realize how different or similar it is from what you envisioned.
In a nutshell, the dynamic between Elsbeth and Judge Crawford promises a riveting exploration of a battle of wits. Their interactions are layered with tension, highlighting the stark contrast between Elsbeth’s sharp intuition and Judge Crawford’s calculated demeanor.With Elsbeth’s instinctive suspicion and crawford’s hidden menace, viewers can anticipate a thrilling cat-and-mouse game as the trial unfolds.
Carrie Preston recognizes the stakes for her character, leading to heightened suspense not only for Elsbeth but also for the audience, who is left wondering how she will navigate the courtroom challenges and confront Judge Crawford’s nefarious nature.
The actors’ chemistry and trust in each other, despite their characters’ antagonism, suggest that this storyline will delve deep into the psychological aspects of their roles, making for an engaging watch. As viewers await the episode’s release, the questions surrounding execution, character progress, and narrative twists will certainly build anticipation for Elsbeth’s confrontation with the cold-hearted killer in Judge Crawford.