Staying In

Apologies for the delay in getting this posted, but hopefully, you’ve seen the season two premiere by now and we can dive right into discussing it. In the first half of my Q&A with Being Erica‘s Michael Riley, we discussed the mysterious Dr. Tom. In this part, Riley talks about playing his genesis, Tom Wexler, working with his own therapist, his favorite episodes and what’s ahead for Dr. Tom.

Note: While season two has already aired in Canada, this Q&A is intended for U.S. viewers who have not seen season two yet. Please put a spoiler warning if you are going to leave a comment about something that happened in season two. Readers, please be aware that there may be spoilers in the comments section.

The season two premiere is very Dr. Tom heavy. How would you describe the Dr. Tom that Erica meets when she goes back in time?

When she goes back in time, she meets Tom Wexler. That’s what was so interesting to play as an actor and goes back to what we were talking about at the beginning. I knew that “Dr. Tom” had come from. His genesis was Tom Wexler. I knew that for a whole season. It’s like Tom Wexler having gone through his entire list of regrets with Dr. Naadiah, who is his doctor. He’s now what Erica knows as Dr. Tom. It was just so fun to go back and finally play who that was. He’s obviously completely a different person. There’s some anger issues. He’s kind of whirlpooled down into his own kind of dark psychology. It seems like before doctors show up in this paradigm, the patient has to be at the end of their proverbial rope. Whether it’s Erica at the beginning of season one with her whole life falling around her ankles, ending up at the hospital after the allergic reaction. Dr. Tom had possibly an even darker time where Naadiah shows up and they begin their process. But it was fascinating to go back and play him. And to play both sides of that person in the same show was really great. It was fun.

He’s such a calming presence and very intellectual. But then in the season premiere we see these different shades and darkness to him. Were you excited to play that as an actor?

Absolutely. It’s kind of like it couldn’t be designed better in terms of, “What’s the opposite?” It makes for great drama. Who is the opposite from that calming, wise influence? Who can we create as the genesis of that character that is completely in opposition? That’s basically who Tom Wexler was. That was very fun to play. And then the season kind of goes back a little bit back to business as usual in terms of Dr. Tom is obviously a presence there, but it goes back to more of the unfolding of Erica’s continuing story. Then the tenth episode of the second season, Dr. Tom gets to go back in time on his own. Dr. Naadiah sends him back to the moment with his daughter and we get to reopen that and find out more about that character. Those two episodes for me were the most challenging to play and also the most rewarding because I got to kind of explore what’s beneath that stoic surface, that calm surface whenever you find him in the office there. There’s a lot of other sides to him, as you say. Those are always fun to explore.

Dr. Tom is not the only therapist around this season. Has he got some competition?

I wouldn’t say competition. Who knows, that might come up as a theme in the third season if we get to play one out. Dr. Tom is clearly one of a hierarchy, a number of doctors, and slowly we begin to learn that each one of those doctors have gone through their own particular thing. There’s grades to the school, as it were. It was never competition. What was fun for me was that… I’ve been in a number of series and played the lead in a number of series in this country. When you’re going to work like that, it was a very strange thing to realize I’d never acted with anyone else except for Erin [Karpluk]. For a whole year of going to work, I never actually looked at another actor’s eyes. It was always Erin because we always had our scenes together, of course. In the second season, when these new doctors start to come in, it was kind of refreshing. Particularly with Naadiah because that was just so fun to be able to — He’s always on that one side of the chair, dispensing his wisdom and conducting the “therapy” from that side of the desk. What was so fascinating for me both in episode 201 and episode 210 was to go to the other side, to sit in that other chair, and be in Erica’s position. That was really fun to play, as well.

I asked Erin about how she sees the relationship between Erica and Dr. Tom. Do you see it as a professional one, a friendship or more of a father/daughter one?

There’s definitely a father/daughter thing in there. I think that Sarah, who’s Dr. Tom’s daughter — Because Tom Wexler had gone through such a story with her in terms of losing her and then getting her back and letting her go. All those kind of father/daughter issues, they’re in there, as well. It just got richer and richer that relationship, so it had a kind of father/daughter thing. A kind of mentor/student thing is obviously implied. But there’s a one-on-one kind of thing too. They have their own unique relationship even outside of that. He has been through what she’s going through now. There’s an undercurrent of empathy and understanding about where she is having to go back and face your regrets all the time. So he’s been through the process that she’s been through. He’s been guided through that, so that’s a parallel in their relationship. Erin and I, I think our chemistry on screen is interesting enough that like any good relationship, it’s not unidimensional. The chemistry itself allows it to have different facets. But definitely professional, for sure.

Do you have a favorite episode?

My favorite episode to play was definitely the premiere episode of the second season. Also, I like the Leo episode, the thirteenth episode of the first season. Episode 210 I think was probably my favorite that comes a little later down the line in season two when Dr. Tom is sent back in time. That was interesting because in 201, I got to play Tom Wexler in the past, which was great, but it’s still Tom Wexler. He had no idea who Erica is. He had no idea what life had in store for him in the future. It was kind of like playing a completely different character whereas in 210, I’m sent back in the same way Erica is sent back. It’s Dr. Tom popped into Tom Wexler’s body and now facing things from this completely new perspective. That was really fun to play. I enjoyed that one a lot.

The world of possibilities for Dr. Tom seems endless. He could go anywhere from here. What would you like to see for him?

I think that’s one of things about the show. I’m so proud of Jana [Sinyor, creator] and respect her so much. She’s created a paradigm were there are endless possibilities. Not only for Dr. Tom, but for the show itself. I think a lot of people were worried that if we go too much behind the Dr. Tom curtain, are we going to jump the shark and lose the heartbeat of the show? I think what she proved was no. The show can support these endless possibilities. I hope, selfishly as an actor, I’d like to continue to explore his past because I think there’s a lot more to mine. After I finished episode 210, I thought once we met his wife and you got to see him spend time with his daughter, there’s a lot of unresolved issues in that relationship. That’s something I would definitely like explore again. I think there’s more to be explored there. And also those larger questions you started asking at the beginning. Is he dead? Is he not dead? What did happened on that ledge? Who did talk him off? Some of those things and what the future has in store for him because the interesting thing about him is that he’s not this magical, impervious character. He’s a completely dimensional man, who can still get angry. He’s still vulnerable to all those human idiosyncrasies. The more I get to, as an actor, put that under the microscope, the funner it is for me and, hopefully, for an audience too.