Patrick, what was it like from your perspective? Seeing people have such strong reactions to Santos when you knew they were going to find out she was right about Langdon all along?
Patrick: Unlike Isa, this is my first TV show, and this is my first time doing this and experiencing being perceived. So maybe in an ego maniacal sort of way, I was very overwhelmed with the number of people that were like, “Fuck Dr. Langdon!”
But it was really interesting going through the process of seeing certain parts of the fandom from Jump Street being like, “Santos is on a witch hunt. She’s got a bad attitude and she just hates Langdon for whatever reason. My prince can do no wrong.” And then realizing, “Oh, wait, she was right. Why didn’t I believe her?”
Also, rewinding and thinking “Okay, what did we like about Dr. Langdon at the beginning of season one? He was sassy and he talked shit. And why did we not like Santos at the beginning of season one? Because she’s sassy and talked shit.” Watching those parallels come along, and watching the discourse online unfold around that was really satisfying as a storyteller.
Isa: I also feel like this season has been interesting to watch how people are kind of reeling from those epiphanies last season. In real time last season, we were seeing people be like, “Oh, you know what? Maybe that was a little misogynistic of us.” And now this season, I feel like I’ve seen way more people doubling down and being like, “she’s a fucking snitch,” and kind of hiding behind [Langdon’s addiction]. Of course, being an addict doesn’t make you bad person, of course, but people are kind of being like, “Well, he was an addict, so everything he did was fine.”
People really fight over this, and maybe the whole point is that there is no right answer. Langdon is a great doctor but also did some not great things, and is an addict, and deserves to come back and try again, and also can still accept the things that he fell short on. And then also, Santos is not perfect. She is sometimes very mean to people, and she needs to not do that in a workplace. And she was right about something, so you can’t be jumping down her throat.
[Patrick nods emphatically]
And also, she has these vulnerable parts that are coming through, and we can look at her with empathy. There’s so much going on, and this is not a show to watch if you’re going to be black and white about it. That’s not why this show is made. This show was made to live in this gray area and to look at every side of it and say, “Yeah, this is the whole picture, and that’s the whole picture, and it’s complicated. That’s just life.”
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