This post contains spoilers for “Paradise” Season 2, Episode 6. Proceed accordingly.
Now that this week’s “Paradise” has delved into Jane’s deeply disturbing past, we couldn’t wait to talk with someone who had a front-row, gift-bag-adjacent seat: Ryan Michelle Bathe, who plays Jane’s Central Intelligence Agency mentor, Stacy, in the episode.
In case you need a super-quick refresher: Flashbacks to Jane’s childhood revealed that, early on, she started hearing voices that told her to do violent things. She somehow made it to the CIA training ground known colloquially as The Farm, where her trainer, Stacy, taught her to meditate in order to quiet her mind and enhance her abilities. They grew close — Stacy even introduced Jane to Nintendo Wii! — but that friendship took a giant hit when Stacy realized Jane had cut off the penis of one of Stacy’s jerky co-workers after he was promoted instead of Stacy. Jane brought Stacy the appendage in a gift bag. (Read a full recap here.)
Nicole Brydon Bloom, who plays Jane, “kept looking at me, and she was like, ‘Are you at all curious what happens after this moment?’” Bathe told me during a recent chat. “I’m like, ‘Girl, yes.’”
You may recognize Bathe from her previous TV work — which includes “First Wives Club,” “This Is Us,” “Army Wives,” and “All Rise” — as well as from her latest gig: hosting the official “Paradise” Season 2 podcast. She and “Paradise” star/executive producer Sterling K. Brown also recently celebrated 20 years of marriage. Read on to hear her thoughts on the episode.
TVLINE | Talk to me about how the idea first came up, of getting you on “Paradise.”
RYAN MICHELLE BATHE | I think they wrote the script and Dan [Fogelman, series creator], being the wonderful, wonderful human being that he was, gave me a shot. I hope I did them proud. I hope I did Sterling proud.
TVLINE | I’m bummed you guys didn’t get scenes together. It’s “This Is Us” all over again!
[Laughs] Sterling kind of does it on purpose that way. He’s like, “She can be on the show, but it’s cool that she has her own stuff.”
TVLINE | And you have good stuff. Jane’s origin story is something we’ve been wondering about for a while. And you’re in the middle of it! Obviously, you watch the show, you host the podcast: You know, going into this, what a big part of the story this episode would be. What did you think when you knew you’d be part of that mythology?
I mean, I’m still, at the end of the day, a fan of the show. I don’t take anything for granted. You know how this business works. You know how this town works. I don’t take anything for granted… I think it wasn’t until I was on set that I was like, “OK, this is real. This is really happening.” And it was amazing. It was amazing to be a part of the show, but also to be such a cool part of the show — like how the Wii is a callback, you know?
TVLINE | What do you think Stacy sees in Jane, up until their final scene together in this episode? She hasn’t written her off, where it seems like others have. Why does Stacy give Jane extra time and attention?
I said to somebody, “She wants to be the change she wants to see in the world.” In her mind, she’s like, “The only way women get through this is together.” I think that Stacy probably had the very hard and unenviable job of being one of the first [in her field] — even though, you know, it’s not like this happened in the ’70s! This is “Paradise”! So we can assume it happened in the very, very recent past, right? Like, right-before-the-end-of-the-world kind of a situation… For Stacy, she’s just like, “I’m going to be the stopgap measure. These women that come to me, when I find them and when I see them, I’m going to see the thing that other people can’t see, and I’m going to pour into that.”