Every CBS episode Elsbeth — starring Carrie Preston in the title role, which earned her a 2013 Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama for her performance on the series A good wife – is based on a similar “howdunit” premise: viewers see a guest star commit a murder, and Preston’s idiosyncratic Elsbeth Tascioni puts the pieces together to solve the mystery and bring the murderer to justice. But ElsbethThe season finale deviates from the formula as the title character follows a wrong lead with predictably amusing – and trendy – results. Showrunner Jonathan Tolins discusses the script.
Elsbeth Scenario
Courtesy of CBS
“I always feel like the viewer is watching something and asking, ‘Why am I getting this information?’ ” says Jonathan Tolins. This scene, in which our heroine meets designer Matteo Hart and retired model Nadine Clay (played by André De Shields and Laura Benanti, respectively), introduces the title character to the central mystery. “He introduces Elsbeth to the next stage of the investigation, connects with Nadine, and also organizes a whole fun fashion show for Elsbeth,” Tolins continues. “With this, Nadine becomes Elsbeth’s model trainer, which will give us a cat and mouse scene like always.”
Elsbeth Scenario
Courtesy of CBS
One sec Elsbeth is a procedural drama filled with humor – thanks in part to the heightened quirks of Preston’s character. Tolins says much of the humor comes from seasoned performers. “I’m very ecstatic that there are three of them [actors in this scene] they all have a lot of theater experience,” he says, boasting about the caliber of Tony winners De Shields and Benanti. The latter, Tolins says, was an “inspired casting” for the role of Nadine. “When she said, ‘I didn’t realize cookies were so delicious,’ it was funnier than I thought [when I wrote it]”
Elsbeth Scenario
Courtesy of CBS
All clues point to Nadine as the perpetrator of the murder; Elsbeth is convinced that she is behind the death of fashion photographer Ezra Tate. But (spoiler alert) this is a ruse designed to throw Elsbeth and the audience off Matteo’s trail. “How do we do this without people seeing all this coming?” reminds Tolins of this particular narrative challenge. “You want to appeal to the audience, make it entertaining and hopefully so entertaining that they give up. Matteo leads Elsbeth to a fashion show, so I hope viewers’ antennas don’t go up and think, “Oh, that’s our murderer.” ”
Elsbeth Scenario
Courtesy of CBS
To completely disturb Elsbeth’s intuition, Tolins created a story in which Matteo mentored Nadine, her husband, Nick, and Tate. “The CBS lawyer called our script supervisor and said, ‘We’re very concerned about this episode because it appears to be based on a very specific case,’” Tolins recalled. “We had it all figured out. I’m ecstatic when that happens because it seems quite concrete and plausible.”
Preston debuted her character in 2010 during A good wifethe first season, which ultimately appeared in 14 episodes of the series and five of its spinoffs Good fight. “One of the great things about this character – and the actress – is that her thoughts are constantly moving in different directions,” says Tolins. “The writers and I can put voices in our heads that question everything and then put words into their mouths.”
This story first appeared in the June 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
