There are still many theories going around about Grosse Pointe Garden Society. We are only three episodes into the new series, after all. It turns out that Alexander Hodge and his co-stars don’t have the answers just yet!
Hodge sat down with us to talk about the new series and the twistiness of the story. He also talked about some of the overdone tropes when it comes to love triangles and relationships, and what he didn’t want for his character as he came onto the series.
Of course, we had to ask about the idea that Doug killed Molly. Doesn’t that seem a little too obvious for a storyline?
Alexander Hodge shares what drew him into Grosse Pointe Garden Society
Precinct TV: What was it that made you know immediately that you wanted the role of Doug?
Alexander Hodge: I had a good chat with the creators and the casting team. They were pitching the dynamic between Alice, Doug, and Brett, and I thought the generic version had been done many times on television. I’d just watched my friend Celine’s [Song] Past Lives and it just blew my mind on conflict between characters without the easy scapegoat of a deadbeat husband or an antagonist within the trio.
I’d said to the creators that if this was something they’d like to do, then I would like to. I’m interested in understanding the mess of it, in posing the real-life questions and decisions made, and that was exactly what they wanted to do. They didn’t want to present a basic triangle of some tired, played-out trope.
It was more the idea of some real-life mess and what do we want the characters to do? I think that to me is so intriguing. There isn’t an answer, moral or philosophical. It’s more just a series of questions that we battle every single day, and I know that’s what drew me into Doug.
PTV: It’s so easy to paint Doug as a bit of a villain as he puts his aspirations to be an artist first. But he’s so human and flawed.
AH: Speak on it!
PTV: So, you wanted to bring something different, and you have. What’s it like seeing it play out and have people react?
AH: I think it’s fun. We’re just filming episode 11 right now, so we’ve digested a fair bit more of the story, but it’s fun seeing the audience response to episode 3 and soon episode4. It’s reminiscent of how I felt when I first read episode 3 and episode 4. I thought, “who! Hold on! I didn’t know it was going to be this bad!”
Becaues it’s a non-procedural, the story moves fast, and it has to. To sustain episode 2, we start in a place of real conflict and real tension between the two of them. They aren’t bad people. They’re just at a crossroads right now, where maybe the dreams of artistic creativity and life is just getting further away once the crest their 30s and have to deal with real world consequences.
I think Doug is a bit of the bearer of bad news for certain things, but he’s the voice of reason we don’t like to hear very often. As you’ll see in episode 4, the voice of reason continues. I would say there’s a shiftin reception and a shift in their dynamic, in their relationship, in their marriage, as a result. It is something that’s not very popular but sometimes we do need a bit of a reality check. Are we on the same page right now? Are we seeing things the same way right now? Obviously, we aren’t, but is there a way for us to see things the same way, or are we at an impasse?
PTV: One of the big mysteries is who killed Molly, and I think it’s a bit too obvious to be Doug.
AH: I really, really, really, really, really hope it’s not Doug. I didn’t sign up to be a dog murderer! I have two dogs myself, two golden retrievers, so if this were to be the end of my career painted as the man who killed the golden retriever, I would be very upset.
PTV: I was going to ask what it’s been like for you having people think it’s you!
AH: It’s terrible! I’ve seen it in tweets; I’ve seen what people are saying. I think it’s hilarious, though. Nobody cares that a person was killed at the beginning of this show. No one cares. But a dog is absolutely irreparable. To think that somebody would kill a dog and the fact that I’m currently being pinned for it is not a nice feeling.
I’m on my best behavior with the writers, because we still don’t know! I think that’ll be delivered to us toward the end of the season, but I’m on my best behavior because I don’t want to make any enemies and then conveniently be the one ending up with the smoking gun, per se.
PTV: So, you have no idea yet how all the mysteries are unfolding? What was that like to film?
AH: It’s so much fun! We’re all familiar with the whodunit. This is, instead, a who was it? The fun of that is that we take turns being unlikable people in this world. Everybody takes a turn at being the ideal victim. We read the script on set, and everybody starts placing bets on who they think it is. Then a new episode comes out, and everyone changes their bets.
It is quite challenging at times, understanding how we’re supposed to navigate certain scenes, but then also it has kept it so alive, which is very ironic considering somebody dies. It’s kept a real volatility to it, because we don’t know, so it is exciting for us as we film and progress.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society airs on Sundays at 10/9c on NBC. Catch up the following day on Peacock.
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