Note: The following story contains spoilers from “Grotesquerie” Episode 7.
“Grotesquerie” star Micaela Diamond always knew Episode 7 was going to be a challenge. Even by the wild standards of this FX show from Ryan Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken, “Unplugged” is on an entirely different level.
“Episode 7 is like if ‘Fatal Attraction’ was directed by Luis Buñuel except it’s ‘Grotesquerie’ and Max Winkler is just a genius,” Diamond told TheWrap of the game-changing installment.
After six episodes spent investigating a serial killer known only as Grotesquerie, Lois (Niecy Nash-Betts) finally uncovered that the killer was none other than Father Charlie (Nicholas Alexander Chavez). As everyone around her celebrated, Lois couldn’t shake the feeling that the case hadn’t been fully solved. That’s when she zeroed in on her partner in solving the crimes, Sister Megan (Diamond). As the pair made dinner together, Lois slowly outlined her theory, accusing the holy woman of conspiring with her editor, lover and religious leader to kill dozens in an effort to bring more people to the Catholic church.
As Lois ramped up her accusations, Sister Megan continued to nervously eat more and more. That disarming choice came from director Max Winkler, who told Diamond to channel “that feeling of when you’re high and just munching on everything.”
But the ensuing confrontation between Lois and Sister Megan was more than just a fight between two former partners. The more Lois struggled against Sister Megan, the more the audience became aware that this entire story — Grotesquerie, the murders, Father Charlie — never truly existed. Instead, it was the dream of a comatose Lois.
Lois and Sister Megan’s fight scene took two days to film and three sets of the kitchen. The fight initially took place in Lois’ typical kitchen before production moved to a version of the set in a warehouse, which allowed more room for stunts. That warehouse also allowed Winkler to incorporate a stunning pullout shot that shows Lois and Sister Megan struggling in the doorway as everything around them is black.
Diamond described the moment as “Hitchcockian.” “You see [Lois] struggling between both realities,” she said.
Of course, the actress behind Sister Megan was never actually hurt during the confrontation, but filming the fight scene did lead to some unexpected moments. For example, a glass really did break on the wall by Diamond’s head. And though Nash-Betts didn’t really throw a pot of boiling soup on her, she did throw a pot of chicken stock with carrots and potatoes on Diamond.
“I did smell like chicken soup for three days straight,” Diamond admitted, laughing.
To film the actual fight, Jeanette Branch and Amanda MacLeod stood in as Nash-Betts and Diamond’s stunt doubles. The way the scene was filmed required the series’ stars to switch out with their doubles in the middle of takes as the camera was still rolling. Diamond referred to the whole process as “a dance.”
But even in Sister Megan’s death, Diamond wanted to maintain some of the carefully crafted humor she brought to her wide-eyed and uncouth nun. That can be seen even as Lois pointed a gun at Sister Megan’s head.
“At the very end, when I’m sitting up and she’s about to shoot me in the face, I say, ‘Babe’ or something, still trying to be her friend in some way, as if that friendship will excuse all of the grotesque things that I’ve done,” Diamond said. “That desperation is where the humor comes in.”
When Diamond first read for the part, she only understood Sister Megan to be the journalist nun who appeared in the first six episodes. That illusion was shattered by the end of her first screen test when series co-creator Ryan Murphy outlined her entire 10-episode arc and asked her to read again with that knowledge in mind. Though this revelation increased the difficulty of her role, it didn’t deter Diamond.
“As an actor, two roles is always a gift. It’s always so fun to play two people and figure out how they’re interconnected and how they’re not,” she said. “I was excited to jump on board the weird, surrealist ride that I knew the show would end up being.”
And, as Murphy and FX head John Landgraf told TheWrap, the coma twist is the first of many to come in the final three episodes. Diamond teased that the remainder of the season questions the distinction between “the reality of dreams and the reality of whatever life is.”
“You’ll learn about reality, Megan’s shame and why Lois’ dreams really created that specific nun storyline for her. It might even make you — hopefully — go back and rewatch the first six searching for Easter eggs,” she said. “There really are two realities happening simultaneously. I don’t really think one is less real in some way. That is the surrealism of the show. That is Salvador Dali and Buñuel and all those people who were trying to understand that.”
The last three episodes will also further explore the complicated relationship between the awake Lois and the “real” Megan. “[They’re] really a study of what a female working relationship and friendship is and how you navigate them in a scary world,” Diamond said. “This is, at the end of the day, a small town criminal procedural. It’s just from the mind of Ryan Murphy. So you still get those grounded moments with female friendship that are actually quite satisfying.”
New episodes of “Grotesquerie” premiere Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX and stream the next day on Hulu.
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