Heléne Yorke knew playing Brooke Dubek in the third season of “The Other Two” would challenge her. The Max comedy series took a few chaotic turns this year, as it charted the Dubek family’s hilarious, at-times dark-sided climb to the top of Hollywood’s food chain.
From breaking off her engagement and becoming invisible — literally and metaphorically — at a Hollywood party, to almost chloroforming Ben Platt and accidentally setting an apartment on fire, the actress recalled feeling “flattered” that the show’s writers would trust her with material that “always ups the ante and makes things funny that feel so deeply sad.”
“It’s incredibly rare as an actor to be given the opportunity to give a 360 performance in that way,” Yorke told TheWrap ahead of the show’s Season 3 finale. “I can’t believe how lucky I am to be on this show and be given the opportunity to do that.”
Created by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, “The Other Two” stars Yorke and Drew Tarver as the less successful siblings of teen pop star ChaseDreams (Case Walker), who are hoping to find their own success in the entertainment industry after their brother became an overnight viral sensation. Molly Shannon plays Dubek matriarch Pat, who has also risen to Oprah-level fame.
By Season 3, Brooke has made a name for herself as Chase and Pat’s manager. But after her fiancé Lance (Josh Segarra) quit being a high-profile shoe designer to become a nurse in the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brooke began to feel insecure in her career choices and embarked on a journey to “do good.”.
“I think all of us are searching for something that makes us feel like we’ve arrived. But then every time we achieve something, we start to look around and think, ‘Maybe this isn’t right. Maybe I need to keep searching.’ It’s a constant hamster wheel that I think we all find ourselves in,” Yorke said. “[Brooke] has everything. She has the guy, she has the job and yet it’s still not enough. She’s not enough and she’s looking within, and looking at herself reflected in this man that she loves, and just thinks ‘I’m not as good.”
“I think anything bad that we do, or any person you think is sh—y or lost or a mess, it all comes from a place of deep self-loathing,” she added. “I find sympathy and relatability within the character.”
In her pursuit for a higher purpose, Brooke left her job to volunteer planting trees — but got derailed by attempting to start a charitable foundation without a set cause (“that whole episode really makes me laugh.”) After breaking off her engagement and returning to the industry, Brooke used her brother’s deal with an online therapy app to put together a telethon for good — but had to lock the production’s COVID supervisor in a supply closet to preserve the show’s lineup. And after growing jealous of Lance’s spotlight as People’s Sexiest Man, she broke into his apartment to find evidence he had hired a publicity team to help him land the honor — and ended up accidentally setting an apartment in his building on fire.
“I was running and climbing through windows, wearing age makeup and wigs,” Yorke recalled of the fire sequence in Episode 9. “It sort of felt like I was in ‘The Bourne Identity’ but on a comedy show.”
Though the show has been around for some years — it premiered on Comedy Central in 2019 and aired its second season on HBO Max in 2021 — “The Other Two” has enjoyed a refreshing amount of buzz as it airs Season 3. Whether the show could return for another season remains to be decided, but Yorke is enjoying the love from fans and hoping new viewers keep discovering its brilliance.
“A lot of people tell me that they started watching Season 1 as a result of people telling them Season 3 came out. It’s just gaining momentum and an audience in that way, and that is really lovely,” she said. “As far as my own career, there are so many amazing people I haven’t worked with yet, and this show in a lot of ways has become a calling card, a pure expression of my work.”
She added: “I hope it leads to something fantastic.”
“The Other Two” is now streaming on Max. The Season 3 finale premieres Thursday (June 29).
