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Hey Everybody, Season six, Episode three, Get Cape We're Cape Fly. Episode air date September fifteenth, two thousand and eight. Guys, we have the inimitable Robbie Jones here with us again, back by a popular demand. You loved him in the Q and A. You wanted more, and we got more for you. We brought him in. This is a really big episode, all about Quentin's passing in the aftermath of that, and we just would love to talk now that the
strike's over with you more Robbie, also about Quentin. Would you like to read the synopsis?
Robbie, Okay, let's see what happened. Was I actually started to watch the episode?
Did you also burst into tears immediately? Or now?
It was close? I was a no joke. I was like I started watching and like the very first you know, literally the very first forty five seconds, you're like, oh man, this is hitting me. How did they do that? Uh? Season six, episode three, Get Cape where Cape Fly Air date September fifteen, two thousand and eight. Gen Whiz, that's a long time ago. Lucas returns from Las Vegas and
learns of a tragic death of Quentin Fields. As Nathan and Haley struggle to find a way to help Jamie understand the death of Quentin, who was a close friend of theirs, Lucas Skills, Nathan, Haley, and Peyton go to visit Quinn's mom and get their sympathies. Jamie meets Quinn's brother andre.
Ah Liz Freelander road le Men directed this man.
That's what Yeah, so good.
That checks out.
She's great.
She has such a skill for allowing us to be and you know, Robbie, we've talked about it's also hold on. I just have to say, it's so exciting to have you here and actually be able to talk about the show because for the whole strike, we haven't been able to talk about this with any.
Of our friends.
So Hi, I'm so glad you're our first post strike friend to actually be able to talk about their words.
Yes, well, thank you. I'm so I'm so honored to be here again. And this is beautiful. And I was feeling so weird the last time we were talking, not being able to like directly address yeah thing, and I was like, man, there's so much to talk about, but we can't talk about it.
Great, like that job we did one time in an undisclosed place that we shan't discuss.
Right, it's great, But like, this is such.
A special episode and it's so emotional, and I think so much of it is because of the way that Liz shot it and allowed all of the scenes to breathe.
I have a note.
I like that they're letting us sit with it, the grief, the shock. It's patient, Yes, the episode is patient with our feelings about your character's passing.
Yeah.
And in a show this big, with this many characters, so often it's like bam bam, bam bam. You know, you're just like running from scene to scene, and to really just sit on people's faces as they're feeling and processing, I just found such like relief in it. It kind of felt like a deep breath that they let us really be with our sadness.
Yeah, Liz is great with that. There's a dance with the camera that some directors really understand and they know how to get it out of their camera people too, where it's not just choppy cutcutcut. Sometimes that works, but man, she really her way of communication on set with the actors, with the crew and the camera guys, and even with the producers who are giving her notes in real time as everything flows. She has such a it's like a dance watching her work and it comes through on screen.
Really was so perfect for this episode.
Yeah, she was awesome. I wasn't there, but I got a chance to work with her a lot. I felt like over the seasons that I was there and I felt like she was one of my favorites. So yeah, she's great.
Robbie, did you watch this episode before, like when the show was airing in two thousand and eight, or were you kind of like, man, I'm off the show. I don't want to I don't want to know.
No, I definitely watched. I had to see what was going to happen. Yeah, I tell people so this is the funny part, right, So for years and years and years and years and years, when I would run into people who love the show, the first thing they would say to me nine times out of nine, what do you say? Nine times out of ten, almost one hundred percent of the time is the very first thing they saved me is go, oh my gosh, I cried so
much when you died. Yeah, nine times pretty much. And I'd be like, you know what the crazy part is, I cried too, And they always are like, no way, and I'm like yeah, And I knew it was coming. It was really that movie. So like, when I did see the episode, it was like, oh man, this is you know, it really did all that and to see how they they made Quinton's life affect everyone else's life on the show, that was like, I thought that was pretty brilliant and I thought it worked really really well,
and you know, it was crazy. It was crazy and it was sad and it was heartfelt and to see my little brother and my mama and all that stuff and it was crazy. It was really it's heartbreaking.
Can we rewind a little bit because now that we get to talk to you about Quinton, about your character and being on the show, you know, you said in our Q and A that you were it was your first acting gig? Yes, what what was it like beyond you know, I know you said you we all had fun on set and that was really cool. We couldn't talk too much about it, but now that you can.
Did it.
Was there any particular You're such a hard worker. Was there any kind of research you had to do or any kind Did it all feel just really natural and came very easily. Was what was the experience moving to Wilmington? Like for you, can you just sort of give us the lay of the land?
Well, I guess I'll start at the beginning. I get the audition. It was like, you know, it comes across and You're like, oh, wow, this is perfect, this is perfect. Young basketball player, got a main streak all this stuff. So I go and I worked the material with my acting class at the time, and I'm just like, oh, this is gonna be cool. It's kind of perfect. You know, I'm a basketball player. I'm still playing basketball at the time. Going for the meeting, have a great meeting. I did
everything I wanted to do. Boom ooh killed it all back and it all is going fantastic, And you could just tell it's happening in the room like it's happening. So I leave there, get a call from my manager and he's like, hey, they want to see you play basketball. Can you come to the Warner Ranch?
And I was like, yeah, I got this in the bag.
I was like, oh.
I'm like, hell, it's a wrap done.
Because I'm not even an actor at the time, you know what I mean, I'm a basketball player. I'm like, oh, this is gonna cook.
Please win?
What time? So I go, I go, I go to the ranch. They throw me a basketball. They have a little basketball who set up in the back, and I'm just dunking and doing all kinds of stuff and they literally it was like forty five seconds. They're like, oh that'll be enough, thank you. No, that's fine, come on, can we get you to come on? You're good. You believe me, you're good. And then immediately it was like sell, sales, sell, this is why this is gonna be great. You know
you're gonna be awesome, blah blah. I was just like playing it super cool, like oh, okay, well, I hope it works out, And in my mind I was like, this is crazy, this happened.
I love that you had to wherewithal to play it cool. Yeah, I don't have that.
I love that you have.
That first time out the gate, it felt like it was like a college recruiting trip or something. You're gonna love one Mainton Robbie blah blah blah. This is gonna be the you do it or whatever. So I get the job and fast forward the first day on set. We know about that, we talked about that mind blowing, amazing experience, and then it just got better and better and better and better and more fun and more fun.
And to answer your question, like I gave you the long version, it just felt so natural to me because I had then some version of Q years ago when I was playing in high schoo and playing in college and playing professionally. And I met you before I had met guys like Q. I met you know what I mean. So that wasn't me, but I definitely could tap into that because I had been around guys like that my whole life.
But you weren't intimidated.
That's what was so interesting, especially for somebody who is it's their first gig. A lot of people show up on sets, especially on a show that's doing really well, and they the fact that you just let out your charisma on eleven, like just let it out. There was no you could tell that was happening so comfortably, and it was shocking. I think a lot of people hold back or they're trying to craft it, or you know,
they're working on it so hard. You see all the footprints of the rehearsal all around their performance, and you were just so free.
Why how did you do that?
I think it was Honestly, I felt like from the beginning, I felt like this character was going to be what I made it, if that makes sense. Like I felt like they knew what they wanted, but I felt like if I gave them what I can bring, they would they would get on they would they would hop on the train, you know what I mean? Because I felt like this character could be more than what it's written for. And originally, originally it was like a three to five episode arc, and so it was like, how do I
make this guy pop off the page? Pop off the thing? And that was kind of just like the fun part because everybody around me, the creative juices were just like, yeah, do that do that? No, No, no, what was that thing? You just did? Do more of that, you know what I mean? Like I felt that and I told you Paul, he was amazing. He just was like he's such an
actor's director. He loved and he just he just was like he just pour it into me and gave me the confidence and the energy to just like keep doing more the stuff that felt natural for me.
That is so unusual for actors, I think on TV shows at a young age to come in and not just because we're also afraid we're never going to get another job. It's like, you go in, you just want to do exactly what they want, so they hire you again, and then they say good things about you, so you move on to the next job.
To be able to come.
In at your first gig and rather than just play nice and give them exactly what they want, you were You were nice, you were great, but like you went way above and beyond and just took risks and then they paid off.
It's so exciting. That's what it is. That's what we're doing, right.
Why are you acting if you're not willing to do that or in an environment where they're fostering that.
It's so exciting.
It was a blessing that I think. I think Paul was a real blessing because he was my first director, and to have him be the guy who kind of laid the standard for me, like, no, this is how you're supposed to do it. I was like, Oh cool, I'm gonna keep doing it. Yeah, different directors, but it was like, oh, yeah, you already messed up and let Paul tell me what I want to do.
So I already got permission.
I'm good, So I'm going to keep doing this thing well.
And to have someone you can trust like that give you.
Kind of give you the keys to the castle your first time out of the gate. Like I would imagine that that experience with him, because he is such an actress director and he is I mean, God's you know, six seasons in for us, such an incredible team captain, and yeah, that you got to show up and work with him. It is striking to think about how freeing that probably was. And I would imagine that having had that initial experience on that first episode, you just go, oh,
I want more of this. I want to I want to keep feeling like this, and that's that's the best of it. Like you were saying, joy, Like, what are we doing this for if not that feeling when you get to be on set and feel joyful and happy and love the people that you're around, and be creative and be laughing and be playing and be in your body like we had that together so often on our show, and I think that since then, Like I mean, god, I know what it's like to not have that at
all and to be like, what is happening here? This is so scary, And then to also like get on a set where you go it's back, like this is the feeling I want. This feels free, this feels fun, Like you know, I had that on the last show I did Good Sam, and I had that on my play in London this summer, like just groups of people where I was like, I can't wait to get back to set. I can't wait to get back to the theater.
Like what a gift that is when we have those moments together.
Yeah?
Wow, is it weird now?
Because I mean you read the synopsis, like, I know it's weird for all of us that this episode aired in two thousand and eight, Like what is time?
It's fake?
Is it weird?
You know?
I'm like, what are you talking about? That was fake? I believe it is a lie?
Like what is it so weird to look back on it now and feel those feelings again, because what I will tell you is this episode is so visceral for me, Like of the one hundred and eighty seven episodes of this show that I made, this is top three experiences for me. And like God, we got to the funeral and I was like, here it comes.
I could smell the leaves on the ground.
I remembered I knew what was coming in the slow mo when Jamie took the cape out. I knew what it would feel like to grab his little hand, Like it's sense memory in my body. It affected me so much. And do you have that like does it take you right back there or does it feel like it was, you know, fifteen years ago?
Me?
M h, Well, the parts of the episodes that I saw, like I said, I wasn't actually there on set for this episode. So to watch, like I said, it just it just grabs your heart and breaks it because I know better than anyone the arc of Quinton Fields and
kind of where I always believed he was going. And to have that cut short and then to see how it affected everybody on the show, and to know that in real life outside of the show it was being cut short, it was kind of like a whatever, multifaceted, layered thing for me to know that, like I'm watching the end of this all it was. It hit me. It was heavy, you know, and to know like, Okay, this is this is it for for Quentin Fields, but this is also it for Robbie Jones on One Tree Hill.
So it was like, oh, this is man together, Jones, get it together, man, Like this is not real, but it just like you said, there's a visceral feeling even though I wasn't even there, just to watch a funeral of your character and to feel it on so many levels like this is the death of Quentin Fields, but then also the death of Robbie on the show, it's like wow.
When you watch the show on any other episode that you were on, though, does it ever take you back? Like are there are there moments that you've had on the show that did take you back when you watch it and you're like, oh, I can smell like what Soph's saying, Sophia saying like can smell believes I can feel? Yeah, what were your what are give me like top two? What are your memories on being on that show? Like BTS.
So there was some stuff that that me and James did out at the River Court that we shot a lot out there, and I felt like there were just moments where you're you're just like in such a zone that it just brings you all back. As soon as you're watching it, you're just like, oh man, I was zoning out that day. Like and then some of the
stuff that we shot in in Laney High School. That's why it's always so crazy when we go back there and do you know the stuff with the charity stuff, it's like, oh man, it just brings it all back, like some of the stuff that even you were there, joy the stuff that like when you came to practice that day and we're running around playing and I got the cask on and all that stuff. It's just like, oh man, I remember that was right here. That was
right there. And like even this like this past weekend when we were there, I was doing a meet and greet and these two young ladies they really love the show, and they were like, can you do that thing that you did with Jamie the little dance routine, And I was like, you know, that happened like right there, like on the floor, like right there. So like we totally
like redid it and had some fun with it. But it's like it all comes back to you just like boom, Like it's a really really kind of cool experience to watch these shows back years later and then just go, whoa, I feel all that again.
Yeah, yeah, did you know that he was going to die?
Did they tell you right away that this was the plan for for Quentin or was this a surprise? Like did you get the script and find out? Did your agent call you? How did this go down?
You don't really want to know, I really do.
Yes, We've been trying to figure it out.
This is what I'm gonna give you. Is the real real Okay, this is just between us and everybody else. Turn to So this this all unfolded because my series regular deal, Philip, damn it. I got an offer at the end of that season a series was regular, and it was not a good offer. And my manager at the time was supposed to because this was my first gig, we were going to use this series regular. Let me
rewind two steps. I was on set filming my first movie while this offer came in this and this first movie, it was like some momentum had started building. I got the montre Hill gig and then I booked this movie with Forrest Whitaker. He just got he just won the Oscar for for.
Last King in Scotland and this.
Was his first movie after that. Everybody wanted this role. So I got this role in this film, Hurricane Season, and I'm in New Orleans filming this movie.
And this is while we're on hiatus, just so the people at home.
Now, Yeah, So we got the offer and it was like, oh, snap, awesome, let's use this to leverage agent. Let's get an agent. Now we got it. We got an offer, Let's get this agent on board. Let's meet with some agencies, get them to negotiate this thing up to where we do. My manager, he did his own thing. He went rogue.
Needless to say, we split ways after this whole thing, and then our EP called me and was like, hey, Rob, so we've been going back and forth with your manager and looking like this isn't going to happen because it got to one of those you know, take it or leave it situations. But so here's the deal, Rob, I
got this. I got this idea that we're going to kill Q and hey, just just understand it's not because of you and we love you, we wanted you, but I have an idea of how this could really affect the whole show and ran it all down to me and I literally was like, that's kind of brilliant and I understand. And as much as I hate that this is happening, you've you've made a successful show. You're over
one hundred episodes in. I cannot question any decision you're making, no matter how much it affects me in the way I feel like it's negative. I appreciate the opportunity, love you. Appreciate it. And he's like, we're going to bring you back some and I was like, how are you going to do that? And he was like, I'll let you know later, but we're going to keep bringing you back a little bit.
I was like, all right, we like ghosts on one treo and.
That was that. We had a nice long conversation about how he's going to kill my character. I was in my hotel room shooting another movie in between filming days, and I was heartbroken.
Did that get into your head on when you went back to work on the film set the next day.
I was just so upset with my manager at the time. I just hadn't like flush it all down and.
Yeah, compartmentalized, Yeah, but had that's when you really have to separate.
Yeah, yeah, but had no idea how our the whole situation behind the scenes was all faulty. It wasn't all. It wasn't right almost on both sides it was. It was messy, but it turned out to be the biggest, massive blessing that it could have ever been. And it was. It was right, and it was it was supposed to happen like that, and it's it's paid dividends a million times over. But that's the real deal. It was a series regular deal went wrong and then it was like option to is kill Q. It was never it was
never like this is what we're gonna do. He was supposed to be around.
All the ways we've been wronged.
We got robbed of Brooken and uh, uncle Cooper, we got robbed to the robbery inventory.
Damn it.
She was supposed to be around, guys. It was supposed to be around.
You know what I think is hard and I will say on the heels of our strike because we've you know, Joy and Hillary and I've really tried to talk to the listeners and to the fans about like what the
industry looks like. You know, I think the strike has been really illuminating because we've had so many people message us to be like, wow, we had no idea what you guys were fighting for, and we had no idea what your union did, and we thought like all the actors just got paid all the money, like we didn't really know that most people are struggling in your industry,
actors crew, you know. The list goes on, and I think it's really powerful when we can kind of like remove the veil of illusion, right, and I think something that a lot of people don't know, and it leans into like, well, why didn't somebody say something if it was a me too situation, if there was you know,
violence in the workplace or misbehavior or whatever. I think it's really powerful when we can tell stories like yours about how very often young kids become collateral damage of grown up egos, like, yeah, we had a bunch of grown ups who didn't want to pay you fairly. And by the way, that's ridiculous, Like this show was making a fortune for a lot of people, not us, unfortunately, but a lot of people.
And people were tuning in for you too, by the way, Yes, like you're the really page, you're.
Fair wages, and they didn't want to and suddenly, like a young, unbearably talented person becomes collateral damage because you have a grown up manager who's got an ego and doesn't want to lose, and we've got grown up executives who have egos and don't want to give in. And like it's heavy to be the kid who suffers for the faults of people old enough to be our parents, right, And nobody's.
Telling us that, by the way, we're just bearing it, walking around going I don't know what happened. Maybe I wasn't good enough, maybe this, maybe that, and it just has nothing to do with us. We're doing the best we could do.
Yeah, So I guess I just want to say thank you for being honest about it, because I think a lot of people have been through versions of the story you just told. And I mean, I know I have my God, and like it is helpful to know that there are these practices at play in this space.
We work in.
And I do think the more we kind of share with each other, like you know, the losses and the winds, the better, Like my God, you know me and the girls like we tell each we people are always like, well, you don't talk about like you know, money or politics or whatever added to the list. We're like, hey, what did you get on that show? Should we talk? What does your contract look like? What provisions are you getting? Because I want to go argue, like, we share everything you have to now.
You have to that's so smart by the way.
You know, Oh yeah, it's like it's how we protect each other.
Yeah, and I I don't know.
I'm just really grateful when people are willing to be like you, I want to know what really happened, I'll tell you.
Yeah, exactly. I love that stuff.
Actually, it's such a powerful way also of eliminating the stereotype of jealousy and that constant.
Like keeping a secret and I don't want to know. What do you have in this?
It's just just let's just open up the floor. Let's open it all up. There's no reason to be unreasonable about whoever's whearing their careers. What's a reasonable thing about where you are on the list of you know, earning based on your overseas market or what you know what those are all things that are very real numbers it's totally reasonable to talk about those things.
And we shouldn't have to.
Button everything up because we're afraid of each other when we could be so much more powerful together.
Yeah, we just got to give each other the cheat codes.
Yeah, totally, you know, I.
Think it's important and something it's interesting talking about that.
I saw a cheat code happening in this episode.
And Robbie, I don't know if you know this, but obviously you had such a heavy storyline Quinton and the whole Scott family, so you you know, we were all hanging out on set every day, but you were doing most of your on camera work with Joy and James and Jackson and of course Antoine and Chad, and there was such a cool thing that, like I got so excited about watching this episode back because this was the first season that James started directing on our show, and
he got so passionate about it. I remember he was like starting to shadow the producers and starting.
To shadow Paul and all that stuff.
And when when Nathan knocked on Brookstore, I had this like immediate sense memory moment, Like I was saying earlier, I had forgotten this until I saw the scene. James went and advocated to the writers that like, in all the connecting Nathan was doing with Quenton, we were missing the Nathan and Brooke being like essentially the.
Same characters in high school.
We were missing them connect as grown ups about their journey.
And like he pitched that he did. I didn't know that, Yes, he pitched that. He was like, I think we're really missing an opportunity. And with this character having gone through this thing like this violence, I think it's weird that this man who's been in her life all this time, who's the only person who knows her journey with toxic parents and whatever, isn't going to talk to her about it.
And he was right, soul, it is such a good scene and it I just was like, oh my god, I remember now he went and like argued that, I mean not argued, had this great idea and they loved it and they put it in the episode, and I was like, whoa he was he was directing before he
was even directing. Yeah, And like that's a cheat code, like having the confidence as an actor six years into a job to be like, hey, if this was like my real life with my real friends who I've been working with for six years, I would immediately go check on this person, why aren't we.
Doing that on camera? And they put it in the show. That boy deserves a writing credit.
So good.
Wait, okay, wait, let's talk about that scene though, because I loved one of my notes here is everyone's acting like Brooke is acting normal. Yeah, and it's really strange to me, and it's I was so glad to see Nathan walk in and even though he didn't acknowledge flat out, hey, you're being weird, like this is beyond just you fell down the stairs and you have it and you.
Clearly fall down the stairs. What's going on?
Yeah?
Yeah, but he did. He was preserving her pride and privacy and all those things that she was clearly wanting to hold on to, but also letting her know, hey, I'm here for you in a very real and important way beyond a suggestion of therapy, which was nice, but still like yeah, was still just not which not noticing what's really going on beyond like here's your apartment key, and h there's other you know, really big deal things happening besides you falling down the stairs, Brook, you know,
beyond that. He just dropped into a level of acknowledging that there was something deeper going on.
And I appreciated that I.
Did too, and I liked that he didn't he he was really gentle, but he didn't like. Nathan doesn't let Brooke get away with it. When she says I'm fine, really, his response is that sounds like something I'd say, and then he goes into this whole thing like, yes, we've experienced a loss, but it doesn't mean your problems are any less important.
And then he reminds her.
Like love that because there's that freeze of I don't know what to share, so he keeps sharing. He reminds her of their similar roads, their same clicks in high school, of the parents that were like children, we were these bad versions of ourselves, and look who we've become. And I know how hard it is, and I want I don't want you to isolate.
I want you to come talk.
To me like I'm an ally here for you. And I think there's something so important, Interestingly, because Brooke has had this terrible relationship with her parents and they haven't been there for her, and Nathan has had this terrible relationship with Dan, but like deb is finally showing up in a way, now that he has a mom who's showing up for him, he's able to show up for Brooke as the dad he is as Jamie's dad, but he like, I felt like he was being my father figure in this scene.
Yeah, and it was so kind and like she's just never Brook's never had that.
Yeah, And it's a really interesting thing to be in a moment in these characters' lives where like the kids are now the parents and you get to be both. I just loved it and I was like, oh my god, I completely forgot that. The whole reason we had this scene is because James was like, hey, writers, you're really missing an important.
Connection here, and they did it. It's like so cool.
I like the theme of that you were just I think you started to get there. But it's that life moves on, like everything else, everything keeps going. That's you know, thinking about the way that Brooke is grieving and the way that Nathan's talking to her. Yeah, let everything moves on,
but you're still important. Your problem here really matters the way that watching Quinton's mother and family grief and in this way of like being present in the moment patient with their own grief, but also the acknowledgment of life moving on. That's how she had the ability to speak so much life and love into these six people standing in front of her in a moment when it should have been all about her, and she had that grace to be able to turn it around and give it to them, even the.
Dan and.
Tory sorry Dan and Cary stuff, which part of me wishes they would have paused on that until this episode was over, because it just it really does feel so disjointed, But even that, there was this element of.
It all.
Life just keeps moving on and.
Hailey in the classroom that is my favorite. That's my favorite le teacher moment ever. Yes, the writing was really good. Ough, it was really good. It just hit the nail on the head. Life moves on and what's it all for? And think about something bigger than the moment you're in. But be in the moment you're in. Oh God, it's so complex.
Right before we come into that big share for you with all the students, all these students that are grieving your loss, Robbie, Like, what do we do our friend is gone? This person we looked to right before you give them essentially the cheat code, the like bigger meaning of it all. Peyton does it for me. She says, life's too short to let the bitter ones change how awesome you are. Yes, and it's that. It's like this reminder that it can be over in an instant and
there is meaning, but you have to claim it. You have to choose it. And then we cut to you and you're helping a room full of kids choose to lean into their community, choose to lean into their grief, choose to say the hard thing. Yeah, write it on the desk, get it out of your body. This is what literature is. This is what life is. It's grief
and pain and love and relationships. It's like, I think the episode feels so big because it hits on the things that are while it is so specific because it's about Quentin, it hits on the most universal truths we experience.
As pep Amen yep, right, Yeah, that scene was powerful. You and you and those kids. I was like, she and they had that kid. It was like, what is it awful? You know? I was like yeah, oh man, and you were just so joy.
And I even loved that, you know, because this was Ashley's first episode coming into your classroom Samantha. I loved that they had her narrate the opening and closing of the episode.
Yeah, I loved that the student.
The outsider, you, yes, the total outsider.
I can see how much this person affected this place. Really, I want that, I want belonging like this. There was something more powerful even because she'd never met you.
For sure. I don't tell you top to bottom. This was really an episode.
It put it really did, like I iconicic, what's the word I'm looking for?
Iconize you? What's the word? It made? It made you what I am and I'm I'll say it the other way. It made canonized, the orgonized. Let's we'll find it one day. But it did.
It puts you just back in the middle of this revolutionary moment in the show. I can't think of well, I can, but there's probably on one hand moments in the entire series like this you can count on one hand that changed the course of everything for everyone. Yeah, I think like probably Nathan and Haley's marriage was a really big that kind of shifted at the everything got flipped a little upside down, and Peyton and Brooke and the kidnapping, psychoederic attack kind of thing, was pretty crazy.
And then and then this, I don't after this, I don't even know what happens.
I don't know, I don't even care. This is it. It was the pinnacle of our show.
It was crazy to say the it did. It really affected every day so beautiful. You've met so many new characters and like, it just it was like a catalyst for like, I don't know the next phase of the show.
Have you had to have people have you had to walk people through anything as you've had fans come up to you over time, has it ever been beyond just oh my gosh, you were so great. I cried so hard when you died. Have you ever had anybody come up and share something with you that you've like that that the process of grieving Quentin or what they what they went through with that where you really had to like you got to connect with somebody in a more meaningful way.
I would love to say yes, that would sound so deep.
And dude, it's all right, But we're asking the question.
Because we get people come up all the time and they're like, you know, when this happened or when that happened, it was meaningful to me because ABC, So yeah.
Yeah, like it's it's more it's it's more like we have we share some laughs because it's like, oh my gosh, I cried so much when you died. You were alive though, you're alive. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm alive. Yeah, it's crazy, I'm here, you know. She was still you know yeah, And they're like, oh my gosh, it's so amazing. Can I can like touch you? You're at all live? This is awesome that that has happened so many times, and that's always funny. And then it's just like, Okay, see
you later. Oh my gosh, alive. That's kind of it. You know.
What was really sort of striking to me about this is, you know, because this is obviously the beginning of season six, and it was the beginning of season three when we dealt with our first real experience of storytelling around gun violence on the show, and to think about, I don't know, there's something that sort of took my breath away last week watching six oh two when this happens to you, I was like, oh wow, it's only the second time
that we've talked about this in six years. And it was sort of this moment before we watched this today, I looked up because I was like, Okay, you know, out in the world, we experience more and more of these incidents, and more and more of these incidents, especially that affect high school kids, school aged kids, And I
was like, what was sort of changing there? And this was two thousand and eight, and the assault weapons ban expired in two thousand and four, and you know, we've seen a two hundred and fifty eight percent increase in these gun violence incidents in schools since. And there was there was like something that also really like sort of broke my heart about that, about the fact that when we were making our show, this was still like a
like a relatively rare occurrence. And part of me just wants to acknowledge because you know, we do have so many people rewatching it, and we have so many kids in high school that we meet now as you're saying, at these events that are so beautiful where their community gathers, but like kids who only know this, who only know that like every couple of days or every other week, there's another one of these incidents that happens and they
lose classmates. And I don't I don't have you know, an answer, but I just feel like it's worth like taking one moment to acknowledge that, you know, there's like a heartbreak too in the fact that this used to be rare when we were making a show about high
school and now it's really common. And I don't know, I just want to hold any like a moment of space for anybody who's listening with us, who like this might be really triggering for we just like we have this crisis and this problem and we're losing people all the time.
And I don't know, I.
Think because of how honest this episode felt and to your point, like the scenes with the actress who played your mom, Robbie, like, I don't know, I just as we're talking, I'm really struck by the fact that I'm proud of how sensitively we handled this because I know that this is a lot of people at home's real story.
It was it was handled very sensitively. There was so much nuance involved in processing of the violence, which is
unusual also today, and I really, yeah, it was. That was strange to see all of the all of the violence, all the back and forth, even with the Nanny Carey stuff that felt clunky and awkward, not because the actors but just because we were in this dance, this flow of Quentin and then moving into it another thing, but then seeing the grief in someone who is committing violence out of this place of grief causing a psychotic break, I guess. I mean, it's just there's just so much
nuance and in pain. Yeah, you're right, we did. We did. We all did a really nice job with that, and the writers really did as well.
Yeah.
I appreciated the tenderness and even to your point, like part of me wishes we got a pause with the wild like Nanny Carey Dan, you know, crazy like Kathy Bank's storyline. But I even appreciated that, because of the heaviness of the loss of Quentin, they actually gave us a peek behind the curtain at Nanny Carey, having needed that we needed to understand.
Why can I interject really quickly please and give a big, big kudos and shout out to Don Lewis.
Down that was her name. I knew it.
Yes, remarkable, just to give some levity here a different world watching Don Lewis every week on TV, a different world as Jalisa, and when I found out and when I'm when I met her on set and she was mom. I found out she was gonna be my mom. I was like, Wow, I'm really an actor. I'm really on TV. My mom's Jalisa from.
A different world.
Loved I loved that.
Me too, Me too.
I'm like, man, can't we just give a salute to her amazing performance? Yes, she killed those scenes on that in that episode and all this.
So much dignity and grace.
Wow, So shout out to donaldis.
Yes.
And you know what, Don, I shared such a special experience, like a special moment with Don. She because it was two thousand and eight, and you know, I'd been running around working on the presidential campaign for a year and and she and I watched the election results come in when Barack Obama got elected.
Wow.
We were together at a restaurant watching on like all the all the sports, all the TVs that normally ran sports in Wilmington were running the election and and I was crying, and I looked to my left and Don was sitting next to me, and she just started to sob.
And it was this like unbelievably profound moment because there was so much hope and I was watching this incredible moment in history with this incredible, like respected iconic actress, this this powerhouse of a black woman who just said I didn't know if I'd ever get to see this.
And she just started to sob.
And I wrapped my arms around her and I was like, we don't know each other very well, but I love you, you know, because we were there together as we always are often are in these moments like we're away from our families, we're away from people because we're working together and it's beautiful, but it can be strange when like a monumental thing happens.
She and I just.
Sat there holding each other crying, being like what is this is magical?
It was wild, It was so.
Good that Yeah, it was so so special.
I just love her. I love that.
I was like, I'm really good, I'm here with you.
That's a great story. Wow.
I have a question. I want to pivot a little bit. It's just because I want to get through some of these notes and make sure we hit all. You made a comment when we were watching Sophia when we did the scene in the mirror with the lipstick. You said I hated that scene and it wasn't even a I mean, I guess it was a scene but it was just a shot, really.
A page moment, so she's staring in the mirror. It's the same thing as the writing.
On the on the projector board, you know, when it's all the like not good enough, not blah blah blah enough. It was the same type of deal, but it was now we're doing beautiful mind or what's that? What's the Matt Damon one?
Revenge payback?
And I was, ya, we did one of these ones where we projected words on my face and it was so profound.
And this feels so lame.
Oh no, written in lipstick on the mirror, circling her bruises with a word on.
It, and like one's a square and one's a circle and one's a triangle.
I'm like, what weird shapes? Mad lips?
Is this?
Like it was just so it was bad, And I was like, could I not.
Have just looked in the mirror like you guys have me like shooting a gun straight down the lens of camera in this episode, I think people can tell I'm pretty upset, Like I don't know if we needed avenge and payback.
She likes to write on walls. I'm down.
I just thought it was so cheesy.
Did you have to stand there while they set that shot up? Because how else did they how else did they circle the bruises.
In the right place and all that?
Yeah, I must have.
I must have stood there for the shapes. And then they like drew in the words while I attempted not to expire from embarrassment, and then we rolled.
You commit it to it, I realize it.
It's your point, Robbie. Paul Johansson is a good team captain. He's like, you got to commit. You don't have to like it, but you have to commit.
And I was like, oh man.
This is all just so hilarious to be the look at your face when she started talking about the.
Same I knew. I was like, oh God, here we go. It's just like.
And I get that not everything can be the best, not every scene can be the best scene. But sometimes I'm just like, we're so much better than this.
This is what we're doing. This whole episode is so good, and this feels this feels.
Yeah, it was. It was a bit of a stretch. It was a little bit of a stretch.
That's hilarious.
I didn't love it, but I committed, so.
Really, you know what, I will say though, because I really do think, like jokes aside about how embarrassed I was, there was so much that was so subtle in this episode. Like I have so many notes about things like the ease you see between Lucas and Peyton, Like there's a gentleness between Hillary and Chad that is so beautiful in this episode. There is a there is a quiet you need it, and there's like there's a quiet to the hurt that you see people expressing. Like Antoine's entire performance
in this episode is so beautiful. It's reserved and it's honest and it's heart broken. And when it cuts to him in another you know, eighth of a page moment standing in the gym alone on the logo, crying, Like everything in the episode was so subtle and beautiful, and I think maybe that's why my like face art stood out.
I was like, this isn't subtle.
Mad lips face, lipstick face, Lik's not we.
Don't need to do this, it's too much.
Everything is so gentle and so beautiful in this whole script.
Wich one was great, by the way, Like that was so great, and that's in my notes too. He really nailed it and he doesn't get a chance in our show to be emotional. Very often. He's one of the comic relief guys. He's relied upon to come in with some sincere advice on occasion, and also be funny.
So yeah, this felt.
Great to see him just be allowed to express himself in a new way.
I mean when under his breath he said to Chad, how does a mother ever breathe again? Oh yeah, it sucker punched me right in the heart. I was like, no, it hurts.
I can't me too. It's just beautiful. He was beautiful.
Okay, I'm going to take a poll, though. It's deb walking over to skills in the funeral, Yes, what do we think about this? What do we think about this?
Yes or no? Is it appropriate or is it not?
Here's the thing.
As a human Robbie is dying, you want to hold the person you love.
Yes, as a human.
Who is having sex with her, I feel like it's not the moment hold your son.
I was like, this is when you're gonna reveal.
I thin it out loud.
You said, big reveal. I mean, like everybody can't be perfect.
I loved it for our show and for storyline purposes, and.
For the drama.
Yes, it had to happen, but cringe.
I just had to bring it up. I had to.
You see her like look over at skills and we both just went oh no.
And then not only she didn't just like go put her arm around him, she put her arm under his shoulder and then she put her other arm around her tummy snuggled like the lower tummy touch is so intimate.
Who loves not right, I've never recalled that before. That's brilliant.
Yeah, mee y.
I don't have anything else except Jamie is the most advanced five year old ever. That's all that I have here sewing a cape.
Yeah, I know, right.
I think he was eight twelve. I think he was eight. He probably should have been. He had to be five for the timeline of the show. But I never met a five year old that was making those kinds of decisions and having those conversations.
I'm advocating for himself to go to the funeral and dressing.
Himself in his little suit.
Oh man, the crooked tie ruined me. I was like, okay, I'm done.
He can. The way the way they wrote him processing all of this was so good. It was like he just was trying to like continue on, Oh, he's gonna love this cape, blah blah blah. And then when he just drops it on the oh.
My gosh, it's a heartbreak.
Drops it on the basket, You're just like, oh my heart.
Yeah, yeah, well, I love that.
That's the thing that sent Brooke over the edge too. It was like, finally she broke and could really saw that, which we've been waiting for, been holding our breath for like three episodes for that.
Yeah.
Well, And I think when you are when you are in that state, when you're experiencing, you've experienced trauma and you are dissociating, it often can't be your own thing that puts you back in your feelings. It's something you witness another person go through.
That's true.
And oh boy, like the way that it cracked her in the story, it really it did to me.
It did it to me today.
The minute he opened that little box, I was like here go, oh god it.
I was sobbing. It's like it's so.
It's so intense.
It's just such a pure moment. And yeah, we were we were so honest about grief in this episode. And I think it's probably why everybody always cries because it's it's impossible to sit with this with this little boy and not sit with your own emotion.
Right, how old are your kids again?
And five?
Two and five?
I mean, as you've got a five year old, you've got somebody who's supposed to be Jamie's age right now.
I know, And I'm just like, imagine her trying to process some grief right now. I try to keep it so far away from if we have anything that that pops up like that. Yeah, she's not going to go to the funeral. I'll just go, you know. I mean, yeah, she doesn't need to be dealing with that kind of stuff right now.
So yeah, oh yeah. That was another thing Nathan with the flashback of the funeral with his grandfather and Dan talking about what a crazy story.
I don't have anything to say about it. I just it was on my mind, that's all.
Yeah.
That was one of those other moments where you were like, huh, interesting choice in this episode.
We needed to do that, and I feel like there was time we could have spent other places, But okay, I would have much rather seen a flashback of Quinton.
Yeah, did we even see him at all in the episode?
No?
No, no, just photos of you. It was just photos of you with your family.
What I did love was getting to finally meet Quinton's little brother.
That kid was so cute and he was so sweet and good. I said to remember what a sweetest was.
Just a sweet little angel.
And the connection between him and Jackson, Yeah, was so special because you got to see these kids figure it out a little bit together. And oh my god, when your little brother got up and took your place in the line with the team and put your jersey up, I saw, I just ugly cried.
I was like, I gotta go, oh oh yeah, beautiful.
Yeah, all the little details were really beautiful.
And I had met that little boy. I met all of them, Don and the little brother and all that stuff. Yeah, and I was like to see this little boy doing that. What wow?
And that little boy's what I remember the most about this episode, besides standing at the grave side.
He's a grown man now. It will be really interesting to see if he remembers any of this stuff.
Okay, So Jessica's question is really good and so on topic and it's actually for you and me.
Joy.
She says, do you remember how Jackson handled the filming of Quentin's funeral as his character's mom and godmother, How did you two walk him through the weight of this episode? It feels like a lot to handle for a young kid.
Mmm, it's a great question.
I do think it's important to touch on something. We were just speaking about that.
Even though Jamie is five, Jackson was eight or nine years old by this point. Yes, so he was much more. He had many more years under his belt of sort of awareness. And I think, honestly, you know, we really deferred to his mom at this point. It was like, how do you want us to talk to him about this? Should we just make set fun? You know, she really had to talk to him about what wasn't real, but what was being represented and why it deserved reverence and respect but didn't have to really be sad.
Yeah, so he feels important.
I think that's absolutely right. And he was also at
an age where he was already watching. He was watching movies, and he was you know, he was seeing you know, there's a lot of stuff that like a seven eight year old boys are watching that where you see people die, you see people sad and grieving and all this kind of stuf that are it's probably more action movies and stuff, but I think he's still had experienced watching a lot of that, so I felt like he was just mimicking and doing his best based on what he had seen,
and he did a great job. And but I don't I think set was kind of fun. I know he missed you, Robbie. I know he really was upset that you were gone. He was, Yeah, I don't know that he was. He wasn't like sad, crying upset, like this is real. I think it was just like he was super bummed that you guys got on, Like he had so much fun with you, and it was like, well,
I'm here, I am making friends. It was like probably the first introduction to one of the hardest parts of this industry, which is make friends go away, make new friends go away, make new friends go away. That's hard and for a kid to have to get introduced to that, it's just tough. So yeah, I know he was upset about that, But in terms of the weight and the heaviness of the storyline, I think it felt like probably in every other day on set thing, he was just doing what he doing.
What he did was being an actor.
And I think because he'd been with us for a whole year at this point. He got so good at mirroring energy. So when scenes were playful and we'd play with him, like when you guys would dance in the gym, he was ready to play. And if everyone was serious, he knew he was also supposed to be serious. Yeah, And I think that made it easier for him. I would have probably been a little not worried, but like more concerned if this had been his third episode ever.
But it was his third episode of his second season. He was so practiced with us by then that I think the sort of safety of our on set family also was really helpful. And you know, his mom was around every day, so he had a lot of people to go to and talk to and process with and answer his questions.
It's a really good question though, Thank you, Jessica.
Thanks Jessica.
Yeah. Should we spin a wheel? Should we end on a high note?
Yes?
Please, Robbie, you didn't get to do this with us last time. We like to do we spin a wheel every week and we figure out what you're most likely.
Too is well, you know high school yearbook, like, most likely to succeed, most likely to open up a business in a small town.
Who is most likely to you read it, most likely to go skinny dipping at a hotel? Okay, so what character do you think and what actual cast member do you think?
We do both?
Oh oh ah? What's character do I think it's most likely to go skinny dipping in an hotel? And which cast member I think it's most likely to go skinney dipper at a hotel? That is a great one. Okay, I love it. You let my wheels turn.
Are you making that Facebook?
Because it's you?
No, but definitely quin and you look like you have.
A cute secret and I can't wait to hear what it is.
Oh well, well, always have a little something.
Okay, all right, what character do we think?
The character that I think that will be most likely to go skinny dipping at a hotel is crazy Nanny Torrie, okay, Nanny Carrey, I put all her names together, Nanny Carey. I think she would do it in a heartbeat.
Or Barbara Barbara in real life. Yeah, that is I was gonna say deb I was too. I don't I don't know.
I don't know if Barba would go skinny dipping in a hotel, but maybe she would.
I feel like she would she gives those mones.
Y'all, here's what I'm going to say. I mean, Robbie, you are one of our favorite family men. But for your friends over here who've been divorced, like, Phase two is always a little wild. If Barbara is in, Barbara is in the sexiest Phase two I've ever seen a human be in. So like, if phase two Barbara is down to skinny.
Dip, like I'm not I'm not like a naked person.
But if Barbara was like, we're going skinny dipping, I'd be like, get let's go.
Like I would do.
Anything that woman told me at this point. So like all thats are off, I don't know what to say.
It's so good.
I gotta tell you, though, Guys, I really think in real life the person who would actually go skinny dipping in a hotel is Moira Kelly.
I love that.
I really believe that.
I love that answer.
She's a sleeper hit. She didn't expend it, but then it tracks.
She's so fun though she loves to party, she loves to have fun. She just is like she keeps it all under wraps. But I one thousand percent see her at two o'clock in the morning, being like.
Come on, come on, let's go. Come on, nobody's gonna see. That's good, being like.
Look, all the windows are dark, no one will see us, and if they do, who cares.
I love it.
Thank you for joining us, Robbie. This was amazing.
Thank you, Thank you, Honny. This is great, This is beautiful.
You are such a treat and thank you, you know, for our friends at home. We are recording this episode the day before Thanksgiving, as happens when people live all over the country and have children to wrangle. Hillary had a kid upside down moment and had to run and fill in for something going on on the East Coast, and we called Robbie and we're like, hey, what are you doing in five minutes? Do you want to get on a zoom with us and be our third co
host today? And this sweet angel of a man said yes. So thank you for not only being the best human, but like for always showing up when your people need you.
It's always a joy.
Thank you for having me, and I appreciate you.
We love you, We love you.
This was such a pleasure, so much. Always great see your faces.
Yes, we love you.
Next episode, Season six, episode for a Bridge Over troubled water. Yep, here we go again.
Thanks. Thanks, have a good one. Hey, thanks for listening.
Don't forget to leave us a review.
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