It’s a picturesque fall day in Upstate New York on the set of this cozy dramedy (which takes place in a small New England fishing village), but on camera, tensions are running hot. TV Insider is there as Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles) endures his worst nightmare: an attraction called the Blood Factory (imagine a haunted house but with lots of red fluid), celebrating a gory horror novel set in the town. The only person who knows about Martin’s secret blood phobia is his assistant, Elaine (Cree). So, what would cause Port Wenn’s new general practitioner to brave this house of horrors? Something involving his love interest, schoolteacher Louisa (Abigail Spencer), of course.
To capture Martin’s genuine panic as he moves through the various rooms of the Blood Factory — the production value of which is impressive — the crew attached a camera to Charles, so his reaction to every emotional moment could be recorded head-on. He also makes his way through behind a camera, to capture his perspective. You’ll see it play out in the Tuesday, February 17, episode of Best Medicine. You can also check out sneak peeks from the episode above and below.
Below, executive producer Liz Tuccillo previews the horror for Martin.
This Blood Factory is so cool.
Liz Tuccillo: Our production designer [Diane Lederman] was really the mastermind behind it. We just wanted to make it feel that he was having to go run the gauntlet to get to the woman he loved, so we wanted to make sure that he had obstacles with him, which included crazy teenagers, which included Sally [Clea Lewis], the pharmacist, and seeing Al [Carter Shimp] and Elaine in their new romance. We just wanted to have to bump into a lot of different people on his way to saving Louisa.
Francisco Roman/Fox
How does Martin handle the Blood Factory and what exactly is going on with Louisa that he has to save her?
The idea is that he feels that she’s in such a dire situation that he has to overcome his fear in order to possibly save her life.
What can you say about their relationship at this point? How much are they growing closer together? What’s keeping them apart really?
What we were hoping to achieve is the idea that he’s been really not even admitting to himself how he feels about her, and it’s been very sort of underground, very deeply hidden, his feelings, even to himself. This is the episode where he can no longer ignore how he feels, and it comes to the surface. And so this whole story is sort of an elaborate way to tell the story of Martin finally having to confront how he feels about her.
And what about from her side? How is she feeling?
I think she’s sort of in a very similar situation, but for her, it comes out when she’s having to be examined by Martin and she’s realizing she hates it and that she doesn’t want him to be her doctor. And so she’s having the same experience of having to be confronted with, why don’t I want to take off my shirt in front of him and why don’t I want him to ask me questions about my health or spit into a cup? I think even though we see less of it, we’re understanding that she’s realizing that he’s not just a doctor to her.
And what are we going to see from Martin and Elaine in this episode because she is the only one who knows his secret?
Right. Elaine in general is somebody who usually just annoys Martin and is somewhat self-involved and is always trying to do her own thing. And we were trying to also show a new color for Elaine of actually her feeling almost as a caretaker for Martin and worried about Martin and coming into this episode with groceries because she doesn’t want Martin to go out this weekend. It’s the first time we’re seeing her be almost maternal to Martin, which was fun.
Related‘Best Medicine’ Season 2: Cast, Premiere Date, More Details
And how’s he going to be handling that?
He doesn’t understand how serious it is in the beginning, and then he realizes that it’s actually necessary and he begrudgingly accepts her help.
Yeah, because the town goes all out with all of their events.
They do. And of course, every episode, it’s all new for him because he’s never been here before, so he doesn’t exactly understand what the Blood Factory is until it unfolds before him.
As I saw, Josh had fun filming that Blood Factory scene and there was that unique camera setup.
I think that the actors get very appreciative and excited when they’re in a new set that it’s obvious a lot of care and creativity has been put into the creation of it. So they, I think, really are very lovely about appreciating all that’s gone into these elaborate sets. And then they’re able to really have fun because it really did create a really great world. And you were very in awe of the space when you walked in. It was very exciting to walk into there.
And then in terms of a camera, he’s also a really great sport because that camera’s very heavy and it’s very strenuous and it’s very hot and you have to do a lot of takes. So even though he’s a director himself, so he enjoys the camera work and the technical craft of it, it’s also very strenuous. And so he was very good sport about being willing to do it over and over again. … It’s sort of such a weird closeup of him that it’s like you’re seeing inside his head. So, yes, it was important because it gives you the opportunity to feel what he’s going through and that it’s sort of an altered state and not just see it. You’re really sort of getting the impression of an altered state.
And you’d mentioned Elaine’s romance…
The whole episode is about people’s feelings for each other reaching a boiling point. And so the same with Elaine and Al in that they are literally tied together and their feelings for each other, particularly Elaine — She’s also been sort of trying to hide her feelings to herself and to him, and they can no longer be ignored because she’s literally tied together with him. And I think that was just a really a fun moment of her being so close to him and him seeming so adorable that she can’t help herself. And it’s a really, really cute moment and they’re completely adorable together.
Best Medicine, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox
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