If you have any lingering doubts that
Mentalist co-cops Wayne Rigsby (
Owain Yeoman) & Grace Van Pelt (
Amanda Righetti) might make an arresting couple, this first look photo of the lovers waking up in bed together on the explosive Nov. 19 episode should be all the evidence you need. What was it like for Owain and Amanda to hit the sheets after a year and a half of foreplay? Owain reveals all…
Keck: So I’m looking at this photo…
Owain: Don’t tell my wife. Ahem. So the matter at hand…
Keck: Or the mattress at hand…
Owain: Yes. Very good. This is at the start of the episode. I hope this will give fans a taste of what they want. People seem to have a taste for blood and a taste for romance. If you’re in a vampire show, that normally unites the two, but for us this is the pay-off to a season and a half’s worth of teasing.
Keck: How steamy does it get?
Owain: We have a later time slot this year, which has allowed the show to push the envelope a bit more with slightly more adult storylines. Showing two consenting adults in bed is probably about as risqué as it gets on network TV. Hopefully fans will be pleased that this relationship is reaching the next stage. This episode is probably our goriest to date – which has nothing to do with us being in bed. It’s the return of Red John, but he’s not in bed with us.
Keck: Where are you exactly? Your place or her place?
Owain: We’re in Van Pelt’s lovely bedroom with her French windows and lace curtains.
Keck: Do you think the others on the team are on to your taboo affair?
Owain: It’s an interesting question. Patrick Jane (
Simon Baker), of course, has the jump on everyone. I think he knew before even we did. Jane called it in the pilot when he turned around and said, ‘Why doesn’t Rigsby invite you to his bedroom?’ And then I proceeded to choke on a lobster. I think what you’re going to see over the next several episodes is Jane enjoying that leverage.
Keck: Becoming involved with a fellow cop is against the rules, is it not?
Owain: It is most definitely against the rules. These people are cops first so there’s the responsibility that if you’ve got people out there focused on your well-being you want them to be focused on that. There is a situation in an upcoming episode where those loyalties are tested.
Keck: After a year and a half of working with Amanda, what was it like for you guys to crawl into bed sans clothes?
Owain: (laughs) Amanda and I are great friends, which is both a help and a hindrance. Would I prefer to be doing this with someone I didn’t know? No, but it is like brother and sister are suddenly making out. I defy anyone to find the romantic side of it when you have 100 crew people surrounding you and a sweaty sound man standing over you trying to get the right angle with his boom.
Keck: Some people I’m sure are into that.
Owain: Some people would pay good money for that, but the fact of the matter is it’s work. You just hope the various camera angles are flattering to all the right bits.
Keck: There had to be some humor.
Owain: It was actually a very comfy bed, so I think at for a moment I actually fell asleep. And what I did discover is that Amanda has an awful lot of hair, and when you’re lying next to her it’s quite amazing. Any guy lying with a girl in bed has that thing where you’ve got to get her hair out of your face. Basically, wearing Grace Van Pelt’s hair was the only difficult part of the day.
Keck: So let’s get real. We know there’s rarely happily ever afters for couples on TV dramas.
Owain: Amanda and I just had a conversation about this with our show’s creator, Bruno Heller, and you’re right. It’s never smooth sailing. That wouldn’t be very interesting to watch. We have that obstacle of needing to keep this relationship a secret from the unit. If relationships are discovered, the rules are clear that one or the other has to leave the unit or you have to consider forsaking the relationship for your career. The writers are also considering exploring Grace’s fear of intimacy, which is something Jane touched on last year. For some reason yet to be explained, she has a problem with intimacy. And we’re also going to perhaps learn that Rigsby and Cho (Tim Kang) have had less than perfect childhoods which might explain why they ended up in this career. So all might not be well…