Jennifer Holland on Harcourt fighting Nazis
Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers from “Like a Keith in the Night”, episode 7, season 2 of “Peacemaker”, which now streams at HBO Max.
After she was fired from a high -level position at Argus, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) is frustrated by a world that apparently left her, even after she helped mankind to save by butterfly alien beings. While season 1 teased the growing attraction between Harcourt and Christ Smith (John Cena), the second season revolves around the consequences between the two and how it influenced the people around them. When Chris discovers a device with which he can transport to another dimension, he falls in love with another version of Harcourt in an alternative reality, Earth X, where he is well respected as an American hero.
Until in episode 6 we learn the truth about the different dimension that Chris has found, revealing that the alternative dimension was how it would have been if the Nazis had won the Second World War, and a world where no minorities may exist. While the 11th Street children open the door openings between dimensions to find Chris and bring him back, Harcourt struggles with her feelings for him, forcing them to confront everything she is running for.
Holland spoke against Variety About the confession of Harcourt and Chris’ interrogation room, why she chooses to try to kill Keith (David Denman) in the last moments of episode 7 and fighting Nazis in season 2.
How early in the pre-production process did you learn about what would happen to Harcourt for season 2? Did you discuss it with James Gunn – the maker of the show and your husband – or is that something he kept as a secret?
I clearly have a close relationship with James, and he will share several plot points with the story and run it by me. I learned early from what was going on with the story of Harcourt, but not everything. Sometimes James keeps things close because he is afraid that something can change in the writing process. From the very beginning he had very rough early contours of the show that were completely different. We had early conversations about Harcourt’s relationship with Rick Flag Jr., and that is the origin of her deep vitriol and hatred of peacemaker [in Season 1].
During this season Harcourt gets into two crucial fight scenes: in episode 1 she gets into a bar fight with a group of men, and then in episode 7 she fights back against Argus, who are revealed as Nazis in their respective dimension. What was it like to photograph both scenes?
It is quite different, like the Bar Fight Scene. We rehearsed for weeks and it was really exhausting. It was a difficult two days, but I had an incredible time with the best stunt and fighting coordinators. The bar fight was incredibly emotionally charged, because it has things about Harcourt that we have not yet explored come out in that aggression. The Vecht scene in Argus [in Episode 7]I walked up the set and heard that I was going to learn a fighting order that I had never learned before. Fortunately they had worked with me with several other fights with the Stunts team in this episode, so I knew what to expect. It was so nice because I had to throw a “Mein Kampf” to a Nazi’s face. It was quite surprising.
Chris and Harcourt finally get a conversation about their feelings in the interrogation room, where he confesses his love for her. Harcourt cannot bring himself to say it back, but you can see that everything she feels for him is shown throughout the season because she actively fights to bring him back to their dimension.
She doesn’t want people to know that she feels all kinds of emotions. She still doesn’t want Chris to know how vulnerable she is and what is really going on. I think that we as people are struggling to express our feelings, because we are always filling them and not allowing ourselves to feel our feelings every day. That is why she has a hard time now throughout her life because she does not allow herself to feel anything. In some respects she has confronted with this or dying situation to tell him now if he will not come back, and yet she still can’t tell him how she really feels.
If I look at it from the Perspective of Harcourt, she actually says what Chris wants her to say, even if she can’t say the three words he is looking for. She can’t be so good on the surface with her emotions as he is. She thinks: “Is it not enough for me to tell you that I want you to come home? I have come all the way to this other dimension to tell you that I want you back.” He needs her to say it, and she just can’t. It is a well -written scene of James, and I had an incredible time to perform that scene with John, because he was so available and present during filming.
Do you think Harcourt’s decision to protect Chris by killing Keith is her way of making her feelings known to Chris?
When I read that scene, I had something like “she does this”, although she knows that if Chris ever finds out that she killed him, he will never forgive her. It is all he cannot accept. He found his brother alive, that is something that if you don’t have someone all your life, you think a lot about the idea. With my mother who died and my father who was over when I was very young, I sometimes wanted me to pick the phone and she could call. Your daydream about the ability to have a relationship with them, and Chris got that with his brother, even if he comes from another dimension. He can no longer see Keith dying before him.
Harcourt makes that decision despite the fact that she knows that it is not what Chris wants, but she has to do it to protect him and ensure that she does not always have to watch over his shoulder and ask herself if Keith would kill him. It is a crazy decision for her to make, even though she can’t continue with it because she has to make the decision between her life and make his own.
While we lead to the final of season 2, where does Harcourt find himself in the crossfire between Argus and Chris?
At the moment she simply has the feeling that he has given up. They have avoided his catch so long and she has put herself at stake [for him] Several times, especially with her work. He not only gives himself up, but he sacrifices himself for the rest of the team. She is confronted in her own mind with this question about what she will do from here. Chris takes the fall for everyone, so they all just stand and see if they might be able to repair it in the future? She’s a bit of panic because she just can’t believe he’s [throwing everything away] Then, although she gave him everything he asked for in the interrogation room. Many questions are answered in the final and the final asks more questions that must be answered soon.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
