Gloria Reuben Teases What’s Next (Exclusive)

Detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green) learned the truth about her biological father and nearly met him in the Friday, May 1, episode of Boston Blue. The mystery of her absent dad has been teased all season long, and the truth came out when Edwin (Ernie Hudson) urged Mae (Gloria Reuben) to tell Lena everything before he went into surgery. But the truth came with unexpected details that changed everything. Here, Reuben explains the big twist and teases what’s next. Warning: Boston Blue Season 1 Episode 17 spoilers ahead.

Dexter legend Erik King made a surprise debut as Chris Williams in the episode (Blue Bloods star Bridget Moynahan also returned as Erin Reagan). Chris, whose full name is Christmas (named after a famous Bostonian from the Revolutionary War), was one of Mae’s first loves, but he was involved in criminal activity that landed him in jail. Two weeks after his arrest, Mae found out she was pregnant with Lena. She told Lena that Chris never knew about their daughter. King’s first scene, set in Mae’s Boston home, revealed that this was only true for a time. Eventually, he found out and wanted to be in Lena’s life, but Mae wouldn’t allow it. The reasons for that are still to be revealed. Chris has been watching Lena grow up from afar all this time.

Chris is the Chief of Police of a town outside of Boston. Lena drove out to the town to find him, and she ended up spending the day with one of his detectives (played by Douglas Nyback). When the detective’s wife arrived at the precinct, she revealed that the chief is her dad. Kristina, played by Alisha Wainwright, is Lena’s half-sister, whom she never knew existed, but Mae did.

Reuben reveals why King was cast as Lena’s dad and how she was involved.

“Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis, the showrunners, we talked about a couple of names that we thought would be a good fit in terms of the energy of Lena’s father, of course, the physicality, and considering his history, just kind of the essence of the actor, if you will,” Reuben tells TV Insider. “They mentioned Erik King. Erik and I worked together, I don’t even know how long ago…It was before ER. So, it’s been that long since I’ve seen him, and we all thought it was a great fit. It turned out to be a terrific fit.”

The Better Sister star explains why King, who is the star of countless internet memes thanks to Dexter (“Surprise, motherf***er!“), was the perfect Chris.

“He’s a lovely actor, and everything was just spot on,” she says. “He’s very talented, and he’s very focused, and he’s very grounded. He holds his cards close to his chest, if you will, so that was perfect as well in terms of the storyline and to be the combination of him and Mae to create Lena.”

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It’s striking how immediately you can see that Lena gets a lot of her fire from Chris. Reuben says that more similarities between the father and daughter are still “to be revealed.” As explained in the episode, Mae isn’t worried that Chris’s presence might impact the memory of her late husband, Ben. She’s worried that her relationship with Lena will be damaged by the sudden influx of life-changing information. Just like her own father couldn’t prevent the hurt of keeping the secret about her mother, Mae can’t shield Lena from the pain about her dad and sister. They’ll have to work through this together, and that conflict will make for some compelling scenes between Reuben and Martin-Green moving forward.

Reuben unpacks the parallels between Edwin and Jill (Holly Robinson Peete), keeping the truth about Mae and Jill’s mother a secret, and then Mae keeping her child’s parentage a secret.

“When secrets and lies have years to flourish underground, when they are finally revealed, then all of a sudden the landscape looks a lot different. This episode really raises those fundamental experiences of humanity, of human beings as a whole, of families,” Reuben says, adding, “Usually, it stems from one person being afraid to tell the truth to their other loved one, being afraid to face their own part of that situation. Everybody plays a part, right? So, it’s complex, complicated, and challenging, and it’s also part of being human, facing those secrets.”

“There’s one scene that Ernie and I did in Episode 13 that talks about this very thing: How secrets can be a generational thing,” the ER alum continues. “And here we go again. In a way, it’s a bigger part of Mae’s healing, and the opportunity for her to forgive the secrets that were kept from her, forgive her father and her sister for holding on to those secrets, but it very much is a generational thing. I was really glad that we said that in that episode: passing down secrets is a generational thing.”

CBS

Now that the truth is out, Reuben says she “can’t wait for the viewers to see everything that unfolds,” especially in her scenes with Martin-Green.

“Sonequa is extraordinary,” Reuben gushes, adding, “Working with Sonequa, there’s some kind of alchemy that happens, and I don’t want to overthink it, and I don’t want to talk too much about it because it’s almost like giving away a magic trick or something…Let’s equate it to being in a restaurant, and it’s loud, and there are a lot of people around. However, when you are locked in with someone, it’s like nobody else exists. It’s like a cone of privacy and intimacy. That’s what these scenes with Sonequa feel like.”

Speaking of sharing a meal, what are the odds that these complicated family talks will lead to a happy ending with a bigger blended family? Will viewers get to see Chris and Kristina at Shabbat by the end of Season 1? Reuben can’t say much, but she jokes that “we need a heck of a lot more chairs around Mae’s dining table. She’s going to have to get another sleeve for the table.”

“There’s lots of great opportunities for extended family storylines,” Reuben notes, “and it just keeps on expanding. I love that.”

Boston Blue, Fridays, 10/9c, CBS