The inaugural season’s latter half of TNT’s hit comedic drama Claws brought fan-favorite character Jen Husser to the forefront. After her husband’s killing of Roller’s supposed murderers and the fallout in the aftermath of the truth brought to light, at this moment, describing her life as complicated would be an understatement.
OMFGTV connected with her portrayer, Jenn Lyon (“Justified,” “Army Wives”) to break down the latest episode as well as hint at what’s to come.
In episode 107, “Escape,” we see that the wife and mother of two becomes very disheartened that her husband Bryce (Kevin Rankin) is too preoccupied with Uncle Daddy’s (Dean Norris) business and with the clinic. Accepting the massive mansion was definitely part of the deal, but as the North Carolina-native tells us, her character did not foresee the strings attached to be so problematic.
“I think that she got temporarily blinded by suddenly having a house and money and a life for her girls that she never thought she could have,” Jenn tells us. “It’s one thing to say no to the thought of it, it’s another to say no when you are looking an impossible dream right in the face; you try and talk yourself into believing it could work.”
During a moment of weakness, we witnessed as she rummaged through her medicine cabinet to find anything that would provide her with some relief. While we mistook this as an attempt to end her life, the actress set the record straight that that wasn’t at all the intention.
[adinserter block=”3″]
“She was absolutely not trying to commit suicide,” Lyon clarifies. “Jen is a tenuously sober addict like Bryce and some of the scenes that talk about that earlier in the season got cut so we don’t have that context. She just wanted to drink and that was the only thing she could think of that was in the house.”
Of the whole episode, the one scene that stood out the most was the one that took place at Jennifer’s house — a conversation between two (ex?)best friends that was both painfully heartbreaking and fascinating to watch. It was a scene the actress says made her uneasy.
“It made me feel shaky all over because I’m scared of any confrontation as a person,” she explains, “but to have confrontation with someone that I love as much as Desna/Niecy just about made me nauseous.”
Though playing that hurt and emotional side of Desna’s (Niecy Nash) best friend who is usually the wild, bubbly, upbeat hard woman with a filthy sense of humor, Lyon says that it’s “so great!” to be able to show off a different layer of the character, and credits her co-stars for keeping her focused.
“It’s so rare that as an actress you get to play the full spectrum of emotions and to get to do it with these other bad-ass actresses was a dream,” she says. “The support I felt from them was so sweet. They would give me a nod or touch my back after a take where I was weeping and screaming just to be like, ‘We got you.’ I kind of have to keep my head in the game if it’s super emotional and they were respectful of that and so kind.”
After everything that Jennifer’s going through, it was nice to see that she had someone to turn to and take her mind off the stress in her life. In tonight’s episode, “Teatro,” she continues to find unexpected solace in Hank (Hunter Burke). “Let’s just say you haven’t seen the last of that square dance,” she teases.
And finally, let’s not forget that it appears that Roller (Jack Kesy) has finally escaped the confines of the absolutely insane Miss Honeychurch (Jane Adams) and returns home. With that shocking revelation affecting the entire crew, but for Desna most of all, Lyon leaves us with this final teaser:
“If you thought it was wild before…”
Claws “Teatro” airs tonight at 9pm on TNT.