ELSBETH Post-Mortem: Jonathan Tolins on Elsbeth’s Emotional Confession
January 30, 2025 by Marisa Roffman

“Unalive and Well” – When a young man is found dead in his car, Elsbeth visits the holistic wellness center he’d just left, and begins to suspect its charismatic founder (Eric McCormack), on the CBS original series ELSBETH, Thursday, Jan. 30 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs)* Pictured (L-R): Marcia Debonis as Sheryl and Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni Photo: Michael Parmelee/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Thursday, January 30 episode of ELSBETH.]
Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) may have been at the holistic wellness center to solve a murder on the Thursday, January 30 episode of ELSBETH…but she also partook in some healing of her own.
After being pushed by her journey partner, Sheryl (Marcia Debonis), she admitted she was there to investigate a death, but that things were also not “going very well for me back in the city.”
Sheryl encouraged Elsbeth to open up—and she did.
“I made a lot of money working for some bad people,” an emotional Elsbeth confessed. “And, okay, it’s part of the job, I know that. But then I found out I didn’t know the extent of the harm that I was participating in because I was tricked. And I do not like being tricked. So now I am so angry and I’m embarrassed because I don’t usually end up in that position. But it happened and the damage was done. And now I can’t find the right way to explain things to my friends. I don’t know how to ask for help.”
“We did a lot of thinking about exactly what her backstory was, what is making Elsbeth emotional,” ELSBETH showrunner Jonathan Tolins tells Give Me My Remote. “And I think we found something that felt true. It’s not that she was involved in something bad…she’s a lawyer. We saw her on GOOD WIFE and GOOD FIGHT: She was a lawyer who was not completely against pushing the boundaries of ethical behavior to help a client. But she was tricked. And it triggered something in her.”
“It had to hurt,” he continues of her conundrum. “We didn’t want it to be just an intellectual problem that she had. She ended up being part of something where someone else is victimized. And for Elsbeth, that is just impossible for her to live with because she is so empathetic. She’ll corner some [people] for a good cause, but to know that she was part of someone being victimized, it was just too disturbing for her to stay in her old profession.”
To get the right tone for Elsbeth’s big confession, “We wrote a monologue and we cast Marcia Debonis and Nancy Hower directed,” Tolins says. “And that’s all you needed. Carrie Preston and Marcia with Nancy directing and a good script by Leah Nanako Winkler, that’s all you had to do. You let them go.”
Sheryl was supportive, and suggested that Elsbeth had to be transparently honest with the people in her life. Elsbeth, in turn, reached out to Kaya (Carra Patterson)…but that will have its own complications. “She will have to find some way to not break attorney-client privilege and yet save her friendship with Kaya,” Tolins previews.
ELSBETH, Thursdays, 10/9c, CBS
RELATED:
- ELSBETH: Jonathan Tolins Previews Elsbeth’s Emotional Experience at a Wellness Center
- ELSBETH: ‘Unalive and Well’ Photos
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Elsbeth Plays a Game of ‘Truth Ball’ with Eric McCormack’s Holistic Leader
- ELSBETH Post-Mortem: Jonathan Tolins on the Unexpected Team-Up Against Crawford
- ELSBETH: ‘Toil and Trouble’ Photos
- ELSBETH: Jonathan Tolins Previews the Meta ‘Toil and Trouble,’ as Elsbeth Tries to Solve the Murder of a Police Procedural Showrunner
- ELSBETH: Ben Levi Ross on Teddy’s Future in New York, Familial Tension, and His Favorite Moment to Come
- ELSBETH Post-Mortem: Carrie Preston Previews Elsbeth’s Next Move Against Judge Crawford
- ELSBETH’s Carrie Preston Teases Going Head-to-Head with Michael Emerson’s Judge Crawford: ‘Her Sixth Sense is Working Overtime With This Guy’
- ELSBETH: ‘One Angry Woman’ Photos
- ELSBETH Post-Mortem: Elsbeth is Shocked with an Emotional Reunion
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Elsbeth Drops a Very Unmerry Bombshell on Vanessa Bayer’s DeeDee in the Christmas Episode
- ELSBETH Showrunner Jonathan Tolins Praises Pamela Adlon’s ‘Pretty Spectacular’ Guest Spot
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Elsbeth and Kaya Question Pamela Adlon’s Chef Veev
- ELSBETH: ‘Elsbeth’s Eleven’ Photos
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Carrie Preston Reunites with CLAWS Co-Star Jenn Lyon in ‘Elsbeth’s Eleven’
- ELSBETH: Jonathan Tolins Previews a Halloween Haunting and a Christmas Surprise
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Elsbeth and the Team Try to Get Answers at a Costume Party
- ELSBETH: ‘Devil’s Night’ Photos
- ELSBETH Adds Michael Emerson as a New Recurring Foe
- ELSBETH Post-Mortem: Jonathan Tolins on Elsbeth’s Blast From the Past
- ELSBETH: What You Need to Know About the Season Premiere
- ELSBETH: Carrie Preston and Wendell Pierce Reflect on Their On-Screen Dynamic and Season 2 Hopes
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: A Returning Character Gives Elsbeth Intel on Nathan Lane’s Phillip Cross
- ELSBETH: ‘The Wrong Stuff’ Photos
- ELSBETH Exclusive First Look: Rob Riggle and Terry Serpico Guest Star in a Space-Themed Adventure
- ELSBETH Season 2 Premiere: ‘Subscription to Murder’ Photos
- ELSBETH: Carrie Preston Reflects on Elsbeth and Kaya’s Unexpected Friendship
- ELSBETH Season 1 Finale Post-Mortem: Carrie Preston on Elsbeth’s Job Offer and that Themed Fashion Show
- ELSBETH: Carrie Preston Previews Elsbeth ‘Thrown Off of Her Game’ in the Season 1 Finale
- ELSBETH Season 1 Finale: ‘A Fitting Finale’ Photos
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Laura Benanti’s Nadine Teaches Elsbeth How to Work a Catwalk
- ELSBETH: ‘Sweet Justice’ Photos
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Elsbeth Subtly Interrogates Arian Moayed’s Bar Owner
- ELSBETH: ‘Artificial Genius’ Photos
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Elsbeth Tries to Lure in a Tech CEO
- ELSBETH: Carra Patterson Previews Keegan-Michael Key’s Guest Spot
- ELSBETH: ‘Something Blue’ Photos
- ELSBETH Post-Mortem: Carra Patterson Reflects on Kaya’s Big Decision
- ELSBETH: Carra Patterson Previews Kaya’s ‘Really Tough Position’ with Wagner and Elsbeth
- ELSBETH Exclusive Clip: Gina Gershon’s Dr. Holmes Begrudgingly Answers Elsbeth’s Questions
- ELSBETH: ‘An Ear for an Ear’ Photos
- CBS Renews ELSBETH
- ELSBETH: ‘Ball Girl’ Photos
- ELSBETH Post-Mortem: Gloria Reuben on Filming the ‘Love Knocked Off’ Epiphany Scene
- ELSBETH: Gloria Reuben Previews Her Debut as Claudia
- ELSBETH: ‘Love Knocked Off’ Photos
- ELSBETH: ‘Reality Shock’ Photos
- ELSBETH: ‘A Classic New York Character’ Photos
- ELSBETH Post-Mortem: The Team on Elsbeth’s Secret Mission and That GOOD WIFE Reference
- ELSBETH: What You Need to Know About the Series Premiere
- ELSBETH Showrunner Jonathan Tolins on Crafting ‘a Procedural with a Wink in its Eye’
- ELSBETH: Carrie Preston on the ‘Almost Unreal’ Joy of Bringing Elsbeth Center Stage
- ELSBETH Exclusive: CBS Encourages Viewers to ‘See Things Elsbeth’s Way’ in Cheeky New Promo
- ELSBETH: Jesse Tyler Ferguson to Guest Star
- ELSBETH: CBS Releases New Key Art for Carrie Preston-Led Drama
- ELSBETH on CBS – First Look
- CBS Sets 2023-24 Schedule
- CBS Orders MATLOCK, ELSBETH, and POPPA’S HOUSE
Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page or our Instagram.
And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.
Related Posts
Filed under Elsbeth
Comments Off on ELSBETH Post-Mortem: Jonathan Tolins on Elsbeth’s Emotional Confession
Comments