GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY: Matthew Davis on Joel and Birdie’s ‘Dynamic Relationship’ and Needing a Good Poker Face to Establish Two Timelines

NBC’s new twisty drama GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY follows the dramatic, messy, and over-the-top lives of four members of a garden club…and also flashes forward six months to the murder they are involved with and are now desperately trying to cover up.

But one of the biggest twists so far came from the future-set reveal that one of the members, Birdie (Melissa Fumero), went to police officer Joel (Matthew Davis)—who is the stepfather of the biological son Birdie gave up for adoption—in the aftermath of the murder, looking for help…and the two are now romantically entangled.

“It’s been really exciting because you don’t have all the answers,” Davis tells Give Me My Remote in the video below of building up that relationship in two timelines. “For me, it’s been a process where I got the audition, I had two [audition] sides, and I could kind of see and triangulate who Joel was, what his vibe was like, and clearly what was going to become sort of like a collision course between Joel and Birdie. Then we shot the pilot, and that’s all I knew…I got one scene, two lines at the end.”

“And then they gave us episode 2 and 3 right after [the pilot]…you get to that shocking twist at the end of 2 where you realize that they have a relationship, that he’s actually going to help her cover this [murder] up,” he continues. “And then you’re like, ‘How did they get there? How did this happen?’ That’s been what’s so exciting. What was kind of wild about shooting 2, is…you have to have a really good poker face because you don’t want to let the audience in on what’s going on. You also don’t fully know how they got here, and so you want to make sure you’re very careful about not giving away anything, or not making choices that become incongruent to the story later on that you don’t yet know.”

Davis praised the growing closeness between the duo and how the series has doled out information about what led them to the unexpected coupling in what he’s filmed so far. “You see how they get there, and that has been what’s been so exciting,” he says. “They have such a dynamic relationship. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen, really, anything like it. I just love their chemistry. I love this journey they take together. And, yeah, they’ll write us episodes [that shock me]…I’m like, ‘Oh my God. I’m like, Melissa, did you read 1×12? Oh, it’s so good. It’s so good.’”

Though the actor is finding out about the twists as he gets the scripts, he’s along for the ride. “I’ve felt very in sync, in alignment, with Joel and with [creators] Bill [Krebs] and Jenna [Bans] and the world,” Davis says. “It really has just ordered itself organically. It has not required a lot of heady conversations.”

“There are some more shocking things to come, later on down the road, that spurred a conversation that led to calibrating other scenes…in this beautiful way,” he continues. “There has been a little chit-chat, but it’s more this sort of passionate involvement of, like, ‘Well, how do we get from there to here? And how do we do this? And this is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ And so it’s been, it’s been fun in that capacity. But it’s not a lot; I have full trust and faith in what Bill and Jenna are doing, and everything they’re writing is f—ing stunning.”

With production on season 1 nearing its end, Davis admits he’s already hoping they can continue. “I love this world. I love this season,” he says. “We want to keep telling the story…I read [episode] 12—we’re gonna do 13—[and] I texted Bill after reading 12, I’m like, ‘Oh my god, 12 is so brilliant, and it makes me sad because now I realize there’s only one episode left.’ When you’re this passionate and invested in a world and you don’t want it to end.” 

“I think that’s a testament to what they’re doing as writers and creators, and I feel very honored and excited to be working with them,” he continues. “And I love Joel. [He’s] unlike anything I’ve played in a very long time, and Melissa is so incredibly talented, it’s just a joy to work with her and bring these characters to life and I’m very excited.”

GROSSE POINTE GARDEN SOCIETY, Sundays, 10/9c, NBC

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