Elsbeth Boss Breaks Down the Final Twist in the Season 1 Finale

Every episode of CBS Elsbeth — starring Carrie Preston in the title role, earning her a 2013 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama for the character’s appearance in The good wife — follows a similar premise: The audience sees a guest star commit a murder, and Preston’s idiosyncratic Elsbeth Tascioni puts the pieces together to solve the mystery and bring the murderer to justice. But ElsbethThe season finale deviates from formula, as the main character follows the wrong trail with predictably hilarious — and cutting-edge — results. Showrunner Jonathan Tolins breaks down the storyline.

“I always feel like an audience is looking at something and wondering, ‘Why am I receiving this information?’ » » specifies Jonathan Tolins. This scene, which sees our heroine meeting designer Matteo Hart and retired model Nadine Clay (played by André De Shields and Laura Benanti respectively), immerses the main character in the central mystery. “This takes Elsbeth into the next stage of her investigation, developing a relationship with Nadine and also putting on a whole fun Elsbeth fashion show,” Tolins continues. “It also allows Nadine to become Elsbeth’s modeling coach, which will give us the cat-and-mouse scene we always do.”

While Elsbeth is a procedural drama, it’s full of humor – thanks in part to the heightened eccentricities of Preston’s character. Much of the humor, Tolins says, comes from the adept performers. “I’m very lucky that there are three [actors in this scene] all of whom have great theater experience,” he says, boasting about the caliber of Tony winners De Shields and Benanti. The latter, says Tolins, was “inspired casting” for the role of Nadine. “When she said, ‘I didn’t realize cookies were so delicious,’ it was funnier than I thought. [when I wrote it].”

All the clues point to Nadine as the perpetrator of the murder; Elsbeth is convinced that she is behind the death of fashion photographer Ezra Tate. But (spoiler alert), this is a red herring to keep Elsbeth and viewers away from Matteo’s trail. “How do we make sure people don’t see everything coming?” “” Tolins recalls of this particular narrative challenge. “You want to get something out of the audience, make it funny and hopefully so entertaining that they’ll let go. Matteo drives Elsbeth to the fashion show, so I hope viewers’ antennae don’t go up and think, “Oh, that’s our murderer.” »