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May-aaaa, Konkle said through laughter.
Did you have that background on there before corona or after?
This was before corona, that picture.
I think we were in Japan.
She was worried she was getting sick, so she did that.
Im sorry if this is distracting, she added.
This is what we have.
This is what we have.
And everything wentcompletelyfine from a technical standpoint … well, mostly.
This season gets into deeper, more emotional territory than the first season does.
We were just talking about this, but weve been working on this since we were 25.
We didnt know what that would look like or how low it would go or whatever.
Maya Erskine:Yeah, it wasnt a straight intention, I would say, to go darker.
Because they stay in seventh grade forever, we wanted them to keep evolving.
We had this sort of pro-dad, anti-mom thing going on that we wanted to explore.
And it was hard.
Did you debate whether you should actually have Anna apologize?It came naturally.
They had been through a lot.
In my real life, I didnt call my mom a cunt until high school.
Im ashamed I did it at all, but I did.
And I wasnt seeing certain things clearly.
But that feeling inside is guilt and knowing you were doing something wrong was real to that age.
It felt authentic in the moment, but Maya, for you, Im so curious.
We havent really talked about this, how it felt with your real mom.
Just as actors, I was like, Mom, stop touching my back.
It was starting to filter into our real life and our real interactions with each other.
She represented the Japanese side of myself.
She represented Japan to me.
She represented everything I wanted to not be.
So I think I really gave it to her at that age because I was really hating on myself.
I dealt with such heartache over that.
So it was just this kaleidoscope of emotions that happens at that age that just bursts out.
I feel for my mom so much now, because I have some perspective.
But I dont even have the perspective of having my own kid yet, so I cant even imagine.
Im sure when that happens, Im going to be like, Oh my God.
She was very professional, I would say.
That was the weirdest thing.
Its easy to revert back to that age, especially if youre acting with your own mother.
AK:Yeah, plus when youre dressed as your 13-year-old self
ME:Its crazy.
I mean, its truly batshit.
AK:Its incredible how well you guys worked together.
ME:I mean, I love her.
But I yelled, too.
Im like, Mom, do it again, say it faster!
I want to ask you about the introduction of the new friend, Maura.
And in the three, you always experience a moment of feeling left out, no matter what.
Each single person goes through it, and its always because of these micro-moments or microaggressions.
AK:I think that three rule is real with human dynamics in general.
AK, laughing:Your screen just flipped
ME:Im so sorry!
AK:And it was like your head
Was floating through the subway.
AK:It was very cool, actually.
ME:Im so sorry.
Im just trying to figure this out.
Because there were a few groups that I went through before finding my people, you know?
And then you find your people and then theres the risk of that shattering again and going to shit.
Especially at that age, its like your identity can be formed on the people that are around you.
We wanted there to be a threat.
What is the threat to Anna and Mayas relationship?
And what if an asshole is the rescue boat?
So I think that threat I experienced that.
So fortunately Maya and Anna dont lose each other, but theres the threat that they will.
What do you think they like about Maura?
Its like,Okay, yeah, well take that.
Like, Im going to worship them.
So you become friends with them over these kind of superficial things right away.
You dont really see the clues of what this girl is really like.
AK:I do think that thats one of the dangers of that age thats very real.
So I relate to that.
Icebox, which we referenced in the first episode, that was me.
]I was super slut-shamed.
I hadnt even had my first kiss, I dont think.
Or maybe I had had just a kiss.
I was not ready to be sexual at all.
This senior girl befriended me, who was probably questionable at the time.
She ended up just really throwing me under the bus.
She cheated with my boyfriend, the whole thing.
But it was interesting, that thing of the questionable person that can save you in the lowest moment.
Like when Brandt tells Maya that shes ugly.
It was hard for him to get to a loud place, even with, Youre ugly.
Because hes such a kind guy, he was having trouble connecting to that.
Thats just a fact.
I thought many times like,Maybe if I do this, I could look pretty.
I wouldnt ever get my crushes to like me.
That just didnt happen in middle school for me at all.
So that led me to the belief of, well, somethings wrong with me.
Im not good enough.
Mayas whole goal for this season is to get a first kiss.
She never gets it.
I want to talk about the theater stuff in this season.
ME:Im fine.
I wasnt ready either, but I really appreciate you saying that.
Theater was my haven and I think it was Annas haven, too.
It was an escape when I was in middle school.
Thats what saved me, I think, is the community of theater.
I had a memory of the techies versus the actors.
Im going through it withPEN15.
We got to play with that in that episode that Maya wrote, so brilliantly, I think.
Playing with your voice and that youre not supposed to be so anything.
ME:It takes a second for Anna to find her voice and her power.
And then once she does, she kind of soars.
Youre the ultimate mirror for me.
[Annas Zoom connection starts to glitch.]
Youre breaking up, Anna.ME:Anna, youre completely frozen and broken up for me.
I think shes saying something really good, too.
AK:Am I back?
ME:We just missed the end of it.
Or I would say the last third.
AK:I was basically just saying[Zoom glitches out.]
ME:Oh shit.
Its doing it again.ME:Damn, Zoom.
Once again, this is what we have.
