Round Table: Hour Eight | Season 1 Ep. 8

ASHE: You don't want this.
[heavy breathing]
PRESTON: Hey--
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: Thanks for joining us for Hour Eight,
hot damn, Hour Eight roundtable discussion.
[singing] Where do we go from here?
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: Let me just say, first of all-- you
know, it's like when you hear about an athlete,
or you would hear about Kobe circling
this game on his calendar, because Jordan
or somebody was coming to town?
I swear this was the hour that Gina was just dying to shoot.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Obviously we knew
where the ten hours were going.
It was exciting for us in the writers' room
to know where you guys were going
and to build your relationship in an organic way.
The fact that you guys start at odds at the beginning
and slowly start to break that down and need each other
and come together.
Everything that Ashe is going through, with almost losing
your daughter, of struggling with feelings of suicide,
of PTSD, that it all comes to the head of this great scene
that, you know, we talked about on set.
A sex scene that turns into a love scene,
and a scene that was not expected by either of you,
but makes perfect sense coming off of this beating
that you witnessed.
SANAA LATHAN: One of the things that I was fascinated
with Francesca, the woman who I spoke to
and spent a lot of time with who did Ashe's job,
she was an investigator with the DOJ
and spent many years in law enforcement.
And she talked about how a lot of times, people in law
enforcement, because it's so specific
and it's so high stress, a lot of times partners hook up.
It's almost kind of like a release, you know?
The stress is so high.
So I thought that, you know, as different as Preston and Ashe
are in the beginning, you would never
imagine that that would happen.
But I love to see how, with each hour,
that chemistry is kind of being revealed
more and more and more.
And it was funny, because for me as an actress, I dread these
scenes, because it's just --
it's just always uncomfortable, because you're really doing
it in front of you know --
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Not really doing it.
SANAA LATHAN: You're shooting--
not really doing it, but you're doing it in front of a crew,
you know.
So I'm happy at how it came out, and how it
seemed like it really flowed.
[heavy breathing]
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Another aspect to it that was
interesting with Gina -- and this goes to show like what
a thorough director-- she had has come in on a weekend
to choreograph it.
STEPHAN JAMES: To rehearse our sex scene.
SANAA LATHAN: Yeah, exactly.
It was so funny.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: It was funny.
SANAA LATHAN: But it was good, because then
it took away that added layer of stress once we got to set.
STEPHAN JAMES: To me it was just so beautiful to just --
I mean when you watch how they come into this thing in Hour
One, this is like the last thing on your mind
is them hooking up.
And I just remember going back to that first hour,
when, you know, where Preston, his motivations were different.
And now you get to a place where you
see how much he cares about Ashe, you know what I mean?
He really cares about her, and he
sees something in her that maybe she
doesn't even see in herself.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Absolutely.
STEPHAN JAMES: And it's just so beautiful, because that moment
was like, you know, he's reminding her of that,
and you know, he's letting her know.
So I thought it was a beautiful scene.
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: What you think
is like the basis of their attraction?
SANAA LATHAN: The basis probably is the mutual passion
for truth and justice.
You know when you find somebody, they couldn't be
more different on the outside.
But at the core I think, even though they
go about it in different ways, at the core
they have similar values.
And that's so important.
And then it's just a matter of chemistry,
and time spent, and all of these things that they've shared.
They're bonded now.
But one of the things that, honestly, I
have to just say as a black woman,
it just is so beautiful to see that on TV.
Just two black people just loving each other.
STEPHAN JAMES: Black love.
SANAA LATHAN: Yeah black love.
I'm all for all love, you know.
But it was really beautiful.
Like wow, I haven't --
I don't know, maybe I don't watch a lot of TV, but --
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: No, there's not a lot.
SANAA LATHAN: There's not a lot, right?
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: Every time Gina does a movie.
SANAA LATHAN: It's every time Gina does a movie, right?
Exactly.
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: Now more than ever,
it's like you really see how much they need each other.
SANAA LATHAN: Yes.
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: And as excited as Gina was to shoot
that scene, I was really excited about the scene
where we see Ashe fight back.
[yelling]
SANAA LATHAN: She's bad Ashe, but you picked and choose.
It wasn't like you see her kicking ass in every hour.
But the moments that you do, I mean, damn.
She's dirty.
She's dirty, and I love that.
And she -- you know, she's not afraid.
And that's that thing, that fine line where
she kind of loses herself and it's
his voice that brings her back.
And she could have-- you know, she
really could have killed them.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: This hour was called Rock Bottom,
and we opened the hour with, a gun is in your hand,
and you're thinking about, is this even worth continuing?
But you have this daughter that you want to protect,
but you may lose her as well.
And the fact that at your very lowest, where you admit
to Preston that the karmic thing,
that you took someone's child--
SANAA LATHAN: Yeah.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: --so why shouldn't someone take yours?
And the fact that he sees past all of that and just
sees your goodness that's, in that moment,
definitely something he's attracted to.
But Ashe is someone who, she protects herself,
she can handle herself, but in this moment
Preston comes to your aid, kind of saves you in some respects.
SANAA LATHAN: And I love that just character wise, because I
know and we all know those people who are the hardest
and the angriest, those are the ones actually who
have the most vulnerability.
That's what I found just living life,
that the people who are the toughest and the people who
seem like they've built that kind of wall,
because they had to.
So I feel like that is beautiful in terms of Ashe
and all that she has been through,
and the fact that he, in that moment, is the strong one.
ASHE: I just lost Kai.
I lost her.
PRESTON: What?
ASHE: Breeland made a report.
Assaulting an officer drunk driving.
PRESTON: Did you?
ASHE: No, it doesn't matter.
He's going to send it to the judge and it's over.
PRESTON: Ashe I would destroy him.
Nobody's going to hurt you like that.
ASHE: I could have killed him.
I wanted to.
PRESTON: But you didn't.
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: So let's just
talk about where we are with the who done it and why done it.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: At this point
you guys have tied the gun to Arlen.
You have the proof, and you think
finally you've nailed him.
But this dude is smart and he filed a police report
that he was missing his gun.
So this smoking gun, so to speak, that you guys thought
you had has been taken away.
And it also shows you the depths of corruption
in this police department, that this could happen.
So you guys again are suddenly at the crossroads
where you thought you had it, and now, stuck again.
ASHE: The gun found in your office
was the same gun used to kill Joey Campbell.
This is so Gate Station.
That ain't my gun.
ASHE: How do you explain that being there?
What motive could I possibly have for killing him?
ASHE: You didn't want drug dealers in the houses.
Maybe he didn't listen.
No.
We had a break in a few nights ago.
They stole a computer and some speakers.
Maybe that's when the gun was planted.
ASHE: Did you report it?
We'd be reporting it to the people who put it there.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: You know, in Hour Six,
last time we saw you and Javier, you
blackmailed him in a big way, but found out that he wasn't --
SANAA LATHAN: Backfired.
I love that too, because that is just so shady, what she did.
And yet, you understand, because she's desperate.
She is desperate to stay in Kai's life, her daughter.
And the fact that after that, she comes back
and still asks for his help.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: But she has the balls to do that.
SANAA LATHAN: Yeah, she has the balls to do that.
And she also has the history with him,
and she also knows that he knows her, probably.
He knows her at the core, even though she did that to him.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: But you know him at his core too, which
is part of what got you two together in the first place,
was that shared desire for justice,
and to do whatever it takes.
And that's kind of the thing that you're
impacting Preston with.
SANAA LATHAN: So she knows that he gets that about her.
And she's going to do whatever it
takes, as hard as that call is.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: But also, you know your character,
Stephan, sees cracks in her hard exterior, which is attractive
to you as opposed to --
STEPHAN JAMES: Yeah, I think that only
builds his love for her even greater, you know what I mean?
Just knowing what she's been through and everything,
he's more compassionate and understanding.
Whereas in the beginning, it was just --
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: He wouldn't even
open the door for her.
STEPHAN JAMES: Yeah, those things just went right
over his head, and now he's just seeing a whole other layer
to Ashe that he's grown to really,
really love at this point.
GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: And then at the end,
as we've talked about, the fact that at the beginning
of the hour, you can't sleep.
And at the end, Preston, you're knocked out.
STEPHAN JAMES: She puts me to sleep now.
Twelve hours.
SANAA LATHAN: She puts me to sleep!
[laughter]
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: Well I think what's really interesting
now, after such an explosive hour is, what are
the repercussions going to be now that Breeland
just got beat down by Ashe?
Like, what's going to happen now?
And then also, what we were really interested in exploring
is, what are they going to do, and how is this moment
that they just had in Hour Eight going to affect
their working relationship?
STEPHAN JAMES: Does it help us?
Does it hurt us?
SANAA LATHAN: Does it continue?
You guys will have to just tune in.
REGGIE ROCK BYTHEWOOD: Well please be here next Wednesday,
following the ninth hour of Shots Fired on Fox.
See you next week.

Round Table: Hour Eight | Season 1 Ep. 8 | SHOTS FIRED

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