As the Gallardo case heats up in Perry Mason season 2, a new woman has come into the life of Della Street (Juliet Rylance). Anita St. Pierre (Jen Tullock) is an Angeleno working in the film industry and, as she has begun to cross paths with Della, the two have noticed an indelible spark between them.
Della, who was previously entangled with boarding housemate Hazel, seems drawn to Anita in ways she can't explain. In Perry Mason season 2, episode 3, the pair begin to give in to their feelings for one another. How that develops as Della works on the Gallardo case remains to be seen, but with the whole of Los Angeles keeping their eyes on the McCutcheon murder case, there's no telling what's in store for the pair.
Given the events of episode 3, Screen Rant sat down with Tullock and Rylance to talk about their performances in Perry Mason season 2, telling queer stories set against the backdrop of 1930s Los Angeles, and more.
Juliet Rylance & Jen Tullock on Perry Mason Season 2
Screen Rant: Jen, what has it been like to step into the world of Perry Mason?
Jen Tullock: I mean, wild. I love the first season and I love anything situated in that era. And I think it's really an actor's show. The cast is so phenomenal and you can tell that they're written for it with a lot of love. So it was a dream, a total dream.
Juliet, we saw Della with Hazel last season, but Anita definitely brings out a different side of her. What is it that has made her pull away from Hazel and explore this connection with Anita?
Juliet Rylance: Della has led a very closeted and rather safe life, and the minute that she meets Anita in that powder room is just a breath of fresh air. She just comes into her life and sort of sweeps her off her feet, literally. And I think there's something that Della's held - she has to be so in control and has taken care of so many things. And Anita sort of frees her of that in a way, and liberates her from having to do that. It's an extraordinary thing for Della to have right at the beginning of the season.
Queer stories, especially during this time period, are rarely positive. But this feels a bit like a beacon of light in an otherwise dark show. Anita and Della's relationship feels integral to this modern take on Perry Mason. Jen, how do you prepare for this role given the time period, the context surrounding Della and Anita's relationship, and how they have to move through the world?
Jen Tullock: For me, it was important to make sure I understood the actual history of that time. As a queer person, I thought, "I have that my muscle memory," but I don't. Because, obviously, the dangers were so much more extreme, both literally and professionally. And so for both Della and Anita, who are coming up in male-dominated careers, Juliet and I talked a lot about what sort of micro behaviors we wanted to imbue the story with so it didn't feel tragic. It didn't feel like they were constantly looking over their shoulder, but also we weren't shying away from the fact that there was the constant threat of being found out. And I think it was just doing the research of that time and then also figuring out Anita's backstory. As a sort of Lothario, I think she was a bit of a Leonardo DiCaprio [with] younger actresses, and [she] didn't allow herself to become vulnerable. And then she meets Della and it's like, Oh, shit.
Juliet Rylance: I really loved that aspect of what Jen did with the character. And then she added this whole other layer that we didn't know what it would become through the season. But this idea that Anita is this incredibly witty, brilliant, talented, charismatic person and Jen sort of said well there's this other side I think as well, and I love the fact that she introduced this vulnerability into Anita's character that I think then [showrunners] Jack [Amiel] and Michael [Begler] really wrote for that when they saw her a beginning to do that. It was a really lovely and surprising aspect of that character.
Jen Tullock: Because no person operates as one thing ever and the second you have feelings for someone it's like all bets are off. And so I think once we did get through that moment, in the third episode, we were both working really hard to make sure that every moment felt real between them and that whatever pretense they may have come in with completely dissolved.
How did you both find this bond and this safe space with each other to where it felt comfortable to perform in this way?
Jen Tullock: We drank martinis [laughs].
Juliet Rylance: It happened really quickly. But it was also fascinating because Jen had this wonderful book which... I've forgotten the title of the book now. [It's] about gay women in that period and about the sort of secret places that they would meet and all these avenues of how to find each other and connect to each other. And that was fascinating as a whole side of LA queer history that I didn't know about at all.
I was very aware in the first season [of] the fact that it would be extremely dangerous. I was shocked when I heard that in 1930, I could be locked up and put in jail if I was seen in any way, being romantic with a woman. I just didn't know that history. And so I think we really started talking a lot about that, about what is the life that they've both been leading kind of on the side and in secret? And, and it felt exciting exploring that together.
Jen Tullock: I got very lucky because Juliet is as generous a person as she is an actor. And I think coming into a second season, it can be daunting. And I was made to feel very safe. And I think we had a friendship immediately. So that was helpful because there was humor between us. And I also just know it was really important to both of us that we got this right, so we communicated a ton around it. It was great.
Another interesting thing is that the sapphic period piece has almost become this sort of meme. Carol, Ammonite, Portrait of a Lady On Fire, and The Handmaiden have all been great films that have come to the forefront. that on your minds while leaning into these roles and exploring these characters at all?
Jen Tullock: For me, it was because I think, to your point earlier, I think so many lesbian love stories... SNL did that great sketch about it called "Lesbian Period Piece," where it's just them washing carrots and casting furtive glances at one another for two and a half hours.
I feel like so many of those stories, and I love those films as well, but [they] fall into one of two categories. They're totally innocuous and desexualized, or they're completely tragic. And they're working up to a moment where they might be happy, and then somebody dies or has to move very far away for the rescuer in northern England. And so I think we were so happy that we didn't have to do any of that. And then we like, just got to watch these women fall in love.
Yeah, I think that that is one of the best parts about the season. We're only on episode 3, but I'm just loving that blossoming of this relationship. Juliet, is there anything you'd like to like tease about the rest of the season for their relationship or for Della's journey with Anita?
Juliet Rylance: It gets pretty steamy [laughs]. The most exciting thing for me about the friendship that Jen and I found discovering these characters, and then the conversations that ensued, because of that were largely around, how is sex different. What is the physicality of these two people, these two women? There were so many areas that we talked about and explored in the scenes that I thought there were questions I'd never asked myself.
When you see what you were talking about, movies where you see two lesbians, having this wonderful time, and you think, well, is this the male perspective of what that looks like, is that male gaze of that, or is that real? Is that something that's genuinely coming from this moment between these two people? And I think that was the most exciting thing for me, discovering with Jen what that connection felt like for us, just as us as people and Anita and Della as characters. What's authentically them? And it was a fascinating exploration and it really shows itself as we move through the season in really interesting ways.
Juliet, we also end with this reveal about the fate of Emily Dodson from the first season. What was your reaction to that reveal, and how will that affect Della going forward as she navigates the Gallardo case and this newfound relationship with Anita?
Juliet Rylance: It's a really big moment for Della, as big a moment as it is for Perry when he finds out and obviously doesn't even know how to talk about it or deal with it and all this strange behavior begins to happen as a result. Two things happen: when Perry tells Della the news, I think it's the first moment that they come together again as a team. It's the first moment that they're actually being honest with each other. They haven't up until that point in the season.
I think the other thing for Della is that she really has a strong sense of what's wrong and what's right [and] her own idea of what that looks like. And for Emily to have fought so hard throughout that whole case, and the result being that justice didn't really happen for her and the result is her death, I think it's a big moment for Della of reinvigorating the need to keep fighting for people who aren't in a position to do so themselves. So, it's a big moment.
I think it also pulls up this aspect of Della's character, which is that in her work life, she's very black-and-white. It's very clear what she's going for and in her love life, that sort of desire to search for the truth and it's much harder. She spends a long time dancing trying not to deal with the situation. So I think Emily's death is definitely our fulcrum point - the learning of it and the season sort of propels us forward into the case and into my relationship with Anita.
Jen, I feel like everybody else in the world is also a fan, but I love Severance. How is filming season 2 going? Can you tease anything?
Jen Tullock: We've been shooting since October...It's been great. I'm very excited because I think the way that the show creators are starting to close the loops that were left open in the first season is pretty genius. So, we're having a good time.
About Perry Mason Season 2
Season 2 of Perry Mason takes place months after the end of the Dodson trial. Perry (Matthew Rhys) has moved off the farm, ditched the milk truck, he’s even traded his leather jacket for a pressed suit. It’s the worst year of the Depression, and Perry and Della (Juliet Rylance) have set the firm on a safer path pursuing civil cases instead of the tumultuous work criminal cases entail.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much work for Paul (Chris Chalk) in wills and contracts, so he’s been out on his own. An open-and-closed case overtakes the city of Los Angeles, and Perry’s pursuit of justice reveals that not everything is always as it seems.
New episodes of Perry Mason season 2 air on HBO and HBO Max on Mondays.