Breeders’ Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard on Feeling Like ‘Fish Out of Water’ Over Ava’s Huge Reveal
The announcement of Luke’s impending fatherhood was an enormous bombshell to drop on the family, but sister Ava had a surprising reveal of her own when she came out to her parents in Monday’s episode.
In Breeders‘ fourth episode, Ava nonchalantly tells her mom that there’s someone she’d like them to meet: her girlfriend Holly. Paul and Ally are understandably shocked, but also excited and happy that their daughter has chosen to let them in on such a major development. Even after a scheduling error turns a potential date night into an at-home dinner party with Susie, Darren and even neighbor Carl, Ava is still jazzed to share her new partner with everyone.
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“I think that it’s quite like them,” Daisy Haggard (who plays Ally) tells TVLine of Paul and Ally’s reaction to the news. “There’s a scene where she talks to us about it and we think we’re right on and handling it really well, but actually, we keep saying the wrong things. She just needs to be heard and understood. She wants us to take her and everything seriously. So I quite like that storyline, in the sense of seeing the parents suddenly seeming like fish out of water. ‘How do we do this? How do we do right by our girl, who’s coming out?’ She’s having this moment. Then we go, ‘Oh, don’t worry. It’s not a big deal,’ and she’s like, ‘It is a big deal!’ It’s navigating her emotional journey without being flippant, because we think that we should be more casual about it than we need to.”
Unfortunately for the young girl, Holly gets overwhelmed at the prospect of meeting Paul, Ally, their friends and a literal vicar all at once, so she bails on the entire evening, which brings poor Ava to tears. The girl then feels foolish for being excited, “old fashioned and stupid.” She also admits that she wants her life development to feel as important as anything that’s happening in Luke’s life.
“I think Ava has always felt that her needs or her news, whatever she has to say, slightly takes a backseat to her big brother,” says Martin Freeman. “Even when she was going to come out, it’s completely trumped by her brother becoming a father. It’s another nice little dramatic element that I like because for a while now, Ava has felt, well, like the younger sibling. I think very often that can be how younger siblings do actually feel.”
In the episode’s final seconds, Luke enters Ava’s bedroom to inquire about Holly and show interest in his sister’s life. The caring gesture puts a smile on her face and seems to lift her spirits, even if just for the moment.
Note: This interview took place before SAG-AFTRA officially announced a strike on July 13.
What did you think of Ava’s big episode? Let us know in the comments!
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