[This story contains spoilers from the season one finale of Apple TV+‘s High Desert.]
Patricia Arquette‘s Apple TV+ comedy High Desert ended its first-season finale with a literal bang.
The crime-focused series — focusing on Peggy’s (Patricia Arquette) chaotic life as a recovering drug addict trying to find a new path as a private investigator — wrapped up its eight-episode season with a violent conclusion. Peggy and Guru Bob (Rupert Friend) found themselves kidnapped over a missing painting but had their lives miraculously spared after Leo Gattchi (Michael Masini) and Nick Gattchi (Carmine Giovinazzo) somehow killed each other. Plus, Denny (Matt Dillon) managed to avoid the wrath of Heather (Julia Rickert) after her father died from a stray bullet.
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During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Arquette discusses the finale cliff-hanger involving Peggy awaiting the human cannon’s explosion, the star’s conversation with her real-life sister that changed the course of Bernadette Peters’ role as Peggy’s late mom, her hopes for a second season and the changes that need to be made for how society deals with addiction.
We get a bit of a body count in that final episode. There’s Heather’s dad and the police officer, and then we see Dona’s death. Plus, we don’t know what happens with Peggy in that human cannon. Does it seem inevitable that the series would be heading toward such heavy moments?
There’s a little bit of a High Noon quality that starts happening in the last episode, where there is definitely a lot of craziness that ensues. It’s high stakes. And even at the very end with Peggy, what’s gonna happen with her? Of course Peggy’s in a life-or-death possible situation at the end. That’s part of what her siblings are terrified of — her ability to put herself there. And one of the reasons she gets in [the cannon] is this other part of her that’s codependent when she has to be responsible, and she gave her word to Owen (Eric Petersen), and everyone depends on her, even though she’s the last person we should really depend on. But she’s in there, and there’s a part of her and a part of every addict: Do they want to be here, or do they want to go?
A highlight of the finale was seeing Peggy and Diane (Christine Taylor) talking about their mom. Did that feel like a breakthrough or cathartic moment for Peggy?
I think so. And I think she really wants her sister to love her and respect her. There was a time where she was the caretaker for the family, but she made choices the way a 16-year-old does. And Diane is constantly struggling between trying to see the good in Peggy and also protecting herself from Peggy’s flaws. I think she does want to heal her sister, and she wants to heal herself and doesn’t really know how to go about it.
This idea came from this moment where we had lost our mom, and me and my sister Alexis [Arquette] were at lunch one day. I looked over, and I said, “Oh, my God, look at that lady. She looks just like mom.” And from this three-quarter angle, she did, and this woman was having lunch with her friends and enjoying her life. And we were both just staring at her for the longest time. My mom died at 57, and I just was like, “She doesn’t get to go to lunch with her friends and do all of this.” That was just such a strange moment for me to be watching some version of my mom. And I talked to the writers about that and then talked about this idea of Bernadette being another character, and they came up with this amazing character Ginger. (Laughs.)
When you lose your mom, if you had a good mom, it’s a big, huge loss. And so Peggy, her mom’s the only person who ever really didn’t see fault in her. Her mom loved her, thought she was great, cut her a lot of slack. Peggy likes herself when she’s helping people, and she likes herself when she’s caretaking, and she got to do that with her mom. Her siblings got off her back because she was taking care of their mom, and they didn’t have to. But when her mom passes away, she loses that utility in their eyes, and she’s lost some of her own personal purpose and also someone she felt really loved her. She knows Denny loves her as best he can, but he’s always going to make some crappy choice that’s gonna put them all in some terrible situation.
Was it fun to be part of a cliff-hanger to leave the audience guessing?
Yeah. We really wanted to make this kind of outrageous, crazy, wild ride — Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. A wild adventure and not play it safe. It’s really weird being an actor because you make this world, and you fall in love with these characters, and it’s like, “Oh, are you gonna get a second season? Where are they gonna go?” And you don’t know, and you’re in this nebulous place. It’s almost like taking off your whole body or exoskeleton and hanging it on a hook, and it’s in a freezer. You’re just in this no man’s land of waiting to see if you put it back on again.
Obviously, the entire industry is in limbo amid the writers strike. But has there been any talk about the possibility of a second season?
I don’t know. I guess it will depend on how well the show does and how people respond. I just love Peggy, and I love this world, and I think it’s a really fresh thing that we’re not seeing on TV at all.
Throughout the season, we see Peggy continuing to be something of a chaotic character, and she’s still tripping on LSD toward the end. Does this unpredictability seem to always be a part of who Peggy is?
I don’t know for sure, but my instinct is, that’s always gonna be something she’s struggling with. She’s gonna make all kinds of excuses of, “Oh, this is my spiritual path,” or “This isn’t drugs — I’m doing it for this other thing,” or “Oh, this isn’t a drug.” Because that’s how drugs are. They’re completely beguiling. If you have that addiction, it’s always whispering to you why this or that is OK. It’s a really hard thing.
We don’t look at addiction as a health crisis that millions of Americans are struggling with — whether it’s alcohol, a drug addiction — but it is. And until we start looking at it more therapeutically as an illness, I don’t think we’re gonna make a lot of progress. The way that Peggy loves Tristan and Isolde, and they die, and one springs into a tree, there’s a tragedy. At some level, she also sees her life as a tragedy but a great work of art.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
High Desert’s first season is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
