‘DTF St. Louis’ Star Jason Bateman Unpacks Clark’s Episode 2 Interrogation, Carol’s Jamba Juice Lie

Note: This story contains spoilers from “DTF St. Louis” Episode 2.

Things are not looking good for Clark Forrest (Jason Bateman) in “DTF St. Louis.”

The unassuming weatherman spends much of the HBO series’ second episode, titled “Snag It,” divulging the details of his affair with Carol (Linda Cardellini), the wife of his dead best friend Floyd (David Harbour), to investigating detective Donoghue Homer (Richard Jenkins). Viewers see the beginnings of their affair and some of the kink-friendly “dream” sessions they shared in a local motel, the latter of which Clark hilariously tries to avoid getting into with Homer.

Along the way, Clark emerges more and more as a character very much unlike the clever, quippy anti-heroes and TV protagonists that Bateman has played before. Put that another way: There is not a lot of Marty Byrde in Clark Forrest. That did not factor into Bateman’s decision to play the “DTF St. Louis” role, a move which he told TheWrap was motivated entirely by his appreciation for creator Steven Conrad’s work.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Steve’s for many, many years. But this script, even if I didn’t know his writing, I just kept flipping those pages,” Bateman said. “You can’t believe what these people are saying and doing. It’s so odd and unique, yet it’s supported by how equally odd and unique these characters are in these situations. And somehow it all works.”

“It’s horrifically tragic at times and absurdly funny at other times. Yet the characters don’t seem to be moved left or right into those genres at all,” Bateman added. “They’re just kind of existing in the middle of it. I don’t know how Steve does it all, but I just jumped at the chance to be a part of it.”

That blend of tragic and absurd is present at the very beginning of “DTF St. Louis” Episode 2. The new installment’s opening scene reveals Clark and Carol’s first meeting at a cornhole party thrown by Floyd. After minutes of Carol not-so-subtly hitting on Clark, he somehow finds himself in the middle of a lie involving a deep-sea demolition company located off the coast of Canada that he (falsely) says he runs. “They call me the Bang Master, actually,” Clark claims.

When he spoke with TheWrap ahead of the “DTF St. Louis” premiere, Harbour, Bateman’s co-star, could not talk about that moment without breaking into a fit of laughter. “I can’t get through that scene,” the star and executive producer admitted. His appreciation for Clark’s screwball lie is shared by Bateman.

“The level of shame my character has as he’s crafting this [story]… He just can’t believe that he’s so committed. But she’s buying it! So he keeps going,” Bateman told TheWrap. Reflecting on that and the overall behavior of Clark and everyone else in “DTF St. Louis,” Bateman appreciatively mused, “They’re so pathetic and desperate. It’s so fun.”

While shame is still a very present emotion for Clark in “Snag It,” Bateman said his character had reached a point of “peace” about his and Carol’s affair — and Floyd’s death — by the time Jenkins’ Homer interrupted his weather report with a pair of handcuffs in the “DTF St. Louis” premiere. “At that point, he’s had his full run with Floyd. Floyd’s dead and it’s been a few weeks, a few months, maybe,” Bateman explained, while being careful to avoid any future spoilers.

“I played it like Clark was sort of at a place of emotional growth, to the point where he actually feels a little arrogance that he has had this friendship and experience with Floyd that maybe this cop has never had before,” the actor said.

“[In those scenes] you’re constantly kind of pulling and pushing at all these different things and different moments that Steve creates for these characters,” Bateman added. “And then you’ve got a scene partner like Richard Jenkins there to play off of as well, and that sets it off in an even more interesting way.” (For his part, Jenkins was quick to reciprocate Bateman’s comments, telling TheWrap, “Jason’s a terrific actor. After one take, I even turned to him, and I said, ‘How did you get so good?’ You just never know what he’s gonna do.”)

Like its premiere, “DTF St. Louis” Episode 2 ends on a moment of uncertainty. Clark knows now that he is potentially facing the death penalty for his suspected role in Floyd’s murder. His only saving grace may be Jodie Plumb (Joy Sunday), Detective Homer’s unofficial special crimes partner, who believes that Carol’s alibi is not as strong as it appears to be. That hunch is proven correct in the final moments of “Snag It,” which confirm that Cardellini’s character lied about the circumstances of her and Clark’s “coincidental” Jamba Juice meet-cute.

So much of “DTF St. Louis” Episode 2 is about what Clark got from Floyd and, particularly, from Carol. But the episode’s final moments present the possibility that Carol may have been getting more out of her and Clark’s affair than even he knew. Moving forward, that is a door that Conrad suggests “DTF St. Louis” is very much going to walk through.

“In this show, Clark meets a person new in his life who excites him and who says to him, ‘You’re safe with me. You have these kinks. You can tell me what they are, and I’ll be there, and I’m not going to shame you. I’m not going to laugh at you. I’m going to make your dreams come true,'” Conrad told TheWrap. “To answer with the truth, it seems to me so risky, just surrendering this permanently, privately held appetite.”

“One of the frustrations of Clark’s life is that he’s been suppressing these different ideas of sexuality, so he gives these secrets to Carol. What does she then have?” Conrad added. “She has somebody’s secrets, and they are treasures. Now that there is something she has that was previously just Clark’s and nobody else’s, what is she going to do with it?”

“Who’s gaining what under what terms?” Conrad mused. “That’s a question I’m very much hoping to provoke.”

“DTF St. Louis” airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

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