Britt Lower Of ‘Man Seeking Woman’ On Season Two And Bringing A Female Perspective To The Series

Man Seeking Woman may very well be about one dude’s hapless journey to track down The One, but thanks to Britt Lower, Simon Rich’s absurdist comedy series has become a three-dimensional exploration of 21st century dating.

Now in its second season on FXX, Man Seeking Woman features the emerging Lower (Sisters, Unforgettable) as Liz Greenberg, fearless older sister to protagonist Josh (Jay Baruchel) and the show’s proverbial straight man. Lower, who got her start studying classical theater before falling into improv at Northwestern University, has become an increasingly important figure in the surrealist romantic comedy. And the more we get to know Liz, a career-driven thirtysomething, we begin to relate to the swelling pressures she feels to lock down Mr. Right, whoever he may be.

I spoke with Lower during FX Networks Television Critics Association press tour about her role’s newly defined depth, what it’s been like helping bring a female perspective to the show’s arc, and her character’s unlikely affair with… well, you’ll have to read to find out. This interview contains mild spoilers.

Decider: Congrats on Season Two! What’s been different this time around?

Britt Lower: We have much more ease with working with one another. I think Season One was just this kind of sprint to get all ten episodes shot. Season Two, we have a lot more fun together. It was still a sprint, but we were laughing a lot more.

Will there be anymore “Woman Seeking Man” episodes like last season?

Yeah, we’ve shot all ten episodes and Episode Four is the “Woman Seeking Man” episode from the perspective of Liz. Then there’s another “Woman Seeking Man” episode that’s told from the perspective of a character who is dating Eric Andre’s character, Mike. I haven’t seen that one yet but yeah, you’ll see more of Liz in Season Two.

I feel like, in this second season, we’re really starting to see Josh evolve and kind of step away from himself a bit. But how do you think Liz is evolving?

So, Liz, she makes a series of choices that are uncharacteristic for her and they lead to her having an affair with a very married, very well known celebrity called Santa Claus [laughs]. An older man, very successful and refined. He comes down her chimney by accident one night and she’s just totally smitten and decides to go against her better instincts and have an affair. And that episode was written by Sofia Alvarez.

 

She wrote Season One’s “Woman Seeking Man,” right? How do you work with her to bring that different perspective to the show?

Well, I’m so grateful they do include me in that process early on. Sofia called when she was writing the episode and she was like well, “We have some exciting stuff for you this year.” And then once early drafts start coming in, we read them together, and kind of talk about the arc of the character. It’s great. I feel so supported, not only as an actor, but an artist on this show.

After the first of these female POV episodes, did you receive any memorable responses? Because I feel like it was a very pivotal moment in the series.

I think it just shows how universal looking for love is… and at the same time, stakes tend to be slightly higher for Liz’s character for whatever reason. I don’t know if it’s just because she’s a woman or she’s at a different place in her life than Josh is, but that’s been the consistent feedback that I was getting, like, wow the stakes are just so high.

Would you say that you’re able to bring yourself to this character? Or do you kind of visit her and take things away from her experience?

[Laughs] It’s probably a little bit more of that latter, although this show requires so much authenticity within the absurd elements that I’m when I’m grounding myself, it’s a lot of Britt, but the details of Liz and her life are very different from myself. She’s a businesswoman and an alpha-female. She’s a cutthroat lawyer — she’s on top of it. And though she’s on top of her career, she’s a little less in tune with her emotional life until she makes the decision to have an affair with either a robot or, you know, a fairytale creature [laughs]. Then [the affair] illuminates something else about the character that’s more universal, which is the idea of choosing someone who’s not right for you and trying to make it work so desperately even though all of the signs are like don’t do that. And you do it anyway.

Besides having an affair with Santa, is there a specific moment that stands out for you this season?

Yeah totally! My favorite scene all season is when we had the brilliant Scott Thompson play the blind prophet, Tyreseus in the final episode of the show. Getting to work with him was an absolute treat and also just the funniest scene.

I spoke with Jay Baruchel recently and we were talking about how even though the show is so absurd, it’s very rooted in reality. Do you all kind of bring your own personal experiences to the set?

Yeah, absolutely and I know the writers for sure sit in the writing room and they just share personal, embarrassing, terrifying, and wonderful stories with one another. And our jobs as actors is to bring reality to those stories.

Your character does definitely ground the series in a way. Even when she’s in the most bizarre situations, there is a feeling of, “OK, this isn’t totally out there all the time.”

Yeah, like we’re on Earth. Even though there are aliens here, we’re on the earth [laughs]. But I love that. I also think that Liz is actually really funny and she has a sense of humor, but she’s just more serious than Mike. And that’s nice because you have the devil and the angel on Josh’s shoulders guiding him through his search for love. Then what’s so nice in Season Two is that we get to see both Mike and Liz on their own adventures, making mistakes… and you see that they’re not so perfect or horrible either — they’re just humans.

[Stream Season Two of Man Seeking Woman on FXNOW and catch up on Hulu]

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Photos: FXX