Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Hulu‘s brand new drama Shut Eye takes a deep, mind-bending dive into the world of psychics. When we meet Jeffrey Donovan‘s Charlie Haverford, he’s a failed Vegas magician and storefront psychic con artist. After he gets a blow to the head, he discovers he has the power to read minds. But he’s not the only person with power in Shut Eye; His wife, Linda, played by KaDee Strickland, is the force in his family.
Linda Haverford is bold, ambitious, and a tad bit on the manipulative side. She reminded me of a suburban Lady MacBeth. I asked Strickland if that was intentional. “First of all, thank you, because that’s what we’re going for. So, without knowing that — that you know that makes me feel wonderful,” Strickland told me. “That’s exactly what we’re going for. I think that there’s so many layers to Linda that you see develop and express over the season, as you might have guessed from the pilot. It’s been the greatest romp I’ve had with the cast and with the scripts that just surprise me every time we get in the room.”
One of the biggest surprises in the first episode? A shocking lesbian love scene between Linda and hypnotist Gina (Emmanuelle Chirqui). The scene isn’t surprising because of the content, but the context. Up until that moment, the two women had been seen at odds.
Strickland explained, “What I think you’ll learn about Linda is that she has itches and she’s a person who’s never quite satisfied. So, the exploration of someone like Gina is kind of par for the course for shades of Linda. I remember when we started this process and we talked about that and I was like, “That’s surprising.” When I read the material I thought it was super surprising which was very exciting to me because you don’t see it coming.”
I added, “No, because she is so at odds with Gina up until that point and I can see in your character why you’d be attracted to that —”
“Well it’s Emmanuelle Chriqui,” Strickland laughed. “It’s not like I have to work hard.”
So where are they going with Linda’s extramarital affair?
Strickland said, “Les Bohem, who created the show, said to me, ‘No one ever questions Tony Soprano or his affairs. Why should they question Linda?’ And I thought that was so great because you don’t think about it when men do it. But it’s certainly shocking. I also thought it was shocking because I felt such a partnership between the husband and wife. But, as you’ll see in the coming episodes and as the show develops, things are so not what meets the eye.”
The relationship between Charlie and Linda is the linchpin of the series — but it’s a strained one. When we meet the Haverfords, they clearly love each other, but neither of them are really satisfied.
“I always thought it was so interesting to look at a woman who was a stripper for 9 years in Vegas,” Strickland said. “Who is the man that got her out of that? Why? Why was that so different? What was it about him? And I think, in Linda’s journey, reconnecting and remembering and not being disappointed and trying to remove that illusion from the illusionist right along to fit her desired life — because it is more than just ambition. She really wants more for herself and her family. So that’s the brighter part of the ambition.”
Strickland continued, “And I think there’s also an element of Linda that will never be satisfied ever, ever, ever. So, given that, what is he really capable of? What would the highest achievement for Linda and Charlie be? So it’s really – it’s just exciting when you’re in that head space and it’s a very unique point of view.”
If you want to dive into Charlie and Linda’s complex love story, the entire first season of Shut Eye is now available to stream on Hulu.
