It’s an unfortunate fact that, even at the height of our modern-day TV Renaissance, the vast majority of the medium’s meatiest and most memorable roles fall to men to play. Enter Halt & Catch Fire’s Donna Clark, the mild-mannered computer engineer-turned-housewife who, over the course of the show’s first season, proved that one didn’t need be a scowling, angst-ridden sourpuss to be one of television’s most dynamic, complex character. As expertly played by actress Kerry Bishé, Donna is a woman of many layers—a brilliant mind whose potential and dreams have been squashed not only by the cutthroat, male-centric tech industry, but by the overwhelming societal pressure placed on women to forgo careers and become the family caretaker. With the second season, Donna is seemingly granted a second chance in the form of co-managing a new gaming start-up, only to find her already harried life descending into further chaos. Not only must she deal with the fledgling company and her collapsing marriage, but, in perhaps the series’ most devastating episodes to date, she finds herself forced to make a heartbreaking decision regarding an unexpected pregnancy.
With the end of the show’s second season, Bishé talked with Paste about the experience of developing Donna, how she and the writers navigated the character’s dramatic mid-season decision and the actress’ impressive Ron Swanson-esque undertaking of building her own boat.
Paste Magazine: So Atlanta was actually an old stomping ground of mine. It’s where I went to school at Emory in Decatur. How’s it been filming in the area?
Kerry Bishé: There are things I like about it and things that are a challenge. Mostly, it’s hard to pick up and move anywhere else. I have a whole life in New York and a life in L.A. and to live one-third of the year in a place that isn’t one of those is kind of a bummer. But aside from that, the food is really good. I don’t know what it was like when you were there, but the city has gotten really interesting. There are great restaurants and vibrant neighborhoods that used to be really shitty. It’s a cool time to be there!
Paste: I was actually talking to Jonathon Lisco about a week before the season premiere. According to him, a good chunk of the episodes were done already. For you, is that a weird disconnect that fans of the show are just now responding to things that you did months and months ago?
Bishé: There are a couple ways to look at it. Coming from movies, sometimes by the time people see it, you’re so far disconnected from the scene you did because it happened two years ago. This actually feels relatively quick for an on-camera job. I was also a theater actor, where there was no waiting and literally people are watching the performance while you’re there. We’re about in the middle in terms of that experience (laughs).
Paste: Playing Donna must be interesting. You’ve done TV, but Halt has been the longest running show for you. Obviously, you were in the final season of Scrubs and in a few TV pilots, but Donna is a character you’ve been able to develop over the course of two years. What has that experience been like?
Bishé: That’s a really good question. It’s been really fascinating. There are things that I love about it. I think Donna in particular has grown over the course of the 20 episodes, and it really feels like we have a chance to fulfill the promise that this character had in the beginning. That has meant a lot to me—to be able to delve that deep into the character and give her the respect she deserves.
At the same time, one of the things I’ve learned as an actor is I’m ready to try on different characters and that promise of doing something wildly different all the time feels expansive and it makes me feel bigger than I am, because I’m acknowledging different kinds of parts of myself that I can also understand and empathize with. Playing the same role over and over makes me feel claustrophobic sometimes and smaller than I am. Interestingly, I think those feelings are something the character experiences in her life as an ambitious woman working in tech in the 1980s, who’s also trying to raise her kids and have a successful marriage.
Paste: Watching Donna’s progress has been fascinating. To be perfectly honest, in the first episode I was a bit afraid that she would come across as the nagging wet blanket wife that, unfortunately, we sometimes see in TV. By the fourth episode, when she’s taking charge, it was a real surprise for me and basically the character has been subverting expectations since then. Was their any initial reluctance on your part where you thought, ‘this is an interesting character, but I want to make sure it’s going in a good direction?’
Bishé: Yeah, that was pretty much my exact feeling. You just felt the potential for her to be very interesting. Even in the pilot episode, which is such a brilliant piece of writing, they set her up to be this scolding wife and mom. Then, at a certain point, when she’s in the middle of getting her kids home from school and making dinner, she pops off the back of a Speak & Spell and gets into the guts of the machine. I found that to be a very encouraging sign. In my conversations with [co-creators] Chris Rogers and Chris Cantwell at the very beginning, they made it clear that it’s something they wanted for the character. They wanted it in the show and they absolutely delivered. I am so grateful and happy to be able to play the role, especially how it develops in Season Two.
Paste: Obviously one of the big events this season, is when it’s revealed that Donna is going to be having an abortion. It’s interesting to me that even in a TV landscape where there’s all this room for mature content, having a major character go through with an abortion is relatively rare. Only Maude and Friday Night Lights come to mind for me. What were your thoughts when you learned that would be one of the storylines for your character?
Bishé: I thought it was delicate story to tell about a woman being ambitious and trying to pursue her own career, and I didn’t want it to feel like if you let a woman have a career she will kill your baby (laughs). Then she becomes a horrible mother and turns into a monster and there were times that I felt like… [the writers] felt strongly that Donna shouldn’t be wishy-washy, and that she’s a very practical person and they liked the idea that she would approach this situation practically. She doesn’t even have the time and resources to deal with the family she’s got, and I think they liked giving her a hardedge. To me, for the character, I didn’t think it was a thing that a person like this could take in a cavalier way. I hope we found a middle ground there and what people take away from that in terms of a larger meaning is up to them.
Paste: From where I stand, that was an incredibly moving and powerful part of the show. And very tragic in its own way.
Bishé: Oh, good!
Paste: It’s been very well received by everyone I know who watched the show, so I think you guys did it.
Bishé: Good, so glad to here it!
Paste: In that same episode, there’s a moment where you briefly let yourself get angry and explode at Joe. After spending a season and a half playing someone who is very good at being levelheaded and diplomatic with her emotions, what was it like to play that scene?
Bishé: That’s really hard for me! (laughs) That kind of stuff is really tough. I know for some people it feels really cathartic to be able to get it out that way. But I think what that scene is about is that Donna has two babies this season. She’s pregnant and that has its own set of compromises and decisions she has to make about it and that’s its own tragedy. The other tragedy is the baby that’s her idea—this company. In that moment, the layers are manifold of what she’s responding to and why she slides off the handle. Joe is threatening her work baby that she’s trying to put out in the world and she thinks could really mean something. She’s poured her heart and soul into it. At the same time, he’s sort of challenging her commitment to this thing that’s keeping her from being the mother she wanted. He’s attacking both of her babies so she’s got this really emotional response. That’s uncomfortable and that’s not fun to me to be uncomfortable.