Grade It! Monarch EP, Star Anna Friel Discuss the Biggest Mysteries of the Series Premiere, Including Dottie’s “Doozy” of a Secret

With a first peek at the launch of Monarch, a complex family drama where the only thing greater than the hair… are the secrets, Fox began a country music Game of Thrones on Sunday.

 

The Romans, the self-described “first family of country music,” are introduced to viewers in episode one. They are headed by egomaniacal Dottie (Susan Sarandon) and her husband Albie (Trace Adkins), who is essentially the human equivalent of a dirt road. If you can look past Dottie’s terminal cancer diagnosis, Albie’s history of infidelity, and the strained bonds they’ve built with their obviously dysfunctional children, it appears like the couple has the ideal existence.

 

Let’s spend a moment discussing those kids: Gigi (Beth Ditto), a happily married lesbian who never even bothered to pursue a career, despite her talent, because she didn’t want to upstage Nicky, and Luke (Joshua Sasse), a frustratingly handsome schemer who looms large as CEO of the family’s record label. Nicky (Anna Friel), whose own solo career has been delayed, if not completely derailed, by her mother’s inability to share the spotlight.

 

Showrunner Jon Feldman tells TVLine that “good people can do horrible things for the right reason, and the Romans certainly do their share of bad things, but there’s always an explanation behind it.” Of course, it depends on the audience whether we support their actions.

 

One of those “terrible things” is, in Feldman’s words, “not a wanton sexual affair,” an affair between Luke and Gigi’s wife Kayla (Meagan Holder). They are attracted to one another emotionally for specific reasons. It does progress, develop, and have some unexpected turns, just like all of the stories and mysteries. It’s possible that the audience’s initial response to the relationship won’t be their final response.

 

Since adultery is a typical occurrence in the Roman family, as you’ve undoubtedly guessed, Nicky isn’t shocked when she learns that her actor husband Clive (Adam Croasdell) is having an extramarital affair with yet another younger co-star. Albie “confesses” to a brief affair that occurred forty years ago toward the conclusion of the premiere, an affair that Dottie evidently knew about all along.

 

Not all of the Romans’ secrets, though, are out in the open. For instance, a plot device that is frequently used throughout the season is the mystery of whose body Albie is shown burying in the flash-forward of the season opener. We also don’t know exactly what Dottie did that was “unforgivable,” though her eerie vision of a barn on fire definitely had something to do with it.

 

We’re going to discover out exactly what she means when she claims she did things that can’t be forgiven, Feldman teases. It’s one of the mysteries that will recur throughout the first season as Albie and Nicky, followed by the other characters, figure out what she really meant. I have to be honest with you; it’s a doozy. We’re planning to make a really huge announcement later in the season.

 

However, the finale’s bombshell will undoubtedly be talked about until Monarch returns in its usual time slot on Tuesday, September 20 (9/8c). Dottie persuades Nicky to assist her in making a lethal cocktail of alcohol and drugs in order to try suicide because she is determined to die on her own terms rather than submit to her cancer. When Gigi unintentionally crashes the party and discovers them in the act, the already horrifying mother-daughter moment takes a much darker turn.