The summer season of Major Crimes begins to wrap up tonight, with part one of a three-week summer finale arc. MajorCrimesTV caught up with Michael Paul Chan and Raymond Cruz on their last day of summer filming to get the scoop on their characters, how this season has changed both Mike and Julio, and find out just how intense we can expect these last few episodes to get!
MajorCrimesTV: I just finished watching last week’s episode, and I’m really loving where this season has brought things to at this point, and the showdown it is leading up to.
You both have also been exploring some new sides and moments with your characters. For Raymond, there have been some really interesting changes we’ve seen in Julio over the last 6 months or so, from the unfortunate way that his relationship with worked out in the 5-episode arc with Stephanie Dunn, to wanting to become a foster parent and potentially having this very difficult boy live with him. How has this been for you to explore this other side of Sanchez?
Raymond Cruz: It’s been interesting to get to see the softer side to Sanchez. You get to see him care for this child and protect him and he goes to some real interesting places as it moves forward.
Michael Paul Chan: That we can’t talk about.
RC: MPC loves my tough side.
MPC: *singing* Softer-side… softer-side
MCTV: I like it! Julio’s new theme song! So having this child, Mark, who’s obviously been raised in a terribly racist homes, is definitely a interesting dynamic to have Sanchez dealing with, because knowingly or not, the what Mark says to Julio is insulting and is degrading. How does that work with Sanchez’s anger issues? Does it test what he has learned about controlling his temper?
RC: He really has to exercise patience which he learned at anger management so it helps and the kid. When you just decide to put the kid first, it really makes it easy.
MCTV: It’s amazing how quickly he’s gone from being a little taken aback by the child, to being protective, and ultimately, very fatherly.
RC: Yeah when he was trying to get the child to be a witness I was all over G.W.
MCTV: I know you guys can’t much about the upcoming summer finale episodes, but what I am interested in is that James Duff has said before that the theme this season is balance and rebalancing and we are obviously seeing that in a lot of different ways. Overall how have you seen that theme playing into your characters?
RC: As far as my character is concerned I feel that he has had to learn how to balance his emotions. And balance his work life with his home life, and having to deal with personal issues and not having that bleed into work. And all of that requires having to walk a very tight balance to keep everything from not merging too much.
MPC: In regards to balance-
RC: Badge of Justice!
MPC: Yeah there is that side story of the influence of Hollywood and how it affects Tao-
RC: Corrupts!
MPC: And it brings on certain jealousy within our squad.
RC: Denison!
MPC: With a bit of humor, yes, but I am interested to see where it can go. Something might you know, bite him seriously as a result of all that.
MCTV: A couple weeks ago we saw Tao go undercover – tell us about that?
MPC: I hate to use the word fun but it was fun and it was uncomfortable. Anytime an actress, a serious actress, has to disrobe it’s a bit uncomfortable.
RC: Not for me!
MPC: It was good stuff.
MCTV: It was nice to see Tao in a different realm taking over and stepping up for the undercover operation.
MPC: It’s been a while since I’ve done that. I think the last time I was undercover was when I dressed up as a biker dude when we did The Closer.
MCTV: So, I know details about the summer finale are really tightly wrapped, but anything you can let us know about these final three episodes without giving too much away?
RC: Well I can just say without revealing anything is that I actually got injured from filming these episodes. I’m okay now. I can’t really say much, but yeah on a personal note, I was physically tested.
MCTV: From stunts?
RC: Yes.
MCTV: Well I’m glad you’re better now.
MPC: We really can’t say anything. Not even a tickle! Ok, one thing. There’s three parts.
RC: You can’t say that!
MPC: There’s three episodes left right? So that means there’s three parts!
RC: I can say that the audience is going to be frightened.
MPC: After one, comes two. And after two, three!
MCTV: That’s a tease if I ever heard one! We’ll just have to tune in and find out!
Part one of the three-part Major Crimes summer finale airs tonight at 10pm/9c on TNT.
LOVE LOVE LOVE Major Crimes. Looking forward to these coming episodes.