Cell Block Tango Musical, Kaya Leaves for Task Force

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “Ramen Holiday,” the Season 2 finale of “Elsbeth,” now streaming on Paramount+.

All it took was a little razzle dazzle and a stint in prison for Elsbeth Tascioni to get her groove back.

In the Season 2 finale of CBS’ “Elsbeth,” the tenacious lawyer turned NYPD investigator (Carrie Preston) found herself behind bars for the first time since an episode of “The Good Wife” back in 2013. After going a smidge too far in last week’s episode with well-connected murder suspect Rod Bedford (Billy Magnussen), Elsbeth is sent to jail on charges of felony harassment by a judge looking to punish her for her role in the murder of Judge Crawford (Michael Emerson), whom she was investigating for two murders.

Elsbeth’s incarceration gives the series a chance to indulge in a bit of theatricality, with a jailhouse musical number set to the tune of “Cell Block Tango” from “Chicago,” the full scene of which you can exclusively watch above.

But it isn’t just anyone dancing through Elsbeth’s mind. Her new prison accommodations are shared by several of the murderers that she caught over the show’s first two seasons, including decluttering guru Freya Frostad (Mary-Louise Parker), cosmetic surgeon Dr. Vanessa Holmes (Gina Gershon), high-end matchmaker Margo Clarke (Retta), restaurateur Pupetta Del Ponte (Alyssa Milano), tech entrepreneur Quinn Powers (Elizabeth Lail), designer Matteo Hart (Andre de Shields), obsessive bartender Joe Dillon (Arian Moayed) and theater director Alex Modarian (Stephen Moyer), aka the first person Elsbeth exposed as a killer in her gig for the NYPD.

The idea to reassemble a murderer’s row of the show’s famous guest stars was more of a pipe dream than anything, until all the pieces fell into place.

“It was all just sort of hoping that we’d be able to pull it together and we’d be able to get a whole bunch of people to come back,” showrunner Jonathan Tolins tells Variety. “And we leapt without knowing. We had no backup plan, actually.”

But this is still a murder mystery after all, and someone’s gotta die. The unfortunate victim of the week is Modarian, who is stabbed to death in the prison library, with a blade made out of ramen noodles (that’s not a joke). With a case to distract her from her otherwise dire circumstances, the dark cloud (and drab prison attire) that’s been hanging over the usually effervescent Elsbeth since Crawford’s assassination melts away and she falls right back into crime-solving mode to find out who killed the man everyone seemed to hate.

She reinterrogates her former suspects, all of whom are defiant, irritated and a little fascinated by their second chance at duping the great Elsbeth. But in the end, these murderers are innocent. Rather, Elsbeth uncovers that it was the warden (Donna Lynne Champlin) who killed Alex because he was helping her traffic contraband into the prison and he planned to turn her in to cut a deal for less jail time.

Without her usual cohorts at the NYPD, Elsbeth lays out her suspects using a good old-fashioned musical interlude, performed by the Merry Murderesses in Elsbeth’s cell block (Parker, Gershon, Retta, Milano and Lail). The rendition of “Suspect Tango” was rewritten by Tolins to speak to each of the women’s relationship with Modarian, providing Elsbeth with the perfect escapist fantasy to work out her theories –– even though she takes a break to show off some fancy footwork.

“We came up with something that just felt like what Elsbeth would think are some great dance moves,” Preston says. “The kind of scissor kick in the air or a gallop off the stage. You know what I mean? This was Elsbeth’s idea of her big dream to be on the big stage coming to life.”

While the episode has some of the most ambitious material the show has ever attempted, it also serves as a big send off for Elsbeth’s former partner, Kaya (Carra Patterson), who is joining a task force and leaving the precinct. Tolins confirms Patterson is leaving as a series regular but will return in a guest star capacity starting in Season 3. But the loss of her partner at a time when Elsbeth is already questioning her place at the NYPD will have consequences next season.

Below, Preston and Tolins talk to Variety about what Kaya’s exit means for Elsbeth, which part of the musical number almost didn’t make the cut, and why this episode had so much talk about ramen noodles.

When did you decide that you needed to send Elsbeth back to jail?

Jonathan Tolins: It was during our little writers’ boot camp at the beginning of Season 2. The idea of doing something at a high-end prison was brought up, and we joked that if we do that, then maybe we could do “Cell Block Tango” and get previous murderers to be in the prison. Then later on, someone said we should go all the way and make Elsbeth a prisoner, and not just have her called into a prison where a murder has taken place. It was just one of those ideas that was always like, “Well, that’ll be the finale,” just sort of hoping that we’d be able to pull it together and we’d be able to get a whole bunch of people to come back. And we leapt without knowing. We had no backup plan, actually. I guess we would have just created a bunch of characters. But fortunately, so many people said yes.

Carrie, what was it like to be back in jail? We’ve seen Elsbeth in this situation previously on “The Good Wife,” but this is a noticeably more theatrical and fun stint.

Carrie Preston: We definitely didn’t have any musical numbers way back when. But yeah, it’s just a great evolution of the character after this assassination that she experienced right in front of her. Even though Judge Crawford has been killed, he still has this huge presence, and because of this other judge, he is still somehow meddling in her life and is going to be punitive even from the grave. Then also just seeing Elsbeth having to grapple with a crisis of faith in some ways in the justice system. This judge that she got all the evidence against somehow comes out being a martyr. So she comes into the jail situation holding all of that stuff. But then as soon as she gets back on her overall mission in life, which is to solve crimes and find justice, she’s back to herself again.

When did the ramen noodles of it all come into play? Because you commit so hard to it that you even have an animated sequence to prove that ramen noodles can be fashioned into deadly weapons.

Tolins: You know, it began with our exhaustive research, which is basically Googling. Apparently, ramen has replaced cigarettes as a form of currency behind bars, and I just think there’s something inherently funny about ramen. I don’t know why, I guess noodles are funny. In fact, the writers’ room actually did get really frustrated with me, because every time we started going to a place where we would lose ramen as being central to the story, I said, “No, no, we’ve got to stick to the ramen.”

We found this video on YouTube of someone showing how to make a knife out of pasta that was really sharp and scary. It also ended up working well with some of our murderers we brought back. We have Pupetta, who ran a restaurant, and we had chef Viv [Pamela Adlon] earlier this season, who was a chef. So there were lots of ways that it could lead to a story for us. And of course, then I ended up with the title of the episode, which is “Ramen Holiday.” I know puns are kind of a low form of humor, but, oh, that made me laugh.

Beyond the ramen, this musical number sequence is such an elevation of the show’s sensibilities. Carrie, you get to play the Roxie Hart role in this nod to “Chicago,” but that also means Elsbeth doesn’t get to sing. She’s the observer. How hard was it not to join these ladies in this big moment? 

Preston: It was very hard! I love being a part of that ensemble. But it was also a little bit of a vacation for me, because I’m so used to being the one who has to drive all the scenes. So to be able to show up and just be an audience to these incredible actors and see what they came up with alongside Lionel Coleman, our amazing director, and Susan Misner, who did the choreography, was just so great. To see them putting this on, I felt like I was going to opening night — you know, just on a prison set.

Oh, and the set, that was built from scratch specifically for this episode. So it really felt special. It was definitely something that we hadn’t come close to doing yet. Everybody brought their A-game, and it definitely had a sense of something new and exciting for us as a company. 

Don’t sell yourself too short. Elsbeth does dance in the background at one point, so she and you get your moment. 

Preston: I did! I didn’t have time to rehearse with any of the ladies, because I was shooting all the other stuff and our time is very limited when you’re shooting an episode of TV in eight days. So when I showed up on the day, Susie is a dear friend and was like, “OK Carrie, I know you’re gonna come up with something fun here. Let’s work together.” So I just started moving around and we kind of refined it. We came up with something that just felt like what Elsbeth would think are some great dance moves. You know what I mean? The kind of scissor kick in the air or a gallop off the stage. This was Elsbeth’s idea of her big dream to be on the big stage coming to life.

Jon, what was it like to stage a fantasy musical number in this world? It sounds like “Cell Block Tango” was your only choice from the beginning. 

Tolins: Oh yeah, it was always going to be “Cell Block Tango” or nothing. It just just lent itself to it so well. But it was really scary because Gail Barringer, our line producer, committed to building the prison set before we had even figured out the story. Before I even wrote the script, I wrote this version of “Cell Block Tango,” once I knew what characters were most likely to be in it, because it takes a while to get approval from the various estates for the rights to do a number like that. So up until right before we started shooting, it was like, “Oh my God, is this even gonna happen?” It was a real “If you build it, they will come.” 

Musical fans will likely have a bone to pick with you, though. You had Donna Lynn Champlin right there and she doesn’t sing! Were you tempted to throw your warden into that number in some form or fashion?

Tolin: It was hard. I know that Donna Lynne Champlin is a huge musical person, especially from “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” But really, what I was casting her off was her performance in “The Perfect Couple,” which I saw recently. I just said, that’s who it should be and we offered it to her. But she was very frustrated that she didn’t get to sing.

Preston: Or even just whip out a tap number! Just a little tap number off to the side. Something!

Tolins: I know, I know. But again, we have 43 minutes. I still have to do a murder mystery too!

The running joke for two seasons has been the whole show that when someone asks if she works with the police, Elsbeth doesn’t really have a straight answer. But at the end of this season, the final scene sees her give this big speech about their collective mission. Have we gotten to a place where Elsbeth knows what her role is? 

Tolins: Oh, I think she knows why, and I think her colleagues know why, but the rest of the world may continue to have questions about it. Don’t forget, Crawford, before his demise, started some kind of an internal investigation into Captain Wagner and put a lot of more pressure and scrutiny on the precinct. Some of that, I have a feeling, will continue into Season 3.

Carrie, what did you think about that final speech Elsbeth gives that really says a temporary goodbye to Kaya? 

Preston: Well, it was a beautiful piece of writing by Jon. It was just very moving to look out at the group of actors that were assembled for that scene as well. It was not a hard scene to perform. I just dropped down into it and talked to these people that I love, especially Carra. So it was just one of those moments that makes you grateful to be working with incredible artists, and to be trying to say something to the world that I think the world wants to hear.

Tolins: That was also an incredible day. All of our guest stars were across the street learning their choreography on the prison set. Then on the precinct set, we had the greatest number of people on our show in the same place at the same time, because we had so many of our detectives who were able to be in that scene and our uniform officers. It also was Wendell and Carra’s last day of the season. It was a really emotional and great day. It was also the first day I brought my mother and my sister to the set, and I finally managed to impress my sister for the first time in my life! So it was a lovely day.

Preston: I think we took a big company photo that day too. So the entire crew came in. Everybody who makes this show was there on that day. It just made sense that that would be the speech that Elsbeth would be giving.

Does that mean that the musical number was the last thing you shot for the season? 

Preston: It was! It was wonderful. And we used every single hour of the day that we were allowed to use to do it. And the very last shot, everybody had wrapped out except for me, and we did a little bit with me with some boas and some of the dancers. It was just a great, beautiful way to end the season and kind of summed it up, you know? This woman standing at the center of all of this color swirling around her. I mean, it was just such a meta moment there.

Tolins: And Carrie, you don’t know this yet, but that did make the final cut.

Preston: Oh good!

Carra Patterson is leaving as a series regular, but Kaya will be back as a guest star. This is such a crucial time for Elsbeth because, as you said, she is restoring her faith in the justice system. Is it going to be even tougher for her in Season 3 to have also lost her best friend?

Preston: Well, Jon and the writers are going to start writing again in a couple of weeks, and I trust and put myself in their hands. But I think it is always important to see what happens with Elsbeth when she doesn’t know how to handle a situation. You know, we see her so sure-footed, but what makes her so three dimensional is we also see her vulnerability. She’s not afraid to feel. She’s not afraid to experience loss and awkwardness and love, and all the things that a lot of times we all want to gloss over and pretend don’t exist. Elsbeth doesn’t approach the world that way.

So not having this person that she’s been leaning on and and has been a real anchor for her in the NYPD is probably going to help her strengthen her role there because she’s going to need to do it a little more on her own. I always think in the big picture that this is a show about a woman of a certain age reinventing herself without the need of a man or a crutch. She’s a brave and courageous person who is going into the unknown. And I think that this will continue that journey.

Jon, do you plan on giving her another permanent partner or will the revolving door of detectives in the NYPD be your focus in Season 3? 

Tolin: Well, we’ve started introducing some new uniformed officers with Ethan Slater and B coming on. The one thing I’ve decided is that we’re not just going to try to shoehorn someone into the exact role that Kaya played in Elsbeth’s life, because I think that was a very unique, special relationship between Elsbeth and Kaya, and Carrie and Carra. So we’re going to sort of experiment and find the ways to go.

But I just want to say, in terms of what Carrie was just talking about, one of my favorite lines this season was at the end of [last week’s episode] when Elsbeth is in prison and she says, “I know this is really unusual for me to be in such a dark place. Well, it’s unusual for me to show it.” I think that’s a great line because it would be one thing if it feels like Elsbeth is just a perfectly sunny person and she’s divorced from reality. But no, it’s a discipline to be joyous and enthusiastic and caring and kind. It’s a choice. I think it makes it so much more meaningful that we know it’s not just easy for her to be Elsbeth all the time, and it makes me love the character even more. 

This episode had to make you want to bring back more of your murderers. Is there anybody that you’d like to see Elsbeth go toe to toe with again in the future? 

Tolin: Oh, can I say all of them? 

Preston: I know Jon and I have been talking about and dreaming about having Tracy Ullman come back but playing a different character. You know, that’s what she does. She transforms like no other.

Tolin: She even suggested it on the set. She said, “Oh, can I come back as someone else?” I mean, I would love to do a whole season where she plays all of the murderers!

This interview has been edited and condensed.