Matt Lauria did his best work in the last few episodes of CSI: Vegas Season 2 as Josh Folsom tried to save his estranged mother from her drug habit. Dealing with drugs and shady people got her killed.
Josh was filled with regret, guilt, and anger and had no outlet for his emotions. Matt Lauria portrayed a grieving son beautifully as he vowed vengeance on his mom’s killers.
TV Fanatic chatted with Matt about Josh’s estranged relationship with Jeanette, how he prepared for these emotional scenes, and what the future holds for Josh. Check it out below:
Hi Matt. It’s great to see you again. The CSI: Vegas Season 2 finale was some of your best work. In the back half of Season 2, they explored your history with your estranged mother and your friend Trey. What caused this estrangement between Josh and Jeanette, and why does she prefer Trey?
During Josh’s adult life, he had to separate himself from the criminality infused into his upbringing. Now, he’s a CSI, so obviously, there’s tension and estrangement there, but also her drug use. He has a lot of love and fondness for his mother but also pain and heartbreak.
This isn’t the first time that Josh has been in situations that a young child should never be in, dealing with someone who has a heroin addiction or other drug addiction.
He dealt with the fear and the pain of either potential overdoses or the environment of seeing his mother passed out on the couch.
The viewers experience these things in the final episodes of the season where she’s hanging around with these drug dealers, she’s part of this operation around these shady characters, and she’s back on drugs.
That is representative of what Josh grew up with. It’s heartbreaking. He’s protecting himself from that, doing his best to help her, and failing repeatedly. So, that’s the source of that estrangement.
I don’t know that she prefers Trey. Any preference that she shows to Trey is a game. Josh has a complicated relationship with his mother, and she’s needling Josh by acting like she prefers Trey even if she doesn’t.
This is who they are, and this is where they’re from. This is a tight-knit group that takes care of one another. Josh was not falling in line with them. It’s a device she’s used to get a reaction from Josh.
That makes sense. When did you learn that Jeanette would die and that you would avenge her death?
I want to say in the first quarter of the season, around the fifth episode. Jason Tracey gave a few of us a breakdown of some things we might experience this season.
By the end of Season 2, he told me this was what he was thinking about. So, that was something for me to tuck away and wrap my mind and heart around.
Then before the end of the season, I re-approached it with Jason Tracey and said if we were doing this, I wanted to explore the conversation more so that I could prepare. We had lunch and talked about the way that the final three episodes were going to shape up.
How did you prepare for these emotional scenes, especially about her death, the scenes in the morgue, and enacting revenge?
I did a lot of work and a lot of prep beforehand. My entire journey as an artist prepared me for this because I remember doing plays in college, where my emotional range wasn’t as developed.
I spent those 20 years developing my craft, process, and emotional instrument to prepare for this.
I prepared in the way I prepared for any role, including employing my imagination. I have notebooks from the first episode of Season 1.
I’ve got 31 episodes worth of notebooks where I go back and start getting curious about and understanding Josh’s personal, emotional, and professional constitution.
What are the significant influences on Josh as he deals with any relationship? So much of that information evolves because the more scripts I got, the more information I got about Josh’s life, family, and background. I have this wealth of knowledge to draw from.
I had a beautiful collaborator with Lolita, who played Josh’s mother and who’s an incredible artist.
When a scene has been handed to me, I accept it wholeheartedly, without judgment. I pour as much of my heart into it. I’m in my character’s headspace of what it means.
You get to a place where you have enough value for this person in front of you and the circumstances that you’re in, and you’re familiar with why those things matter.
You walk into the morgue, and how can it not break your heart? It’s what I love most about being an actor. It’s that part of the craft of acting, telling relatable and human stories. That is what I am most passionate about and what I love the most.
How will Josh’s actions affect his future at CSI and his relationship with the team?
I don’t know. There’s a big mess to clean up.
Is your character going to be returning next season? Is getting Josh out of prison and reinstated going to be a part of Season 3? I certainly hope this wasn’t a way to get rid of Josh because I like Josh.
Thank you for saying that. I do too. All of the questions you just asked are those I have asked too. I read the script, and I thought, what happens next? I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it crossed my mind that there could be a third season without Josh Folsom.
From everything I’ve been told, that’s not the case. But what that future looks like and whether or not Josh is a CSI…
If I were to guess, Josh has some explaining to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were in prison or if he wasn’t a CSI at the beginning of Season 3. I haven’t read any scripts, and there’s a strike. I know from the writers that I will return, but there is much to untangle.
Do you think Josh has a case for justifiable homicide or pleading insanity because of his grief?
Yeah, definitely. I’m not saying it’s justifiable or proper. But I’m eager to find out exactly what happened that night, and I’ll find out alongside all the viewers. I can’t say what may or may not have happened, but it is possible that Josh took a person’s life in a moment of great disturbance and grief.
Well, thank you. I certainly hope we find out next year. I love crime TV, and this would make an interesting arc for the first part of Season 3.
CSI: Vegas returns in 2024 at midseason for Season 3.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Laura Nowak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
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