After a harrowing first season, Starz drama Hightown has reached its finale, and only some characters got a happy ending. While things were looking up for Monica Raymund's Jackie after she helped solve a murder mystery and seemingly fully committed to her recovery from her drug and alcohol addictions, James Badge Dale's Detective Ray Abruzzo finally got his comeuppance for his dalliances with his confidential informants and was stripped of his police badge. Of course, the revelation of Ray's actions also ensured that the drug kingpin he was chasing, Frankie Cuevas (Amaury Nolasco), went free, ensuring there will be plenty more story to tell when the show returns for its second season.
CBR spoke to both Raymund and Dale about where their characters are as Season 1 comes to a close and tease where we can expect them to go in Season 2.
Raymund acknowledged that Jackie essentially traded one addiction for another in Hightown's first season, as she became obsessed with discovering who was responsible for the murder of Sherry Henry after finding her body on the beach at the beginning of the season. "So there's something in the recovery world that I've learned is called cross addiction," Raymund explained. "It's pretty common. People who get sober, if they put down a bottle and they put down a drug, usually they're kind of itching for something.... And this is for sure... she starts to become addicted to this investigation."
Yet, Raymund noted that in Jackie's case, her involvement in the investigation had some benefits.
"...sometimes it's okay to be so so enmeshed in something if it is for healthy reasons and if it's for the right reasons. And in Jackie's case, [the investigation] is something, this mission is a way for her to find purpose, for to face her own flaws...."
By the end of the season, things appear to be improving for Jackie as she finally starts to face her addictions in earnest. Season 2 will continue to follow Jackie's journey, including her recovery, but Raymund isn't sure things will stay so positive for her character.
"Season 2, I have no idea what's written," Raymund shared. "So I can't say what's going to happen. But I imagine that, just like in real life where the road to recovery is never a straight path, I would imagine that Jackie's will have twists and turns too. Part of recovery is relapse and part of recovery is… slipping and it's not perfect. That's such a flawed experience. So I would bet to see that she's going to probably do really well, and then we might see her have to face her battles again. And maybe go into the dark side."
Meanwhile, Dale admitted, "When I watch [Hightown] I'm like, 'I don't trust Ray.... I wouldn't trust that guy to walk my dog.'"
However, he also said that his character, "tries to do the best he can every day.... For all his abrasiveness Ray is a very sweet, vulnerable guy. I think Ray has a lot of love to give. I think Ray's lonely. I think Ray desperately does search somewhere inside to connect to other people...."
Nonetheless, the season-long murder investigation ultimately unravels because of Ray's actions and he ends the season in a very bad place. When asked whether things might improve for Ray in Season 2, Dale revealed he was happy to go in whatever direction the story took his character.
"This is what I'll say, and I've talked to [creator] Rebecca Cutter about this, because she asked me, 'what would you want to do?' I don't think like that," Dale explained. "I want to do whatever you want to do. Just use me. Use Ray, throw Ray up against this wall and then grab him and throw him all the way against the other wall on the other side of the room. Beat him up, man. That's fun for me.
"And I had a great time going on this ride this season," he continued. "It's a beautiful ride with a beautiful cast, and I think the storytelling was done with care and subtlety and love. And, yeah, it hurts sometimes because we all go through it, man, we're there. But I had a great time."
Starring Monica Raymund, James Badge Dale, Shane Harper, Riley Voelkel, Amaury Nolasco, Atkins Estimond and Dohn Norwood, the first season of Hightown is available to stream on Starz.com and the Starz app. The show has been renewed for a second season.