Sullivan’s Crossing: Scott Patterson on the Emotional Finale

The Season 1 finale of The CW’s Sullivan’s Crossing is discussed in this interview, so if you have not watched the season finale yet, do so before reading any further!

The Season One finale of Sullivan’s Crossing brought some closure, yet overall a lot was left on the table and things sadly did not end on the happiest of notes, especially concerning the relationship between Maggie and Sully.

In addition to our discussion leading into the finale, I had the chance to talk to Scott Patterson about the emotional finale and how things weren’t wrapped up with a pretty bow. “That’s how it happens in life, which is why I think the show is so popular, because it seems real and I think people can relate to it, because they’ve been through it [themselves],” Patterson says.

How real the characters come across is a big reason Patterson was drawn to playing Sully. “I didn’t want anyone else playing the character,” he recalls. That’s when you own a role.”

Patterson’s performance as Sully throughout Season One can be described as a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, with his quiet moments alone where he just looked exhausted, his frequent headaches, and his reticence to speak about why he did not go after Maggie.

The way Patterson portrayed Sully throughout the episodes could lead a viewer to think the actor knew from the very beginning how the season would end, with Sully’s collapse and the revelation that he was the one to hit Lola with his truck all those years ago. That viewer would be wrong, however: Patterson didn’t have a clue what was going to happen. “I did not [know] and I didn’t want to know,” Patterson says. While he was given the general history of his character, when concerning the future and the big reveals, Patterson told the creators, “‘Just spare me the details, I’ll discover them when the scripts are delivered.’ That’s how I like to work,” he explains.

That goes hand in hand with the realism that the show has. “I think too much preparation really leads to stale performances,” Patterson says. “I like to discover [the scenes] on the day, in the moment. It’s walking a finer line than I’ve ever attempted, but it’s working out because there’s so much collaboration going on that empowers us. It’s why I think the performances are so fresh and so realistic is because a lot of us are allowing ourselves to be surprised by our own choices in the moment.”

The surprise of Sully being the one to run over Lola was another moment that Patterson had to bring things to a human level and treat Sully as a real person to be able to embody the role. “There are a lot of things that happen to people that they don’t process right away. A situation like that would be so overwhelming. I think Sully is living in denial, because it’s the only way he can plow through. And he does take [Lola and her mother] in. … He did help to raise her. He’s pretty much a father figure to her. And that’s how he assuages his guilt. Is that dysfunctional? Yes. Is that recommended? No. But he did what he could in the moment given who he was in his life.” Yet as any seasoned television viewer knows, secrets do not stay hidden. “The truth will out,” Patterson says.

Concerning Maggie and how she walks away from Sully again, with him doing nothing to stop her, Patterson says, “He might feel like he doesn’t deserve her and that she’s justified in leaving, which can lead to that kind of paralysis.” Patterson thinks that may be the beginning of self reflection, a reflection that overwhelms him and he collapses on his bedroom floor.

“At certain times in all our lives we take on too much,” he explains. “We don’t realize that we’re taking on too much, [or] realize that our circuitry can’t handle that stimulation, whether it’s positive or negative, and we break down. I think that’s what’s happened to Sully. He’s taken on too much anxiety, too much booze. Not enough self reflection, not enough facing up to his fears.”

Sully’s journey has been an emotional one to watch and, one expects, an emotional one to play, especially with actors that are so dedicated to bringing such authenticity. “You want to challenge yourself,” Patterson says. “Deep down you know you can deliver, and really want to deliver, and that’s when you do your best work.”