Episode Report Card Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT "Penny is not a diva, but Sherry is"
By Gustave | Season 2 | Episode 25 | Aired on 07.16.2003
When Sherry says, "The bomb was never meant to go off," in your mind is she telling the truth? Absolutely. I think that finally someone used Sherry. And that was one of the biggest conflicts for her. It was enough to store venom to hate again. Not only was she used, she was used by someone so very powerful -- the Kingsley character -- and he was so much more powerful than she was that he could take her out. And I think that was alarming and disarming for Sherry because she's always in control and nothing is too much for [her]. So she found herself thinking, "Oh my God, how do I fix this one? I'm not the one controlling it. Someone is using me!" Sherry ended up getting played and that was a reality check for her. It made her lose contact with the reason she was doing this in the first place: the fact that she loved that man and he didn't want her anymore. At the end of last season when they were bringing you back for the second season, what were they telling you about your character? They weren't telling me anything. Big surprise. [laughs] Yeah, absolutely nothing. I did not find out anything about my character until we had this presentation for the Television Critics Association where I cornered Joel [Surnow] and I said, "Okay, where do we go from here?" And he said, "You don't want to know everything." And I said, "Oh, you're right, I don't. [laughs] But I must know something." And he said, "Well, this is what's going to happen." And I was anxious to know what was going to happen and how she'd come back onto the scene and how she would show herself and get back into everyone's good graces or not. I guess the second season was about getting in good graces no matter what -- redemption. The first season is about "not getting being found out." But this season was a wonderful game of chess. She would try different tactics. She ended up playing a master game with Jack Bauer. Sherry doesn't like to lose. She'll go to no end to prove that. Day One, you were a masterful public figure -- someone who could assume the ornamental duties of the First Lady and play to the audience. Day Two, you were you a player. You were a Pamela Harriman character -- a backroom gal, so to speak. Well, the "Day Two Sherry" was a woman scorned. She was right out of the Bible. Jezebel! [laughs] And yet she was still believing and feeling. There was a scene we shot that didn't make the final edit of the last episode. I believe it's going to be on the DVD. Anyway, the scene shows that Sherry gets a lot of satisfaction out of being redeemed. Actually I'm happy they didn't put it in because it defined her a little too much. The beauty of her is her ambiguity -- the fact that you always have to guess where she's coming from. It would have been foolish to make her too clear.