NBC's Deception is in full swing.
In the third installment of the rookie soap, detective Joanna Locasto (Meagan Good) finds herself spending more and more time with the wealthy, powerful Bowers family as she continues to delve deeper into the untimely murder of her best friend Vivian. Only problem? The family who raised her isn't aware of her true intentions for re-inserting herself back into their lives.
For Good, straddling the line between the truth and living a lie, is a unique aspect to playing Joanna, who Good admires because she isn't "self-righteous or judgmental." "Being put back into that atmosphere, where she's walking a thin line of what her truth is and at the same time not being who she really is, it's a weird, fun space to live in," she told The Hollywood Reporter, adding that playing scenes with members of the Bowers family is challenging.
"You have to figure out the strongest place to function from," Good said. "Is the strongest place the relationship she has with the family or getting justice for her best friend or being who she is at heart?"
But surprisingly, it's the quieter scenes that flummox the 31-year-old actress the most, especially with one particular Bowers family member. Good likened Joanna's past history and romance with younger Bowers son/playboy Julian (Wes Brown) as "fuzzy."
"The simpler scenes are the ones that stand out to me because that's when she really has to fight to be somebody she's not and be somebody she is," she explained. "[Especially] the scenes between her and Julian. This guy was her first first; she still has feelings for him after all these years but she doesn't know if he could be Vivian's murderer."
Julian isn't the only man in Joanna's life: best friend/former flame/fellow FBI agent Will Moreno (Laz Alonso) is a major factor in the budding love triangle.
"It definitely gets a lot more complicated," she said. "It gets more intense. It's different straddling both worlds: the fantasy of Julian and the real world [with Will]. They're both equally appealing."
As the episodes unfold, Joanna's double life will start to unravel slowly.
"I want people to care about her. I want people to worry about what's ultimately going to happen with her in this world. Things do start to get exposed," Good said. "The rabbit hole keeps getting deeper and deeper and deeper. She can definitely lose her life over this."
As far as the comparisons to the Revenges and The Killings of the worl goes, Good was diplomatic about how some may view her show.
"It's a natural thing for there to be comparisons when there's a new show, and I think they're awesome comparisons, but I do feel like our show is different in the sense that it's got so many different elements," Good said. "It's its own world."
Deception airs 10 p.m. Mondays on NBC.
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