Meet Fern Part 2: Bianca Melchior On Fern's Secrets and Songs In The Way Home Season 4
Fern Landry doesn’t just enter a room, she sparkles. From speakeasy performances to cryptic connections with Kat, Fern has become one of The Way Home’s most intriguing new layers of mythology. In part two of our Pop Culture Planet conversation, Bianca Melchior talks about shaping Fern through movement and song and what it means to portray a character who may know more than she reveals.
Pop Culture Planet: While digging deeper into the photo of Tessa and the video of young Fern that they have, Kat realizes something: they're wearing the same bracelet. Does that mean they know each other in 1925?
Bianca Melchior: It does seem to be the case, doesn't it? The fun about time travel is that the time traveler often has the answer to the what, but is seeking the answer to the how. Kat (Chyler Leigh) knows that Fern winds up wearing this bracelet, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Fern personally knows Tessa or that the bracelet was given to her by Tessa. The possibilities with this show are truly always endless, so I'm going to leave it to everyone to go on the journey and discover that. No spoilers here.
PCP: I also love that Fern confirmed to Kat that she knows they're related because only Landry’s can time travel. Do you think we'll learn more about the origin of that ability and that family history of why they can time travel as Landry’s?
BM: I love that scene and I love that moment. It was actually one of my audition scenes. I think the vulnerability that Fern experiences in that scene is one of the things that made me fall so much in love with her. It's one of the first moments that we get to see Fern consciously opening up and sharing some of her vulnerability with Kat. For Kat, this is the first time that she's really found female kinship on her travels within her bloodline. It’s a beautiful mirroring of the teen Kat and Alice (Sadie LaFlamme-Snow) relationship, which I think is a beautiful and necessary piece of Kat's evolution as a character and friendship. And Fern is just as curious about her family and needs connection to her family as Kat is and does. It’s a beautiful meeting of minds and hearts in this moment. As far as the secrets of the pond, Fern's experience of the pond is very different from Kat’s in that it was never a secret for Fern. I think together their experiences will mish mash and come together to contribute to the audience's curiosities about the Landry family history being very well satisfied. […] It's so exciting to find out the things that have been lost in time.
PCP: There's also a really pointed moment in this episode where Fern performs “Tainted Love,” which is a song from 1981. I was wondering what you think her thought process was behind singing a song that obviously doesn't belong in the 1920s in front of Kat?
BM: Fern speaks and moves and lives in riddles so often that it's difficult to know when she's being pointed and when she's not. Without saying too much, I mentioned before that you know the past is asking questions about the future too. This is really a moment where Fern is processing her own unsolved mysteries and fears in real time. I really love this number because in it we really get to see the beginnings of Fern's unraveling. It's more raw. It's also a unique way I think of experiencing that because, it's not through scene work, it's through song and dance. I really, really love that moment.
PCP: So far you've had a chance to perform three musical numbers across these two episodes: “See You in My Dreams,” “I Love My Baby,” and now “Tainted Love.” I'd love to hear about what went into crafting those performances.
BM: Going into this project, I knew that Fern was a society columnist by day, speakeasy starlet by night. In my audition, I had to sing a song, so I knew that singing was going to be a part of her world. But the main indication in the script that there was any dancing involved in the role was the screen test scene. [With] “I Love My Baby,” “Tainted Love,” “See You In My Dreams,” there wasn't as much screen direction around that. I feel I really took liberty because, for me, I felt like this was something that needed to be a part of her character. I come from a dance background. I've spent a lot of my life choreographing. I'm really grateful that my ideas around choreography for all of those numbers were so embraced and that we ran with it the way we did. It was really a gift to have the creative liberty there to express Fern through movement. I had so much fun researching ‘20s dance movement and styles and making sure that I could include recognizable moves. You got the Charleston in there, things like that. Every number I had a different approach.
For the screen test, because I knew it was going to be something that was chopped up and it was also something that was going to be silent, I tried to just provide as much material as possible. I choreographed maybe a minute or two of movement that we just ran through twice on camera so they could do what they will with it. Then “See You In My Dreams,” again, Lingermore stuff was some of the first stuff that I shot, so I didn't have a lot of prep time leading up to it. I wasn't really sure what we were going to be doing with it. I remember just being in my trailer maybe about like 20, 30 minutes before going to set and being like, I think I should think of some ideas for this because she's not going to stand still. That's not her, you know? I spent like 15 minutes in my trailer just coming up with what felt a bit more like movement direction. We wanted this moment to feel casual and spontaneous that Grayson's (Gabriel Hogan) wanting her to perform in front of people and to also be something where she can really connect with the people in the room. That was really fun and quick and I love the way it ended up reading.
“I Love My Baby” is such a bop. I really felt like that was the one that needed to have proper choreo. It was really fun because I choreographed it at home on my own. I didn't really have a concept of what the space was going to be like. […] Adapting it for the space is really fun with that little stage and running around the pole and all of that stuff. I really love the way that came out too.
And “Tainted Love” was something that we wanted to feel more raw. That was also a little bit more of […] a movement direction thing because I wanted it to really be about the song and the lyrics and the performance versus the dancing of it all. It was such a great challenge too because I got the experience of wearing multiple hats on set while being the performer. I didn't have a choreographer or movement director at the monitor letting me know what's working and what's not working. I had to be really aware of myself. It was just a beautiful experience and I'm really happy with the way it all came out. […] It speaks a lot to the team and how much they really do care about our input and our thoughts on everything. Like they create the blueprint and then they really welcome what other little embellishments and sparkles that we bring to the roles. It always felt like a safe place to ask a question or suggest something. I'm so lucky. So lucky.
PCP: If you could perform any song, from any time on the show that you feel reflects Fern's journey this season, what would it be?
BM: That's a really good question. I love to make playlists for characters to track their emotional journey. Maybe some sort of ‘20s rendition of “Time” by Billy Porter. All of the characters in The Way Home are going on their own unique journeys of finding their way home. I think that's a song that really encapsulates, not just Fern's journey, but all of our journeys this season. And I just love that song so much.
PCP: It looks like Fern also may have set Kat up at this speakeasy. What do you think that means? Can we trust Fern?
BM: Can we ever really trust anyone? I think it's safe to say that the fun and the love that Kitty Kat and Fern share across episodes two and three is very real. Whether Fern winds up steering us into more dangerous waters or not, Fern, much like Kat, is always moving from a place of love. And knowing Fern and Kat's relationship in the late '70s, those two will always find their way to harmony with each other. But how? We'll see.
PCP: We've seen this clock that Elliot (Evan Williams) had in his walls that was put in the 1920s. It plays “Beautiful Dreamer” at 11:11. It feels very intentional. Is there anything that you can tease related to that?
BM: You ask great questions. Nothing in this show happens without meticulous intention. Our writers are incredibly detail oriented and they really don't miss a beat, so you're right to be picking up on the significance of it. [In season 3], “Beautiful Dreamer” is a song that Jill [Frappier]’s Fern and Kat have a moment with in the Landry kitchen where Fern starts singing it and Kat really doesn't understand the significance of it in that moment. This season is really exciting for Fern because, in moments like that, she's always being chalked up as someone who's a bit of a kook in and maybe losing it a little bit or maybe old age is starting to get her. But we're learning through season 4 that she knows much more than we think. She's very wise and intelligent and is quite playful with the ways that she shares and withholds that information that she has. I won't say more than that, but I'm definitely really excited for the audience to get to know where that song fits in the worlds.
PCP: Did you take anything from the set to commemorate your time there?
BM: Oh, yes. I took so many things. I shouldn't say I took so many things. I was given things. I didn't I'm not a stealer. I took the key bracelet that was given to me by Alex [Clarke] and Heather [Conkie]. I wear it all the time. I love it so much. In episode two, there's mention of the film that Grayson is bringing to town that Fern is going to be starring in. They actually made a movie poster of that film and I got to take that home. It's framed in my office now and makes me smile every time I pass it. I also took two of Fern's coats and her dancing shoes.
New episodes of The Way Home season 4 air Sundays at 9pm on Hallmark Channel.
