Cristin Milioti breaks down that 'terrifying' Made for Love season 2 finale ending
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Warning: This article contains spoilers about the season 2 finale of Made for Love, now streaming on HBO Max.
Started from the bottom, now Hazel's here at the top on Made for Love.
HBO Max's dark tech comedy began with Hazel (Cristin Milioti) realizing just how trapped she'd become by her billionaire genius husband Byron (Billy Magnussen) and making her epic escape from The Hub. But by the end of season 2, not only had Hazel returned to Byron and to life at The Hub, but she also managed to completely flip the power dynamics on their head and trapped Byron's consciousness deep inside his own body, allowing Other Byron — a.k.a. the more innocent and carefree created consciousness based on Byron's memories — to keep full control of the body. Now Hazel was the leader of Gogol and Byron was her prisoner ... plus she was also six months pregnant with Byron's baby.
"I loved it," Milioti tells EW of Made for Love's shocking season 2 cliffhanger ending. "This show is so wild and so unlike anything I've ever seen or been a part of, and when [showrunners] Christina [Lee] and Alissa [Nutting] told me how the season was going to end in that epic, surreal finale, I was thrilled to explore all those things in the way that we do. And I thought it really tied up a bunch of the themes of the season in this beautiful way while also opening the door for very terrifying and exciting possibilities — should we get to continue."
Below, Milioti breaks down that season 2 finale ending and tease what it means for a potential third season.
Beth Dubber/HBO Max
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I love how Hazel takes all her power back from Byron by the end of the finale. It felt very full circle to see her trapping him and becoming the new leader of Gogol — it's such a cool mirror image of where the show started in season 1. But I also couldn't help but wonder if this is all an act of revenge on Byron or if Hazel really believes that she can do some good by leading Gogol.
CRISTIN MILIOTI: Oh yeah. I think the answer to that lies in Christina and Alissa's beautiful brains, but my opinion is that Hazel is probably not the person that you would want wielding that much power. I think that there is something a bit terrifying about someone with nothing left to lose, and I think that she is in that position wholeheartedly and doesn't really have the skills to cope with that or to navigate that or to process that in any remotely healthy way. It does leave off in this very interesting place of this cycle of hurt that continues and what is she going to do now? I would be surprised if she broke the cycle.
Agreed, especially because we previously saw in flashbacks how Hazel never really had the best moral compass to begin with. And since absolute power corrupts absolutely, I don't see this going well for her.
No, I don't see it going well either, which I also love. It's this beautiful allegory that hurt people hurt people. That is something the show explores somehow comedically and also darkly. But it really explores it with a light and unique touch somehow and certainly the way the season ends speaks to that theme.
It's interesting because you're right, the opportunity is there for her to break this cycle by using Gogol's resources and power to actually create some good in the world. But I totally agree, she probably won't be doing that.
She was also almost able to break out at the end of season 1, but she's so afraid of ... I mean, she's deeply human. She's like anyone, in that she doesn't want to lose the people she loves and she doesn't want to let go. The way in which she has been forced to lose people is like ... yeah, I don't think letting go comes naturally to her.
Speaking of how she isn't really that great at letting go, do you think that means she's going to want to hold onto Herbert after his death by uploading his consciousness to his body that she's keeping on ice? Or will she let him rest and essentially grant his final wish to let him go on his terms?
I think that's an open door that where the possibilities there are endless and horrifying. I don't know, but I am really excited that if we should get picked up for a third season, we could explore that.
How is Hazel feeling about her pregnancy? I was really shocked that six months later, she was still pregnant, knowing that it is Byron's and how she feels about Byron.
Yeah, me too. That's something that we will also explore. I don't think Hazel is someone who really thinks before she acts. That was one of the many reasons I was drawn to her, as someone who is extremely analytical in my life and really likes to think about things. She doesn't. She just does, she's like the id in a way. I don't know how much thought she's given to it, and I don't know how much of it is also a power play and how much of it is like, "If I've lost so many people that I love, I'm going to make a new person to love," which I find to be very human and also an exciting thing to explore: making a person so that you can have someone to love.
Oh wow, I didn't even think about it that way. That makes a lot of sense.
Yeah. I don't know if that's what she's thinking, that's just how I thought about it when we were filming that. I can't wait to explore that more.
I was also surprised by how she leaves Jasper hanging with the FBI investigation. Does she feel any remorse about that or are we seeing her enter her villain era?
I would say it leans toward that [she's becoming a villain]. I think that she has experienced so much hurt that's what's so sad about the Jasper storyline is that, in a way, you would hope she's letting someone in and she's being intimate with someone and it's not a performance and she's actually being honest. And then she's so hurt by the idea that she could have been used, and that she was used, that she's now going to scorch the earth and is completely shut down. I certainly think that she's headed more toward the villain route, and that's something I'm very interested in exploring.
If the series gets renewed for a third season, where would you want to see Hazel's story go?
I would want to explore all the things we're talking about: What does someone who has gone through what she's gone through do with that much power? And she's really unpredictable. You're always like, "Oh God, don't do that." She can't really communicate well, she doesn't think before she leaps, all these things, but you still really understand why. And I wonder now that she is untethered, I would want to explore what that does to someone like Hazel. Fingers crossed. We'll see.
What was it like portraying Other Hazel this season?
It was a hoot. It was a ball. I fretted endlessly about landing that character because I think it was something that we found as we went along, and also that character is growing and changing so rapidly as she begins to understand who she is and what she wants and the world that she's in and all these things. But it was amazing because it's like playing a child. Hazel is someone who is so weighed down and Other Hazel is someone who is completely free and the strings are clipped, so it was really, really fun to inhabit that character, even when she's doing things that maybe the audience doesn't want her to do, because she's joy. She's joyful.
All eight episodes of Made for Love season 2 are now streaming on HBO Max.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Related content:
