'Chasing Life' Season 2 Preview: 7 Relationships to Watch
It’s time to buy a fresh box of tissues: ABC Family’s Chasing Life is back for Season 2 this week. But before you get all doomy and gloomy about it, remember that this show really is all about its characters more than it is about cancer. Even if April’s cancer did come back with a vengeance at the end of the first season. Oh, God [sniffle].
OK, we’re OK. After all, April and Leo also got engaged at the end of last season. Swoon!
“Our biggest ambition with this show was always going as deeply as we possibly can and not just kind of exploring April’s existential crisis and mortality but exploring the characters and their relationships,” exec producer Patrick Sean Smith tells Yahoo TV. Throughout our chat, Smith gave us a good sense of what we should expect from some of those key relationships…
1. April (Italia Ricci) and Leo (Scott Michael Foster)
“I’m really proud of how deeply we go with Leo and April as they’re heading towards the altar and questioning whether they’re doing this for the right reasons. They [got engaged] for a wonderful reason, but is it the right reason given how little they know each other? With the Supreme Court’s decision and being somebody who was able to marry my husband before Prop 8 came about, the institution of marriage means so much to me. Having two characters who kind of stumble into it blindly but having to really deal with the work that goes into it and seeing the good and bad of it is something that we definitely get into this season.”
2. April and Dominic (Richard Brancatisano)
“There’s plenty of [their dynamic] this season.… Dominic is starting to make a life for himself. We see him make some pretty adult decisions towards a life that he wants to build and every time he looks at it, he’s constantly seeing a place for April and having to reconcile that as her wedding day is approaching, and deciding if he’s going to say something. Is he going to chase life in his own way?
”[For April], the Post isn’t around but the first episode is really begging the question, will Dominic be around? That’s what April is coping with as she’s dealing with the unfortunate news of the chemo not working,” continues Smith. “She wants to bring all the people that mean the most to her close, and she has to accept that that includes Dominic.“
3. Dominic and Leo
“There’s a lot of passive-aggressive alpha male behavior this season. I’d say it definitely feels different and comes from a different place, but it was so much of what I enjoyed in doing Greek between Cappie and Evan,” says Smith. “Guys fighting over the girl is one thing, but finding a really humorous way to see guys get all testosterone-y is always fun.”
4. April and Beth (Aisha Dee)
“The unique place that we find April and Beth this season is in a complete role reversal. When we met Beth in the beginning, she was working in a coffee shop and she was content with that, but April inspired her to chase her dreams. Now, she’s working and putting all of her time towards building a professional life, something that was April’s main goal last season and this season, it’s out the window. It’s really that universal experience of trying to grow with your best friend and not grow apart from them. There’s a big challenge between them in that regard.”
5. Beth and Sarah (Mary Page Keller)
“We will get to see Beth bond more with Sarah in a way that we haven’t seen her do before. Sarah’s really starting to become a more significant surrogate mother for Beth.”
6. Beth and the Boys
“Beth is single and ready to mingle,” hints Smith, “so we get to see a lot of different relationships for Beth this season.”
7. April and Her Mortality
“It’s a morbid thought, but we’re all dying. We’re all going to die at some point and if we have a finite amount of time on this earth, how can we make the most of it? That’s what I was really excited about exploring this season… finding what those regrets are and encouraging people to reconcile things and just enjoy life. That’s kind of the place that April’s operating from this season.”
Chasing Life premieres Monday, July 6 at 9 p.m. on ABC Family.
