Can Web Therapy's Fiona Ever Change? She's a Terrible Person, Lisa Kudrow Says
Lisa Kudrow
Web Therapy's Fiona Wallice is crude, rude and she finally wants to become a better person in Season 2. But can she?
"Fiona sees her sister (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) for therapy and her sister destroys her, but in an unobvious way," Lisa Kudrow, who plays Fiona, tells TVGuide.com. "So Fiona starts rethinking her whole life and the next time we see her she's in bed, in tears, no makeup, pajamas — just a mess. And we've never seen her like that."
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And unsurprisingly, it will be short-lived. The abrasive online therapist eventually snaps out of her funk to join her husband Kip (Victor Garber) on his campaign for Congress while trying to publish her book with the help of Scottish media mogul Austen Clarke (Alan Cumming), who's fallen for her. But both of Fiona's plans are delayed when Austen's editor hates the novel and Kip has to go to seek "treatment" in order to be "less gay." Enter guest stars Rosie O'Donnell and Meryl Streep.
"O'Donnell plays Maxine, the head of the publishing arm of all the Austen Clarke enterprises and ... she hates [Fiona's book] immediately," Kudrow explains. "When she realizes Austen is backing Fiona's husband and he's a kingmaker, she says, 'I have to be nice to you and I have to accept the book.'"
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Streep, who also begins her arc in the premiere, plays Camilla Bowner, a therapist at the Compass Center, the gay conversion facility Kip has been ordered to attend. "I loved how [Streep] chose to act like a very demure person so she seems really harmless and full of good intention, but what she's saying is, 'You're clearly the reason Kip is gay and he'll never get better as long as he's with you,'" Kudrow says.
Besides O'Donnell and Streep, Season 2's big-name guest stars include Kudrow's Friends co-star David Schwimmer, Minnie Driver, Selma Blair and Conan O'Brien. Among them, Kudrow thinks viewers might be surprised at how fantastic Driver is. "She picked this character that's an egotistic actress who was on Sober House Lockdown. She finds Fiona's book somehow and wants to play Fiona, but says, 'I can be the prettier version of you.'"
So will any of this season's personalities, including her tough sister, ever get Fiona to change her — as Kudrow describes — judgmental, withering, impatient and ungracious ways? "This is who she is — a terrible person!" Kudrow says.
Web Therapy premieres on Monday at 11/10c on Showtime.