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Trust Fund: Ava (Tamara Braun) wishes she could spill all to Harris (Steve Burton).
Confronted with a new demand from Gil – one of their dealers has been arrested and he wants Ava to steal Harris’s key to the police evidence room — Ava refuses.
“I think it’s love,” offers Tamara Braun (Ava) regarding what gives her character the courage to stand up to the henchman. “Ava’s falling for Harris, and she doesn’t want to betray him. I mean, she’s already betraying herself and what she was hoping to do in her life at this stage, but she doesn’t want to jeopardize what she has found with Harris.”
Gil doesn’t accept the answer and advances on her. “If you watch the episode, there should be no question that he tries to sexually assault her,” declares Braun. “It was a very uncomfortable scene to shoot. There was no ambiguity while shooting it. That’s for sure.”
Later, Harris is stunned to find Ava standing over Gil’s motionless body. Although she discloses that Gil tried to rape her, she leaves out the not-so-small detail that she’s been working for Clyde. “Ava considers telling Harris what’s going on all the time,” says Braun. “She wants to loop him in. She wants to be open with him, but she is so worried about Tripp that she’s afraid to risk it. Clyde has people all over town that could possibly find out, and she doesn’t want to take that risk. Not with her son. If her son’s safety wasn’t at risk, things may be different, she may tell him so they could work to bring him down. But Tripp is her everything. She can’t risk her everything.”
Later, at the police station station, Ava worries that Clyde will retaliate against Tripp, but covers with Harris, saying she’s worried no one will believe her story. “A lot of women worry that people won’t believe their story when they have been sexually assaulted,” Braun points out. “Our culture has a way of blaming the victim, especially if that victim is a woman. It’s sad and infuriating but it’s a reality. Aside from that reality, Ava is part of a mob family and has quite a history with criminal activity, so people don’t tend to trust her right off the bat. That’s the other reality she is facing.”
