First things first: How psyched were you to get that mask off?
“I was pretty excited. It wasn’t as bad as it looked, but it definitely wasn’t the most comfortable situation to be breathing in. You end up breathing heavier, so I sounded like Darth Vader on camera. But I got through it. The mask is dead and I’m happy about it.”
Whether or not Patient 6 is Jason, he believes himself to be, so it was a big deal for him to find out that Sam is married. How would you describe the feeling seeing her with this fellow evoked in him?
“Jason is probably the most unselfish person, notoriously, over the years. He never really puts himself first. So, Patient 6 sees her happy with this guy, she’s smiling and he’s repeating his marriage vows, and he doesn’t know what the heck is going on. But he knows that he’s been gone five years and that she had to move on. His instinct wasn’t to barge in because he’s [considering] her feelings and putting her first.”
Then he found out that this isn’t just some random dude — everyone thinks he’s Jason! What was that moment like for Patient 6?
“If he was John Ritter from THREE’S COMPANY, he would have done a triple take and fallen down, probably. But he’s not, so he’s more trying to figure out what the heck is going on. ‘Why is this guy saying he’s me? What’s happening?’ And there is no one he can really talk to about it until he gets to Sonny.”
Before Patient 6 sees anyone from what he believes to be his old life, he runs into Ava, his buddy from the Russian clinic. Tell me about working with Maura West (Ava).
“She’s amazing. I love her. We had instant — I don’t want to say instant chemistry, but it just worked right off the bat. I didn’t know her, she didn’t know me, we just started working together and it was awesome. I didn’t know if I was going to work with her again or not, so I was excited that she was the one who met me at Morgan’s gravesite.”
And he finds out that she has a kid with Sonny!
“Yeah, he’s like, ‘What the heck? Come on, Sonny, keep it in the pants.’ ”
Did anyone tell you that they conceived that baby on A.J.’s grave?
“Yeah, I heard, I heard. It’s not one of Sonny’s better moments. Poor A.J.”
Another big moment was Patient 6 seeing Jake alive for the first time.
“Absolutely, yeah. Everything is a first time now, you know what I mean? Seeing Jake, seeing Danny, seeing Elizabeth. There is so much emotion and story there. It’s amazing. It’s so rich and good. I’ve got to give it up to the writers.”
What did you try to convey in the moment that Patient 6 saw this little boy that he believed was dead?
“Just the emotion of all of that. Just figuring it out. ‘Wow, that’s Jake. What?!’ It’s tough to get all that in a look, but obviously, it will be addressed [further]. I’m so excited.”
