‘Murder in a Small Town’: Sara Canning Reflects on Her Character’s ‘Unraveling’

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Murder in a Small Town Season 2 Episode 6, “Trust, But Verify.”]

The case of the day was delightfully twisted on Murder in a Small Town‘s latest episode on Tuesday (November 4) night. The episode began with a woman named Mackenzie Rankin (Sara Canning) nearly getting run over by a truck after running into the street covered in blood and screaming about being attacked by a bear.

Throughout the episode, we learned that Mackenzie’s younger sister, Megan, had died by suicide a year earlier, so she and some of Megan’s friends ventured from Chicago out to the woods for a hike at her favorite spot. There, they were attacked by a bear, leaving one dead and two others missing. In classic MIST fashion, though, Karl Alberg (Rossif Sutherland) soon discovered that the victim wasn’t killed by the bear attack, real though that animal encounter was. Instead, she died of rather blunt force trauma to the head.

From there, Karl worked to unravel the truth as both of the other travelers were located alive and revealed that there was a very complicated history within the group. The dead girl, Larissa, was actually at odds with both Megan and their travel partner, Val, since she sold their group research project and caused Val to lose her tenure track at their university. Larissa didn’t just betray Val, either; she also hurt Megan in the process, and Mackenzie blamed her for her sister’s death. After striking Larissa on the head with a rock, while Val watched on in approval, and their fourth group member, Aisha, was too far away to see anything, Mackenzie intended to throw Larissa’s body off a ledge to cover up the crime.

Instead, justice was saved by the bear, and Karl closed yet another case, even with just a skeleton crew to speak of.

To break down what it was like to play such a cold-blooded killer in Murder in a Small Town, TV Insider caught up with guest star Sara Canning!

What drew you to Murder in a Small Town?

Sara Canning: I’ve always loved a murder mystery. It’s one of my favorite genres of television. I got to read the very first episode of Murder in a Small Town before the show went into production, and I loved it. I love that it’s set on the Sunshine Coast. Living in Vancouver, I was really, really excited to join the show.

You’re joining a growing tradition of TV favorites who guest-star on these episodes. What does it mean to you to be a part of this kind of sleepy procedural and this array of all-star cases?

Oh, it’s so beautiful. It was just so lovely to be announced as one of the guest stars, too, for the second season. They’re so talented — both series regulars and guest stars on this show. So it’s just an incredible company of actors to be a part of. I mean, and one of my very close friends, Savonna Spracklin, plays Isabella. It’s just like an embarrassment of riches in terms of great people on this show.

Your character, at first, seems pretty innocent. She’s a victim of this attack. But then we kind of get little dribs and drabs along the way to lead to the ultimate conclusion of what we find out about her. Can you just talk about playing to that slow reveal of her letting her guard down little by little throughout the episode?

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 Yeah. I think the really unique thing about playing this character is that we actually meet her in a very real state of trauma based around the event that’s just occurred. And I think that gives like a pretty cool opportunity to find honesty in the lie and to be processing what’s gone wrong in her plan and just how heightened everything is, and to sort of realize that these cops who are visiting the hospital room suddenly don’t seem just interested in knowing [her history]. It was pretty cool through those four hospital scenes to just really differentiate between where she’s at in the just shock she’s alive and the shock about what’s just happened and needing to face that. The sand is really kind of running through her fingers, and things are unraveling, and having to deal with it sort of trapped in a hospital room.

You talked about the emotional truth of the character being traumatized by, I’m assuming, the bear attack. But then also, there’s some emotional truth, too, with her talking about her sister, and there’s a lot of genuine emotion there. Can you talk about playing to that line where she really is feeling this hurt and grief, even despite everything she’s done?

Yeah, I find it pretty incredible what a person is capable of when trying to process something that they don’t understand. Grief visits all of us in very different ways, and it’s something we will all face, and many of us have to varying degrees. And I think it really can change a person in terms of what makes sense, what is rational, what’s irrational. And I think this character is a poster girl for that.

I think it also speaks like pretty hugely to narratives and what we can create in our own minds around something that’s happened. She’s absolutely convinced herself that this woman is responsible for her sister’s death. And whether that is technically true or not, it’s true for this character, and therefore justice must be served. So I think I love that about being an actor. It’s sort of what drives all of us, whether we can get a handle on the narrative that we create for ourselves or not. So I’m finding that really interesting these days as an actor.

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I know you probably don’t know this for certain, but I’m curious what you think, if she was planning to hurt Aisha and Val or if she was only just gonna hurt Larissa.

Without actually speaking to any of the creatives on the show about that, I don’t think she was. I think part of the narrative for her is that it would become evident to them that this is just sort of what needs to happen, and that’s what’s a little frightening about how strongly we can convince ourselves of something. But I mean, I have people in my life that I sometimes go, “Just repeat that. I just want you to listen to what you just said.” And especially if we feel we’ve been wronged. So I don’t think she was planning to hurt them at all. I don’t think she was imagining anything near to what’s happened… But that part of this memorial journey was that either, yes, they’ve already come to terms with the fact that there is fault here, or they’re going to see it by the end of the weekend.

Yeah, well, it seemed like maybe she was right about that, and at least halfway, because Val, she saw it all happen, and was willing to look away. And I imagine they weren’t in cahoots. So do you think she felt justified in that when she saw that reaction?

Yes, I would say so, yeah. I think there’s a line where she says, “What did Val say?” if I’m remembering correctly… That is almost like a person just sort of checking boxes and going, “Yep, see, see?”

What was it like for you in your scenes with Rossif? The interrogation scenes were really, really powerful, and I imagine, even just as a screen partner, when he looks at you and starts dissecting everything you say, it’s got to be a little intimidating, right?

Yeah, he has quite a presence as an actor, and I know that character, really, he’s given so much consideration to that character and how he moves through the show. So that was definitely part of the process. I shot all those hospital scenes in the same day. So it was a very intense day, and almost like when you squeeze something into a Masterclass of just a very concentrated actor’s journey, really influenced by his character, and finding the right tone for each scene and the right amount to be revealed. Because we sort of needed to protect his character as well. If he is suspecting guilt too soon, it sort of deflates the whole thing. So being on that tightrope of a trauma response, defense versus, “OK, now she’s just really seeming defensive and weird.” So, yeah, it was like a science experiment or something. He’s such a great actor. I really enjoyed working with him.

Murder in a Small Town, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Fox