‘DTF St. Louis’ Stars Break Down the Deeper Meaning of Clark & Carol’s Dream Meetings

DTF St. Louis continues to unravel the mystery of Floyd’s (David Harbour) death, and is also delving deeper into the relationship unfolding between Clark (Jason Bateman) and Floyd’s wife, Carol (Linda Cardellini), as their “Dream Meetings” took a more extreme turn in Episode 3, “The Go Getter.”

In particular, the episode revealed various scenarios in which Clark and Carol decided to explore their fantasies during their rendezvous at the local motel. Coining their meet-ups as “Dream Meetings,” Clark disclosed to Carol certain desires of his that could be even more revealing as the season carries on.

As Clark explains to Carol, he once had an experience with a man when he was in a holding cell at a jail briefly, sparking his enjoyment of being somewhat dominated.  But after the brief mention of his encounter with a man, it’s not really mentioned again, at least not yet. “Yes, there’s a confrontation coming among every character,” teases series creator Steve Conrad.

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Meaning, that mention will be further unraveled as Conrad teases characters will say, “I no longer have the boundaries I used to have, I no longer throw a lasso around where my desires are going, I’m gonna experiment, and I’m gonna find out. But I don’t want to drive this car anymore. I want to go fast, and I want to take my hands off the wheel, and I think that’s going to take me to the safest place now, and it probably won’t.”

“But that impulse,” Conrad shares, “involves releasing so much of where your devotion used to be, and opening your mind and your set of expectations for what individual relationships can give you.”

Another aspect of the “Dream Meetings” is the role-play Carol and Clark take part in. One scenario they found particularly funny to film was the sex robot moment in which Clark emerges from a box filled with packing peanuts to service Carol’s customer. “I remember giggling inside that coffin box thing,” Bateman recalls.

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“You trying to get out of the box was hilarious on your own,” Cardellini adds.

Bateman explains that he remembers getting “this stupid idea in the box right before she opened it of like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna have him pulse a little bit, like it’s some sort of a gyro mishap, like he’s low on battery or something, and so that happens as he’s trying to get [out of the box].” But as silly as some of the scenarios were to film it doesn’t take away from the gravity of the relationships unfolding onscreen. “It was very sort of farcical, mixed in this concoction of really real stuff too, throughout the show. How Steve was able to blend all those things is beyond me, but it all seems to work.”

Tune in to see how the “Dream Meetings” and Clark’s inner desires begin to manifest as DTF St. Louis continues on HBO and let us know what you thought of the most recent installment in the comments section below.

DTF St. Louis, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO and HBO Max