‘Memory of a Killer’: Patrick Dempsey Breaks Down Angelo’s Major ‘Liability’ & Dilemma After Finale Reveals

Angelo (Patrick Dempsey) has his worst nightmare come to his door in the final moments of the Memory of a Killer Season 1 finale. The episode also sees a final confrontation between him and the Ferryman, revealed to be Grant (Gina Torres), who has targeted him and his family because the hitman killed her son, having found out only later that the scientist was actually innocent. Warning: Spoilers for the Memory of a Killer finale ahead!

All season long, Angelo has been doing everything he can to, as he’s done all this time since becoming a hitman, keep his family life separate from that. To his daughter (Odeya Rush), he’s a salesman. But in the finale, thanks to one last move from Grant — she sends her files on Angelo to Maria — that’s fallen apart. Maria confronts Angelo with that information on his victims in the final moments.

This also comes after Joe (Richard Harmon) overhears Angelo and Grant talking about his family, then mentions “daughter” to Dutch (Michael Imperioli). Up until now, Angelo hasn’t told his friend about that part of his life, and while Angelo plays it off, we don’t think Dutch quite buys it. That should make their dynamic in a Season 2, as Angelo has now decided that he needs to be part of the vetting process of the hits, quite interesting.

Below, Patrick Dempsey takes us inside Season 1 for Angelo and shares what he wants to see in Season 2. [Note: The interview was conducted before the series was renewed.]

The way that it ends, that’s his worst nightmare, with Maria being like, “OK, I have this folder of stuff about everything that you’ve done.” It feels like he’s planned so much because he has to, because he has the double life, but has he planned for that?

Patrick Dempsey: Well, he knew that day would eventually come, I think. And it will be interesting if we get renewed, we’ll see, we haven’t found out yet, how we handle that in an unexpected way. I think that will be the challenge of not doing what’s predictable, but everybody has their family dynamics and their family curse, that type of thing. And I think it will be interesting to see what happens. Will it bring them closer together or will that separate and destroy the family? And I think this is his dilemma. And then how much of that does he remember? I think that will be the bigger issue.

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And then speaking of revelations though, because there’s the fact that Dutch might now know he has a family, because it’s unclear if he just suspects what he’s thinking after Joe bringing up the daughter and Angelo does try to cover for that.

There are multiple secrets that he has to keep and they’re all keep piling on and it’s much harder for him to keep track of the lies and the alibis. And then who is his ally, right? Then he doesn’t have an ally. His only ally is his brother, but he can’t reach him either.

And that’s so sad to see what’s come of that and the fact that he wanted his brother so badly to be part of his family life and then to see the way that played out was heartbreaking.

Yes.

Angelo has to at least suspect that Dutch knows about his family. He has to at least be planning for it, I feel like, at this point based on the conversations he has with Dutch after what Joe let slip in the hospital and the finale. But how does Angelo feel about Dutch potentially knowing? Because it feels like back when they were actually friends and might have been part of Angelo might have been like, “I kind of want him to know that side of me,” but the way they are now by the finale is like, are they even still friends?

Well, I think that’s the thing. At the end of [Episode] 9, you realize that Dutch has been there for him, but yet you don’t know who’s playing who and why. So it’s always this constant who’s going to show their cards first. And they live outside the law, so they always have to protect themselves a little bit and everybody has their hidden agenda. And I think that’s what makes it so interesting. And for me, working with Michael and even with playing with Joe, Richard, there’s so much going on underneath. You don’t know what people are feeling. I love that. That’s what’s so exciting to me.

So how would Angelo feel though about Dutch knowing about his family at this point and about him having a daughter?

It becomes a liability. It becomes a vulnerability. That would be Angelo’s thinking, whether Dutch feels the same way because there is this sort of emphasis on family. You have your immediate blood family and then you have your work family and your childhood family and all of that.

What’s the greatest concern for Angelo though, Maria knowing about his double life or Dutch knowing about Maria?

I think Angelo is really worried about losing his daughter because it’s a betrayal that she may never forgive him for.

Especially now that he has his grandson in his life, too.

Right. And we now know it’s a boy, so it’s a continuation of all of that, the family legacy, and then that’s even more vulnerability for Angelo because that could be something that someone could come after the family and the grandchild.

Has it surprised Angelo how much Joe has helped him and seemed to become someone that he can trust? Because Joe was willing to sacrifice himself for him once he found out about his family, but then he also did let that slip to Dutch. So it’s kind of like the back and forth, I feel like, there.

We don’t know where Joe’s going to go because he’s playing both sides as well and he wants to move forward and move up the ladder as well. But what I think Angelo and Joe both have in common is an abusive father. And I think that for Angelo, once he discovers that, that hits a very raw nerve for him and what his childhood development was and how that harmed him.

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'Memory of a Killer' Season 2: Cast, Premiere Date, More Details

How does Angelo feel about Nicky’s (Michaela McManus) death? Could he have ever trusted her again?

I think she was just a pawn. And when he discovered what happened, and once again, it’s about abuse, right? It’s about parental abuse or spousal abuse, so that’s a nerve and a vulnerability in a soft spot for Angelo. So I don’t think it would’ve continued. I think Angelo’s looking for someone that he can confide in and be vulnerable with, but at the same time, he’s learned how to be his own man and process it himself. So I think there was the profound disappointment, but ultimately it was the biggest sacrifice.

Speaking of confiding in people, at this point at the end of season one, who would Angelo be comfortable with telling about his Alzheimer’s? Is there anyone?

The only person he can talk to is a professional. And I think that will be the interesting thing if we do get picked up, is to explore because the feedback that I’ve been getting is there’s so many people that have been affected by this horrible disease. They have a parent or they themselves are early onset and they’re learning a lot. So I think that’s an opportunity for us to tell a story and to continue that story. And I think that will be the place where he’ll be able to communicate and to be able to share his vulnerability.

The Michael in Angelo’s head asked if this is who he still wants to be, but it kind of feels like, as he sets in terms of the new partnership with Dutch, that at least part of him does want this to be his life. Is that because that is something that he can control when there’s stuff that he’s losing control of in the other parts of his life?

Well, I think there’s that moment where Angelo and Dutch have the conversation of like, we don’t go after innocent people. We stay within … There is a code of ethics and there is a way of being. And when we cross that line, and I think this is going to be something that because he realizes how much time he has left, it’s going to be harder and harder to understand. Does he remember, is this a good person or a bad person? So we’ll see. I think there’s a lot to explore if we do get picked up for a Season 2, and there are a lot of unanswered questions that would be fun to answer going into a Season 2 if we do in fact get picked up.

I really hope it does. Speaking of these new terms that Angelo has set with Dutch about how he’s going to be part of the vetting process now, how does Angelo think that’s going to go though? Does he have hopes that it will go in the way he wants or is he expecting to run into conflict with Dutch there?

I think that’s part of the interesting scene construction of the different philosophies. Is it about the money? Is it about the operation? Is it about the person and what they’re doing? Is it the right move to make? Is this person dirty? Is this person being set up? And those questions. And there’s always going to be that underlying mistrust.

Angelo has started his own wall like his brother’s, and it’s heartbreaking that the first photo up is of his grandson. What did it take for him to start that knowing what his brother’s became? Because we remember him taking it down. Did Angelo need something like the birth of his grandson to be the impetus for that for him?

I think it’s been a combination of a lot of events happening over the course of the first season where it’s been this awakening. And then I think through the Detective Grant situation, it really brought to light the repercussions of someone that is an innocent victim. It brings it back home. And in essence, the whole story is about family and protecting one’s family and providing for the family. And I think we can relate to that outside of the show itself with what’s going on in the world.

All the scenes between you and Gina were so good. I loved seeing her as the Ferryman. That was such a great reveal.

Right. Very surprising reveal. It’s different for her, a different character for her to play. And I think the response has been it’s all the twists and turns. That’s what’s been exciting for people.

Christos Kalohoridis / Fox

What do you want to explore in Season 2 besides things that you’ve brought up?

Well, I think there’s a tremendous amount to explore with the Alzheimer’s and prevention and slowing it down. I think that would be very good and also informative without it being like giving people medicine. That is part of his quest is going to be, in my opinion, how can I put this off as long as possible? And at what point do I have a good relationship with my daughter or do I not? And can I confide in her? Will she be there for me? Or is it going to be Joe? Will it be Joe or will it be Dutch? And it’s that dilemma of who you turn to. Also, would it be the doctor? I think there’s a lot of those things to explore. I think there’s a lot of things that we need to clean up that we leave open that need to be answered as well in order to then move on. And then what’s this next chapter like? And then I think it would be interesting to explore the why. Why does he stay?

It seems like it’s just like at this point, that’s something he knows.

That’s the secret. In my research, people who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s are the last ones to know. It’s the people around them that notice before they do. And that will be something that would be interesting to explore as well is, wait, we started seeing this a little bit with Joe in the car, and it’s who is going to really start to call him out on this and bring it to his attention and will they care or not? And it becomes a liability because it puts everybody’s life in jeopardy.

And then who will he listen to, as well, because that’s the big part of it also.

Yes. It gives a sense of humanity, even though he’s doing this horrible occupation, that there is this Achilles heel that he has.

Speaking of that, because I was thinking about it, because Angelo tells Maria that he’s human in that conversation they have about killing Earl. How much is that something that he’s needed to say out loud or maybe have said to him that, yes, there’s this side of him, but he is still human?

Yeah. What I love about the show and what was the most fun for me are playing those private moments when you see Angelo alone dealing with the torment of, no matter what you do, if you take a life, it does affect you. And seeing that, and I think that’s important. So it’s not like he’s unaware and he’s cold-blooded, and it doesn’t matter. I think it does come back to haunt him. There’s a brief conversation where he was in the Marines as one of his ways of getting out and what he saw during the war. There is an element of PTSD, but there’s also what he learned in the military gave him this trade. Unfortunately, it’s a deadly one, but that does affect him psychologically. Did he have … I mean, there’s a lot we could explore in the backstory as well of the PTSD. Did he have a brain injury? His brother was abused, he was beaten. Did that cause the early onset Alzheimer’s or the Alzheimer’s in his brother? All of those type of questions. So there’s endless possibilities and directions that we could go into. And then I think you would have to combine, I think, just have a limited period of time within a season of it’s not going to be years, it’s going to be weeks or months in one particular season.

If his wife had lived, do you think he ever would’ve told her about the other side of him?

Well, I think he wanted to leave. He honestly did. And then he ended up having to make a choice over his brother and his wife. I don’t think she would’ve stayed with him. I think she would’ve left him.

Memory of a Killer, Streaming Now, Hulu