‘Yaga’ Star Clark Backo Explains Why Carson Rejected Rapp
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Clark Backo‘s Sergeant Carson is struggling to let herself act freely in Yaga. When private investigator Charlie Rapp (Noah Reid) continues his flirtations as they work the case of the missing Henry Park and murdered Logan Casey (both played by Hudson Williams), Carson stops herself from crossing that line, even if she might want to. Rapp tries to kiss Carson in Yaga Season 1 Episode 3, available now on AMC+, but she rejects him.
Here, Backo explains the layered reasons for that rejection to TV Insider, as well as how Katherine Hargrove’s (Carrie-Anne Moss) confident sensuality produces feelings of “disgust” in Carson. Warning: Yaga spoilers ahead!
Yaga debuted with its first two episodes on AMC+ on October 23. Now, one episode comes out on Fridays until the two-episode finale on November 27. The Canadian series, a modern take on the Baba Yaga witch from Slavic folklore, is created by Yaga playwright Kat Sandler for Crave, the streamer behind Heated Rivalry.
Rapp has been flirting with Carson ever since he arrived in the coastal town of Whittock, but he flirts with every woman he sees, including Katherine, a professor of osteology (the study of bones) at a local college. Katherine is completely embodied in her sexuality, while Carson is very much not.
She finds Katherine’s confidence confronting and her sexuality inappropriate, Backo tells TV Insider, specifically because Carson and Rapp believe Katherine had a sexual relationship with Henry, her 20s-something student. Even in the few scenes Carson and Katherine have shared so far, you can sense the former’s disdain for the latter.
Crave/AMC+
Following the discovery of Logan’s dead body in Episode 2, Carson and Rapp go back to Rapp’s hotel to get their minds right in Episode 3. Their investigation at the Park house party the night before involved some drug use that left both of them worse for wear the next morning.
Carson has dried blood on her nose while sitting on Rapp’s bed, and Rapp asks if she is OK. When he presses further, they share a look that shows their attraction. Rapp leans in for a kiss, and Carson denies it.
“She has such a strong moral compass for herself. Her integrity is the one thing she’s sure of. And I think she takes her job very seriously and sometimes herself maybe a little too seriously, and I mean that with love,” Backo tells us of her character. “But I think in that moment she’s grappling with feelings she’s confused by and might not want. We’ve all felt that before, so she’s not really just rejecting him in that moment. She’s rejecting her own impulses and desires. A lot of women do that all the time.”
Backo says that Yaga depicts a spectrum of manifestations of female desire that’s rarely seen onscreen.
“What’s cool about this show is you see the women [such as Katherine] on the side of feeling empowered and taking what they want when they want without permission,” the Letterkenny star explains. “Carson’s on the other side [as] a woman who maybe hasn’t yet stepped into her feminine divine power.”
Crave/AMC+
However, there is some regret in that almost-kiss scene.
“In that moment, she rejects her desire,” Backo says, “and then, moments after that, she turns around and realizes, ‘No, I do want this,’ and he’s asleep.”
Conversely, when Rapp tries to seduce Katherine in Yaga Episode 1, she plays along with his game for entertainment.
Moss’ sultry character might not actually even be interested in the man, but she is interested in fun, and if he can prove he can provide it, then they can play. Rapp hasn’t met the moment, however, and he quickly loses his chance in that bar (even if he’ll get another one).
When Rapp and Carson interrogate Katherine in her office in the premiere (see below), you can sense some intimidated feelings from Carson as she watches Rapp and Katherine spar.
“Katherine’s a mirror, and I think when somebody is comfortable with something that beckons inside of you that you’re not comfortable with yet, you reject that thing,” Backo tells TV Insider. “It’s a projection. I don’t think Carson’s thinking that. This is Clark psychoanalyzing.”
“She looks at Katherine and there’s a bit of disgust, but because she’s just like, ‘That’s so inappropriate. How dare you be so open with your desires and who you are and what you want?'” Backo explains.
“That’s just a classic example of how most of us women move through the world is a cocooned version of ourselves and Carson hasn’t learned yet that it’s OK to take up that space,” she continues. “When she sees somebody doing that, occupying that space as a woman, it actually makes her a little bit uncomfortable.”
Carson will continue to grapple with this as Yaga goes on, and she’ll show more examples of her complicated feelings about how women engage with men.
Yaga, Fridays, AMC+
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