The Testaments star Mattea Conforti is opening up about Becka’s emotional journey in episode 9. The actor breaks down the character’s mindset and her complicated relationships with the people around her.
The Testaments’ most recent episode delivered one of the series’ most shocking moments. In episode 9, Becka kills Dr. Grove (Randal Edwards), which ends with Agnes (Chase Infiniti) turning her over to The Eyes. In an interview with ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley, Conforti opens up about the intense motivations behind her character’s decision, Agnes’ heartbreaking reaction, and the intensity of the filming process.
Conforti offers her take on the fallout surrounding Dr. Grove’s death and explained that Becka’s decision was caused by years of conditioning. From her character’s perspective, acts of violence against girls are treated as unforgivable crimes deserving the harshest punishment possible. Having grown up surrounded by those teachings, Becka ultimately believes she is carrying out some form of justice.
She added that Becka’s actions weren’t as impulsive as they might have appeared to viewers. The actor said they come from her view of the world and how she genuinely believed things should work because that was what she spent most of her life believing. Throughout the series, Becka has struggled with her identity and where she fits within the Gilead. According to Conforti, The Testaments episode 9 depicts a moment where Becka convinces herself she has finally found a purpose.
The actor further elaborated that the conflict becomes even more complicated because of Agnes’ involvement. Becka’s love for Agnes, both as a friend and her romantic feelings for her, plays a major role in her reaction. Conforti described Becka as someone driven by a need to protect Agnes at all costs after learning about her past and father. In the character’s mind, her actions become an act of love more than anything else.
There are so many things. On the one level, this is the justice that she’s been told is righteous. When men commit these acts, when they touch girls, when they’re not being godly, they deserve to be punishable by death. We see that in episode one with the hanging bodies, and they ask why they’ve been punished in this way. It’s because they were acting ungodly to a girl who was not yet married off. So this is what she has been told. She has been growing up in this world that she didn’t feel like she necessarily belonged in when she was figuring out her identity, her sexuality, her relationships, her friendships, who she is in her way, and I had a conversation with Bruce about this, too. This is kind of her divine calling. “Maybe this is why I’ve been feeling so hesitant and unwelcome here, because this is my moment. This is where I need to show that I belong here.” I think there’s another added element, which is that it’s Agnes. Someone who she loves platonically and romantically has been hurt by her father, and that’s not okay for Becka, and she needs to protect Agnes. And that’s what she does. And that’s how she tells Agnes that I did this for you. I did this divine act of justice for you. Here you go.
Conforti reveals that Becka is devastated after Agnes turned her in. She explained how her character viewed that as a betrayal, especially since she thought she was doing the right thing. However, the actor also said that she believes Becka would never truly blame Agnes for what happened because her feelings for her are so strong.
Oh yeah. I think she does feel betrayal. She would never blame Agnes for anything, though. She has so much love for her. I think she does feel that immediate sense of betrayal. It was such a heartbreaking scene to film. I had no voice when we were filming that. We filmed that scene for I think maybe, oh gosh, 14 hours. It was crazy long, and it was just screaming and screaming and screaming. And we had to do a lot of takes where I would either mouth my screaming because I had no voice, or we’d be like, “Okay, Mattea, you have to scream and go into 3:00, 4:00 in the morning of me just being carried by these really strong women. They were very strong, and I was just screaming and flailing around. But yeah, it was a very emotional day.
Conforti stated that filming the sequence was just as intense behind the scenes. She said that shooting the scene where Becka is taken away by The Eyes lasted for roughly 14 hours and became one of the most physically demanding experiences of her career. She continued stating that it required hours of screaming, and it resulted in her losing her voice completely. In some takes, she was forced to silently mouth the screams because she physically could not continue yelling.
Yes, I would. I would say that the scene where I’m being taken away by The Eyes and the actual scene of me killing Dr. Grove was emotionally taxing and also very physically taxing as well. I was so bought in. I wanted to deliver my best performance, I wanted to show up there and give my 110 percent. I wanted to come home from set exhausted, and I wanted to just fall right asleep. I didn’t want to have to think about, “Should I have done this differently? Should I have done that?” When I read the script, I realized, “Wow, okay, these are very important and crucial to my character and my job. I need to deliver my best performance possible.” I wanted to come home mentally and physically fatigued, honestly.
However, despite the pain that she was in, Conforti still put her heart and soul into the performance. The actor stated that she knew from the very beginning how important this scene would be, and she wanted to make sure that she did the moment justice for both the story and her character.
ScreenRant: I want to start by asking about the scene at the dinner table at the very beginning of this episode, in
particular, it seems like everyone’s on the same side. When she hears Daisy accuse him of assault, the verbiage she says to Daisy first is, “Are you trying to ruin my life?” When I hear a line like that, it almost makes me believe that she doesn’t fully trust her dad. It’s almost like “don’t expose that information.” I’d love to get your perspective on that line.
Mattea Conforti: At the time, Becka has warmed up to Daisy a little bit, but is still kind of rocky on her place within their world and how close she now is with Agnes. There’s a lot of tension in their relationship already. When Daisy comes out and says this about her dad, she doesn’t believe Daisy at all. She truly thinks that Daisy is trying [to sabotage her]. I think that the way that I interpreted it is to try to eliminate the friendship that Agnes and Becka have so that Daisy can get closer to Agnes in that way. I think that’s the way Becka would internalize it, but she doesn’t know anything about her father yet. What’s so interesting about that conversation at the dinner table is that Agnes, right after Daisy talks to or exposes that about Dr. Grove, Agnes then reveals her truth, which was heartbreaking to film.
Chase and I genuinely got very emotional when we were filming that scene. That was completely raw and very real. It was a very intense and emotional day on set. When she’s at that dinner table with The Groves, and she asks her father if he’s ever touched the Pearl Girl, he says he’s never laid a finger on the Pearl Girl. He never says anything about Agnes. I think she has her confirmation in that moment, and she knows that, unfortunately, this is what her father has been doing behind her back, and it’s unfortunately to the person that she loves the most.
It was dead silent on set. There’s just so much tension and the silence, it was deafening, and it was creating this added element to the scene, too. It was like, who’s going to say what? They’re not exposing the elephant in the room until Becka does.
ScreenRant: How do you feel about Becka and Garth’s relationship, specifically, especially with where they start in 109?
Mattea Conforti: Becka obviously doesn’t know that Garth is Mayday and that he’s not working with the world that she knows. She is still initially hesitant about marrying him because she still sees him as someone who wants to become a commander, potentially valuing the same things other commanders value. I think she still might hold onto some of those beliefs about him, but what drew her to him, in I think a very platonic and friendship vibe kind of way, is that he’s willing to keep her close to her friends. I think for her, that equates to being close to Agnes and continuing their future together in some aspect or some way, but I think she really likes the fact that he genuinely seems like he will support her, and he will be there for her. He’s not immediately expressing that he wants children, and he wants to be her husband. It just kind of feels like an arrangement that they’re already setting up, and it’s favoring Becka more. So I think that’s what drew her to choose him over Commander Maddox or a different commander.
ScreenRant: How has it felt to just build her over the course of those episodes and also see the reaction in real time of people falling in love with the character, people having their hearts break for the character?
Mattea Conforti: I’ve been so fortunate and so blessed to be able to have the opportunity to play Becka. Honestly, I was not aware of all of the love and support that I would be getting for the character when the show was first coming out, so I’ve been so fortunate to receive such a positive reaction. I remember when I first booked the role, I had really great conversations with Bruce Miller, our showrunner about Becca’s initial hesitation and doubt when she is stepping into Gilead, which is something that the girls don’t necessarily experience given the fact that they’re so accustomed to Gilead, they have no outside reference or material really to source from of any alternative solution to their ultimate destinies of becoming a wife or a mother. That was something that I was initially challenged to play with and was really enjoying exploring that and getting to know her in a different way.