OFF THE MAP: Rachelle Lefevre Teases an Ethical Problem with Mina, the Ryan-Ben-Lily Triangle and More

In tonight’s brand new episode of OFF THE MAP, the tension between Ryan and Mina flares up again as they disagree on how to handle an ethical dilemma with a patient.

I chatted with series star Rachelle Lefevre (Ryan) about that, being a badass, shooting in Hawaii, the love triangle and when we’ll learn a little more about Ryan’s backstory…

I have to say, Ryan is a bit of a badass and I’m loving it!
Rachelle Lefevre: Awesome! [Laughs] Thank you! She’s really, really fun to play. No matter how I feel when I get to work, no matter what mood I’m in, I go in there, I look at Ryan’s hippie Jungle Jane wardrobe and I just fall into it. Something happens when I put on those boots. She wears the same boots throughout the entire show and I sort of feel like Ryan’s in them. I might take them by the end of the season. Ryan’s in those boots. You put them on and I feel like I can handle whatever. I can do anything in those boots. It’s a cool feeling.

That’s good that you have a token to ground your character.
RL: Yeah, absolutely. Some days you need that.

Is she going to continue on with her antics for the rest of the first season?
RL: She is. She’s absolutely going to continue to rattle her cage, as it were. She doesn’t quit. And actually, I love it, because in the beginning, the thing about her that the people around her respond to, is this non-stop energy and this refusal to take anything lying down. She’s sort of relentless in her determination and her activity level and what’s amazing about that is as the season progress, that’s the thing that starts to be — not her downfall, but it certainly starts to be one of the things that starts to get in the way of the doctor she wants to be and should be. She doesn’t know how to get out of her own way with that. It’s really cool how that develops as the season continues.

Aside from getting in her own way, will she be knocking heads with anyone in particular this season?
RL: Yeah, it’s one of those things where Ryan is very — she’s almost too sure of herself, it’s almost to a fault. She just feels like whatever needs to be done, has to get done and it’s one of those things that starts to become, at what cost? And so obviously she’s going to butt heads with doctors who feel differently and want to make different choices. And in [tonight’s] episode, I really butt heads with Mina. We have such a really cool storyline where we have an ethical question about about the patient we’re treating. And we fall on such opposite sides of the net in terms of how we think we should handle this one and it gets really, really heated.

Can you tease more about what goes down between Mina and Ryan?
RL: I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s one of those that you hope that when it’s over — or during the commercial break — if people are watching it together, they’re in heated debate, whether or not they side with Mina or Ryan or whether they have their own opinions about it. It’s one of those strongly written, “what would you do?”-type scenarios.

That’s something fans of the Shondaland shows are familiar with. GREY’S ANATOMY and PRIVATE PRACTICE have frequently dealt with hot button issues, so that’s good it will also be showcased on OFF THE MAP.
RL: Yeah. I think it’s one of those things that adds a really interesting element to our show. Our show very much has the action-adventure journeyman side of it, but on the other hand, it’s still very much about the medicine because the fact that these people are doctors influences how they live their lives and influences every decision that they make, in terms of they’ve decided to take on this job in the middle of this remote location. I feel like [OFF THE MAP creator] Jenna [Bans] and our entire team of writers works really, really hard to make sure every episode has both — something that’s escapist and sort of a heightened reality and really cool on the adventure front and a storyline that is much more grounding and forces one or two of the doctors each episode to look at who they are.

Does shooting in Hawaii help with the escapism factor?
RL: That really helps! One of the things that I think is so important [about it], is I always feel as an audience member when I’m watching something, [if] I can feel real chemistry. And not all casts get along in the way we do. I feel like we would get along anyway — I really, truly believe that, we have an amazing cast — but there’s something about being on an island, that all of us had to pack up our lives and all of us have a massive body of water between our regular lives and our family and our friends and we’re all sort of on this island together. It forced us to be fast friends and family to one another. And that is exactly what happens on our show. These doctors feel in this remote location that all they have is each other. Even when they don’t get along, they have to figure it out and they have to make it right. And I feel like the location we’re shooting at is perfect for that because the chemistry comes across in that way.

Yeah, the chemistry is certainly obvious with the cast.
RL: I mean, it’s pretty easy. The thing I love about our cast is that everyone is a seasoned actor. Veterans almost, some of us. [We’ve] just been doing it for so long with different TV shows and films and indie films. And Mamie [Gummer (Mina)] has a Broadway background. Everyone has been a working actor for a long time. There’s no star on our show, there’s not one person whose trailer is bigger than everybody else’s. There’s not one or two people who are the stars of our show, it’s a true ensemble. You have all these actors who love what they do and work really hard. It creates a great work ethic and environment on set.

That’s great to hear. You know I have to ask about the romance on the show. It seems like there might be a love triangle brewing with Ryan, Ben and Lily…
RL: It does look like that, doesn’t it? [Laughs] I think it’s only natural if you were in a remote location and you were working every day with the same people, there’s bound to be situations where people’s hearts and what people want and who they fall in love with and who they want to sleep with [gets dealt with]  — I definitely think when you put people in that closed environment, where they’re together all the time, those things are going to get entangled. I actually believe that’s not far-fetched at all.

Aside from the relationship with Ben, is there anyone else you want to see Ryan get involved with romantically?
RL: That’s interesting. I feel like Ryan’s character is so free-spirited and travels so much, I would love for her to maybe have a past. She’s only been at the clinic for a year, so clearly she’s been elsewhere before that. Maybe she worked somewhere else for a couple years and maybe someone from her past might pop up. I think that might be a cool thing to see.

And maybe that’s why she keeps running away…
RL: Exactly! What is it that keeps her moving all the time? And actually, the answer to that question, what is it that keeps Ryan practicing medicine and in a different country every year, the answer to that gets revealed in I think episode six of our show. Given what’s revealed in her background halfway through the season, it would be interesting to see what other ruins she left along the way.

–

Any guesses about what’s hidden in Ryan’s background?

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And to be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv