Last week I had the privilege of speaking with SouthLAnd‘s own Arija Bareikis (pronounced Ar-ee-yuh), Officer Chickie Brown. It almost seemed as if the interview as doomed to failure, as the original interview was plagued with a bad phone line that canceled the interview on Wednesday after 3 failed attempts to start the call. Thankfully Arija was very gracious with her time and rescheduled for the next day.

Graciousness is the overall theme of this interview – in fact, the entire 30+ minute that I spent speaking with this wonderful lady. Soft spoken, intelligent, laughter always just under the surface – often bursting through – this was one interview that was more like a conversation between friends than an an interview between celebrity and fan. For that, I will be eternal grateful to Arija. While words on the page cannot convey the same tone of voice and emotions and the spoken word can, hopefully fans will get a sense of that conversation from what is written here.

Arija Bareikis as Officer Chickie Brown

SouthlandTvFans.com [STF]
At the very beginning of the show Chickie had aspirations for being in the SWAT team. Do we have any idea if that’s still something that she wants to do?

Arija Bareikis [AB]
I think so and I hope so. That was the story line I was really excited about. That and surfing. So I hope so. we’ll see what happens if we’re lucky enough to get the opportunity to keep the story going. I think it would be really exciting to see somebody come back from a place that seems less than excellent to more than excellent.

[STF]
We notice that all of the other characters, of the 8 main ensemble characters, we seem to have gotten some peek into their private lives, but we haven’t really seen anything of Chickie’s.

[AB]
Well, you did see a scene, I think just one scene with my son. So Chickie has a son who is probably about 13 and she’s a single mom, as far as we know. I’ve come up with an elaborate back story that works for me, but I don’t know what’s going to happen and I’m so excited to find out.

[STF]
We’re all feeling pretty confident, and I know we got the ratings numbers for this week and it stayed pretty consistent with last week.

[AB]
Oh, we did, I’m so happy to hear that. I had no idea.

[STF]
I haven’t seen the exact numbers myself yet, because I was so busy yesterday, but I understand they were pretty consistent about 2.3 million.

[AB]
All right.

[STF]
We’re happy with it, and I know the DVR numbers are coming out consistent increase about 40% above live.

[AB]
Isn’t it so funny now, there’s all these different ways that things have to be looked at that are not the way they were done before. It’s so amazing, isn’t it?

[STF]
Well I know the fans are confident, I’m confident.

[AB]
Awesome.

[STF]
I think TNT is going to be happy and I think the critics are so enthused about the show.

[AB]
I’ve got to say we are so blessed, I think we really are blessed. This whole project has been a real roller coaster. We’ve had everything going for us on paper. We’ve ended up being, we thought we were this big machine and suddenly we’ve become this little engine that could. It would be so wonderful if we could crest the top of the hill and coast into the sunset, that would be a wonderful thing.

[STF]
It certainly would. Everyone said Mad Men couldn’t do it either and look what happened to them.

[AB]
I’ve got to say, I’m not an enormous TV watcher, although I do watch because of the business I’m in, and I love Mad Men. I think it’s just such a wonderful show. I’m so happy it’s around.

[STF]
People keep comparing Southland to Mad Men, I’m more than happy.

[AB]
Wow. I didn’t know about that, that’s quite an honor.

[STF]
I’ve heard people comparing it critic wise, and what could happen wise, I’ve heard people compare the two shows.

[AB]
Wow, that’s a beautiful things. Oh my gosh, you’ve just made my day.

[STF]
Why do you think Chickie waited so long to turn Dewey in?

[AB]
I think it’s a real struggle with any intimate relationship where there’s alcoholism or addiction. You love a person, you forgive them for their faults in the best case scenario and you, you know, he’s a wonderful guy. He’s an excellent police officer and he’s kind of an over achiever. He’s an over achiever at being an alcoholic. I did a lot of ride alongs before we started shooting and some after, actually, with cops in LA. One thing I really became aware of, and I’ve done ride alongs before, and this time it was really clear to me. that car is so intimate and stuff kind of just comes out. You’re in a care with someone for a long time. It’s very intense and it’s peppered with these very intense exits from the vehicle and stuff comes up. You share these things. People are complicated, their not just bad or good.

I also think there may be, in my own work on Chickie and this story, I tried to come up with some ideas in my mind, some daydreams about what Chickie’s life was like before Dewey and before being a cop and why she is a cop, and I think there are some reasons why a person would become. Why a person wouldn’t immediately tell an alcoholic that they need to face the music and imagine that they can get it together on their own. Or maybe together. I guess maybe at the end of the day it gets to the point where in the classic AA vernacular people hit a bottom and that’s where they really get turned around. Sometimes they get turned around because people confront them and sometimes they get turned around because they are forced to confront their issues themselves. Usually a combination of both. I hope that answers your questions.

[STF]
Oh, absolutely. That was fantastic. Now that she has turned him in, we’re seeing a lot of side effects from the other police officers on the force, like getting assigned to “The Slug”.

[AB]
Yeah.

[STF]
Do you think that’s more to do with the fact that she delayed, or do you think it’s resentment that she turned him in period?

[AB]
I think it’s resentment for turning him in.

[STF]
Good old boys club?

[AB]
Yeah, for sure. I also think that the only person who really uses that delayed thing as an excuse is John Cooper, because it works for him.

[STF]
Because of his own issues?

[AB]
Possibly. THat’s my own idea, but I think it works for him. It’s convenient. He’s such an interesting character and I think Michael plays him so beautifully. He’s very complicated and has such beautiful dichotomies. So I think that that delay thing works for him when it works for him. But as far as getting put with the slug, it’s punishment. I think getting put in the kit room, it’s punishment. I don’t think it’s because she’s a bad cop, I think it’s partly because she got caught up in the personal element of that Dewey relationship and it was complicated. There’s being loyal to your partner, then there’s being loyal to the commitments you make as a police officer and I think it’s complicated. Ultimately that’s what the shows about. Ultimately, if you’re a good cop, you do your job first. I think, on an emotional level, I think that it’s possible that getting caught up in the emotional component of the stress of having an alcoholic partner could make you distracted from using your better judgment well, especially if there’s a personal element, a personal history there that could make that so. You know, I think some people say you’re always attracted in life to the people with whom you could always work out your stuff, and you either do or you don’t. And if you do, then both people become better people and they grow and learn. If you don’t then you just fight and stay the same and get more embedded in being the same.

[STF]
That makes sense. Looking at the characters at Dewey and Chickie, they obviously have been characters for a very long time. It’s almost like a codependent relationship in a way.

[AB]
Oh, totally. Totally and completely. You know, he’s a great guy. Actually, Tommy Howell [C. Thomas Howell] is an unbelievable guy, a fantastic actor. he was such a pleasure to work with. I think actually really brought a lot to that character. But you know, he’s so lovable and charismatic and a good cop. But he’s a terrible addict. That disease really can permeate everything. Obviously if you’re drinking in the morning on the job, staying up all night and drinking, then trying to go to work in the morning as a police officer, that’s not going to work.

[STF]
In the episode where Cooper and Ben went to visit him in rehab and told them how much he had been drinking.

[AB]
Yeah, kind of shocking, right?

[STF]
I’ve known some alcoholics in my time, and that’s a lot of alcohol!

[AB]
And it’s amazing how some people can hide it, and some people can hide it better than others and some people just don’t care. I live on a very historically alcoholic street in New York and it’s just amazing the different types of alcoholics and addicts there are. Some are just totally functional and some aren’t. But, you know, at the end of the day if you’re an addict, it’s what you’re really committed to. And you can’t really be committed to anything else. I think there are different ways of handling that. I don’t think personally that AA is the only way to go, but thank God it’s around, it’s such and extraordinary institution and I’ve seen it save many people, people that I’ve known and loved. It’s pretty amazing.

[STF]
Yeah, I’ve seen the affect on people in my own life.

[AB]
Wild isn’t it. Really wild.

[STF]
One of the fans sent me a question on Twitter.