Before Edmund discovered that Cassie knew the truth, Macdonald underscored each scene with frenetic energy. If only he and Cassie could get to the fertility clinic, they'd create a bond that could never be severed. He interpreted Cassie's hesitation (she was hoping he'd come clean) as daydreaming. "Oh, save a dream for me," he said. Ah, but it was dream deferred. As Cassie blasted him for his misdeeds, that jubilant peripatetic energy transmuted into a desperate rage. "I love you. That's the one thing that is absolute. That is the one thing that is unchanging," he insisted. Cassie cowered in the other room as he unleashed his anger. Macdonald held nothing back as he turned the pristine suite into a chaos of overturned chairs and strewn pillows.

Some may say that Evil Edmund has returned. Macdonald, however, never makes things that simple. The throughline the actor has maintained is not Edmund's immorality, but his unrelenting insecurity, which manifests as cynicism. He knew Cassie's love and his redemption were too good to be true. Macdonald handles his dialogue as if he was painting a complex psychological portrait of a man undone by his own fears. Edmund certainly sees the world as black or white--you are either with him or against him--and Macdonald's skilled delivery and nuanced understanding of human nature makes Edmund electrifying.