TV tends to explain a lot, but as a viewer, I like it if I have to reach a little to figure things out. We've seen the tension building between these two since the first episode. There is nothing to explain to the audience, so we can pick it up a third of the way through, when the tension is high. The other stuff would be extra.

There are certain things that have to get done in this scene. We have to introduce this idea of Claire and Billy getting this wild idea of moving out of the country. And of course, Ruth and Claire are ripe for a confrontation. So this is the form it took.

Ruth's not entirely at peace with the choices she's made, and she's taking it out on Claire.

The tension between mothers and daughters always exists. At some point, you have to stand up and be a person first, as opposed to a son or daughter that can live out your parents' dreams. But also, it's more complicated, because Ruth is going through her own thing with George, and her feelings of helplessness lead her to try to control someone-and Claire is the easiest target for that.

Ruth is kind of my favorite character. Ruth has to deal with very real life issues. She takes chances. She has bad boyfriends.

When you're dealing with an older character, you get a different range of experience. Her regret about leaving college has thirty or forty years behind it, of thinking, "Oh boy, I wish I hadn't done that." It carries a lot of weight. It's part of what makes the scene powerful.