Things are heating up on Furious as the FBI is closer than ever before to Catherine (Lola Petticrew). In episode 6, agent Alice Black (Emmy Rossum) is in the same shelter as the serial killer, and her colleagues have taken Catherine’s fiancé Alden (Steve Way) in for questioning. And amid life-or-death stakes and a nerve-shredding police corruption subplot, it’s Way who makes this episode consistently laugh-out-loud funny.
Far from being intimidated by FBI agent Frank Choi (Rob Yang), Alden taunts him repeatedly. He makes jokes about his mobility issues to fluster the agent. He uses his wheelchair for physical comedy that makes Choi the punchline, and he flagrantly chants, “Fuck the police,” while NYPD detective Danny Kelly (Scoot McNairy) looks on.
Fans of Ramy will recognize Way. But it wasn’t his work on that comedy series that caught the eye of Furious creator Elizabeth Meriwether, who also co-created the critically praised tragicomedy series Dying for Sex. In an interview with Mashable, she shared how she first met Way, and how that shaped Furious in a major way.
Steve Way’s role on Furious was written with him in mind.
Steve Way plays Alden on “Furious.”
Credit: Hulu
Sitting down with Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko, Meriwether said, “So, Dying for Sex was coming out as I was in the writers’ room for Furious. And we were research[ing] female serials as caretakers. Catherine kind of became a nurse, and then [I] was like, ‘Okay, who is she nursing?’ And we were going through a lot of different ideas. [Then, because of Dying For Sex,] I did a panel about showing caretaking in TV. And Steve was on the panel.”
The panel, titled “Storytelling About Gender, Work, Family, and Care in Uncertain Times,” was held by the SAG-AFTRA foundation on May 5, 2025. It is available on YouTube.
“The entire panel,” Meriwether recalled, “I was just cracking up; he was so funny. His running bit in the panel was that he needed work for health insurance. And I was just like, ‘He needs work. I need this character.’ The next day, I walked into the writers’ room, and I was like, ‘It’s this guy, Steve Way. We’re building this whole character around him.'”
She continued, “I felt so privileged to get to work with him and collaborate with him. I learned so much. We would do the table read, and then he would like stay after and talk to me for like an hour at a time, and just go through and add specifics. He’s doing great physical comedy [in the show], and a lot of that came from his specific ideas about how his wheelchair moved, and like what people don’t know about wheelchairs and things like that.”
Meriwether noted the humor Way brings is “an important part of the show,” adding that he creates a release to help balance “a lot of heavy subjects” that Furious tackles.
Way also becomes an unexpected source of wisdom, delivering a message about love that speaks to the show as a whole.
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Did Catherine kill Alden’s mom?
Scoot McNairy, Rob Yang, and Steve Way co-star in “Furious.”
Credit: Hulu
In a separate interview with Petticrew, Puchko asked about a big episode 6 moment, in which Danny tries to get information about Catherine out of Alden by arguing the love between them isn’t real.
First, Danny points out that Catherine went by Vanessa when she worked with Alden. “You two are in love, and you don’t even know her name?” Danny pushes.
“Oh, that’s the best love,” Alden counters, noting that whatever her name, she sees him as he is, and not his wheelchair. “She doesn’t pity me.”
“You don’t think she fucking used you?” Danny presses.
“I don’t fucking care. I don’t care. My entire life I’ve been told I’m never going find someone. I’m not worthy of love. And the one time I find it, you want to take it from me,” Alden argues, adding, “You think love is only when people do everything you want them to do. That’s fucked up.”
Finally, Danny tries one more time to turn Alden, by suggesting that Catherine killed Alden’s mom, then used her fentanyl to kill others. To this, Alden replies, “No one’s perfect.”
Lola Petticrew is Catherine/Vanessa in ‘Furious.’
Credit: Hulu
Petticrew has previously shared their thoughts on why Catherine killed Becky but spared Mira. So, do they believe their character murdered Alden’s mom before kicking off her vengeance-seeking killing spree?
“I don’t think she did,” Petticrew said, “I mean, just me, as a viewer… I think I would watch it and think that she didn’t. I don’t think that she would have a reason to. I think she has a pretty clear ethical/moral code.”
But for Petticrew, whether Catherine killed Alden’s mom is not as important as his response to the possibility of it.
Petticrew said of Alden’s response, “I think it’s a very wonderful Liz Meriwether way of getting to the heart of the entire piece. So often, we are forced into presenting perfect victims. It happens in film and TV, and certainly in life, and when people seek justice for things, you have to play the role of a perfect victim. You’re not allowed to be in any way gray or complicated. And that is just not life, and that is just not true [to life].
“These women in this show,” Petticrew continued, “are allowed to be gray and hard and difficult and complicated, because everybody is. And if you have to be a perfect victim in order to deserve any pity or justice or help, what you’re saying is there are some people who deserve this to happen to them, and I certainly don’t believe that that’s true.”
Asked what it was like working with Way, Petticrew gushed, “Steve is phenomenal. Getting him as a scene partner for those moments was just unreal. Getting to go in and work with him every day, he constantly surprised me and pulled things out of Catherine. I think that relationship is so important in the show. I think that Alden is someone that — while, in a way, he’s almost completely reliant on her — he actually doesn’t expect anything from her at all, or want anything from her at all. And I think that that is really beautiful. And I think that she really appreciates that and feels safe. To have a space in this world, in this show, where she feels that was just like a sigh of relief. And I think casting Steve was one of the best decisions they made in the show, because he just has an ability to break your heart and make you laugh side by side. And he’s also an awesome human being who it was a delight to go to work with every day. So, how lucky am I?”
Furious is now streaming on Hulu, with new episodes every Monday through Aug. 31.
