‘Rescue: HI-Surf’: Arielle Kebbel on Em & Will’s ‘Poor Choices’ & Shocking Finale

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Rescue: HI-Surf Season 1 Episode 14 “Ripple Effect.”]

Em’s (Arielle Kebbel) life off the clock continues to be messy. But at the end of the latest Rescue: HI-Surf episode, it does seem like she’s on the right path.

Em and her ex Will’s (Adam Demos) affair eventually led to the end of his engagement, but that doesn’t mean they’re back together. Rather, she’s putting off the conversation they need to have and even goes to her ex Sean (Ian Anthony Dale) for a hookup at the beginning of “Ripple Effect.” But after a situation in the water — a rescue while she’s off-shift gets messy and she gets hit when the person panics — she’s starting to realize she needs to take care of herself. She then goes to Sean and admits he was right that she’s been pushing her feelings down about Will. What she needs is a friend, but is Sean really the right person to be that for her?

Below, Kebbel takes us inside Em’s head and teases what’s next, plus how the season ends.

Was what happened with the surfer then Sonny (Robbie Magasiva) calling Em out on her hands shaking and telling her that she needs to look after herself the wake-up call she needed or just the beginning of it?

Arielle Kebbel: The beginning because, as you can tell in that scene, she’s fighting it so hard. She doesn’t want to admit that she’s unraveling. And it’s interesting because it kind of reflects what Sonny was and is going through the first part of the season where he doesn’t want to admit how much Zion’s passing is affecting him at work. I think that this is Em’s first moment of, shoot, maybe Sonny seeing something in me that I’m not willing to admit myself just yet.

Zach Dugan/FOX

Em going to Sean’s to hook up — how much was that about her feelings for him and how much to forget about Will?

Great question. I’m not sure Em knows the answer to that. I think that what was really fun about working with Matt Kester, the show creator, and our writers, is that we got very few notes. They really trusted us in our process. And so it was interesting, these moments where I would get this script and start working on them like, okay, yeah, what does this mean with Sean? Does she like him? Does she want to be back with him? Is this revenge for Will? Is it all of it? Is it none of it? And it was really fun to be able to get the freedom to kind of live in Em without a ton of notes on the process. And so I think what people love about Will and Em is that they’re so passionate and kind of wild and free, and I think she’s exploring if she can feel that with Sean, but really what it means is, can she feel that with anyone else? And is that a good thing or a bad thing? Sometimes people need a partner to kind of help reel them in a bit and not be so explosive.

So the fun thing about it is that I think in that particular episode, it’s a big question mark of, she doesn’t know what’s happening with her feelings and that hookup is part of working through it and figuring it out. And then as we see more unravel, we learn what that leads to. I think that the closing moment between them at the end of that episode, it’s a really big deal for her because this whole second half of the season, we’re hearing her share about more vulnerabilities that we’ve never heard her share about before. The first half of the season’s all about action-packed, what a badass she is, how great she is at her job, and now we’re peeling back the layers of her fears and confusion in relationships and not just with guys, but also with a few other really important characters that come into play the second half of the season.

I do like that Em has realized that she needs a friend, that she’s been pushing her feelings about Will down, but why is Sean the one she’s going to? Sean is a good guy, but at the same time, it’s awkward.

I agree. [Laughs] I agree. That one’s above my paid grade.

Can Em and Sean settle into being friends though?

I don’t know. I think the fun part about this character was, there’s some characters you get and you’re like, oh, I know exactly what’s happening this moment, I know how I’m going to play it, I know what the outcome is. And with Em, there were certain things — the physical part of Em, I always knew exactly what to do with. I grew up loving the water, I grew up doing sports. I grew up super competitive. I loved that. I felt like I got to excel with all of these stunts and the actions surrounding Em.

Then, when it comes to her relationships, outside of Sonny, what I loved is that I’m like, this character’s kind of blowing my mind. I don’t know that I understand her choices. I really had to let go and trust that, okay, I’m going to live in the unknown because that’s what I have to bring to the table right now. And I don’t know that I’ve ever really gotten to do that with a character before. So it was a little uncomfortable for me, but in a way that was also exciting because I also trusted that obviously, we have great writers and directors and people I could turn to if I ever really felt lost. But I think kind of playing in that unknown of like, okay, me, Arielle does not understand why she’s doing this, so what can I lean into and what can I learn about her that can justify why she’s doing this? And that can justify, can be friends, can they not? Well, why? Because at the end of the day, we’re two different people.

Zach Dugan/FOX

Will tells Em in 113 they need to talk, but she says she needs some time. So what’s it going to take for them to have that talk?

I think that they’ve both been through a lot. She’s super hurt, but she also feels like she put herself in this position and probably she knows better. And I think a part of her really regrets — I think she was hoping it would be a different outcome so that she didn’t need to regret kind of the poor choices and admit the poor choices that both she and Will did and that morality fight they’re in of like, well, what’s responsible and what’s love? And when do we throw caution to the wind and when do we say no, this isn’t a respectful thing to do to our partners? I think that the taking space and time is really just about, okay, we got ourselves in a whirlwind of a mess and yes, we still have to work together and yes, there’s a ton of hurt feelings, but right now let’s just focus on being professional and the rest will come when it comes because he’s made his choice and now she needs to make hers.

And I think it’s a way of her claiming back for independence a little bit because I think for someone like Em who is so independent, it’s really hard and borderline embarrassing that she kind of lost her independence the way that she did. Will has this effect on her that she gets swept up in a way that nobody else does. I think that’s really hard for her to admit and understand, and so then when it’s this kind of horrific outcome, it’s like she needs time to even just put her broken ego back together a bit.

But that conversation does have to happen. So what can you tease about it?

Does it? I don’t know. I think in some relationships, the strongest relationships, yes, certain things are addressed and other things you don’t address, you just kind of move on. I mean, I saw this great interview with Sandra Bullock one time and she’s like, why do you need the person to say they’re sorry? They’re the one who hurt you. You need to address it yourself and heal yourself and move on. Because if you’re always chasing their I’m sorry, you’re never going to be fully full because it’s not about their I’m sorry, it’s about healing yourself. So I don’t know. I think that Em is in a place where she’s really looking at Will completely differently than she ever has before, and that really means looking at herself completely differently than she ever has before. And so things will come to a head for sure, things will come to a head, but will it be the way that she thinks? I don’t know.

Talk about filming the rescues this season. What was your favorite one to film?

Well, the show is wild because, every episode, we would do almost three rescues I think. So we were training the whole time we were filming. I had so many favorites. I don’t know about my favorite rescue, but I could say some of my favorite stunts. My favorite stunt’s definitely the rock running because I had no idea what it was before I got to Oahu, and when I learned that this is a real way that people work out by holding boulders under the water and running on the ocean floor, I became obsessed with it. I trained so hard in the pool, and I learned breath holds from Mark Healey, a world-renowned free diver. I trained underwater with weights and also just learned about my body. It’s not just about doing it, it’s about the recoup time.

For as long as you’re underwater, you have to stay above water double the amount of time before you go back down for a proper oxygen reset. Or even that night going to bed at night knowing that you’re going to bed with the spins or that that’s normal knowing what your body’s gone through that day. Because you think about a normal dive, you’re doing it once, but when you’re filming, you’re doing it 12, 15 times. So just the things that my body went through during these stunts and learning what was normal, what’s not normal, how to take care of myself, it was such a learning process. I felt like I was learning my body in new ways, which was really exciting.

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I’ll never forget in Episode 1 when I’m on the back of a sled and the giant wave is behind us and I’m saying, go, go, go. That was a real wave at Pipeline that was not CGI. We have no CGI in the TV show. I remember that was the first week of filming and they took us out there and the stunt actor was beneath me playing unconscious, we were on the rescue sled, and we just waited for the perfect wave and as soon as it hit, we were off. That wave was right behind us. I remember when we came into shore, everyone was cheering and clapping, and to be honest, I really had no idea what I had just gone through. I was so new to the whole process. I think it was a 20-foot wave or something. I just remember everyone celebrating and me celebrating, but also being like, what just happened? And taking it all in. That to me felt like my moment of, Welcome to the North Shore.

My other favorite one is a big cave rescue coming up where I actually rescue an unconscious male from a cave, and my parents were visiting at the time. And so my dad got to come out on the boat and watch how we filmed. There’s no downtime, I’m breath holding and they had oxygen down there for me, but honestly, I prefer to just free-dive and hold my breath. So I was out in the ocean in these caves with all of our water safety team around me, like pulling this unconscious dude out from a cave probably 20 or 30 feet underwater, take after take, and I don’t know, I just felt so proud that I could show off to my dad that I could do that. That was just a really special personal moment for me.

The finale is coming up. What can you tease? Does it end on the cliffhanger?

Of course. What finale wouldn’t? No, but I’ll say this as well, and I remember we all talked about this, and Matt, our show creator, he was proud of this. Yes, there’s a cliffhanger, of course there has to be, but there’s also some really happy, beautiful moments and we all kind of talked about it. It was so nice to have a finale that felt happy. I think these days so much is around a big disaster that has to happen to keep people interested. We have these really beautiful moments in the finale where the whole cast is together and there’s these family moments and I don’t know what I can say, but there’s things that you haven’t seen before yet that are going to be beautiful to watch and to feel. We all looked around and it was emotional for us. We were like, wow, this feels so nice that this is how we get to wrap up this season. I think there’s really something to that. People have come up to me and told me that they love watching the show with their family, that it’s a multi-generational show, and that is very special to me. It means a lot to me that you can sit and watch it with your grandparents, with your kids. That’s a show that I’m proud to be a part of. I think that going along with that, people will enjoy watching this finale with their families. We need those glimmers whenever we can celebrate them right now.

What can you tease about where the finale leaves Em?

I can tell you Em’s shocked at Will. [Laughs] Em’s shocked at Will. I can say that the family really comes together. We have a really beautiful celebration of the lifeguard family and also of Sonny’s personal family. There’s a really beautiful personal family event that we all go to, and so it’s the first time you’ve really ever seen the work family and the personal family together. I think that will be really special for people to see. And I think people will kind of end with Will going, “Whoa, okay. What’s next?”

Rescue: HI-Surf, Mondays, 9/8c, Fox

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