‘Poppa’s House’: Essence Atkins Talks Potential Ivy-Poppa Romance & Season 2 Hopes

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Poppa’s House Season 1 Episode 13, “Graduation.”]

Even therapists have their relationship struggles. Viewers got to know Dr. Ivy Reed (Essence Atkins) on a deeper level in the Monday, March 3, episode of Poppa’s House. The Ivy-focused episode saw Ivy’s ex-husband, David (played by Walker‘s Coby Bell, a former costar of Atkins’), unexpectedly reappear with the hopes to reconnect, and it welcomed Ivy’s mother, Felicia (played by guest star Ella Joyce). Both of these complicated relationships served to deepen Ivy’s backstory, one defined by relationship struggles that inspired her to make big changes in her life.

But like so many of us, Ivy couldn’t help but slip back into old habits under her mother and David’s influence. Ivy’s loneliness made her foolishly think that her ex had finally changed and was ready to be faithful. In reality, the former NFL player was trying to use her and had no intentions of being monogamous — he couldn’t even stay faithful during the same party where he asked her to get back together.

Poppa (Damon Wayans) caught David in his lies and exposed him to Ivy to protect his friend. These colleagues started off hating each other, but they’ve been slowly and sweetly getting closer as the first season of Poppa’s House has played out. There are five episodes left in Season 1, and we sense a romance brewing between Ivy and Poppa. Atkins can’t out-right say what’s ahead, but she tells TV Insider that this relationship is going on “a journey that the audience will enjoy” in the next episodes. “The development of their relationship, I feel, has been particularly authentic in that it hasn’t felt rushed…I will say that you need to watch and see how the relationship develops, and I think that the audience will love it.”

Here, Atkins breaks down Ivy’s big episode with TV Insider.

This episode is very Ivy-focused. Her ex-husband appears, and this gives us a look at her vulnerable side, which she doesn’t always show, despite being a therapist who’s very equipped to do so. Is she afraid to let Poppa see this vulnerable side?

Essence Atkins: I think she’s afraid to let anyone see this side of her, but particularly Poppa because she has such a great respect for him. If we go back to the pilot, it’s really kind of encapsulated in that scene where she says, you helped me. You inspired me, you anchored me, and I’m here to bring back what matters most to you. I’m here to get you to fight for your show and for your voice and why you started this thing. And I think that for Ivy, there’s a lot of airs that she puts on and she hides behind her achievements as a lot of successful people do. But yeah, there’s definitely a reluctance to let Poppa see her full self.

Did Ivy ever expect that Poppa could become such a good friend when taking on this co-hosting job with him?

No. [Laughs] How it began was definitely very tumultuous, and he didn’t want her there under any circumstances. He was used to hosting his own show. He was used to doing it by himself, his way. And I don’t think that either or one of them ever anticipated that in their collaboration, which really comes from their love of music, they would become such good friends. And I think that they’re similar. They just cope with it differently. But I think they’re both very afraid of intimacy.

Given her psychology experience, she probably could gauge that he would be a little defensive when she got into this job, right?

Absolutely. And I think that that’s why it’s such a pleasant surprise that, as they’ve gotten to know each other, they have found common ground and they have found that the way that they needle and prod each other is actually good for them. It challenges them to grow and to challenge their own beliefs and their own coping mechanisms. I love this episode, because you see even more so how much they have grown.

Robert Voets / CBS

How did you like working with Ella Joyce and Coby Bell as your mom and your ex-husband in this episode?

It is a reunion for me! Coby Bell and I worked together many moons ago back in the ’90s when he appeared on Smart Guy, and then we worked together again on Half and Half when he played Phyllis’s [Telma Hopkins] much younger boyfriend, so this was a wonderful reunion for the two of us to work together again. We had enjoyed each other so much when we worked together so long ago, and he was so excited to put back on his comedy chops after being involved in a drama [Walker] for so long. He was really excited to get back to comedy, which is kind of how he started in TV.

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I actually did a monologue reading with Ella probably over 10 years ago, so I had worked with her on stage before. When her name was tossed into the hat as a potential for my mom, I was like, absolutely, she’s wonderful. I’m so grateful that she came and said yes and joined us. I think it’s really fun that her character is so different than Ivy.

As the first season evolves, how often are you contributing ideas for Ivy’s character development?

It’s been really wonderful because oftentimes Dean, our showrunner, as well as Damon will ask me what I think or how would I say it differently or what is my perspective. And they’ve been very welcoming of our ideas, pitches. I wrote a whole backstory and bio for Ivy that I gave them to work with and play around with. It’s been really an incredible invitation for collaboration, which is not often the case. Oftentimes, as actors, we’re given the script and we build around it, and we’re kind of seen as being in one lane. And here the Wayans as well as Dean Lowry’s way is very much one of like, well, what do you think? Well, what are your ideas? And they get very detailed and ask very probing questions about what the education is, what the family dynamic is like. So it’s really been fun to build her out, not just for me, but also to share my insight.

What are some of the things in Ivy’s backstory that you created that might not necessarily have been seen on screen yet?

I really wanted to delve into the fact that she was very much an introvert in college. She was so studious and she was so driven. I think you see elements of that in the outside of her, but that when she was in college, she was really introverted. And that’s why getting to meet David — David was the love of her life. He was the first person, the first man that she ever loved. He was the one that she lost her virginity to and married. He is a big, big, big Achilles [heel] for her.

Robert Voets / CBS

And how is Ivy going to recalibrate after this latest disappointment from David?

After you see this episode, which is 13, the next five, you’ll really see Ivy a bit more trusting of Poppa and leaning into that friendship and kind of both of them doing that. That’s all I want to tease for now about the two of them. But David is that person who if they showed up unexpectedly or we saw them in a grocery aisle, they would take our breath for a moment and we wouldn’t exactly know what to do. And so David being in Ivy’s world again, or even the hint that he could possibly come back, is just enough to shift the earth off of Ivy’s axis for sure.

I’m sensing a romantic vibe between Ivy and Poppa starting to brew here. Am I right in sensing that?

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I mean, I know the answer. [Laughs] I think that it’s a journey that the audience will enjoy because the development of their relationship, I feel, has been particularly authentic in that it hasn’t felt rushed. Like, oh, we hate each other, now we love each other, and now we’re best friends. Over the course of the season, you are seeing two people get to know one another, two people develop a congenial work environment initially, and then crossing over into genuine friendship and confidant. I will say that you need to watch and see how the relationship develops, and I think that the audience will love it.

Well, the best relationships start as friendships.

Amen.

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, have there been talks about how Ivy and Poppa’s relationship will progress in a potential second season? And what do you hope to explore if renewed? [As of the time of publication, Poppa’s House has not yet been renewed for Season 2.]

Yes, there have been lots of ideas thrown around for what the evolution of that relationship looks like, and there’s some really great ideas on the table. And also just what I love is that as silly as we are on the show and as broad as the show gets in terms of a comedic flare, there is always grounded in it the heart of a story that comes from a real place. And so that will be maintained no matter what.

For me, I just hope to watch [Ivy] unravel and put herself back together again. I think Ivy is very much in her Humpty Dumpty phase. I can’t wait to see her fall completely apart and realize the value in exposure and realize the value of having your innards exposed and seeing who’s there to cover you and who’s there to help put yourself back together. That’s what I hope for Ivy, because I think that’s a story that everyone can latch onto, and at least if they haven’t experienced it themselves, they know somebody who has fallen apart.

Poppa’s House, Mondays, 8:30/7:30c, CBS