Elsbeth ended the first half of Season 2 in the 2024 TV schedule with a cliffhanger courtesy of Michael Emerson's Judge Crawford unsealing court documents from Elsbeth's Chicago days that could make the new year very difficult for Carrie Preston's character. He's been set up as the Season 2 big bad, and it remains to be seen if Wagner will be enough support for Elsbeth in the rest of the season. To quote Preston, the judge is "almost untouchable" to anybody trying to take him down.
With Emerson coming to the show as Preston's real-life husband, anticipation was high for his arrival, but I find myself thinking back to what the leading lady and newcomer Ben Levi Ross said to CinemaBlend about Elsbeth and Teddy that makes me want her son back ASAP in the 2025 TV schedule.
How Season 2 Set Up Teddy For More In 2025
Starting from the beginning of his arc, Teddy's initial role in Season 2 seemed to be just to cheer Elsbeth up when she was about as gloomy as she'd ever been on the show, and CBS' hit drama successfully kept Ben Levi Ross' arrival secret before the big reveal in the Christmas episode. In the subsequent episode (available streaming with a Paramount+ subscription), it became clear that Teddy could bypass some of his mom's usual attempts to dodge questions about her decision to leave Chicago.
When she broke down in tears over dinner and confessed that she wanted him to love New York so that he'd visit more from Washington, D.C., Teddy told her:
Is this why you blew up your whole life? To be mildly closer to me?... You think I'm a closed book? You're the one who just up and left Chicago and no one knows why. Dad says everyone back home is asking him about it.
Elsbeth immediately tried to change the subject by asking if he'd tried the halal cart, and she did succeed in taking him on a lovely tangent in which he revealed that he's in a relationship with a man named Roy as her Teddy Fact of the day. That fact didn't extend as far as telling his mom what Roy's t-shirt size is, and he got back on subject:
Mom, listen, no more deflecting. You just blew up your whole life and moved to this new place, and then I get an SOS text from your coworkers saying I have to come, so now I'm here trying to figure out if you're okay. Are you okay?
Elsbeth did concede that there are "some things going on" in her life, but she insisted that all she ever needs is to see him. That was the end of the most in-depth conversation that she has really had about her past between The Good Fight and how Elsbeth picked up. Unlike Laurie Metcalf after her excellent guest-starring turn, though, all signs point toward Ben Levi Ross dropping by again as Teddy, so I'm hopeful that we'll see more of that dynamic with Elsbeth.
And I'm definitely thinking back to what Carrie Preston said about her on-screen son once Ben Levi Ross debuted and she didn't have to keep mum about the Teddy secret anymore!
What The Stars Said About Elsbeth And Teddy
I was fortunate enough to speak with Carrie Preston after Ben Levi Ross' arrival as Elsbeth's son was no longer a spoiler she had to hide. When asked about having to keep the secret for as long as she did and finally moving past it, the leading lady shared:
I have been dying to talk about Ben. He's so lovely, and I call him Teddy Ben. Instead of Teddy Bear, I call him Teddy Ben, and he just came right into the company. He just fit like a glove, and that speaks to his talent, but also to the writing. It's been lovely having him here and exploring that side of Elsbeth, that maternal side, and seeing how she handles this grown son that she loves so much, and how she has to keep her little boundaries up and try to let him live his life, as much as she wants to basically live in his house with him if she could. [laughs]
How is any Elsbeth fan supposed to not want Teddy back ASAP after how Carrie Preston's praised Ben Levi Ross and opened up about exploring her character's maternal side?! I already was crossing my fingers that we'd see them interacting again sooner rather than later; I might have to start crossing a few more digits now.
I also spoke with Ross about keeping his casting a secret and his "worst nightmare" for playing Teddy, and I wanted his take on the dinner scene between his character and his mom: is Teddy's role essential to Season 2 as somebody who can ask the questions Elsbeth has been dodging? The actor replied:
I definitely think so. I think that the intention of bringing him into the show as a character is that she knows that she can't hide from her son, that he can see her for exactly what's going on. Even in Episode 7, you see him sort of sensing that something's going on with her, even emotionally a little bit, and I think that it's just going to be a really good outlet to continue to use for Elsbeth through the show.
Even as somebody who adores Elsbeth's relationship with Kaya as one of my favorite friendships on TV, it was great to see somebody else having access to her vulnerabilities... and also elements of her past that she's successfully hidden from everybody else in NYC. Ross went on:
When she's feeling maybe not grounded, or she's feeling a little bit out of control, Teddy is sort of the person that she can go back to, to be reminded of the things that actually matter in the world. And I love that you said that – he asks her questions that she's been dodging, because you kind of see in that scene also that she continues to dodge as well, but she can't run forever.
Fortunately, Elsbeth still has plenty of episodes left to go in Season 2, so CBS can continue unraveling this story once the drama returns from its winter hiatus. Judge Crawford just may be Elsbeth's most pressing problem, depending on the fallout of his move at the end of the fall finale. (And the showrunner cleared the air about any similarities to Law & Order: SVU in that episode.)
Tune in to CBS on Thursday, January 30 at 10 p.m. ET for the winter premiere of Season 2, following Kathy Bates' Matlock as usual. If you want to revisit earlier episodes of the season – and I highly recommend both featuring Elsbeth and Teddy's dynamic – you can do so via Paramount+.
