Brandee Evans, star of the critically-acclaimed exotic dancer drama P-Valley, has opened up about the complex relationship her character Mercedes has with her mother Patrice in season 2 of the show.
In this STARZPLAY drama series, Mercedes had saved her money from working in the strip club to fund her dream of opening up a dance school in Chucalissa and Patrice stole her money at the end of P-Valley season 1, using it to open up Woodbine's Church. This is explored in more detail in season 2.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Evans explained how her character felt after her mother's betrayal, the ways in which we'll see her deal with it and where their relationship stands now.
Related: P-Valley season 2 release date confirmed
"You know what? Mercedes is holding a lot of that in," she said. "You're going to see it coming out in different ways, from pain physically and mentally lashing out. You know, hurt people hurt people. And it's real."
Evans detailed the human nature of how frustrations with one person can go on to affect many of our other relationships, noting how her character is behaving in a similar manner.
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"A lot of this trauma that Mercedes has gone through, we, as people, can relate to it," she said. "Sometimes we lash out at other people because we're mad at someone else. Mercedes is definitely mad at Patrice for that and it's trickled down with other relationships that she has."
Related: P-Valley's Elarica Johnson on importance of seeing strip club drama from 'female perspective'
P-Valley has received a lot of critical acclaim for showing the world of strip clubs through a female, Black and queer lens.
"The leads are all female, and they're really in-depth characters," said actor Elarica Johnson, who plays dancer Autumn Night on the show. "Katori has done the most amazing work by digging deep and fleshing out the stereotypes, and just putting raw characters in the show."
P-Valley is available to watch on STARZPLAY in the UK and Starz in the US.
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Shyvonne Thomas is Digital Spy's Photo Director, looking after Digital Spy's and Hearst's digital brand visuals across the board. She also writes and conducts interviews specialising in the Power shows, anything Beyoncé, family days out, as well as championing content across Black TV shows and movies.
Having started her career as Shopping Assistant for Mother & Baby and Pregnancy and Birth magazines in 2010, Shyvonne moved on to become Picture Assistant at heat magazine in 2012, before joining the Daily Star, Express and OK! websites as Galleries Editor in 2014.
Shyvonne is an NCTJ-accredited journalist and studied an honours degree in Journalism. In 2021, Shyvonne was shortlisted for the PPA Unsung Hero Award. Shyvonne is also a proud mum.
