Mild spoilers below for Killing It Season 2, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched.
In Season 1 of Peacock’s must-watch series, the hilarious genre-bender Killing It, Craig Robinson’s less-than-dependable Craig was revealed to have not only wed, but also sired a child with Stephanie Nogueras’ Camille, though the two characters split up in the aftermath. Thankfully, Camille returned for more in Season 2, and with an extra passenger on board, leading even more chaos for the exes to deal with. Making it all the more unique for TV is that they communicate through lip-reading and sign language, with Noguera being a deaf actress as well as an ASL teacher (and more).
When I had the chance to talk to co-stars Craig Robinson and Claudia O’Doherty for Killing It’s cliffhanger-addressing second season — as seen in the video above — the Office vet brought up sign language when I asked what they were interested in having explored with their characters in the new episodes. In his words:
I had to learn a lot more sign language. So that was interesting and fun, and it kind of opens up a new world, really. So that was cool.
I was happy to hear that further developing his ASL skills was a highlight of the season, as I’d already planned on asking him about working opposite Nogueras, since they’re easily one of the most adorable ex-couplings currently on the small screen. When I inquired about filming Craig and Camille’s scenes, and how it compared to others with more improvised dialogue. Here’s what he told me:
So it's really different, you know, and it took some getting used to for me. But as I do it more and get more used to it, it's fun, and it's exciting. And I just want to make sure I get it right, you know? So I got my teacher, and then I have Stephanie as well, and then if she's more comfortable with something, I might switch it to what she wants it to be. But it's never that far off, if that is the thing. But you know, that's a whole 'nother audience that I can communicate with, and so it's very exciting in that regard.
Strides have definitely been made in recent years for TV shows to embrace more characters who are deaf and hearing-impaired — among many other conditions — and more people than ever have the ability to learn ASL with ease. Killing It hits all the right notes in my book by immediately normalizing their relationship and communication patterns.
That said, Craig Robinson also mentioned the Season 2 episode with moments that did hinge specifically on the use of ASL for plot mechanics.
And there's also an episode where we needed to communicate, and we needed the other people not to know what we were saying. So that was awesome, too.
The episode in question, “Help Me Pay My Bills,” features some of Killing It’s most atrocious and awful characters by way of Tommy Dewey’s Tate and Ayden Mayeri’s Blythe, the couple paying Camille to carry their baby. I mean, they didn’t exactly make Tim Heidecker’s Rodney LaMonca look like a great person, but were awful nonetheless. In any case, Craig and Camille didn't have to worry much about any of the event's stuck-up guests chiming in on their low-key conversation.
Stephanie Nogueras didn’t just play a pregnant woman on TV, but was herself expecting, and gave birth to a daughter in November 2022. Thankfully, Tate and Blythe had nothing to do with that bundle of joy.
If you haven’t yet binged the entirety of Killing It with a Peacock subscription, get on that immediately so the powers that be know there are more than enough of us out here waiting for Season 3 news.
