Dolly Lewis Has All The Angles Covered in Season 2 of SIGHT UNSEEN

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Love triangles are common in storytelling, but here’s a new twist on it, courtesy of CTV’s SIGHT UNSEEN. Lead character Tess Avery, played by Dolly Lewis, is caught in what could be described as an “attention triangle” with seeing-eye guide Sunny Patel, played by Agam Darshi, and police collaborator Jake Campbell, played by Daniel Gillies. “Attention triangle – that should be the tagline for the show,” Lewis agreed enthusiastically. “Who do we talk to about that?” Premiering its second season on Monday, Jan. 20 at 10 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app, the Vancouver-set SIGHT UNSEEN follows Lewis’ Tess, a former full-time detective who had to quit the force because of an ongoing medical issue with her eyesight. With the help of Sunny and Jake, Tess now works as a consultant with the police. But in a unique way, Sunny – who is always in Tess’ ear, literally – and Jake are in a subtle competition to be the most important person in Tess’ life, or at least the most consistent influence. “Yeah, they are, and there are other little triangles that kind of branch off that main one, where I find myself competing, or we find that we’re noticing other people’s attention differently, or a new person’s attention,” Lewis said. “I think Kat and Niko (SIGHT UNSEEN co-creators Karen and Nikolijne Troubetzkoy) did such a great job in Season 2 of bringing in new elements of, you know, let’s deepen this character’s presence, or let’s bring in this new character to create these new elements of, exactly as you said, jostling for somebody’s attention.” What, and who, Tess is paying attention to is obviously a major part of SIGHT UNSEEN. As the character whole-heartedly admits, she isn’t the best when it comes to interpersonal relations anyway, and her eye condition – which, as is evident early in Season 2, is progressing and showing different symptoms – has made her even more wary of others. In a less ambitious show, Tess’ physical issues probably would remain stable and consistent, but that certainly isn’t the case here. “Yeah, and that’s really a testament to Kat and Niko again, because, you know, I don’t want to say that producing anything is easy, but there is something familiar and formulaic that you could fall back on if you’re creating a procedural,” Lewis said. “But they are so much more imaginative than that. I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit daunted sometimes when I got the scripts and thought, ‘oh my God, what do I have to contend with next?’ But that’s what Tess does in her cases. So I felt like my process in trying to root myself in her was actually a really good mirror for how she tries to root herself in her own life.” Lewis, who has endured some eye issues of her own, did a lot of research before taking on the role of Tess. So what was the feedback like, once the public started to get acquainted with the character in Season 1? “For me, personally, my friends and family loved the show, but they have to be nice to me,” Lewis said with a laugh. Well, not necessarily. “You’re right, you’re right, they don’t have to be nice to me, but they were,” Lewis continued. “But one thing that stood out was a letter I got from a boy of maybe 11 or 12 years old, who has autism and some degree of sight loss. He wrote about how much he enjoyed watching the show, and he loved the adventures, and he loved that somebody with sight loss could have such an adventurous life. He also asked me for tips on how to open up to people in his life, because he really appreciated that Tess Avery struggles with that as well. And I was really moved that he not only connected because of his sight loss, but he also connected just because of Tess’ personality. It was very touching.” What a lovely thing to receive that kind of confirmation that your hard work is paying off. “That’s the funny thing about TV and film, because you put so much effort into it, and you’re in such an intense bubble while you’re shooting, at least as the actor, and then you wrap, and you go off back to your regular old life,” Lewis said. “You don’t have the same intensity, and you don’t get to necessarily experience how it touches the viewers. Often there’s kind of a disconnect. It comes out so much later, and you just don’t happen to be sitting next to people on their sofa in their living room, watching with them, you know? It’s sometimes hard to feel the influence and the power that our work can have. So it is extremely gratifying when anybody reaches out.” As for Season 2 of SIGHT UNSEEN specifically, Lewis agreed that the pace has increased, largely because there’s more of a shorthand between Tess and Sunny, as logic would dictate. “We were just really in sync, and you’re absolutely right, this season finds us in even more danger than ever,” Lewis said. “That sounds dramatic and scary. But it’s great. It’s thrilling.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_t