"Nate is confronting grief on a level that he never has experienced before. Certainly he grieved for his father, but now it's his life partner. And there's some guilt mixed in with it, because he had so much ambivalence about his relationship with Lisa. He has another dead person in his psyche to contend with, now.
"All the characters are branching out, and there's a lot of new stuff happening. There aren't a lot of old dynamics this season. Characters are continuing to grow and change and take risks."
Among those taking the most foolish risks is business partner and restoration technician Federico "Rico" Diaz (Freddy Rodriguez), a character who frequently gets shunted to the sidelines. Not so this season, Ball says.
"Rico has a big story line, and he's not such a good boy this year," he chuckles, referring to the season-opening story line in which Rico becomes increasingly fascinated with a sexy stripper, throwing his already-fragile marriage to Vanessa (Justina Machado) into crisis.
As for Ruth and George, Ball notes, "Even though they are not first-time newlyweds, this is their first year of marriage, where a lot of stuff has to be worked out and where two very strong personalities can really push one another's buttons. And don't forget, now there's a new father figure in the Fisher household."
Some of the characters enjoy a potentially sunnier outlook, however. After enduring harrowing psychological traumas during the first two seasons of the show, Brenda (Golden Globe winner Rachel Griffiths) has laid many of her old demons to rest and is now cautiously ready to explore a new romance with Joe (Justin Theroux), a sensitive neighbor she met near the end of last season.
"I didn't really have an intense relationship with anyone last season, and this season I go on this interesting little journey with Justin Theroux, and filming those scenes, where Brenda is exploring a relationship with another guy, just felt weird. I felt as if I were cheating on Peter," Griffiths says, referring to her character's tumultuous relationship with Nate that dominated the show's first two seasons.
"The strange thing for me with TV is that, unlike film where you go through a crisis then catharsis then relief, here you barely catch your breath after one obstacle before you're hit with another. By season two, they were really pushing the characters of Nate and Brenda, challenging the audience into going to some dark places, and I think it got to the point where Brenda just needed to 'float' for a little while," Griffiths adds.
Brenda's newer, mellower mode also makes it easier for Griffiths to slip back into this character's skin. The actress, who gave birth to her first child just last November, is feeling pretty peaceful herself these days.
"I'm really thankful for the fact that these characters are evolving just as we are," she says. "I mean, if I were coming back to Brenda as she was in season one, I would really have to work hard to find that person. Where she is now is closer to where I am personally, having a new kind of peace in her life. I often say that I feel what Brenda feels, I just have acted upon those emotions very differently.
"Sometimes it has been a challenge for me to understand why Brenda acted out so extremely in a given situation, but I don't like to judge the characters I play."
Her new status as a mother has had an unexpected and somewhat comic effect on her work, Griffiths admits.
"Motherhood has made me a prude," she laughs. "I find it harder to do the sexual scenes. They're a real struggle now. And I look at the script and think, 'Whoa, the language in this episode [is really rough]. I shouldn't be saying this, I'm a new mom.'"
In other story lines, look for gay couple David and Keith (Michael C. Hall, Mathew St. Patrick) to make a serious attempt at rebuilding their relationship, while Claire (Lauren Ambrose) takes a more aggressive attitude toward her life at school.
Among high-profile returning guest stars are Jeremy Sisto ("in an unexpected way," Ball teases) as Billy, Brenda's tortured brother, and Patricia Clarkson in her Emmy-winning role as Sarah O'Conner, Ruth's free-spirited sister.
"I'm very happy with this season," Ball says. "It's a fun season, very entertaining, although there are parts of it that are more harrowing and upsetting than anything we have ever done before. But there's also some very, very funny stuff."
HBO already has greenlit season five of the series, which will go back into production next fall for a 2005 premiere.
