‘High Desert’ Star Patricia Arquette Talks ‘Flawed & Dangerous’ Character

High Desert opens at a chichi home during Denny and Peggy’s (Matt Dillon and Patricia Arquette) boisterous family party. Festivities soon are interrupted by a police raid, leading people to feverishly try flushing huge bags of drugs during their hilarious panic.

With a start like that, expect this darkly comic series to be one fun ride. Arquette is its energetic center, a now down-on-her-luck but optimistic hustler and recovering addict who becomes a part-time investigator.

(Credit: Apple TV+)

“She’s a flawed person with a complicated survival mechanism,” Arquette says of bighearted Peggy, who’s determined to earn back the respect of her siblings after the death of their mom (Bernadette Peters, who shows up in a separate, fascinating role during the season’s eight episodes).

Peggy wheedles her way into working for emotionally fragile PI Bruce (Brad Garrett). She convinces him she has a scheme to save his failing business that involves anchorman turned crooked shaman Guru Bob (Rupert Friend), the ex-boyfriend of Peggy’s coworker at her other gig: a historical reenactor at the cheesy Pioneertown. “She’s attracted to and repulsed by Bob, and they end up in danger together,” Arquette reveals.

Trying to save her is parolee/fellow addict Denny — whom she hopes to divorce. Driving her beat-up dune buggy, Peggy is very much on her own twisty path. Says Arquette, “She has enough knowledge of [any one thing] to make her kind of dangerous.”

High Desert, New Episodes, Wednesdays, Apple TV+

This is an excerpt from TV Insider’s June issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.

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