‘Cupertino’s Ella Stiller Breaks Down That Billionaire Love Connection (Exclusive)

Christy Palladino (Ella Stiller) reached new heights on Thursday (October 29) night’s newest episode of Cupertino. In “A.J. & Buddy,” she made a new romantic connection with a fellow clubgoer, A.J. Cutter (Ben Cook), only to later discover that he was secretly a young tech billionaire who needed some legal help, and fast. Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Cupertino Episode 4.

At first, A.J. kept his true profession a secret from Christy, and the two were instantly cozy with one another in her humble abode — the first time we’ve seen her digs, by the way. Once he got a call from his business partner, though, everything changed; upon arrival to the airport, Christy was stunned to find out that A.J. didn’t work there, but rather, he was heading to his private plane and bringing her along.

It didn’t take long for Christy to get on board with this little “kidnapping” spree, as she called it, especially after A.J. introduced her to the art of aisle surfing during takeoff. But then, things got even more complicated.

As it turned out, A.J. was a prediction market creator who, alongside his partner, was being targeted by investigators. While it was too late for Buddy, who was already in lockup, A.J. wanted to make a break for it to the Caribbean. Thanks to Christy, though, he quickly retained the services of Michael Price (Mike Colter) and Olivia Siffre (Rachel Keller) to find a better way. Christy served as his liaison when necessary — switching from all-business mode to secure the firm’s retainer to friendly cuddle buddy as the situation demanded — and in the end, Christy convinced A.J. to return to the U.S. to appear in court, and he and Buddy will have to face the music together at a later date.

To break down the very fun Christy-centric episode, TV Insider caught up with Ella Stiller!

Episode 4 is such a fun one. I love the little love connection that Christy makes. With how it all goes down in the beginning, what do you think it is that Christy sees in A.J. right there in that club?

Ella Stiller: Robert [King] directed that episode, which was incredible, and I think the thing that he always wanted us to remember is these two see each other in a way that we don’t get to see through a lot of the show. Christy finds her match in the level of adventure and playfulness and the sort of never wanting to totally grow up or take anything too seriously thing. And it’s interesting because she really has an arc as the show goes on, and I think even as the episode is unfolding. I think it starts with a real playful, fun, sexy [vibe], but then I think it really evolves into her taking her job really seriously. She’s able to do the job and do it so well because she connects with people in different ways. And I think the A.J. connection is a real “we see each other” kind of thing.

CBS

We get our first peek inside Christy’s home life. She’s a little bit of a mess… Did you expect that? 

Oh my gosh! I love that room so much. It looks a lot like my room. To me, I’m like, “Oh yeah, this makes a lot of sense.” Christy is Type B to her core, and I love that because she is really, really good at what she does, and she gets the job done, and she’s on top of her s**t always, but yeah, she’s a little bit messy. That’s her process. And it’s interesting because even meeting a guy at a club, it’s like this then becomes this huge client of ours. This is just how she exists and how she works, and she doesn’t change herself for the job or for anything. She just puts more of herself into it and gets more out because of that, I think.

So about A.J., before she finds out that he’s this rich tech guy, she asks him, like, “Are you a baggage handler?” It seems like she would be fine with it if he were. Do you think that’s true?

I think more so, yeah. She doesn’t want him to be a tech guy. The first thing that I say to him is like, “You’re not in tech, right?” And he lies. But yeah, no, she doesn’t want anything to [with that]. She wants this to be her private life. She doesn’t want work to creep into it. And I think she obviously feels more comfortable around people who are not millionaires. But it’s also exciting, of course, and I think it opens a totally different door and a different perspective on who this guy is. But yeah, I think she really genuinely expected him to not own a private jet.

So there are a couple of moments, maybe, that he endears himself to her. One would be the aisle surfing. Do you think that helps breaks the ice from, “Oh, this guy just lied to me, and he’s taking me off to who knows where”?

Yeah, yeah. I think, totally. I think, again, Christy is always up for an adventure. That’s the thing. As much as she’s been deceived or whatever, I think all of a sudden it just all becomes very clear. Like, “Oh, well, this is happening,” and just to go along with it. And I think she has a really strong instinct, and she knows that he’s not dangerous, and that this could only lead to something exciting and good. And yeah, I think that aisle surfing is like so great. It’s such, again, that like Peter Pan-like, never growing up kind of thing, finding fun and everything. And I think Christy loves that.

The other moment that I was going to ask you about is when he’d seen her pictures of her family and seemed a little bit overwhelmed by it, and then he tells her he doesn’t really have that. Do you think that brought it all really home for her?

Yeah, I think she has a lot of empathy for that, and I think she sees him differently. She just is able to see him, and I think, obviously, they have a real connection, and yeah, she’s all about family, and she’s all about helping out the people that you care about. So, I think she, of course, wants to get that great gold brick of a retainer for the firm, but also really wants to help people. As the show goes on, it becomes a lot about Christy getting connected to these people and really wanting to help them. And I think with him, especially, she sees that, and she has a soft spot for him. It’s just him and his best friend, and there the stakes are high.

This episode has a little bit of something from everything about Christy, her off-duty life, and then on-duty, and it obviously blends together here. Did you enjoy kind of snapping in and out of business mode? Because it’s like, she’s negotiating the retainer, and then she’s back to hanging out again. 

Yeah, I loved it. I mean, honestly, a big moment for me in realizing, “Oh my God! I’m a character on a TV show,” the second that your character has a bedroom, it’s like, “Oh!” That was my first time on that set, and I was like, “Oh, this is awesome. This is really awesome.” Yeah, it’s so exciting because it just makes the show deeper. It only makes your connection to the characters deeper. You start learning more, and I think it strengthens her bond to Michael and Olivia because she’s able to just show that she’s on this crazy quest and doing it for them, but also, this is just what she got into because she’s a party girl.

It was so fun and having the phone calls — the really serious phone calls — this is all such amazing Robert King stuff. I just remember every scene he wanted to be so — because we’re on the plane the whole time — he wanted it to be so, so visually stimulating, and also, he wanted every single moment to really, really do a deep dive into these characters and show what’s happening there. And so, he had us in all these different configurations on the plane, but my favorite was when we’re sitting across from each other. I think there’s a skateboard with treats on it, and we’re having the phone call with with my bosses and talking about really serious stuff. But he and I are like passing [food] back and forth on the skateboard. I remember Robert setting that up and thinking, “Oh, that’s brilliant. That is just brilliant.” This little scene, all of a sudden, that’s just like a very legal jargon-heavy phone call, becomes so human and so like, “Wow, it’s just these young people who are getting swept up in all this stuff.”

Elizabeth Fisher / CBS

You kind of alluded to this, how it’s not very clear all the way as far as who she’s really interested in helping in this moment, because she’s talking him into going back, which could be bad for him. Does she really think that’s the best thing for him, or is she in job mode at that point as she’s trying to talk him into it?

I think Christy never is going to believe that running away is the answer to anything. I think that just goes against her entire character and her entire thing. I think she’s always gonna believe that. She is a fighter, and I think she really is always gonna be the one who’s like, “No, no, no, you fight, and you and you figure it out, whatever happens happens.” So, obviously, there’s the element that we need the money, but also, she likes him and does not want him to now be like a convict in St. Kitt’s, on the run — especially [with] him saying how lonely his life has been. I think she just sees that it doesn’t need to be that way. I think she’s really wise, and I think there’s as much fire and as much — I would never say “opportunist,” but ambition and drive to get money for the firm. At the end of the day, she’s a really super smart and wise young woman.

At the end, there’s no resolution. We have to wait for a trial. What can you tease about what’s ahead with the A.J. storyline?

I don’t know what I can tease, but there will be more. There will be more.

Cupertino, Thursdays, 10/9c, CBS