Kate Siegel Breaks Down Crystal’s Twisted Connection With ‘Timmy’ (Exclusive)

Welcome back to the world of The Creep Tapes, where serial killer “Josef” (Mark Duplass), or how he sometimes likes to be called, and his many trophies are on display for the world to see. First introduced in the 2014 film Creep and its follow-up, Creep 2, Josef returned with his own series in 2024, opening up his disturbing collection of videotapes to reveal even more of his victims.

Now entering its third season, The Creep Tapes continues digging through Josef’s gruesome archive, with each episode introducing a new unsuspecting victim who crosses paths with the killer. Blending horror with painfully awkward cringe comedy, the series has created its own uniquely unsettling corner of the genre, where you’re never quite sure whether you should laugh, look away, or start screaming at the person onscreen to get out of there. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Episode 1 of The Creep Tapes Season 3, “Crystal.”

Episode 1 follows videographer Crystal (Kate Siegel), who meets “Timmy” (Duplass) on a boat, where he claims to be a member of the ’90s hair band Albert Natural. Complete with fake tattoos, a wig, and equipped with Tommy Lee-esque genitalia, he has a plan to stage a comeback by making a sex tape with his girlfriend Ashley.

When Ashley never shows, Crystal and Timmy set sail anyway, and Crystal eventually agrees to make the video with him. But Timmy can’t perform and retreats into the bowels of the boat, where he finally drops some of the act. He takes off the wig and fake member, and Crystal gets a glimpse of the man underneath.

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Even when Timmy brings out his infamous Peachfuzz mask, the two briefly seem to connect, with Timmy telling Crystal that she doesn’t need an entire audience to worship her when she can have one person. There seems to be an honest and sincere connection between the two.

But the mood suddenly turns sinister. Timmy begins questioning whether Crystal is actually scared of him, and the question, along with his tone, sparks a reaction in her. Her genuine fear turns Timmy against her, so Timmy gives her the grace of a 10-second head start if “she thinks something terrible is about to happen.” Crystal frantically runs and hides somewhere on the boat as Timmy hunts for her in the darkness. Eventually, he finds her, hiding in the hull, and the last thing the audience hears is her scream.

TV Insider chatted with Kate Siegel about her turn on The Creep Tapes and what it was like going toe-to-toe with Mark Duplass’ unpredictable serial killer and his alter ego, Peachfuzz.

How did you get involved with the Creep Tapes?

Kate Siegel: So, one day, out of the blue, Mark reached out, and he just said, “I have a crazy idea…” I’ve been such a fan of the whole Creep universe, the movies, all the other seasons of Creep Tapes. I just said, “Yes, I’m in,” ’cause we’ve met occasionally at film festivals and things like that, and I’m a huge fan of him and his work in general, so, I just knew that whatever it was, it was gonna be great.

As the first episode of the new season, do you feel that it was important for Crystal’s episode to kind of lay the foundation for the season?

When we shot the episode, I was not aware that it was going to be the first episode of the season. So, I really just focused on the authenticity of Crystal’s experience and kind of left the ranking of the episodes, or the ordering of the episodes, to Patrick and Mark.

A lot of Josef’s victims spend their time trying to figure out who this guy is, but Crystal seems to understand pretty quickly that “Timmy” is a performance. How does that change the power dynamic between them?

I believe that Crystal thinks she knows who Timmy is immediately. I believe that Crystal has encountered this type of man before, this type of bravado and insecurity. And I think Crystal, with her experience as an underwear model in the ’90s and where else that has led her in her life, is aware that this man would like to have some kind of sexual experience with her. This is not news to Crystal. She has been on boats with men before. And so, I think she understands it immediately, and she is confident in her ability to manage the situation. Crystal thinks she has the upper hand until the moment she does not.

She doesn’t just tolerate him. She joins in. She even offers to make a sex tape with him. And she goes further than any other person we’ve seen him interact with, which makes her special in many ways. Do you feel at some point that she is trying to manipulate him just as he is trying to manipulate her?

No, I believe that Crystal is authentically interested in Timmy. I think Crystal has lived a long life, and Timmy is a unique individual. I don’t think she’s ever encountered anybody like that. And as the wheels start to come off of the performance, where Timmy starts to really reveal …. understanding that Crystal knows nothing about Peachfuzz, so she believes that it’s just Timmy. So as the wheels start to come off, whatever Timmy’s doing, Crystal is very attracted to that level of vulnerability and who he could be. And I think that is part of the heartbreak of the episode is that she’s authentically interested in this human being. I believe there’s a moment where he’s authentically interested in her, but Timmy is so unable to connect human to human that he flinches and ends up killing her — or not. Who knows if she’s dead? Hard to say.

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It’s almost as if there was an extended stretch where you forgot it was a horror and you just saw it as two people connecting. One very awkward person and one very experienced person connecting on a very human level.

That’s what I love about the scene in the bedroom with the two of them: She’s guiding him through this idea, which I believe all of us go through, which is there is a story the world tells you about who you’re supposed to be. And then there’s who you are. There’s a point in everyone’s life where you come to a crossroads, and either you continue and tell the story that the world has told you you are, or you decide to take a leap of faith and trust yourself.

I think that’s a beautiful moment that she shares with him. And I wanted that to be true. That was part of the story I found very exciting, that she was able to say to him, you don’t have to be this way. You can be you. You can receive from me; I can receive from you. There’s a million different ways for us to have sex. I just think that’s a great message for people who feel outside of the norm.

Josef spends the entire encounter pretending to be somebody else and then suddenly demands complete honesty from Crystal. In your opinion, why is her performance intolerable to him when his entire identity is a performance?

Maybe add a layer of psychological examination that maybe Mark and Patrick didn’t intend: There’s a moment where we meet somebody that we want to partner with in our lives, and we start revealing things about ourselves that we don’t think are particularly attractive, that we’re embarrassed about, things that we think is stuff we find unlovable. I believe that Timmy was able to get to a certain point about that, but he thought that if at some point he really shared who he was, which is the Peachfuzz side of him, which he tried, he brought the mask out…

I wanted underneath the mask. And so when that was responded to with, like you said, just a layer of performance, it was unbearable. That rejection was unbearable. When he showed himself to me, I was afraid for the first time in that episode, truly and deeply afraid. That was so embarrassing to him. It was so shameful. It was so heartbreaking that his most dangerous coping mechanism took over, and he didn’t really have a choice but to fulfill his Peachfuzz destiny. Now, again, this is just me spitballing. This is not something that we discussed on the day, but as I’m here with you, I’m thinking it through.

Crystal gave him exactly what he wanted on many levels. She gave him attention, intimacy, and a genuine connection. But suddenly it wasn’t enough, and the moment she sensed that there was something terrifying in him, it broke him.

Yes. She had never been afraid of him until that moment. And he was so ready to meet somebody who wasn’t afraid of him. And then it was so devastating. It was like a rejection.

I think it’s such a wonderful metaphor. You know, there’s this theory that the thing women are most afraid of is that a man will kill her. And what a man is most afraid of is that a woman will laugh at him. And that’s like what happens in our most intimate fears. And it’s such a good example of that right in that moment because he’s afraid that she will reject him, and she’s afraid he’s going to kill her.

That’s why we choose the bear every time.

Choose the bear!

This is the thing, too, right? This is why I think Crystal shows up on that boat the way she does. This is not her first time on a boat with a mean, strange man. Her whole life, she’s assuming these men that she encounters are going to kill her. Crystal lives on the fringes of society and does stuff like this in the gig economy to pay her rent. And so Crystal is constantly confronted with dangerous men she’s afraid are going to kill her.

This is not a new situation for Crystal. This one just went bad.

I think there’s a certain amount of compounding trauma that Crystal has experienced, knowing that she started in the ’90s as an underwear model, and then all of us can extrapolate what that means as she’s trying to make money and she’s not in her 20s anymore. And so, I think Crystal is a series of compounding traumas that kind of dissociates her from the world and from danger.

And so, yeah, she shouldn’t go to a boat by herself, but I mean, I’ve done so many things I shouldn’t have done, and it’s been fine. And I think that’s the tragedy, right? Because one time it wasn’t fine.

And that’s what it is being a woman! We’re told all the time that we can get murdered walking down the street. Ever since we’re little girls, “Don’t go with strange men. Don’t talk to strange men.” And I’ve been [told] this message. I live in a horror.

Being a woman is living in a horror movie at all times, because society tells us that men could kill you. All. The. Time.

The Creep Tapes, Season 3, Tuesdays, Shudder