With Plan B, Patrick J. Adams and Karine Vanasse redo the do-over

Imagine waking up one day, only to feel a peculiar hint of deja-vu — from who's lying next to you in bed to what you have for lunch to what you decide to wear that day, every choice feels like one you've made before. This time, however, you get to make different choices, and change the trajectory of your entire life — for better or worse.

It's a familiar premise, reminiscent of Groundhog Day, About Time, and Back to the Future, but when it comes to the new CBC drama Plan B, the stakes are just as high, but the actual mechanics of it all aren't so flashy and, frankly, beside the point. 

The new series, which premiered on February 27 on CBC and CBC Gem, and stars Patrick J. Adams (Suits, A League of Their Own) and Karine Vanasse (Cardinal, Avant le crash) as Philip and Evelyn, respectively, a Montreal-based couple whose relationship is beginning to fall apart. Philip has become too occupied with building his law firm with best friend (and Evelyn's brother) Patrick (François Arnaud), even pulling Evelyn into into working with them. She, meanwhile, is missing the music career that she put aside, and feels increasingly as though Philip is no longer present in their relationship, missing out on dinners with her parents, and neglecting their home's renovation. When Evelyn finally leaves him, Philip contacts a suspicious time-travel agency called "Plan B" that whisks him back to a time not too long before in order to make things right. Only to discover that every little decision he makes has a domino effect, and it's not just his relationship that needs repairing, but his work and his family. 

Created by Jean-François Asselin and Jacques Drolet, the high-concept six-episode series was adapted from the pair's own Radio-Canada French-language series of the same name, and took nearly a decade to make. Why? Because unlike the many time-travel love stories we've seen before, in Plan B, there is no way to return to one's original timeline. That, and there's little pomp and circumstance around the actual time travel itself. Here, Philip is simply whisked away by two ice blonde twins who throw into him a white van, and poof, he's gone back in time. As Adams dubs it, it's all very "purposely obfuscated, strange, kind of funny, and a little weird." 

That's what pulled Vanasse in, who is a fan of the original series. She says, "It never was presented as a sci-fi show; the concept never took over the story. It was always about the emotional dilemma of if you were given that power to go back in time, what would you do with it? And once you start playing with that, what are the results of that superpower that maybe we would never wish to have?" 

While she said she found it a bit "intimidating" to follow the "impressive" original, Vanasse added, "We never felt we had to reproduce or replicate what was done initially. We weren't there to just do the same exact thing but in English. Yes, the characters were the same, but they made a few changes in the storyline, and we were welcome to do our own thing."

In a way, the remake functions as the creators' own do-over. As Adams shared, in being able to watch back the original, the cast and creative team could re-examine what worked and what didn't. In the case of the latter, that meant adding more of a focus on the couple at the show's centre, and building out the emotional core so the audience can truly root for Philip and Evelyn to find their way back to each other. 

"We were all on the same page that you need to know why you love these two," says Adams. "From the first table read, we said, 'Okay, how do we know this relationship is at its end game? How do we find the place that threads that look across the room with the way they hold each other's gaze, the way he takes care of her in that moment, the way she listens to him in this moment? How do we show the audience that's why they belong together, and want to go with them on that journey?'"

That saw them shooting a lot more B roll, whether it was a steamy bathtub scene or a late-night dance in the living room before dinner. It also meant casting two actors with a powerful romantic chemistry that will certainly have you believing (and clutching your pearls). 

Our mistakes and our failures are as much of an important part of our story as anything else. So while it would be tempting to go back to a few choice moments, I think I'd have to say I'd decline the opportunity.- Patrick J. Adams

Although Adams insists he doesn't believe in chemistry — that it's really just about working opposite a vulnerable and open actor — he adds that the moment that cemented his bond with Vanasse was when, after discovering he'd been cast, she drove all the way from her home in Montreal to New York where he was doing a play, to see him do his thing in person and get to know each other outside of a set. 

"That's the chemistry!" he says. "That was such a kindness, a determination to get to know each other. We got to have dinner and drinks, and just talk. Like, let's like jump into this process together. Let's have each other's back. Let's be bold enough to try big ideas and fall on our face. When you work with someone like that, you're going to get chemistry, because something magical is happening." As Vanasse adds, with a grin, "And that's not often the case!"

So, given the chance, one wonders what they would do over? At first, Adams admits with a laugh, "There's so many text messages and emails where I could've waited a moment before I hit send." But, he relents, after working on Plan B, the answer is a resounding "no way." The actor explains, "Our mistakes and our failures are as much of an important part of our story as anything else. So while it would be tempting to go back to a few choice moments, I think I'd have to say I'd decline the opportunity."

Which is a realization that comes with age, and learning how to apply what you've learned from your mistakes, says Vanasse: "[It's] that satisfaction of knowing that you're evolving, you're changing, you're adapting, and incorporating those lessons. I want those situations now, because I know that they're the ones that bring the most life and action."

As television veterans, the pair agree, too, that with each new project, they're able to perfect what didn't quite work about their style or environment before. For Vanasse, that was about finding work that can appeal to a larger audience, and for Adams, it meant coming home, and finding ways to create high-profile projects with local creatives.

"So, in a weird way," he adds, "we can change our behavior, and we can change our journeys, and we can do it in this timeline — because we are constant."