Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black Filmed All 16 Episodes of Season 2 in 12 Days

Courtesy of Netflix

The only thing wilder than the action happening on screen in Season 2 of Tyler Perry‘s Beauty in Black (and make no mistake, it is W-I-L-D) is the breakneck speed at which it was filmed.

Executive-produced, created, written and directed by Perry, the over-the-top soap returned to Netflix with the first half of its second season on Sept. 11 and is currently charting above some of the streamer’s biggest hits. Unlike those other top shows, however, Beauty in Black managed to film all 16 episodes of its current season in 12 days, series star Taylor Polidore Williams tells TVLine.

“I ask [Perry] all the time, ‘How are you doing this?” Williams says. “He was sending me the scripts as he finished them. One day I got one, then the next day I got another. I’m like, ‘Tyler, how do you do this?!’ I was writing my own feature at the time, and I’m like, ‘Two scenes done!’ Meanwhile, he’s sending three episodes, four episodes — I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”

And then there’s the content of those fast-flying scripts, which Williams says she’s never able to predict. She certainly never would have imagined that her character, Kimmie, who began Season 1 as a down-on-her-luck stripper, would soon find herself in a marriage of convenience with billionaire beauty mogul Horace Bellarie (Ricco Ross).

Season 2 brought more jaw-dropping twists, or in one particularly “bizarre” instance, a mouth-covering twist. We’re speaking, of course, about the Episode 6 scene in which Horace angrily urinates all over Roy (Julian Horton), his eldest son, while he’s held down by a team of security guards. Kimmie is forced to watch uncomfortably from the sideline, but Williams knew exactly how to calm her character’s nerves.

“I was like, ‘Can I have a cigarette? I think Kimmie would have a cigarette while she’s watching this,’” Williams says with a laugh. Apple juice was used as a stand-in for the real stuff, which was poured onto Horton from a bottle. As Williams recalls, “There was one part where the crew was like, ‘We need more apple juice! We need more apple juice!’ It was so much fun, and so hilarious.”

Williams even relished reading — and eventually watching — the insane moments that didn’t directly involve Kimmie, especially Rain (Amber Reign) and Alex (Bryan Tanaka) getting sweet, bloody revenge on the women responsible for Rain’s near-fatal BBL last season. “What’s crazy is that Kimmie doesn’t even know that happened yet!” Williams reminds us. “Rain didn’t tell her.”

OK, you tell us: Have you already binged your way through Part 1 of Beauty in Black Season 2? Which moments had your jaw on the floor? What are your hopes and predictions for the second half (premiere date TBD)? Drop a comment with all of your thoughts below.