Who is Alden in Furious? Steve Way's character carries more of the plot than his failing heart suggests

Let's be honest about what's happening on Furious: Emmy Rossum is doing career-best work, Lola Petticrew is terrifying, and somehow the person walking away with the whole show is a homebound guy whose heart runs at 25 percent capacity. Alden Drummings, played by Steve Way, was supposed to be Catherine's cover story. He is now her fiancé, her accomplice, and the single most quotable character on television this month.

Alden, a Timeline

• Catherine takes a job as Alden's home health aide — partly cover, partly cash, entirely convenient for a woman on a murder schedule;
• Alden, recently orphaned by his mother's death and running out of heartbeats, proposes. She says yes, then casually mentions the kidnapped lawyer situation;
• He watches Catherine kill said lawyer, copies the incriminating Easton files off the laptop himself, and does not flinch;
• By episode 6, he's confessing to a murder he physically could not have committed, dueling an FBI agent with his motorized wheelchair, and slipping the flash drive to Danny like a man who's been running ops for decades.

Way — who has muscular dystrophy, and for whom showrunner Liz Meriwether wrote the part after meeting him on a panel — understands exactly who this man is.

"He surrounds himself with the same four walls because it's safe," Way explained to Yahoo Entertainment, describing a man whose whole world was his late mother.

The improv heard round the interrogation room

The best part? Alden's most iconic moment wasn't scripted. Way saw an opening — literally, an open door — and took it.

"When Alden says, 'F**k the police,' and he follows the guy out," Way told Collider, recalling the moment he simply drove out of his own interrogation.

Failing heart, ironclad nerve. Protect this man at all costs — although, to be fair, he's doing fine protecting everyone else.