Executive producer Peter Gould breaks down that insane Gene scene in the season 5 premiere.
Warning: This story contains spoilers aboutBetter Call Sauls season 5 premiere, titled Magic Man.
Actually, this was much more than a peek.
Warrick Page/AMC
The season 5 premiere of AMCsBreaking Badprequel spin-off opened with a tantalizing, meaty, and bizarre 13-minute Gene-a-palooza.
How didSaulsecureRobert Forsterfor a return appearance?
What the hell does this Jeff fellow want with Jimmy?
Just a great guy, somebody you want to be around as much as you might.
I had such a great time with him.
Wed been looking for an opportunity to have him back onBetter Call Saul.
And then Vince wrote him intoEl Camino, which was great.
Those things probably happened almost simultaneously.
Im not sure if we had the idea of having him back onBetter Call Saulfirst.
Especially [because] we had all kinds of other big things going on in the episode.
It just seemed like too much to do.
And I said, Hell, yes!
That was actually shot on one of the days thatthey were shooting him inEl Camino.
And at the time I thought, This is just great, efficient producing.
It was fun to have that half of the phone call done.
And, you know, we miss him.
I think if Vince and I had had our way, we wouldve done a lot more together.
Its a very special thing to have him on the show.
Were you there that day onEl Camino?Absolutely not!
I had to go.
I was just very excited to see the dailies.
You mentioned that you and Vince would have wanted to do more with Robert.
We had a pitch.
And how does Saul Goodman learn how to run a Cinnabon?
Because there is actually a lot to it.
And thats something were never going to see now.
Let me tell you something: directing him in scenes with Bryan Cranston?
Uhhh, [laughs] thats about as good as it gets.
It was pretty awesome.
Im going to fix it myself.
What hints can you drop about that move?
This same thing can happen to him no matter where he goes.
Gene Takovic is so shut down and scared; he is so cautious.
But I think you’re able to only push him so far.
But Im trying to think if anybodys ever done this before.
Im fascinated by that character.
The developments in this Gene sequence were huge.
It feels like hes offering his services to Gene.
And its ominous when he says, Youre a little rusty, but youll do better next time.
What can you say about our new friend Jeff?Isnt he great?
Hes a little bit tricky.
Theres definitely this feeling of threat.
This is not going to be the last time he encounters this character.
Will we finally learn more about what happened in Santiago with Gus?
Its interesting that Lalo who seems to be on to Gus dropped that reference.Its very interesting.
Weve had a lot of allusions to Gus Frings past.
One time onBreaking Bad, I believe Hector [Mark Margolis] called him a general.
I dont know whether thats literal or figurative.
Theres no doubt that Gustavo Fring has had a very interesting past.
And boy, wouldnt it be interesting to see more of that?
Although shes uneasy, she doesnt tell him to do that.
And even for Jimmy to ask her more or less for permission was a big move for him.
But mostly shes just watched him suffering under this burden, and now hes got the old bounce-back.
Suddenly hes enjoying life.Hes energized.
I dont think shes willing to rain on his parade right there.
And I understand it, too.
Then she seems to be struggling with this in the stairwell.
Her lines of morality are constantly blurred.
And he did not make his decisions in a smart way, so she lies to her client.
Not just a bar association rule although God knows thats important but also a rule for herself.
But she seems really, really troubled in that moment.
Jimmys decisions dont just affect Jimmy.
They affect a lot of other people some of whom he hasnt met yet.
The second episode ofBetter Call Saulairs Feb. 24 in its regular Monday-at-9 p.m. time slot on AMC.
