[SPOILER ALERT: This story contains story details from Mondays episode ofBetter Call Saul, titled Rebecca.
Proceed at your own risk.]
Mondays episode ofBetter Call Saulcontained its share of revelations and illuminating scenes.
Credit: Ursula Coyote/AMC
Chuck (Michael McKean) fixed a lightbulb (!)
in preparation for dinner with wife Rebecca (!!)
played by Ann Cusack and his new-to-the-firm brother, Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk), in a flashback.
Lets see… what else?
Oh, right: A bad guy fromBreaking Badpopped up.
Does the name Tio ring a bell?
Tio introduced himself to Mike and apologized for his nephews behavior.
And then came the real reason for his visit.
Im pulling for thebestpossible outcome foreverybody, he said, leaving Mike with a big decision on his hands.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did this come about?
MARK MARGOLIS:It was my agent and my manager who told me they wanted me forBetter Call Saul.
What was your first reaction when they asked you to appear onBetter Call Saul?
Was it an easy yes?
I thought it was wonderful.
People had been asking me for quite awhile, Are you going to be on?
And I would say, I dont have any idea what they want to do.
Was it surreal to be back on set as Tio?
Was it easy to slip back into character, albeit the younger version?
Its not the same guy.
They seem to be two different people.
He has multiple choices that Tio in the wheelchair never had.
What resonates with you about shooting this scene with Jonathan?
And did you read Tios proposition to Mike as a straight offer or also as a veiled threat?
Im trying to be a reasonable person.
Im not going to tell you why I know that, and you might sit and wonder about that.
So it was an awesome thing to finally run into him, because Im a major fan of his.
Its awesome to be in a scene with Jonathan; its almost frightening.
He just stares at you, and you could see 10,000 things going on behind his eyes.
What did you love most about that scene?
Being in the scene with Jonathan.
It was on some level like that.
I worked with many actors, I worked with a couple movie stars.
All of them are pretty good.
Ive only been with a couple of people who actually blew me away.
Will you back to resolve that story line?
We left it on a cliffhanger.
I dont think Im allowed to say.
They swore me to secrecy.
And yet anywhere I went, somebody would say, Oh, youre out here to doBetter Call Saul.
Id say, I am not, and theyd say, Well, what are you doing out here?
Id say, Im doing a cowboy movie.
Oh, yeah, whats it called, what its called?
So I finally said, Riding High.
I look forward to that movie.
They swore me to not say anything.
Yeah, that sort of has to go somewhere though, doesnt it?…
If I get what I want from Mike, then I guess Tuco owes me big time.
I know where it goes up to a certain point; I dont know where it goes ultimately.
And the script often didnt come until five days before you were going to do it.
I dont know what he wants to do with it.
I couldnt even see who was who.
She said, Im not at liberty to answer.
I said, Come on, its my scene!
I had to ask questions.
They wouldnt tell me until the last moments who was who or what was what.
I found it a bit strange.
Im not dumb, so I could figure, theyve got to be talking about Tuco.
But I didnt know because I didnt know the previous episode.
But she absolutely would not tell me.
When I sat down with [Mike].
I wanted to have a go at stay very, very easy and calm.
That was the only thing I thought about.
I dont know what that was.
I certainly didnt want to be shaking.
What do you remember about shooting your death scene with Gus onBreaking Bad?
I just loved sucking him in and then sticking it to him.
He was always doing nasty things on me.
But the way his character dealt with me, I just got a big thrill out of that.
I love that last episode.
Sounds like you thought it was perfect.
I knew it had to come.
It wasnt going to go on forever.
And what was your idea?
Mine was a weird one.
New Mexico has these guys called Penitentes.
Theyre a devoutly religious Hispanic order.
They live like monks in a building.
They dont have much to do with the outside world; they pray all day.
When Easter comes, they actually do the 14 Stations of the Cross, of the crucifixion of Jesus.
I saw that Tios bell was auctioned off at one of theseBreaking Badmemorabilia auctions.
But you must have another bell, right?
Sony auctioned off all the props.
Somebody paid $65,000 for the Walt Whitman book.
The second highest bid was my bell.
Somebody paid $26,000 for that!
They obviously have too much money.
It must be in a glass case.
But I have one concierge bell that a friend gave me.
Its on a little cabinet by the bathroom.
I rarely ding it.
