The Emmy-nominated actor weighs in on the heartbreaking events of “Fun and Games.”
It was the end of Kim’s legal career.
The end of her relationship with Jimmy.
Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman on ‘Better Call Saul’.Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Or perhaps that notion was just too painful to process for Jimmy.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congrats on the Emmy nomination not just for you but for Rhea.
What did you text her when it was announced?
Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler and Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman on ‘Better Call Saul’.Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
BOB ODENKIRK:You know, I could go look it up.
[Retrieves phone] What did I say?
I said to Rhea Seehorn….
I think I beat her to it.
I heard about it before she did, which is always great.
I wrote, “Rhea!
You!!!!
This is good and right and congrats and heck yeah!”
Enough merriment let’s get into the episode.
He knows how much she loves the law.
Is the guilt too much to bear?
And he feels it’s due to him dragging her into this.
He showed that to her and he made that who they were as a team.
I also think he doesn’t think it can possibly be true.
He’s just aghast this is happening.
It’s one of those things where you think the person will change their mind in a week.
The breakup scene has lots of energies and complicated interplay.
It’s devastating, it’s honest, it answers some key questions
It’s six years of preparation.
They’ve been such a team.
At very worst, they sort of scold each other.
But they’re very supportive of each other.
It felt very real to me.
Let me be the one!"
[Laughs] I think it’s all just so charged in every direction.
Man, we had a lot of emotion to work with here.
Because there’s nothing to hold me back.
But he gets to do that because she’s being so committed and serious.
Her character’s incredibly strong when she needs to be, when things matter to her.
And he can see that she’s making this one of those things.
So he can just throw all his feelings at her.
She’s putting up a big stone wall and holding her ground.
It lets me cut loose, you know?
It’s very painful though.
You don’t want to have too many of those scenes in [real] life.
If you have two or three of them, you make a run at keep it to that.
I mean, you could always ask: Could they get it straight?
Could they work things out?
Could they come to a better place together?
I don’t know.
I don’t think so.
They don’t seem to help each other in the long run.
What was it like say goodbye to the Jimmy and Kim relationship?
Was there one particular line in that scene that destroyed you?
And that just tells you she’s made a choice here, a big choice…
It really is like a door slamming shut.
A pretty huge door.
It’s really a good scene.
It feels very real.
It felt like a real breakup.
That’s what happens.
It’s that full of pain and it’s that much of a dead end.
It’s that impossible to change.
you might’t change the trajectory.
But that’s the closest he could come, is to kind of give up, which he did.
Was that the severing of the last tether he had to the world?
That final sequence is haunting and nihilistic.
He was trying to make her love him and make her respect him and keep her appreciation.
So f— you."
And then he’s Saul.
It’s easier; it’s a thinner character to play.
What was the touch in that sequence where you went, “Wow.
That guy is just gone”?
Putting his ear[piece] in when he wakes up.
[Laughs] That is like, “Let’s go, let’s go!
Let’s be this guy!”
I say it’s easier for me to play, and I would argue it’s easier forJimmyto play.
And I don’t have to ask a bunch of questions: ‘What am I doing today?’
‘What’s the best thing I should be doing?’
‘How could I be better?’
He doesn’t have to ask any of those questions and life gets simple.
And I think he’s at peace with that.
And then it goes haywire with Walter White.
That’s what Chuck says to Howard right before the trial against Jimmy.
What were your first thoughts when you read that line?
[Laughs] It’s a mocking statement and I love it.
A thumbing of the nose at that sanctity.
Yeah, he’s thumbing his nose at ethics, at the core value of the law.
That this is for justice.
It’s a big, hilarious, inside-out “Let’s do this!”
The impact of that incident with my heart is something that’s resonated and continues to in my life.
[Laughs] I think about it all the time.
So for me to come back, they were extremely sensitive.
Everyone was very emotional and sweet and kind and a little too concerned.
[Laughs] Very worried about everything that I did…
It was kind of funny and sweet and touching.
And you could see it in everyone’s eyes.
They were all looking at me like, “Is he really okay?
Is he going to be all right?”
And the truth was, I was still recuperating.
So I would get tired around eight or nine hours.
And I would have to sit down and I would just kind of get very quiet and carry on.
I would get through the day, but I would kind of shut down.
I did, too.
We just carried on.
And my stamina came back a little more every week.
Rhea won’t say if and when we will see Kim again.
What can viewers expect from Jimmy/Saul/Gene in the final stretch of episodes?
There’s yet another iteration of Jimmy on his way.
If it’s possible for you to believe it.
I can’t wait for everyone to see these [episodes].
They’re just so great.
There’s a lot in there.
A lot of story and a whole new bunch of stuff.
As you know,Carol Burnett will be joining us.
And that’s a big story.
What can you tease about next week’s episode?
“Pop goes the weasel.”
