Warning: This article contains spoilers about Tuesday’s episode ofBig Sky.
It’s hammer time.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Legarski’s story certainly came to a shocking end here with Merilee.
Darko Sikman/ABC
What was your reaction to her making that incredibly violent choice?
JOHN CARROLL LYNCH:It was perfect.
It’s rare that you’re able to write a story where it successfully goes the other way.
This was never going to be that story; it was going to be the first kind.
Surprisingly, I would have expected that it would be Jenny, frankly.
The last several episodes have toyed with us all as to whether or not Legarski was faking his amnesia.
Legarski was an extraordinarily good liar.
So, the capability of that is clear.
It’s not whether or not he’s lying [that] is her problem.
The problem is that she doesn’t want to live in a world where he gets away with it.
That’s what she does she puts the world out of the misery of having Rick Legarski in it.
Whether or not he’s lying.
It seems like he’s maybe starting to remember but keeping up a ruse by the end.
Do you think that’s fair to say?
I would prefer to leave it open-ended.
If David had wanted it to be closed, it would be.
And he doesn’t.
It wasn’t in the rhythm of the writing.
If he’s craven as we believe him to be, why doesn’t he do it then?
Either there’s something else going on, or he literally doesn’t remember.
I think that’s what we should do here.
How long did you also think that might be the case?
I knew it wasn’t going to be the end of the character.
But it wasn’t much before that that I didn’t think that.
We had a structure for a 10-episode season.
And they were trying to transition to another story in the [episode 5, episode 6] area.
Because of the lateness of the pickup from ABC, that put a whole different spin on it.
How long have you known he was doomed?
And what was the weapon of choice you thought he’d die by?
I mean, there’s no moral universe anywhere, particularly on television, where Rick Legarski walks away.
You don’t get that.
Even Walter White dies on the floor of the meth lab.
It would just be so infuriating as an audience member.
I’d turn off this show.
It’s kind of like the paperboy.
you’ve got the option to’t kill the paperboy.
No one will watch the show ever again.
Like even Ramsay Bolton onGame of Thronescan’t kill the paperboy.
What am I watching the show that killed the paperboy for?!"
There’s no light at the end of the tunnel.
I thought the hammer was just perfectly set up, and Merilee wielding it was perfectly set up.
It worked out perfectly the death was the perfect choice with the perfect weapon.
And then to allow cutaways from behind the curtain.
Everybody wants a piece of Rick Legarski on a hammer, right?
I hope it’s also arresting in an emotional way.
The bravery ofABCto put something so dark on commercial television is pretty bold.
The episode opens with this extraordinary scene where he must face his victims in a dream sequence and apologize.
Can you tell me more about the experience of filming that?
It feels very fraught.
The thing that seems to be most clear about Rick Legarski is he does not compartmentalize his crimes.
He’s not a sociopath.
He recognizes costs, and he feels that he’s paying them.
He begins to recognize the costs to his marriage and his wife.
Far too late to do anything about it, but he does recognize it.
It certainly had an emotional resonance for me as a person.
And in the room it did.
And to whatever degree I’ve participated in that, I’m terribly sorry.
Is it a relief in some ways to end the door on him?
It’s always satisfying to show bad people the door.
It’s important to reflect on their humanity and to understand that they are not separate from the tribe.
We are that bad in our worst moments.
Stories about them need to be expressed to whatever degree we can really look at them.
And look at ourselves in them.
But it’s nice to say goodbye to them.
There’s a wonderful actor, Amy Morton, and I saw a couple of dark pieces she did.
That’s how you feel after you’ve done Rick Legarski, you oughta do a comedy.
you better make people laugh for a while, and I look forward to that as an opportunity.
More broadly, you have played a lot of these very dark, twisted, disturbed men.
We’re capable of both things.
And they both have to be seen for what they are, which is human choices.
So that’s where the compassion comes from.
Everything that is played in theatrical material, I’m capable of it.
That’s how I bring whatever level of humanity I can bring.
But, like I said before, it’s time to do a comedy.
It’s time to put away these dark stories and venture to find redemptive stories.
Because redemption’s important.
I assume this is now truly the end for him.
Any chance you’ll return for flashbacks or dream sequences?
I serve at the pleasure of the American Broadcasting Company when it comes to that.
And we shall see.
I don’t see a universe in which anybody ever wants to see Rick Legarski again.
Is there still more for Cassie and Jenny to discover about him and his crimes?
Ronald is around, and that’s haunting them.
He’s out there.
And he hasn’t been brought to justice.
These two characters are going to be the central two or three characters.
But it’s going to be their job to make that happen.
If the first nine episodes are any indication, it’s going to be a dark road.
Hopefully with some hope and life they bring to it.
What should it say on Rick Legarski’s tombstone?
Two phrases come to mind.
“We’ve got ourselves a predicament.”
More aptly now: “It all just got out of hand.”
