brake alert: Don’t read if you haven’t watched the third episode of Season 6 of “Better Call Saul” titled “Rock and Hard Place.”
As the title of Monday night’s episode says, Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) finds himself between a rock and a hard place – Jose Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis) – and pays the ultimate price. As one of the main “Better Call Saul” characters who did not appear in “Breaking Bad,” fans have been wondering where Nacho will end, and they finally have an answer. After playing double agent Gus against Salamanca and aiding in the failed assassination of Lallalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), Nacho is ready to meet a violent end at the hands of the Salamanca gang, but instead points his gun at himself.
However, Nacho did not fall without a fight. He narrowly avoided Salamancas’ killers, including the Terminator-like twins (Daniel and Luis Moncada), and used some quick thinking to the end. In the lively opening scene, Nacho held his breath and immersed himself in an abandoned oil tanker to evade his pursuers. And in the final minutes while awaiting execution by the Salamancas family, Nacho breaks free and finally gives a fierce talk where he reveals to Hector that he is the one who put him in a wheelchair.
“So when you’re sitting in your nursing home, sucking off your jello night after night for the rest of your life, you think of me, you crooked motherfucker,” Nacho said.
He grabbed Juan Bolsa (Javier Jrajida) and held him at gunpoint, but instead of taking Hector, Gus, or any other high-ranking cartel member with him, he committed suicide. It also protected Gus’ reputation and removed any suspicion (for now) that Gus was involved in the botched strike on Lalo.
Mandu explained to diverse That Nacho’s last act was sacrifice, and in doing so he ensured that Gus would protect his father, who had never consented to Nacho’s reluctant life in crime. The actor also discussed Nacho’s last meal, the symbolism of the episode and those (now debunked) theories about Nacho surviving in “Breaking Bad.”
When did you know that Nacho was going to die?
I discovered winter before we even started shooting. run out [Gould]”Vince” [Gilligan] and Melissa [Bernstein] They called me and told me it would be operatic, larger than life and would break the internet. I immediately felt an immense amount of gratitude and was contacted to ensure that this character sacrificed herself for the virtue and morals he aspired to.
How was the day of the shooting of your death scene?
It was an incredible experience. On the day we filmed this scene, when we turned on the cameras on Nacho, a huge sandstorm hit right away and we had to head home before our cars got stuck in the mud. When I got home, lightning struck the tree in front of my house and fell on my driveway. I couldn’t get into the house. There were all these strange things that were happening. The crew was wearing nacho shirts and tear tattoos, and I couldn’t believe how much this character meant to so many people.
We know that all the characters in that last scene, like Gus and Hector and the Salamanca twins, live to see another day in Breaking Bad, but was there a reason Nacho wouldn’t trap anyone else with him?
Every single one of them died, if you think about it. There is something ominous in this scene, where all these dead men walk by, watching the first man die. But they are already dead, but they do not know it yet. The image of Nacho is the image of sacrifice, true love and courage. It is not a picture of revenge. The final act that defines a character is the act of sacrifice, not anger, but love.
What was it like shooting that last emotional phone call between Nacho and his dad?
At that moment, Nacho can run. It is free to go. But staring into his eyes at sunset, he looks at his father and says “Come with me.” And his father says no. At that moment, Nacho knew he was going to go back to Hell and sacrifice himself for his father’s love.
Before Mike (Jonathan Banks) brutally attacks him, we see Nacho get one last meal before confronting Salamancas. Did you have any say on what nachos are going to eat?
It was really important to me that he use a fork and a knife and put salt and pepper on his food. It wasn’t about sustenance at this time, but it was about a guy getting so much out of a lifelong love. And when you love life, you enjoy it. So Nacho didn’t lose the appetite for life, if anything so full of love and life at that point because he knew he was doing the right thing. It was a celebration of life, Nacho was telling himself and the world not to cry for it. This was something he believed in and was doing it with all his heart.
The episode begins with Nacho running away from the Salamanca twins, and drowning in an oil tanker to hide from them. How was filming this chaotic scene?
It was a wonderful episode, beautifully written and directed by Gordon Smith, full of symbolism. The last meal, the last farewell, the experience of a man’s heart, just as the ancient Egyptians would weigh your heart against the weight of a feather and find out what you stand for. Writing gave me an incredible opportunity to do a character who was going through something incredible physically, psychologically, emotionally but also spiritually. It was amazing to seep into my actual body in that darkness and get off that tanker in the middle of the night with the starry sky, to literally wash and clean myself of all that darkness through the abandoned gas station on the side of the highway. To stand in front of all these dead men in the future and look up at the sky and scream what I believe in and sacrifice my life for that morality and virtue, I feel like a really lucky actor who got that dream role. I am forever grateful that he will live forever in pop culture.
This ring is, in a strange way, the lowest and highest point of Nacho at the same time. It’s where life treats him unfairly, but it’s strange when he feels whole because he doesn’t doubt who he is at that moment.
In “Breaking Bad” Season 2 Episode 8, Saul briefly mentions Ignacio and Lalo in one scene. People have theorized that they are alive later in “Breaking Bad” because of this partial dialogue. Have you ever discussed whether your Ignacio and your nacho are the same person?
I think in Season 1, Vince and Peter said Ignacio was Nacho because Nacho is short for Ignacio. So we’ve known since season one that he’s going to be kind of related, but then again there could be another Ignacio as well. But I think now we’re pretty sure we’re talking about these two characters.
So does this mean that Saul didn’t find out that Nacho was dead, because he thinks he’s still alive in “Breaking Bad”?
You’re trying to fool me with a wing here!
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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