(Spoiler alert: Don’t read this if you haven’t watched the first nine episodes of “Better Call Saul” Season 2.)
Last we saw Michael McKean‘s Charles McGill, Esq., the “Better Call Saul” attorney-at-law extraordinaire suffered pretty a wicked head trauma — though not the kind that typically takes place in the “Breaking Bad” universe.
Chuck wasn’t shot or bludgeoned — rather, the electricity-averse lawyer had an episode in a copy store, falling and smacking his dome hard on a countertop. As per usual, the whole thing was brother Jimmy’s (Bob Odenkirk) fault — kind of.
The bump was quite a serious thud, and viewers will find out Chuck’s fate on tonight’s Season 2 finale. TheWrap knows what happens, but we of course won’t spoil it. Instead, we set out to find what McKean thinks of his character’s apparent allergy — is it real, put on, or simply all in his (now bleeding) head?
It’s definitely not Option B, McKean says. “We see Chuck alone and he is suffering,” the actor told TheWrap during a Monday afternoon telephone interview. “It’s not something he amplifies for other people.”
Fair, but then there was that time in the hospital when the doctor flicked an electromagnetic device on, unbeknownst to Chuck, who had no reaction whatsoever. Explain that, sir.
“His fear of the affliction might be deemed close to a fear of an imaginary evil,” McKean said. “As an actor, I have to play it like he’s feeling it 100 percent real.”
He continued: “I think Chuck is 100 percent sane, but I also think that there is something going on that is chemical or electromagnetic that is very real to him.”
Either way, right now, it’s the least of the elder McGill brother’s problems — which at best include a nasty head injury. We’ll find out tonight how bad it truly is.
Whether or not his Chuck McGill makes it, McKean lives on — and TheWrap will post Part 2 of our interviewer with the Emmy contender tonight after “Better Call Saul’s” East Coast airing.
The Season 2 “Better Call Saul” finale premieres tonight at 10/9c on AMC.