ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We have to start with Picker’s death, which was as surprising as Danny’s death last episode though not quite as funny. At their meeting with Wynn and Katherine, Boyd tossed Picker a pack of smokes — and blew him up.
GRAHAM YOST: I’m gonna back up a little: So we spent a lot of money this season, and we spent more money than we are budgeted. (Laughs) So after episode 7 or so, we knew we needed to at least have one big savings episode, so I asked my friend Jon Avnet if we gave him a script that was contained, could he shoot it in six days instead of seven. And he said, “Sure.” And then Cavell wrote it, and that was our savings episode, and yet it has a gunfight and a guy blowing up. So it ended up not feeling like it was a bottle show, as we call it in the trade. But [back to the question], we knew we wanted Boyd to go into a situation that was very dangerous and that he was going into it thinking that he might not come out. Or at least have the audience think that. It was a question of, what trick can he pull? We toyed with an idea that he’d bribed housekeeping to hide a gun under the cushions of the chair. We thought this, that, the other thing. Then I just had the idea of Boyd likes to make money and blow s–t up. So yeah, I came up with that idea. Then it meant going back and establishing that he was smoking a cigarette earlier in the episode [when Teri propositioned him]. We just wanted Boyd to do something dramatic and have this scene with Katherine Hale (Mary Steenburgen), and have it just be this, “Holy s–t!” kind of moment. And nothing against John Kapelos, who we loved, but he isn’t Josh Charles. So there you go.
That leads to the next question: Where does this leave Boyd? He runs out — leaving Katherine, Wynn, and Mikey covered in Picker’s blood — offering Wynn half of his half of the heroin if they can go their separate ways. Is that where we’re headed, or are you saying she’ll recommend Duffy stay in business with Boyd?
Well, you’ll see. As you can see with Boyd’s relationship with Ava and her calling that off, and he’s in this horrible situation, he’s kind of lost a little bit of zest. But he doesn’t exhibit that in terms of depression, it’s more sort of anger and frustration. There’s a scene in the season finale that gives a hint of where things are headed.
Read more at EW
