The intention behind making was not to pander or make false claims for sympathy, that's not the point – the point is this is a family… the point was made right there when with a light feather, not a hammer… John appears unshaven, wearing glasses, he doesn't have the growl in his voice, he knows that is a prisoner, he knows who is, that it's not typical for a former inmate to come looking for their corrections officer it's not appropriate, but he does have empathy for when he realizes he's coming unhinged. I think there's hope for Noah to regain his footing as a father after seeing a man who supposedly did such horrible things to him also being a good father. It's funny you're bringing up this stuff about Gunther being a father, because the "real" version of Gunther is, again, a reflection of what Noah wants to be, after putting his own children through so much strife. It happens then and there, and that topples over the last domino pieces, and we either sympathize with Noah or we vilify him, but it's revealed to us in a way that is satisfying, and those viewers who were paying close attention along the way could go back and take a look at clues that little Easter eggs that let us know that either Noah's not playing with a full deck of cards or something really is amiss with this upside down backwards bizarre world he finds himself in as he tries to re-assimilate his life and his family and his career. In essence, he really is a well-meaning social worker and, as a corrections officer, he does believe people can be rehabilitated… and perhaps, when given a second chance, they'll learn that you cannot un-ring a bell… I only had a few moments to establish that he's not that malicious individual… He is a father, he is a husband, he is not at all what Noah was hoping he would be that's the moment where, if we did our job right, the "I see dead people" moment happens. I firmly believe a guy who maybe enlisted to fight in the Gulf, maybe reenlisted later on… so he likely understood the world can be a very dangerous place, and he has seen things that perhaps he wants to ameliorate because he could never get out of his old town and move forward. Anything could have happened on the inside. The payoff is what's most important… You realize Noah is traumatized in instances of post-traumatic stress disorder, things can certainly incarcerated… John really is an individual he is not just an entity. They weren't making it up as they went along. I had to trust that they really knew where this was going. Sarah and I would swap text messages after an episode and I realized answers to the questions I wanted to ask were revealed because there was a grand, mapped-out plan. It feels like one of the first times we've seen Noah being completely honest with himself. Everything we see in episode 9 – including Allison's quote, "We can't save each other, we can only save ourselves," is building toward the moment Gunther and Noah share in the jail cell, which justifies Noah's self-harm, in a way.
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