'Graceland': Johnny prevailed... or did he?

Graceland brought the Carlito storyline to a rather abrupt end this week, but Johnny’s problems are far from over this season.

During Thursday’s Graceland, Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) contacted the Caza Cartel so they could take over the Solano compound and Johnny (Manny Montana) could flee with Lucia (Jamie Gray Hyder). But Carlito (Erik Valdez) got the upper hand and escaped the compound in their car. In turn, Johnny purposefully crashed their car, though he decided against killing Carlito in order to arrest him—but it made Lucia realize the two of them could never work since she was ready to kill her brother. Has Johnny finally prevailed over Carlito? EW caught up with Montana to get the scoop:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why do you think Johnny couldn’t kill Carlito?

MANNY MONTANA: I think after what happened with Sid, his heart was so broken over that. He tries so hard to be like Briggs and maybe like Mike (Aaron Tveit), but he just can’t do it because his heart is so big. At the last minute, he makes the right choice to arrest him. That’s the harsher punishment anyway, so I’m glad that they wrote it in that Johnny didn’t kill him. As much as I personally wanted to kill Carlito, I’m glad Johnny didn’t.

Even though Johnny has arrested Carlito, has the trouble only just begun for him? Or has this chapter closed?

I think it’s closed. As of now, it’s closed. Throughout the rest of the season it’s closed. The next few episodes after this, you see Johnny trying to get back to his life. He’s in a little bit in mourning. It takes a few episodes, but Johnny gets back to who he was in season 1. Then around episode 10, he catches some deeper sh–. I like how they wrote for me this year, it’s ups and downs. He’s serious, but funny. I like where Johnny is going.

How will Johnny deal with the loss of Lucia, especially since he did some shady things for her?

He’s going to do what most guys do after a breakup, which is sleep around. We’ll show a couple of those ladies. He deals himself back into work. In doing so, he’s helping out Briggs and Mike with their cases, but then he falls into his own line of sh–. I’m looking forward to the audience seeing it.

Why hasn’t Johnny told the house that he killed Sid?

He’s scared. He’s already in the mix with all the Solano stuff. He knows they know what’s going on, and he’s embarrassed. He doesn’t feel like he’s as good as the rest of the agents, so he doesn’t want to bring up something else to make him look worse. But they’re going to find out eventually. The house is going to help me through it.

Everybody in this house is keeping secrets! Is this Johnny’s breaking point or have others done much worse than him?

This is less than what the other people are going through. Mine is just a little more involved in love, so that’s why it’s tricky. Some of the stuff the other housemates are doing is way worse, they’re just doing a much better job at being secretive about it. This season a lot of things come to a head, and there’s a big blowup toward the last two episodes of the season. I don’t think the audience is going to expect it. I personally love the last few episodes and can’t wait for people to see it.

Should we be worried about—

Yes. [Laughs]

Should we be worried not just about the fate of everyone in Graceland, but that maybe somebody could be leaving?

You should be worried about a couple characters. But when you’re worried about a couple characters, you should know that the house rallies around each other. When someone is in some sh–, we’re all in some sh– whether we want it or not.

Once Johnny takes on this other case, how is he different? Is he no longer a dirty cop or are those lines blurred for him now?

He saw very clearly that everything isn’t black and white. He’s finding out who he is as a cop and as a man—what lines he won’t cross anymore, what buttons he will push. He’s becoming a good mix of Briggs and Mike, just without all the drama.

I know Jakes (Brandon Jay McLaren) has a big storyline in the second half of the season. Jakes was there to support Johnny, so will Johnny return the favor?

Actually yeah. I am going to help him a little bit. I have to admit that I like his storyline the best because it progresses throughout the show. All the family stuff he’s dealing with, I just feel like Brandon plays it so well. He can tap into so many different emotions. It’s funny that he brings the house together, in my opinion, this season, as opposed to the first and second season where Johnny was trying to bring the house together.

Graceland airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on USA.