No disrespect to the actor that was recast as
Jeff....but I was quite looking forward to seeing the original actor.
In these scene;
the original actor nailed
that thing of being a bit creepy, menacing allowing us the audience to feel Genes paranoia and uncertainty if the guy is giving a bully vibe or if he's just over familiar and awkward. Jeff just knowing who Gene is a threat in itself, but the original actor seemed more imposing - I presume that was always the intention that he would be revealed to be a bit of a dummy and not actually scary once stood upto. We only ever got to see the actor on the backfoot (by Gene showing up in his home with his mum) and then Gene kind of held all the cards.
The tension, humour and calibre of acting of the scene
where the security guard has his back to the camera monitors whilst Gene is distracting him waiting for Jeff to regain consciousness summed up what this show is all about
Edit; I really wondered where they are going in the final 3 episodes on one hand everything is kind of resolved (except for
Kim) on the other hand it could easily be stretched out for another season (though in BB the
Jack / Nazi as antagonists to Walt didn't even start from 3 episodes from the end).
Of the seven main characters; Jimmy, Kim, Howard, Mike, Gus, Nacho, Lalo
5 of them are definitely dead at this point! Wouldn't have seen that coming at say the start of season 5.