In Better Call Saul, the ultimate sacrifice makes for a wicked twist
Plus, Kim continues to break bad: “Do you want to be a friend of the cartel, or do you want to be a rat?”
TV Reviews Better Call Saul
It was a certainty that death was coming in this final Better Call Saul season, what with the Gilligan ABQ Universe being populated by more than a few characters who don’t get a single second of screen time in Breaking Bad. But when the first death of season six comes with more than 75 percent of the storyline left to unspool—and when it’s a major death, at that—I assume the curveballs yet to be tossed our way are going to be intense.
For the current state of affairs (note: major spoilers follow): Nacho. Ignacio Varga has always been a few steps ahead of the game as a member of the Salamanca drug cartel. But once he was forced by Gus to keep tabs on Lalo, far and away the most clever of the Salamancas, Nacho’s status became much more precarious. And once his mole duties turned into actively working against Lalo, Nacho’s days were numbered. That number was just a few, for despite his desperate efforts to survive the wrath of Salamancas, which involved evading The Cousins and immersing himself completely under a pool of oil, Nacho met his end, pulling a gun trigger to his own head so Leonel and Marco would be denied the chance to torture him and kill him.
Before that, though, Mike’s warning to Tyrus in the previous episode—“Whatever happens next, it’s not gonna go down the way you think it is”—reverberates when Nacho rocks Tio Salamanca’s world twice, telling Hector that he’s the one who switched his heart meds with sugar pills, leading to the stroke that leaves Hector in a wheelchair and unable to speak.
It was a bitter bombshell Nacho spit out in a last, rage-filled rant that was probably more satisfying than his last meal. (Michael Mando may show up in later episodes this season—I’m here for a Nacho flashback or two—but it has to be noted again: His outstanding work in just the first three episodes is worthy of his first Emmy nomination.) But while it may have been partly driven by his desire to motivate Gus to keep his promise not to kill Nacho’s dad, Manuel—Nacho mentioned in his tirade that Gus had been the one to save Hector—Nacho also may have inadvertently sparked Manuel’s death.
Hector was furious at the revelation, of course, so much so that he had The Cousins carry his wheelchair to Nacho’s dead body so he could unload a few bullets into him. But we’ve seen Hector’s temper on display before, and his desire for vengeance against Nacho is not going to be sated by a few postmortem slugs. Hector knows who Manuel is; he met him at his shop, and he knows how beloved Manuel is to Nacho. Gus and Mike committed to Manuel’s safety, and that’s a formidable defense. But the lineup of “psycho sacks of shit,” as Nacho called the Salamancas, is committed, too. And if Hector can’t get proof of Gus’ involvement in what Juan Bolsa and the rest of Don Eladio’s cartel believe was a successful hit on Lalo, he is going to get payback somewhere, and Manuel seems like the most likely, or at least the most immediate, target.
Speaking of Lalo, he was physically MIA in “Rock And Hard Place,” but he continues to wreak havoc in name only, whether it’s “Lalo Salamanca” or “Jorge de Guzman.” ADA Suzanne Ericsen has pieced together Jimmy’s legal (and illegal) dealings with Lalo and is trying to get Jimmy to confess to it via Kim. But Kim’s forthright interactions with Ericsen with her own court cases has fooled her colleague into thinking Kim is a straight shooter when it comes to Jimmy. When Suzanne tells Kim she knows Jimmy, despite his showiness, is aware that what he’s done with Lalo is wrong, Kim’s increasingly annoyed reaction to their chat is to correct her. “Saul,” she curtly tells Suzanne. “He practices now under the name Saul Goodman.” Suzanne continues her ruse about thinking Jimmy—er, Saul—just got caught up in something beyond his intentions with the cartel, but the writers have set up what could be another clever cat-and-mouse game that will take us through the Saul finale.
And for any doubt that Kim is not only all-in, but steering her and Jimmy’s “mouse” half of the game, Jimmy asks her what she thinks he should do about Suzanne’s request that he tell her all about Lalo. “I guess that depends,” she tells him. “Do you want to be a friend of the cartel, or do you want to be a rat?” Whoa.
Again, Kim continues to break bad so hard that even Saul-aspiring Jimmy seems less in charge of their master plan than Mrs. McGill-Goodman. And Nacho, remaining one step ahead of everyone even in death, drops a character-to-character doozy the likes of which we haven’t seen since Walt destroyed Jesse with the truth about his role in Jane’s death in “Ozymandias,” one of the greatest episodes of TV drama ever.
Those are obviously big shoes for the Saul team to continue to match, as Better Call Saul goes gliding towards its ultimate bridge to Breaking Bad, but there are no narrative cobblers more capable than these ones to make the ongoing journey between the two series a more scenic, eventful one.
Stray observations
- One of the things that made Nacho such a compelling character was that he was a smart, usually calm, quick-thinking and reacting, compassionate guy, and not the drug-cartel villain he could have been in the hands of lesser writers or actors. That final phone call with his father was crushing, since it was pretty clear by that point that there was no way out for him. And it was made more heartbreaking when the mechanic who had lent Nacho soap and the use of his phone went inside the garage to find Nacho had left him a pile of cash. Sure, Nacho had no use for it at that point, but it was still a kind gesture of gratitude when Nacho had so many other things on his mind.
- How is Manuel Varga going to feel when he learns Nacho’s phone call was the last one he’ll ever get from his son, who he brushed off with yet another reminder that he (naively) saw Nacho going to the police as the only way to get himself out of his drug cartel life? And then when he learns Nacho stopped running for his life in order to save his dad’s? Assuming Papa Varga lives to find out his son is dead.
- Who is Alvarez?! Gus and Nacho decided Alvarez would get the blame for planning Lalo’s assassination. Nacho even tells Juan Bolsa Alvarez has been paying him for years to work against the Salamancas. But in multiple watchings and re-watchings of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, I don’t remember an Alvarez. I Googled such a character and…no results. It would be completely unlike the BCS writers to throw a deus ex machina character into the mix, ever. So, again, who is Alvarez? Theory: What if there is no Alvarez? After all, if Nacho gave Bolsa the name of a real person, that person would be dead. And if Bolsa admitted there was an enemy so dangerous, yet he didn’t even know his name, he would rise to the top of Don Eladio’s hit list.
- Giancarlo Esposito’s always-calm demeanor is his own very frightening brand of villain, but a little shoutout to Mark Margolis’ Hector face of fury. The scrunched nose and widened eyes he gets going is every bit as effective.
- Even after he confronts Mike on the phone about knowing Gus meant to leave him alone to be killed at the motel after he fled Mexico, Nacho still trusted only Mike to ensure Gus would allow Manuel to live. Nacho and Mike had bonded, with Mike the pseudo father figure/mentor missing for Nacho with his father’s constant disapproval. Those little nods Nacho and Mike exchanged when Mike got out of the van at the desert meet-up became devastating when we soon learned the twist they had cooked up with Nacho and the gun.
- One of the best visual tricks of the season so far: when Mike unbolts the bottom of the truck where Nacho has hidden to return to Albuquerque, Nacho is lying there, eyes closed. For a second, it looked like he was dead already.
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Poor Nacho.Hopefully that was the only painful death we get this final season. On the bright side, we now have a base for a Huell spinoff—Highway to Huell in which he and his lockpicking buddy jack cars for hire.
Someone comes to pick up Huell at the safehouse. Huell stands up, stretches. “About damn time. Felt like I been waiting here for ten damn years.”
“No damn food in this safe house either, I feel like I lost about fifty pounds”
I’d watch a Huell spinoff.
That whole car key thing was laughably improbable for so many reasons. Had to really suspend my disbelief on that one.
That whole car key thing was laughably improbable for so many reasons. Had to really suspend my disbelief on that one. That bit was surely impossible given the time frame. But… locksmiths CAN duplicate chipped keys. I imagine if you had the right equipment you could do it in a parking garage. Eventually….What made me forgive the improbability was that clunky keypad attached to the duplicate – pretty funny, I thought.
I have to keep reminding myself that this all takes place in … what? 2003? 1997? I can’t even remember anymore. (looked it up) Okay. 2006 – probably. IDK Assuming the Namast3 is a 2004 model… maybe? I mean, maybe car-chip hacking was easier way back when.
British automotive electronics are not known for their resilience.
December 2004 right now in the show. It started in late 2002 in season one.
thank you
Highway To Huell! You win the internet today!
Sadly, that’s probably the cleverest thing I’ve ever come up with, and I’m not entirely certain I didn’t swipe it from somewhere else, lol.
Bring back Bill Burr and I’m in.
Already happened.
A lesser show would have spared Nachos because he was a great character. But there was no realistic way out and it could only ever end one way. Its a shame but it was the right choice, damn what a way to go.
It actually also makes Gus far less rootable after the way he treated Nacho, IMO. You know, if you do a rewatch of BB after BCS ends.
Was Gus ever really a character you rooted for? You certainly sympathized with what happened to him as a young man and understood his hatred towards Hector and the cartel. But Jesse was also right to be pissed at him in S3 for turning a blind eye to the use and disposal of children.
Yes. I was rooting hard for him to take down the Salamancas on that final trip to the compound.But now, given what happened in S4 and what was revealed in BCS, he really is just a self-serving asshole.The genius of this show is that once I was rooting for him to kill all those cartel members in BB, and now I wish he had been killed by them in the desert instead of Nacho (pre-BB!), because of his post Salamanca-poisoning actions and what we saw him do to Nacho.
I completely agree with this. These writers are very good at getting us to root for bad guys sometimes (case in point: Walter White in general) and I was squarely ‘Team Gus’ in his war with the Salamancas. But they are also great at reminding us why these people are the worst, and I’m glad. Gus sickens me again, and this is as it should be
That was what is genius about both BCS and BB – you go back and forth between rooting for and against the same characters (Except Jesse. Always root for Jesse.).
Ehhh, there were times I seem to remember wishing somebody would off Jesse.Now, Badger, that’s a guy you root for!
CHURCH
Walter White does terrible things to protect himself, Jesse, or his family, and all of it weighs heavily on his conscience. Gus Fring does terrible things to protect his business with no remorse. The two characters have an interesting parallel, where they and their partner try to do business with a big player, only to end up suffering terrible consequences and be in over their heads. Walter is a survivor, Gus is a sadist. Everything the latter does is motivated by hate.
Walter White does terrible things to protect himself, Jesse, or his family, and all of it weighs heavily on his conscience. Gus Fring does terrible things to protect his business with no remorse.Eh, I don’t know about that. I suspect Gus tells himself that he does what he does to provide for his family. Even if it’s as empty a justification as when Walter tells himself the same thing.
It makes one wonder why Mike is such a huge defender of Gus in BB, and how he keeps talking about “we had a good thing going” when Walt turns it upside down, when Gus did all these despicable things in BCS. I guess as long as the Kaylee Trust Fund keeps growing…
Makes about as much sense as Walt ending Mike in such an obvious way, when Mike is about as careful and meticulous a planner as anybody.Maybe he wanted to die in that car.
When Eladio ordered Hector to kill Max, he created a lifelong enemy in Gus. The other result was that Gus’ heart iced over. He basically stopped being a human being at that point and became something more like a shark in human form. You don’t root for a shark.
Oh yeah BCS has absolutely twisted the screws on Gus – on BB you could kind of think he was cool, what with his vendetta for his dead (boy?)friend and his general badassery, but BCS has pretty mercilessly painted him as a near-psychopath.
But we got a hint of that in Breaking Bad when he cold-bloodedly slit his loyal henchman’s throat for… reasons?
It was definitely his boyfriend. He keep a fountain shrine/memorial at the guy’s parent’s farm. And the Salamancas regularly make derogatory comments about the Chicken Man and his boyfriend.
I agree, the only reason I’d cheer for Gus is because he’s a fascinating character to watch and Esposito has really mastered him. He also had a great death at the perfect time.
Indeed. I hated Walter so much by BB S4, I was Team Gus. But now not so much.
Only Season 5 for me, Walt was an anxious mess with assured doom from Gus’ hand eventually even if he complied with everything despite what Mike said to him near the lake just before his demise at an overly angry and momentarily non-high IQ move by Walt (he could get all the names through Lydia). He was that animal trapped under the laundry for what seemed like forever, unable to quit when he decide he had enough money, because Walt not working for Gus anymore would equal a loose end for Gus, as we’ve seen became the case.
Yeah. It also makes mike far less sympathetic for being so loyal to gus in Brba when he knows full well that gus will have innocent people killed.It makes walt shooting him less a moral event horizon for walt and more karma catching up with mike.
I sense this whole escapade is actually a formative moment for Gus in an already very-self-possessed man. Mike’s steadfast, “You’re not doing that,” even with an henchman’s gun pointed to his head shows how deeply committed Mike is to fair play – Honour among thieves, after all.Gus is someone whose emotional landscape has been burned away by the murder of his former partner by the Salamancas. And yet, in the moments after Nacho’s death, the camera fixes on Gus’ face as he walks back to the van. Gus is definitely feeling something. Is it mere relief? Or is it the stark disbelief that Nacho played the part so well – not merely held up his end of the bargain, but excelled at it. Does Gus actually sense the weight of his obligation to this dead man?Only the coming episodes will tell, but I sense a change in Gus: a strong, newfound belief in Mike’s concept of Fair Play. And if so, it’s a change that will ultimately be his downfall.
If anything this just makes Mike even more tragic. He tried to protect Nacho as much as he could, but I suppose the silver lining is he secured Manuel’s safety with Mike’s help.
“He tried to protect Nacho as much as he could.”Unless I’m missing something, Mike’s actions led the assassins directly to Nacho’s motel, to which he explained away with ‘not my call’. So why it may not have been on Mike, he didn’t do anything to stop the assassins from finding (and probably killing) Nacho.
Mike absolutely put himself first, let me be clear. But I think he wanted to give Nacho some sort of silver lining given their mutual respect for one another, and securing his father’s safety (hopefully) was enough to do just that.
If anything this just makes Mike even more tragic. He tried to protect Nacho as much as he could, but I suppose the silver lining is he secured Manuel’s safety with Mike’s help.Has he, though? I don’t feel very confident in that. Hector will certainly be gunning for revenge.
A lesser show would have spared Nachos because he was a great character. But I think that’s exactly what happened with Jesse, and that worked out well.Nacho could’ve ended up with his own movie.
If anything, Nacho’s death makes Pinkman’s eventual escape from the life an even rarer thing. And honestly, Nacho was far better equipped to pull it off. Pinkman was incredibly lucky.A big factor in Pinkman’s escape was that he was only running from the cops after Walter took out the Jack, Todd and Lydia. The Cartel was already toast.
Nacho has nearly escaped certain death every single season… his 9 lives were finally up. Great episode. The payoff of him telling Hector how he ended up in the chair was fucking awesome! (didn’t nacho switch his pills, like waaay back in S2?)
That was what ruined Game of Thrones in the end….giving beloved characters Plot Armor. Glad to see that VG knows that mistake.
That was definitely on my mind. The vast majority of the cast survived and some people like Bronn were around purely because people liked him and not any actual plot driven reason. I’m glad Better Call Saul avoided that pitfall even if I feel a little blue because of it.
I was still hoping that they would make a run for it (him and his Dad) and we never find out what happens but a hint comes along that they are enjoying Coffee Crisp and watching hockey.But yeah, given this is 11 episodes to go, this was the only logical end.
A lesser show would have spared Nachos because he was a great character I sorta disagree. Killing off a character who we don’t see in BB early in the final season with so many other threads to tie up (the show is basically two shows) felt extremely predictable to me.
But then again, I’ve been universally unimpressed with the franchise’s approach to crime as a topic, which is overly glamorized and depicted as implausibly sophisticated. Even Nacho, a character I otherwise liked, is basically an irredeemable monster who makes dumb, immoral choices at every turn.
As for there being “no way out” for Nacho, he could actually have gone to the police. I know the show has this dumb idea of honor among thieves, and an inflated sense of the capabilities of criminal enterprise, but even accepting the reality the show presents, trusting Gus and Mike to keep his father safe seems like the absolute dumbest plan to me.
True. Nacho’s death warrant was signed the moment Lalo looked over at that glass and realized it was Nacho who opened the gate.
I guess my lack of emphaty has a role here, but I really don’t get why no realistic way out. he survived, why not trying to run? (someone could give me a real life example of a son/daughter willingly dying for their parents?)
A lesser show would have spared Nachos because he was a great character. That’s exactly what I thought the instant he pulled the trigger. There were all kinds of tricks another show could have used – Mike was there, maybe he and Nacho cooked up some elaborate fake death and there would be explosions and a fire so that the cartel guys think Nacho is dead and maybe Mike even has a body ready to be found in the rubble, and then Mike drives him to the airport with fake papers and there’s Nacho’s dad waiting…None of that’s realistic. Dozens of other shows might have done it like that, and yeah, it would be great for Nacho and his dad to live happily ever after. But that’s not the show we’re watching.
Agreed, also since this is a prequel, we know a decent amount of characters have to make it out alive, and a season of BCS at this point in the plot would just not make sense or be thematically satisfying without some important characters dying in a cartel war.
I just wanted more Nacho content, especially since he was barely in last season. And now he’s gone forever. He was one of the show’s most compelling characters and his loss will be felt.Just as Chuck’s loss was narratively correct, but I still miss his presence.
I knew it was coming; I just didn’t expect it this soon in the season. His invective-heavy speech—especially his telling Hector, “It was me who put you in that chair”—was a sight to behold. We’re in for a wild ride.
I’m trying to go to bed while getting that image of Hector shooting him over and over out of my head at the same time. This show, man….
How about Hector’s face when Nacho was taunting him, thought he was headed for another massive stroke.
And the mute twins can’t translate Hectors bell ringing like Lalo, so Bolsa just ignored his protests to what Nacho was saying about Gus not being involved. Which of course he knows is bullshit!
I loved the twist. Obviously Mike slipped Nacho the broken glass so he could say fuck you to the Salamancas who have been antagonizing him since day one, then kill himself on his own terms before they could even touch him. Rather than the established plan, wherein he dies running just so Victor can shot him, thus making him die a cowardly death in their eyes.Now, Mike needs to make sure his stubborn & nieve Father gets to Canada…
I’m not sure Mike did slip him the broken glass, I think that may have been something he did himself. At least, that’s what I interpreted from that shot of him looking into the bottom of the whisky glass. Your version does make sense though; Mike didn’t seem all that surprised when he broke out of his restraints and grabbed Bolsa.
Was that piece of broken glass what was being rained on in the opening?
Yup.
I am willing to accept either option, Mike and Nacho collaborating or Nacho just winging it on his own. However, I got to ask, have we ever seen Mike look confused even once on this show and BB? He has a perpetual “I’ve seen it all folks” look on his face (props to Jonathan Banks).
Wasn’t loosening or cutting Nacho’s cuffs part of the plan?
Olenna Tyrell would fist bump Nacho for that comment.
You could begin to sense something was up when you realize halfway through this ep that Nacho has been treated as the main character of these early episodes and Jimmy and Kim as somewhat secondary.I suppose the writers decided at some point that Nacho’s death was imminent and he might as well die sooner when it’s less expected. Makes it hurt even more knowing he’s gone so early before the end. The question is whether Lalo’s death is also imminent since he’s not in BB. I’m wondering if his fate is as obvious as Nacho’s was in retrospect.
I just read a couple good interviews with Michael Mando and in the Vanity Fair one, he talks about how Peter, Vince, and Melissa told him that he was going to have his “own feature film inside this season.” They were definitely right, but I also feel sad that it happened so early in the season as you do.
I’m recording these, so when the time comes I’ll be able to watch Lalo die over, and over, and over, and… Lalo Salamanca, the most psycho sack of shit of the bunch. Any man who keeps a body double on standby, complete with matching teeth, definitely deserves that title.
Yeah I think the writers had to accept that there was no credible way to get Nacho out of this fix even temporarily
I got a sinking feeling in my stomach as soon as I realized Nacho was the only person in that scene who doesn’t appear in Breaking Bad.
Yeah, I thought “okay, how’s Nacho getting out of this one?”, then “huh, everyone else in this scene shows up in BB” and then finally “aw, dammit” in quick succession as the scene started.
Nacho was the only person in that scene who doesn’t appear in Breaking Bad.Embarrassingly, for a couple seasons I thought he WAS in Breaking Bad. Hear me out before you think all Latino criminals look alike to me. Nacho fits SO well into the story, and Mando embodies him so well, that I honestly thought this was a guy I’d seen before. Once I rewatched BCS and read some comments here and elsewhere, I had that sinking feeling… But man, what a fine way to go out – standing on his own two feet and telling Hector how he got stuck in that wheelchair…. forever.
When Jesse and Walt first meet Saul, he mentions an “Ignacio”.Guess there’s more than one.
He tells Walter and Jesse, “It wasn’t me—it was Ignacio! He’s the one! Lalo didn’t send you? ¿No Lalo?” This led me to believe that maybe, just maybe, Nacho would live. Now it looks like a rare continuity error.
Or Saul never finds out that Nacho died.
Yeah, it’s very easy to believe that Saul just doesn’t know – maybe never knows – what happened to Nacho.
The only person who would tell him that sort of information would be Mike, and Mike has no reason to tell Saul about it.
True!
In BrBa Saul asks White and Pinkman ‘It wasn’t me, it was Ignacio. Did Lalo send you?’ when they released him from a car trunk. So if Lao meets his demise in BCS, Saul isn’t aware.
The opening-scene-telegraphing that BB and BCS are famous for was done especially beautifully, at the start of this episode.The forget-me-not flower, juxtaposed with the piece of glass that Nacho uses to cut the zip-tie with— I was wondering what that meant at the start, but I knew it was going to be something significant.That said, I always thought that Nacho would survive to the end, because his costuming had the same red-and-black color scheme that Jesse Pinkman’s had. Jesse got out in the end— his story turned out to be the redemption story. Not so for Nacho, unless saving his father is his redemption.
I’m a mess over this, jeez.
Clearly, he was supposed to kill Bolsa, and then get blown away by everyone else. I think killing himself was a last middle finger to Fring.
I initially thought this myself, but remember that the plan was for him to go after Victor. There was no arrangement for him to get any last minute assassinations in, and even if they managed to kill all of them, it would have gotten back to Don Eladio or the other Salamancas that Gus was responsible.
Killing Bolsa, I’d argue, would have been bad for Gus, too. Bolsa was Gus’ main ally inside the cartel. Well, at least, until he told the Cousins to kill Hank, but then Gus was prepared for that.
I agree. Gus wouldn’t benefit at all from Bolsa dying—he’s the voice of reason keeping the Cartel off his back. Eladio is happy as long as the money’s rolling in, and Bolsa is the bagman. As long as Bolsa keeps him informed that Gus’ business is good and the money is flowing as expected, then Eladio will maintain the status quo. Nacho knew he was a dead man no matter how it went down. Like Bolsa said, there are good deaths and bad deaths. Mike was there just in case Nacho lost his nerve, to kill him before the Cousins could get their hands on him. This was not so much for Gus’ benefit but for Nacho’s.
I don’t know about that….Mike told him the “plan” in front of the others in the van. He was supposed to “run all out towards Victor”, when he would, presumably, be gunned down.
To both clans pretty much.
We all wanted Nacho to make it but, alas, he was in way too deep. But he did manage to get his licks in on Don Hector before going out HIS WAY.Bolsa was an idiot for putting a weapon within arm’s reach of Nacho. There’s a reason cops check their weapons at the door when they go into the jailhouse.
Kim’s going to be fist-deep inside a toddler’s chest cavity ripping their heart out by the end of the season and I’ll still be like “honestly love that for her”
But only if ripping the toddler’s heart out helps her pro bono work, of course.
Well I’m glad you said it before I did. I’m not sure there’s anything Vince Gilligan and his writers can do to not make me like her.
She is a nuanced character. We can like parts of her and despise others, but its clear there is no going back for Kim.
Which parts do you like? Because I can’t find any I like.
The fact that Betsy Kettleman hates Kim makes me love Kim even more. Craig seems cool though, but damn, that guy needs a divorce.
Like everyone else in the world, I’ve been madly in love with Kim from the jump, but the “rat” line has made it all start to turn.Sigh. Kim, you’re breaking my heart.
That was a damn devastating death, Nacho with his back up against the wall. Hopefully, his demise will not be in vain. Lalo will get his!
I have the opposite reaction. Kim’s a great character, and Rhea Seehorn has been terrific throughout. But after spending the first few seasons thinking, “Oh God, Jimmy’s going to ruin this poor woman’s life,” I think I’m going to be pretty satisfied when whatever the consequences for her inevitably come. They’ve definitely done a good job at showing she’s even more ruthless than Jimmy.
She’s a great character, but her character sucks. lol Know what I mean? Like Walter White was a great character in that he made great television, but I hated him and his ruin was very satisfying.
Yeah I did find it kind of despicable when she was all bright and shiny “We’re going to win this case on merits” when at the same time she’s ruining an innocent guy’s reputation. Howard has done some very mean things to Kim a few years back, but he doesn’t deserve this, it seems like he tried to mend fences with Kim and Jimmy (in his special unconsciously condescending manner of course) and they both yelled at him until he almost cried, now they’re framing him for a coke habit. Like, he’s a self-absorbed prick, but they could win the Sandpiper thing on their own merits, and Jimmy/Kim are just doing this route to get off on being bad.
Exactly. He did some mean stuff, then tried to be nice, but these two (and her especially) just are the types who can’t get over past slights and have to exact enormous vengeance. It’s almost pathological.
I get why Jimmy is like that now, because Chuck was all about reveling in Jimmy’s past slights and couldn’t see him change into a new person, a talented and charismatic lawyer. To Chuck he’s always “Slipping Jimmy” or mailroom Jimmy at the best. So Jimmy is putting it forward, and can only see Howard as the enemy, someone to destroy for some vague “greater good” that he said to an unimpressed Huell, rather than the “Namaste” guy who has tried to change his life for the better (albeit in the safe country club environs of those born into wealth). I don’t get Kim’s fixation on Howard quite as much, though he did do a few personal dickish things to her back at HHM, that was ages ago.
That’s certainly a fair reading, though even then when Jimmy has a reason to be this way (and I agree Chuck always forced him into that role so no wonder he stays there now), even he has some visible unease with how hard Kim is going. I wonder what her reason is. I know she had a tough childhood but I wish they had spent more time exploring why she is this way. Maybe the next prequel will be Better Call Kim. lol
Their history extends a decade. We never knew why Kim first left Jimmy in the early-mid 90’s. We also know that Howard was tutoring her, to the point of mentorship, all that time spent with Howard must have been heavy for Jimmy to deal with, plus her leaving the mailroom. That restaurant scene where Kim tries to give back what Howard had written off (14k student debt) has Howard telling us about the history between those two when he tells her “her debts are forgiven” and when he tries to argue that the “damage control” he is doing with clients since Chuck’s breakdown in court, Kim turns it back on him with artful legalese that he’s the one who’s in the wrong, which he doesn’t seem to accept at all. It’s not Jimmy who he should have tried to re-hire, but her, with partner-level association, something she had coming but whom Howard punished by sending her with fresh-out-of-college lawyers in the basement aka cornfield doing the most menial task possible (doc review, which must be automated and done by computers now since it’s so mind numbing and soul crushing).
Their history extends a decade. We never knew why Kim first left Jimmy in the early-mid 90’s. We also know that Howard was tutoring her, to the point of mentorship, all that time spent with Howard must have been heavy for Jimmy to deal with, plus her leaving the mailroom. That restaurant scene where Kim tries to give back what Howard had written off (14k student debt) has Howard telling us about the history between those two when he tells her “her debts are forgiven” and when he tries to argue that the “damage control” he is doing with clients since Chuck’s breakdown in court, Kim turns it back on him with artful legalese that he’s the one who’s in the wrong, which he doesn’t seem to accept at all. It’s not Jimmy who he should have tried to re-hire, but her, with partner-level association, something she had coming but whom Howard punished by sending her with fresh-out-of-college lawyers in the basement aka cornfield doing the most menial task possible (doc review, which must be automated and done by computers now since it’s so mind numbing and soul crushing).
I gotta say, Jimmy’s explanation to the old ladies that all this time wasted trying to get more money doesn’t really make much of a difference for them at all, it only gives the lawyers a whole lot more. Sure, it makes his payday from when the case is settled happen, which is selfish, but with such stakes…only pure (and a bit senile compared to her friends) ol’ Irene was of no help…and to be realistic, them getting their money now minus 15-20 dollars now when they are 70+ means they can enjoy it while they still can, life expectancy in the US was even higher back in 2003 for both men and women, about late 70’s for men and early 80’s for women. Sure you hope to reach 100 with your whole head clear but that doesn’t happen too often, so in some ways, until the reality that the legal system is way too slow for logic or feelings, Saul’s shenanigans were warranted, he only became nauseating when after extreme and multiple attempts at making Irene’s pouting cohorts become friends again, after that Bingo session where he engineered her to win to make her then ex-friends even more angry and while trying to comfort her, telling her to follow her heart but with a look of “go ahead, take the money!”….it became way too manipulative then.
Can’t say anyone in Breaking Bad’s extended universe is ever lucky, it’s like they have to tell Lady Liberty that circumstances are “exigent” and that due process has to take a hike since nothing is going right, ever.
Only by season 5 for me….but I did suffer from an invisible illness that lasts for so very long and could be so troublesome and painful, one that’s known to be beatable if it doesn’t move away from your lungs that wasn’t cancer (look up sarcoidosis)…and the way he was treated by his wife and even kid treat him (“why don’t you just kill yourself then? just give up and die!”), I lost friends and contact with some family when I was ill with that crap, and it lasted a little over a decade, your illness spreads to others who care about you in strange ways, I wasn’t fun to be around anymore so I don’t blame ‘em…; made me sympathetic to Walt’s situation more than most, but I started to find him despicable only in season 5A really (and he was already starting to walk away from that persona after those 3 months thinking he got away with it). The ricin thing with Brock is just too much…also, the way he messes with Jesse’s head…and yes, he did it to spare him a lot of trouble, angst, pain but still worked him and played in his back.Season 3 is especially the one where I got attached to Walt, but the show does a good job at destroying that attachment, but somehow always seem to bring you back in lol. In season 4 his moodiness despite his otherwise great situation…he was too resentful at Gus for the child murder and then trying to get rid of him much before his expiring date, for petty reasons (Gus can be very petty)…but he was like a trapped animal underneath that laundry in the lab, Mike’s reasoning that he could have done his job, shut his mouth and made as much money as he ever wanted and how it was all perfect…nah, Mike isn’t aware that Gus had enslaved Jesse into cooking while he was healing in Mexico, a foreboding event of what would happen to him (Jesse) and even before Gus threatens him, everyone’s tasked at making him feel paranoid and ungrateful of his otherwise impeccable work. So Walt was right that he might have been fine and that he “won” according to Mike and to just accept things as they are…as we all know it was a little more complicated than that, could have been easier had he not started planning on killing Gus right away after the Victor slaying.
I feel like his family didn’t start being mean to him until after he started distancing himself and being overall shitty to them. But you might remember it better than I do because obviously it’s been years since I watched it. I wonder if I’d have a different opinion if I watched it again but I just can’t. lolI’m sorry about your illness though!
Honestly how much do I hate Kim this season? So much. They have sent her character down a hole so far and so fast my head is spinning. I will say it’s interesting that they are turning our expectations of what happened to Jimmy/Saul on their head. I had always expected to find that Jimmy’s turn into a corrupt cartel lawyer was based just on greed, and now we find that it’s partially greed but partially because he’s being steered there by his wife. At the end of the day he’s just a people pleaser, always trying to impress the people he loves, first with Chuck and now with Kim.
I’m with you on this. I really don’t understand the path they’ve taken the character. Actually, I guess I don’t really see it as a path and more as a rather abrupt turn. I just don’t get it.To take it a step further, it’s taking me out of the show a bit. In this episode, I think for the first time, I was disappointed when we left the drug storyline for the Jimmy/Kim one.
Agreed.
I’m not sure I completely buy Kim’s rapid descent into supervillainy. It too quick and the motivations for it are sketchy at best.
Yep, they did a great job setting up what happened to Jimmy, but they rushed her progression.
The fast-paced change in her after that meeting with Lalo in her house, while she was at her most Dorothy-like moment before he came in, might reveal Kim might have some slight mental illness. She feels very Manic to me, with a big M, and those Manic phases…they always come straight back down eventually.
That’s a good observation that it came right after the meeting with Lalo. I don’t think it’s mental illness (I had an aunt with bipolar/manic depression and she was a mess and this doesn’t seem like that, though I do not claim to be any kind of expert and I know it’s different in different people), but it could just be that she had a pretty close brush with death, in addition to Jimmy’s ordeal in the desert where she came close to losing him, so it could be that after all that she just started letting loose to 1) chase that adrenaline rush and 2) because fuck it since life is so fragile anyway.
I am forced to agree. I had major problems with the pacing of BB’s last season, and it looks like they’re repeating the problems here. It’s especially frustrating because Jimmy’s slide has been so perfectly timed across the years, but they’re rushing Kim’s.
Yeah, it feels like they decided too late in the game, “Oh, wait, we should make Kim, bad, too! That’ll really help Jimmy’s transition and no one will see it coming!” And now they’re rushing to make it happen.
I agree with the second part of this post of yours. I don’t hate Kim…and if you’ve seen the episode last night, which I bet you did….I think that manic Kim’s bubble might explode…and if it’s a one-off, then, she doesn’t have to be worried too much, but it seems like she might be bipolar a bit, some people only need to have one episode of bipolar mania and then depression to be categorized as Bipolar I.
I used to be feel dread/anxiety when Kim was standing on areas of heights, balconies, that 9 level parking lot roof, even simple stairways starting around season 3 but now not so much, it might have been just simple metaphoric cinematography, but attaboy to the directors for that.
I agree with the second part of this post of yours. I don’t hate Kim…and if you’ve seen the episode last night, which I bet you did….I think that manic Kim’s bubble might explode…and if it’s a one-off, then, she doesn’t have to be worried too much, but it seems like she might be bipolar a bit, some people only need to have one episode of bipolar mania and then depression to be categorized as Bipolar I.
I used to be feel dread/anxiety when Kim was standing on areas of heights, balconies, that 9 level parking lot roof, even simple stairways starting around season 3 but now not so much, it might have been just simple metaphoric cinematography, but attaboy to the directors for that.
I feel like this behavior/attitude has been emerging in Kim all along, and wouldn’t really describe it as rapid. She’s shown a propensity to get excited by danger and illicit behavior from nearly the beginning, and she’s also shown a more unshakable dedication to “justice” than Jimmy – those two strands have married in her in odd, unpredictable ways, but not (to me at least) unbelievable ways. Also, we’ve gotten enough hints about her background to know that she’s built up a pretty serious resentment towards the richies over a lifetime of slights, no matter how hard she works. Even though Mesa Verde were good clients who treated her well, she clearly grew to resent the way they treat others in their path to conquest. Her resentment towards Howard is based on a complicated mix of anger, resentment, probably a bit of jealousy – he gets away with it, with everything. He’s cruel to people and pays no price – his treatment of her at HHM was just as likely to derail her career at its start as anything she and Jimmy might be cooking up for him. And he got away with it. His treatment of Chuck was often sympathetic, but just as often rapacious and cruel (the way he forced his resignation and had everybody there to witness it – nasty). And aside from a minor downturn in business (less than a year?), and some superficial soul searching, he paid no price. She’s tired of all their sanctimonious BS.I’m not saying I agree with her actions or that they’re in any way noble, but I completely understand them. As heartbreaking as it’s been to watch some of her decision making over the past couple seasons, I’ve also found it as fascinating as just about any character development/depiction on TV over the last decade plus.
Michael Mando’s great. A fellow Montreal boy, went to the same college as me.
I know how Kim’s story’s going to go: she’s going to go to prison, then in the future, Saul will hook up with her upon her release and they’ll skip off into the sunset happily ever after. You heard it here first, gang.
This is my Kim theory, as well. They have given us way too many moments of Kim being aggressive/borderline reckless while Jimmy looks reluctantly concerned for Kim not to slip up and take a fall. Jimmy will try to take the blame, but Kim won’t allow it, their relationship will be damaged. Maybe the fall-out is so bad that Jimmy doesn’t even visit her, maybe he continues to throughout BB but we just never see it.
Not with you on the sunset ending, though. I see it as Jimmy and Kim having a brief window of reconnection after she gets out and right before he goes in.
No mention of the blue flower from the opening, sprouting from where Nacho died, free to live a full beautiful life amongst the harshness all around it in a way that Nacho will never be able to do?
I know!This show is so tightly written and peppered with little clues and callbacks. Everything eventually connects.
Man, I joined my group watch just a bit late and missed the cold option, so we rewatched it after the episode ended. It hits really hard after you know what it means.
I don’t know what kind of plant that was, but many types of desert flower only bloom for one day, and one heavy rain could very well destroy it. That’s where my mind went, anyway.
Didn’t understand the opening until after the show when I watched the opening again…that’s some good foreshadowing
It doesn’t really matter who the Alvarezes are, they’re a player in the game being used as a scapegoat. Perhaps they have territory outside of but nearby to the cartel’s territory. Gus had similarly orchestrated a scapegoat for the murder of one of Hector’s top lieutenants, Arturo Colon, and had Nacho shot to pretend to be the survivor of an ambush by the Espinosas, who were then killed by the twins and Nacho.
That’s my guess—some small-time competitor trying to horn in on the cartel’s business. I’m sure Gus picked them because (a) the story is believable and (b) Gus will benefit from them getting whacked by the Salamancas. I’m sure the Cousins will be visiting them soon.
Your memory is better than mine.
This was one of the best episodes of both shows combined. Give Mando ALL the Emmys.
Leave at least one for Rhea.
Ooh, yes, for sure. He just knocked it out of the park though.
I can’t believe this show hasn’t won a single emmy.What a disgrace.
I can’t believe this show hasn’t won a single emmy. Holy hell, is that true??? I haven’t watched those awards for years but I just assumed they would have gotten something. Jeez.
The Los Pollos Hermanos and Ethics with Kim Wexler shorts won Creative Arts Emmys, but they haven’t won in any of the big Emmy categories (acting, writing, cinematography, editing) which is a crying shame considering how good this show is on all those fronts and then some.
I think they won something for Kim Wexler’s little mini segment, but nothing for the main cast.
A bit late, but: it’s gotten tons of nominations, and still has a chance for the back half of S6. It’s mostly gotten its lunch eaten by bigger flashier shows like Succesion and Game of Thrones.
Yep. It’s a strong contender for best show ever in the history of TV. I’m not exaggerating. The Jimmy/Chuck episodes are heart wrenching.
I agree that BCS is a true apex of the medium.
The year that had BCS and The Americans running concurrently was the best year ever for television drama. Ev-ver.
Not since Rod Serling has television come this close to fulfilling it’s complete potential. For the television Academy to be ignoring it is a crime against culture.
Better than the original program, if they can stick the landing.
Does it fucking matter? Artists prefer eyeballs on them and cash, not industry trinkets you have to pay to submit for.
The name Alvarez is new, but as a figurehead for the Peruvians he’s been a player in this drama since last year when Jimmy was ambushed with the bail money. The Peruvians are the ones with moles in the Salamanca cartel who sent the mercs to take the $7 million. They serve as a reminder that what we see in Albuquerque is just the tip of the iceberg for the cartel world that the Salamancas are part of – and maybe not very big players in, at that.
You’re right on that one. ABQ may be the center of the BB/BCS Universe for us, but it’s really just an outpost for the Cartel, which is why Gus can operate so freely. The main problem he has is that ABQ was already Salamanca territory before he and Max got there, which is why Max was killed for operating there without permission.Don Eladio and the Cartel have never fully trusted Gus and Don Hector has hated him from day one. He wasn’t killed along with Max because whatever connections he still maintained in Chile made it difficult to kill him without repercussions, plus the Cartel needs his distribution network. Thus Bolsa acts as the go-between, so the peace can be maintained and the money can flow.
The Nacho storyline will certainly continue and have reverberations, not the least which will be Mike needing to uphold his promise to him.
Bathing in rancid oil, spending hours (probably) locked in a compartment in a truck smaller than a coffin, then getting his ass beat so he looks tortured, all so he can go back and kill himself, and that’s along with all the other shit Gus put him through.Has anybody suffered so much for so little as Nacho.
Nacho did everything for his dad. He swapped Hector’s pills because Hector was about to muscle in on his father’s upholstery business as a front for his illegal activities. Then he became a mole for Gus for the same reason, and then became the inside man at Lalo’s compound in Mexico. Finally, his last act was for the same reason, to ensure Mike would look after his dad.Protecting his father was everything, so in a very real way Nacho won.
‘Protecting family’ is the motivation for a lot of characters in this universe. Mike’s descent to becoming Fring’s right-hand-man was promoted by the need to provide for his granddaughter; and of course Walter White’s excuse for beginning to cook meth was to support his family.
Indeed! That dynamic also drives the feud between Gus and the Salamancas. Hector killed Max—Gus’ “brother”—and Gus is eliminating Hector’s family one by one.
Suffering so much for so little? Only Jesus comes to mind.
always look on the bright side of life…
Jesse absolutely suffered more. in the end Nacho dies saving his father’s life and Jesse lives with at least 3 deaths on his conscious on top of the physical punishment he endured it was Jesse hands down .
After a Nacho has been dipped in something greasy, you know the end is near.
Mike can’t overtly protect Manuel from the Salamancas, but he did pocket the fake ID that Nacho had made for him.I’m sure Mike is going to try and persuade Manuel to escape. There’s no way he wouldn’t relate to him, having lost his own son. He might also see it as a way to soothe his conscience for failing to protect Ziegler.Whether or not he’ll succeed, I don’t know. Manuel is a stubborn man who has always refused to run. And it feels like Mike still hasn’t reached the subzero coldness he demonstrates in the Breaking Bad timeline.
I thought Mike reluctantly put both IDs back in the safe in the end.
Just Nacho’s.
I get the blue flower being Nacho, but what about the piece of glass getting rained on?
That’s the tool he used to cut the zip tie (also shown) and stab Bolsa.
I get the sense that Nacho isn’t as smart as people are making him out to be. Hiding in the only hiding place for miles around, really? And did he seriously think that his father would be protected among all these backstabbers? He must have – it’s the only reason I can think of why he didn’t take out Hector and the cousins, using Bolsa as a human shield, before offing himself. I mean if it wasn’t for the naive hope that his self sacrifice would work to protect his father, why the hell not at that point?
Nacho was no scholar, but he was smarter than the average thug. The motel episode last week was enough evidence he has a street-smart wit that characters underestimate. As for his father, when Mike says he’ll do something, he’ll do it. That may be all the trust Nacho needs.
I would add that he doesn’t have a lot of options. A chance at his dad being spared is better than nothing.
Yeah, I guess Nacho never learned the second lesson of how not to be seen.I thought of this clip as soon as I saw the truck.
I think Bolsa would only be an effective shield until the first bullet was fired. And if Nacho didn’t give himself a good death, the remaining Salamanca’s would make it as bad as possible. There seemed to be a moment of hesitation on his part where he did the calculus and realized it wasn’t worth the risk.Edit: I just rewatched the scene and yeah, he’s looking at all the angles and weighing the options before he pulls the trigger.
My poor sweet dirty angel Nacho.
we knew it was going to happen and it still hurt. i have an extra soft spot for michael mando because of orphan black. i think it was the better way to go rather than dying from cancer from doing a sensory deprivation session in black oil.
Honestly, when the series started I pegged him as the character must likely to be an annoying distraction from the stories I really wanted to follow, but he really kind of turned into the heart of the show, didn’t he?Of course I’ll watch the rest of it to see how it all plays out, but I don’t know if I’m emotionally vested to the same degree.
It feels like he’s come a long way since Vic the Dick, but yeah, Michael Mando is a great actor, and his time on BCS has been well spent. He’s a great example of the kind of stellar casting Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are filled with.
Also lets not forget Vaas from Far Cry, the most beloved character in the franchise.
Funny thing is I didn’t really think he was that great in Orphan Black initially (I did warm up to most of the performances, tho the writing not really). But he was definitely really great in this show.
speaking of the black oil I’m 100% choosing to believe that’s a little easter egg Vince threw in from his time on X-Files
Plot twist: BB is a stealth X-files spin off.
I believe they said Alvarez was part of the Peruvian cartel, so he was just a convenient scapegoat outside of the Mexican cartels to avoid the war among the Bolsa lieutenants. I also don’t think the Salamancas go after Manuel. There is no real reason to do it. I think the Nacho side of the plot is basically over at this point. They have too much territory to cover with Lalo on the cartel side of things and the entirety of Saul/Kim/Gene resolution to get done in 5 episodes.
They have ten episodes left. The last six start in July. Though you figure at least one of those will be Gene and some may be after a time jump to the Breaking Bad period.
This^^^^
I think there might be some kind of scene with Mike and Manuel yet.
Yeah, the writers didn’t show Mike getting Manuel’s fake Manitoba ID out of Nacho’s safe for no reason.
There was too much emphasis on Mike promising Manuel’s safety for the Salamancas not to go after Manuel at some point in the story.
I agree. That would be some really bad storytelling.
They definitely aren’t done with Manuel’s story, since Mike took the fake Canadian ID Nacho made for his dad out of the safe in the first episode this season.
The reason to kill Manuel is to send message to anyone else considering going against the Salamancas. Betray us, and we will kill your family.
I agree. What’s the point in a revenge killing when Nacho is already dead?
Yeah, I don’t know if I think it’s fair to call Alvarez a deus ex machina. It’s not an unreasonable plot device to assume that Eladio’s cartel has plenty of enemies we haven’t learned about. In BB and BCS, the only cartel conflicts in the story are internal (or with law enforcement, or with Walter White), but presumably a drug cartel also has plenty of external enemies. I assume Alvarez is just a Peruvian gangster who is already openly hostile to Eladio’s people and therefore a convenient scapegoat. The false evidence Mike planted in Nacho’s safe also threw suspicion onto the Peruvians, right? In addition to providing Nacho’s whereabouts, of course.
Agree. Nacho is dead. Why would they go after his father? It’s true they are “psycho sacks of shit,” but even they know that killing Nacho’s father would only be to hurt Nacho and he very much can’t be hurt now.
the cartel literally throws children off bridges to prove their ferocity and “we will get your family no matter what” in the past. Seriously, google it. They’ll def go try to kill some “rat’s” dad, just for the principle of it, I guarantee it.
These are stand ins for real Mexican cartels, and they do not fuck around. It’s 100% plausible that they would do it just because.
Fair enough. I admit to having zero personal experience with cartels of any sort so I’ll acknowledge my ignorance here.
Agree. Nacho is dead. Why would they go after his father? It’s true they are “psycho sacks of shit,” but even they know that killing Nacho’s father would only be to hurt Nacho and he very much can’t be hurt now.Once Nacho told Hector that he caused the stroke, he gave Hector plenty of reason to want to hurt everyone Nacho has ever loved.
Well yeah, but the reason to hurt people Nacho loved would be to hurt Nacho. It doesn’t hurt dead Nacho to kill his father.
That’s one reason.
Another reason Hector would have to hurt people Nacho loved would be to make Hector feel better.
Sure, but why would killing some rando make Hector feel better? He’s a psycho with no regard for human life, yes, but have we seen him kill someone without a reason though? Someone 1) who didn’t wrong him or 2) whose death wouldn’t produce some tangible benefit?
He’s an overly emotional psycho, willing to put personal grudges even ahead of his own business. “IT IS PERSONAL!”And Nacho’s father is not some “rando” – he’s the very reason why Hector is in that wheelchair. Not saying it’s inevitable, but I can totally see Hector going after him.
Hector doesn’t know that Nacho’s father is the reason, though.But I guess we’ll see.
I dunno. Hector’s not dumb.Nacho bragged that he caused Hector’s stroke. Which happened just weeks after Hector took over Nacho’s family business, steamrolling Nacho’s pleas to leave his father out of it.
Okay, we’ll see!
Think back to the episode where Nacho and the twins raid that drug compound of a rival cartel. This is where Nacho gets shot in the stomach. Didn’t they say that compound was run by Alvarez’s people?
What’s funny is that….that phone call to the traitor….who’s Bolsa, who tries to have Jimmy assassinated so that he can’t bring the money to Lalo. Of course Bolsa knows Alvarez, he’s pretty much the Colombian guy amongst them if I see both shows correctly. He was really surprised Lalo was “going north you say???” when informed by Gus. Gus tells Mike he is responsible for the attack on Jimmy. So Bolsa was trying to get rid of Lalo before it even came to Gus’ mind, to protect Don Juan’s (funny name) interests of course, Don Juan did that, so that his status with Eladio would be safe, such as him covering for Gus being their man up north, since it is very beneficial for him also.
Wow. That was nuts. Gilligan and crew and just complete masters of the craft. Very very few could take what I’m sure everyone knew was gonna happen (Nacho dying) and somehow still making sure you don’t see it coming.
“Don’t worry Nach, you can explain everything when you see him again,” Rob Grizzly reasoned, as he choked up, watching Ignacio call his father…
Damn it all to hell. I kept wondering how he was gonna get out of this. The whole time. He’d been so resourceful. And sometimes just lucky. A well-timed phone call, a distraction from Mike, a sandstorm, anything.
The season just started! Surely he’d last a few more episodes. Sadness…
So how many years from this is it supposed to be when Saul mentions Nacho’s name in Breaking Bad? Isn’t it still supposedly a few years away? Confuses me a bit…
I think we’re somewhere in 2004 now. Breaking bad starts 2008.
I think Saul only mentions an “Ignacio” once in passing, and Ignacio/Nacho isn’t that unusual a name among Mexicans/Mexican-Americans.
I mean, I would be SHOCKED if he wasn’t mentioning Nacho specifically in that scene by this point.
Yeah, it’s clear that they retconned the situation so that that’s the Ignacio and Lalo he was referring to.
He was talking about Nacho. Mentioned him in the same breath as Lalo. It’ll be much cleaner to write that Saul isn’t aware of Nacho’s fate at that point than it would be to hope the viewers infer he’s talking about another Ignacio.
I think Manuel might make it yet. The writers tend to enjoy giving the odd tinge of silver to the vast clouds of grey and Mike has given his word *and* has his passport. I suspect Alvarez is a mid-tier player, minor enough not to be mentioned yet but believable to have aspirations, and who will be nuked off the face of the earth in the Salamanca’s revenge hence never being mentioned in BB.
We also know that Mike’s relationship with Gus takes a significant hit between now and the events of Breaking Bad, since it’s hard to imagine he’d be doing random undesirable tasks for Saul otherwise. I figure saving Manuel is the source of the friction.
I’m not sure about that. Isn’t he “head goon” at that point? He could be helping Saul as a favor. The things we see him doing for Saul are I believe all Walt/Jessie based. So its possible he learned of “Heisenberg” connected him to Saul and used Saul to learn who this new cook was and keep tabs on him for Gus.
It doesn’t matter who Alvarez is, it’s just a scapegoat Bolsa will accept, chill out lady.Mike has the fake Canadian ID Nacho made for his dad. Papa will be approached by Mike, explaining his sons death and the current threat to himself. He’ll get the ID and a ton of cash to escape…the rest is on Manuel.You also forgot to write about the Jimmy/Kim’s plan to steal Howard’s car…
I did not see that coming. I really thought mike had a plan to get nacho out. Even if he went rogue and didnt tell Gus but he had to have a plan. Its Mike! So I was Genuinely shocked the way it went down and as a jaded cynical tv viewer who can usually see a twist coming from a mile away…this one got me…perhaps because it wasnt a twist. It went down exactly how they told us it would.
I wasn’t sure what Mike meant when he said “Do it.”Whether he meant shoot himself, or everybody else.
At first I thought he meant ‘kill Bolsa’, but I’m now pretty sure he meant ‘shoot yourself’ because that way Mike wouldn’t reveal himself by having to sniper him, which wouldn’t be a good look for Gus hiding someone up there. That said, they probably left it ambiguous for a reason.
I knew it couldn’t happen (since everyone in the scene except Nacho appears in BB) but part of me was rooting for Mike to just take out everyone with his sniper rifle.Maybe we need some fanfic where that does happen and Mike and Nacho ride off into the sunset to have adventures far from New Mexico.
Mike’s only doing all this for his family, so that limits his options.
I think that’s a twist in-and-of itself. We all love Nacho, and he seems morally head-and-shoulders above everybody else in that final scene (yes he’s not exactly a ‘good’ guy, but he’s better than Gus or Hector), so it almost doesn’t seem ‘fair’ for him to die. The show explicitly tells us he’s gonna die, but we keep expecting something else to happen and then it just… doesn’t. Somehow these guys have pulled off a lack of a twist feeling like a twist. Love this show!
I really thought mike and nacho had a plan worked out. Mike always has a plan. And when he told gus he wanted to be there and then took his sniper rifle I thought ok hes gonna cover him while nacho runs for it. Desperate, as far as plans go, but if anyone can pull it off mike can. i thought the reason nacho wasnt around for BB was because he ordered the hoover max extract model 60.I literally shouted “No” at my tv when it went down…thats a hard thing to get me to do and BCS pulled it off. There aren’t any “happy” endings in the BB/BCS universe but I thought nacho earned one and to have it go down like that….shocked me. Legitimately.
Jesse’s is a happy one, considering what he’s endured through the neo-nazi bikers enslavement, quasi-enslavement by Gus, treachery of the first degree by Walt, someone he actually looked up to despite all of his nonsense talk and his parents literally telling him to go to the cops to be put in a cage, again, not treated any much better (this isn’t Canadian prisons..) and them literally overnight getting rid of their first born who even refused him any time after it looked like he had taken his life in a better way (he was sober), when he tested his dad to see if he could come by and just have dinner with them sometimes and to be blown off. When he buys that house away from them 50% off with the help of Saul is still one of the most satisfying moment in Breaking Bad for me.
I get the sense Jimmy may have been wanting, perhaps hoping for a different answer from Kim. The way he kept asking if he should do it, was like looking for permission. Kim’s tact, however…
Michael Mando did a few push-ups before his hose down scene. Nacho was more jacked than I thought.
It’s weird how he doesn’t look nearly that jacked with his shirt on.
Hurt to see Nacho go so soon. I was really rooting for him.Speculation wise, this makes me wonder what ‘proof’ Lalo was heading back into Mexico for. I don’t believe he was going back to try and find Nacho on his own, plus it would be dramatically unsatisfying for him to now just be all ‘Oh, he’d dead now? No problem, I’ll head back.’ Pretty sure he’s got something else in mind and I fear it may have something to do with that village Gus brought Mike to in S5…
Hats off for Michael Mando. Loved him since Orphan Black.And he has been stellar in this show. He and Rhea (and really all the actors lol) need some kind of nod, if we even care about awards anymore. Suffice to say, he’s been awesome.
Bitches don’t know about my timelines.
The writing on this was a little wonky. Gus was originally going to give Nacho up *to* the Salamancas by planting the phone number of the motel. Why did it not occur to Gus that Nacho might talk until Nacho pointed it out?Gus has borderline superpowers for intuition, but he was going to do something as stupid as give Nacho up to the people who were going to beat the truth out of him?
They gave him a gun and figured he’d be killed when he shot whoever kicked the door down. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but you work with what you have. Remember that Nacho wasn’t even supposed to be at the compound when Gus first decided to take out Lalo. He decided to use him as the “inside man” after Mike told him Lalo took him south.
I think the answer is that Gus was caught with his pants down this time around. He had intended for Lalo to be offed cleanly and likely did not intend for Nacho’s culpability to be discovered unless he needed it to be. Instead his entire hit team was killed, Lalo escaped, and Nacho was exposed as the clear traitor and was in the wind. He could have sent Mike and his team down to help but that risked exposing his involvement as there was no real reason for Mike and company to be in Mexico.So he made a desperate move to try to take Nacho off-the-table entirely IMO.
Nacho, you are one “stand up guy.” R.I.P. Nacho.
I just want to know WTF is up with those stickie notes? And what are they doing with Howard’s car?
I think the plan is to dress up a stunt/professional driver like Howard, wig and all and have him drive recklessly past Clifford Mane. Possibly while doing a bump of white powder.
It’s their whole plan on the Howard front….but as Kim says herself, “it has to be paced right and they can’t see us coming”, the show is not giving all of the plot points by the beginning of the season and their planning right there. It’s reminiscing of Kim’s way of getting out of HHM when she was doing those many, many, many calls during her lunch breaks and everytime she could get away from that awful basement doc review.
I got chills at Nacho’s speech at the end. I was really hoping he’d find a way to escape… but I think he got a death that his character deserved. Not many ppl in this show get to go out on their own terms. I just hope his dad is safe.
Aw man, not Nacho. He was a great character, and his rant at the end was so satisfying. Calling them psycho sacks of shit was the best because can you imagine being him in this world? Yes he’s a criminal, but he’s a normal guy just doing his job. Like he would have made a great middle manager or even CEO of a regular company, but his company just happened to be a cartel, and he was stuck having to deal with these legit psychopaths on a regular basis. That had to take its toll.I didn’t gather that his suiciding was cooked up with Mike. It seemed like something he decided right at the end as a “fuck all of y’all” moment where he could take back some last bit of control over at least the last second of his life.
lol- ‘great middle manager’. No such thing…
lol true.
Is it ever explained how Nacho gets hold of the piece of glass in the first place?
He pulled it out of the bin in Gus’ office, its a piece of the glass Gus broke in ep2.
Really can’t see any point in seeing what happens with Nacho’s dad. Don’t think Bolsa is going to factor in either, the writers aren’t go to add a new character who doesn’t tie into BB at this point.
Lalo isn’t going to believe it isn’t Gus anyway.
This season was really only ever going to about why the characters BCS introduced aren’t in BB.
We have our sad answer for Nacho now.
His outstanding work in just the first three episodes is worthy of his first Emmy nomination Oh, I don’t disagree, but just this two minutes or so from this episode, hog-tied in the desert and explaining about the heart pills? That alone deserves an Emmy.
When his voice suddenly dropped an octave and he growled “you think of me” I quite literally shuddered. That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.
Can’t wait to see what happens when Lalo comes back! Kim might have to give him an EXTRA scolding before he goes away again!
Oh, so we’re just putting giant spoilers right in the headline now, huh?
Normally prequels suffer from having their hands tied about future plot developments and character situations, but I feel like Better Call Saul really played that to it’s strength here thematically.Even though my heart wanted Nacho to escape and build a nice life for himself, his death was (as many other comments have said) inevitable. And that theme – inevitability – was actually added to very nicely by the fact that every single character in that final scene, bar Nacho, is also in Breaking Bad and so literally cannot die. Whilst with other shows that would remove the tension, as we know that something has to happen to Nacho for all of these other characters to appear unscathed (and with the same-ish character dynamics) in a few years’ time in-universe, this actually just added to the feeling of hopeless finality about Nacho’s situation.Fuck man, I love this show so god damn much. Only 10 episodes left 🙁
J Micheal Straczynski talked a lot about foreknowledge during the run if his Babylon 5. In that show you often know about future events and the fate of some characters.To Straczynski it didn’t matter knowing that so long as the reasons and events leading up to stuff you know is compelling enough. BCS shows how brilliantly good (great) storytellers apply that.
This is by no means a dump on Gilligan or his writing staff, but he sure seems to enjoy writing characters who know they’re bad, but enjoy being bad. Felt like Jimmy was pretty upfront about that in this episode. (Can I please give Huell a hug? I think the most satisfying and comforting thing imaginable would be for that lovely man to embrace me)
To say that Michael Mando deserves an Emmy is self-evident, and it’s a testament to the quality of the acting on this show that he’d face stiff competition across the board from the absurdly deep bench. I mean, obviously Oedenkirk and Seehorn are brilliant, but no matter how deep you go down the cast list, you’ll find people putting in amazing, funny, heartbreaking performances, regardless of the amount of screentime they have.
Putting “Ultimate Sacrifice” in the title of a review is a fucking spoiler. We know characters will die this season, but now I guess we know exactly when, before we watch the episode, if we want to go on this now-shit site.
To be honest I’m not so sure about Kim’s path here – she’s doing such a drastic turn that I’m trying to make sense of it. There’s more in there for an explanation I think. There’s a big difference between doing a scam at a bar with Slippin’ Jimmy and the line “do you want to be a friend of the Cartel, or a rat?”
Just curious if my ability to comment has been fixed.
Obviously not.
-Is Lalo alive in Breaking Bad? If not, will Manuel Varga kill him by the end of the series?-I hope Mando gets a boost to his career from this. Him and Rhea Seehorn both deserve to move on to bigger things after this.
I keep wishing the Spider-Man movies would bring back Mando as Scorpion and make him the primary villain. I don’t mind what they’ve done but man, I was really looking forward to seeing him as Gargan after the tease in Homecoming.
Just to clarify about the shenanigans with the safe in the previous episode: Mike has someone drill Nacho’s safe, finds the stuff inside; then they replace it with an identical safe and put everything back inside (except for Manuel’s fake Canada ID, I think). Presumably this was so that when Bolsa has his goons cut open the safe, they won’t know that Mike has already gone through it (since the previous safe now has a drill hole in it), right?Also interesting that Jimmy & Kimmy discussed using a duplicate of Howard’s car (same make and model and color) as part of their scheme. Plus the twins are all over the season. Maybe a theme of this season is duplication, replacement, or impostors.
They took Manuel’s papers and then put in the document showing payment from the Peruvians and the number of the hotel Nacho was hiding at, to lead them to him.
…how had Nacho escaped the twins at the end of the previous episode? It bothers me that every time there’s something seriously important for them to do, they are suddenly incompetent.
Kim’s ‘…or do you want to be a rat.’ will go down as one of the great twists in TV and movies. Or whatever it is when someone’s sliding downhill and all you can do is keep saying no, no, no over and over.
She’s broken bad, but we knew that ever since we saw her and Jimmy working petty little schemes in the first ep of BCS.It’s been a brilliant ride to get us on her side and make us hope ‘Jimmy doesn’t corrupt her or get her killed’, but now confirming that there’s a reason why she and Jimmy are so sympatico.