Episode 3, Rock and Hard Place
"Breaking Bad" performed death sequences better than any other program in television history. Consider Gus's last moments, when his arch-nemesis, Hector Salamanca, exploded a bomb under his wheelchair, obliterating half of his face.
As he sentimentally communes with his meth-making equipment, Walter White makes a slow and violent farewell. Hank Schrader's death in the desert at the hands of neo-Nazis, punctuated with a defiant f-bomb. "Better Call Saul" has finally been added to this pantheon. Nacho Varga's final scene in "Rock and Hard Place," as the episode is appropriately termed, was heartbreaking, stressful, violent, tragic, pathos-filled, and memorable.
NACHO VARGA
He believes that the only option to spare his father's life while on the run in Mexico is to return and "confess" to the Salamancas just before they kill him. It's a difficult task. But, like with all of Nacho's difficult duties, he doesn't have a choice. And, once again, he goes above and above.
The shadow of suspicion surrounding Gus would have lasted if he had halfheartedly murmured the untruth that Peruvian drug lords had set him up for the Lalo assassination. Instead, Nacho clears Gus by implying that the "chicken guy" lacked the courage and shrewdness to plan Lalo's assassination. Furthermore, Gus saved Hector's life by interfering when Nacho attempted to murder him by substituting sugar tablets for his heart medications.
Only when Nacho tears loose his zip-tied hands and threatens to kill Don Bolsa, just before committing suicide, does he stray from the script. Nacho wanted to show that he had some control over his work life, which was ruled by a revolving collection of deadly sociopaths. "I could murder you," a pawn said to the king.
Nacho obtained the zip-tie cutting shank from Gus's broken glass in the previous episode, which was sitting in a rubbish receptacle in the chicken farm's office. (The kaleidoscopic view of Nacho's face, as if the camera were shooting through the bin's glass, is the tip-off.) The shard appears in the opening sequence of the episode as the camera sweeps across the desert terrain where Nacho's bullet-riddled body previously lay, one of those enigmas that only makes sense after the end credits start rolling.
Nacho must undergo a few final torments in the days leading up to his death. These include hiding under an oil tanker, in a puddle of oil, and being beaten up by Mike so he appears damaged when it's time for the show. The brief phone conversation to Nacho's father is the only time in this episode that Nacho feels happy.
He's happy to find that the man is still alive, if not a prisoner. He also gets to say his goodbyes. Nacho made some bad decisions in life, but he is over-punished for them, much like Jesse Pinkman in "Breaking Bad." It's difficult to recall a single satisfying event in his life that was evident to onlookers.
He was in a condition of utter panic or despair when he wasn't being hunted, threatened, shot, or beaten up. So here's a tip of the cap to Michael Mando, whose Nacho was a study in bottled-up sorrow, a character roiled by emotions that were only manifested by heroic efforts to conceal them. He only gets to exhibit wrath as a character in the closing seconds of his life, and it pours from him like lava.
It would have been wonderful to see more of this fantastic performer, but if you have to leave a performance, it's difficult to imagine a more dramatic and moving conclusion. Jimmy and Kim are seizing Howard's automobile as part of their ongoing attempt to paint him as a drug addict on the white collar side of our tale. Huell Babineaux is hired once more to pick a pocket and assist in the creation of a clone of Howard's automobile keys.
"I've got it," Jimmy says as he tells Kim about his idea. "Valet scam" – it makes her feel aphrodisiac-like. She develops a romantic interest all of a sudden. Editors' Choice It's only one little indication that she's on her way to a criminally awful mental condition. This is particularly evident in her conversation with Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Ericsen , who tries to persuade Jimmy to talk about his ostensibly deceased client, Lalo, in order to assist prosecutors and police in apprehending the remaining members of the Mexican cartel in Albuquerque.
Ericsen appears to assume that Kim is more amenable to moral persuasion than Jimmy. Wrong. When Kim tells Jimmy about this discussion, she doesn't play it straight. When Jimmy asks for her opinion, she responds, "Do you want to be a cartel friend or do you want to be a rat?" It's a clever way of framing it.
Keep in mind that, despite the fact that this program was off the air for two years, the conclusion of Season 5 and the start of Season 6 are just a few days apart. Jimmy has only just recovered from the sunburn he got while scavenging $7 million in the desert at the end of Season 5. And before that fool's errand, Kim pleaded with Jimmy to reconsider his decision to work with drug lords south of the border.
So, what explains Kim's dramatic metamorphosis in just a few days? Money is one possibility. Maybe she changed her mind after seeing Jimmy's share of the bail money. Keep in mind that she believes the Ruin Howard scam will pay Jimmy and her a couple of million dollars when a class-action lawsuit is forced to settle. She intends to use the funds to create a legal firm for the poor, which is a wonderful concept. Kim may be about to make, or has already made, an unusual Faustian pact.
She can conspire, deceive, and even aid and abet criminals if the final result is that she gets to represent impoverished people in court. Given Kim's present trajectory, you can't help but believe she'll be involved in the meth game within a few episodes. Alternatively, she may become a cartel lawyer. Or something else that is completely illegal. Gordon Smith, who wrote and directed this episode, deserves special recognition.
What happened to Lalo?
And when is he going to turn up and sabotage Gus' tale by presenting the "evidence" he mentioned at the conclusion of Episode 1? So much for the hypothesis that Nacho lives into the "Breaking Bad" timeline since in Season 2 of that program, Saul mentions "Ignacio." Was that only a red herring, or did the writers have a different purpose in mind? how Gus Fring explains how he nabbed Nacho to the cartel? Given that he's a suspect in Lalo's assassination plan, he may reasonably claim he was just as eager to apprehend him. Gus, on the other hand, does not have any operators in Mexico, at least none that the cartel is aware of. Even if Nacho is hurt, doesn't this all look a little fishy?
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