Better Call Saul - Season Five Discussion

I surely understand your point. Kim's motives are clear and true -- but emotions sometimes lead to critical tactical mistakes.

I've been using the term "dumb" in a very loose sense.

 

Isn't Gus's "play" here to claim responsibility for the rescue and tell the cartel: I could have taken your $7M, but I didn't. Instead, I bailed out the utter incompetent you sent to retrieve it and helped secure your release. Because I am a businessman, committed to the greater good ...

Hearing Kim tell Lalo about the inviolability of the spousal privilege was like watching that "Saturday Night Live" skit back in the '80s, where Kevin Nealon warns the burglars who've just broken into his house that he has a mace.

Vacuum cleaners aside, Kim and Lalo are now Harry and Voldemort: neither can live while the other survives.

 

He was only out there for a day, if even that (and minus the evening rest). I thought he looked far worse for wear-and-tear than he would for a relatively short period.

 

Like the guy that played Tuco

 

Yeah, I'm thinking Kim dies at the hands Lalo and then Lalo dies at the hands of Gus.

 

You know that whenever the twins show up things are about to get bad real fast.

 

So, did we imagine the “nudity” disclaimer before the start of the episode? What the hell was that about? Do you know how disappointed my wife was that we did not get another naked Jimmy shot??

 

I was wondering about that too. Was hoping to see Kim in a thong.

 

Bob's ass was briefly visible through the doorway before he talked to Kim about the job.
I was hoping it'd be Kim!

 

If that is Gus's play, what explain Mike's presence on the scene at all? "I had a tracking device in Lalo's lawyer's car" will probably not work well.

 

So are you suggesting he doesn't mention the 6 or so guys with guns?

 

Not sure I follow? I'm saying he appeared way more out of shape physically than I would have expected for being out there one afternoon and one morning.

 

Not "cruel", after all Kim is a fictional character. She's not your typical wife, very shrewd lawyer who's been involved in several of Saul's schemes.
Was it true to her character that she wouldn't have waited a bit before doing such a rash, dangerous thing?
Have the writers made her just lead with emotion now?
I find it hard to fathom she'd think Lalo would of told her anything. Then her throwing out that spousal privilege is silly, (that's only valid in court of law, doesn't stop her from saying anything to anyone else) that wouldn't mean a thing to him.

 

He shows up at the bail office with $7 million and a bad sunburn (we see that in the "in the next episode" teaser). Lalo gets out and asks, "So, what happened?" If he tells him about the 6 guys with guns, what explains his survival, other than the guy who works for Gus showing up to save him, leading to the further question of why he was there in the first place. Or does he bury that story entirely and go with "My car broke down" and hope his lie is never found out by people who wouldn't think twice about killing him ... I mean someone is going to find those vehicles and bodies, right?

 

It could actually work quite well. Gus can show simultaneously that he’s a threat, that he’s omniscient, omnipresent and utterly efficient, with his people everywhere — unlike the Salamancas, who send some idiot who nobody knows into the middle of nowhere to pick up $7 million. Gus can also show that he’s following the direction of the cartel and playing nice with the Salamancas — unlike Lalo, who’s sending his minions to burn down Gus’s restaurant.

In the contest between Gus and the Salamancas — with the cartel as the audience — Gus’s competitive advantage is that he’s reliable, professional and capable of making money while mitigating risk, while the Salamancas are hot-headed, sloppy dinosaurs who will bring the DEA down on everybody.

 

Do we know who the guys were (or worked for) who attempted to steal the 7 million from Saul?

 

How does Mike or Gus even know about the $7 million or the pick up ... short of admitting to spying on their "friendly" associates?

 

If I were Gus, I'd say, yeah, you bet -- I spied on Lalo's people. Because what they were doing had implications for you, and for me. And it was really, really stupid. If it weren't for me, and me alone, you'd be out $7 million, and one of your top guys would still be sitting in jail, in the potential clutches of the DEA.

 

A third party other than Gus and the Salamancas ... I suspect their involvement in the storyline is (literally) dead at this point.

 

Because my guy had a tracking device on the car of Lalo's lawyer because ... I suspected they might use him as a bagman and it might go south and he'd save the day? Not that my guy and that lawyer ever meet up or talk or anything.

 

But added to this -- If Gus had a "play" here, would he have risked just sending out Mike to handle what obviously anyone would have guessed to be a gang of murderous thieves?

Yeah, yeah, Mike's a "superhero" who defies aging and and whatever, but if you are constructing a play against a gang, you'd think it would be more than one guy with a rifle.

 

The exchange between Mike and Saul suggests that even Mike didn't anticipate this situation or he would have brought back up. I think Brian was referring to Gus's "play" ex post facto.

 

I hope everybody noticed Mike removing the gas cap from Jimmy's car before rolling it over the edge.

 

I sure did.

 

Another important "fork in the road" scene involving Jimmy (akin to the "Howard" scene from the previous episode):

When Lalo offers him the job of getting the $7million bail money, Lalo actually gives him a perfect "out" to walk away -- Paraphrase: "OK, I'll get somebody else... You're good in the courtroom on the legal side..."

Jimmy can exit right at that moment and remain at his current level of questionable morality, but he hesitates at the door... and can't resist making a bigger deal even though he knows just how deeper this puts him "in the game"... or "down the hole," actually.

All for $100,000... money he could have easily made at Howard's firm without the danger and pathological "thrill."