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"50% Off" is the second episode of the fifth season of Better Call Saul and the forty-second episode of the series altogether.
Summary
Sticky and Ron, two skells who had previously attended Saul Goodman's promotional burner phone sale, go on a drug-induced joyride throughout the city. In the morning they wake up after passing out behind the wheel of the car, which has crashed into the lawn of a suburban house. The two remark that "It's Tuesday.., which means 50% off!" and they race off in their car as the bumper is rapidly falling off, feeling confident that Jimmy will get them out of trouble in case the law catches up to them. The camera pans out to reveal a garden gnome the two had stolen broken on the pavement.
Act I
Nacho is asleep with Jo in bed next to him. All of a sudden, some men led by Tyrus burst into his house, and before he can grab his gun or escape, they pin him down and bring him into a car. They head to a restaurant where Nacho's father is, where he watches as Gustavo Fring and Victor threaten him. Gus gets into the car and tells Nacho that Lalo Salamanca is a problem and that he will have to find a way to earn his trust and sabotage the operation from the inside.
In the morning while they're getting ready to work, Kim becomes increasingly annoyed at Jimmy's boisterousness in his renewed law practice. She finds that all of his colorful new suit jackets and shirts are crowding much of their shared closet, and he tells her that he will need even more space. As Kim is about to drive off to her office, Jimmy unexpectedly gets into the passenger seat and requests to show her something for just a few minutes. They drive to an open house, but Kim is apprehensive as she feels it's too early for him to buy a home, but she reassures him that she really likes it. While viewing one of the spacious rooms in the home, Kim abruptly informs Jimmy that she doesn't want him to scam her clients, which Jimmy agrees to reluctantly. He also confesses that he created a 50% off deal for legal services against her advice, but eventually charms her over by showing her the house's walk-in closet and the exquisite multi-shower head system, which Kim playfully uses to get Jimmy soaked. They leave the house with Kim appearing a lot more placated about Jimmy's homeowning ambitions.
Act II
Lalo visits his uncle Hector Salamanca at Casa Tranquila and discusses Gus' mysterious new construction project. Lalo doesn't buy Gus' cover story about building a new chicken refrigeration facility, and expresses disapproval that Don Juan Bolsa and Don Eladio Vuente seem to believe Gus. An elder care worker reminds Lalo to keep Hector hydrated and hands him a "very berry" flavored drink. He then adds liquor from a hip flask into the drink and serves it to Hector. Lalo tastes the drink but just dumps it out and serves straight liquor to Hector.
Mike wakes up at his home after what looks like a night of heavy drinking. He receives a call from Stacey Ehrmantraut, who tells him that she needs him to watch Kaylee that very day since she has to work. Stacey also tells Mike that Kaylee needs to do her homework before she helps him build the backyard tree house. Mike and Kaylee review the multiplication table by relating multiples of seven to football scores. However the very conversation inadvertently leads to Kaylee commenting on how her dad Matt was a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and quickly dovetails into an uncomfortable conversation about what he was like as a kid. She also alleges that Mike taught Matt how to be a good officer. Reaching a tipping point, Mike lashes at Kaylee about not placing the grips on the tree house stairs on correctly and then tells her that she's done, causing Kaylee to run back into the house. That night when Stacey gets back home, Mike tells her that she was in her room all day and she hadn't eaten dinner yet.
Act III
The same two tweakers from the teaser come back to the Fifth Street Apartment looking for more cocaine, this time ordering ten bags rather than their usual two. Mouse sends the ten bags down the rain gutter, but they appear to be stuck. The skells and Mouse yell back and forth, demanding they get their product since they already paid Arlo.
Lalo, Nacho, Blingy, and Domingo are sitting around at night playing poker. Lalo bluffs with 7+2 off-suit (the worst possible starting hand). Domingo has a pair of 8s with an 8 on the table, giving him three of a kind, but when Lalo bets big on the river, Domingo folds. Lalo shows his terrible hand and then, after looking at Domingo's cards, says he was crazy for folding and calls him "ocho loco" (Spanish for "crazy eight"), giving birth to his future criminal nickname. Domingo gets a call from one of the fifth street dealers saying there's a problem. He arrives at the scene and climbs onto a ladder in order to clear the blockage by tapping the gutter at a higher point. Unfortunately for Domingo, a police car shows up, and the four other run off, leaving Domingo stranded at the top of the ladder. Police officers walk onto the scene and one asks him what he's doing, to which he replies that he was fixing the gutter. After tapping on it once more, Domingo inadvertently causes the cocaine packets to finally fall out of the chute.
Lalo, Mouse, Arlo, and Nacho sit in a car and survey the scene of the crime from a safe distance as police suit up to raid the stash house. Lalo asks if they were able to save any of the product before the cops came but Mouse says it's still in the house. Nacho, remembering Gus' request to gain Lalo's trust, boldly decides to take matters into his own hands by climbing on the roofs of an adjacent building, then jumping onto another where the gang has their product stored. The others watch tensely (with Lalo eating a snack) as a SWAT team lines up outside the door and prepares to breach it. Nacho climbs in through the roof and salvages several bags of product before jumping out through a window just as the police swarm into the building. He surprises the gang members by coming back to the car and entering the passenger door unexpectedly; Lalo commends his actions in salvaging the gang's supply.
Act IV
Jimmy uses his newfound energy to finesse and sweet talk his way through the Bernalillo County Courthouse. He prepares for a monologue to give before ADA Suzanne Ericsen, but instead he encounters ADA Bill Oakley, who is unimpressed by the film crew's "candid camera"-like stunt the last time they met and refuses to budge on a sentencing deal for one of Jimmy's clients. In a long shot scene, he speaks to a clerk and some clients before running to Oakley again, who has just exited the courtroom and is flabbergasted that Jimmy's client had witnesses. Oakley then agrees to commute the sentence. Jimmy encounters Howard Hamlin, who congratulates him on getting his law license reinstated. Howard invites him to have lunch, only to be interrupted when Jimmy spots Ericsen leaving a courtroom and follows her down the hall. Ericson gives an instant retort to "we have a lot in common" with "I hope we don't" and refuses to discuss any of his 15 cases she is prosecuting, telling him he's just trying to make as much money as possible by taking on too many clients, before stepping into an elevator.
Back at the El Michoacáno restaurant, Lalo asks Nacho how long he's known Domingo and whether he's been inside jail before. Nacho replies that he's been family friends for a long time, and Domingo has not been in jail but he will keep his mouth shut. As Lalo stares at him, Nacho asks if he wants him to take care of it. However, Lalo replies that he has something much better in mind for Domingo.
Another day at the courthouse, Jimmy follows Ericsen into an elevator, which promptly malfunctions as it begins ascending to the second floor. They both start reading over their case files while waiting, but Jimmy reads off his arguments to himself out loud, prompting Ericson to tell him to stop. He does it again and she eventually gives in as they start discussing the plea deals in his cases. In total they're stuck in the elevator for 20 minutes, and he tells the ADA that she owes him time to discuss his remaining 3 cases with her tomorrow. As Ericson walks out down the hallway, Jimmy thanks the elevator repairman for engineering the accident, revealing that it had been a kind of scam all along. The repairman reminds him to uphold his end of the bargain, which is legal services for his nephew.
On the street outside court, Jimmy is talking to his clients on his wireless headset and eating a mint chip ice cream cone, when Nacho and Blingy pull up to him on the sidewalk. Jimmy greets Nacho, as the two have not seen each other for over two years, and Nacho orders him to get into the back of the car. Jimmy tries to enter, but Nacho gestures at the ice cream, which Jimmy unceremoniously drops on the sidewalk. The ice cream cone lands at an angle reminiscent to both the broken garden gnome and a mailbox post from the teaser.
Trivia
- Norberto Barba's wife accidentally leaked a set photo from the episode on Twitter. It was later revealed to be from the final scene of the episode.
- According to the writer of the episode on the Better Call Saul Insider Podcast, the two druggies in the beginning montage are named Sticky and Ron in the script. In the credits however, they are only listed as “druggie”. Peter Gould confirmed this was an oversight on their part. The only hint to their names within the episode is when they rap and one of the druggies calls himself “Mr. Sticky”.
- In the episode, Jimmy asks Kim if she would like to watch a Scorsese film that will be airing later that night. After the episode aired on AMC, AMC aired Goodfellas, a film directed by Scorsese.
- The broken garden gnome seen in the teaser may be a callback to several references in the Breaking Bad universe:
- First, as seen in the episode itself, it lands in a similar angle as the ice cream cone at the end of the episode does, with the camera fading out.
- The gnome itself resembles (or is a duplicate of) Greenbrier the Gnome in Skinny Pete's backyard in El Camino, where the name Greenbrier was the working title for this film. In addition, this gnome became the crew's mascot after appearing in an early scene that was ultimately cut for time, in which it gets run over and destroyed by the titular El Camino.
- The fact that the gnome was missing part of his face could either represent Jimmy loosing a piece of himself upon his transition into Saul Goodman; or foreshadows Gustavo Fring's ultimate demise (but missing the opposite face's side).
Credits
Starring
Guest Starring
Co-Starring
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Uncredited
- TBA
Memorable Quotes
"Suzanne, I think we have something in common." - Saul Goodman
Videos
TBA