"Coushatta" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Better Call Saul, and the thirty-eighth episode of the series altogether.
Summary[]
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Kim sees Jimmy off as he travels by bus to Huell's hometown of Coushatta, Louisiana. Throughout the journey, Jimmy writes on postcards with different pens and in different styles of handwriting. He also recruits other riders into writing their own messages, paying them a few dollars for each letter. When he arrives in Coushatta, Jimmy gets off the bus and steps into the local post office. After dispensing with his enveloped messages, Jimmy waits out front for the bus going back home.
Act I[]
At El Michoacano, Nacho performs Hector's former role of observing cash collections. Krazy-8 counts money from a bling-wearing drug dealer, who has come up short. Krazy-8 initially allows the dealer to leave, but Nacho summons the dealer over to his table. Nacho tears out one of the dealer's earrings and warns him that, "What you owe, you owe with interest." After the dealer leaves, Krazy-8 turns around to affirm Nacho's action, but Nacho asks why he didn't do it himself. Krazy-8 acknowledges Nacho's hint, and attends to another dealer that has entered the diner, while Nacho watches.
After dark, Nacho drives to an upscale house, where two young women are inside watching TV. Without a word, Nacho gives them small bags of crack and retreats to his bedroom. There, he stashes his drug money in a safe in his closet. As he does so, Nacho looks at fake Manitoba ID cards for himself and his father, showing that he has an exit strategy.
Act II[]
Mike and Werner take their workers to a local strip club, where they are entertained by the dancers, particularly Kai. Observing Werner sitting alone, Mike takes him to a more traditional bar for a drink. Werner tells Mike that his father was also an engineer, who devoted ten years of his life to building the Sydney Opera House. When a third patron asks for hefeweizen, Werner politely corrects his pronunciation and pays for the patron's drink. Werner states that he misses his wife and asks Mike what his father was like, leading the two men to reflect on their families and making a toast to home. Nick shows up to summon Mike, leaving Werner behind at the bar.
Outside the strip club, Mike finds Nick and Arthur confronting a belligerent Kai, who has been thrown out for making unwanted advances towards one of the dancers. The owner threatens to call the police, but Mike bribes him in exchange for allowing Kai to return home and sleep it off. Kai reacts angrily, but stands down when Mike challenges him. Mike returns to the bar to find Werner socializing with the patron from earlier, drunkenly divulging details about the secret excavation beneath Lavanderia Brillante. Concerned, Mike collects Werner and drives away.
Act III[]
At her apartment, Kim is reviewing Huell's assault case when Jimmy tells her that he is going to the Day Spa and Nail to "set things up." There, Mrs. Nguyen finds Jimmy in his backroom office writing on stickers that he puts on the backs of drop phones on his desk. Assuming that Kim is Jimmy's wife and that she's thrown him out, Mrs. Nguyen pours him a glass of alcohol and urges him to take her out to a nice restaurant to make up with her. Jimmy dejectedly replies that he thinks they might be "past that." Mrs. Nguyen lets Jimmy keep the bottle as she leaves.
The next day, Kim arrives at the courthouse with a team of lawyers to meet with ADA Ericsen. Kim seeks to have Huell's charge reduced to simple battery and have his sentence reduced to several months' probation with time served. When Ericsen refuses, Kim's associates files several motions to collect evidence corroborating Huell's version of events, signaling that they are willing to begin civil rights litigation on Huell's behalf. Speaking in private with Kim, Ericsen states that she is unimpressed with Kim's "shock and awe" tactics and insists Huell is still going to prison.
Act IV[]
At the warehouse, as Werner and his crew are about to board the truck for the drive to the lab, Mike confronts Werner with a diagram he drew for the bar patron on the back of a coaster. Werner initially claims that he did not divulge about the excavation, but, under Mike's watchful glare, concedes that he did have too much to drink. He tries to dismiss the possible concern that the people he was talking to will remember, but Mike counters that a lone German in Albuquerque talking about an illegal large scale dig leaves a long impression. Mike warns Werner to consider how Gus has gone to great lengths to keep the excavation secret, and won't be forgiving to his precautions being ignored. Realizing what he is saying, Werner apologizes and gives his word that nothing like this will ever happen again.
Meanwhile, Kim and Ericsen are summoned to Judge Munsinger's chambers, where the letters from Jimmy's bus trip have flooded the judge's desk, demanding Huell's release. Kim denies playing any role in the letter-writing campaign. Munsinger, exasperated by the volume of the letters and the prospect of a threatened contingent of "yahoos" from Coushatta coming to pack his court, demands that the two women resolve the case without causing a circus.
Ericsen returns to the DA's office and orders her subordinates to comb Huell's file. Reading the letters, she phones one of the purported authors, who claims to know Huell from her church in Coushatta. One of the subordinates finds a website for the church, which is raising funds for Huell and shows photos of him in various social and charitable roles. What Ericsen doesn't know that she's actually speaking to the Drama Girl, speaking to her on a drop phone; she, Jimmy, and the other two members of Joey's film crew are in Jimmy's backroom office, where a bunch of drop phones have been set up to help make the letters look real. When Ericsen calls the "church," Jimmy takes that the call on another drop phone, with an organ music CD playing in the background, pretends to be Huell's pastor, and spins a yarn about Huell rescuing elderly congregants from a church fire. When Ericsen, finally exasperated and fooled by the ruse, stops making calls on the other drop phones, Jimmy gives the film crew instructions on how to answer them as he leaves the office. Jimmy arrives at the courthouse and sees Kim negotiating with Ericsen in a courtroom. Outside, Jimmy follows her into a stairwell, and asks her how things went. Kim swiftly shoves him against a wall and passionately kisses him.
Act V[]
The following morning, Jimmy and Kim are in bed together after a long night of sex, with Jimmy giving her an impersonation of his pastor character. Kim tells Jimmy that his scheme with the phones was "genius", but Jimmy credits her with devising the whole plan in the first place. It is revealed that they have forced Ericsen to agree to Huell serving four months' probation with time served. Jimmy tells Kim that he plans to spend the day looking at another office space near the courthouse.
That day at Schweikart & Cokely, a bored Kim meets with Paige, Kevin, and one of Kim's associates. Kevin, noting that Mesa Verde's Tucumcari branch gets more foot traffic because of the building's "eye-catching" design, wants to use a similar design for their planned branch in Lubbock, Texas. However, Kim agrees with Paige that a proposed redesign is not feasible, given that it would require starting the months-long approval process over again. Kevin accepts their opinion, changing the topic to a proposed branch in Wyoming, bringing up Yellowstone as he does so. After the meeting, Kim sits in her office and retrieves her Zafiro Anejo bottle cap, a souvenir from her first con with Jimmy, from a desk drawer and wistfully clutches it.
Underneath the laundry, Mike gives Gus a progress report on the excavation, briefing him on the delays caused by Casper's accident with the skid-steer. He also informs Gus that the crew have uncovered one particularly large rock that's obstructing their planned elevator shaft, and its size is enough that they will have no choice but to blast it, which will inevitably mean more time. Gus changes the subject to Werner, having already been informed by Mike about the incident at the bar. Mike assures Gus that it won't happen again and will keep him under guard, but Gus eyes him skeptically.
Meanwhile, Jimmy is looking at a potential office space when Kim appears outside and knocks on the door. Outside, Kim tells Jimmy that she has been driving around "thinking about things." Jimmy assumes that Kim is angry about the crimes they committed to keep Huell out of jail, which would have ruined them and Rich's firm if they were discovered, and assures her that they are done with undertaking similar schemes. Surprisingly, Kim tells him that she wants to do it again.
Upon driving up to El Michoacano, Nacho finds Krazy-8 and its owner sitting silently and nervously near the door. Nacho finds that a new individual has commandeered the back kitchen, cooking Mexican food while listening to loud music. The man introduces himself as Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca, who has been sent to help Nacho run the Salamanca family's drug business. After offering Nacho food, Eduardo walks to the front of the restaurant and sits next to Krazy-8, waiting to take collections.
Official Photos[]
Trivia[]
- Taking into account the 62 episodes of Breaking Bad, Coushatta is the 100th episode in the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe.
- In the beginning of the teaser, Jimmy mentions having a breakingdown in Amarillo, this is a reference to the time Jimmy orchestrated a bus "breakdown", so that he could solicit clients in the Sandpiper Crossing case. ("Amarillo")
- According to Jimmy, the crimes he and Kim committed getting Huell out of trouble include exparte communication, contempt of court and hundreds of counts of mail fraud. As well, the con could've destroyed Kim, Jimmy and Richard Schweikart.
- His criminal behavior to follow is likely teased at the beginning of the episode on the bus as one of the cards has a cross on its cover, and gets inverted as Jimmy opens the card cover to read. As an inverted cross can symbolize unholiness, this likely foreshadows his sinful and deceitful behavior, especially as he later impersonates a church pastor.
- The Free Will Baptist Church's website is real: http://www.freewill-baptistchurch.com/
- If you call the phone number, you can hear a voicemail of Bob Odenkirk doing the pastor voice.
- If you click on the "Donate" button, you are redirected to a donation page in favor of the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana.
- The character of Lalo is introduced. First mentioned in the episode "Better Call Saul" of Breaking Bad by Jimmy as Saul Goodman, he is revealed to be Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca.
- Kai is wearing a jersey from Borussia Dortmund (BVB), a German football team based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia.
- The laptop used by Ericson that Jimmy calls while pretending to be the Free Will Baptist Church is the same model used in the episode "Live Free or Die" in Breaking Bad where Jesse Pinkman tests the industrial electromagnet in the truck on its ability to wipe a laptop's hard drive.
- This laptop model is a Dell Latitude D630.
Production[]
Credits[]
Starring
- Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill
- Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut
- Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler
- Patrick Fabian as Howard Hamlin (credit only)
- Michael Mando as Nacho Varga
- Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo "Gus" Fring
Guest Starring
Co-Starring
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Uncredited
- TBA
Featured Music[]
- "Burnin' Coal" by Les McCann (Jimmy rides on the bus filling out cards and letters)
- "Vampire" by The Midi Mafia (In strip club)
- "Miami Vice Theme" by Jan Hammer (Girls zapping channel when Nacho comes home)
- "Tempter" by Stereolab (Kim working on a case while playing loud music in an audio headset)
- "Al Compas de Mi Caballo" by Los Imperial (Lalo's introduction scene)
Memorable Quotes[]
- Mrs. Nguyen: "Leaving now. You stick around?"
- Jimmy: "Oh, yeah. I have-- Be here a little longer. I'll lock up when I go. Is that all right?"
- Mrs. Nguyen: "Wife mad at you?"
- Jimmy: "She's not my wife... I don't know."
- Mrs. Nguyen: "Yeah, she's mad at you. (she pours him a glass of alcohol) Go on. You take her to dinner. Nice place with a waiter. Cloth napkin. You bring flowers. You say sorry. Then say sorry again. Whatever she says, you say sorry."
- Jimmy: "I think we might be past that."
- Mrs. Nguyen: "I'll leave the bottle."
- ―Mrs. Nguyen and Jimmy about the decline of his relationship with Kim.
- Werner: "This? Don't be concerned. I said nothing. Men at the bar, talking to make talking. And look, no details, no scale at all. Could be a skyscraper, could be a box for shoes. I said nothing about the construction that would not be true for 1,000 of others. By now they've forgotten me entirely."
- Mike: "They forgot? The German national in the middle of Albuquerque... talking about pouring hundreds of tons of concrete at a secret underground location?"
- Werner: "Yeah you're right. I'm sorry Michael. I had too much beer. And I may said more than I should have."
- Mike: "Listen to me, carefully. The man we're working for is very serious. Think about the precautions we take to keep everything that goes on here quiet. Think about how much money you're making. Think about what happens if something goes wrong. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"
- Werner: "I do understand. And I'm sorry to cause any problem. You have my word, nothing like this will happen again."
- Mike: "Okay. Let's get you to work."
- ―Mike confronts Werner.
- Jimmy: "Listen Kim. I... I know what's on your mind. The things that we did, I mean, it was nuts. And I dumped it in you lap. Ex parte communication, contempt of court. I mean, what, talking about a couple hundred counts of mail fraud? I could've wrecked you at Schweikart. I could've boned me too. I'm this close to being reinstated. I mean, come on."
- Kim: "(Kim nods, thoughtful)"
- Jimmy: "Kim, don't worry. No one's gonna know about it. Be like it never happened. And also, I agree. We are totaly done with all that. Over and out. No more."
- Kim: "Let's do it again."
- ―Jimmy apologizing to Kim.
- Lalo: "Oh! Hey! You're here. Right on time. Hold on one second. Wait. You are going to love this. I made this just for you. Never in your life have you tasted something so delicious, it's true. Wait... you're gonna die."
- Nacho: "No, thank you."
- Lalo: "Smell it! You can't say no, are you crazy? I used epazote. Come on! (Nacho does not flinch.) Very well. You're not hungry, that's your problem. This is a special recipe, a family secret."
- Nacho: "The Salamanca family?"
- Lalo: "Them! I am Eduardo, but you can call me Lalo. And you must be Varga, no? They told me you were smart. And look, here you are, and you are."
- Nacho: "What are you doing here?"
- Lalo: "I'm just here to lend helping hand. You know, make sure the business is running in order. I got... I got a good head for numbers. But listen, don't even worry, it's gonna be like I'm not even here."
- ―Nacho meets Lalo (mixed English and Spanish conversation).
Videos[]
