"JMM" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of Better Call Saul and the forty-seventh episode of the series altogether.
Summary[]
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Jimmy and Kim discuss their impending nuptials outside of the courthouse while waiting for Huell to arrive as their witness. When he comes, the trio head inside, where Jimmy and Kim fill out the paperwork. Jimmy asks Kim if this is what she wants, adding that he doesn't think this is what she dreamed of her marriage being like when she was a child, but Kim shrugs it off. Kim makes Jimmy promise to not hide anything from her ever again. Jimmy provides documentation that he was divorced twice before, and the paperwork is cleared. As they fill out more forms, Huell offers to hold their rings, although Jimmy states there aren't any. Huell then offers honeymoon suggestions, and when Jimmy refuses, claiming that the decision to marry was a quick one, Huell assumes Kim is pregnant, although Jimmy quickly strikes that down. Jimmy explains to him that this marriage is purely for self-preservation purposes, to prevent Kim from being forced to testify against him, to which Huell scoffs at. The couple exchange their vows in front of a judge, with Kim appearing very happy while the judge declares them officially married.
Act I[]
Now officially married, Kim leaves for her office at Schweikart & Cokely, promising to return home early. Jimmy gets a call from Nacho, who tells him that he has a new client named Jorge de Guzman. "De Guzman" is actually the legal name Lalo used to enter the United States of America; "De Guzman" has been charged with the murder of Fred Whalen and is being held at MDC. Lalo pleads not guilty, but the judge denies bail. Later, as he and Jimmy privately discuss the case, Lalo asks what the "JMM" means on his suitcase, and Jimmy, who is only known to Lalo as Saul Goodman, states that it stands for "Justice Matters Most". When Jimmy suggests that he can get the judge to broker a deal, Lalo states that he wants neither a deal with the prosecution nor a trial, and just wants to be released on bail. Jimmy replies that that will be very difficult since the charges against him are serious and that the judge sees him as a flight risk. Lalo informs Jimmy that he will be considered a "friend of the Cartel" if he succeeds in the task, and that he will make money; he suggests a new meaning for JMM: "Just Make Money."
At Stacey's house, Mike is reading the copy of The Little Prince he obtained from the library to Kaylee as a bedtime story. She eventually falls asleep. Mike joins Stacey in the kitchen and helps her wash dishes. She is surprised when Mike casually brings up Matty, a subject he'd been reluctant to discuss in the past. Mike tells her that his emotional state is much better now, deciding to accept the "cards that were dealt" to him.
Act II[]
Kim, Rich, Paige, and Kevin convene at Mesa Verde's offices to discuss their disastrous meeting with Jimmy. Kim apologizes profusely for the incident, but Kevin is disappointed with how poorly S&C dealt with the situation, and is considering maybe hiring new legal representation. Before Kim and Rich leave, Kevin tells Kim she can "do better than" Jimmy. She starts to leave with Rich, where Rich states that he gives them a 50/50 chance of not being fired; in response, Kim impulsively returns to the meeting room. She tells Kevin that for all S&C's slip-ups, Kevin bears responsibility for the fiasco by repeatedly ignoring their legal advice: she explains that she suggested the alternative site from the beginning, and advised her not to listen or answer when Jimmy presented the videos, and then Kevin just ignored her. Kim finishes by telling Kevin that if he does hire other lawyers, she hopes that he actually will listen to their advice. Kevin then tells her that he will see her at their regular Thursday meeting, thus revealing that he will keep S&C on as his attorneys.
Kim and Jimmy return to their apartment while Kim talks about her meeting. When she asks about his day, Jimmy just says, "I got married"; he carries her to the bedroom and take off each other's clothes. Before they can begin, Jimmy stops suddenly and tells her about Lalo, mentioning the offer of being a "friend to the Cartel." Jimmy explains that he didn't want to tell her, which is precisely why he told her, since Kim wanted him to tell her things even if he wanted to keep it a secret. Kim smiles and thanks him for actually telling her before pulling him onto the bed, and the pair have sex.
Lalo arranges for a drop phone to be smuggled to him inside the MDC. Cooped up in his bunk, he calls Nacho via the phone and orders him to burn down a Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant. Nacho meets with Mike the next day, and demands to discuss his father now that Lalo is out of the picture. Mike is able to tell that Nacho is hiding something, and Nacho admits that Lalo called him from prison and put him back in charge; additionally, he has ordered Nacho to burn down a Los Pollos Hermanos. Mike then points out that if Lalo is giving orders from prison, then he is not out of the picture yet; he then pulls out his phone to dial Gus and gets into his car, driving away.
Act III[]
In Houston, Texas, Gus attends a board meeting of the CEOs of Madrigal Electromotive's restaurant chains, chaired by Peter Schuler. Gus speaks about Los Pollos Hermanos' fiscal quarter success and hands out the restaurant's newest menu items, Spice Curls, to the attendees. Later that evening, after checking into a local hotel, Gus visits an adjacent room where Peter and Lydia are waiting for him. Peter is worried about the delays in building the lab and warns that it will be difficult to allocate further funds, considering how close he has come to getting caught in the past. Gus assures him that things will be smoothed out, reminding him of a dangerous situation in Santiago that the two men escaped from, which resulted in Gus being indebted to Peter. Lydia suggests that they arrange for Lalo to be assassinated in jail, an idea Gus dismisses as he states that the Cartel will assume he was behind it if Lalo is suddenly killed, given their recent altercation. Gus convinces Peter that everything will be fine, and as Peter and Lydia share a toast, Gus is preoccupied with his thoughts.
At their apartment, Jimmy looks over real estate listings while Kim readies herself for work. After she leaves, he receives a phone call from Mike, calling to offer a job. Jimmy tries to make up an excuse for ending the call as he goes to answer a knock at the door, only to find Mike standing there. Speaking as Gus's emissary, Mike asks for Jimmy to get Lalo bailed out of jail. He refuses to say who he is delivering this request on behalf of, as Gus does not want Lalo to know what he's up to, and hands Jimmy a dossier with the pertinent information from his visit to Lillian Simmons.
Act IV[]
At night, Gus and Nacho break into a Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant in Los Lunas. While Nacho vandalizes the dining area, Gus turns up the burners in the kitchen, filling the room with gas, and heats up a fryer full of oil. He then grabs a frozen chicken from the freezer and sets it on the backside of the cooker's cover as an improvised ramp, so that it slowly slides down into the fryer as it thaws. He then leaves the restaurant, returning to his car. The frozen chicken falls into the fryer and ignites the hot oil, causing a massive explosion that destroys the restaurant.
Jimmy arrives at the courthouse, where he enters a room where prosecutor Gina Khalil and Detective Tim Roberts are having a chat. He accuses them of hiding the fact that Lillian was coerced by a supposed private detective, who provided her with the information that tied "De Guzman" to the crime, and leaves the room when Khalil and Roberts reply that they have no idea what he's speaking of. Roberts then decides to call Lillian to ask. Shortly after, Jimmy arrives in the courtroom and sits next to Lalo; Jimmy has hired a fake family and has them sit in the back. When Khalil enters, Jimmy notices Fred's family sitting there, crying, and is affected by the idea that he will be getting their son's murderer freed on bail. As the hearing begins, Jimmy points out that the state's witness was coerced, which Khalil reluctantly admits that they recently confirmed, and Jimmy states that the police are complicit of evidence tampering. In order to negate the remark that "De Guzman" has no ties to the community, Jimmy claims that the family behind him (a woman with young kids) are De Guzman's wife and stepchildren, and that he does not pose a flight risk as he is a father figure to the children. The judge then decides to grant bail, but due to the severity of the charges, sets it at $7 million. Jimmy is aghast, but Lalo tells him that this is not an issue as he has the money; however, he tells Jimmy that Jimmy must retrieve the money himself, and that he will inform Jimmy on its location.
Outside the courtroom, Jimmy gazes at Fred's family, who are crying, and feels remorse and guilt for his actions. Howard unexpectedly greets him and inquires about his previous job offer, although Jimmy says that he still has not decided. Howard then rescinds the offer and asks what he did to make Jimmy so upset, and reveals that he knows Jimmy was the one who threw bowling balls at his car and sent prostitutes to a business lunch. Jimmy initially denies the allegations, but Howard responds that he thinks Jimmy did those actions because Jimmy is in pain. Lashing out, Jimmy states that he did not accept the offer because Howard killed Chuck McGill, and because he thinks of Howard and HHM as being too small. As Howard walks away, Jimmy follows him, berating him for just walking away from his problems; as everyone else looks at the shouting Jimmy, Jimmy yells that he has ascended to a higher level and declares himself to be a god. Jimmy then regains his composure upon noticing the people looking at him and walks away.
Trivia[]
- This episode is the directorial debut of Melissa Bernstein, who was a producer on all seasons of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and on El Camino.
- The title of the episode refers to Jimmy's initials, James Morgan McGill, which appear on the monogrammed briefcase offered by Kim. When Lalo asks him what these letters mean, Jimmy replies that it is his motto, "Justice Matters Most". Lalo chuckles and suggests a new motto: "Just Make Money".
- Lalo asks Jimmy if he wants to be a "friend of the cartel". In his debut episode on Breaking Bad, when Walt and Jesse kidnap him, Jimmy claims to be a friend of the cartel (in broken Spanish "siempre un amigo del cartel"). According to the writers, this is an intentional callback.
- Peter Gould included this as he felt that Lalo was a good way to introduce this line to Jimmy/Saul.
- When Mike calls Jimmy, Jimmy says he is in a tunnel as a callback to their last conversation. He also mockingly quotes Mike's dialogue from when he turned down a job with Jimmy in "Something Beautiful".
- This episode would be the last time that Mike and Nacho speak to one another.
- This episode marks the final appearance of Paige Novick and Lydia Rodarte-Quayle.
- Jimmy and Kim get married in this episode. Jimmy has to give the clerk documents from his two previous dissolutions, confirming that he has been divorced twice.
- In the Breaking Bad episode "Green Light", Saul states to Walt that he has been divorced twice, mentioning that his second wife cheated on him with his stepfather, although it is unclear whether he was saying this just to prove a point.
- In a deleted scene from the Breaking Bad episode "Caballo Sin Nombre", Saul stated to Walter that he has been married three times.
- In the Better Call Saul episode "Nacho", Jimmy is arrested after accomplishing a "Chicago sunroof" to get revenge for his ex-wife's infidelity with a man named Chet. It is unknown whether this is his first or second wife:
- His second wife could have slept with multiple men.
- Chet could have been his stepfather (although he does not mention so in his rant).
- There remains the simple possibility that his first wife was also unfaithful.
- Just before Jimmy's confrontation with Howard at the end of the episode, Jimmy looks at the family of Lalo's victim while hiding from behind a corner. His face is mirrored by the wall, symbolizing the duality of Jimmy and Saul.
- Just as Howard greets Jimmy, and Jimmy says he's still "giving some thought" about Howard's job offer, Jimmy turns his head, and sees the victim's family walking away. That is the moment Jimmy switches to Saul and gives up the path of redemption he could have taken. He does not accept the position of a respectable lawyer at HHM he always dreamt of, and lets a defenseless family of a cartel's victim walking away, denying them justice.
- Jimmy starts his rant at Howard by accusing him of killing his brother - whereas Jimmy is equally responsible for Chuck's death. For Jimmy, embracing Saul Goodman's dark side is also a way to deny and refuse to face his guilt for his brother's death.
- Jimmy accuses Howard of being a "teensy tiny man in a teensy-weensy little bubble" and claims that the job offered by Howard is "too small", that Jimmy "travels in worlds that [Howard] can't even imagine". Jimmy is having delusions of grandeur, just like Walter White will have as Heisenberg.
- At the end of Jimmy's rant against Howard, he claims that "lightning bolts shoot from [his] fingertips". This is a typical power used by members of the dark side of the Force in Star Wars; lightning bolts shoot from the fingertips of Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars franchise.
- Even though Gus dismisses Lydia's suggestions of a prison shanking, she later authorizes Walt and Jack Welker's gang to carry out this exact plan to deal with 10 affiliates of Gus' who would possibly rat out the details of Gus' operation. ("Gliding Over All")
Production[]
Credits[]
Starring
Guest Starring
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Co-Starring
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Uncredited
- TBA
Featured Music[]
- "Chuncho (The Forest Creatures)" by Yma Sumac (while Gus and Nacho infiltrate and vandalise a Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant)
Memorable Quotes[]
- Huell: "Is she gonna be a McGill or a Goodman?"
- Jimmy: "Wexler."
- ―Huell and Jimmy discussing Kim's marriage to Jimmy
- Lalo: "JMM. What's that?"
- Jimmy: "Oh, that's my motto."
- Lalo: "Oh, yeah?"
- Jimmy: ""Justice Matters Most." [Lalo chuckles] Okay, brass tacks, how solid is this "de Guzman" thing? Because if they find out you're not who they think you are, that could be a little..."
- Lalo: "It's not gonna be a problem."
- Jimmy: "Great. Um... First up, we're gonna get this murder wrap down to manslaughter. Now, I think that the DA is primed to cut a deal. So I say make them come to us, power move."
- Lalo: "No."
- Jimmy: "No?"
- Lalo: "No. No deal."
- Jimmy: "Here's the thing about going to trial."
- Lalo: "No, no, no. No trial, no deal."
- Jimmy: "Okay, sure. It's just... What did you have in mind?"
- Lalo: "You're gonna get me out on bail."
- Jimmy: "Bail? That's... Well, the thing there–I mean, I don't know how things work south of the border, but here, under these circumstances, it's uh... Well, that's a long shot."
- Lalo: "¿Quieres ser amigo de cartel?"
- Jimmy: "I'm sorry. I don't..."
- Lalo: "[pause] You wanna be a friend of the cartel? Time to get yourself a new motto: "Just Make Money.""
- ―Lalo instructs Jimmy to find a way to get him out of prison.
- Nacho: "I'm not telling you shit until we talk about my dad!"
- Mike: "What you tell me and when you say it is not up to you."
- Nacho: "Listen. You said when Lalo's out of the picture, we'll talk about my father, right? Well, he's out of the picture!"
- Mike: "...Say your piece."
- Nacho: "I'm done! I want out."
- Mike: "And you want me to square it with Fring?"
- Nacho: "Fring's not all of it. It's the cartel. I disappear, they're gonna go after my father. He's gotta come with me. But no matter what I say with him, it's the cops or nothing."
- Mike: "The cops won't solve this."
- Nacho: "[pause] You got a way?"
- Mike: "Hm. What are you holding out?"
- Nacho: "Lalo called me from inside. He put me back in charge."
- Mike: "And?"
- Nacho: "And... he wants me to burn down Los Pollos Hermanos."
- Mike: "[pause] Then, he's not out of the picture, is he?"
- ―Nacho confessing to Mike that Lalo is still in the game despite his incarceration.
- Gus: "You look well."
- Peter: "Well... I don't feel well. Maybe things will improve now that you're here. Lydia tells me Salamanca is in jail. This means you can continue construction?"
- Gus: "[pause] Eduardo Salamanca has been arrested for murder. However, even from jail, he creates... issues."
- Peter: "What kind of issues?"
- Gus: "He ordered his men to burn down one of my restaurants."
- Lydia: "You're kidding. He's in jail, and he can still do that?"
- Gus: "I'm afraid so."
- Lydia: "I know it's not exactly my area of expertise, but don't people get killed in prison all the time? I mean, shanked... and shived, and whatnot."
- Gus: "If anything happens to Salamanca on this side of the border, the cartel will assume that it was my doing. It would mean war. A war, for which we are unprepared."
- Peter: "My God. This nightmare never ends!"
- Lydia: "[to Gus] He's concerned about the money."
- Peter: "Concerned?! 4,800,000 euros! It's a miracle I haven't been caught! Last year, the auditors came this close. One of them–a woman–I think she knew."
- Gus: "Peter..."
- Peter: "At first, it was a year. Then, it was two. Then, three. And now you are telling me how long?! I can't! I can't! They will catch me, and then it is over!"
- ―Gus tries to appease Peter Schuler, who fears being found out about the embezzlement of funds used to finance the construction of the superlab.
- Howard: "Jimmy, I'm sorry you're in pain."
- Jimmy: "Sorry. You're sorry? You kill my brother, and you say you're sorry? Let me tell you something. The job offer, it didn't upset me. It amused me. Ooh... big job at the illustrious HHM. A chance to play at the palace! With little old me?"
- Howard: "I was trying to..."
- Jimmy: "You have no idea what's going on! You're a teensy, tiny man in a teensy-weensy little bubble!"
- Howard: "Oh, Jimmy..."
- Jimmy: "Oh, don't you fucking, "Oh, Jimmy," me! You look down on me, you pity me! [Howard starts walking away from Jimmy] Walk away. That's right, Howard! You know why I didn't take the job? 'Cause it's too small! I don't care about it! It's nothing to me! It's a bacterium! I travel in worlds you can't even imagine! You can't conceive of what I'm capable of! I'm so far beyond you! I'm like a god in human clothing! LIGHTNING BOLTS SHOOT FROM MY FINGERTIPS!"
- ―Jimmy dramatically rejecting Howard's job offer.
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