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The fourth season of the American television drama series Better Call Saul was announced on June 27, 2017. The series returned on August 6, 2018. It consists of 10 episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length.
In present-day Omaha, "Gene" is wheeled out of the Cinnabon by paramedics following his fainting spell. At the hospital, he is given a clean bill of health and prepares to be released. However, "Gene" is held up by the nurse at the front desk, who is having trouble entering his fake ID and Social Security numbers into a computer. "Gene" becomes nervous at the possible exposure of his true identity. The nurse realizes she has mistyped the numbers, and when they go through, she allows "Gene" to leave. "Gene" tries to take a taxi back to the mall, but spots an Albuquerque Isotopes air freshener hanging from the cabbie's rear-view mirror. He further notices the cabbie staring intently at him, as if he recognizes him, to the point that he doesn't drive through a green light. "Gene" asks to be let out in a residential neighborhood. As he walks away -- at one point kneeling down to pretend to tie his shoes -- "Gene" sees that the taxi doesn't drive off.
Story
Now suspended from the law for a year, Jimmy begins his morning at Kim's apartment searching the newspaper for job opportunities. A call from Howard alerts him that Chuck's house had burned down. When Jimmy arrives at the scene, he discovers that Chuck didn't survive it. The cause of death was due to a knocked over lantern. Jimmy seems hard hit by the death of his brother and remains virtually silent until Howard confesses that he believes himself responsible for the death of Chuck by having forced him to leave HHM. Nacho and Gus, meanwhile, watch as Hector is driven away in an ambulance. The two go to meet with Bolsa and Arturo. Bolsa tells Nacho and Arturo that they are to keep their territory despite Hector's stroke. Nacho drives off and dumps his pills into a river, however, he is unknowingly being watched by Victor. Mike, meanwhile, steals an ID card from an employee at the Madrigal Las Cruces warehouse in order to break in. He recognizes many security breaches found at the warehouse and alerts the manager. When asked who he is, Mike identifies himself as the security consultant and advises the manager to contact Lydia. ("Smoke")
Gus hires Barry Goodman and Victor to examine Hector's condition. Barry reports that the hospital is doing its best but that only an institution such as Johns Hopkins could give Hector better treatment. Gus tells Barry that he alone should be in charge of deciding Hector's fate. The next day at the hospital a doctor from Johns Hopkins arrives to treat Hector after a generous payment had been made. On the other end of things, Lydia schedules a meeting with Mike. Lydia suggests Mike reconsider his actions, which she believes risk exposure, to which Mike responds to her to do the same. Lydia calls Gus to complain about Mike, but Gus seems uninterested and hangs up as Tyrus pulls up to the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant. Tyrus gives Gus Hector's medical charts and Gus immediately notices something and tells Tyrus to meet with Victor. Tyrus and Victor meet with Nacho and Arturo for another drug pickup. After Nacho and Victor negotiate for six packets instead of five they walk out to the car only to be ambushed by Gus and his men. Arturo suffocates to death via plastic bag as Gus tells Nacho that he knows what he did and that he is now "his." Nacho, however, had told his dad that he is trying to get out of the drug business. Jimmy spends the day looking for work. He interviews at Neff Copiers and sells himself to them as he is highly knowledgeable in copiers. He gets the job offer immediately after the interview but turns it down because he is frustrated that he was not properly vetted. When he arrives home he is met by Kim who decides not to give him the unopened letter from Chuck that she received from Howard. She also doesn't tell him that Chuck essentially cut him out of the will. The next morning Jimmy looks up the price of the Hummel figure that he saw at his job interview and leaves a voicemail for Mike telling him that he has a job for him. ("Breathe")
The next day, Jimmy puts his plan into action. He meets with Mike who turns down the offer and then calls Caldera to find a client willing to steal the Hummel figure. Caldera informs Jimmy that no one is interested, so Jimmy visits him and forcibly takes his phone. He then goes on to speak with Ira, who he eventually hires for the job. The next night, Ira breaks into Neff copiers, switches the figures, only to realize that Mr. Neff is still in the office. Ira hides under a desk and calls Jimmy for some help. Jimmy comes to the rescue by getting Mr. Neff's car to roll down the parking garage, forcing him to run after it. The next day, Kim gets back to work at Mesa Verde. She soon realizes that Mesa Verde is expanding much quicker than she may be able to handle, which causes her to assign more work to her new her new paralegal, Viola. When she returns home, she gives the unopened letter from Chuck to Jimmy. Jimmy reads the letter aloud causing Kim to cry. Tyrus and Victor, meanwhile, are forced to deal with the fallout of Arturo's death. They stage a shootout on a desert road, and to make it look more real, Tyrus shoots Nacho in the gut. The Cousins arrive at the scene, after Tyrus and Victor leave, to find Nacho in very bad condition. The Cousins enlist Caldera to stitch up Nacho. After removing the bullet and helping Nacho into a more stable condition, Caldera tells Nacho that he doesn't want to get caught up in this ever again. Gus gets a call from Juan Bolsa informing him of the attack on Arturo and Nacho. Bolsa tells Gus to find suppliers North of the border despite the fact that it goes against Don Eladio's orders. After the call, Gus visits Gale Boetticher in a college chemistry lab. Gale shows Gus samples of crystal meth, which he says are very impure and asks if he could give it a try. Gus refuses his offer. ("Something Beautiful")
Gus sends Nacho to go along with the Cousins to the Espinosa territory to scout it out. All to Gus's plan, the cousins go into the complex themselves and kill the over 20 gang members that are there. Nacho shows his loyalty to the cousins by getting out of the car and fighting alongside them even with the pain from his bullet wounds. Afterword, Nacho meets with Gus at an abandoned warehouse and figures out that this was all part of Gus's plan to gain control of the Espinosa territory. In his time away from work, Mike attends the support group with Stacey and his friend Anita. At the meeting, Stacey begins by saying she stopped thinking about Matty while she was making breakfast in the morning. This infuriates Mike and leads him to accuse another man in the group of lying. The following night Mike gets a call from Victor while performing a security check at the warehouse. He goes to meet Gus at the factory farm, where Mike realizes that Gus has a job for him. Jimmy, meanwhile, begins his job at CC Mobile. The store is empty for almost the entire day which leads Jimmy to drive off to go see Ira. Ira gives Jimmy the money for the hummel figure sale and Jimmy lets Ira know that he hopes to work with him in the future. More importantly, Ira gives Jimmy the idea to sell private phones, and when Jimmy gets back to the store he paints the message "IS THE MAN LISTENING? PRIVACY SOLD HERE" on the store windows. Meanwhile, Kim, overwhelmed with Mesa Verde, decides to spend the day observing case law for criminals. The judge who sees her at the court calls her into his office and tells her to stop wasting her time. ("Talk")
This episode begins with a flashforward to Saul Goodman rummaging through his stuff just before the events of Granite Slate. He is accompanied by Francesca whom he pays two wads of cash to and tells her to keep quiet. He then calls Ed. At CC Mobile business is slow as usual. However, the big letters he painted on the outside window seem to attract this one customer who Jimmy is able to convince that the phones will protect him from the IRS. Jimmy is ultimately able to sell a whole stack of drop phones to the customer. Jimmy realizes he's got something going so that night he stops by the Dog House to sell a bunch more phones. Business is going great until Jimmy is beaten and mugged by three kids, and loses all his money. Jimmy is visibly distraught when he returns home and promises Kim that he will see the shrink she recommended for him. This changes, however, when the next day Jimmy sees Howard in the courthouse bathroom. Jimmy realizes he does not want to mourn for the loss of Chuck like Howard and so he throws the business card for the therapist down the toilet. Kim, seemingly bored with her job at Mesa Verde, remains her work as a public defender. However, when there is an issue at Mesa Verde, Kim ignores it. She later tells Paige that it won't happen again. Mike spends his time looking for a structural engineer to build the superlab. The process is very thorough and the first engineer does not make the cut. Werner Ziegler seemingly passes the test and is introduced to Gus. ("Quite a Ride")
TBA ("Piñata")
TBA ("Something Stupid")
TBA ("Coushatta")
TBA ("Wiedersehen")
TBA ("Winner")
Credits
Starring
| Cast | Portrays | Ep. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Odenkirk | James McGill | 10 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Jonathan Banks | Mike Ehrmantraut | 10 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Rhea Seehorn | Kim Wexler | 10 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Patrick Fabian | Howard Hamlin | 5 | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
| Michael Mando | Nacho Varga | 6 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Giancarlo Esposito | Gustavo "Gus" Fring | 10 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Guest Starring
Notable Co-Starring
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Notable Crew
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Writers |
Directors |
Producers |
Episodes
Directed by Michelle MacLaren
Written by Thomas Schnauz
August 13, 2018 • 46 minutes
Directed by Daniel Sackheim
Written by Gordon Smith
August 20, 2018 • 42 minutes
Directed by Michael Morris
Written by Ann Cherkis
September 3, 2018 • 52 minutes
Directed by Andrew Stanton
Written by Gennifer Hutchison
September 10, 2018 • 47 minutes
Directed by Deborah Chow
Written by Alison Tatlock
September 17, 2018 • 41 minutes
Directed by Vince Gilligan
Written by Gennifer Hutchison
October 1, 2018 • 55 minutes
Directed by Adam Bernstein
Written by Peter Gould & Thomas Schnauz
October 8, 2018 • 60 minutes
Trivia
- In the episode "Better Call Saul" of Breaking Bad, while Jesse and Walt have Saul on his knees in the desert, Saul is heard uttering “Lalo didn't send you? No Lalo?”.
- Bob Odenkirk has vowed in an interview[1] that he hopes that the character of Lalo will be introduced in this season 4.
- Wired magazine revealed that the crew spotted the name Lalo on a corkboard in the Better Call Saul writers’ room earlier this year. “We have to earn our Breaking Bad crossover moments on the show,” said Peter Gould.
- Lalo is introduced in "Coushatta". He is a member of the Salamanca family who was sent to Albuquerque to help Nacho run their drug dealing business.
- In "Green Light", the fourth episode of Breaking Bad's third season, Saul says to Walt: "I caught my second wife screwing my stepdad. OK? It’s a cruel world, Walt. Grow up."
- Vince Gilligan revealed in an interview[2] that this casual reference has posed a big challenge to solve in order to ensure a perfect coherence of the universe between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
- Thomas Schnauz teases about the fourth season: "We have more Nacho now."[3]
- Season 4 is the first season without co-creator Vince Gilligan writing, although he continued to direct.[3]
- Season 4 is the first season whose last episode is not directed by one of two showrunners, Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Adam Bernstein, present since the first season of Breaking Bad, lead the closing episode of the season.
- At the end of the season Jimmy officially begins his journey to becoming Saul Goodman with the reinstatement of his license and the decision to practice under another name.
- This is the first season in the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe to feature Giancarlo Esposito as Gustavo Fring in every episode.
Promotional Photos
Cast photos
Character Portraits
First Look
Exclusive First Look
Videos
Sneak Peek
Featurette
Awards and nominations
| Ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Film Institute Awards 2018 | Top 10 Television Programs of the year | Better Call Saul | Won |
| 9th Critics' Choice Television Awards | Program of the Year | Better Call Saul | Nominated |
| Best Actor in a Drama Series | Bob Odenkirk | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Rhea Seehorn | Nominated | |
| Producers Guild of America Awards 2018 | Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama | Better Call Saul | Nominated |
| 69th American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | Skip Macdonald ("Something Stupid") | Nominated |
| Chris McCaleb ("Winner") | Nominated | ||
| 23rd Satellite Awards | Best Actor in a Drama / Genre Series | Bob Odenkirk | Nominated |
| 71st Writers Guild of America Awards | Drama Series | Better Call Saul | Nominated |
| 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series | Bob Odenkirk | Nominated |
| Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Jonathan Banks, Rainer Bock, Ray Campbell, Giancarlo Esposito, Michael Mando, Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn | Nominated | |
| 55th Cinema Audio Society Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Series – One Hour | Phillip W. Palmer, Larry B. Benjamin, Kevin Valentine, Chris Navarro and Stacey Q. Michaels ("Talk") | Nominated |
| 35th TCA Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Drama | Better Call Saul | Won |
| 45th Saturn Awards | Best Action-Thriller Television Series | Better Call Saul | Won |
| Best Supporting Actor on a Television Series | Jonathan Banks | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actress on a Television Series | Rhea Seehorn | Nominated | |
| Best Guest-Starring Performance on a Television Series | Rainer Bock | Nominated | |
| 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series | Michael McKean ("Winner") | Nominated |
| Outstanding Music Supervision | Thomas Golubić ("Something Stupid") | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour) | Kurt Nicholas Forshager, Kathryn Madsen, Mark Cookson, Matt Temple, Jane Boegel-Koch, Jason Newman, Jeff Cranford and Gregg Barbanell ("Talk") | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) | Larry Benjamin, Kevin Valentine and Phillip W. Palmer ("Talk") | Nominated | |
| 71st Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Better Call Saul | Nominated |
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | Bob Odenkirk | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Jonathan Banks | Nominated | |
| Giancarlo Esposito | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series | Thomas Schnauz & Peter Gould ("Winner") | Nominated | |
| 2019 Gold Derby Awards | Best Drama Series | Better Call Saul | Nominated |
| Best Drama Actor | Bob Odenkirk | Nominated | |
| Best Drama Supporting Actor | Jonathan Banks | Nominated | |
| Best Drama Supporting Actress | Rhea Seehorn | Nominated | |
| Best Drama Guest Actor | Michael McKean | Nominated | |
| 2020 Guild of Music Supervisors Awards | Best Song Written and/or Recorded for Television | C. Carson Parks, Lola Marsh, and Thomas Golubić | Won |
| 23rd Art Directors Guild Awards | Excellence in Production Design for a One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Series | Judy Rhee ("Piñata", "Coushatta") | Nominated |
| Golden Reel Awards 2019 | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Dialogue and ADR for Episodic Short Form Broadcast Media | Kurt Nicholas Forshager, Kathryn Madsen, and Jane Boegel ("Talk") | Nominated |
| Kurt Nicholas Forshager, Kathryn Madsen, and Jane Boegel ("Winner") | Nominated |
References
| Better Call Saul Seasons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 |