"Something Unforgivable" is the tenth and final episode of the fifth season of Better Call Saul and the fiftieth episode of the series altogether.
Summary[]
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After the confrontation at Kim's apartment, Lalo is driven away in Nacho's car. Jimmy picks up the phone and asks Mike what happens next. Mike replies, "We'll see" and remarks that Kim saved his life. When he ends the call and Kim asks him who he was talking to, Jimmy tells her the truth about his ordeal in the desert with Mike. Feeling unsafe, Jimmy and Kim go to a hotel to wait out the situation for a few days.
Reflecting on what Mike told him in the desert about Kim being "in the game", Jimmy asks if he is bad for her and states that the incident with Lalo would not have happened at Kim's apartment if she wasn't associated with Jimmy. Kim tells Jimmy that he "crossed a line" and asks whether he will do it again; Jimmy promises he won't, but he doesn't sound confident in saying so. Kim turns in for bed while Jimmy stays awake, troubled.
Act I[]
Mike meets Gus at the burned down Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant in Los Lunas and informs him that Lalo and Nacho have headed across the border towards Lalo's residence in Chihuahua. Mike surmises that Lalo doesn't suspect Nacho of being a double agent and is about to promote him. He tries to make an argument for Nacho to be extracted from Chihuahua and released from Gus's servitude. Gus refuses, revealing that he has sent a team of highly skilled assassins to eliminate Lalo and deciding that Nacho would be valuable to the plot as an inside man.
Lalo and Nacho arrive at Lalo's residence, a sprawling hacienda located within a large, walled-in compound. They are both warmly greeted by Lalo's family and staff, including his cook Yolanda. Nacho is taken inside the hacienda while the massive gates of the compound close behind him.
Act II[]
Jimmy awakes to see Kim preparing to leave for work at the courthouse. He tries to persuade her to stay in, expressing worry that she might be tracked and attacked by Lalo's henchmen. Kim refuses to live in perpetual fear, telling Jimmy that they "just need to keep our eyes open and move on with our lives." She further points out that there will be a heavy police presence at the courthouse, which will mitigate any danger she might put herself in by going there. Kim leaves the hotel while Jimmy stays behind.
At the courthouse, Kim meets with a public defender named Grant and offers to take on twenty ongoing criminal cases pro bono. Grant tells her that she will have to take challenging felony cases headed for trial, not the sympathetic misdemeanor cases she had been handling until this point. He shows Kim a large storeroom filled with backlogged case files and invites her to pick cases from the piles of boxes present.
At Lalo's compound, Nacho helps Lalo fix a car engine. Lalo gives Nacho advice on how to address Don Eladio during their upcoming meeting, telling him that the don may bump Nacho up the ranks within the Cartel. Inside the hacienda, despite his cell phone not having service, Nacho receives a call from an unidentified man who tells him to unlock and open the back gate of the compound at 3 a.m. that night. Nacho tries to warn the caller that there are several unarmed civilians in the compound, but the caller ignores his advice.
Back at the courthouse, Kim unexpectedly finds herself in an elevator with Howard and two associates from HHM. On her way out, Kim tells Howard she has quit Schweikart & Cokely. Howard follows Kim out of the elevator and takes her into an empty courtroom to talk in private. There, Howard explains that he had previously offered a job to Jimmy and in return was subjected to a series of humiliating pranks, to which Jimmy practically confessed. Suspecting that Jimmy had something to do with Kim dropping Mesa Verde, Howard advises her to stop following Jimmy's lead. Kim bursts out laughing, saying she feels insulted by the notion that she cannot decide for herself. Kim further insists that she knows Jimmy, to which Howard responds that there was only one person who knew him best: Chuck.
Act III[]
Jimmy shows up at Mike's house and pounds on his front door, demanding to speak with him; he does not initially notice when Mike pulls up in his car behind him. Inside, Jimmy questions Mike about who he works for and what the situation is with Lalo, demanding that he be kept in the loop so that he is never put into the position of lying to Lalo again. Mike tells Jimmy that he is not allowed to know that information but assures him that "Lalo Salamanca is going to die tonight."
Nacho and Lalo arrive at Don Eladio's hacienda, where several other Cartel capos have assembled. Lalo warmly greets Eladio as he and Juan Bolsa are looking at pallets of cash tribute sent by Gus. As his own gift, Lalo presents Eladio with a red Ferrari 308 GTS, which the don recognizes from Magnum P.I., and a giftwrapped box full of money in the car's front trunk. Lalo introduces Eladio to Nacho, who is to be assigned to handle the Salamanca drug operation north of the border while Lalo remains in Mexico. Speaking one-on-one with Eladio, Nacho elaborates on a plan to expand Salamanca territory by turning outlaw biker gangs against each other and taking over their turf. He further tells Eladio that all he wants is respect and to not "be looking over my shoulder." Impressed, Eladio gives his blessing to Nacho's plans.
Back at the hotel, Jimmy packs his and Kim's possessions and, when Kim returns, repeats what Mike told him: she and Jimmy are going to be safe "this time". Kim tries to get an assurance from Jimmy that "there won't be a next time"; he simply tells her to check out of the hotel and go home, but she replies that they have already paid for the night. After ordering dinner from room service, Kim tells Jimmy about what Howard had told her at the courthouse. Still angered by Howard's comments, Kim gives him ideas for further pranks targeting Howard, with which Jimmy reluctantly goes along. The conversation escalates into foreplay. Jimmy and Kim make love, still talking about getting back at Howard after the act. Eventually, Kim suggests tricking Howard into committing misconduct which forces a settlement in the Sandpiper case; she plays it off as a simple "spitballing."
Act IV[]
At 3 a.m., Nacho is approaching the back gate of Lalo's compound when he finds Lalo, awake, sitting next to a fire pit on his patio. Looking for a way to distract Lalo, Nacho goes to his kitchen on the pretense of grabbing stronger drinks, pours oil into a pan, and places it over a lit stove. Moments later, when Lalo sees smoke and runs to the kitchen to investigate, Nacho then opens the gate for Gus's assassins, who are brandishing assault rifles. Nacho flees the compound.
Inside, Lalo reprimands one of his henchmen, Ciro, over causing the smoke. Glimpsing one of the assassins, Lalo uses Ciro as a human shield to dodge gunfire. Lalo engages the hitmen and scalds one of them with the hot oil. He takes Miguel's pistol and runs to a bathtub, which covers the secret entrance to an underground tunnel. Lalo intentionally keeps the entrance open, crawling to a trapdoor located just outside the compound walls, then walks back inside. The assassins find the tunnel; two of them enter it while a third remains as a guard outside. Lalo surprises and kills the third, then takes his assault rifle and empties the full magazine in the narrow tunnel, killing both assassins inside.
At the hotel, Kim revisits her idea of using Howard to force a settlement from Sandpiper Crossing, who Kim says has offered $26 million. She states that she would use her share of the cash to rent an office in the courthouse and open a pro bono practice. Jimmy tries to dissuade Kim from this idea, saying that forcing the settlement would require "scorched earth" tactics and ruin Howard's career; Kim dismisses this outcome as "a career setback for one lawyer." When Jimmy asserts that Kim wouldn't really be okay with this plan, she responds: "Wouldn't I?" Heading into the bathroom to take a shower, Kim turns around to a disturbed Jimmy and makes gun gestures with her fingers.
Back at Lalo's compound, Lalo overpowers the scalded assassin, who is the sole surviving member of his team. Lalo forces the assassin to call his bosses and tell them that the mission was successful. He turns his head towards the liquor glasses at the fire pit, which are undisturbed; he realizes that Nacho has betrayed him. After finding the dead body of Yolanda, Lalo storms off into the night as thunder is heard in the distance.
Trivia[]
- With a duration of 60 minutes, this is the second longest episode of Better Call Saul, tied with "Winner", the first being the final episode of the series.
- This episode was initially supposed to have a different teaser. On the DVD commentary, series co-creator Peter Gould stated the original teaser was meant to feature a young Jimmy, though more wasn't mentioned. It was cut to save time, as the episode is already one of the longest across both shows.
- At the end of the episode, Kim makes the same kind of gesture to Jimmy that he made to her during the last episode of season 4, when he decided to practice under the name of Saul Goodman.
- If the symbolism is the same as for Jimmy, assuming his true personality and his transformation into Saul Goodman, it is very likely that this gesture marks a turning point in Kim's personality.
- Jimmy seems frightened by the fact that Kim is willing to harm a lawyer's career in order to benefit the little people. While Jimmy has always been an unambitious small-time scammer, Kim seems ready to take on the role of a modern-day Robin Hood.
- When Kim is making Jimmy ice cream in their hotel room, Jimmy asks her to "hold the mint chip". At the end of the episode "50% Off", Jimmy dropped his mint ice cream on the sidewalk when Nacho forced him to get in the car. This abduction lead to Jimmy's first encounter with Lalo.
- The final scene with Lalo walking toward the camera in anger while the sound of his steps switches to the sound of thunder may be a reference to the idiom "a storm is coming," which alludes to the impending advent of big trouble or danger.
- This is the only season finale of Better Call Saul to not begin with a flashback.
- Jimmy says "Let's John and Yoko this" while staying in the hotel. This is a reference to John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-Ins for Peace.
- When the dead assassins are shown at the end of the episode, two are shown in the bathroom with the secret passage. This isn't consistent with the actual attack as only one was killed in that room.
- This is the last episode where Lalo and Nacho interact with one another.
- Lalo's secret tunnel under a bathtub may have been inspired by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, a former Mexican drug lord who used a similar escape route at his safehouse to evade Mexican marines.[1][2]
Production[]
Credits[]
Starring
Co-Starring
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Featured Music[]
TBA
Memorable Quotes[]
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