"Talk" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of Better Call Saul and the thirty-fourth episode of the series altogether.
Summary[]
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The episode opens in a flashback to the 1970s, as a young boy watches his father pour cement in his driveway. The father allows the boy to sign his name in the wet cement, revealing them to be Mike and his son Matt, respectively. The scene abruptly cuts to Mike at Stacey's support group, which has apparently been stunned into silence. He coldly states, "You wanted me to talk. I talked."
Act I[]
At night, a car drives to an abandoned motel, and a man, Diego, steps out with a bag. Diego walks through the motel, which serves as a compound for the Espinosas, a competing drug gang to the Salamancas. He is allowed into the gang's lair, where one of the Espinosas takes a brick of cocaine out of the bag. Diego returns to the car with cash and tells Victor the delivery is done.
In the morning, Jimmy gets a call from CC Mobile, a cell phone retailer, and is offered a job as a shift supervisor for their location in uptown Albuquerque. Jimmy turns down the job, saying he's had a "change of plans." Later, while Jimmy is shaving, Kim gives him the contact information of a therapist and urges him to talk to someone, presumably about Chuck's death. Jimmy lies to Kim about taking the CC Mobile job. After she leaves, he calls them back to say he has reconsidered and will take the job.
At the courthouse, Kim observes a pre-trial hearing and is asked by the judge, Benedict Munsinger, to visit him in his chambers. Munsinger gleans that Kim is trying to rediscover her love of the law, and tells her about a family that is suing a hospital over a botched childbirth that left the mother brain damaged. Kim realizes that he is describing the plot from The Verdict. Munsinger tells Kim that the cases he deals with every day are much less glamorous and career-altering than the ones seen in movies, advises her to stick to Mesa Verde and warns that he will put her to work as a public defender if he finds her "trolling in his court" again. Taking the judge at his word, Kim defiantly returns to the courtroom and continues watching hearings.
Act II[]
At Loyola's, Mike is solving newspaper crosswords. Anita steps in and approaches his booth. During their conversation, she asks him to befriend another member of the support group, Henry DeVore, who relates stories of his dead wife, named Judy. Mike says that Henry is making up Judy, pointing to a discrepancy in his story about their purported first kiss at Wrigley Field. When Anita expresses disbelief, Mike advises to her to look for Henry to give a tell—rubbing his wrists—when he talks about Judy at the next group meeting. The two agree to a ten dollar bet on whether he does so.
Jimmy begins his job at CC Mobile, but quickly becomes bored when no customers show up. He takes a call from his new boss, Robbie, and asks to be transferred to a store with more foot traffic, only to be told that all of the company's other positions have been occupied. With nothing else left to do, Jimmy begins throwing a rubber ball against the storefront window to pass the time.
Meanwhile, Nacho and the Cousins watch a silver Camaro—similar to the car Nacho "described" as having ambushed him and Arturo—pull into the Espinosa compound. Nacho comes up with a plan to use a couple of Salamanca crews for a night assault, but the Cousins choose to act immediately. He watches as they kill the guards and enter the compound with guns drawn. A massive offscreen gunfight erupts and reinforcements for the Espinosas arrive. Nacho, still injured from being shot by Victor, reluctantly joins the gunfight. Coming up from behind, he kills one of the Espinosas. Inside the compound, he finds that the Cousins have slaughtered almost everyone. Nacho prepares to rescue Leonel from a couple of gunmen who have pinned him down, but Marco appears and kills them instead, despite having taken a bullet to the left shoulder. Leonel retrieves the cocaine delivered by Diego earlier to frame them for the "ambush" and the three leave the scene.
Act III[]
At an abandoned warehouse, Nacho informs Gus that the Espinosas have been wiped out and that the Cousins have gone south until the heat dies down. Nacho verbally surmises that Gus engineered the situation to his advantage, destroying the Espinosas with the expectation that the cartel will give him their territory. Gus simply tells Nacho to get some rest, as he has more work to do.
At the group meeting, Stacey recounts her day with Kaylee, saying that she has realized that she has started going about her daily routines without constantly thinking of Matt. She expresses fear that this means she will forget details about Matt in life, which visibly affects Mike sitting next to her. Henry begins talking about Judy and rubs his wrists, just as Mike predicted. Eventually, Mike can no longer contain his anger and accuses Henry of lying about Judy, pointing to more inconsistencies in his stories and challenging him to show any official record that she ever existed. Instead of denying it, Henry leaves the meeting. Mike then turns his ire on the rest of the group, saying that all they're really doing is feeding on each other's misery. The scene ends with Mike saying his line from the teaser: "You wanted me to talk. I talked."
Act IV[]
Nacho's father Manuel arrives home to find his back door open. Inside, he finds a bandaged Nacho sitting in his living room. Manuel moves to call 911, but Nacho tells him it won't be safe if he does so. He reassures Manuel that he's okay and asks if he can rest at the house for a while. The following day, Mike is performing another security check at a Madrigal warehouse when Stacey tries to contact him on his cell phone; he ignores the call. However, he is forced to take a call from Victor, who says that Gus wants to meet him that night.
Jimmy leaves CC Mobile and drives to a construction business, where Ira is performing his legitimate job stocking vending machines. When Ira hands Jimmy the proceeds he collected from selling Mr. Neff's Hummel figurine, Jimmy is surprised to find out that the caper has yielded more returns than he expected. Ira invites Jimmy to approach him again when he finds another job, and tells him to contact him through Caldera with a new phone when he does, saying, "You never know who's listening." Struck by inspiration, Jimmy returns to CC Mobile and paints the message "IS THE MAN LISTENING? PRIVACY SOLD HERE" on the store windows.
After dark, Mike drives to the Los Pollos Hermanos factory farm. Gus, flanked by Victor, Tyrus, and other bodyguards, confronts Mike with the knowledge that he was aware of Nacho's plot against Hector and did not act to stop him. Mike counters that he agreed to not kill Hector, but never agreed to keep others from doing so. He further realizes that Gus has actually summoned him because he has a new job, and asks Gus to state point blank what it is.
Official Photos[]
Trivia[]
- The opening teaser is a callback to "Off Brand" where Stacey references Mike cementing the driveway and his son Matt signs his name.
- The teaser also presents the earliest chronological appearance of Mike, who is much younger and remains out of focus. This was similarly done in "...and the Bag's in the River", showing a much younger Walt and Gretchen bathed largely in shadows.
- Esmeralda is the first name Marie Schrader wanted for Holly White. ("A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal")
- Anita is wearing a Cradock Marine Bank badge, a branch of which is later used by Dan Wachsberger to deposit hazard pay for the families of Mike's "nine guys" and Kaylee.
- The guard at the courthouse mentioned Judge Papadoumian, the same judge Saul mentions to Hank and Steven Gomez whom Gomez refers to as "Ho Chi Minh" for her relatively lenient rulings on defendants.
- Jimmy throws a stress ball at CC Mobile in a similar way as Steve McQueen (the "cooler king") does with a baseball in "The Great Escape." The scene is also reminiscent of the earlier teaser for "Bali Ha'i" where Jimmy throws around decoration balls when he can't sleep
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
- Gabe Baca as Drug Dealer Bodyguard
- Matt Maestas as Gang Member
- Michael Slusher as Shopper
- Mario Telles as Door Guard
Filming Locations[]
- CC Mobile, the store where Jimmy starts working, is shown on Google maps as an empty location. The hardware store is also non-existent on the street view, but the check cashing place at the end of the strip mall can be seen which helped to locate this building. 5805 Menaul Blvd NE, Albuquerque NM
- The Salamanca shootout scene starts with a shot from behind the Westward Ho Motel, then shows a pickup truck that pulls up next to a white iron gate. 106 7th St SW, Albuquerque NM
- The shootout scene continues with Nacho getting out of the car and going into the compound, which was filmed within the parking area of the Westward Ho Motel. 7500 Central Ave SW, Albuquerque NM
Featured Music[]
- "Grazing In the Grass" by The Ventures (during the flashback with Mike and Matt)
- "El Cucuy" by Andy Gonzales Y Sus Amigos (a courier walks through an abandoned roadside motel to make a delivery)
- "Abran Paso (as heard on Cane)" by K-Xilo & FDK (when the courrier enters the boss room to deliver the drugs bag)
- "Immune to Love" by Lance Ghel and Len Gehl (playing in Loyola's during Anita and Mike's meeting)
- "Turn off the Fear" by Carl Rutherford (Jimmy paints the windows of CC Mobile)
Memorable Quotes[]
- Kim: "This is the plot of The Verdict."
- Judge: "Yes. Of course it is. Because movies are the only place where those once-in-a-lifetime cases exist. You know what I got coming up next? A janitor who threw his pee on his boss. The one after that, she stabbed her boyfriend over a grilled-cheese sandwish. This is the real world, Ms. Wexler, and you won't find any save-the-broken-lawyer cases in it. Don't think you're the first to try to rediscover their love of the law by trolling my court, you're not. The best thing you can do is stick to Mesa Verde. Make lots of money. Give some to charity. Having said that, we've got perpetual PD overload. So beware. Next time I see you lurking in my court, I'm gonna put you to work."
- Kim: "Understood."
- ―Benedict Munsinger to Kim about her presence in his court.
- "Fucking Salamancas."
- ―Nacho about the Cousins attacking the Espinosas compound without waiting for reinforcement.
- Nacho: "We cleared out the Espinosas. They're all done."
- Gus: "And the Salamancas brothers?"
- Nacho: "Marco took a hit but he'll pull through. They went back south until the heat dies down. It's territory, isn't it. The Salamancas wipe out the Espinosas, Espinosa territory is up for grabs. Cartel can't give it to the Salamancas, so... I think they give it to you."
- Gus: "Get some rest. You have more to do."
- ―Nacho debrief the eradication of Espinosas to Gus.
- Mike: "This guy was never married."
- Henry: "What are you talking about?"
- Group Leader: "Mike, you know the rules--"
- Mike: "I know your rules. He's been coming in here for months, selling you a bill of goods, getting you all misty-eyed and loving every minute of it."
- Stacey: "Pop."
- Mike: "Stop."
- Henry: "That's... just not true."
- Mike: "Yeah? Okay. So I'll go to the public library and I'll get the papers from 1997 and I'll run a search on Judy DeVore, beloved wife of Henry DeVore. Tell me I'll find her obituary. She wanted to go to Australia? Last month, it was Cuba. Come on, Henry. Let's look at the papers. See if the math works."
- ―Mike unmasking Henry DeVore.
- Jimmy: "We're gonna do this again. I'll find something."
- Ira: "Sounds good. When you do, call the vet."
- Jimmy: "Yeah?"
- Ira: "Yeah. New job, new phone. You never know who's listening."
- ―Jimmy having the idea of his next business thanks to Ira.
- Mike: "You wanted to see me, here I am."
- Gus: "In order for our arrangement to continue, there is a matter we need to discuss."
- Mike: "Okay."
- Gus: "Do you have something to tell me? If you do, you would be well-advised to do so."
- Mike: "Nacho Varga. I wondered when you were gonna get around to this."
- Gus: "You came to me. You asked for a favor. You looked me in the eye, you shook my hand. And all the while, you knew Varga was moving against my interests."
- Mike: "I said I wouldn't kill Salamanca. I never promised to be his bodyguard. So... what now? If you're gonna make a move, you better make it. But they're not gonna, are they? You brought me here because you have an ask. So why don't you stop running a game on me and just tell me about the job?"
- ―Gus testing Mike.