"Wexler v. Goodman" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of Better Call Saul and the forty-sixth episode of the series altogether.
Summary[]
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In 1984 Nebraska, a 16 year-old Kim waits outside her junior high school after dark, holding a cello. Kim's mother, who is driving under the influence, arrives at the school to pick up her daughter. Seeing through her mother's claims that she is sober, a frustrated Kim decides to walk home, at which point her mother shouts at her "you never listen" and drives off.
Act I[]
In 2004 at the nail salon, Jimmy tasks Joey's film crew with re-editing an old 1960's Mesa Verde commercial in which a young Kevin and his father appear. Jimmy wants to have the video ready for the next day, so the crew makes a green screen and hires a few locals to shoot that night inside the salon. Kim visits the salon and asks Jimmy if Everett Acker would leave his house and settle the case for $75,000. Jimmy asks whether Kevin would really authorize up to $75,000, given that they contractually only need to pay $5,000 and only offered up to $18,000. Kim responds that she will get Kevin to offer as much as he can and that she will make up the difference out of her own pocket, which displeases Jimmy, who does not want Kim paying for it herself. Kim is concerned regarding Rich's suspicion Jimmy's representation of Everett and her involvement in it, and wants to close the case and move on. Jimmy is hesitant, but tells Kim that she gets to choose; Kim decides to stay firm with her idea, and Jimmy agrees to halt production on the commercial and find resolution with Acker.
At an abandoned building, Nacho meets with Gus, Victor and Mike, the latter of whom he pretends not to know. Nacho informs them of Lalo's latest activities, which are intended to undermine the Cartel's trust in Gus by sabotaging his legitimate and illegitimate operations. Gus informs Nacho that he will report directly to Mike from this point on, and is to follow Mike's orders. After he leaves, Nacho warns Mike about Gus's ruthlessness, but Mike reminds Nacho that he warned him of the risk he took when he tried to kill Hector. When Nacho says that Gus has threatened to kill his father if he doesn't obey, Mike promises to discuss it once they've taken care of Lalo.
Act II[]
At Schweikart & Cokely, Kim, Rich, and Marcie attend a conference call to tell Paige that Acker has agreed to settle the case. Afterwards, Kim gives an apology to Rich for the scene she made after he tried to pull her off of her Mesa Verde work. Rich accepts her apology but warns her to never make a dispute with him in public in front of his staff again. The two agree to go to have lunch together in order to project unity within the firm.
In his car outside a public library, Mike reads the case file concerning Lalo's murder of Fred Whalen and his burning down of the TravelWire office, and comes across a witness statement by one Lillian Simmons. Inside the library, he purchases a stack of children's books from a bargain bin for Kaylee. Mike then poses as a private detective to interview Lillian, who is working as a librarian, and claims to represent Fred's family. Under Mike's questioning, Lillian is able to identify Lalo's 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo as the unusual vehicle she saw at the TravelWire on the day of the murder.
At the courthouse, Jimmy has gotten two prostitutes a light sentence of three months' probation. They offer him a handjob as thanks, but he declines; however, he pays them to approach Howard in the middle of lunch with Clifford Main at the Forque Kitchen and Bar and publicly accuse him of using their services without paying. An amused Jimmy watches the unfolding scene from his Esteem, then makes a cell phone call to Olivia Bitsui regarding Mesa Verde.
Act III[]
At a police station, Mike compels an office clerk to deliver an incident report regarding a hit-and-run to Detective Tim Roberts. After he receives the file, Roberts and his partner realize that description of the car from the hit-and-run matches the description that Lillian called in of the car that she had seen at the TravelWire on the day of Fred's murder; with the motorist's description matching Lily's, this gives the Albuquerque Police Department a lead linking Lalo to the murder.
Meanwhile, Jimmy meets with Kim, Rich, Kevin and Paige at S&C to finalize Acker's settlement, where Kim states that Mesa Verde is willing to go as high as $45,000. However, Jimmy stuns everyone in the room by demanding $4 million. Kim is confused and angered by Jimmy going off-script of their agreed plan and tries to end the meeting, only for Jimmy to show them his video, which consists of rough cuts of television commercials seeking plaintiffs for class-action lawsuits against Mesa Verde, including outrageous accusations against both the bank and Kevin's father. Jimmy also takes advantage of Kim's insight into the photos taken from inside Kevin's house: Mesa Verde's cowboy logo is based on a photo which Native American photographer Olivia Bitsui took, that the bank did not obtain permission to use; on top of the lawsuits, Jimmy has filed an injunction against the bank displaying the logo until the matter is settled.
Act IV[]
After Jimmy leaves, Kevin's legal team struggles to figure out how they can deal with his threats. Kevin excuses himself from the conference room to surreptitiously make a phone call to Jimmy and agree to a deal. Meeting with Kevin in a parking garage, Jimmy lays out his terms: in exchange for dropping the lawsuit and the injunction and not airing the commercials, Mesa Verde will allow Acker to keep his house and will build their call center at the alternative site; due to the emotional distress inflicted upon Acker, Mesa Verde will pay him the $45,000 they had initially offered to buy him out. Additionally, Olivia is to receive $200,000 as restitution for using her photo as their logo, plus credit for continued and future usage of the logo, along with a public apology by Mesa Verde to Acker and Olivia. Jimmy then holds his hand out to Kevin and asks him to shake on it if he finds the terms agreeable.
Nacho phones Mike and tells him that Lalo had just dropped him off, and informs him of the street where Lalo would be right now. Mike then uses a radio to tap into APD's frequency and, pretending to be a fellow officer, describes Lalo's car to dispatch as one he saw speeding, and gives the street Nacho mentioned as his current location. As Lalo is coming to a stop at a light, he's spotted by a patrol car. Lalo briefly contemplates using his gun to kill the cops, only for several more police cars to arrive and box him in. Realizing he is surrounded, Lalo surrenders on the spot.
At Kim's apartment, Jimmy waits for her to come home, feeling apprehensive over how she will react to what transpired at the Mesa Verde meeting. When she arrives and confirms that Kevin took Jimmy's settlement offer, Jimmy insists that the outcome was a win for everyone and is a cause for celebration. Instead, Kim angrily states that only Jimmy won; she is upset that he made her a fool by making her the "sucker", which Jimmy justifies by claiming that he did it to get real shock and anger from Kim so that Rich and the others would not suspect them of working together. He wonders why she is not happy as Acker being able to keep his home is what she wanted, but she denounces him for going back on their previous deal of not using the blackmail video and lying to her. Jimmy states that he did it to prevent her from being able to testify against him under oath if she genuinely was not involved, but tells her it won't happen again. Kim tells him to look her in the eyes and confirm that he won't do it again, and Jimmy is unable to answer. Kim, overwhelmed, discusses problems in their relationship and that they need to pick one of two outcomes — they break up or they get married.
Trivia[]
Storyboard of the episode: act 3 starts with deleted scene with Lalo, Nacho & Tio to show actions taken against Gus.
- In the teaser, the license plate number on young Kim's mother’s car is 45-6C4B. In Nebraska, the first two digits on license plates since 1922 indicates the county and the county numbering is in the order of the number of registered vehicles in the county at that time. Young Kim is standing outside a building on which the signage says Red Cloud Junior High School. Red Cloud is in Webster County, which has license plates that start with 45. This means that the design of the license plate is correct for Nebraska; additionally, it is period-accurate for 1984.
- In the tradition of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, AMC has set up a low quality website where Saul invites the alleged victims of Mesa Verde to send their testimonies: https://www.suemesaverde.com/.
- The character "Olivia Bitsui" is named after the daughter of cast member Jeremiah Bitsui, the actor who plays Victor.
- This marks the earliest chronological appearance of Detective Tim Roberts, who first appeared in Breaking Bad's episode "Grilled".
- Fred Whalen's death report states that it occurred on March 31, 2004.
- The accident report also lists the chief examiner as J. P. Wynne. The high school that Walter White taught at, which Jesse Pinkman attended, was J. P. Wynne High School, itself named after the school Vince Gilligan attended.
- During his phone talk, Detective Tim Roberts talks to a lady about a possum trapped in her garden. A similar story is told by Jesse to Walt in the Breaking Bad episode "Fly".
- The abandoned building where Nacho and Gus meet is the same one in Breaking Bad's episode "Shotgun" where Mike goes to look for the envelope and Jesse discovers that two guys are trying to rob them.
- The scene where Jimmy gives stage directions to one of the actors by saying "there's fear here, just throw it away, but with feeling, okay" was included in one of the pre-season teasers.
- While Roberts and his partner state that the incident report on the car accident from "Winner" reveals that it was a 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the report actually states that it was a gray vehicle and the motorist couldn't identify the make and model, although he got Lalo's license plate number.
- In the ending scene, Jimmy tells Kim the phrase "Everybody wins". In Breaking Bad, Walt says the same phrase to Mike. ("Buyout")
Production[]
Credits[]
Starring
Guest Starring
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Co-Starring
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Uncredited
- TBA
Featured Music[]
- "Affair of the Heart" by Rick Springfield (on Kim's mother's car radio)
- "Home on the Range" by Traditional (over the old Mesa Verde commercial)
- "Slinky Boots" by Speedometer (Jimmy directing the actors for the ad)
- "Sweet Cream" by Brian Colin Dee (Howard and Cliff have lunch)
- "Borombón" by Camilo Azuquita (on Lalo's car radio as he is apprehended by police)
- "Smoke On The Water" by Better Call Saul Cast (Kim arrives home to Saul playing the guitar)
Memorable Quotes[]
- Mike: "I'm guessing there's something you wanna get off your chest."
- Nacho: "[pause] You know who you're working for, right? The shit that this guy does... They shot me. Left me bleeding out in the desert, all... part of some plan."
- Mike: "I don't know what to tell you. I warned you."
- Nacho: "What?"
- Mike: "I warned you, when you started going after Hector Salamanca, there'd be others to worry about. You made a choice. You got in with both eyes open."
- Nacho: "My father didn't. He's got a gun to my father's head. If I don't do what he says..."
- Mike: "Look. First things first, we take care of Lalo. Then, we'll talk."
- ―Nacho asking Mike for help.
- Jimmy: "This is Olivia Bitsui. She is a photographer; in fact, she took this self-portrait. It's really lovely. Here's another picture she took fifty-four years ago."
- Kim: "Kevin, say nothing."
- Kevin: "Kim, I got this."
- Kim: "Kevin, I am strongly advising you..."
- Kevin: "I know this picture..."
- Kim: "Kevin!"
- Kevin: "...my dad bought it fair and square! I have a copy of it hanging in my office at home!"
- Jimmy: "I think we all just heard Mr. Wachtell admit that he owns a copy of Olivia Bitsui's photo. A photo that looks remarkably like the official Mesa Verde logo!"
- Kevin: "That's right. We own it!"
- Jimmy: "You own a copy of the photo, you don't own the rights to it! That's copyright infringement!"
- Rich: "You'll never be able to prove that!"
- Jimmy: "Well, you know what? Wow. Looks like a mirror image there. So, I think I can convince a judge and probably a jury that Mesa Verde misappropriated Ms. Bitsui's intellectual property. It's not your fault, sins of the father. But... we filed an injunction, so you're gonna have to take down all your horsey logos or throw a big tarp over them til we can get this thing settled. Shouldn't take more than... I don't know, a couple of years? We'll be seeing a lot of each other. Til next time."
- ―Jimmy claiming Mesa Verde infringed copyright infringement.
- Kim: "You win, Jimmy."
- Jimmy: "What?!"
- Kim: "You win."
- Jimmy: "Uh... yeah. But, I mean... Well, we win. Us."
- Kim: "No. I didn't."
- Jimmy: "What didn't you get that you wanted?"
- Kim: "I don't trust you."
- Jimmy: "Why?"
- Kim: "You played me! You made me the sucker! Again!"
- Jimmy: "Again? What... Wait, how could you be the sucker? It was your plan."
- Kim: "Oh, fuck you, Jimmy! God! I...I–You know what? I can't do this anymore."
- ―Kim blames Jimmy for making a fool of her.
- Kim: "Look me in the eye, and tell me it'll never happen again. [pause] You can't. I don't believe you. You don't believe yourself. It is a lie! You lie! I lie! This... has to end! I–I cannot keep living like this!"
- Jimmy: "No, no, no! No, just..."
- Kim: "Jimmy, shut up!"
- Jimmy: "We can fix this!"
- Kim: "Jimmy! You know this has to change! If you don't see it, I don't know what to say because we are at a breaking point!"
- Jimmy: "Oh, God!"
- Kim: "Either we end this now, or..."
- Jimmy: "No!"
- Kim: "Either we end this now, and enjoy the time we had, and go our separate ways, or..."
- Jimmy: "Or what?"
- Kim: "Or we're... We're... I mean... Or maybe... [beat] Maybe we get married?"
- ―Kim offers Jimmy a surprising solution.
Videos[]
