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"Witness" is the second episode of the third season of Better Call Saul and the twenty-second episode of the series altogether.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

At dusk, Chuck prepares a cup of tea and checks the locks on all of the doors at his house. He is accompanied by a private investigator, Dave Brightbill, who is playing solitaire. After turning down the lantern light, Chuck looks outside.

Act I[]

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Continuing his pursuit, Mike watches as the two henchmen he followed from his house give the tracker to a courier. Mike follows the courier for the rest of the night as he collects small packages from remote dead drops around Albuquerque. In the early morning, Mike sees the courier pull into a restaurant and walk inside carrying a knapsack. After he leaves, the readout for the tracker shows that it is stationary, suggesting it is inside the restaurant. As Mike drives away, the camera zooms out to reveal that the restaurant is Los Pollos Hermanos.

Act II[]

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Jimmy continues renovating Wexler McGill's office when a woman named Francesca Liddy appears for a job interview. During her sit-down with Jimmy and Kim, Francesca goes over her experience as a clerk at New Mexico's Motor Vehicle Division. Jimmy asks Francesca unusual questions and is eager to have her immediately start working as the new receptionist. Kim insists on going through a more thorough hiring process, but Jimmy tells her that he has a commercial airing in a few minutes and that he needs Francesca to handle the incoming calls. Jimmy coaches Francesca as two calls come in, one of which turns out to be from Mike. Jimmy agrees to meet with Mike the next morning.

Act III[]

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Mike tasks Jimmy with entering Los Pollos Hermanos to observe the courier when he comes inside. After taking an order, Jimmy watches as the courier arrives, collects his own meal, and sits at a booth with the knapsack between his feet. Jimmy tries and fails to act casual while watching the courier. When the courier dispenses with his trash and leaves with the knapsack, Jimmy reaches into the trash bin to see if the courier stashed anything in there. He is suddenly greeted by Gustavo Fring, who asks Jimmy if he needs any help. Jimmy quickly slips off his watch and says that he lost it in the trash. Gus helps Jimmy retrieve his watch and Jimmy leaves. He tells Mike that he saw nothing suspicious in the restaurant, much to Mike's frustration. Gus is outside cleaning litter and looks up knowingly as Jimmy drives away, aware that Mike is onto him.

Act IV[]

Mike continues his stakeout of Los Pollos Hermanos and notices a black Cadillac Escalade pull up to the back of the building. When the car—revealed to be driven by Victor—drives off, the readout indicates the tracker is inside. Mike follows the Escalade.

A paranoid Ernesto drives to WM, and phones Kim to meet him in his car outside. After learning what he knows, Kim takes Jimmy into a private room and makes him give her a $20 bill to officially make her his lawyer. Now protected by the attorney–client privilege, she tells Jimmy that she knows about his confession to doctoring the Mesa Verde files. Jimmy defends his actions and then assures Kim that it’s his word against Chuck’s. Kim reveals that Chuck taped his confession, which stuns Jimmy.

Act V[]

Kim conducts research and, based on what she has learned, figures that Chuck cannot use the confession tape in court and will not use it to win back Mesa Verde and reveals she has strategies ready to get the tape excluded outright in court (almost exactly as Howard predicted). Kim suggests that Jimmy not act and wait for Chuck to make the first move. Instead, Jimmy angrily leaves.

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In the desert, Mike continues to follow the tracker signal put out by the Escalade, but the pursuit leads him to find a ringing cell phone placed atop a fuel cap at the center of a remote highway. Mike picks up the phone and answers the call.

At Chuck's house, Howard uncharacteristically sneaks over several walls to be let in through the back door. Howard mentions that the cost of having private investigators guard the house for several full days is starting to add up. Chuck compromises to only have the investigators around at night as he predicts that Jimmy will break into Chuck's house at night to steal the tape. To everyone's shock, an enraged Jimmy shows up at Chuck's house at that very moment. In broad daylight, Jimmy kicks down Chuck's door and screams at him for pulling that "heartstrings con job" on him. "No wonder Rebecca left you! What took her so long?" he yells before prying open the desk drawer and tearing apart the tape in Chuck's face. He threatens to “burn the whole goddamn house to the ground” to find any possible copies. However, Jimmy has directly played into Chuck's hands: Howard and Dave make their presence known, and declare themselves witnesses to Jimmy's crimes.

Official Photos[]

Trivia[]

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  • Kim asking Jimmy to put a dollar in her pocket to establish her as his lawyer mirrors the way Jimmy asks the same thing to Walt and Jesse in the episode "Better Call Saul".
  • This episode marks the earliest chronological appearance of Francesca and Victor, who first appeared in Breaking Bad.
    • It is also the first non-flash back chronological appearance of Gus, who chronologically earlier appears in "Hermanos"
  • Gus' introduction is the same as his one in Breaking Bad, in his restaurant, greeting the protagonist in his role as the Los Pollos Hermanos manager, with the protagonist being none the wiser.
  • This is the first and only time that Saul and Gus share a scene.
  • In addition to his 1988 Chrysler Fifth Avenue, Mike uses many vehicles for his shadowing. After disassembling his 1987 Chevrolet Caprice Estate in the previous episode ("Mabel"), he buys a second hand 1992 Buick LeSabre that is visible in many scenes of Breaking Bad.
  • In Better Call Saul Insider Podcast, Vince Gilligan confessed that he "did not have a lot of fun directing" the first two episodes of season 3, because "it was very, very hard (...) directing two episodes back to back". The last time he did that was in Season 4 of Breaking Bad ("End Times", "Face Off") and he was "10% younger" and "that 10% make a great difference". However, he is very proud of these two episodes.
  • The way Jimmy removes the "WexlerMcgill" logo tape off the wall is the same as the one Chuck taught him in the previous episode, "Mabel". Halfway done, Jimmy decides to just tear off the logo tape despite Chuck previously telling him not to do that, mirroring the current relationship with his brother.
  • Mike presumably asks Francesca for Jimmy by name when he calls Wexler McGill; if that is the case this would be the only time Mike says Jimmy's name in Better Call Saul.

Legal notes[]

  • Kim mentions that New Mexico has one-party consent laws regarding recording conversations. She also says that the law can be "bounced under 403," referring to Federal Rule of Evidence 403: Excluding Relevant Evidence for Prejudice, Confusion, Waste of Time, or Other Reasons.

Production[]

Credits[]

Featured Music[]

  • "The Long Follow" by Dave Porter (plays while Mike tracks the gas cap overnight as it eventually heads to Los Pollos Hermanos)
  • Norte Pal Sur by Picoso
  • Love Is On The Line by Goodfellaz
  • "The Go (feat. Emilio Bucks)" by Hassahn Phenomenon

Memorable Quotes[]

Mike: "Your new assistant is a pip."
Jimmy: "Yeah, thanks for crushing her spirit on the first day."
―Mike and Jimmy about Francesca.

Jimmy: "Hey, who's got your back? Me, that's who."
Mike: "I'll keep that in mind."
―Jimmy and Mike about Saul helping Mike.

"You taped me?! You asshole! (...) You pulled that heartstrings con job on me?! You piece of shit! Oh, my brain used to work, I'm sick, I don't know what to do!" Asshole! No wonder Rebecca left you! What took her so long?! (finds a tape) There it is! Here we go! Here we go! Here we go! Oh, is this it? Is this it? Is this it? Huh? For this, you destroyed our family? Are you happy now?! For what?! For nothing! Is that all there is, Chuck? Is that all there–all there is, or did you make copies? Huh, Chuck? Huh?! You tell me or I'll burn this whole goddamn house to the ground!"
―Jimmy confronting Chuck over the cassette tape.


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