In the “Better Call Saul” recap, Nacho faces the reality of his situation caught between Gus and the Salamancas while Jimmy gets an offer from the district attorney’s office…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
From the very first episode of “Better Call Saul,” it was always assumed that some of the new characters introduced in the “Breaking Bad” prequel wouldn’t live to see the day that Walter White was crowned the kingpin of meth in New Mexico.
There have been longstanding theories all along about two characters in particular who played a central role in the series and the fates that awaited both of them once the show caught up in the timeline to coincide with the start of “Breaking Bad.”
One is Kim Wexler, who is still ride-or-die for her husband Jimmy McGill as she starts to break bad all on her own while on a mission to tear down her old boss Howard Hamlin. The other is Nacho Varga, whose name came from what seemed like a totally innocuous moment when Saul Goodman was first introduced when he was kidnapped and held at gunpoint by Walt and Jesse Pinkman in which he uttered two names in an attempt to save his own life — Lalo and Ignacio.
Lalo was ultimately revealed as Lalo Salamanca — the dangerous yet very conniving nephew of Hector Salamanca and Ignacio was none other than Nacho Varga — a low level drug dealer working alongside Tuco Salamanca, who eventually gets roped into a much deeper role with the entire Salamanca family.
Considering Nacho ended up as a double agent working for the Salamancas yet secretly taking orders from their sworn enemy Gus Fring, it seemed like only a matter of time before everything caught up to him. The debt finally came due during the latest episode of “Better Call Saul” as Nacho realized he was out of options and there was no way he was going to make it out alive.
But the journey to get to Nacho’s demise never felt rushed because so much time was spent developing this character over the past six seasons that his exit had to pay dividends to the larger story both in “Better Call Saul” and the legacy he would carry forward in “Breaking Bad.”
It didn’t hurt that Michael Mando was nothing short of spectacular in the role but nothing was better than what he offered in the latest episode as he said goodbye to Nacho for the final time.
With that said, let’s get to our full recap for the latest episode of “Better Call Saul” titled “Rock and Hard Place”…
No Other Way
Following a harrowing escape from a hotel where he was meant to be captured or killed, Nacho Varga races as far away as he can while driving a truck that’s been shot up with the tires blown out. With the murderous Salamanca cousins hot on his heels, Nacho has no time to waste so he hops out of the broken down truck and ends up hiding inside an abandoned oil truck left in a field.
Of course when the Salamanca cousins arrive, they figure that must be where Nacho is hiding but he’s quick enough — and with the ability to hold his breath for a few minutes — to actually dunk himself into the old, nasty oil to stay hidden when they come looking for him. Figuring that Nacho must have run away on foot, the Salamanca cousins leave to continue to search for him.
Once Nacho emerges from the truck tanker covered in oil, he actually does start to run until he eventually finds himself at a gas station and car repair shop with a hose out back that allows him to get cleaned up. When the owner approaches him, Nacho assumes this is another person coming to kill him but the kind hearted man just offers him a rag to clean up before giving him a jumpsuit to wear after his clothes were ruined by the oil.
Still stuck in Mexico with little chance to escape alive, Nacho decides he needs to make a couple of calls to give himself the best option to avoid the Salamanca clan.
First, Nacho calls his father at his shop and he’s overjoyed to hear his voice on the other end of the line. While they’ve been estranged for some time now, Nacho is happy to know his father remains untouched but he also knows this is probably the last time they’ll ever speak to each other.
Nacho doesn’t convey that to his father but he feels a sense of relief and maybe even a little happiness that they were able to share one last moment together. From there, Nacho makes his next call and this one goes to Mike Ehrmantraut, who is currently in a stand off with Gus Fring, which is how these two were last seen in the previous episode.
Mike refused to allow Gus to use Nacho’s father as a bargaining chip and that led to a tense moment between employer and employee. When Mike gets the phone call, he explains that it wasn’t his decision to call for the hit on Nacho’s life but he’s doing everything possible to ensure his father doesn’t get drawn into this deadly situation.
Nacho then asks to speak to Gus and he relays the reality of the situation to him.
If the Salamancas capture Nacho, he’ll be tortured until he gives up Gus as the man who ordered the hit on Lalo. To mitigate the risk, Gus eventually just ordered a hit on Nacho himself but that obviously failed.
Now Nacho is offering to give himself up, surrender to Gus and tell the cartel along with the Salamanca family whatever story he wants so long as his father remains unharmed. Gus agrees and Nacho begins his journey back to the United States.
A Friend to the Cartel or a Rat
As Jimmy and Kim plot the next move in their scheme against Howard, it appears they are planning on using his car in some sort of way to continue building the charade that he’s actually a drug addict hooked on cocaine. The carefully mapped out plan — laid out on the back of a painting using sticky notes — doesn’t give up everything but it apparently involves making a double of Howard’s car except for one problem — they won’t have time to complete the copy before it needs to be used.
So Kim suggests just stealing Howard’s actual card to carry out this plot but Jimmy knows that’s dangerous business because any slip up would notify their mark that something nefarious is happening.
That’s when Jimmy decides to use the old valet trick while calling on his pal Huell Babineaux to help with the scheme.
When Howard parks his car for lunch, Huell just so happens to bump into the valet and he lifts the keys from his pocket. He then hands those over to a rogue locksmith in a van to make a copy that can be used at a later date. The locksmith cuts the keys and even clones the clicker so Jimmy or whoever else gets their hands on this can get into Howard’s car whenever they want.
The deal gets done just as the valet returns after realizing he must have “dropped” the keys.
Huell then delivers the copies to Jimmy but not without asking him a very valid question — Jimmy is an attorney who makes good money and his wife is also a reputable attorney making good money: So why exactly is he getting caught up in all these schemes that involve breaking the law?
Jimmy pauses for a moment before telling Huell that what he’s doing right now is for the greater good and many people will benefit from the plot he’s cooking up to tear Howard down. Now it’s easy to see that Jimmy’s own morality has always been quite flexible but he never really sees himself as a bad guy — he’s just an incredibly good con artist and the real crime is letting a sucker get away with it.
In this case, perhaps Jimmy believes he’s once again serving the greater good because taking down Howard will force a settlement in the Sandpiper Crossing case and that would then allow the residents to actually enjoy some of the money before each of them shuffles off this mortal coil. Then again, both Jimmy and Kim have their own personal reasons for wanting to make Howard suffer, which makes this so called altruistic endeavor not exactly selfless after all.
That said, Jimmy has certainly felt remorse before, especially when it came to some of the things he did against his brother Chuck but perhaps this plot to dismantle Howard and his career is the final straw that severs all ties between what he considers good or bad and that will complete his transformation into Saul Goodman.
As for Kim, she heads off to the courthouse that day and she runs into District Attorney Suzanne Ericsen, which leads them into a meeting in her office.
It’s there Ericsen reveals that the DA’s office has discovered that “Jorge De Guzman” is actually Lalo Salamanca — a known drug smuggler and agent of the cartel, who was just recently gunned down in a planned attack at his compound in Mexico. Ericsen is understandably upset that they had Lalo locked down for a murder he committed against an innocent 22-year-old kid working at a check cashing store but ultimately let him go on $7 million bail and obviously they know he’ll never return.
Now Ericsen is trying to clean up this mess and she asks Kim to speak to Jimmy to see if he might want to provide state’s evidence on his work with Lalo Salamanca.
See, Ericsen has connected the dots that Jimmy once represented Tuco Salamanca while helping him get a reduced sentence in an assault case and then he helped Nacho Varga — a known Salamanca associate — out of a jam as well. But as much as Ericsen believes that Jimmy might be working with Lalo Salamanca, she prefers to operate under the assumption that he was duped by the drug kingpin and given a false name.
Under those conditions, Jimmy would no longer be held to the restrictions of attorney-client privilege because his client lied to him about his identity.
Rather than going after Jimmy as the attorney, Ericsen would much rather target the Salamanca family and whatever business they’re running in New Mexico.
Back at home, Jimmy relays the good news about the keys he got copied to Howard’s car but Kim seems a little more somber than usual. She tells Jimmy that Lalo Salamanca is dead and the D.A. is now asking if he’d be willing to give them information on him since his lie would technically vacate whatever privilege he previously maintained as a client.
Jimmy doesn’t quite seem to know what to say next but Kim hits him with a rather blunt reality about the choice he’s going to ultimately make.
“Do you want to be a friend of the cartel, or do you want to be a rat?”
~ Kim Wexler
Given how Jimmy (as Saul) reacts when Walt and Jesse put a gun to his head in the somewhat near future, it seems possible that maybe he does give up information on Lalo before then blaming Nacho for the betrayal. Then again, the suspicion that Jimmy turned on Lalo might be enough for him to live in constant fear that the Salamancas will be back for revenge.
Either way, Jimmy has to figure out a way forward while Kim seemingly believes there’s no choice at all because there’s no coming back from being a rat.
A Good Death and a Bad Death
After stowing away in a truck to get back across the border, Nacho arrives at one of Gus’ warehouses where he’s greeted by Mike. Nacho enjoys a meal — probably the first real food he’s had in days — but he also knows this is probably his last supper.
Per his agreement with Gus, Nacho will be handed over to Juan Bolsa and the Salamanca family where he will be questioned. He will tell them that a Peruvian outfit led by a man named Alvarez paid him to set up Lalo and he’s been servicing them for the past year.
When the time is right, Nacho will break away and Victor will shoot him dead.
It’s certainly not the ending Nacho imagined but it’s one that will satisfy Gus’ need to maintain a peace with the cartel and it will ensure that his father stays safe and out of harm’s way. Nacho agrees to the conditions but first Mike has to beat him up a little to make this look like he was genuinely captured before being brought back to the United States.
First things first, Mike shares one last glass of whiskey with Nacho before handing him the beatdown.
As Gus prepares everybody for the meeting, Mike insists on coming along for the ride but he won’t actually be there when Nacho deals with Juan Bolsa or the Salamanca family. Instead, Mike will be positioned nearby with a sniper rifle pointed at the meeting just in case something goes wrong and he needs to act quickly to ensure Nacho meets a speedy demise as promised or perhaps if the Salamanca cousins want to exact their own brand of revenge.
After arriving at the meeting, Nacho’s hands are bound behind his back and he’s brought before the judge, jury and executioner as he comes face to face with Juan Bolsa, a wheelchair bound Hector Salamanca and the cousins there to act as his enforcers. Bolsa rips off the tape covering Nacho’s mouth and then offers him a reprieve — not the kind that will save his life, mind you, but rather a choice in the way that he will die that day.
“Today you are going to die. But there are good death and there are bad deaths.”
Just when it appears that Nacho is choosing violence, he finally reveals that he was paid off by Alvarez to go after Lalo and he’s been on the Peruvian’s payroll for more than a year. Knowing this will be the last time he’ll ever speak, Nacho finally lets out all the aggression he’s been bottling for the past few years as he unleashes his hatred towards the Salamanca family while also revealing that he’s the one who switched Hector’s heart medication for sugar pills, thus putting him in the state where he’s in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and unable to communicate outside of ringing a bell.
The rage washes over Hector’s face but before Nacho can run to set up the kill shot, he pulls out a piece of glass — from the shattered glass that Gus broke last week and threw away in the trash — and that allows him to break free from the ties holding his hands. He then grabs Juan Bolsa’s gun and holds him hostage while unleashing at Gus as well for saving Hector’s life when he should have died that night his heart medication wasn’t working.
Finally, Nacho accepts his fate but he maintains control over one last thing by choosing how he dies.
That’s when Nacho puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger. He falls dead, much to the shock of everyone surrounding him but particularly Hector, who wanted nothing more than to put that bullet in Nacho’s head himself.
Hector then insists on unloading several more bullets in Nacho’s already dead corpse whatever thirst he had for revenge will go unquenched given the way his former henchmen took his own life. Gus and his men load up in the van to leave the scene as Mike puts away his sniper rifle without firing a shot.
The opening of the episode actually teased this ending as the camera focused in on a shard of glass in the desert surrounded by flowers blooming all around just before a storm. By the end, we realize that the glass is the one that Nacho used to cut himself free before taking Bolsa hostage momentarily and the flowers have now sprung up as new life in the wake of his tragic death.
“Better Call Saul” returns for a new episode next Monday night at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
