Nailed
Beside a rural road, a parked car is hidden behind a decrepit billboard while a masked man pounds a stake into the dirt. He attaches a pulley with a rope looped in onto the stake, then lays the rope onto the road and waits as a Regalo Helado truck drives to the border. He pulls the rope when the truck approaches the billboard, dragging Mike's garden hose bristling with nails onto the road before the driver, Ximenez, can slam the brakes. The spike strip bursts the truck's tires, and Ximenez climbs out of the crashed vehicle with a gun to look for the saboteur before getting blinded and restrained with duck tape. The crook takes off his mask to reveal... Mike, making his move against the Salamancas. He takes out an electric saw and starts cutting open the truck's tires, eventually finding one with drug money lining the inside. Packing his loot into his car, Mike surveys the scene with relish and drives away, leaving Ximenez tied up on the side.
Chuck gets dressed up for a light court date, waving off Howard's concerns about his comfort: "I find victory laps very comforting." They fail to notice Jimmy hiding as they drive away, who quickly slips into Chuck's house. Chuck pulls himself together as he heads into the courthouse for a banking board meeting, his clients Kevin and Paige in tow. However, the meeting is halted by a discrepancy between HHM's filing and Mesa Verde's original submission: their new branch's address is listed as 1216 Rosella Dr. instead of 1261. Kevin and Paige are slighted by Chuck's proud insistence that his paperwork is flawless. Despite Chuck's attempts at damage control, the board's commissioner immediately calls off the meeting, adding a six-week delay in opening Mesa Verde's newest branch. Chuck angrily digs through his files back home to find 1261 as the address. Howard tries to salvage Chuck's ego by claiming that everyone at HHM, including himself, let this mistake slip through the cracks. Instead, Chuck realizes the switch was deliberate.
Mike surveils El Griego Guiñador, watching Hector take out his anger over the robbery on Nacho and Arturo. He drives to a crowded bar and, smirking, uses his spoils to buy a round for everyone inside. He basks in the patrons' standing ovation... and the satisfaction of pulling off the perfect crime.
Jimmy and Kim renovate the dentists' office to turn it into Wexler-McGill when Kim gets a sudden call from Paige. Mesa Verde's dropped HHM and picked up Kim as their new counsel, to Jimmy and Kim's joy. As they happily brainstorm how Kim will handle her new workload, she gets another call from Ernesto. He tells her that Chuck's already prepared to turn over the Mesa Verde files, and Jimmy tags along with her to Chuck's house.
Ernesto lets Jimmy and Kim inside when Jimmy's keys fail to unlock Chuck's door, as Chuck had him call a locksmith. Sitting regally in his chair while wrapped in Mylar, Chuck dismisses Ernesto, as "it's time to clear the air once and for all." Chuck explains that a transpositional error cost him Mesa Verde, the biggest professional disaster of his career. However, he realized it wasn't an error - Jimmy doctored his files at an copy shop, then sneaked inside his house and replaced the doctored versions with the originals to cover up what happened after HHM submitted the incorrect documents. Jimmy feigns ignorance, but Chuck fixates on Kim: he assumes that Jimmy did this without her knowledge as some dark token of his love for her, and that she now must report this claim to Kevin as a proper lawyer would. As Jimmy and Chuck bicker, Kim speaks up to remind Chuck that Jimmy could be charged with numerous crimes if word gets out, and that his only evidence is "knowing my brother for his entire life". When he self-righteously confirms it, Kim takes Jimmy's side - she lays out that making a mistake is the sounder reason than Chuck's bitter conspiracy theory. When Chuck still furiously denies this, and implores her to look past her fondness for Jimmy, Kim nails him to the wall:
"All he ever wanted was your love and support... but all you've ever done is judge him. You never believed in him. You never wanted him to succeed. And you know what? I feel sorry for him - and I feel sorry for you."
Cowed, Chuck lets them take the Mesa Verde files into Jimmy's car. Kim punches Jimmy's arm before curtly telling him to drive; she knows full well that Chuck's accusations were correct, and that Jimmy dragged her into his vendetta once again.
As Jimmy cons some free footage of him in front of an American flag, Mike picks up a newspaper and orders breakfast at his favorite diner. On top of the world, he merrily scans the paper and flirts with Fran. However, his good mood dies with a call from Nacho, who he meets with at their usual place. Nacho tells him that Hector's looking for the guy who robbed him, and taps Mike as the primary suspect. No one in the game would've stolen a quarter million dollars and left the mule breathing... except for the guy who refuses to kill even Tuco Salamanca. Nacho doesn't care about the headache Mike gave Hector, but he's gonna bring Ximenez in for questioning, and if Ximenez identified Mike or had any associations with him, Hector's wrath will eventually blow back on Nacho. Mike cockily explains that he figured out the cartel's money transit method on his own, and he disguised himself so well that Ximenez will have nothing to reveal to Hector. Satisfied, Nacho goes back to his van - before Mike stops him to ask why the robbery wasn't reported in the paper. Nacho realizes that Mike's true goal with the heist was to put the police on Hector as reprisal for threatening Mike's family. Livid at Mike for writing him off as collateral, Nacho reaches for his gun and tells off Mike for his vindictiveness. When he calms down (and gets a promise from Mike that he's finished with the Salamancas), he explains how Hector got away with it: a good Samaritan came along and cut Ximenez loose, who then called his boss. They cleaned up the whole scene, including their witness - Hector personally shot them dead, Nacho says with clear disgust. Mike is unsettled by the murder as he sits his car.
Jimmy and Kim lie in bed and discuss their days: Jimmy finished his commercial and Kim got up to speed with Kevin and Paige. Jimmy obliquely asks if they're going to talk about Chuck's showdown, which she denies. Jimmy pointedly claims that she's far more deserving of Mesa Verde than HHM and starts falling asleep when Kim hints that someone as smart (and egotistical) as Chuck won't just give up. If Jimmy's escalating their feud, he has to make sure he's completely covered his tracks. Eyes widening, Jimmy gets up and drives off.
Jimmy pulls up to the copy shop to find he's too late; Ernesto already questioned the clerk, Lance, and will no doubt be back with Chuck soon enough to confirm Jimmy's forgery. Jimmy bribes Lance to "forget" about him and erase the security footage that shows his night out. Ernesto drives Chuck to the shop as Jimmy watches. Forcing himself through the electrical onslaught, Chuck personally asks Lance about Jimmy. When Lance recants the story he told Ernesto, Chuck starts grilling him as his EHS flares up. Barely staying on his feet, Chuck waves off Ernesto and tries to push through Lance's lies. When Lance blows him off entirely, Chuck completely breaks down and collapses, smashing his head on the counter in front of a horrified Jimmy's eyes. He begs someone, anyone, to call an ambulance as he stands there helplessly.
Tropes
- Abbey Road Crossing: The cinematography spoofs the iconic cover image as Jimmy, his camera crew and makeup artist cross the street heading to the elementary school for their unauthorized shoot.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Chuck lays out how and why he thinks Jimmy got Mesa Verde back for Kim. Though he's exactly right and everyone in the room knows it, Kim retorts by asking what evidence he has of it being the case. This lets her argue with Plausible Deniability of it ever happening.
- Bad Boss: Chuck is very abusive and demeaning towards Ernesto, even though Ernesto is sincerely motivated by looking out for Chuck's well-being when suggesting the need to leave or take a break from the copy shop that is loaded with electricity.
- Bait-and-Switch: Mike uses his spike strip to stop the truck. He gets out an electric saw and the hog-tied Lecerda starts thrashing as if Mike is about to amputate a limb or worse – nope, Mike's just using the saw to cut open the tires to see what's being smuggled.
- Berserk Button: Even the suggestion that Chuck might have made a mistake sends him Suddenly Shouting at Kim.
- Breaking Speech: Kim gives one to Chuck, pointing out that he has no evidence that Jimmy forged the documents and generally guilt-tripping him. It's clear that he isn't even slightly swayed by it, considering his antics at the copy shop afterward, but he has literally nothing he can say in response and simply hands the documents over without further comment.
- Bilingual Bonus: The song that Lecerda is singing along to when Mike ambushes him is La Sonora Dinamita’s “Mi Cucu.” It's a Spanish song about a woman's ass.
- Call-Back:
- Jimmy's surveillance, at Chuck's house and then near the print place, is a mirror of Mike's surveillance/stakeout of Hector Salamanca's crew.
- When Jimmy is trying to bribe the guy at the copy shop and the guy asks him if he robbed a bank, Jimmy replies, "No way am I that cool. Sometimes I go number two and don't flush, but...," which references his behavior at Davis & Main when he was trying to get himself fired.
- The picture Chuck shows the copy shop guy is actually from the newspaper article about the billboard stunt.
- Call-Forward:
- The bar where Mike buys drinks for the house with his drug money is the same one where he rebuffed Walt after he proposed an alliance to help him kill Gus.
- Ximinez Lecerda is singing along to a foreign song on his radio when Mike ambushes him. It is eerily reminiscent of Gale Boetticher doing the same thing in his apartment in Breaking Bad.
- Jimmy watching Chuck collapse in the copy store, and not being able to do anything about it, is reminiscent of how Walt just stands by while Jane overdoses.
- And of course Mike's and Jimmy's actions having unintended victims sure are similar to any time Walt takes a course of action that results in someone getting injured or killed, particularly the plane crash and Drew Sharp (the little boy that runs into the train robbery) getting shot by Todd.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Chuck is convinced he didn't make a mistake, was simply reading from prints with the erroneous 1216 address, and that the papers originally said 1261, but he looks too arrogant to be believed.
- Subverted when he lays out his accusations to Kim. She seemingly doesn't believe him, but once she and Jimmy are out of the house, she makes clear that she knows Chuck is right.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Chekhov's pills and obvious bad health, in the case of Hector. After hearing about the truck robbery, Hector is seen taking pills and looking obviously unwell. Anyone who has seen Breaking Bad knows where that is going.
- When defending Jimmy to Chuck, she remarks that she knows he likes to cut corners. She brings this up again later on in order to (indirectly) make Jimmy realize he may have left evidence of his forgery at the copy place.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Chuck unconscious after he hits his head on a table. We do not know how badly he is hurt or if the blow might have killed him. We are left with Jimmy praying that someone call 911.
- Didn't See That Coming: Jimmy and the copy store cashier work together to ensure that Chuck doesn't find out about Jimmy's actions in the store, and go over every possible thing that could happen, including the idea of Chuck trying to get the police involved or otherwise acting like one, all of which goes off without a hitch. Unfortunately, Jimmy didn't consider Chuck's EHS flaring up at the wrong time and causing him to pass out, spelling trouble for everybody.
- Disapproving Look: Kim gives Jimmy a silent one when it sinks in during Chuck's explanation what exactly Jimmy did with the Mesa Verde files.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title obviously refers to Mike's homemade tire trap but could also allude to Chuck "nailing" his head on a table when he falls. It could also refer to Jimmy "nailing" Chuck with the Forged Letter.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Chuck feels utterly betrayed by Jimmy "stabbing him in the back" while Jimmy pretended to care for him in his sleep. But we all know Chuck is a Hypocrite in that respect.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Nacho sounds disgusted when he explains what Hector did to the passerby that freed Lecerda. He's also taken aback by Mike's intent to tear Hector down, both because he thinks it's crazy and since it would get him in hot water too.
- That may have been pretty cruel of Jimmy to gaslight Chuck, but even he's genuinely horrified upon seeing Chuck collapse and hit his head on the table.
- Every Man Has His Price: Lance accepts Jimmy's bribe to deny to Chuck that Jimmy was there beforehand making copies. Jimmy offers $100 to delete the security VCR tape, only for Lance to insist on it being "200$ expensive".
- Foreshadowing:
- Mike's unwillingness to kill bad people once again puts innocents in danger. It is pretty easy to see that this will lead to him developing his "No half measures" philosophy.
- Howard tries to talk Chuck out of personally seeing to the Banking Board hearing, as it's usually just a formality. But Chuck insists. Chuck's insistence on seeing to things personally despite Howard's offer to handle things himself will occur again in the future, but with much more on the line.
- Mike, while conducting Sinister Surveillance on the ice cream store, notices that Hector stumbles, grabs his medication, and labors quite intensely afterwards which suggests heart disease or high blood pressure. Yes, we're going to learn exactly how Hector ended up becoming a Dark Lord on Life Support in that wheelchair.
- For Want Of A Nail: If Chuck hadn't insisted on conducting the Banking Board hearing himself then Howard, who had much better people skills, would likely have owned up and apologized to Kevin Wachtell. That meant Howard might have been able to keep Mesa Verde as a prized client instead of Chuck driving them away with his arrogance. That would have made Jimmy's efforts All for Nothing. Furthermore, Jimmy wouldn't have been able to replace the doctored documents with the originals to cover up what he did.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Mike closes the trunk of his car, you can see he did take everything he brought with him to the ambush site, including the spike strip garden hose and the rig used to move it into the road.
- Gaslighting: Jimmy's forgery makes it look like Chuck made a mistake, and Chuck's insistence that he didn't make him look increasingly delusional. In an unusual example, Chuck immediately and accurately figures out what Jimmy's doing, but he has no proof, and no one seems to believe him (except Kim, who knows it's true, but won't admit to knowing that while in Chuck's presence). Seemingly appropriate that the man who uses gas lanterns exclusively would become a victim of gaslighting.
- Grand Romantic Gesture: Chuck thinks Jimmy forging the Mesa Verde documents is supposed to be one directed at Kim.
- Heroic B So D: Kim has a brief one after leaving Chuck's house, where she has a Thousand-Yard Stare while sitting in the car. She's concerned how far things could sink if she remains joined at the hip with Jimmy.
- Honor Among Thieves: Nacho correctly deduces that Mike was behind the truck robbery but has no interest in turning him in or blackmailing him, despite the fact that he's currently working for the man whose truck was robbed and he previously said that he liked ripping off other criminals since they had no recourse. A few factors are at play here, including Nacho's respect for Mike after the job he did for Nacho on Tuco, and Nacho's familiarity with how hyper-competent Mike is making him a difficult target to squeeze, but it doesn't seem like the thought even crossed his mind.
- Hypocrite:
- Chuck, who stabbed Jimmy in the back by stopping him getting a job as an attorney at HHM, who tried to sabotage his attorney job at Davis & Main and who filched Mesa Verde away from Kim when he thought she was going to be Jimmy's law partner, is upset when Jimmy stabs him in the back.
- Also, during the court hearing for Mesa Verde Bank and Trust, Chuck accuses the judge of not double-checking the documents to ensure the proper address when he himself made that blunder.
- Hypocrite Has a Point: It may have been nasty of Chuck to steal Mesa Verde away from Kim, especially since Chuck was motivated by the resentment he has towards Jimmy, but he's not necessarily wrong in calling Jimmy out for embarrassing him in front of his peers in order to win the bank back. He also points out how it was accomplished with a number of felonies, not compared to his above-board methods.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Jimmy says as much to Kim: "I'm just gonna say you are meant for Mesa Verde and they are meant for you. So all is right with the world."
- Internal Reveal: In a rather quick turnaround from the previous episode, Chuck (and Kim) realize that Jimmy altered his paperwork.
- Ironic Echo:
- The scene of Jimmy and Kim and their tense conversation from opposite sides of the bed is almost exactly like the scene of Chuck and Rebecca in bed from the "Rebecca" flashback. Even the body language and behaviors are similar: Kim and Rebecca are reading intently, while the McGill next to them tries to draw them into a conversation they don't want to have. But here, Kim indirectly responds to Jimmy, where Rebecca simply ignored Chuck entirely.
- And also, Kim's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Chuck, mirrors Chuck's own speech to Jimmy in "Pimento", right down to being done in the same room. It even has Kim pull up Chuck on not having evidence, which should have been considered by someone who thinks he can judge who is a real lawyer and who isn't.
- One to Breaking Bad: "Bullet Points" opens with Mike being inside a Los Pollos Hermanos refrigerator truck that is ambushed on a rural highway by cartel hitmen. Here, he's the one attacking an ice cream truck driven by a cartel mule.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Mike ambushes one of the cartel's trucks to mess with Hector, then starts spending the cash by offering a round on him for an entire bar.
- Leave No Witnesses:
- Nacho points out to Mike that him leaving Lecerda alive is suspicious, as any other gang would have shot him. This is part of why Nacho suspects that it was him, and makes Nacho worry that he can identify Mike.
- Hector killed a witness who came upon the aftermath of Mike's hit on the truck.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: When Jimmy asks Kim if she wants to talk about him doctoring Chuck's legal documents, she responds with "Not now. Not ever."
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Mike is unsettled upon learning that Hector killed a witness who stumbled upon the robbery.
- And Jimmy, when his bribery of the copy shop employee ends up having the effect of causing Chuck to not only faint due to his EMS, but also hit his head on a desk while fainting.
- My Rule Fu Is Stronger than Yours: Kim out-lawyers Chuck by pointing out that he has no evidence of Jimmy's forgery.
- Never My Fault: The audience knows that Chuck's description of how Jimmy doctored the documents is 100% accurate. But the way he throws the accusations, makes Kim realize... even if it wasn't Jimmy's fault and it was an honest mistake on Chuck's behalf, Chuck would still have blamed Jimmy. Earlier, he finds it easier to believe his clients are wrong about the address of their own business than to entertain the possibility that he has made a mistake.
- Lesser example in Kim's Breaking Speech, where she accuses Chuck of being the reason Jimmy cuts corners when the only person who arguably contributed to that character flaw was Jimmy himself (and the unnamed grifter who conned his dad for seemingly starting him on that path).
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- To get back at him for threatening his family, Mike hit one of Hector's trucks to both take off with a quarter of a million dollars and send the cops his way. Mike's refusal to "pull the trigger", as Nacho puts it, and shoot Lecerda leads to an innocent passerby getting killed.
- Jimmy's efforts to get Mesa Verde back for Kim comes at Chuck's own attempts to uncover them, the scorn and disappointment of Kim, and later, Chuck breaking down at the copy shop.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: A man stops to help Lecerda (who has been hogtied and left at the side of the road). Lecerda immediately calls Hector Salamanca, who shoots the man in the face.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Lecerda gets two: when he sees he's barreling towards a spike strip in the middle of the road at full speed. Then, the moment Mike starts up the saw, he starts thrashing and screaming, thinking Mike is going to kill him or torture him.
- Jimmy when Kim insinuates Chuck might find another way to expose him.
- Jimmy when Chuck started having another episode that caused him to collapse and hit his head on a desk on account that he forged Chuck's files.
- Pet the Dog: Howard often looks a lot like a shallow and opportunistic Yes-Man to Chuck up to this point. However, when Chuck is having a meltdown over his supposed mistake, he quickly tries to console him as best he can. Visibly worried about his friend, completely ignoring the fact that HHM (and himself) have also been embarrassed by Chuck's apparent incompetency.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Nacho figures out Mike robbed Hector's truck and asks they meet somewhere, but just to ask if the driver was in on the operation and if it will end up putting both of them in danger. He makes it clear he has no issue with Mike ripping the cartel off and no intention to kill him, until Mike expresses his desire for revenge against Hector. Though alarmed, he listens to Mike's suggestion to take his hand off his gun.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Chuck goes on about Jimmy forging the documents, but then Kim lays a hard one into Chuck:Kim: You made a mistake. And instead of just facing up to it, you accuse your brother of plotting against you. You come up with this elaborate scheme–
Chuck: He's capable of this! You know he is!
Kim: I know he's not perfect. And I know he cuts corners. But you're the one who made him this way. He idolizes you; he accepts you; he takes care of you. And all he ever wanted was your love and support. But all you've ever done is judge him. You never believed in him, and you never wanted him to succeed. [beat] And you know what? I feel sorry for him. [beat] And I feel sorry for you. - In its own way, Kim's indirect reply to Jimmy, letting him know that he's made a serious adversary in Chuck and that his tendency towards corner-cutting might cost him dearly.
- Chuck goes on about Jimmy forging the documents, but then Kim lays a hard one into Chuck:
- Revenge Before Reason: Nacho tells Mike that Hector forgot about what Mike did and moved on, but Mike has refused to forget about Hector's death threats. His actions indirectly have gotten an innocent bystander killed by Hector.
- A Simple Plan: Mike once again plans and executes a masterful attack on the Salamancas. Once again, he fails to predict what will happen afterwards; the Salamancas manage to avoid police scrutiny and an innocent motorist is killed in the process.
- Shame If Something Happened: Kim gives a non-villainous version carrying this tone. Before going to bed, Kim reminds Jimmy that Chuck is one of the best lawyers out there, and that if he were your opponent, he'd make sure to check for every single possible crack in your defense. This prompts Jimmy to head to the copy shop and make sure Chuck doesn't ask the cashier about him.
- Spotting the Thread: Lecerda being left alive at the scene of the truck hijacking means Nacho connects it to Mike, whom he remembers for his great reluctance at pulling the trigger on Tuco.
- Technology Marches On: Jimmy successfully fends off the school administrators by claiming to be filming a documentary on songwriter Rupert Holmes, who (he claims) grew up in Albuquerque. This scheme worked well enough in 2003 (when the episode takes place), but nowadays, it would be trivial for one of the administrators to whip out her smartphone and consult The Other Wiki to immediately debunk this claim.
- Tempting Fate: Chuck assures Howard, before going to the bank approval hearing, "I find victory laps very comforting." He thinks that the hearing is just a formality. Goes without saying after a quote like that, that the hearing goes badly due to all the discrepancies caused by Jimmy's forgery.
- Bonus points for the fact that had Chuck not gone for his 'victory lap', Jimmy would not have been able to put the original '1261' paperwork back and Chuck would have had the '1216' copies to prove he acted in good faith. As it was, his victory lap made him look like a delusional maker of mistakes.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- Mike's unwillingness to kill Lecerda results in an innocent witness being killed by Hector.
- Jimmy's sabotage of Chuck's paperwork leads to Chuck having a breakdown as he is unable to prove what Jimmy did. Chuck faints and hits his head on a table.
- Villain Respect: Jimmy is noticeably impressed with Lance the copy store employee indirectly demanding $200 to erase the security tapenote , and how effectively he was lying to Chuck... at least until this leads to Chuck's collapse.
- Wham Line:
- In-Universe, Chuck and Howard learning of the paperwork sabotage, more so for Chuck since he automatically realizes Jimmy is behind it.
- "Why wasn't [Mike's truck attack] in the papers?" Only then does it dawn on Nacho that Mike intended for them to appear on police radar.
- From the same scene, there's Nacho revealing that Hector shot the passerby who helped Lecerda in the face and buried his body in the desert.
- Wham Shot: Chuck striking his head when he collapses from an EMS attack in the copy shop.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- A downplayed variation; Nacho's not happy to hear that Mike messed with the cartel for the sake of getting back at Hector Salamanca, who most likely doesn't care about what happened between them, and specifically wanted to trail the cops to Salamancas because it would mean endangering him as well. Mike promises that he's done with it, at least until he hears about the Good Samaritan.
- After telling Jimmy how he shouldn't save her because she can take care of herself, she's very upset to know Jimmy put effort into getting Mesa Verde as Chuck theorizes. When they both get in their car, she beats his shoulder a few times and tells him to "just drive".
- What You Are in the Dark: Quite literally, since the scene occurred at night; after Chuck collapses and bangs his head, Jimmy noticeably becomes concerned and quietly mutters for someone to call 911 (since going into the store would further implicate him).
- You Have to Believe Me!: Chuck tries to convince Kim that Jimmy forged the Mesa Verde documents. She lays in how his pride is clouding his judgment. Subverted in that Kim's reaction once she and Jimmy are back in the car makes clear that she knows Jimmy was responsible, but to an outsider, Chuck is either crazy or too prideful to admit that he could have made a mistake.
