Season 6, Episode 5:
Black and Blue
Written by Alison Tatlock
Directed by Melissa Bernstein
Air date: May 9th, 2022
A typical out-of-court settlement.
"You've mistaken my kindness for weakness. I'd like to think that tonight made a difference. I'd like to think that tonight ends it... probably not."
— Howard Hamlin
Howard wises up and begins making moves of his own. Kim and Jimmy touch base with their assistants and ready the next phase of their plan. Gus tries to control his panic while preparing for the worst. Lalo travels to a new locale to get his prueba.
Tropes:
- Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: Referenced. Kept awake by knowing Lalo is still out there, Kim wedges a chair under the apartment's doorknob to keep it from opening. A few minutes later, after a brief talk with Jimmy, she removes it, knowing that if Lalo wants to get in it'll take a hell of a lot more than a chair to stop him.
- Ambiguous Situation: Exactly why Gus felt the need to suddenly head over to the laundromat to check out the underground area isn't explained in the episode. Gus even gives Mike the silent treatment when he tries to discuss it, and then starts checking a few random things before stashing his gun from his ankle holster, the episode ending before any clarity is offered. Viewers with a very sharp memory could make the connection, as Gus remembers his "Spice Curls" presentation to the German head of Madrigal's fast food division and concludes that another German who he was involved with is what Lalo is looking into.
- Speaking of Lalo, the question of how he (a known criminal widely believed to be dead) travelled to Germany is left deliberately vague although one can assume that false papers of some sort were involved; his absence from the past few episodes was intended to leave this open to interpretation.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- The episode opens on someone who appears to be a chemist at work, which viewers would assume at first to be connected with the drug trade. Then it's shown to be the making of a custom award or something, in the form of a slide-rule encased in Lucite, with engraving and a small plaque added. This object becomes important at the episode's end.
- Margarethe returning home a few minutes after leaving for work, before Lalo has had the chance to find anything useful in her house, and then being alerted of a possible intruder by her dog, seems to be a perfect setup for Lalo to have to kill her to avoid discovery and buy more time to search the house. We even get a scene of Lalo putting a silencer on his gun and waiting for her to find him. And then, Lalo randomly finds his focus on the Lucite-encased slide rule, investigates it for a few seconds, and exits via the window after finding something that he considers to be a lead.
- Batman Gambit: Seems to be at play in Jimmy and Kim's plan to ruin Howard's career, as both seem completely comfortable with knowing that Howard already knows exactly what they're up to, and can both probably assume that he's taking measures to prevent further incidents. Kim's lines to Jimmy when they're in bed together even imply that Howard knowing about their scheme is somehow part of their plan.
- Benevolent Boss: With his men on round-the-clock security for Gus, Mike makes a point of checking in to make sure they're OK and being properly fed.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Howard, who has constantly tried to extend an olive branch to Jimmy only to be rebuffed, finally has enough and challenges Jimmy to a round in a boxing ring... and, to Jimmy's clear surprise, proceeds to utterly clean Jimmy's clock. Lampshaded, when Howard notes that Jimmy has consistently, "mistaken my kindness for weakness".
- The Bus Came Back: The episode marks the return of Francesca, who hasn't been seen since the Flash Forward in Season 4, and who hasn't been seen in the present timeline since the previous season.
- Call-Back:
- As part of his war against Gus, Lalo was able to discover some details of a large construction project that Gus was undertaking, immediately raising his suspicions, and he clearly did not buy Gus's explanation of it being an industrial chicken chiller. Months later, Lalo still remembers, and now intends to try to use that mystery construction project to unravel Gus's entire scheme and get The Cartel to sign off on disposing of him.
- Gus had a meeting with Madrigal's fast food division boss, a German named Peter Schuler, where Gus presented his new "Spice Curls" fries. In this episode he upsells a customer using them, and seems to connect in his mind between that presentation to Schuler, and his fellow German, Werner Ziegler, and figures out that Lalo is going to investigate the underground lab, and how to prepare for his return.
- Call-Forward:
- Francesca Liddy is ready to head back to the MVD until Saul negotiates a higher salary for her and a signing bonus to get her to stay on. She'll later demand a similar series of bribery payments from Walter White.
- Kim's remarks on Jimmy's boxing match with Howard turn out to be the origin for one of Saul Goodman's catchphrases, "I'll fight for you, Albuquerque!"
- Breaking Bad often drew parallels between Walt and Gus, in ways such as their similar mannerisms when vomiting into a toilet, their reaction to having a loved one executed right in front of them, and having a close relationship with a member of the DEA to mask their illegal actions. In this episode, we see Gus neurotically scrubbing a toothbrush on a section of tile in the tub of a bathroom in a house that isn't even his while he's stressed about the Lalo situation. This seems to be a parallel to Walt's future habit of focusing on menial, pointless things whenever overwhelmed by things that he feels helpless to handle, such as fixing the uneven table at the hospital right after Hank has been shot, or drawing attention to the mustard stain on the doctor's tie right after being informed of his terminal cancer.
- The Casanova: Lalo cranks the charisma up to eleven when meeting Margarethe, using just the right words to gain her interest, start a conversation, get her to open up about her late husband, and then even take him to her house, all in one evening. She all but says the only reason why she doesn't invite him inside to spend the night is that she has work in the morning, and remember that this is a grieving widow. Of course, the alcohol seemed to help.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Werner Ziegler's widow Margarethe, who was mentioned throughout Season 4 and who almost came to New Mexico to visit Werner before he had to hurriedly tell her to go back home, turns out to be this. Lalo visits her all the way in Germany to chat her up under the pretense of a friendly traveling businessman, but is actually there to scope out her home for any clues as to what Werner was working on before his death.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Kim smokes several due to her growing paranoia about Lalo resurfacing, usually at night when she should be asleep.
- Continuity Nod:
- Francesca Liddy last worked for Jimmy during the days of his and Kim's Wexler-McGill partnership in Season 3. So she's flummoxed when she comes to look at a job offer for "Saul Goodman & Associates", asking where Kim went, what happened to Jimmy practicing elder law, and what's up with the new name.
- When challenging Jimmy to a boxing match, Howard posits that Jimmy must have gotten into some scrapes in his old neighborhood, referring to his days as Slippin' Jimmy in Cicero.
- Crazy-Prepared: Margarethe Ziegler mentions that some lawyers came to her residence and removed all of Werner's "proprietary" materials related to his last project. These were most likely men on Gus's payroll scrubbing all the evidence of the excavation operation in case someone decided to come all the way to Germany to snoop, a possibility proven correct.
- Cross-Referenced Titles: With the Breaking Bad episode "Negro Y Azul", which is Spanish for "black and blue".
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Howard seems to know his way around a boxing ring, whereas Jimmy mostly treats the exercise as a joke, goofing around no matter how seriously Howard seems to be taking it. So of course, Howard quickly knocks Jimmy flat with an uppercut, but Jimmy manages to get a few good shots in to make the scene not just Howard wailing on Jimmy for catharsis.
- Dashing Hispanic: Lalo certainly knows how to turn up the charm when needed.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Jimmy tries to cheer up Kim's unease (which he doesn't know is due to her knowing Lalo is alive) by saying "Thank God he's dead!"
- Cliff, believing Howard has fallen into bad habits, tries to encourage him to get help. Howard explains to him that he thinks he's suffering a "Jimmy McGill" problem, which clearly just makes Cliff even more exasperated that his best friend is just making excuses. But of course, Howard is completely correct.
- Margarethe Ziegler chats with a friendly stranger about her husband's death and how it has impacted her, not realizing that this "friendly stranger" was actually partially responsible for his death.
- The Dreaded: Mike threatened all of Werner's workers to keep quiet about their operation when they returned to Germany. The message was apparently received, as Margarethe states that some of them sent her flowers but none of them showed up at the funeral.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Gus seems to have one while taking a customer's order upfront at Los Pollos Hermanos. After he mentions the new "spice curls" he becomes distracted and lost in thought. Later, he suddenly decides to take a trip to the excavation site under the laundromat and leave his gun there. Most likely, the "spice curls" reminded him of the presentation he gave about them at Madrigal and helped him realize Lalo is probably investigating the German workers that were working on his lab.
- Gilligan Cut: Jimmy laughs at Howard for what amounts to calling him out for a boxing match to finally get things out of their systems. As he's leaving the boxing hall, he stops. Cut - and they are both putting on boxing gear.
- Good Is Not Soft: Howard invokes this after knocking Jimmy out with an uppercut, being just tired at this point of their petty squabbles.
- Hidden Depths: Howard Hamlin, the straight-edged, clean-cut titan of the Albuquerque legal community, is also quite a skilled boxer—to the point of laying Jimmy flat with an uppercut and leaving him with a black eye. Truth in Television; it's quite common for people with stressful white-collar jobs to blow off some steam with an intense physical activity.
- Ignored Epiphany: Lampshaded after Howard's fight with Jimmy, when Howard notes that he'd like to believe that Jimmy might take away from his beatdown a lesson that Howard isn't quite the pushover Jimmy clearly believes him to be and to back off from his constant attempts at sabotage, but admits that he doesn't really believe Jimmy will.
- Incredibly Obvious Tail: The PI Howard assigns to watch Jimmy clearly didn't graduate from the same investigation school that Mike did. When Jimmy leaves the boxing gym, the PI fires up his incredibly loud car, pulls a very ostentatious U-turn with his brights on, and follows. Two episodes later, this is revealed to be a bit of Foreshadowing.
- Irony: Lalo does a good job of listening to Margarethe and sympathizing about her late husband... of course, he never bothers mentioning he once hunted the man across New Mexico and likely planned to torture him for information before killing him.
- Kansas City Shuffle: As satisfying as it must have been for Howard to lay Jimmy out with a few well-placed punches, Jimmy and Kim's conversation later on indicates that their plan hinged on Howard realizing Jimmy was behind the scheme—and that whatever happens next is what's really supposed to be his undoing.
- Meaningful Background Event: When Kim wakes up, the clock shows 3:17 as the time. It's also mirror-imaged, making the digital display look like the word LIE. She's currently withholding the truth about Lalo from Jimmy.
- Nervous Wreck: Gus' disposition throughout the whole episode, carrying over from the previous one. Even when he's at home, he's frantically scrubbing his bathroom to ease his conscience, to which Mike even calls him out on, saying he should relax with the security on hand.
- Not So Stoic: Gus, still consumed by his fear and paranoia, seems to be unable to maintain his calm in either his private or public life. Like the last episode, the viewer is treated to another montage of his daily life, where he tries to be cool but is constantly looking over the corner for Lalo. He even completely spaces out when a customer asks for his meal despite his obsession with perfectionism.
- Pet the Dog: Lalo handles Margarethe with kid gloves, charming her with his company. A literal example when he searches her house and calms her barking Dachshund down by petting him and speaking soothingly.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Lalo has clearly learned from all the trouble that resulted from his casual murder of Fred Whalen, and is much more subtle when breaking into Margarethe's house, making sure to do so when she has left the house, calming down her pet dog so that its barking won't alert the neighbors, and then discreetly leaving when she unexpectedly returns. The fact he needs to get proof of Gus' project without alerting Gus to the fact he is still alive also factors into it. He'll have enough trouble with that when he leans on the construction crew, so no point tipping Gus off early by leaving a dead widow
- The Reveal: After three episodes of being MIA, we finally have answers to where Lalo has gone to and what "proof" he's looking for to bring down Gus. He's traveled all the way to Germany and is looking for leads to the workers that were contracted to Gus's excavation project, having initially been curious about the operation and gotten vague details several months ago.
- Silver Fox: Margarethe is in her very late 50s at least, but is still a highly attractive and intelligent woman. Lalo doesn't look out of place enjoying an evening with her at all.
- Spotting the Thread:
- Howard drums up the whole timeline of weird things that have been happening to him and seems to realize immediately what's up. But he asks Cliff who he was meeting up with the day he supposedly saw him throw out the prostitute and the answer cinches it for him: "Kim Wexler!"
- Whatever details Lalo got from the label on the Lucite-encased slide rule, it appears to be enough for him to leave satisfied without making a mess of Werner's widow. Although if he did, Gus and Mike would instantly have proof that Lalo was alive.
- Sue Donym: In order to trick Jimmy into getting in a boxing match with him, Howard pretends to be a client needing his assistance in a shanking, and he goes by the name "Mr. Ward."Jimmy: Mr. Ward, I presume. As in... H.O. Ward. That is really cute, Howard.
- Throwing Down the Gauntlet: After realizing that Jimmy is trying to screw with him again, Howard rents out a ring and actually challenges Jimmy to a physical boxing match. Even more surprisingly, Jimmy takes him up on it.
