"You asked if you were bad for me. That's not it, we're bad for each other. (...) Jimmy, I have had the time of my life with you. But we are bad for everyone around us. Other people suffer because of us. Apart, we're okay, but... together? We're poison."
— Kim Wexler
The day after their ordeal with Lalo, Jimmy and Kim go about their day just as Mike told them to. When they arrive home, they find that Mike's crew have cleaned the apartment to perfection — no trace of Howard's death can be seen. Despite this, they're too unsettled to stay long, and decide to spend the night at a motel. There, Jimmy quotes Mike's words on trauma to Kim:
Jimmy: One day, we'll... We'll wake up, and brush our teeth, and we'll go to work. And at some point, we'll suddenly realize... that we hadn't thought about it at all.
Kim doesn't respond.
Gus arrives at Don Eladio's hacienda. Bolsa, Hector, the cousins, and Eladio are all waiting for him. Hector has told Eladio everything, from how Lalo faked his death to his final phone call. Since Hector's account contradicts all of the other evidence, and the cousins weren't actually present at any of Hector's calls with Lalo, Eladio dismisses the matter and sends Hector away. With him gone, Eladio reveals to Gus that he knows of his hatred for him, but doesn't mind — as long as it doesn't affect their business. Gus will take most of the Salamanca's former territory, but Eladio places him firmly under Bolsa.
A much more relaxed Gus returns home the next day. Mike informs him that the Albuquerque police have bought the story they set up; Howard's death is assumed to be a suicide. Gus directs Mike to start finding a new engineer and crew to finish the superlab. They share a long look before Gus leaves.
Free to enjoy himself, Gus visits a classy bar and strikes up a conversation with the sommelier, David. They're acquainted with each other already, and get along very well; Gus is enraptured as he tells stories about his travels in Europe. Gus mentions that he purchased a wine David had recommended a while ago, and that he's saving it for a special occasion. When David leaves to get another wine for Gus to try, Gus initially looks content, but he finishes his glass and returns to his stern expression after a moment. He then pays his tab and leaves, taking one last look back.
Mike tries to relax at home, but is restless. He goes into his hiding spot, retrieves the fake ID Nacho made for his father and leaves. Manuel Varga, working late, receives a call from Mike. He informs him that Nacho is dead, and attempts to soften the blow by saying that his death was quick, that Nacho was a good man, and that justice will be done. A despondent Manuel dismisses Mike as just another gangster and his "justice" as revenge. He returns to his shop.
Jimmy and Kim attend Howard's wake, held at HHM. They learn from Rich Schweikart that the firm is downsizing, moving out of the building, and changing its name. When they approach Cliff and Howard's estranged wife Cheryl, she angrily confronts Jimmy, telling him that Howard told her Jimmy was harassing him. Jimmy repeats the story he's been telling. When Cheryl still seems unconvinced, Kim jumps in and provides a fake story of how she once caught Howard doing cocaine late at night. Cheryl looks to Cliff for backup, but when he doesn't give any, she begins to tear up. Kim, feigning support, tells Cheryl that she saw Howard every day and knew him better than anyone — causing her to run away in tears. In the parking garage afterwards, Kim gives Jimmy a tender kiss before driving off in her car.
Later, in court, a judge considers a last-minute petition from Kim to withdraw from a case. When he insists that the current hearing be finished before he considers this petition, Kim replies that that isn't possible — because she's already given up her license to practice law.
That night, Kim smokes on the balcony of her apartment. Jimmy bursts in and desperately tries to convince Kim to change her mind, before he finds half-packed suitcases and boxes in Kim's room. Kim tells Jimmy that their relationship can't continue; it brings out the worst in both of them, and brings ruin on everyone around them. When a heartbroken Jimmy tries to absolve them of Howard's death by blaming Lalo, Kim reveals that she knew Lalo was alive. She didn't tell Jimmy because she knew it would mean the end of both the scam and their relationship, and she was having too much fun. Finally stunned into silence, Jimmy watches Kim continue to pack.
After an abrupt time skip, we see Jimmy — now fully immersed in the Saul persona 24/7 — wake up in his gaudy mansion with a prostitute in his bed. He talks business on his earpiece through his entire morning routine, threatening people with litigation and giving commands to Francesca. Sitting down in his office, Saul calls in his first client of the day, echoing Chuck (though he likely doesn't even realize it):
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: All her talk of a Destructive Romance going in one ear and out of the other, Jimmy pitifully begs Kim to tell him what to do so he can fix this, using almost the exact words he did when he was begging Chuck to not leave him in jail.
- All for Nothing: A very minor example. The cold open shows Mike's crew painstakingly, and apparently over a number of hours, cleaning up Kim and Jimmy's apartment, completely removing any evidence of Howard's murder by Lalo as if it had never happened at all. All a completely wasted effort since Jimmy's reaction, the moment he gets into his newly pristine home, is to grab their suitcases and get them a hotel - it's clear neither of them want anything to do with the place given the trauma they've just been through. At least, it ensures that Howard's murder will not be tied to them by the police without any physical evidence to indicate foul play. How Jimmy and Kim process getting off scot-free is dealt with very differently by both of them.
- Ambiguously Gay: Gus and Max's partnership already had very heavy undertones to it. But this episode pulls the thread even further by showing Gus affably chatting with the sommelier at a bar who's acquainted with and clearly infatuated with him. Gus is more relaxed than we've ever seen him and seems to really like listening to David talk, to the point that he may have visited the bar just to enjoy his company. But he ultimately decides to leave his tab and walk out while David's occupied, if only due to his loyalty to Max and to the mission.
- And I Must Scream: Basically Hector's fate after this episode. While he's not completely robbed of his ability to communicate, dictating his arguments letter-by-letter with a bell just can't quite cut it when going against a master liar like Gus. Hector knows for a fact that Gus ordered the failed hit on Lalo, can assume beyond any reasonable doubt that he eventually successfully killed Lalo, and it's not hard to infer that further betrayals of The Cartel are on the way. But his lack of evidence gets his accusation dismissed, with it being all too easy to assume that the elderly Salamanca is just going senile or making things up. One has to believe that pre-stroke Hector, even if he couldn't make a persuasive argument to Eladio, would have just killed Gus for revenge and dealt with the consequences. But he's in no state to do anything about the truth that only he knows. For the next few years, Hector just sits rotting in either a nursing home or in the care of Tuco, knowing that Gus is plotting to betray the organization he spent most of his life building, and unable to do anything about it.
- In an example specific to this episode particularly, the furious dinging of his bell as the Cousins carry Hector away when Eladio dismisses both the case against Gus and Hector personally clearly suggest both how desperately Hector wants to rage against the circumstances and how incapable he truly is of doing so.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: It's the first time (onscreen) Jimmy and Kim say they love each other and it's when they're breaking up. He sounds like a lost puppy and she loses composure and starts crying.
- Armor-Piercing Question: After getting Howard killed and gaslighting his widow, Saul tries to convince Kim to stay with him by telling her he loves her. She responds with "I love you too. But so what?" and as Saul is left stunned, broken-hearted, and set on a path of lonely wickedness.
- Awful Truth: When Jimmy freaks about it being all Lalo’s fault coming back from the dead, Kim - full of self loathing, reveals that not only did she know, but she didn’t keep it from him to protect him, she kept it from him because she knew he would panic, try to protect her, pull the plug on the scam, and they’d break up, and that she was having too much fun to want that to happen.
- Being Evil Sucks: A recurring theme throughout the episode; Gus cannot make time for any relationships due to his singleminded focus on revenge, Mike has the truth of him being no different from other criminals told to his face by Nacho's father, Hector is now forced to live with the knowledge that Gus is planning vengeance on the entire cartel and his family while being unable to do anything about it at all, and Jimmy ends up losing Kim while fully becoming Saul Goodman.
- Bookends:
- As part of the episode's opening montage, Saul and Francesca are both watching Saul's new business location take birth as the "Saul Goodman & Associates" logo is lowered over the building. In the Flash Forward at the end, we get to see the firm in its full glory.
- When riding the elevator at HHM, Jimmy notes that they got a new trash can. In the first episode, Jimmy kicked the old trash can numerous times, denting it. These two occasions are the first and final time we see Jimmy at HHM.
- At the funeral, Jimmy bumps into Francis Scheff and quickly greets him, like in the first episode.
- Just before their relationship comes to a close, Jimmy and Kim share a final kiss in the parking garage in which they were first shown sharing a cigarette together at the start of the series.
- Brutal Honesty: Mike, typically the deliverer of brutal honesty across both shows set in the Breaking Bad universe, is on the receiving end of some from Manuel Varga. Mike attempts to console Manuel about his dead son by telling him that the people responsible will receive justice, but Manuel knows that Mike just means that they're going to end up dead as well, which does nothing to bring his son back. He also takes a shot at the concept that Mike brought up back in Season 1 of how a criminal or thief could still be a good person if they acted honorably and kept their word, saying that Mike is no different than any of the rest. This clearly affects Mike, as the denial over what kind of person he's become since avenging the death of his son is severely damaged. Despite his sense of honor and desire to keep innocents out of harm's way, Mike cannot deny that he routinely breaks the law, hurts people, works for a ruthless drug lord, and is not a good person. It's possible that this revelation is what causes him to act much nastier in the Breaking Bad timeline, and that Manuel's words got him to embrace what he had become.
- Call-Back:
- In "Nailed", Chuck accused Jimmy of ruining Kim, to which he got roundly mocked. Now, faced with her leaving and telling him they're bad for each other, Jimmy can't comprehend that and assumes he really has ruined her
, begging her to tell him what to do to make it right. - While trying to assure Kim who's still in a state of Thousand-Yard Stare after Howard's death, Jimmy repeats the advice Mike gave him after their trek through the desert about one day realizing that they weren't thinking about it anymore, and realizing they can forget.
- On their way up to HHM's offices, Jimmy notes in the parking garage that they finally replaced their trash can after noticing on a previous visit it was still there.
- The way Cheryl keeps pressing Jimmy to give more details about his story that he was given by Mike to tell the police about Howard, because she doesn't believe him, echoes when Lalo tried to extort the full story from Jimmy about his desert adventure.
- Like with the good Samaritan Hector killed, Mike is reminded of a death he was partially culpable in and the fact that their disappearance will be affecting their surviving family greatly. So once again, he takes steps to make sure said family (Nacho's in this case) can know what happened to him and gain a sense of closure.
- Like Chuck did in "Lantern", a self-loathing Kim tries to push Jimmy away with an Awful Truth (although she's kinder about it), committing a this-time-metaphorical suicide. Both scenes also have Jimmy protesting feebly that he can change but ending in Stunned Silence. If Chuck's death chipped away at him, then Kim being broken and leaving him destroys him completely.
- When Jimmy first showed Kim a fancy office that he thought he'd get for them, Kim marveled at how the office had stainless steel in the kitchen and noted that not even she has that. In this episode, after the conclusion of the con with Howard which will result in Kim and Jimmy finally having enough money to get a fancy office for their practice of law, Mike gives them a stainless steel refrigerator.
- When meeting with Nacho's father, Mike tells him that despite Nacho's actions and the people he worked with, he was still a good person, echoing his speech back in season one to Daniel about how a criminal could still be good. Nacho's father, however, won't hear it, and makes it clear he doesn't believe anyone from the world his son fell into could be good, including Mike.
- While on the phone in his car as Saul after the time skip, Jimmy mentions sending Beanie Babies and an edible arrangement with extra pineapple. Jimmy previously used Beanie Babies as a bribe to the courthouse clerk and mentions the edible arrangement as an apology gift from the police officers that were about to charge him with assault.
- In "Nailed", Chuck accused Jimmy of ruining Kim, to which he got roundly mocked. Now, faced with her leaving and telling him they're bad for each other, Jimmy can't comprehend that and assumes he really has ruined her
- Call-Forward:
- While running through his itinerary of clients for the day, present-day Saul is informed that his services have been requested by another public masturbator.
- Kim imploding has parallels to Jimmy’s post-Saul life as Gene, leaving her job, her husband and her city, thinking she deserves none of it, fixated on all the potential she wasted and vanishing herself.
- Kim admitting to Jimmy that not telling him about Lalo wasn't about protecting him but because she was having too much fun, echoes Walter telling Jesse the truth about Jane in "Ozymandias" and finally admitting to Skyler that he stayed in the meth business because it made him feel alive in "Felina".
- Jimmy is shocked just like Walt when their female partners come up with highly believable lies without telling them.
- Gus' final scene in the wine bar is a dark mirror to Walter's moment in the bar at the end of the "Granite State". Both characters have a quiet, contemplative moment about their futures over a drink (Gus has a rare moment to himself where he takes some time off to genuinely enjoy life in and of itself, while Walter is about to turn himself in for his crimes), only to be reminded that exacting revenge upon their enemies is ultimately what has higher priority for them, before they proceed to pay their tab and leave.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Hector reveals that Gus tried to have Lalo killed, that Lalo (initially) survived, and that Nacho was working with Gus to Don Eladio, Bolsa and the Twins. However, he does so without evidence or witnesses, and Lalo had done such a thorough job in faking his death that it's all for naught. It is implied that Eladio at least suspected it might be true, but was confident that he could control Gus, and didn't want to lose him as a distributor.
- Cheryl Hamlin refuses to believe that her late husband was a drug addict, and correctly suspects that Jimmy is not telling her the whole truth about what happened to him. But thanks to Kim's lie about Howard, and the thorough Gaslighting job they did on Cliff as part of their scheme, Cheryl can't find anybody who is willing to come to Howard's defense.
- Casting Gag: A minor one, but many of the photos of Howard shown at his memorial are actually real photos of Patrick Fabian undertaking various activities and can be found on his Instagram account. One of them was edited to be closer to the Better Call Saul timeline (from 2007 to 2002). Another required cropping out Tony Dalton, who played Howard's killer.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The forged bank statements Mike put in the replacement safe at Nacho's house are revealed to have listed transactions made by Nacho to his supposed Peruvian conspirators, to give Gus an alibi against accusations that Nacho was working for him.
- Ultimately averted with the fake Manitoba ID card Nacho had made for his father Manuel. While Mike kept the card, which would lead one to believe that it would come into play to aid Mike in keeping Manuel from suffering Lalo's wrath, it ultimately isn't used to spirit Manuel off to Canada. And considering Manuel's last words to Mike, it's unlikely that he would have accepted the help anyway.
- Cleanup Crew: After disposing of Howard's corpse, Mike and his guys spend much of the next day removing any forensic evidence of Howard's murder in Kim's and Jimmy's apartment. When Jimmy and Kim get home, they're visibly surprised to find it looking like the events of the previous night had never happened.
- Complete-the-Quote Title: "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt."
- Confess to a Lesser Crime:
- When Cheryl accuses Jimmy of harassing Howard with escalating pranks, Jimmy first denies it. When Cheryl challenges him on it, Jimmy truthfully admits that he gave Howard a lot of shit over the past couple years out of jealousy and that he regrets it, but conveniently leaves out the scheme that led to Howard's death.
- Gus does this non-verbally with Eladio. After Hector accuses Gus of masterminding Lalo's death and plotting against The Cartel, he asks Eladio to look into Gus's eyes. Hector's accusation is ultimately dismissed as there's no proof of it (and plenty of proof to the contrary), but Eladio does into Gus's eyes and detects the hate he has for him. Which makes sense, given that Eladio murdered Gus's friend/partner/lover right in front of him years ago, and Eladio is willing to accept that hatred as long as Gus stays in line and keeps earning. If anything, Eladio not seeing that hate in Gus's eyes would have made him more suspicious that he was actually plotting against him.
- Continuity Nod:
- Juan Bolsa says that his brother confirmed Lalo's dental record matched the teeth found on the body at his mansion. Bolsa's brother was previously mentioned to be a police chief.
- Gus had previously told Mike that construction on the superlab had to be stopped as long as Lalo was north of the border poking around. Now that Lalo's finally been taken care of completely, Gus wants to resume the construction as soon as possible. Although Mike reminds him they need a new engineer and a new crew.
- Cheryl looks to Cliff for affirmation that Howard wasn't on cocaine, but unfortunately Jimmy and Kim planted enough seeds in front of Cliff to make him unable to give that to her.
- When Mike goes to Manuel Varga's shop to meet with him, he realizes he recognizes Mike as having visited his shop with his car some time ago.
- Like the last episode where he was forced to, Jimmy tries to look at a picture of Howard, but can't manage it for more than a few seconds.
- Jimmy only gets his "world's greatest lawyer" mug (replacing his "world's second greatest lawyer" travel mugs) after Kim quits the law.
- Cycle of Revenge: When Mike promises Nacho's father Manuel that the Salamancas will face "justice" for his son's death, Manuel shoots back that his son is dead, and that killing Hector and his men will not change that or make things "right" referencing this trope;Manuel: What you talk about... is not justice. What you talk of is... revenge. It never ends... my boy is gone. You gangsters and your "justice." You're all the same.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Cheryl's sole scene prior to this episode had her acting very coldly towards Howard. But she is very distraught at his apparent suicide, and breaks down in tears when she is unable to convince anyone that her husband wasn't a drug addict.
- Demoted to Dragon: Eladio lets Gus go unscathed despite knowing of his deception, but puts Bolsa fully in charge of him as a cautionary measure.
- Destructive Romance: Kim says Jimmy and her are drawn to one another by the desire to hurt other people. When they keep their distance, it's tolerable, but when they're together, it brings suffering to others.
- Downer Ending: Nobody does well in this one. Gus 'won' in the most direct sense, but his scene with David suggests that he still can't allow himself a life outside of his quest for revenge. Hector can't get anyone to believe Lalo was killed by Gus, Mike tries to console Nacho's father but gets shut down, HHM is downsizing and rebranding, Cheryl Hamlin is gaslit by Kim to believe her husband really was a drug addict, which ends up in Kim leaving Jimmy because they're bad for each other but apart they're hollow shells of their former selves, Kim trying to get Jimmy to hate her when she leaves, and Jimmy completely transforms into Saul Goodman, with no trace of his former self left.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: After Kim tells him that their Destructive Romance is poison for everyone else, Jimmy still doesn’t understand and begs her to just tell him what to do and he’ll fix it.
- Drama Bomb: Even with every Wham Episode that came before, this episode changes everything by closing almost every loose plot thread, breaking up Kim and Jimmy, and jumping us forward hard into Breaking Bad territory. If not for the lingering questions of what happened to "Gene" and Kim, this could have perhaps been the series finale.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Jimmy haltingly repeats Mike's "Bad Choice Road" advice to Kim, but we know from Breaking Bad that he'll never be able to forget no matter how much he pretends to.
- When he first started as a lawyer, Jimmy had dreams of becoming a big name partner at HHM, even saying they would have to add another "McGill" to the name. In the end, his actions effectively destroy the firm, completely removing the McGill name (along with both Hamlins).
- Once Hector is out of sight, Don Eladio cruelly mocks his disability, trying to get everyone to laugh. Gus doesn't acknowledge it, while Juan Bolsa offers a weak smirk — in other words, a restrained smile. In the last time we'll see Eladio poolside, he'll realize Gus has poisoned him as loss of muscle control is setting in; since everyone else has been poisoned as well, nobody around him notices save Gaff, who will be stopped from killing Gus because Mike will garrote him to death.
- Jimmy finally admits that he was Driven by Envy towards Howard, because he thought the other man had his brother's respect, when in reality Chuck took plenty advantage of Howard too.
- Jimmy really wanted to make his brother proud by being a lawyer, and followed in Kim's footsteps to become one, but with Kim gone (the last person to tell him he was worth anything), he fully plays into an Amoral Attorney role to spite his dead brother.
- End of an Era:
- Schweikart says as much about HHM, now that the once-prestigious law firm will drastically downsize, move to a much smaller office, and change its name to distance itself from the dual scandals of Chuck's mental illness/death and Howard's drug addiction/"suicide".
- The episode marks the end of Jimmy's relationship with Kim, which serves as the final nail in the coffin of the old Jimmy McGill and fully turns him onto the path of becoming the amoral shark of a man that is Saul Goodman. She also quits being a lawyer, sells her apartment, and moves out of New Mexico entirely.
- On a meta level, the final scene shows that the time of the series being (for the most part) a distant prequel to Breaking Bad has ended, moving the timeline closer to the events of the original series.
- With the rest of the following episodes set in 2010 and following Jimmy and Kim, this episode also spells the end of our look at the cartel world. Mike makes a few more cameo appearances, but Gus, Don Eladio, Hector, and the rest of the cartel all make their final appearances in this episode, with the only focus from here on out being what happens to Jimmy and Kim in the aftermath of the cartel's and Heisenberg's destruction.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Even though he disguises it with a smile when Eladio looks at him, Bolsa has an unimpressed and disgusted look on his face when Eladio mocks Hector by imitating his ringing bell.
- Jimmy is slightly horrified by Kim's effortless gaslighting of Cheryl, but damningly he does what he always does and lets it slide. She feels like it's her true "breaking bad" moment, and retreats from everything she's ever loved in self-hate.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Mike assumes Manuel's incredulous reaction to his evocation of justice is due to a language barrier, failing to understand until Manuel says outright that what Mike offers is not justice and that he sees Mike as just another gangster and part of the world that took his son from him.
- Evil Is Not Well-Lit: Meetings with the cartel usually occur with a blazing sun in the sky, but not this time. It's the black of night when Gus comes to hear Eladio's judgment.
- Evil Is Petty: In his daily routine, Saul does everything from threatening to sue a radio station for hosting his ads with slightly low quality audio; to putting up a fake disabled drivers badge so he can walk one less space to his office.
- Fatal Flaw: Kim's and Jimmy's last clash. She's completely self-loathing and feels like she doesn't deserve anything she has, so deals with that by self-destructing in a controlled way and leaving Jimmy partly for his own good, still with a god complex even when she's broken, while Jimmy still can't actually admit responsibility for having a part in Howard's death, begs her to tell him what to do so he can fix it easily, and his identity dies when she leaves.
- Faux Affably Evil: As always, Don Eladio is this. Although he's much more laid back than usual this time around, he's quick to express his disdain for Hector the moment he and his family leave, as well as reminding Gus in a jovial tone that he's very much on to him - and to remember his place.
- Foil:
- Kim and Jimmy both break and lose themselves completely, but while she over-corrects because she feels like she doesn't deserve anything good, he slides further into denial and puts on the Saul Goodman mask full-time.Jimmy: Kim, after everything that happened... I mean, Jesus. I get it. You want to climb out of your own skin. That's natural.
- By the end of this episode, Manuel is a direct parallel to Mike, which is emphasized by the framing of the scene they meet for the last time. Like Mike, Manuel has lost his son to crime and is left grieving. However, whereas Mike was consumed by his grief and slipped down the path of vengeance, becoming a vicious killer ironically forever entangled in the same world that took his son, Manuel constructively chooses to pursue a straight life and rebukes Mike for believing he would be satisfied knowing the Salamancas would soon pay with their lives.
- Also Kim and Chuck. They both retreat into themselves in response to a breakdown, but a long time ago in "Nacho", Jimmy begged Chuck to not leave him in jail, voice breaking as he asked his brother to tell him what to do and he'll do it. He does it again here, begging Kim to not leave him, to just tell him how to change and he'll do whatever she wants. Unlike Chuck, who used that to keep Jimmy in his place, Kim knows she's complicit in all this, any ill feeling she has is towards herself, and still leaves.
- Kim and Jimmy both break and lose themselves completely, but while she over-corrects because she feels like she doesn't deserve anything good, he slides further into denial and puts on the Saul Goodman mask full-time.
- For the Evulz: Part of Kim's rationale for leaving Jimmy is that having fun by deception and rule-breaking is a foundational part of their relationship, and someone always gets hurt. She reveals that when she heard Lalo was alive, she was afraid telling Jimmy would cause them to break up, since they'd have to cancel the (fatal) prank they planned for Howard.
- Foregone Conclusion: Played with re: the ultimate fate of HHM. While the firm itself was never seen or mentioned during Breaking Bad, that didn't necessarily mean HHM had collapsed prior to the events of the parent show. There were any number of possible in-story explanations as to its absence (with the real-life explanation of course being it hadn't even been conceived until the spinoff). Howard's death is the final nail in the coffin that Jimmy and Kim directly and indirectly built over the course of the spinoff. HHM's downsizing and rebranding thus explain the firm's absence from Breaking Bad.
- Gaslighting:
- Hector shares with Don Eladio and his nephews the information he has about Lalo's survival and his plan to strike against Gus right before he suddenly disappeared. But Gus was good enough at covering his tracks (and Lalo's efforts to fake his own death were so thorough), that it was easy enough to make him look like a paranoid old man who was either delusional or making up wild stories. (The twist is that Eladio may have suspected that he was telling the truth, but figured it was in his interests not to pursue the matter).
- Howard's widow, Cheryl was the only person who believed that Howard wasn't on drugs, and that his stories about Jimmy plotting against him were true. But Jimmy and Kim did a good enough job of convincing everyone around her that she ended up looking like a distraught widow who refused to accept reality. When Kim added in some subtle guilt-slinging about her being estranged from Howard over the past year, she finally breaks down, apparently questioning her own certainty or even blaming herself for not noticing her husband's "addiction".
- Gone Horribly Right:
- Jimmy and Kim's tarnishing of Howard's reputation was so convincing that it's accepted almost entirely without question that he took his own life as the result of his cocaine addiction, and it's the final nail in the coffin for HHM, which is now downsizing and changing its name completely, destroying any legacy he might have had. Their plan to ruin him was more successful than they could possibly have imagined.
- Lalo's work in faking his own death and keeping it a secret from all of his potential allies aside from Hector was so effective that, now that he's actually dead, it's left Hector with no concrete proof to accuse Gus of organizing the assassination attempt or working with Nacho on it.
- Heel Realization:
- Howard's death and her subsequent lying to his widow have forced Kim to accept that as a couple, she and Jimmy bring nothing but misery to the people around them. Word of God confirms that she doesn't feel she deserves either Jimmy or the career she has worked so hard for, leading her to break things off with both and leave Albuquerque for good.
- It's heavily implied that Manuel's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Mike after Nacho's suicide caused him to give up his notion of being an honorable criminal, starting him on the path to his more ruthless, amoral personality in Breaking Bad.
- Hidden Depths: Despite being a ruthless manchild gangster, Eladio continues to demonstrate his knack for being an excellent judge of character. After being told by Hector to look into Gus' eyes and see his true nature, he deduces his undying hatred for him but only tells him to not let it get in the way of business when the Salamancas leave.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Bolsa silently pours himself one and downs it after the meeting ends and Eladio leaves. While he's happy with the promotion and thus has reason to celebrate, he's probably far more relieved that his biggest earner didn't end up with a bullet in his brain.
- Insecure Love Interest: Both Kim and Jimmy, in different ways. Kim wants to be punished, doesn't think she deserves love and breaks the pedestal he's had her on, while Jimmy offers to take on all the blame because he can't comprehend her hating herself, thinks he's ruined her and all he hears is that his love isn't enough, maybe never has been.
- Ironic Episode Title: "Fun and Games" is one of the most somber episodes in the series.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: David the sommelier is played by Reed Diamond, who had previously worked with Giancarlo Esposito on Homicide: Life on the Street. While Diamond initially left the show around the time that Esposito joined it, their characters were teamed up as partners for the TV Movie Grand Finale, allowing them to share a fair amount of screentime.
- Internal Reveal:
- Mike meets with Manuel Varga personally to tell him of Nacho's fate.
- In the midst of Jimmy trying to convince her they weren't at fault for Howard's death, Kim finally tells Jimmy that Mike met up with her and informed her Lalo was still alive, and that she kept this from Jimmy.
- Zigzagged with the cartel. Hector has dictated a letter to the Cousins telling them about Lalo surviving the foiled assassination and calling Hector with his plans to expose Gus as an enemy plotting against the cartel. However, Gus has made enough evidence to soil Hector's claims (coupled with the Cousins and Juan Bolsa having identified the body they found at the hacienda as Lalo's) to cast doubt on the Don's claims.
- Insane Troll Logic: Played for Drama. Judging by what he says to Manuel, Mike seems to genuinely believe that the Salamancas deserve retribution for what happened to Nacho... even though Gus is the one who made his death happen. Had Mike been allowed to pick up Nacho in Mexico and take him to safety, or at least not literally force him to die because he was a problem for Gus, Nacho would obviously still be alive. As a way of coping with his guilt, Mike tries to convince both Manuel and himself that Nacho's death was the fault of the Salamancas, when that obviously isn't true. Manuel quickly and bluntly shut this down, and it's implied that this is what convinces Mike to skip the pretense of morality and accept that he's picked his side: crime.
- Ironic Echo: This isn't the first time that a McGill has said 'Let justice be done though the heavens fall' - even if this one is now a Goodman.
- Irony:
- Kim means they're "okay" as in better people when they're not together, but they both prove how deeply not okay they are on their own. She barely wants to exist on this planet, and Jimmy completely subsumes himself to become Saul.
- It turns out that, in his quest to destroy Gus once and for all, Lalo did too good a job at faking his death and remaining off the grid; there is now no proof that Gus actually did end up killing him, nor will Lalo's proof that he is building his own distribution network to replace the cartel ever be revealed.
- Kim means they're "okay" as in better people when they're not together, but they both prove how deeply not okay they are on their own. She barely wants to exist on this planet
- Kick the Dog: Kim gaslighting Cheryl that Howard was a drug addict, including blaming her since "[she] should have known". Even she realizes this went too far, culminating in her decision to leave Jimmy.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Kim lies to Howard's widow Cheryl that she found him late one evening at HHM snorting what looked like lines of coke in his office. Kim claims that they exchanged looks but that she just walked out and both silently agreed never to bring it up again.
- Lonely at the Top: Saul Goodman rose to riches and prominence he couldn't have dreamed of during his humble beginnings as a public defender, but he came this far at expense of his last touch of humanity that defined him as Jimmy McGill, leaving nothing of the person he was behind the shallow, cartoonish façade of a corrupt Amoral Attorney.
- Loss of Identity: Happens to Kim and Jimmy in different ways. After gaslighting Cheryl, the small shred of integrity that’s still in Kim makes her leave ABQ, the law profession and her husband, feeling like she doesn’t deserve anything and should just be nobody (like Gene). And after what happened with Lalo, Jimmy becomes more of a Stepford Smiler, full on becoming Saul when Kim leaves, with zero trace of the old Jimmy left.
- Malevolent Mugshot: As if Saul's mansion wasn't gaudy enough, his walk-in closet has a plaque over it with a profile of his head.
- The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: See above. Despite having a genuinely good rapport with the sommelier, Gus ultimately leaves while David is away as there is no way he can honestly pursue a relationship while he’s on his mission. note
- Match Cut: The opening montage includes a bunch of match cuts from mundane stuff like the ketchup Jimmy is putting on his food to the blood of his former co-worker, Howard, which is being cleaned up by Mike.
- Meaningful Echo:
- Way back in the "Nacho" flashback, Jimmy tearfully begged Chuck to tell him what to do and he'd do anything. He does the same with Kim here.
Jimmy: [to Chuck] Just tell me what to do. Whatever it is I'll do it.
Jimmy: [to Kim] Just tell me what I need to do to change, okay? Just tell me what it is and I'll do it.- Back in "Pimento", Kim confessed that she just wants Jimmy to be happy, and how can that be bad? This episode has him plea with her that she makes him happy, and how can that be bad?
- Motor Mouth:
- David, the sommelier at the bar has a tendency to go off on vivid descriptions and long stories with little or no prompting, even as Gus sits in near silence. He's self-aware enough to ask if he's bothering Gus, but Gus insists (apparently sincerely), that he enjoys it.
- Also Saul, no surprise there. From the moment he wakes up and puts on his Bluetooth earpiece, he delivers a nonstop monologue to Francesca instructing her how to proceed with various clients and other business matters.
- Nervous Wreck: Juan Bolsa is highly distressed from the moment the meeting with Gus starts, looking and sounding incredibly uncomfortable when reading the Salamanca testimony against him. Bolsa has heavily invested in Gus's business and repeatedly vouched for him. If Gus is found to be a traitor, not only does Bolsa's revenue stream dry up, but it reflects poorly on his judgment. After Eladio takes his leave, he downs himself a drink in relief the night smoothed over.
- Never Found the Body: In-universe for Howard and Lalo:
- Mike tells Gus that until Howard's body washes up from the supposed cocaine-induced accidental drowning (which it never will as he was buried with Lalo's body in the superlab), the police investigation of his disappearance can't be closed.
- Except for Jimmy and Kim, Lalo is believed to have been killed at his estate with only Gus and his men knowing the truth to his death and burial (Lalo survived the attack and used a burnt body double with identical dental records, only to be shot by Gus and buried with Howard in the foundation of the lab). Hector knows otherwise, but with no other witnesses and the evidence provided by the dental records, Eladio has no option but to believe that Lalo died in the attack on his compound.
- Never My Fault: Played with by Jimmy. He can’t admit fault when it comes to the part they played in killing Howard, but he’s desperate to take all the blame when Kim admits their Destructive Romance.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After surviving the attack from Gus' hitmen, Lalo took extensive steps to fake his own death, including forcing one of the assassins to report it, planting a Body Double that even matched his dental records, and only communicating with his nonverbal uncle about his being alive. This meant that Hector's account of Lalo surviving and going after Gus was dismissed, but all the evidence said he was dead already.
- Nice to the Waiter:
- While he very clearly has no romantic intentions regarding the sex worker he wakes up next to, Saul is pleasant enough to her, offering her a breakfast bar and giving her a polite wave as she leaves.
- Pretty much the one time we see Gus in anything like a Villains Out Shopping situation throughout either this series or Breaking Bad, it involves him having a pleasant, even flirty, conversation with the sommelier at a wine bar.
- No Honor Among Thieves: It's all but outright stated Eladio knows Gus is lying. He exploits the fact he can't fully verify the truth to dismiss the Salamancas and continue doing business with him. As previously shown when Gus kills Bolsa and many of his men, this illustrates Eladio values profits over "blood for blood" and has no sense of honor. Though it helps Gus that Lalo was never able to get his proof about the Superlab back to the cartel, meaning that Eladio probably views the whole thing as just a personal feud that got out of hand rather than Gus making a move to become Boss.
- Non-Answer: When Cheryl asks Cliff if he had witnessed any sort of evidence of Howard's supposed cocaine addiction, Cliff says nothing for several very long seconds with an uncomfortable expression, and then tells her that "this really isn't the time or the place". She understands what he's implying, much to her distress.
- Not Helping Your Case: From the moment Kim gaslights Cheryl, Jimmy either acts like a Stepford Smiler or a desperate child manically wanting to fix this, all cementing in Kim’s self-hating brain that she needs to end this partly for his own good.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore:
- The relationship between Jimmy and Kim, the element of the story which has driven the plot forward since the first season, falls apart as a result of Howard's death and Kim's Heel Realization. Her breaking up with Jimmy is what finally pushes him into becoming Saul Goodman in earnest. To make the point further, the final scene takes place about a year later (judging from Jimmy's registration sticker).
- The episode also conclusively wraps up the main plotlines of the series up to this point, such as Jimmy and Kim's conflicts with HHM, Gus and Mike's conflicts with Lalo, and the story of Nacho and his father.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Invoked when Kim (who is not at all oblivious to the truth) suggests that maybe she misunderstood what was going on with Howard and that of course Cheryl, as his wife, would know better! Cheryl, whose marriage to Howard had been on the rocks for a while, can only walk off in tears.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In contrast to their usual fish faces and stone-cold demeanors, the Twins are visibly mixed with feelings of sadness and anger; when speaking their part in regards to Lalo's testimony, they are very clearly upset in their inflection, and when Eladio simply closes the book on the debacle, they're horrified.
- Pet the Dog: In response to Hector's escalating wrath at Don Eladio, the latter simply calls it a night after supposedly believing Gus' innocence. He tells the Twins to carry him off to sleep in his own bed for the night due to the long trip, adding he might be entertained by women as well.
- Please, I Will Do Anything!: Jimmy can’t comprehend Kim hating herself and is more than happy to declare everything his fault, begging her to tell him what he needs to change and he’ll do it.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: After Hector leaves, Eladio mockingly imitates his paralysis to Gus.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Eladio knows that Gus hates him and seems to at least suspect that he was behind the attacks on the Salamancas. However, Eladio is used to people hating him, and Gus is an excellent earner without a power base inside the cartel. At the same time, the Salamancas have been increasingly disrespectful, and their chaotic nature is bad for business. However, they have many allies inside the cartel and a move against them could start a civil war. His solution is to quietly dismiss Hector's charges, warn Gus to keep the peace and try to keep both of them on a tight leash. Additionally, Gustavo and the Salamancas have been established as the two biggest earners north of the border. Hector is now useless to Eladio, Tuco is in jail, and Lalo is dead. The Salamanca operation there will be in shambles for the foreseeable future, with Gustavo as the only viable alternative.
- Precision F-Strike: "It's that fucking Lalo Salamanca!" in the midst of Jimmy's breakdown in response to Kim leaving.
- Properly Paranoid: It's made pretty clear Eladio has deduced Gus is deceiving him despite openly dismissing the Salamancas case against him. To make it crystal clear to not take him for a fool, however, he promotes Bolsa to oversee his operations and firmly reminds Gus to not forget who the boss of the cartel is before leaving.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: A downplayed example, as it's borne more out of sadness on Kim's part than anger, and it's a speech partly directed at herself. Kim tells Jimmy that while they are decent people as individuals, together they bring out the worst in each other and hurt the people around them.
- Nacho's father has a small one directed at Mike, scoffing at the latter's idea of 'justice' and how he's ultimately no different than the Salamancas'.
- Reflective Eyes: When Bolsa reaches the part of Hector's testimony about how Gus hates the cartel and how Hector demands "sangre por sangre", the camera cuts to a brief shot of Gus, who is staring at Hector at that moment. The flames from a fire pit that stands between them can briefly be seen reflected in the lens of his glasses.
- The Reveal:
- The reason for Kim withholding from Jimmy that Lalo was still alive is finally laid out: She knew that Jimmy would go into full panic and want to move her and himself somewhere safe until he was gone, that the stress of the situation would cause them to break up and (most importantly to her, at the time) they would have to stop their plot against Howard.
- We also get the one the whole show has been building up to, namely how Jimmy completely and irrevocably becomes Saul Goodman. Kim leaves him out of the belief that they both bring out the worst in the other and hurt those around them, still reeling with guilt over Howard's death and cover-up, and Jimmy covers up his own pain from the break-up and guilt by embracing Saul Goodman as a coping mechanism.
- Revenge Is Not Justice: Nacho's father tells Mike this when he tries to convince Manuel that "justice" will come for the Salamancas, but he tells him that that isn't justice, but it is revenge and is a never-ending cycle.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- The scene where Manuel tells off Mike is rife with this, being shot in a way to visually convey how Mike is a prisoner to a world of neverending violence while the former is ultimately free despite having lost his son; Mike's face is even framed behind the gate throughout the conversation while Manuel's appearance is not obscured. Additionally, their conversation being through separate sides of a gate symbolizes how Mike and Manuel come from opposite worlds on the morality globe, never able to come to an understanding with one another to meet directly.
- The wine Gus drinks is said to taste meaty, almost like blood, due to its iron oxide content. A fitting drink for someone out for blood vengeance, or sangre por sangre.
- During Gus's "trial" when Bolsa reaches the part in Hector's written testimony about how Gus hates the cartel, there is a quick shot of Gus staring impassively at Hector — with the flames from a nearby fire pit reflected in the lens of his glasses. A pretty clear suggestion about how correct Hector is.
- Sad Clown: As thoroughly conveyed through the final scenes, Jimmy as Saul Goodman is this: A broken, hollow man that buries his grief through outlandish spending, frivolous sex, and his own voice. It's visible through his facial expressions that a large part of why Saul talks so much is to mask his pain, despite it being years since Kim left him.
- Saved by Canon: It's interesting to note that while it was doubtless Gus would come out from meeting Eladio fine and with a standing business relationship, Mike did not rule out the possibility he would not make it back alive and noted to take precautions for the outcome.
- Slouch of Villainy: Don Eladio is displaying some terrible posture during the sitdown with Gustavo.
- Stepford Smiler: Jimmy tries to be positive after the gaslighting of Cheryl, saying let the healing begin, which makes Kim seem to realize that she’s broken, he’s broken and she needs to leave.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Jimmy and Kim learn from Rich Schweikart that HHM is going to be downsized and given a new, smaller office building under a complete rebrand as Brookner Partners. The firm was already in serious financial trouble after Chuck's death, and although Howard claimed they were making a comeback a year later, we never got official confirmation of it and it might have just been good PR.note On top of that, all three of the firm's founders are now dead with no succeeding partners appointed. Add that to the fact that Chuck was outed as mentally ill, and Howard supposedly ruined a case due to drug addiction and subsequently committed "suicide", and HHM's fate was all but sealed from there.
- Hector's claims against Gus come to nothing, because he has no actual proof to offer beyond the fact that Gus hates Eladio (which Eladio already knows), his condition makes it next to impossible for him to make his case, and Gus simply brings in too much money for Eladio to get rid of him based on such shaky grounds. To the point where Gus doesn't even feel the need to offer a defence, because he knows how flimsy the case against him is. At the same time, however, Eladio is also a Properly Paranoid drug kingpin, so makes it clear to Gus that he is no fool and will be keeping a very close eye on him.
- Time Skip: A sharp one happens at the end of the episode, as we suddenly cut from Jimmy and Kim's breakup to sometime in the futurenote when Jimmy is fully immersed in his new life as Saul Goodman, sleeping with a prostitute in his fancy mansion, up to his neck in clients, and his "cathedral of justice" fully assembled.
- Token Good Teammate: What Mike says of Nacho compared to the cartel when talking to Manuel, stating he had his flaws but that his heart was ultimately in a better place.
- Tranquil Fury: If looks could kill, Jimmy and Kim would be dead on the spot from the glare Cheryl casts them throughout their conversation when she demands to hear what they told the police.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Don Eladio makes his decision to dismiss the Salamancas testimony against Gus, Hector goes ballistic, shooting a Death Glare at him and furiously ringing his bell. Even as the Twins carry him away, he is still ringing his bell in a rage.
- Villainous BSoD:
- After Manuel rebukes Mike and his sense of justice and walks off, the latter is very visibly hurt by his words.
- Kim's conversation with Cheryl at Howard's wake ends up being too much for her to stomach. Filled with self-loathing, she breaks it off with Jimmy, quits the law, and leaves Albuquerque, fleeing her problems.
- Villains Out Shopping: For the first and only time throughout either this series or its predecessor, we see Gus Fring enjoying a personal moment unconnected to either his drug business, his cover business, or his blood vendetta; he enjoys a glass at a classy wine bar and engages in a pleasant, even flirty, conversation with David the sommelier. Deconstructed, however, since the moment only makes it clear how for Gus there isn't truly anything for him outside of the criminal life and, for all the success he'll enjoy there, he's destined to spend the rest of his life unhappy and alone. He makes an excuse and leaves when the sommelier disappears to get a bottle of wine to show him.
- Wham Episode: Kim gaslights Howard's widow, the last person who didn't believe Howard was on drugs, into buying their story, which makes her realize how far she and Jimmy have descended. She quits her practice and job as a lawyer entirely, and decides to break off her relationship with Jimmy, citing that together all they do is hurt people. Afterwards, the episode ends with a sudden Flash Forward into Breaking Bad times, having left this world behind for good, with Jimmy now fully operating as the Saul Goodman we've known from the beginning.
- Wham Line: Kim suddenly revealing that she has dropped her series-long job."I'm no longer an attorney. I gave my notice to the bar two hours ago."
- Wham Shot:
- Jimmy walking into the bedroom while convincing Kim they can work out things together... only to see her packing her things in suitcases.
- Although the lavish leopard-skin blanket and a prostitute sharing his bed with him probably made it obvious enough, seeing Saul in his ostentatious McMansion with his combover spells out that we've suddenly been transported into the Breaking Bad timeline (or somewhere much closer to it) in the final scene.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: Gus doesn't try to defend himself when Hector makes an accusation against him at Eladio's, instead letting Eladio and his subordinates judge the evidence (or rather lack thereof) of the supposed treachery by themselves.
- You Have to Believe Me!: After Eladio dismisses Hector's accusations against Gus and has him sent away, Hector repeatedly rings his bell as if to say this.
