History Recap / BetterCallSaulS5E9BadChoiceRoad

* ForWantOfANail: A long term example: when meeting up with Lalo after posting his bail, Jimmy gives a [[HalfTruth truncated]] recount of his journey acquiring it, specifically mentioning how his car [[InsistentTerminology broke down]]. Later on in the episode, while waiting for his ride into Mexico, by the same well he mentioned to Jimmy in explaining where to get his bail money, Lalo does some [[SpotTheThread pondering]]... and decides to have Nacho take him further up the road...

* HalfTruth: How Jimmy explains his experience in the desert to Lalo and Kim. His car ''did'' break down, and he ''did'' have to walk all the way back home, but he deliberately leaves out his encounter with the cartel, and Mike's own involvement. This winds up biting him in the ass when Lalo discovers the Esteem in a ditch, and decides to try and get the ''full'' story out of Jimmy.

At a rural truck stop, Jimmy and Mike get new changes of clothes prior to being picked up by Tyrus and Victor in an SUV. On the drive back north, Tyrus and Victor explain that Gus has sent men to clean up the site of the gunfight, but that Jimmy's wrecked Suzuki could not be recovered. Mike instructs an exhausted Jimmy to practice a rehearsed script to explain why the money pickup took 36 hours instead of the single afternoon he promised Lalo. Upon arriving back in Albuquerque, Jimmy totes two duffel bags carrying the $7 million into the bail office and posts Lalo's bail. As the bail office staff count the money, the prosecutors handling Lalo's case confront Jimmy and demand to know where all the money came from, but Jimmy refuses to give an answer.

Before he leaves, Mike tries to argue that Nacho be allowed to stop working as Gus' double agent, reasoning that Nacho has served his purpose, and expressing disapproval over Gus' decision to threaten Nacho's father as leverage. However, Gus counters that he does not want to give up such a valuable asset, and that Nacho must be kept under control as he is prone to betraying his bosses (having previously betrayed both Tuco and Hector). Later that night, Nacho phones one of Gus' underlings and gives an update about Lalo's status; when he alludes to his work for Gus being over, the underling tells him to "just do what you're told."

At the courthouse, Jimmy loses a case against DDA Bill Oakley, who relentlessly gloats about his victory. Outside, Jimmy is picked up by Mike in his car and tries to talk to him about his ongoing post-traumatic condition. Jimmy asks when his symptoms will cease, to which Mike replies that it varies by person; but for Jimmy, the moment things have abated for him will be the day he goes about his daily routine and doesn't once think about what happened in the desert. Mike also states that he isn't bothered by having to kill the gunmen in the desert, since it was a life-or-death situation and they were in "the game". Jimmy expresses disgust that he and Mike helped get Lalo sprung from jail given that they both know he killed an innocent civilian who wasn't in "the game". Mike cryptically says that that is "not the end of the story", leading Jimmy to assume that Mike is going to do something to him. Mike tells Jimmy that the choices they've made have put them on the road to where they are right now, and they need to live with that. Jimmy is unsatisfied with what Mike says and ends their meeting.

While Jimmy and Kim argue about her leaving S&C, Jimmy begins receiving several phone calls which he declines out of frustration. The conversation is interrupted when someone begins knocking on the door. Kim goes to the door to answer it, allowing Jimmy to pick up the call. It's Mike, who urgently orders Jimmy to leave his phone on but hidden so he can listen. And for good reason: the visitor is Lalo, who enters the apartment and asks Jimmy to repeat the story he told him about his desert trek. After Jimmy tells him, he asks to hear it again, multiple times. Outside, Mike has a sniper rifle trained on the room from a nearby roof. Lalo reveals he found bullet holes in Jimmy's car. Kim tells Lalo that passersby probably shot at the car for fun and berates him for not trusting Jimmy, or apparently a single one of his own men. Lalo seems satisfied and departs. He tells Nacho to drive...not to the original pickup site, but to accompany him to Mexico.

* ItGetsEasier[=/=]ItNeverGetsAnyEasier: Jimmy and Mike's conversation in his car shows both sides of the argument. Jimmy wants to know when he will be able to stop being shaken up about the desert, and Mike assures him that one day, he'll realize he hasn't been thinking about it at all. Jimmy rebukes this, upset that people like Lalo can just kill without impunity and get away without hassle, and that Mike is the only one he can actually talk to about stuff like this.

** After walking through the desert for several days, Mike and Saul do not merely get sunburnt; Saul's hair and even eyebrows are bleached while Mike's head is absolutely covered in liver spots.

* AbsenteeActor: Howard really doesn't show up a whole lot these days, huh?

* AdultFear:
** The fact that Jimmy left to perform a bagman errand for someone as dangerous as a cartel, in the middle of an uninhabited desert, and then doesn't come back home for ''days''. As Kim tells him later, until he made his phone call she assumed he was dead.
** Lalo casually mentions meeting Kim to Jimmy. The latter is shocked, given how Lalo has a history of casual murder.
** Kim knows that something violent happened at the desert, yet Jimmy keeps avoiding the subject matter.
** Lalo, an AxCrazy maniac, invites himself to Jimmy and Kim's apartment. ''While armed''.

While Jimmy and Kim argue about her leaving S&C, Jimmy begins receiving several phone calls which he declines out of frustration. The conversation is interrupted when someone begins knocking on the door. Kim goes to the door to answer it, allowing Jimmy to pick up the call. It's Mike, who urgently orders Jimmy to leave his phone on but hidden so he can listen. And for good reason: the visitor is Lalo, who enters the apartment and asks Jimmy repeat the story he told him about his desert trek. Outside, Mike has a sniper rifle trained on the room from a nearby roof. Lalo reveals he found bullet holes in Jimmy's car. Kim tells Lalo that passersby probably shot at the car for fun and berates him for not trusting Jimmy. Lalo seems satisfied and departs. He tells Nacho to drive...not to the original pickup site, but to accompany him to Mexico.

When Jimmy returns to the apartment, Kim tends to his wounds while he tells her the scripted story Mike coached him. After she draws him an oatmeal bath, Jimmy confronts Kim about visiting Lalo and sternly warns her to stay away from him, lest she become a target. He admits that he feared for his life when he was stranded in the desert and that knowing Kim was safe was the only things that kept him moving forward; Kim promises to never see Lalo again. When Kim asks Jimmy why he went through all the trouble to collect the bail money, Jimmy tells her to look in a duffel bag containing the $100,000 payout he just earned. Unbeknownst to Jimmy, Kim discovers his bullet-pierced travel mug and realizes that he is lying.

Kim goes to Schweikart and Cokely and tries to dictate a letter concerning Mesa Verde-related business, but finds herself too distracted to continue. Instead, Kim approaches Rich Schweikart. Speaking with him in the privacy of his office, Kim announces that she is quitting Schweikart and Cokely and will hand over the Mesa Verde account to the firm, keeping her pro bono clients. Before she departs, Kim retrieves the tequila bottle stopper from her office.

Before he leaves, Mike tries to argue that Nacho be allowed to stop working as Gus' double agent, reasoning that Nacho has served his purpose, and expressing disapproval over Gus's decision to threaten Nacho's father as leverage. However, Gus counters that he does not want to give up such a valuable asset, and that Nacho must be kept under control as he is prone to betraying his bosses (having previously betrayed both Tuco and Hector). Later that night, Nacho phones one of Gus' underlings and gives an update about Lalo's status; when he alludes to his work for Gus being over, the underling tells him to "just do what you're told."

* TheReveal: Mike's drawing of the tattoos the gang members that ambushed Jimmy were brandishing, and a quick phone call to Juan Bolsa, leads Gus to conclude that the Juarez Cartel themselves were the ones who sent the men to sabotage the pickup, seemingly to protect Gus's own interests and stop Lalo from interfering with matters.