Smoke
Written by Gennifer Hutchison
Directed by Vince Gilligan
Air date: October 1st, 2018
"Let’s talk about the Chilean."
Jimmy: There you go! Kick a man while he's down!
Kim: Jimmy, you are always down.
Jimmy and Kim unburden themselves, risking their relationship in the process; Nacho is forced to make the rounds with Lalo; Mike has cause to worry.Kim: Jimmy, you are always down.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Jimmy reminds Kim that together they pulled a fraud on the court clerk to score a bigger branch for Mesa Verde. He then asks "... but how is that using our powers for good?" Kim visibly winces, as the question also doubles as a "Not So Different" Remark. It's becoming hard to think of Kim as any better or ethical than Jimmy now.
- Armor-Piercing Response: But Kim in turn gets in a good one: "Jimmy, you are always down." Jimmy is left in Stunned Silence.
- Ax-Crazy: Lalo proves his credit as a Salamanca when he reminisces with his uncle about the time they burned a hotel down and tortured the owner and forced his wife to listen.
- Backstory Horror: Hector's bell. Turns out a few years back, a hotel proprietor in Mexico made the mistake of disrespecting Hector. Hector and Lalo retaliated by torturing the proprietor (with his wife being forced to listen in the next room) and burning down the hotel. Lalo ventured into the hotel as it was burning and retrieved the bell from the front desk as a souvenir. Then, years later, he gives the bell to Hector to help him communicate.
- Baddie Flattery: Lalo's compliments about the chicken Gus serves at Los Pollos Hermanos seem to be perfectly sincere. While this could of course simply be diplomacy and keeping a low profile (he subsequently poses as a potential franchisee investor in order to have a reason to meet with Gus in private, where he subsequently proceeds to subtly interrogate and threaten him), his pretence is nevertheless convincing.
- Bait-and-Switch: Kai has been set up for several episodes as the loose cannon with a Hair-Trigger Temper who is the German most likely to cause problems for Mike. But similar to last episode, it’s Werner who causes potentially serious problems — last episode he blabbed about the excavation, this episode he lets his homesickness get to him and escapes the warehouse. By contrast, the most that Kai does this episode is make a slight screw-up in the wiring for one of the explosives, then cheat at volleyball.
- Batman Gambit: Kim's and Jimmy's scam to switch plans on the court clerk depends on Kim's single mother act scoring sympathy with the clerk, and the clerk not thinking to double check the plans being switched in for any differences.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Jimmy half-jokingly pitches Kim the idea to monetize the trick they played for Huel - after all, there're probably other people who would pay good money to "undo a potentially life-ruining sentence". Indeed there're, and Jimmy is about to meet one - a Cartel gangster who'd murdered an innocent man for kicks; his offer, while generous, is of the "one you cannot refuse" kind; and taking it will forever tarnish whatever was left of Jimmy's reputation and endanger the lives of himself and everyone around him.
- Berserk Button: Jimmy doesn't like being expected to feel sorry for Chuck, or even being expected to acknowledge that Chuck even existed. The moment he really erupts on Kim is when she points out that the most likely reason Jimmy's suspension was extended was because he didn't mention Chuck, the victim of the break-in which led to the suspension.
- Both Sides Have a Point: The recriminations Jimmy and Kim trade are all true. Kim is using "Slippin' Jimmy" for cheap thrills, while Jimmy is being very ungrateful for all the times Kim bailed him out of situations that should have gotten him jailed or disbarred.
- Call-Back/Call-Forward: We have yet another case of a Salamanca waiting inside a Los Pollos Hermanos to speak with Gus. At least Lalo actually ordered something to keep a cover, and he only slightly aroused suspicion with Lyle seeing Nacho.
- Lalo compliments Gus on his food chain's chicken in a very similar way to how Eladio did when Gus first met him. Given Lalo is well aware of Max's murder by his uncle's hands in said meeting and his playfully threatening demeanor to Gus in their scenes together, this could be intentional.
- Continuity Nod: Jimmy's desire to share an office with Kim has become an issue in their relationship once again. In their argument, Kim angrily points out that she was there for him when he confessed to a felony on tape, and that she represented him at his bar hearing. She also calls him out for playing mind games with Rich at his party and using her to get Huell out of jail.
- Destroy the Security Camera: Mike figures out that Werner used a laser measure to briefly disable the security cameras during his escape.
- Didn't See That Coming: Gus seems to be caught off-guard when Lalo entered the picture, as he never expected another member of the Salamanca clan to be in Albuquerque and he just now learned of his existence when he and Nacho ate at his restaurant.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Hector and Lalo tortured a guy and burned down his hotel just because he turned his back on them.
- Drives Like Crazy: Jimmy burns through the parkade at full speed. Takashi from Tokyo Drift would be impressed.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Kim, after her heated argument with Jimmy.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hector and his nephew Lalo do seem to have genuine affection for each other.
- Faux Affably Evil: Lalo is unfailingly cheerful, friendly, outgoing, and complimentary, but is clearly just as violent and sadistic as the rest of the Salamancas. When he sees Hector, he starts fondly reminiscing about the time they tortured a hotellier to death in front of his wife, and then burned his business to the ground. His persistent questioning and more subtle, unreadable demeanor leaves Gus on edge by the end of their meeting.
- Foreshadowing: Werner meaningfully eyeballs the security cameras, which is a pretty strong hint that he's hatching an escape plan.
- Futureshadowing: Lalo says anyone would be crazy to try taking Don Eladio down. Gus does exactly that a few years later in "Salud" — and succeeds.
- Heaven Above: Jimmy insults Kim for acting like she's better than him by telling her to go back to her "office in the sky," implying it's more perfect and godly up in the heavens than wherever Jimmy is in life.
- Hope Spot: It looks like the problems with the construction crew are over. They blew off some steam and are now ready to finish the project. Werner's Loose Lips seem to have amounted to nothing. After a few tense moments, the final big demolition succeeds and the project can enter its final phase. Then Werner flips out, breaks out of the warehouse, and puts the project and everyone's lives in great danger.
- Insecure Love Interest: Jimmy is visibly upset when Kim tells him to "stop going on about that stupid office!", not realising that to him, a shared office represents something more than just bricks and mortar.
- Meaningful Echo:
- Jimmy fails the reinstatement review for much the same reasons that Gus had the French engineer rejected.
- While arguing with Kim, Jimmy accuses her of viewing him as the kind of lawyer guilty people hire, which is exactly how Betsy Kettleman described him in "Hero".
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Jimmy does this during his and Kim's scam on the court clerk, with her pretending to be a harried single mom and Jimmy playing her idiot brother who leaves her baby unattended.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Jimmy's reaction when he realizes his suspension is still standing. In fact, it's the look on the secretary's face that gives away the truth to Jimmy.
- Mike has one when he discovers Werner's note and apparent escape.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: A subtle one. While Gus' mood when interacting with other Salamanca family and Cartel members in the past (and future) is one of barely composed rage, Lalo is the first one to truly put him on edge by the end of their meeting, a trait that becomes much more prominent in future episodes.
- Pet the Dog:
- Kai exhibits a rare positive attitude and light-heartedly urges Mike to join the Germans in having a celebratory beer.
- Although Mike can't allow Werner to take a weekend off to see his wife, he at least arranges for him to have a phone call with her the next day. He even tells the security guard monitoring the call to let the call go on for as long as Werner wants. Unfortunately, this only serves to make Werner even more homesick and thus determined to escape the warehouse and see his wife any way he can.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Werner is driven by the desire to see his wife again, after many months spent on the construction of the superlab. His one phone call to her only sends him over the edge, and he makes an escape, hoping that Mike will understand.
- Secret Test of Character:
- During Jimmy's hearing, the bar panel throw in a couple of non-standard questions — one about what the law means to him, and another about the greatest influence on his life — apparently hoping that he'll mention Chuck and show remorse for what happened to him. When Jimmy responds with a Wall of Blather for the former question and a flippant non-answer to the latter, they decide it proves he hasn't learned anything from his suspension, and extend it for another year.
- Lalo offers Gus to form an alliance against Don Eladio. Gus declines and Lalo claims he was just messing with him.
- Shrug Take: Nacho to Gus, when the latter sees Nacho sitting together with Lalo in "Los Pollos Hermanos" and casts a Death Glare at Nacho when Lalo waltzes towards Gus's office to have a chat.
- Shout-Out: In Gus's office, there is a picture of a red hand with an "M" at the center of the palm. This is reminiscent of the poster of the German movie M.
- Spotting the Thread: When Mike looks over the surveillance footage with the crew, he notices one of the screens has a problem; dead pixels, indicating that they've been tampered with.
- Tantrum Throwing: Jimmy throws his briefcase against the nearby wall full force after learning his suspension has been extended for another year.
- Title Drop: "Wiedersehen" is painted over the rock that gets demolished.
- Un-person: Jimmy has already been doing this to Chuck since his death, refusing to acknowledge him and quickly brushing off everyone's condolences. However, it becomes extremely blatant in his reinstatement review where one of the panel begins asking him questions where they expect him to mention Chuck in his answers... and he doesn't, deliberately stepping around even naming him as an influence for his joining the law. And it's this disassociation, as Kim points out, that ultimately costs him his chances of being reinstated.
- We Need a Distraction: Gus' crew, led by Mike, and Werner's crew pull off an elaborate plan for the rock blast to occur at exactly the same time as one of Gus' trucks driving over a steel grate overtop where the explosion occurs. The idea is that the sound of one intermingles with and can be confused with the sound of the other to prevent the local townsfolk from becoming suspicious.
- Wham Episode: After Jimmy had spent the last few episodes looking forward to getting his law license back and planning his new law firm, his suspension is extended for a further year because the bar panel didn't like how he came across. On top of that, Werner finally cracks and makes an escape.
- Wham Shot: After Lalo fondly relays the memory of burning a hotel down, he reaches into his bag to give Hector a souvenir he got from it: the hotel's bell, which becomes Hector's method of communication from now on.
- Wham Line:Kim: Jimmy, you're always down.
