Wow, I really wasn’t sure what would happen next after last week. What we got in Better Call Saul 507 was a rather unemotional courthouse wedding.
Jimmy calls Huell to be a witness, and he brings a disposable camera. Jimmy tells Huell it’s just a legal arrangement, so if he gets into trouble, she can’t testify against him. But we saw them having a discussion, and she got him to agree to tell her what’s going on when he feels the urge to keep something from her. “I just want to know what’s going on,” she tells him.
As they’re submitting the forms for the marriage license, the clerk asks Jimmy if he has documentation of his “two previous dissolutions.” This answers a question fans have been asking, only to pose another one. We know Saul talked in Breaking Bad about having been married three times. So now we know the third time was to Kim. We know he mentioned that he caught his second wife sleeping with his stepfather, so that must have been earlier, likely when his mother was still alive. We still don’t know much about these other marriages, but it’s clear they didn’t last long.
Meanwhile, Saul Goodman has a new client: Lalo, under an assumed name. Before Saul knows it, Lalo is charged with a long list of crimes and the judge orders him held without bail.
Kim and her boss meet with Kevin and Paige. Kim admits she screwed up and they leave, not clear whether she is still Mesa Verde’s attorney. But then she goes back, telling Rich, “We can’t leave it like this.” She tells Kevin that he ignored her advice and that caused the problems. She goes further, saying that if he intends to keep ignoring her advice, it was the wrong relationship. Kevin says, “We’ll see you on Thursday.”
Lalo meets with Jimmy and asks about the JMM initials on his briefcase. Jimmy says it’s his motto: “Justice Matters Most.” Lalo says it should stand for “Just Make Money.” He asks Jimmy if he wants to be “el amigo del cartel,” and tells him he wants him to do the impossible and get him out on bail.
Then we see quite a strange scene. Jimmy and Kim are celebrating, doing what most married couples do on their wedding night. But Jimmy interrupts the proceedings to tell Kim he had the urge not to tell her something: about the cartel. He tells her that being a friend of the cartel means lots of money. Kim asks him if he wants to be a friend of the cartel, and he says he doesn’t, but then he says it’s a moot point because no judge on earth will grant Lalo bail. Kim says she’s glad he told her and they resume the wedding night proceedings.
Lalo manages to make a phone call from his jail cell. He calls Nacho. Then we see Nacho meeting with Mike. He tells Mike he wants out of the cartel, but his dad won’t leave unless they report the cartel to the cops. Then he tells Mike that Lalo put him in charge, and wants him to burn down Los Pollos Hermanos.
Then follows another interesting scene, a company meeting of Madrigal Electromotive. Gus presents positive sales numbers for Los Pollos Hermanos and gives the group a sample of his new product, Spice Curls. “The curly fry with the southwestern kick.” But then later we see Gus knock on the connecting door in his hotel room, and he’s admitted by Lydia Rodarte-Quayle to the room of Peter Schuler, head of Madrigal’s fast food division. Apparently he and Gus are old friends. Gus tells him about the trouble with the cartel and how Lalo has ordered one of his men to burn down one of the chicken restaurants. Peter is very unnerved by all of this, but Gus reminds him about “Santiago.” He says that he and Peter had their backs to the wall there, and “I’ll never forget what you did. You are still the same man. You will do what is necessary. Stay strong, my friend. We’ve come so far. We’re so close.” We don’t know what exactly they’re so close to achieving, but we do know several years later they will both come to a bad end as a result of their war with the Salamancas.
Kim and Jimmy have a discussion about real estate, but then Kim leaves for work and Mike calls. Jimmy tries to fake a bad connection, and mimics Mike turning down involvement in the Hummel figurine caper in an earlier season of Better Call Saul. “It’s not for me and it shouldn’t be for you, either.” But Mike is at the door, so Jimmy can’t put him off. He gives Jimmy lots of photocopies, telling him that’s everything he needs to get Lalo out on bail. The one document we see a close-up of is the driver’s license of the Travel Wire clerk that Lalo killed.
Mike puts Kaylee to bed, then tells Stacey that he’s “better.” He’s made a decision to work with Gus and that has given him a renewed sense of purpose, despite the danger.
Next we see Nacho and Gus working together at the restaurant. This is obviously pre-arranged. Nacho vandalizes the dining and serving areas, knocking over the beverage machine, cutting up the upholstery of some of the seats, spray painting on the walls, smashing things. Meanwhile, Gus is calmly rigging a whole chicken to slide into a hot fryer. He tells Nacho to go, then leaves, leaving the gas turned up. As he walks away, the chicken slides into the hot oil and presumably causes a spark that ignites the gas and we see the whole restaurant explode in the background. Gus is clearly reacting to this situation with the same smoldering anger we saw when he was waiting to hear about the outcome of Operation Dead Drop in episode 4.
Then we see Saul in court with Lalo. He accuses the opposing counsel of witness tampering, and tells what he knows about the PI named Dave Clark. He even has a fake family staged in the back row of the courtroom, claiming that his client is not a flight risk because he’s engaged and the only father the children know. The judge reluctantly sets bail at $7 million. Saul apologizes to Lalo, but Lalo is unfazed. “I can do that,” he says. But he tells Saul, “You’ll have to pick it up. I’ll call you.”
It seems Lalo Better Call Saul, and Saul will be called upon to earn those big bucks that working for the cartel will be bringing him.
The final scene starts off when Howard asks Jimmy, once again, if he wants to work for HHM. Jimmy works himself into a rant, following Howard toward the exit, and eventually becoming completely unhinged. He says the job Howard offered was too small, and then says no one has seen what he’s capable of. Then he realizes everyone is staring at him and he tries to collect himself and walk back down the hallway.
This episode has moved Jimmy much further down the path to becoming Saul Goodman.
I’m not supposed to tell spoilers. So I won’t. But next week promises to be another great episode. I think Saul is going to start earning that money Lalo spoke of, and we’re going to be seeing some more old friends. I’m counting the days.