Better Call Saul S4 E3
“Mr. Fring! I wasn’t expecting you!” exclaims Gale Boetticher. We were expecting Gus, but we weren’t expecting Gale, the chemist from Breaking Bad who impressed Walter White with his ability to brew excellent coffee and recite Walt Whitman. Gale turns up near the end of Better Call Saul season 4, episode 3, “Something Beautiful.” He’s not the only thing in this episode we weren’t expecting.
Mike Takes a Pass
Jimmy explains his idea for the Hummel heist to Mike while they sit in a diner waiting for Mike’s bacon and egg breakfast. Jimmy has obtained a similar, yet much less valuable, figurine and his plan is for Mike to break in at night and switch them. He claims they’ll never notice the switch. Jimmy is surprised when Mike passes, saying it’s not for him and he doesn’t think it’s right for Jimmy either. Jimmy needs a different burglar and he makes a call to a doctor, saying he has a very sick fish.
Pretending to get medical care for the fish, he really is seeking veterinarian Caldera’s help connecting him to a burglar who can do the job. He convinces the unseen man, over the phone, to be part of his plan.
Poor, Wounded Nacho
We knew Nacho was in a bad place after last week’s episode, but we didn’t expect him to almost die in the very next scene. Victor, Tyrus and Nacho are staging what they want to appear as an attack from a rival gang. Gus is killing 2 birds with this one stone: providing an explanation of Arturo’s death that throws suspicion away from himself, and, presumably, bringing about a situation that causes Juan Bolsa to insist that Gus find a meth supplier north of the border, contrary to Don Eladio’s previous directive. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The scene is set up to look like Nacho and Arturo were attacked by gunmen with a lot of bullets; Nacho claims that all he saw was a silver sports car, maybe a Firebird. To make it look convincing, Victor shoots Nacho, not once but twice, and warns him to call for help quickly before he passes out. The Salamanca twins come to the “rescue.” They set fire to the car and take Nacho to Caldera (we can imagine Jimmy exiting with his goldfish and holding the door open for one of the Salamanca brothers). The animal doctor treats Nacho as well as he is able and says he’ll probably live as long as his bowel wasn’t perforated by the bullet.
To underline the seriousness of Nacho’s situation, Caldera tells Nacho that the cartel situation is “too hot for me.” He doesn’t want to be included in their
Kim Gets Unexpected News from Mesa Verde
Back on the job, Kim has hired a paralegal named Viola. Colony fans will recognize the actress Keiko Agena, who played Betsy in season 2. Viola is agreeable to driving Kim around and toting her file-box-on-wheels while keeping on top of her paralegal duties.
They visit Mesa Verde, where Kim is told they plan a very fast, aggressive expansion, intending to file for a federal charter after they are officially established in Utah. Kevin shows her models of branches they plan to build all across the western half of the US, and tells her “all your hard work is making a difference.” It looks like Kim is a little daunted by all of the extra work this will cause.
A Hang-up in the Hummel Heist
One of the few things we were expecting is that swapping the Hummel doesn’t go as planned. The burglar Caldera introduced Jimmy to turns out to be Ira, who was seen in Breaking Bad as the owner of Vamonos Pest Control. In Breaking Bad, season 5, Saul brags about Ira and his crew that he’s “been pulling their chestnuts out of the fire, legally speaking, for 5 years.” Jimmy saves Ira’s chestnuts in this episode of Better Call Saul, too.
Ira is trapped in the copier company office when Mr. Neff unexpectedly comes out of the bathroom. He’s having marital problems and is forced to sleep on the office sofa. While Ira hides under the desk, Neff uses the phone on first to call his wife and then to call Venezia’s pizza and order a cheese pizza, sliced, with dipping sticks. This is a brand Breaking Bad fans may have been expecting.
Jimmy manages to set off Neff’s car alarm, but Neff uses the remote control to kill the alarm from the doorway, so Ira fails to escape. Jimmy sets off the alarm again, this time also putting the car in neutral. Neff is forced to run out and stop his car from rolling out of the parking structure, allowing Ira to finally escape with the valuable Hummel. Jimmy seems to have earned $4,000 and Ira’s admiration.
Bromine, Barium & Chromium
On the way to Gale’s chemistry lab, Gus gets a phone call from Juan Bolsa, who is nervous because the Salamancas got hit. He wants to suspend any cross-border drug trafficking in the near future, and tells Gus to find a stateside supplier. Gus appears to be already working on this, as his mission to the lab is to hear results of the purity tests he’s asked Gale to run on several meth samples. Gale tells him the samples range from 39 to 59% pure, though there is one sample that’s 67%. “I could do much better,” Gale says, pointing out all of these samples are sub-par. Gus says it’s not the right time and tells Gale, “You were meant for better things.” As he leaves, he tells Gale, “I’ll see you soon,” and Gale continues the word-perfect rendition of Tom Lehrer’s song, The Elements that was interrupted by Gus’ arrival.
Gus may be engineering a need for a meth cook in America, but it looks like the ones he’s found so far are not very competent. We get some insight into what he saw in Walter White.
Chuck Wrote a Nice Letter
Like Kim, we were expecting the letter Chuck left for Jimmy to be mean and spiteful, much like their last in-person encounter. Instead, Chuck’s undated letter says nothing but complimentary things about how he sincerely admired Jimmy’s energy and resilience and respected what Jimmy had made of himself “in the last few years.” But he mentions Jimmy being “a valued member of the HHM family,” hinting that the letter was written some time ago, before Jimmy got his law license and was forced to strike out on his own after Chuck refused to allow him to work as a lawyer at HHM.
The letter has Kim completely convinced, and she has to excuse herself to have a good cry. Jimmy, however, knows the truth that, despite Chuck’s well-crafted words, Chuck was not “a person you knew was always in your corner.” At least, he sure wasn’t in Jimmy’s corner.
Beautiful Contrasts and Questions
This episode is full of surprising Breaking Bad Easter Eggs, amazing camera angles and dramatic tension. Jimmy talks about doing “Something Beautiful” by taking advantage of the free money collectors will pay for the Bavarian Boy Hummel, but the true beauty in this episode is in the camera shots and the scenery:
- The tragedy of a beautiful classic Oldsmobile 442 being destroyed (low angle shots of the twin exhausts, bullet holes in the side, and blood spatters on the broken windshield mirroring the red leather interior).
- Editing effects that underscore the seriousness of Nacho’s injuries, as we can literally feel him blur in and out of consciousness as the twins move him and Caldera starts treatment.
- More great shots of the Neff Copier location with its unique view of the bottom level of a parking garage.
- Excellent night shots of Jimmy lying awake next to a sleeping Kim, Ira sneaking around the dark copier shop, and Jimmy and Ira making their getaway on foot after the heist.
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– Better Call Saul _ Season 4, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Nicole Wilder/AMC/Sony Pictures Television Wide-angle shots of Juan Bolsa on his horse ranch (when all that was really needed was a head-shot of him on the phone).
- Multiple different interior shots at the Mesa Verde headquarters, including the huge bronze statue and a room filled with architecture models of planned future branches.
Notable character interactions and contrasts:
- Mike giving Jimmy advice and Jimmy blowing it off.
- Caldera stepping away from the Cartel heat, while Nacho is still in the frying pan.
- Viola, Kim’s new paralegal, is calm and competent, while Kim is concerned and almost crestfallen at the rapid expansion plans Mesa Verde has in mind.
- Kim dissolving in tears and leaving the room, while a stoic Jimmy watches her. Once again, emotions are dividing them instead of bringing them together.
Questions we’re left with as the Better Call Saul season 4, episode 3 ends:
- What has Mike been up to, besides eating bacon and eggs?
- How much will the collectors in Dallas offer Jimmy for the Bavarian Boy?
- Who will Gus find to make meth now that he can’t bring it over the border?
- Gale is working on an experiment to make a strong solution of benzodiazepine (a class of drug that includes valium and xanax). Is this a throw-away line or will this be important later?
- What is Kim up to at the courthouse?
I guess we’ll have to wait for next week’s episode of Better Call Saul to find out.
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