History Recap / BetterCallSaulS4E5QuiteARide

In a parking lot at Denver International Airport in Colorado, an unnamed Frenchman steps off the airport shuttle and approaches a rental car. He finds a set of keys hidden in the right front wheel well, and in the front cupholder, a cell phone. As he picks up the phone, he gets a call from Mike. Mike directs the Frenchman into the Rocky Mountains, where he is told to park by a mile marker on the side of a windy two-lane road. Here, Mike calls him again, instructing him to don a black hood in the trunk, then stand on the roadside with his luggage. After the man dons the hood, Mike and his driver, Nick, pull up in a van. With Nick driving and Mike riding in back with the Frenchman, they drive south several hundred miles to Albuquerque. The Frenchman, a structural engineer, is not allowed to remove his hood until he is deposited in the Lavanderia Brilliante, where he is told to analyze the feasibility and the work needed to excavate a new basement in secret. After a short rudimentary survey, he confidently concludes that he can do it in the span of at least six months, more time than a tunnel he once dug under the U.S.-Mexico border. His attitude makes clear he's not professional enough for the tastes of Mike's employer and can't be trusted to keep trade secrets. After receiving a short phone call from Gus telling him to reject the candidate, Mike thanks the Frenchman for his time and has him dropped off at the pick-up point.

The following morning, Jimmy spends the day removing his sign from the CC Mobile storefront. Meanwhile, Kim takes a taxi to her next public defender client Denise, who is an hour late to her appearance in court over a drug possession charge. While she persuades Denise to come with her to the courthouse, Kim mutes an incoming phone call. While Denise changes, Kim receives a second call; it's Paige, who tells her that an error has come up in Viola's paperwork and that Kim is needed right away. Kim hangs up on Paige before leaving the house with Denise. When Kim finally makes it to Mesa Verde, Paige admonishes Kim for hanging up on her and reminds Kim that she promised to put her focus solely on Mesa Verde. Kim apologizes and promises that it won't happen again.

With the failure of the Frenchman, Gus orders Mike to bring in another structural engineer, Werner Ziegler, who is hooded and taken by van to the Lavanderia Brilliante. After making much more thorough measurements of the building, particularly an area around one of the laundry machines, Werner explains the logistical challenges of excavating the area beneath the industrial laundry without compromising the building or drawing attention from people above-ground. Gus emerges from the shadows and asks if Werner is saying the job is impossible; Werner replies that it will be difficult, dangerous, and expensive, but (most importantly) not impossible. Impressed, Gus introduces himself to Werner and greets him in German, taking him on for the job.

* BlindfoldedTrip: For security reasons, Gus doesn't trust local engineers with his secret basement. Instead, he recruits outside contractors from Madrigal. To further protect themselves, Gus has extra measures placed to ensure that anyone who fails the job interview knows minimal details about the project. To elaborate, instead of flying directly into Albuquerque, the candidate flies into Denver, where they are directed to a car in the parking lot with a prepaid parking ticket, keys hidden in the wheel well, and a burner phone in the cupholder. Mike and Nick wait in a windowless van overlooking the lot, and call the candidate when they find the car. Mike then directs said candidate over the phone to drive to a dropoff point on the side of a windy road in the Rocky Mountains. Once there, the candidate is told to take out their luggage, and don a black hood sitting in the trunk. Then, Mike and Nick show up, put the candidate in the back of their van, and drive him all the way down to Albuquerque, not removing the bag until the candidate is inside the laundromat.[[note]]This serves the purpose of ensuring the candidate doesn't know what city they're in unless they get accepted for the job; for all the rejectees know, they might be in Cheyenne or Omaha or Grand Junction, or Santa Fe, or any other city within six hours of the drop site[[/note]] Then the candidate does an analysis of the site, calculating the needed time and required labor, while Gus is discreetly observing them from the shadows. The candidate never sees Gus, they only talk to Mike. If Gus rejects the candidate, he calls Mike to tell him as much, then the rejectee is re-bagged, put back in the van, and dumped back on the Colorado road where he left the car with a return plane ticket in their pocket.

** This is subverted with the French engineer, who appears and behaves very professionally, but does not give the project a serious consideration and is more worried about getting the contract and the payment than doing the job properly. Gus has Mike unceremoniously reject him and ship him back to France.

* HonestJohnsDealership: The French architect tries to get a contract by casually assuring Mike that he can excavate and build the superlab in a matter of months, in total secrecy, with little difficulty. [[TheAce Gus being Gus]], he sees through this line of BS, and the guy quickly finds himself on the side of the road with a ticket home.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Howard is far from the composed and smooth lawyer that the audience is familiar with when Jimmy sees him in the washroom. It suggests that BeneathTheMask Howard has significant struggles of his own, such as becoming TheInsomniac and his [[HeroicBSoD lingering guilt over feeling responsible for Chuck's suicide.]]

We open in a flash-forward, [[Recap/BreakingBadS5E15GraniteState during the final hours of Saul Goodman & Associates]], as Saul, looking dishevelled and sporting a broken nose, retrieves a satchel full of cash from the ceiling while Francesca shreds documents. Saul tears open the "We the People" wallpaper behind his desk and takes out his shoebox, which he places inside his luggage. He hands over two wads of cash to Francesca. Saul tells her that the police will undoubtedly come talk to her at some point, and asks her what she is going to tell them. "Talk to my attorney," she laconically replies. Saul then give her Ed's business card, and tells her to say that "Jimmy" sent her. He also asks about their appointment on November 12. Francesca replies that she will be there, "but if it doesn't ring at 3 on the dot, I'm gone." Jimmy just assures her that it will. Believing that they have taken care of everything, Jimmy somewhat awkwardly tries to lighten the dower mood as he quips, "Quite a ride, huh?" and offers Francesca a hug. But she just waves off his gesture with a nonchalant "Yup," and walks out to dispose of the shredded documents. As soon as she is out the door, Saul goes to his desk and takes out a disposable cell phone from his desk drawer and calls Ed. After finishing the call, Saul immediately breaks the phone, and takes a last look around his office with a look of utter defeat on his face.

In a parking lot at Denver International Airport in Colorado, an unnamed Frenchman steps off the airport shuttle and approaches a rental car. He finds a set of keys hidden in the right front wheel well, and in the front cupholder, a cell phone. As he picks up the phone, he gets a call from Mike. Mike directs the Frenchman into the Rocky Mountains, where he is told to park by a mile marker on the side of a windy two-lane road. Here, Mike calls him again, instructing him to don a black hood in the trunk, then stand on the roadside with his luggage. After the man dons the hood, Mike and his driver, Nick, pull up in a van. With Nick driving and Mike riding in back with the Frenchman, they drive south several hundred miles to Albuquerque. The Frenchman, a structural engineer, is not allowed to remove his hood until he is deposited in the Lavanderia Brilliante, where he is told to analyze the doability and the work needed to excavate a new basement in secret. After a short rudimentary survey, he confidently concludes that he can do it in the span of at least six months, more time than a tunnel he once dug under the U.S.-Mexico border. His attitude makes clear he's not professional enough for the tastes of Mike's employer, and can't be trusted to keep trade secrets. After receiving a short phone call from Gus telling him to reject the candidate, Mike thanks the Frenchman for his time and unceremoniously has him sent home.

At the courthouse, Kim does public defender work at the behest of Judge Munsinger. Her latest client is a teenage boy named David Estrada, who has been charged with throwing a cinder block through a jewelry store window. Kim negotiates with DDA Bill Oakley, leveraging him with the fact that David was arrested based on a statement he gave to police before he was Mirandized. Oakley is forced to agree to her plea agreement giving David four months' probation with time served. Outside the courtroom, when David expresses ingratitude for getting his sentence reduced, Kim urges him to go back to his grandfather, beg for a job, and turn his life around.

With the failure of the Frenchman, Gus orders Mike to bring in another structural engineer, Werner Ziegler, who is hooded and taken by van to the Lavanderia Brilliante. After making much more thorough measurements of the building, particularly an area around one of the laundry machines, Werner explains the logistical challenges of excavating the area beneath the industrial laundry without compromising the building or drawing attention from people above-ground. Gus emerges from the shadows and asks if Werner is saying the job is impossible; Werner replies that it will be difficult, dangerous and expensive, but (most importantly) not impossible. Impressed, Gus introduces himself to Werner and greets him in German, taking him on for the job.

When Jimmy goes to the courthouse to check in with his PPD supervisor, he runs into Howard in the bathroom, who is fidgety and disheveled. Despite initially insisting that everything is fine, Howard alludes to suffering from insomnia ever since Chuck died. Jimmy suggests that he see Kim's therapist, but Howard replies that he is already seeing someone twice a week. After Howard leaves, Jimmy tears up the business card of Kim's therapist and flushes it down the toilet. During his PPD meeting, Jimmy lies to his PPD supervisor about meeting with known criminals. When the supervisor asks what Jimmy plans to do once his PPD is up, Jimmy goes off on a small tirade about how he will get his law license back, reestablish his legal partnership with Kim, and become a "damn good lawyer" who people are going to know about.

We open in a flash-forward, [[Recap/BreakingBadS5E15GraniteState during the final hours of Saul Goodman & Associates]], as Saul, looking dishevelled and sporting a broken nose, retrieves a satchel full of cash from the ceiling while Francesca shreds documents. Saul tears open the "We the People" wallpaper behind his desk and takes out his shoebox, which he places inside his luggage. He hands over two wads of cash to Francesca. Saul tells her that the police will undoubtedly come talk to her at some point, and asks her what she is going to tell them. "Talk to my attorney," she laconically replies. Saul then give her Ed's business card, and tells her to say that "Jimmy" sent her. He also asks about their appointment on November 12. Francesca replies that she will be there, "but if it doesn't ring at 3 on the dot, I'm gone." Jimmy just assures her that it will. Believing that they have taken care of everything, Jimmy somewhat awkwardly tries to lighten the dower mood as he quips, "Quite a ride, huh?" and offers Francesca a hug. But she just waves off his gesture with a nonchalant "Yup," and walks out to dispose of the shredded documents. As soon as she is out the door, Saul runs doubles back to his desk and takes out a disposable cell phone from his desk drawer and calls Ed. After finishing the call, Saul immediately breaks the phone, and takes a last look around his office with a look of utter defeat on his face.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Howard is far from the composed and smooth lawyer that the audience is familiar with when Jimmy sees him in the washroom. It suggests that BeneathTheMask Howard has significant struggles of his own, such as becoming TheInsomniac and his [[HeroidBSoD lingering guilt over feeling responsible for Chuck's suicide.]]

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Howard is far from the composed and smooth lawyer that the audience is familiar with when Jimmy sees him in the washroom. It suggests that BeneathTheMask Howard has significant struggles of his own, such as becoming TheInsomniac and his [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone lingering guilt over feeling responsible for Chuck's suicide.]]

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Howard is far from the composed and smooth lawyer that the audience is familiar with. It suggests that BeneathTheMask Howard has significant struggles of his own, such as becoming TheInsomniac and his [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone lingering guilt over feeling responsible for Chuck's suicide.]]

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Howard is far from the composed and smooth lawyer that the audience is familiar with. It suggests that BeneathTheMask Howard has significant struggles of his own, such as becoming TheInsomniac and his [[MyGodWhatIDone lingering guilt over feeling responsible for Chuck's suicide.]]

* TrunkShot: Many appear during the montage of Jimmy selling the burner phones in front of the "Dog House".

We open in a flash-forward, [[Recap/BreakingBadS5E15GraniteState during the final hours of Saul Goodman & Associates]], as Saul retrieves a satchel full of cash from the ceiling while Francesca shreds documents. Saul tears open the "We the People" wallpaper behind his desk and takes out his shoebox, which he places inside his luggage. He hands over two wads of cash and Ed's business card to Francesca. Saul offers Francesca a hug before she leaves to dispose of the shredded documents, but she scoffs and walks out. He then takes out a disposable cell phone from his desk drawer and calls Ed.

* AbsenteeActor: None of the cartel appear in this episode except for Gus, Mike and Nick.

* BookEnds: We see the start of Jimmy's drop phone selling career juxtaposed with its ending.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Zig-zagged by Jimmy, as his attempting to sell his last few burner phones to a biker gang against his better judgement is what causes him to get mugged (albeit not by the bikers themselves) and lose all his profits from the night. However, he decides against reporting it to the police, as doing so would be effectively admitting that he had been associating with criminals while on probation. It also causes him to abandon his scheme to sell burner phones to criminals, since he realizes that he is not cut out to be a street criminal. On the other hand, the incident only reinforces his desire to be a successful lawyer, no matter what it takes.