Bad Choice Road
As Jimmy and Mike make their long trek through the desert, an anxious Kim waits in her apartment for any news about Jimmy's whereabouts. Eventually, Jimmy and Mike reach an area where they finally have cell reception. Jimmy immediately calls Kim and assures her that he is alive. Kim breaks down after receiving the good news.
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.
Lalo is released, and greets Jimmy outside the county jail. Sticking to his script, Jimmy lies to Lalo and claims he was delayed because of car trouble at the pickup and walked alone cross-country so as not to lose the cash. Lalo dismisses Jimmy's concerns about the suspicious prosecutors, stating that he will have returned to Mexico by the time authorities discover that "Jorge de Guzman" is a phony name. Lalo commends Jimmy for his work, and tells him that they will do "big things" together now that he is a friend of the cartel. Before he is picked up, Lalo unsettles Jimmy by casually revealing that Kim visited him in jail in Jimmy's absence.
When Jimmy returns to the apartment, Kim tends to his wounds while he tells her Mike's scripted story. 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.
Mike meets with Gus in his office at Los Pollos Hermanos to inform him about what happened in the desert. After Mike draws a picture of a tattoo that the gunmen wore, Gus realizes they were hired by Juan Bolsa. Gus phones Bolsa at his hacienda and gives him the news that Lalo is on his way back to Mexico. Gus realizes, and explains to Mike, that Bolsa organized the attack on Jimmy in order to protect Gus' business, and by extension Bolsa's own business. Gus assures Mike that Bolsa will not be a problem, but warns him that their actions must be unimpeachable with the cartel going forward.
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."
The following morning, Kim fixes Jimmy breakfast and tells him that she has called in sick in order to tend to him. Still suffering from trauma, Jimmy becomes agitated when Kim puts peeled oranges through a blender and spills his cereal. Later, as Jimmy sits on the couch with his feet in a pan of water, he and Kim begin watching a movie together. Jimmy, however, remains restless. Soon he receives a call on his cell phone from a client; he initially turns him away but is quickly persuaded to end the convalescence early to deal with a matter concerning a plea deal. Trying to reach out to Jimmy, Kim plainly states that she knows he is lying about what happened in the desert and tells him she will be ready and non-judgmental when he decides to tell her the truth. Jimmy deflects Kim's probing by admitting that he was forced to drink his own urine on the journey back home. He insists that he is okay and that he doesn't want to talk about the matter again.
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.
At Casa Tranquila, Lalo tells Hector that he plans on hiding out in Mexico for up to a year until he's confident the police aren't looking for him, and that Nacho will be overseeing the Salamanca operations stateside until Tuco is released from prison in eleven months' time. He also assures Hector that his departure will not be the end of the Salamancas' power play against Gus, planning to use with influence with Don Eladio to turn the cartel boss against Gus. As he leaves Casa Tranquila, Lalo looks back with pity as Hector is made to attend another convalescent's birthday party. Outside, Lalo tells Nacho to drive him to the border. Victor watches the two as they drive away.
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.
At the Mexican border, Lalo has Nacho drive him to the pickup site where Jimmy received the bail money, where both men are expecting a rendezvous with the Cousins. However, at the last minute, something crosses Lalo's mind and causes him to ask Nacho to backtrack a few miles from the pickup site. Lalo tells Nacho that he is searching for Jimmy's car, seeking to corroborate what Jimmy had told him about the car breaking down. Lalo soon finds the car in the ravine where Mike and Jimmy dumped it, and notices that it is pocked by bullet holes. Realizing that Jimmy had lied to him, Lalo asks Nacho to drive him back to Albuquerque.
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.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Ending: It's not entirely clear if Lalo had decided to drop the matter entirely about how Jimmy delivered his bail money, given how he does still decide to go to Mexico... but he explicitly mentions a "change of plans", and specifically tells Nacho to drive him there rather than drop him off.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Downplayed to a surprising extent, all things considered: while at Jimmy's apartment, Lalo keeps tapping the aquarium, even after Jimmy mentions that is disturbing the fish.
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Jimmy goes to great lengths to hide the truth about what happened to him. Justified as Mike intended for Jimmy to hide it with a cover story in the event that he's questioned about anything by anyone.
- Blatant Lies: Kim adamantly telling Lalo that Jimmy never lies.Kim: Not to me, not to his clients.
- Both Sides Have a Point: When Mike brings up the topic of getting Nacho an exit from the operation, he points out that Nacho has done everything Gus has asked of him, and that using his father as leverage isn't exactly an ideal motivator. To which Gus points out that Nacho's got a tendency to backstab his bosses. He schemed with Mike to put Tuco in jail, and he also is the reason Hector is now a cripple in a wheelchair. Not to mention, in this conflict Gus has with Lalo, Nacho is still useful to him as a source of quick intelligence, and that works more effectively at hurting Lalo than the impact of having one more leader disappearing (since someone else could just be promoted to replace him, someone Gus can't secure the loyalty of).
- Call-Back:
- Once again, we have a Cold Open detailing Jimmy and Kim's different days set to the strains of "Something Stupid". However, instead of illustrating how the two seem to be growing distant despite living their lives together, the montage here portrays them as being closer than they have before, even with the large physical distance between them.
- Mike giving Jimmy advice on how he'll deal with his PTSD echoes how Stacey Ehrmantraut had been reacting after Matty's death during the support meeting. Specifically, Mike tells Jimmy that he'll be doing his regular morning routine and eventually realize that he hasn't thought about any of the traumatic events in a long time, eventually forgetting the rest of it and moving on.
- This is another instance of Mike attempting to snipe a member of the Salamanca crime family, only to be prevented at the last moment. Here, however, it's due to said member peacefully leaving the scene.
- Like with Chuck, Kim is made to bear witness against Jimmy being accused of covering up a major incident only for her to step in and chew out Lalo as being ungrateful to all Jimmy's done for him and unreasonable in accusing him (even though Jimmy is lying and Kim's all but aware of it) and thus convincing him to, at least momentarily back off.
- Call-Forward:
- Mike makes sure the bodies in the desert will be taken care of and then coaches Jimmy on the story he has to give to both Lalo and Kim to throw suspicion off of himself that something went wrong during the pickup, similar to his very first appearance when he's brought in by Saul to clean up the scene of Jane's overdose and coach Jesse on what to tell the health officials when they show up.
- Mike confronts Gus about the gun he has to Nacho's father's head, and tells him that he doesn't think fear is an effective motivator. Gus doesn't ruminate on these words now, but in some time they'll become his mantra in dealing with Walter White (at first) note .
- Likewise, Gus' retort about how an abused dog known for biting his owners needs force in order to be handled properly calls to mind the dog metaphors that kept popping up in Breaking Bad proper.
- Jimmy compares Kim leaving Mesa Verde and S&C for pro bono legal work to "leaving the Yankees to play amateur ring-toss". It's an analogy similar to one Walt uses when he compares his meth and its purity to Declan's product, where he called it "grade school T-Ball versus the New York Yankees".
- Jimmy in big PTSD mood makes him act more like how Gene will be post-Breaking Bad, almost about to crack with Lalo before Kim saves him, far quieter than usual, and cowering like a scared animal when he accidentally breaks a cereal bowl.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: What Gus claims about Nacho when Mike suggests letting him out of the game, intending to keep him on his leash. Which is technically true even if he had good reasons to betray all his previous employers.
- Cleanup Crew: Gus hires a cleanup crew to erase all evidence of the shootout, though they're not able to recover the lone survivor that Mike killed later, nor do they recover Jimmy's car.
- Condescending Compassion: Even though she points out that she supported him when he tried to change his whole identity, Jimmy gets ratty with Kim for leaving Mesa Verde and pushing her Berserk Button before they have bigger problems to deal with.
- Confess to a Lesser Crime: Having found the cup with bullet holes in Jimmy's bag, Kim tries to press him to tell her what really happened in the desert, saying she knows he's lying and that something terrible happened. Jimmy admits that something did and opens up to the fact that he had to drink his own pee.
- Didn't Think This Through: Jimmy is quick to question whether Kim thought through her choice with quitting S&C.
- Enemy Civil War: Gus figures out that Juan Bolsa is scheming against the Salamancas to protect his investment in Gus' business, from which he derives much of his position within the Cartel.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Nacho brings Lalo out to the same well Jimmy went to to collect the bail money, Lalo prepped and ready to head back to Mexico. Then, after some thought, he decides to investigate Jimmy's abandoned car that he told him had broken down just six miles from that spot. That's when he finds it pushed into a ditch, and its side pierced with bullet holes.
- Faux Affably Evil: Lalo plays this trope to the hilt during his confrontation with Jimmy and Kim. He barely raises his voice, shows no explicit anger, and isn't overtly threatening, but his entire air seethes with quiet malice, and the threat of death is palpable in the air (not to mention his gun being pretty obviously displayed).Lalo: I just like to hear the story. I mean... I paid a lot of money for that story, so I think I can hear it as much as I want.
- For Want Of A Nail: A long term example: when meeting up with Lalo after posting his bail, Jimmy gives a truncated recount of his journey acquiring it, specifically mentioning how his car 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 pondering... and decides to have Nacho take him further up the road...
- Gambit Pileup: Gus is trying to facilitate Lalo's bail, while Bolsa is trying to prevent it, while Lalo is trying to figure out what the hell happened in the desert. Nacho is also desperately trying to get out of it all, trying to work something out with Mike and Gus.
- Hidden Wire: Variation: after getting tipped off about Lalo heading to Jimmy and Kim's apartment, Mike calls up Jimmy's cell as he races over, and explicitly tells him to keep the phone hidden and on.
- Internal Reveal: Despite Jimmy's efforts and Mike's coaching, Kim and Lalo learn that something else happened to him while he was in the desert.
- It Gets Easier/It Never Gets Any Easier: 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 with impunity and get away without hassle, and that Mike is the only one he can actually talk to about stuff like this.
- Literal Metaphor: The coffee mug and Jimmy's car wind up being proof for Kim and Lalo, respectively, that Jimmy is either lying, or intentionally omitting information... since they have bullet holes visible in them.note
- Meaningful Background Event: After Mike's talk with Jimmy about how choices put people on a road no matter how small they may seem, his car takes off. In its place we see a few skaters off in the distance.
- Metaphorically True: 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.
- Nerves of Steel: Jimmy starts to break a little under Lalo's questioning, and that's where Kim comes in and tells a head Cartel member where to go.
- Noodle Incident: Mike recognizes the Cartel's mercenaries by their tattoos as he did a job involving them before. It doesn't sound like his job as a cop.
- Not so Dire: The trailer showcased Bill Oakley mocking Jimmy over something that happened in the courtroom, mentioning that Jimmy would have to change his name again as a result. As it turns out, all that happened was that Jimmy (still not up to par following the desert) botched a court case, handing Bill a win that he legitimately thought he wouldn't get. Bill's remarks were just him mocking Jimmy for his screw-up.
- Pac Man Fever: Averted. We briefly see a golf video game that's apparently played with a real club and ball, with modern graphics, that makes sounds from the 80's arcade era. This is actually an impact-reacting golf simulator and such things do exist, made possible by a projection and program.
- Perp Sweating: Lalo's interrogation of Jimmy consists of him asking Jimmy to relay his story of what happened in the desert, over and over again. If Jimmy ends up repeating his claims almost word-for-word, it would expose the lie for being scripted. Then, Lalo follows it up by bluntly asking if he pushed his car into a ditch, something Jimmy would have no explanation for. Kim decides to intervene before things get worse.
- Pet the Dog: Mike tries to talk Gus into letting Nacho leave unharmed.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "Tell. Me. Again."
- The Reveal: 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' own interests and stop Lalo from interfering with matters.
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Gus surmises that the attempt to sabotage Lalo's escape was orchestrated by his own associate, Bolsa, who was ironically trying to protect Gus' own interests by keeping the man most suspicious of Gus in jail.
- Run for the Border: Knowing that U.S. authorities will try to investigate who he really is, Lalo plans on heading to his home in Chihuahua, Mexico, to wait until the heat dies down.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once his bail is paid, Lalo immediately decides to head back to Mexico so he can continue doing his business without threat of legal powers.
- Shout-Out: According to
Word of God, the title of this episode was partially inspired by the song "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X. - Shut Up, Hannibal!: Lalo shows up at Jimmy and Kim's apartment after finding Jimmy's abandoned Esteem and keeps forcing Jimmy to repeat his story of what happened at the desert, fishing for him to reveal the shootout. But then Kim abruptly steps in and chews him out for assuming the bullet holes had anything to do with Jimmy, and lays into him further on how his own organization must be facing serious problems if he had to rely on an outsider attorney to navigate a potentially dangerous pickup in the first place because he couldn't trust any of his own men. All of this stuns Lalo so much that he walks out, either because he has no way to refute any of what she said or he's planning to change his tactics. But either way, Kim certainly put him in his place.
- Spotting the Thread: Lalo is set on returning to Mexico with the twin cousins picking him up, but then he remembers that Saul described his car as breaking down a few miles from that very same location. He finds it pushed into a ditch with bullet holes on the side, and he goes on to confront them about this.
- Stalker Shot: After Lalo is done visiting Hector at the retirement home and he gets into the car with Nacho in the parking lot, as they depart, the camera cuts to Victor, who is parked several spots away from them, tracking their movements with the tracker that's installed in Nacho's car, again.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- 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 and arms are absolutely covered in liver spots.
- Lalo's $7 million bail may have been paid off, but the fact that it was paid off at all and so quickly, especially in cash, immediately raises suspicions for the prosecutor against him, thus forcing Lalo to retreat back to Mexico before they figure out who he really is.
- The gunfight from the previous episode causes Jimmy to have a panic attack in reaction to Kim innocently making orange juice. Once the juicer accidentally bursts some on Kim's clothes, Jimmy reacts badly.
- After spending a day recovering at home, Jimmy thinks he can just return to work and proceed with business as usual. However, he's still emotionally rattled from what happened and ends up blowing a case where, according to Bill Oakley, the odds were immensely in his favor to win.
- Suspicious Spending: Lalo's bail was designed with this in mind. Somehow capable of paying millions off in cash as stipulated, the prosecution and authorities are alerted to investigate "Jorge de Guzman" for suspected criminal links. Lalo plans on leaving the country before they're able to get anywhere.
- Talking the Monster to Death: While it's unclear by the episode's end how effective this was truly, Kim manages to get Lalo to leave their apartment by taking him to task over assuming that Jimmy, in any way possible, was attempting to mess with him by leaving out information concerning acquiring his bail money.
- Take Our Word for It: Saul's first day back at work after his desert ordeal apparently went very badly, but we don't see what happened, we only see Bill Oakley gloating about it afterward.
- Take This Job and Shove It: Downplayed: Kim (implied to have been inspired to Jimmy's behavior following the desert) abruptly decides to quit Schweikart & Cokely and give up Mesa Verde so she can do public defender/pro bono legal work full time.
- Title Drop: After hearing Jimmy panic about getting caught up in cartel business, Mike comforts him by stating that every choice they've made — big or small, good or bad — put them each on roads which they can't get off, no matter how hard they try. When Kim tells Jimmy about quitting Schweikart & Cokely, he tries to recite Mike's advice, but muddles it as "bad choices lead to bad roads lead to bad places," concluding that Kim put herself on a "bad choice road".
- Undying Loyalty: Not even Jimmy being missing for several days in the desert and returning with a cagey demeanor makes Kim change her mind about Jimmy. She knows he's leaving out a key part of his story about getting the money, but states she isn't going to force it out of him, just that she has his back no matter what. And when Lalo confronts the two of them near the end, Kim reads Lalo the riot act over thinking Jimmy is lying to him, and actually manages to get him to quietly leave the apartment. And even when Lalo mentions bullet holes being present in Jimmy's car, Kim refuses to take the bait.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: ADA Oakley can't help but rub it in Jimmy's face when he loses a case that was supposed to be a slam dunk for him.
- The Villain Knows Where You Live: Lalo comes up to Jimmy and Kim's own apartment to get to the bottom of what really happened out in the desert.
- Wham Episode: Lalo tracks Jimmy and Kim down to try to find out what happened in the desert. In the final scene, Mike is prepared to snipe any of the three in the apartment to uphold Gus' plan, and Kim has to be the one to drive Lalo out with a massive rebuttal to protect Jimmy. She's fully in the game now, the very thing Jimmy never wanted. It all ends with Lalo driving off with Nacho in tow, new plans in mind as they are both bound for Mexico.
- Wham Line:
- Gus, after discussing Lalo with Juan Bolsa: "I just spoke to the man responsible for the attack."
- Just before Jimmy can continue answering Lalo's questions, Kim interjects: "Are you... Are you kidding me with this?!"
- Wham Shot:
- In-universe: Kim looking inside the bag with the $100,000 that Saul got paid... and inside another pocket, she finds the bullet hole-riddled "World's 2nd Greatest Lawyer" mug.
- Towards the end of the episode, a visitor appears at Jimmy and Kim's apartment... and it's Lalo.
- Worf Had the Flu: Normally Jimmy excels at making up elaborate stories on the spot, however due to the events of the previous episode Jimmy is mentally and physically exhausted and is unable to convince Lalo when he asks what exactly happned when Jimmy picked up the money. Thankfully, Kim steps in before things escalate.
- You Do Not Want To Know: Jimmy tries to avoid telling Kim what exactly happened during his ordeal in the desert. But she ends up finding out anyway, partly owing to Lalo's visit.
- You Leave Him Alone!: Downplayed: Jimmy repeatedly tries to get Lalo to let Kim leave the apartment when he confronts him over what happened in the desert, stating she has no involvement in this. Kim plays this straight when she is tired of Lalo's threatening Jimmy.
