InBetter Call Saul’s fifth season, that episode is “Bagman.”
Before you see their faces, you’d know them by the shape of their boots.
The Salamanca Cousins pass through the garage and into a backroom lined with stacks on stacks of bills.
Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
This money is Lalo Salamanca’s $7 million bail, which Jimmy is supposed to retrieve.
It’s that he won’t do it for free.
His voice cracks as he names his price: $100,000.
“Jimmy, you are an attorney, not a bagman,” she says.
She doesn’t think he should do this.
She does notwanthim to do this.
And crucially, this isn’t a value judgment.
Kim’s objections have nothing to do with legality, or morality.
She’s just afraid for him.
(Yeah, blah blah, murder is bad, we’ve heard it all before, KAREN.)
He brushes the dust from his loafers.
He practices his lines: “Yo soy abogado.”
As if this were just another con; as if you could rehearse for this.
This gang of nameless men wants the money.
They also want no witnesses.
A gun is pointed at Jimmy’s face.
Jimmy cowers until it’s over.
A lifetime of petty scam artistry has been no preparation for this.
Finally, after an eternity, the gunfire stops and his unseen savior approaches.
“You’ll be okay,” Mike says.
Does he come back from this?
Does he come back unchanged?
From here, things get hairy, quickly.
Jimmy’s Suzuki is shot, literally, as is his “World’s Second Best Lawyer” mug.
(A moment of silence for the death of the series' longest-running vehicle: RIP, Suzuki.)
The only thing left to do is shoulder the bags full of money and start walking.
Mike is incredulous: “You told your girlfriend what you’re doing.”
If Kim knows, says Mike, she’s involved.
Jimmy balks: “She’s not in the game.
She’s not even game adjacent!”
Mike says he hopes Jimmy is right.
A bloody run-in with a cactus is the last straw: he collapses.
How can he keep going?!
“Because I know why I’m out here,” Mike says.
“I know what it’s for.”
This is what Mike has, and Jimmy lacks: a reason.
Why is James Morgan McGill out here?
A sense of pride?
A cockroach has no plan; it just scurries to the nearest safe place when the lights come on.
On the horizon, the truck that’s been searching for them appears again.
Jimmy grabs the space blanket and scurries.
The truck is destroyed.
So is the gallon of water that its occupants were carrying.
Again, finally, there’s nothing to do but walk.
Jimmy uncaps his water bottle and takes a long swig of his own urine.
He leaves the space blanket behind.
He picks up the bags, and gets moving.
Why is he out here?
What is it for?
We may not know until next week, but for the moment, it looks like Jimmy does.
