Luis Moncada, Mark Margolis and Daniel Moncada in Better Call Saul Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
There was a certainty that death would come in this final season of Better Call Saul, which has to do with the Gilligan ABQ universe populated by more than a few characters who don’t get a single second of screen time in Breaking Bad. But if season six’s first death leaves more than 75 percent of the plot remaining — and if it’s a big death — I expect the curveballs yet to be thrown our way will be fierce.
On the current state of affairs (note: major spoilers to follow): Nacho. Ignacio Varga was always a few steps ahead as a member of the Salamanca drug cartel. But when he was forced by Gus to keep tabs on Lalo, easily the smartest of the Salamancas, Nacho’s status became much more precarious. And when his duties as a mole turned into active work against Lalo, Nacho’s days were numbered. Those were few, because despite his desperate efforts to survive the wrath of Salamancas, which consisted of dodging the Cousins and completely submerging himself under a puddle of oil, Nacho met his end by pulling a pistol trigger to his own head , so Leonel and Marco would be denied the chance to torture and kill him.
Before that, however, Mike’s warning to Tire in the previous episode – “Whatever happens next, it’s not going to turn out the way you think” – resonates when Nacho Tio rocks Salamanca’s world twice and tells Hector that he’s the one who did it altered his heart medication with sugar pills, resulting in the stroke that leaves Hector in a wheelchair and unable to speak.
“Rock and Hard Place”
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“Rock and Hard Place”
It was a bitter bombshell that Nacho spat out in a final, angry tirade that was probably more satisfying than his last meal. (Michael Mando may show up in later episodes this season — I’m here for a nacho flashback or two — but it’s worth reiterating: His outstanding work in just the first three episodes is worthy of his first Emmy nomination.) But While it was partially driven by his desire to motivate Gus to keep his promise not to kill Nacho’s father, Manuel – Nacho mentioned in his tirade that Gus had been the one who saved Hector – Nacho may have inadvertently triggered Manuel’s death .
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Hector was of course so furious at the revelation that he had the cousins carry his wheelchair over to Nacho’s body so he could fire a few bullets into him. But we’ve seen Hector’s temper before, and his desire for revenge on Nacho won’t be sated by a few autopsy snails. Hector knows who Manuel is; he met him in his shop and he knows how much Manuel loves Nacho. Gus and Mike are dedicated to Manuel’s safety, and that’s an impressive defense. But the lineup of the “psycho shit,” as Nacho called the Salamancas, is also committed. And unless Hector can get proof of Gus’ involvement in what Juan Bolsa and the rest of Don Eladio’s cartel believe was a successful strike against Lalo, he’s bound to get his revenge somewhere, and Manuel seems the most likely, or at least the most immediate , Goal.
Speaking of Lalo, he was physically MIA on “Rock And Hard Place,” but he continues to wreak havoc only in name, be it “Lalo Salamanca” or “Jorge de Guzman.” ADA Suzanne Ericsen has compiled Jimmy’s legal (and illegal) dealings with Lalo and is trying to get Jimmy to confess about Kim. But Kim’s blunt interactions with Ericsen with her own court cases have led her colleague to believe Kim is a straight shooter when it comes to Jimmy. When Suzanne tells Kim that she knows that despite his conspicuousness, Jimmy is aware that what he did to Lalo is wrong, Kim’s increasingly annoyed reaction to their conversation is to correct her. “Saul,” she says briefly to Suzanne. “He practices under the name Saul Goodman now.” Suzanne continues her ruse of believing that Jimmy — er, Saul — simply got caught up in something beyond his intentions with the cartel, but the writers have another clever trick -and-mouse game that will guide us through the Saul finale.
And for any doubt that Kim is not just all-in, but controlling her and Jimmy’s “mouse” halfway through the game, Jimmy asks her what she thinks he should do when it comes to Suzanne’s request to tell her all about Lalo tell. “I think it depends,” she tells him. “Do you want to be a friend of the cartel or do you want to be a rat?” Wow.
Michael Mando in Better Call Saul Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Again, Kim breaks out so harshly that even the Saul-candidate Jimmy seems less responsible for her master plan than Mrs. McGill-Goodman. And Nacho, one step ahead of everyone even in death, drops a character-to-character droozy the likes of which we haven’t seen since Walt smashed Jesse with the truth about his role in Jane’s death in Ozymandias , one of the greatest TV drama episodes of all time.
These are obviously big shoes for the Saul team to continue to fit together as Better Call Saul heads towards his ultimate bridge to Breaking Bad, but there aren’t any narrative cobblers better able to guide the ongoing journey between the two series landscape, eventful.
Crazy observations
- One of the things that made Nacho such a compelling character was that he was a smart, usually quiet, quick-thinking and responsive, compassionate guy, rather than the drug cartel villain he might have been in the hands of lesser writers or actors . That last phone call with his father was devastating because by that point it was pretty clear there was no way out for him. And it got even more heartbreaking when the mechanic who loaned Nacho soap and use of his phone went into the garage to find that Nacho had left him a pile of cash. Sure, Nacho didn’t have a use for it at the time, but it was still a nice gesture of gratitude when Nacho had so many other things on his mind.
- How will Manuel Varga feel when he learns that Nacho’s call was the last he ever got from his son, whom he brushed off with yet another memory that he (naively) saw Nacho go to the police when only way out of his life as a drug cartel? And then when he learns that Nacho stopped running for his life to save his father’s? Suppose Papa Varga survives to find out his son is dead.
- Who is Alvarez?! Gus and Nacho decided that Alvarez would take the blame for planning Lalo’s assassination. Nacho even goes so far as to say that Juan Bolsa Alvarez paid him to work against the Salamancas for years. But across multiple views and rewatches of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, I don’t recall an Alvarez. I googled such a character and… no results. It would be completely unlike the BCS writers to ever throw a deus ex machina character into the mix. So again, who is Alvarez? Theory: What if there is no Alvarez? Finally, if Nacho told Bolsa the name of a real person, that person would be dead. And if Bolsa admitted that such a dangerous enemy existed without even knowing his name, he would go to the top of Don Eladio’s kill list.
- Giancarlo Esposito’s always calm demeanor is his own very scary sort of villain, but a little salute to Mark Margolis’ Hector face of rage. The hooked nose and wide eyes he sets off are just as effective.
- Even after confronting Mike on the phone about knowing Gus wanted to leave him alone to kill him at the motel after he escaped Mexico, Nacho still only trusted Mike to make sure Gus Manuel was alive would let. Nacho and Mike had bonded, with Mike, the pseudo-father figure/mentor, absent for Nacho with his father’s constant disapproval. Those little nods that Nacho and Mike exchanged as Mike stepped out of the van at the desert meetup turned devastating once we soon learned the twist they had planned with Nacho and the gun.
- One of the best visual tricks of the season so far, when Mike unlocks the bottom of the truck Nacho was hiding in to return to Albuquerque, Nacho is lying there with his eyes closed. For a second it looked like he was already dead.