Better Call Saul | "Bagman" | S05E08 | 4/6/20 spoilers

12419 Views 77 Replies 26 Participants Last post by DevdogAZ, Apr 26, 2020

DevdogAZ

Discussion Starter · Apr 7, 2020

What an amazing episode! So reminiscent of some of the desert episodes of Breaking Bad. In fact, this episode was filmed in To'hajiilee, roughly the same area as some of the last episodes of BB, including "To'hajiilee" and "Ozymandias." According to the Insider podcast, this episode took 18 days of shooting, and just the shootout scene took five full days. And they were filming it in July 2019 so you know it was blazing hot out there.

Obviously it was a cool reveal to have Jimmy about to get shot and then suddenly his shirt gets splattered with blood. But I really would have liked to see how Mike was able to be in the right place at the right time. Was he tailing Jimmy all the way to the meet up with the Cousins? Was he set up to protect Jimmy at that point? Or did he drive the route beforehand, realize that bend in the road was the logical place to stage a heist, and he gambled that this would be the spot where he should be set up? It's not like there was another parallel road Mike could be driving to be tailing Jimmy without being seen.

How did Jimmy think he could drag those bags across the desert without getting a hole. I'm surprised he went as long as he did before he started to leak money.

Also, it was kind of odd that they knew that guy was looking for them, yet they just wandered across vast open desert in broad daylight. It seems like if that guy was smart, he should have just climbed one of the highest bluffs near where he found the Suzuki Esteem with some binoculars and just watched all the open land until he saw people moving. Seems like a much better plan than just driving up and down the road at full speed.

I was so confused about the rear-mounted spare tire on the Cousins' Porsche Cayenne, but apparently it was a factory option for the first couple years that car was offered.

Finally, I had one gripe about the episode, and that was the final shot, with Mike stepping on the space blanket and leaving it behind as he walked away. That doesn't seem like something Mike would do. He had no way to know whether they were going to have to spend another night out there so he'd definitely want to keep it with them, plus he wouldn't want to litter and/or leave any evidence in the area, since the murder of all those guys at the shootout was sure to be discovered and investigated at some point.

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heySkippy

· #2 · Apr 7, 2020

Only 2 eps left. I hope they don't make us wait another 2 years for the next season.

I already had a bad feeling about Kim's fate in this show and that has now been cranked up to 11.

Reactions: 1

kaszeta

· #3 · Apr 7, 2020

I'm wondering if Jimmy's going to be several $k short next week because of the leak.

I also have to suspend disbelief, but gopher holes be damned, that's way, way less risky than hiking in the day with no water.

Random chuckle observation during the episode: the pee bottle was from Davis and Main[sp?].

Reactions: 1

series5orpremier

· #4 · Apr 7, 2020

It will be fun how the delay is explained to Lalo. If he finds out about an ambush, how could Saul have reasonably escaped it without Lalo finding out that Gus helped? Say he was helped from Nacho instead?

astrohip

· #5 · Apr 8, 2020 (Edited)

DevdogAZ said:
But I really would have liked to see how Mike was able to be in the right place at the right time.

Finally, I had one gripe about the episode, and that was the final shot, with Mike stepping on the space blanket and leaving it behind as he walked away. That doesn't seem like something Mike would do.

The gas cap had a GPS in it. They ~~also did that in BB.~~ used that same trick in an earlier episode of BCS.

The space blanket reminded Jimmy of the one his brother used to use. That's why he turned it down that first night. Other than using it for the bait trap, he wanted nothing to do with it.

[credit: both these ideas came from Alan Sepinwall's column.]

Reactions: 5

kaszeta

· #6 · Apr 8, 2020

I thought the gas cap was earlier in BCS. Did we see it in BB?

Reactions: 1

jsmeeker

· #7 · Apr 8, 2020

Always fun to see the cousins

Reactions: 1

hefe

· #8 · Apr 8, 2020

"She's in the game."

/shiver

astrohip

· #9 · Apr 8, 2020

kaszeta said:
I thought the gas cap was earlier in BCS. Did we see it in BB?

You're right, it was BCS. I'll correct my post.

hummingbird_206

· #10 · Apr 8, 2020

I was hoping they'd show the prairie dogs. They are so cute!

I think the cartel involvement will cause Kim to leave Saul. She's going to realize that Jimmy is dead and that she doesn't want to be with Saul. I don't think they will kill her off. Please, don't kill her!

I hope they show us how Mike got into position to help Saul.

I still love the show, but this episode showcased why I'm not much of a fan of prequels. Knowing that Saul and Mike were going to be ok took the suspense out of it for me.

Rob Helmerichs

· #11 · Apr 8, 2020

hummingbird_206 said:
I still love the show, but this episode showcased why I'm not much of a fan of prequels. Knowing that Saul and Mike were going to be ok took the suspense out of it for me.

But the suspense of not knowing how they get rejuvenated by the time BB starts is absolutely KILLING me!

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hummingbird_206

· #12 · Apr 8, 2020

Rob Helmerichs said:
But the suspense of not knowing how they get rejuvenated by the time BB starts is absolutely KILLING me!

It's pretty obvious to me. They are making so much money that they can afford good surgeons.

Tony_T

· #13 · Apr 8, 2020

We know from BB that Saul is no longer working for the Salamanca's, and is working for Gus, so he is being protected. My guess is that Saul will get that protection extended to Kim, and that she then leaves AZ (and that we see her again in a BCS flash forward in the finale)

tivotvaddict

· #14 · Apr 8, 2020

Jimmy "wasting" water in the beginning as he cleaned his shoe was cruel foreshadowing.

Reactions: 5

DevdogAZ

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 8, 2020

astrohip said:
The gas cap had a GPS in it. They ~~also did that in BB.~~ used that same trick in an earlier episode of BCS.

But even though Mike was able to track the position of Jimmy's car, he still had to keep himself unseen (by Jimmy, the Cousins, and the ambushers) which is hard to do in an open desert like that with only one dirt road. And he had to get himself in position to save Jimmy from the ambush. There wasn't time for Mike to see the ambush and then get into position, so he had to already have anticipated it would happen at that location and be in position. That's pretty much deus ex machina as far as I'm concerned.

Reactions: 1

Tony_T

· #16 · Apr 8, 2020

I think he was really just keeping an eye on Saul. While Mike was prepared for trouble, as he said, had he expected that level of an ambush, he would have brought help with him.

DevdogAZ

Discussion Starter · #17 · Apr 8, 2020

Tony_T said:
I think he was really just keeping an eye on Saul. While Mike was prepared for trouble, as he said, had he expected that level of an ambush, he would have brought help with him.

But then it makes no sense that he was in position to save Jimmy from the ambush if Mike wasn't anticipating it. They can't have it both ways.

Reactions: 1

Tony_T

· #18 · Apr 8, 2020

DevdogAZ said:
But then it makes no sense that he was in position to save Jimmy from the ambush if Mike wasn't anticipating it. They can't have it both ways.

Then he only anticipated the ambush after he was on the road and too late to call for backup.

But who did the guy at the money room call to tip off about the $7 million in transit?

mooseAndSquirrel

· #19 · Apr 8, 2020

I love this show, but this was another episode that was so drawn out. In a rewatch, there are a lot of episodes that I would FF through - the bingo, the true crime montage in Chicago, the 30 minutes wandering in the desert.

And as said upthread, it's ludicrous to say walking in the desert at night is more dangerous than under the blazing sun, especially with bad guys looking for you.

DevdogAZ

Discussion Starter · #20 · Apr 8, 2020

kaszeta said:
I'm wondering if Jimmy's going to be several $k short next week because of the leak.

Even if he lost some money, the drop was supposed to have an extra $100k that Jimmy could keep for his services, so even if he did lose a few thousand, he'd still have enough to cover Lalo's bail.

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