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Better Call Saul ep. 5.08, "Bagman", is an eventful episode. Jimmy gets in deeper with the drug cartel when he agrees to help smuggle $7 million cash into the country for bail for his client, Lalo Salamanca— bail money that Lalo plans to forfeit almost immediately by fleeing to Mexico. Jimmy drives out into the desert near the border to take the handoff, two heavily loaded duffel bags of cash, from Lalo's cousins, the Murder Twins.
As Jimmy is still in the process of becoming ethics-free lawyer Saul Goodman he initially turns down the request. He knows it's dangerous. But then, thinking about how Lalo teased him that the initials JMM on his monogrammed briefcase ought to stand for Just Make Money (he told Lalo they mean "Justice Matters Most" instead of being the the initials of his real name, James Morgan McGill) he asks for $100,000. Lalo agrees.
Jimmy was right to be concerned about the safety of smuggling $7 million cash. One of the cartel members at the stash house is seen making an ominous phone call when the Murder Twins leave with the money. Minutes after the handoff, a well armed gang ambushes Jimmy in the desert.
Even if this gang were just one or two men with pistols, Jimmy's goose would be cooked. He's not a soldier and he doesn't have a vehicle he can use to escape across the desert. He's still driving his beater econobox Suzuki Esteem. And he's not even dressed for the desert; he's wearing a natty jacket and tie and a pair of soft loafers.
It's interesting who's behind this ambush. At first it seems like the gang in Mexico may have a mole working for a rival gang. But it turns out the mole works for Juan Bolsa, the cartel underboss. Bolsa likes playing off the different factions against each other and evidently doesn't approve of burning $7 million cash to get the aggressive Lalo out of prison. And Jimmy is nobody to them. The hit squad boss motions to one of his men to kill Jimmy once he's secured the bags of cash.
Fortunately for Jimmy, Mike is shadowing him at Gus's behest. Gus, always the most astute player in the game, anticipated that there would be trouble moving that amount of money around. Mike, from a safe distance, sees the ambush happening and starts picking off the bad guys with a sniper rifle.
It's a good news/bad news situation. Good news: Jimmy survives the ambush and isn't even injured, just in shock. Bad news: All the vehicles are damaged in gunfight. The only one driveable is Jimmy's Suzuki, and even that vehicle craps out within a few miles because of damage. Jimmy and Mike are stuck walking 25-30 miles across the desert to the nearest paved road.
By the way, those two duffel bags of loot Jimmy's carrying are heavy. People who apparently are more familiar than I am with carrying $7 million in $100 bills say that each bag would weigh 75 pounds. The screenplay doesn't make them out to be quite that heavy. I mean, a man of Jimmy's size and in no particularly great physical shape would be staggered trying to carry that much weight, especially with only two relatively thin shoulder straps to distribute the load.
Meanwhile, Kim is aware of what Jimmy is doing. It was part of their agreement to get married: Jimmy would not keep secrets from Kim. Kim urged Jimmy to turn down this job, but by that point he'd already made his deal for $100k.
When Jimmy doesn't come home that night— because he's struggling on foot across the desert— Kim visits Lalo in prison the next morning to press for information.
Kim panicking about Jimmy's situation is understandable, but her going to Lalo to demand information seems slightly against character. She's a shrewd lawyer, and though she's go not particular experience with organized crime, she's got to know that this stunt puts her "in the game". She's now shown the cartel that she's knowledgeable of at least some of their operations. And so far they have no reason to trust her— or to even want to trust her.
Is this Kim's doom? I wondered. As I've remarked a few times in relation to what I call the Star Wars Rogue One principle, we know Kim's got to be meet her end in this prequel because she's not in the original series. Over the various seasons of Better Call Saul I've wondered if she'd just leave Jimmy because he's a jerk, or because he commits too much fraud that jeopardizes her burgeoning career as a lawyer. More recently it has seemed like she might go into self-destruct mode and destroy her own career, because she gets too much of a charge out of running scams with Jimmy. But now she's in physical danger— in addition to career-ending reputational danger.
As Jimmy is still in the process of becoming ethics-free lawyer Saul Goodman he initially turns down the request. He knows it's dangerous. But then, thinking about how Lalo teased him that the initials JMM on his monogrammed briefcase ought to stand for Just Make Money (he told Lalo they mean "Justice Matters Most" instead of being the the initials of his real name, James Morgan McGill) he asks for $100,000. Lalo agrees.
Jimmy was right to be concerned about the safety of smuggling $7 million cash. One of the cartel members at the stash house is seen making an ominous phone call when the Murder Twins leave with the money. Minutes after the handoff, a well armed gang ambushes Jimmy in the desert.
Even if this gang were just one or two men with pistols, Jimmy's goose would be cooked. He's not a soldier and he doesn't have a vehicle he can use to escape across the desert. He's still driving his beater econobox Suzuki Esteem. And he's not even dressed for the desert; he's wearing a natty jacket and tie and a pair of soft loafers.
It's interesting who's behind this ambush. At first it seems like the gang in Mexico may have a mole working for a rival gang. But it turns out the mole works for Juan Bolsa, the cartel underboss. Bolsa likes playing off the different factions against each other and evidently doesn't approve of burning $7 million cash to get the aggressive Lalo out of prison. And Jimmy is nobody to them. The hit squad boss motions to one of his men to kill Jimmy once he's secured the bags of cash.
Fortunately for Jimmy, Mike is shadowing him at Gus's behest. Gus, always the most astute player in the game, anticipated that there would be trouble moving that amount of money around. Mike, from a safe distance, sees the ambush happening and starts picking off the bad guys with a sniper rifle.
It's a good news/bad news situation. Good news: Jimmy survives the ambush and isn't even injured, just in shock. Bad news: All the vehicles are damaged in gunfight. The only one driveable is Jimmy's Suzuki, and even that vehicle craps out within a few miles because of damage. Jimmy and Mike are stuck walking 25-30 miles across the desert to the nearest paved road.
By the way, those two duffel bags of loot Jimmy's carrying are heavy. People who apparently are more familiar than I am with carrying $7 million in $100 bills say that each bag would weigh 75 pounds. The screenplay doesn't make them out to be quite that heavy. I mean, a man of Jimmy's size and in no particularly great physical shape would be staggered trying to carry that much weight, especially with only two relatively thin shoulder straps to distribute the load.
Meanwhile, Kim is aware of what Jimmy is doing. It was part of their agreement to get married: Jimmy would not keep secrets from Kim. Kim urged Jimmy to turn down this job, but by that point he'd already made his deal for $100k.
When Jimmy doesn't come home that night— because he's struggling on foot across the desert— Kim visits Lalo in prison the next morning to press for information.
Kim panicking about Jimmy's situation is understandable, but her going to Lalo to demand information seems slightly against character. She's a shrewd lawyer, and though she's go not particular experience with organized crime, she's got to know that this stunt puts her "in the game". She's now shown the cartel that she's knowledgeable of at least some of their operations. And so far they have no reason to trust her— or to even want to trust her.
Is this Kim's doom? I wondered. As I've remarked a few times in relation to what I call the Star Wars Rogue One principle, we know Kim's got to be meet her end in this prequel because she's not in the original series. Over the various seasons of Better Call Saul I've wondered if she'd just leave Jimmy because he's a jerk, or because he commits too much fraud that jeopardizes her burgeoning career as a lawyer. More recently it has seemed like she might go into self-destruct mode and destroy her own career, because she gets too much of a charge out of running scams with Jimmy. But now she's in physical danger— in addition to career-ending reputational danger.
A bus took us to a spot over an hour away. Fourteen of us were aboard for the activity.
