Better Call Saul recap: Jimmy gets mugged at Dog House

Everything was going swell for Jimmy at the Dog House parking lot before being mugged by three teenagers on the last Better Call Saul.

Better Call Saul started with an ominous future scene of Jimmy rushing to shred documents and breaking out hidden cash out of the wall. It was a peek into Breaking Bad that ended with Jimmy saying, well it was “Quite a Ride” like this episode’s namesake. This is the future non-black-and-white scene fans have seen on the series.

Kim Wexler’s character arc has taken an interesting turn with her indirectly sabotaging her Mesa Verde money printing client in favor of taking on minor cases involving delinquent teenagers. She helped a boy named David who was looking at a year of jail time down to a four-month probation. Later in the episode, Kim was preoccupied with a drug dealing girl named Denise, convincing her to show up to court or face guaranteed jail time instead of just the possibility of it. Kim’s para-legal assistant called her, telling Kim she needs her back immediately because of a major error on the Mesa Verde files.

Unexpectedly, Kim told her it would have to wait and she couldn’t talk, hanging up on the paralegal. Later, Kim recieved a swift verbal warning at Mesa Verde over the hang up and not being made of primary importance. Kim would be denied an opportunity to see Kevin to apologize and instead stated, “It’ll never happen again.” She was told it had better not, sternly. Will Kim freelancing to do good in the world end up backfiring on her? Time will tell, though it’s clear she’s on thin ice with Mesa Verde.

Jimmy gets his first customer at CC Mobile:

Jimmy’s instincts were correct as his first customer walked into CC Mobile intrigued by the possibility of privacy for his dealings. Unsurprisingly, Jimmy played the customer like a fiddle, first pretending he was talking business with someone on the phone when he walked in. Then Jimmy masterfully convinced the customer about the importance of keeping business dealings away from the IRS and whoever else might be listening. The customer wanted the phone Jimmy was selling after a rapport was built.

However, Jimmy sold it even further, stating this phone “was spoken for,” and took it from his hands. The customer ended up buying an entire stack of phones, showing Jimmy there was certainly a gray area market for the item. If it’s promoted the right way, that is.

One successful venture lends another on Better Call Saul:

Jimmy wanted to watch Doctor Zhivago with Kim, but she wanted to work on the Mesa Verde files instead. Feeling he was being left behind and not doing anything, Jimmy decided to do some work himself. He would go back to CC Mobile and take a whole stack of phones himself to sell over at Dog House where unsavory characters resided.

Jimmy blends in:

At first, Jimmy tried selling some teenage hooligans the phones, but they rejected even hearing his offer. Calling him a “narc,” Jimmy decided to change his clothes to blend into the crowd, so to speak. Soon, he was selling phone after phone, even to biker gangs. As he returned to his car, happy at having sold the entire batch, the teenagers from earlier demanded he give them his money. Jimmy remarked, “I’m a narc, remember?” and told them to leave. Instead, he was viciously beaten and had all the money he worked for all night stolen.

Jimmy returned home, and Kim treated him as he spoke about how he used to be able to spot people like that from a mile away … because he was once one of them. Kim told him those days are over, and Jimmy actually asked Kim for the number of therapist she’d previously mentioned. He would clean up the painted-on advertising “Is The Man Listening? Privacy Sold Here” on the store windows the next morning.

During a visit to his PPD supervisor, Jimmy encountered a restless Howard Hamlin, who was dealing with insomnia. Jimmy told Howard he has the number of a great therapist if he needs one, only to be told by Howard that he “already is seeing one.” After the remark, Jimmy saw the proposal of seeing a therapist as foolhardy and flushed the number down the toilet, seeing Howard’s state as his future if he goes down the path.

Mike vets new business relationship for Gus:

Mike vetted two men for the job of building what appears to be an underground tunnel for Gus. The first individual promised big things in a short amount of time, seven months maximum, based on prior success. Mike and Gus sent him on home, believing it to be too good to be true.

The second, however, a German individual, went into vast detail of the structure reinforcements that would need to be made to the tunnel, the necessity of blasting (which the first said wouldn’t be necessary), and the massive cost of building the whole thing. Not to mention the danger. Gus was impressed and made his way out to meet him and ask if the whole thing was impossible. The German engineer/architect remarked that it was not impossible …

Catch prior episodes of Better Call Saul season 4 over at AMC.com.