Summary
Better Call Saul Season 5, Episode 9, “Bad Choice Road” continues to prove that this is maybe, maybe, the best TV series of all time.
This recap of Better Call Saul Season 5, Episode 9, “Bad Choice Road” contains spoilers and information of how it ended.
Did Saul and Mike finally get home in Better Call Saul Season 5, Episode 9, “Bad Choice Road”?
They certainly did — while Saul continued to traipse around with the money bags, Kim was at home sucking a cigarette with a strained look on her face. The relief on Kim’s face was extremely effective for an audience member as she begins to cry. The only issue is, Mike asks Saul to come up with a story; Saul drops off the cash for Lalo’s bail and he tells Lalo that his car broke down and had no signal; to make it less risky, he did not hitchhike, he walked north. Saul’s face is a picture when Lalo states that he met his wife.
What was Kim’s reaction when Saul finally made it home?
Surprisingly calm. She looked at Saul’s injuries and burnt skin and makes him an anti-inflammatory bath. Saul tells Kim the same story he told Lalo and sternly tells her not to see Lalo again. When Kim checks out the bag with money, she sees his coffee flask with a bullet hole in it.
She knows he is lying.
Kim tells Saul that she knows he is lying; she puts the marriage agreement aside and states she is here for him — “You can tell me, okay? No judgments”. Saul admits something did happen out there — he had to drink his own pee.
How does Lalo find out that Saul’s story does not add up in Better Call Saul Season 5, Episode 9?
Well, Lalo takes Nach to the border as he plans to return to Mexico. But then he takes a detour and sees Saul’s car tipped over with bullet holes sprayed all over it. Lalo is not a stupid man, he knows something isn’t right.
What’s the turning point in “Bad Choice Road?”
Kim has her own twist in Episode 9 — she tells Saul that she has quit the firm and gave up Mesa Verde as a client. Her reasons are valid to be fair; when she thought Saul was dead, she realised what was more important and Mesa Verde did not make her happy — doing pro bono clients makes her happy. Saul thinks it’s a bad idea.
Kim stands up for herself, explaining she stood by her husband when he changed his name to Saul Goodman, but the couple does not have time to argue about it as there is a knock on the door and Kim goes to answer it. Mike rings and asks Saul to put his phone down so he can hear…
Lalo visits their apartment.
What did Lalo want?
Lalo wanted to know what really happened. In one of the tensest scenes in Season 5, Lalo asks Saul to repeat his story over and over again, even mocking him by stating he has paid for the story. Mike is tentatively outside with his sniper rifle, ready to shoot Lalo.
Lalo drops the bombshell, stating he saw the car and Saul looks flabbergasted but then there’s a grandstanding moment with Kim f***ing Wexler.
What’s the Kim f***ing Wexler moment?
In quite possibly the best Kim moment, Better Call Saul Season 5, Episode 9, “Bad Choice Road” sees the character intervening in the conversation and standing up to Lalo. She states that Saul went “above and beyond” for Lalo, and that it’s pretty common for Americans to shoot bullet holes at stranded cars in the desert. And when you think that Kim is done standing up to a drug lord, she steps closer to him, telling Lalo to get his act together and get his house in order — “If you don’t trust your men with your men, you have bigger problems than if you trust Saul Goodman”.
Kim tells Lalo that Saul never lies and that he should try a shell company and wire money rather than berate a man that saved his life.
Lalo leaves the apartment, gets in his car with Naco and says he wants to go to Mexico — “Change of plans.”
The ending of Better Call Saul Season 5, Episode 9, “Bad Choice Road” was a grand moment; extremely tense and you only feel relief once the credits roll and you know Kim is safe.
Kim Wexler continues to surprise us all and we must applaud Rhea Seehorn — she deserves all the plaudits she gets.
Brief notes
- As Kim sorts breakfast, Saul suffers from PTSD. Saul speaks to Mike about it who claims it gets easier after a while.
- Mike briefs Gus about the people who attacked Saul and followed the Salamanca cousins. Gus claims the men were hired — the man who hired is trying to protect his business. Mike tells Gus that Nacho wants out. Gus disagrees.
