Summary
Episode 3 is crafted at an incredible level. What more can we say about this brilliant series.
This recap of Better Call Saul season 6, episode 3, “Rock and Hard Place,” contains spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
There’s still a long way to go in the final season of Better Call Saul, and we are still unsure of how this is all going to end. This series has proved that prequels can be compelling, unpredictable, and as good as the original.
Better Call Saul season 6, episode 3 recap
Episode 3 starts in the desert, insects chirping, thunder rumbling in the distance as the camera pans among tired plants until it reaches a light blue one. And then, it starts to rain, pattering on a shard of glass.
Nacho is still on the run. He’s still a desperate man. It’s becoming a lonely life for him as he evades the twin brothers sent by the Salamancas. To hide, he has to submerge himself in thick, disgusting liquid in a tanker. He does manage to find brief refuge at a service station after a man let’s him in so he can clean himself and recover. Eventually, he rings his father. He needs familiarity to help balance his mind. But his life is no longer an existence, and he knows it.
Knowing his predicament, Nacho rings Mike, and he’s appalled he has been left to die in Mexico. He asks if he can speak to Gus. He tells the leader that if he’s caught, his entire operation will be under risk, so he’d be better off dead. He wants assurances that his father will be safe. Mike offers that reassurance, but that comes at a price with Gus.
Although most of the story is about Nacho in episode 3, we get some action between Kim and Jimmy. Kim keeps flirting with her ideas to bring Howard down, while Jimmy tries to remain level-headed. Noticeably, every time Jimmy challenges her, Kim seems slightly irritated. Jimmy believes they should use Huell to help their plans.
At the courthouse, lawyer Ericson talks to Kim about one of Jimmy’s clients. She tells her that Jorge de Guzman and Eduardo Salamanca (Lalo) are the same person and is a major drug trafficker. She explains that Eduardo fleed the country but died in a firefight in his house. The lawyer links Jimmy’s clients and believes Jimmy knew that Eduardo Salamanca was a major drug trafficker. She wants Jimmy to help her and promises not to make him accountable for working with the cartel. Kim reminds the lawyer that Jimmy is now called “Saul Goodman” in a cold response from the lead character.
Mike finds Nacho and makes sure he has a decent meal. They need to make him look roughed up. Gus then meets him, and he wants Nacho to get his story suitable for the Salamancas, but there’s an air of depression, realizing that this may be his final hours alive.
Before we reach the tense ending, Huell manages to get into Howard’s car and carry out an operation so they can access the vehicle later. They pass the car key to Jimmy. Huell asks Jimmy why he does all this if he’s a legit lawyer. Jimmy tells Huell that what they are doing will make a real difference for people down the line. A classic criminal justifying his actions.
When Jimmy gets home, Kim tells him that Lalo is dead and that the DA office is upset they let him go. She mentions the lawyer (Ericson) who wants to talk to him. Kim asks Jimmy if he wants to be a cartel friend or be a rat.
The ending
As episode 3 ends, we lose a main character in chilling circumstances.
Mike tells Gus that he wants to be there when Nacho meets the Salamancas as “insurance,” but you can tell Mike has more humanity than his boss. Nacho is escorted out into the desert to meet Hector and his men while Mike aims his sniper from a distance. Gus joins the meeting too. Nacho is asked who put him up to raid Lalo’s home. Nacho does not answer at first, but finally, he does, with Gus showing a watchful eye over the conversation to ensure he keeps his story away from him. He also denies that Gus was involved in the death of Hector’s nephew and calls Lalo a soulless pig. He also tells Hector that he put him in his wheelchair. He spits his word at Hector with venom. He has nothing to lose, after all.
As the episode closes out, Nacho manages to grab one of the men and points a gun at his head. But then he shoots himself. Rest in peace, Nacho. The shard of glass we saw at the start of the episode lays on the ground, with blood on it.
Episode 3 is crafted at an incredible level. What more can we say about this brilliant series.
What did you think of Better Call Saul season 6, episode 3? Comment below.
