- This article is about the Better Call Saul episode. For the character, see Nacho Varga.
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"Nacho" is the third episode of the first season of Better Call Saul and the third episode of the series altogether.
Summary[]
[]
In 1992, Chuck goes to Chicago and visits Jimmy, who is in jail on charges including property damage, assault, and a potential sex offense. Jimmy pleads for Chuck to make the charges disappear. Although originally reluctant, Chuck agrees after Jimmy states that his life is over if he can't get out of this situation. However, he warns Jimmy not to make a fool of him if he gets back out. Jimmy vows to change and do anything for Chuck.
Act I[]
In 2002, Jimmy is anxious about Nacho's plot to extort Betsy and Craig. He calls Kim, who is providing counsel to the Kettlemans on behalf of HHM, indirectly warns her about the danger to the Kettlemans. When she presses him on how thinks that, he brushes off the claim and claims it is just drunk speculation. He hangs up, stares at his phone, and states he is "no hero." Later that night, Jimmy calls the Kettlemans from a payphone and leaves an anonymous warning. Concerned, the Kettlemans look outside their house and see somebody in a parked van watching them.
Act II[]
The next morning, Jimmy learns from Kim that something has happened to the Kettlemans. After getting into another argument with Mike about parking validation, he rushes to their house to find it surrounded by police: the family has gone missing. Believing that Nacho has kidnapped them, Jimmy uses his phone number to try and deescalate the situation, but only reaches his voice mail. However, while waiting for Nacho's reply, two unknown assailants appear. Jimmy tries to flee, only for police officers to corner him in an alleyway and arrest him. The assailants catch up and reveal themselves to be plainclothes cops. After determining his identity, the officers tell Jimmy that they had picked up Nacho on suspicion of kidnapping the Kettlemans, and that he has requested Jimmy as his legal counsel.
Act III[]
Nacho threatening Jimmy
At the police station, Jimmy tells Nacho that witnesses have placed him in the van parked outside the Kettleman house, and that blood was found in the van when the police searched it. Nacho maintains his innocence, saying that he watched the house but did not kidnap the Kettlemans. He warns Jimmy that if he does not get his charges dropped, the police might uncover his connections to Tuco, which would result in Jimmy's death. Jimmy tries to convince the police that Nacho is innocent, but they believe that he is covering for his client. He convinces Kim to take him to the house to examine the crime scene. Noticing an inconsistent detail, namely a missing child's doll, he speculates that the Kettlemans staged their kidnapping so they could escape with their stolen money. He privately admits to Kim that he warned the Kettlemans about Nacho, which caused them to go into hiding. However, he has no way to prove his theory.
Upon returning to the courthouse, Mike refuses to allow Jimmy back into the parking lot because of the earlier confrontation. Outraged, Jimmy starts a fight with him. Mike blocks Jimmy in one move and effortlessly subdues him, resulting in yet another arrest for Jimmy.
Act IV[]
The police ask Mike to press assault charges against Jimmy so that they can leverage him to testify against Nacho. Surprisingly, Mike takes Jimmy's side and refuses to press charges, as he believes Jimmy's theory about the Kettlemans' disappearance is correct. Mike recounts a similar case he investigated as a Philadelphia police officer, where a suspect faked his disappearance: the authorities initially believed the suspect fled overseas, but he was really hiding near his own home. Mike tells Jimmy that the Kettlemans are likely still in the area, since it is human nature to stay near home.
With the new lead, Jimmy explores the desert wilderness behind the Kettleman residence and finds the family camping in a tent. Jimmy furiously confronts the Kettlemans in an effort to get them to turn themselves in. When they refuse, they get into a struggle over a duffel bag, which rips open and dumps the $1.5 million in cash that the Kettlemans have stolen.
Official Photos[]
Trivia[]
"Nacho" on the top and "Problem Dog" on the bottom
- It appears that the same graffiti mark seen on the payphone when Jimmy tries to contact Nacho's on the phone booth might be from Jesse. This is not only because it has the word "JP" on it, but during the teaser in the Breaking Bad episode "Problem Dog", the exact same mark of graffiti is shown behind Jesse Pinkman.
- In the teaser, Chuck drops all of his personal items into a box before visiting Jimmy in jail. This mirrors Jimmy having to drop all of his electronic devices into a mailbox before visiting Chuck due to his electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
- When Jimmy enters the room with Chuck at the beginning of the episode, he quotes Johnny Carson's "Here's Johnny" intro. At the end of the episode, he quotes "Here's Johnny" once again when he enters the Kettleman's tent, but this time being a clear reference to the movie The Shining (1980).
- When Jimmy is apprehended by the police and taken down, he says he has "bad knees." This is a callback to the time he was kidnapped by Jesse and Walter in "Better Call Saul"
- This episode begins Jimmy's long-running professional relationship with Mike Ehrmantraut after Mike gives him advice on finding the Kettleman family. Previously, Jimmy only knew him as the toll booth attendant and Mike only knew him as a lawyer who frequented the courthouse.
Production[]
Credits[]
Starring
Guest Starring
Co-Starring
Uncredited
Featured Music[]
- "Sex Robot Voice" by Dave Porter
- "Big Top Jamboree" by Rick Rhodes
- "Find Out What's Happening" by Bobby Bare
- "Payphone Dilemma" by Dave Porter
References to other media[]
Jimmy makes many references to other media during the series. In this episode, he makes references to:
- A Wild Hare (1940)
- The Shining (1980)
- Cagney & Lacey (1982)
In addition, there's a Stuart Little movie poster on Jo Jo Kettleman's wall.
Memorable Quotes[]
- Oakley: "I can't do it. Your guy drove drunk into a shopping center and killed three people."
- Jimmy: "Wait. Shopping center? Desmond Rojas. Armed robbery, liquor store. He assaulted the cashier with a bottle of Kahlua!"
- Oakley: "Oh. I was thinking of Daryl Redwood. Yeah. Okay, my bad. Desmond Rojas. Okay, go, start over."
- Jimmy: "I'm not starting over! I'm busting my nut here every day for 700 a throw, inhaling your BM, which is straight from Satan's bunghole, and you can't tell one defendant from another? 90 days with good behavior, we're doing this!"
- ―Bill Oakley and Jimmy arguing over a plea bargain.
- Jimmy: "FINE! FINE! You’re gonna make me walk back and get the stickers?! I will walk back and get the stickers!"
- Mike: "I’m not making you do anything. Those are the rules."
- Jimmy: "Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night. [Jimmy presses the button in the booth which raises the cross arm] SCREW YOU, GEEZER!"
- ―Jimmy and Mike arguing about the stickers.
- Jimmy: "Um, um, they're calling the FBI in on this, which makes it federal. That's a bad thing, Nacho. [silence] That's - that's very bad, but if you tell me where the family is, if you give them up now, full cooperation, deep remorse, I feel very good about knocking your sentence down to the minimum, 18 years. [silence] They take this good behavior thing very seriously, so start here, right here. Tell me the family is okay. Tell me the kids are okay. [silence] You want to tell me your thoughts and weigh in? Does this sound like a plan that you can get behind?"
- Nacho: "You miserable piece of shit. You set me up."
- ―Jimmy and Nacho in conference.
- Nacho: "The cops are out there right now, poking into my business, and if they find something on me or my partners, for real, it’s gonna be bad for you – really bad."
- Jimmy: "Bad? Bad as in?"
- Nacho: "You get me out of here today... or you’re a dead man."
- ―Nacho threatening Jimmy.
- Jimmy: "I called the Kettlemans. After I hung up with you, I gave them a warning call."
- Kim: "A warning call?"
- Jimmy: "Yeah, I was worried my guy Varga was going after their money. And he was. He was gonna rip them off. I deduced it from a conversation that we had. It was lawyer to client, so there was, you know, confidentiality issues. But I called the Kettlemans anonymously to warn them."
- Kim: "Anonymously? You didn't - Oh, God, you didn't - You didn't do the sex robot voice, did you?"
- ―Jimmy explaining to Kim about his anonymous warning to the Kettlemans.
- Mike: "All right, I believe you."
- Jimmy: "I knew it! I knew it! Finally, someone believes me! Why do you believe me?"
- ―Mike and Jimmy about Jimmy's theory on the Kettleman's kidnapping.
- Jimmy: "But...but why? Why not run?"
- Mike: "That's what everyone expects. It's human nature to want to stay close to home. And if this Kettleman figured out how to do it, that's what he did. Nobody wants to leave home."
- ―Jimmy and Mike about Jimmy's theory on the Kettleman's kidnapping.
- "Here's Johnny!"
- ―Jimmy's greeting to the Kettleman family