'Better Call Saul' recap: 'Breathe'

Jimmy is losing it

The newest episode of Better Call Saul — entitled “Breathe” — sees Jimmy continue down his dark, ominous path that will eventually lead him to become Saul Goodman. It’s kind of heartbreaking to know that, no matter what happens, things aren’t going to end well, since he never mentions her in Breaking Bad.

To be fair, he starts off the episode in a pretty chipper mood.

Granted that mood is a totally false one, as the last time we see Jimmy he just learned his brother committed suicide, but he’s clearly trying to find something to occupy his time with.

That’s why he wastes no time in taking on some job interviews, against Kim’s better judgment (who’s far too nice to say something about it, as Kim is the real MVP of Better Call Saul).

His first one is with for a company selling copiers and, to Jimmy’s credit, the interview goes remarkably well.

So well, in fact, that he has the confidence to march back into the manager’s office and plead his case why they don’t even need to interview any other candidates — he’s ready to start working right this very second.

The two managers take a minute to ponder this and then eventually come to the same conclusion as Jimmy: he is indeed the best man for the job.

That’s when things take an unexpected turn. Instead of shaking the hand that’s been placed in front of him, Jimmy scoffs at them. Are they really going to hire someone they just met? Without even doing any kind of background check? For all they know, he could be some kind of psychopath!

Needless to say, Jimmy turns down the job. He heads back to his car to make a phone call — telling us that his new job interview starts in 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, Kim is dealing with all of the fallout with Howard after Chuck’s death. She walks into HHM to find Chuck’s ex-wife Rebecca (Ann Cusack) sitting with Howard, as he’s delicately trying to comfort her.

The three of them work out some fine-tuning of Chuck’s will, with Jimmy only receiving a small buyout of $5,000. On the other hand, he does get to sit on the board for a scholarship fund that they’re making in Chuck’s name.

Kim then asks to have a moment alone with Howard, as Rebecca is kindly gestured out.

She holds nothing back and lets him have it. Throughout this entire thing, Howard has only had himself in mind. He confessed to Jimmy during the previous episode only to clear his own conscience, as he didn’t bother mentioning any of that to Rebecca.

He’s also well-aware that Jimmy and Chuck didn’t get along, and putting Jimmy on a scholarship board only adds further insult to injury as Chuck would have never given Jimmy that scholarship if he was still alive.

Howard, realizing she’s right, desperately asks what he can do to fix this situation.

“Nothing,” she tells him. “Just stay away.”

Is that Better Call Saul’s way of telling us Howard is going to take a back-seat for the rest of the season or is he going to work his way back into this story in some other way? Honestly, I have no clue, but I was on the edge of my seat during these moments.

Mike is also keeping busy, as he’s set up a meeting with Lydia. Turns out that she’s the one who owns the warehouse he broke into last week. She also owns seven other warehouses, all of which Mike plans to break into next. That’s the best way to make sure his cover is safe, he tells her. It gives a face to his name — a name which Lydia’s company writes a weekly check to.

Lydia isn’t so sure that’s such a good idea (which makes total sense if you’ve seen Breaking Bad), so she calls Gustavo to ask him about it.

Gus basically writes her off, telling her that he has total faith in whatever Mike thinks is best. He has more important things to worry about.

Those things mostly revolve around Hector, whose condition isn’t approving.

You might think that Gus would approve of this — given that Gus hates Hector with all his might and wants to see him dead — but he doesn’t. He knows that Nacho is the reason Hector is in the hospital, which doesn’t satisfy his revenge needs. Gus wants to personally be the one to send Mr. Salamanca to his grave.

So, he hires an expensive doctor to care for Hector and rewire his brain so that he can bring him back to health.

Talk about being cold.

Nacho is still in the middle of all of this, not really sure what to make of it but also not given much of a choice in the matter. Even with Hector out of the picture, his father won’t talk to him because of the things he’s done.

More importantly is the fact that Gus knows what he did and now intends to use him. While Gus may not want Hector dead at the moment, he’s prepared to kill anyone working for him out there.

So, after a drug deal in an abandoned warehouse one night, Nacho and Victor are viscously attacked by Gus’ men. Victor gets a plastic bag tied around his head, which then kills him, while Nacho is forced to watch.

Gus then appears from the shadows with a chilling message: “I know what you’ve done. The Salamancas do not. From now on, you are mine.”

The episode ends back with Jimmy. While at Howard’s office, Kim was handed a letter that was written by Chuck to Jimmy, which she decides not to give to her boyfriend. There’s no way that letter is going to contain any kind of positive message, and that’s really not what Jimmy needs right now.

Being none the wiser about the letter, Jimmy decides to give a call to his old pal Mike. He’s got a job for him, one that he’s going to be interested in.

We don’t know what, exactly, that job is, but we know it has something to do with the copier company he interviewed at, as he’s got a picture of one of the items that was on a desk at the manager’s office on his phone. I’m sure we’ll figure out what this means next time on Better Call Saul.

Tune in to AMC tonight to see the newest episode of Better Call Saul!