Bagman (Better Call Saul)

"Bagman" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the AMC television series Better Call Saul, the spinoff series of Breaking Bad. The episode aired on April 6, 2020 on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.

"Bagman"
Better Call Saul episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 8
Directed byVince Gilligan
Written byGordon Smith
Featured music"I Got The..." by Labi Siffre
Original air dateApril 6, 2020 (2020-04-06)
Running time53 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

Plot

The Cousins arrive at a cartel site in Mexico to pick up Lalo's bail money. As they depart, an informant inside the building makes a telephone call to report their presence.[1]

Lalo gives Jimmy directions to a remote desert pickup site. Jimmy reluctantly agrees to go, but asks for $100,000, which Lalo promises to pay. Kim begs Jimmy not to go, saying he is an attorney and not a "bagman" for drug dealers, but he says he will do it because it will be easy and no one will suspect him of being the courier.

The next morning, the Cousins deliver two duffel bags of cash to Jimmy at the pickup site and immediately depart. Jimmy starts his return trip but several trucks soon cut him off. Numerous gunmen exit the vehicles, take the money, and prepare to kill him. The gunmen are suddenly attacked by an unknown shooter. All but one are killed and their vehicles are disabled. The surviving gunman escapes in the only truck that is still drivable.

The unseen shooter was Mike, who was tracking Jimmy's movements for Gus. He finds his truck was also disabled in the shootout, so he places a still-shaken Jimmy and the money in Jimmy's car and begins driving back to Albuquerque. Jimmy's car soon breaks down. With no cell phone coverage and no vehicle, they push the car over the edge of the road and walk cross-country with the money in order to avoid the surviving gunman. As they camp overnight, Jimmy tells Mike that Kim knows of his work for Lalo, and Mike warns Jimmy that if she knows details about the Salamancas, Kim is now "in the game". Jimmy and Mike resume their trek the following morning.

When Jimmy fails to return, Kim pretends to be Lalo's attorney, tells him she is Jimmy's wife and asks him for Jimmy's location so she can search. Lalo refuses and tells her Jimmy will be fine because he is a survivor.

A dehydrated and sunburned Jimmy reaches his limit and collapses, and Mike fails to motivate him to go on. Mike spots the surviving gunman, but rather than hide as Mike tells him to, Jimmy regains his motivation and runs into the road to attract the gunman's attention. When the gunman is close enough, Mike shoots and kills him. The gunman's vehicle flips and is destroyed. Mike and Jimmy resume walking, this time on the road.

Production
Series co-creator Vince Gilligan considered "Bagman" to be one of the most challenging episodes to direct in his career.

"Bagman" was directed by series co-creator Vince Gilligan, who considered the episode one of the most challenging episodes he had to direct in his career.[1] Gilligan had been able to make arrangements to direct one episode in the fifth season after completing post-production of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. Both co-showrunner Peter Gould and writer Gordon Smith, knowing this would be Gilligan's episode, planned for his directorial skills and continually teased Gilligan in the weeks leading up before the episode's filming that it was going to be well-suited for him.[2] They had compared the episode to Lawrence of Arabia in terms of how they wanted it to look, and even had considered renting out the lens used to film that movie, but were worried about the liability if they had damaged it.[1]

The episode took over 18 days to shoot, compared to the average nine days for most other episodes. Most of the filming location was located on the To'Hajiilee Indian Reservation, about two hours outside of Albuquerque by car, though the pickup location where Jimmy meets the Cousins was only about 15 minutes away from the Albuquerque studios.[1][2] Gilligan credits his production team for making sure the cast and crew were protected from heat and had plenty of water to assure the shoot went on without any issues.[2] Gilligan wanted Bob Odenkirk to employ method acting techniques, and did supply him with weighed bags to tote, but Odenkirk had drawn the line at drinking urine.[1] Gilligan praised the script from Smith, which he felt established the bond between Mike and Jimmy that was seen in Breaking Bad but otherwise absent in Better Call Saul previously.[1] Gilligan's associate producer Jenn Carroll and assistant Melissa Ng helped to identify elements to add to Smith's script to further connect the relationship between Mike and Jimmy to what was seen in Breaking Bad.[2]

The shootout scene between Mike and the gunmen was a challenge for Gilligan, and he considered it "the most complicated single scene I've ever directed".[1] He wanted to have Odenkirk visible in all shots, even while the stuntmen and practical effects were going off around him, as to show the shootout from Jimmy's point of view as much as possible. The overall sequence took about four to five days to complete.[1] To film the scene with the flipping truck while Jimmy was in-shot, a temporary green screen was placed on site. Odenkirk's reaction in front of the screen was filmed first, followed by the truck flip without changing the camera's location after Odenkirk and the screen were removed.[3] The Suzuki Esteem that had been shot up and pushed into a gully was a duplicate of the one they normally used in filming, the original still kept at the local studios, allowing them to reuse it for any later flashback scenes as needed.[4]

Reception

"Bagman" received universal acclaim by critics, with many calling it one of the best episodes of the series. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 100% Certified Fresh rating with an average 9.83 out of 10 score based on 13 reviews. The critical consensus is, "Jimmy undergoes a trial by gunfire in 'Bagman,' an unpredictable installment that is given blockbuster suspense by Vince Gilligan's direction."[5] The episode, with numerous long takes with Jimmy and Mike in desert scenes, has been visually and thematically compared to Gilligan's previous works in both El Camino and the Breaking Bad episode "4 Days Out", as well as to the 2007 film No Country for Old Men.[6][7][8]

Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode an 'A' grade, praising the unpredictability of the episode as well as its visual style, calling it "a marvel to look at, scenes staged with sweaty-exquisite perfection". [9] Nick Harley of Den of Geek gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars, who considered it to be one of the best of the series, especially praising Gilligan's direction. Kenny Herzog of Vulture also gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars, noting that Kim's decision to ask Lalo Salamanca about Jimmy's whereabouts was a consequential decision that would cause her to be "in the game". [10] In addition, Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A" rating, praising the character developments of Saul and Kim, as well as the main desert sequences. [11]

TVLine named Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks the "Performers of the Week" for their performances in this episode.[12]

Ratings

"Bagman" was watched by 1.42 million viewers on its first broadcast.[13]

Accolades

For the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, Gordon Smith received a nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for this episode.[14]

gollark: `insmod` has caused no implosions, time to plug in the device...
gollark: If this implodes my kernel somehow, which it probably will, I *may* just have to use my raspberry pi with its hilariously outdated kernel.
gollark: I mostly never did anything other than `git commit` and `git push`.
gollark: This is increasingly convincing me that git's CLI is terrible.
gollark: Really? Hmm.

References
  1. Schneider, Michael (April 6, 2020). "'Better Call Saul' Co-Creator Vince Gilligan on Directing the Most Challenging Episode of His Career". Variety. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  2. Fienberg, Daniel (April 7, 2020). "'Better Call Saul's' Vince Gilligan on the 'Bagman' Desert Shoot: "Just Pure Hell"". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  3. Fienberg, Daniel (April 7, 2020). "'Better Call Saul' Director Vince Gilligan Shares Car-Flipping, Urine-Drinking 'Bagman' Details". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  4. Greene, Steve (April 7, 2020). "'Better Call Saul': Vince Gilligan on Filming the Toughest Scene of His Career and This Week's 'Breaking Bad' Nods". IndieWire. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  5. "Bagman". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  6. Franich, Darren (April 6, 2020). "Better Call Saul goes Bad in a stunning survival tale". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  7. Segal, David (April 6, 2020). "Better Call Saul' Season 5, Episode 8 Recap: A Little Drive Through the Desert". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  8. Sepinwall, Alan (April 6, 2020). "'Better Call Saul' Recap: Silver Linings". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  9. "'Better Call Saul' goes 'Bad' in a stunning survival tale". EW.com. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  10. Herzog, Kenny (2020-04-06). "Better Call Saul Recap: Game Theory". Vulture. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  11. "Better Call Saul goes full Breaking Bad, thanks to Vince Gilligan". TV Club. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  12. TVLine, Team; TVLine, Team (2020-04-11). "Performers of the Week: Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks". TVLine. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  13. Metcalf, Mitch (April 7, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Monday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 4.6.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  14. Hipes, Patrick (July 28, 2020). "Emmy Awards Nominations: The Complete List". Deadline. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
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