Study Notes: Better Call Saul Episode 410 - "Winner"

Production and Script Details

  • Project Identity: Better Call Saul Episode #410, titled "Winner," written by Peter Gould & Thomas Schnauz and Directed by Adam Bernstein.
  • Script Status: Emmy Final, dated May 88, 20182018.
  • Cast Roster: Includes Jimmy, Chuck, Mike, Kim, Hamlin, Gus, Ernie, Lalo, Diego, Victor, Werner, Fred, and Kristy Esposito, among others.
  • Key Interior Locations: Bar Association Multi-Purpose Room, Karaoke Bar, HHM Conference Room, Travel Wire Office, Superlab Construction Site, and State Bar Building.
  • Key Exterior Locations: Cemetery, Factory Farm, Dulce Vega Hot Springs Hotel & Spa, and Abandoned Speedway Desert.

Opening Teaser: The Flashback of 1998

  • Context: A slow tracking pull-back opening oner in the Bar Association Multi-Purpose Room in the year 19981998.
  • The Vouching Ceremony:   - Kenneth Kazanjian of Reeves & Green vouches for Daniel Stark.   - Joseph Adamson of Adamson, Field and Wright vouches for Gina Robles.   - Charles "Chuck" McGill, senior partner at Hamlin, Hamlin, McGill (HHM), stands to vouch for his brother, James Morgan McGill.   - Diane Rourke of Bremmer and Bremmer vouches for her daughter, Samantha Rourke.   - Nathaniel Scott, a solo practitioner, vouches for Frances Yu.
  • The Celebration:   - The HHM staff celebrates Jimmy’s entry into the bar at a Karaoke Bar.   - Ernie sings "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler, specifically the lyrics: "Forever’s gonna start tonight!" and "Once upon a time, I was falling in love, But now I'm only falling apart. And there's nothing I can do, A total eclipse of the heart."   - Jimmy and Kim argue over song choices; Kim refuses to sing "Bohemian Rhapsody."   - Jimmy notes he has been a lawyer for exactly 33 hours.
  • The Brotherly Interaction:   - Jimmy encourages a reluctant Chuck to stay and sing.   - They perform ABBA’s "The Winner Takes It All." Jimmy starts poorly, but Chuck takes over with a great voice, singing: "The gods may throw a dice, Their minds as cold as ice, And someone way down here, Loses someone dear."
  • Post-Karaoke Nursing:   - Chuck helps a drunk Jimmy into his apartment (a hodgepodge bachelor pad with knotty wall-to-wall carpet).   - Jimmy suggests Howard add a fourth "M" to the firm name for "symmetricality," arguing that "Two is obviously better" regarding body parts like eyes, hands, and nipples.   - Chuck puts a trash can by Jimmy’s bed and promises to make pancakes in the morning.   - The teaser ends with the brothers softly singing ABBA lyrics together in bed.

Present Day: The One-Year Anniversary

  • Cemetery Scene: Jimmy visits Chuck’s grave (engraved "Charles L. McGill") exactly one year after his death.
  • The Performance of Sorrow:   - Jimmy practices a technique called "Watermelon, pickles"—muttering the words repeatedly to appear as if he is deep in prayer or conversation with the deceased for the benefit of onlookers.   - He encounters Ken Greenfield and Emily Reed, colleagues of Chuck from the Native Peoples Education Council.   - Jimmy notes that Howard picked a "very tasteful" and large headstone.   - Jimmy is accompanied by Kim, who waits in the car with coffee and a bear claw donut.   - Jimmy considers "trying for tears" for the next visitor, Judge Padilla, but decides not to force it.

The Search for Werner Ziegler

  • Mike’s Operation: Following Werner’s escape, Mike organizes his security team (Nick, Andre, and others).
  • The Investigative Lead:   - Mike calls 4−1−14-1-1 for Travel Wire and deceives the clerk, Fred, by claiming his brother-in-law has early-stage dementia and needs insulin.   - Mike discovers Werner was at the 4th4^{th} Street branch, received a money wire from his wife Margarethe, and called a cab.   - Mike reviews security footage and notices Werner looking at a rack of travel pamphlets while talking to his wife about "Baden-Baden" and "natural springs."   - Mike deduces Werner is at a hot springs spa and retrieves pamphlets for Santa Fe and Taos locations.
  • Lalo’s Pursuit: Lalo Salamanca monitors Gus’s men (Tyrus, Victor, Diego) at the factory farm. He follows Mike to the Travel Wire and eventually stalks him through the city.
  • The Parking Lot Maneuver:   - Mike detects Lalo’s tail. He enters a Convention Center parking lot and uses a "chewing gum sandwich" (chewing gum pressed between two foil wrappers) to gum up the ticket machine.   - This traps the car behind him (driven by a civilian named Nolan) and prevents Lalo from exiting easily.   - Lalo, in a fit of rage, rams Nolan’s car through the wooden gate arm, but Mike has already escaped.

The Travel Wire Tragedy

  • Lalo’s Deception: Lalo returns to the Travel Wire and tries to charm Fred the clerk. When Fred refuses to cooperate, Lalo waits for Fred to be distracted by a phone call.
  • The Murders:   - Lalo climbs into the false ceiling (noticing the bulletproof glass doesn't reach the top) and drops into the employee area.   - Lalo kills Fred (evidenced by blood splatter on Lalo’s face and a struggle).   - Lalo sets the office on fire to destroy evidence and retrieves Werner’s money transfer receipt.

The HHM Scholarship and Kristy Esposito

  • The Committee: Jimmy sits on the Charles McGill Scholarship Committee at HHM with Howard and Francis Scheff.
  • The Interviews: A series of high school students are interviewed: Duncan Springer, Marcie Ramirez, Franklyn, and Kristy Esposito.
  • The Dilemma: The board favors Duncan and Marcie. Jimmy is the lone vote for Kristy Esposito.
  • The Argument: Jimmy argues that Kristy, who was arrested for shoplifting in her sophomore year, is the only one who has been truly "tested."
  • The Rejection: The board refuses to grant her the scholarship.
  • Satan’s Locker Room Speech:   - Jimmy catches up to Kristy and tells her the brutal truth: "You were never gonna get it… to them, your mistake is who you are."   - He tells her she must "cut corners" and "be smarter" to win because the elites will never let her in.   - He screams at her to "Rub their noses in it" and concludes with "Winner takes it all."
  • Jimmy’s Breakdown: After the speech, Jimmy’s car fails to start in the HHM garage. When it finally does, he suffers a massive emotional breakdown, sobbing uncontrollably alone in his car.

The Execution of Werner Ziegler

  • The Catch: Mike finds Werner at the Dulce Vega Hot Springs Hotel & Spa. Werner is intercepted while on the phone with Lalo (who was pretending to work for Fring).
  • The Revelation: Mike realizes Werner unintentionally leaked details about "the south wall" and "concrete forms" to Lalo.
  • Final Orders:   - Gus Fring orders Werner’s death. Mike volunteers to do it himself to ensure it is done "humanely."   - Mike forces Werner to call his wife, Margarethe, at the airport and be an "asshole" to her so she returns to Germany for her own safety.
  • The End: Werner accepts his fate. He walks into the desert to look at the stars. Mike shoots him in the back of the head. Tyrus and Victor arrive to clean up the body.

The Superlab and the Birth of Saul Goodman

  • The Lab Status: Gus surveys the unfinished superlab with Gale Boetticher. Gale is optimistic but Gus is furious that the project is stalled.
  • The Reinstatement Hearing:   - Jimmy appears before the State Bar disciplinary board. Kim expects him to read Chuck's letter (found in a copy of The Time Machine).   - Jimmy begins reading the letter but stops, calling it "eloquent" but a "distraction."   - He delivers an improvised speech about how he will never be as moral or respected as Chuck but will "try to be worthy of the name McGill."   - The board is moved to tears and grants his reinstatement.
  • The Reveal:   - Immediately after the hearing, Jimmy mocks the board members: "Didja see those suckers?… I could see the Matrix."   - He tells the clerk he will not be practicing under the name McGill.   - When Kim asks what he is doing, he winks and says, "S’all good, man."
  • Saul Goodman: The episode ends with the realization that the "James McGill" persona is gone, replaced by Saul Goodman.