Summary: Nacho leaves his truck and hides from The Twins in an abandoned oil tanker. He hides out until night and makes his way to a friendly mechanic's shop where he cleans up and calls his father for a goodbye. He then cuts a deal with Gus that he is willing to die and say what is necessary under the condition that his father remains protected. Mike agrees to protect him. Nacho is smuggled across the border in a truck and is prepared for a meeting. Mike is sent to a sniper position and Gus presents a bound Nacho to Bolsa, Hector, and The Twins. Nacho tells them he was hired by Alvarez and that Gus wasn't involved before going into a rage-filled speech telling Hector he put him in the chair. Nacho breaks out of his restraints and pulls a gun on Bolsa before shooting himself in the head. Jimmy prepares for another con against Howard. He has Huell get Howard's keys through his valet and quickly make a copy key before leaving the original keys on the ground to be picked up. Kim is met by Suzanne who has connected that Jorge De Guzman is Lalo Salamanca and asks her to persuade Jimmy to give up some information if he was forced to work for Lalo. Kim tells Jimmy this and tells him he can either be a friend of the cartel or a rat.
The Good: This episode is all about providing Nacho with an emotional and memorable farewell, and it succeeds with flying colours. From start to finish, Michael Mando delivers an astonishing performance as Nacho faces the reality of his death and accepts it under his own terms. What makes it work so well is that we are still hoping against hope that Nacho finds a way out of this alive. While death has always been likely for Nacho, you can't help but hope that maybe he can somehow get out of this alive, perhaps disappearing at a certain vacuum repair store. There's the hope early in the episode that if Nacho gets away from The Twins, he could survive. And there's even hope when Nacho is restrained that maybe he and Mike hatched a plan to help him escape. But of course, it's inevitable that Nacho isn't going to get away from this, and what makes the character shine is that he understands this while the rest of us watching are still hopeful of a last-minute escape. If he did hatch a plan with Mike, it wasn't to escape; it was to have his own death rather than dying at someone else's hands. As a result, when the episode ends it is very tragic that Nacho has died after all he's been through, but there's also a distinct sense of triumph and respect that Nacho managed to give himself perhaps the best death he could have possibly had. He sacrificed his life to protect his father, and he got to go out on his own terms while lashing out some delicious revenge on all of the people that made his life such a living hell. He lashes out hard on Hector, the person who started this whole thing for Nacho (see: Best Moment), and he also had a couple of delightful moments where he put the fear of god into Gus' heart by making him think that he was about to turn on him. Last episode's cliffhanger gave us hope that Nacho would find a way out of his situation, but the early scenes of the episode make it blatantly clear that Nacho has no chance. The episode isn't short on thrills as Nacho chooses to hide in an abandoned oil tanker and even dunks himself completely in black oil to remain hidden. It's disgusting, it's brutal, and it's indicative of Nacho's resolve to get out of there. He even stays in there until nightfall, covered in oil, breathing in low-quality air all the while. It's a horrid situation for him, but he is finally able to get away and clean up at a mechanic's shop. This mechanic was a beautiful side character that the show didn't need to include, but it's all the better for including. He's kindhearted and generous towards Nacho, providing a clear parallel to the type of man Nacho's father is. A nice character detail is when Nacho decides to leave all of his money with the mechanic, showing some respect for how generous this man was. Nacho's phone call with his father is heartbreaking. Nacho knows it will be the last time he talks with him and can't help but be emotional. By this point it's clear that Nacho has made up his mind and decided to give up his life to protect his father. His call with Gus is as dramatic and effective as you would expect. Nacho has all the power in this scenario and he refuses to show an ounce of respect for Gus, only ever respecting and trusting Mike. Nacho's relationship with Mike is a key component of this episode. They were never very close. They certainly aren't best friends, and they don't talk much in this episode. But what they do have is mutual respect for each other, one older veteran who holds morality close to his heart, and the other a young man in over his head, yet still a reasonable and smart man who understands how the world works. The connection they have developed is beautiful, and they have a number of nice moments here. I appreciate Mike choosing to hurt Nacho himself, being disgusted that Victor even suggests doing it himself. Mike has long been angry at how Gus has treated Nacho, so he allows himself some final moments to share a drink with Nacho and give him all of the time that he needs to prepare. Another lovely touch here is that Mike does not do any toast, he simply drinks from the glass understanding that in such dire times there is nothing to toast about. Mike is capable of recognizing the good in people, and he certainly admires Nacho's courage to give up his own life for the father he idolizes, perhaps even reminded a bit of his own dead son. You get the sense that Mike never doubted that Nacho was going to go through with his plan, and that his decision to watch everything with a sniper was less to ensure Nacho goes through with it, but more because Mike wanted to witness Nacho's final moments and pay his respects. Jonathan Banks is terrific here, silently communicating the connection he had with Nacho. One standout moment is Mike and Nacho's final nod in the van. It's not often that you can say that Mike is the more emotional one when interacting with someone else but he certainly was here, giving a melancholy last look at Nacho who offers Mike a resolved expression of gratitude in his nod. Mike is also terrific in watching Nacho's death, offering up a little bit of emotion on his face as he watches Nacho take control of his final moments, and thankfully killing himself so that Mike doesn't have to be the one to pull the trigger. Nacho's death has some beautiful added touches to it. The opening sequence of the episode sets up a melancholy atmosphere for the whole episode, and it features the added beauty of showing us a bright blue lily growing at the place where Nacho died. It's a sad symbol of hope to symbolize a grave for a man who managed to find some hope before he died. I love the added touch of Hector getting The Twins to carry him to Nacho's body so that he could shoot him. It's a petty, pathetic move by Hector in an attempt to get some sort of satisfaction upon the realization that Nacho is responsible for his condition. But there is no satisfaction to get from shooting a dead body, and Nacho has already robbed Hector of any sort of vengeance. Kim and Jimmy take the backseat in this episode, but there is still good stuff happening in their story. Jimmy is continuing to work on the Howard con, and we get another entertaining, well-edited escapade as Huell works with a fellow criminal to copy Howard's key for Jimmy to access. The sequence is fun, and I'm interested to see what Jimmy plans to do with Howard's car. As is typical with "Better Call Saul", it's not all about the exciting sequences. We follow this up with a nice scene as Huell asks Jimmy why he's doing what he does, and as Jimmy echoes that he's doing it for the bigger picture, it can't help but feel hollow. This show always nails the smaller character moments. Kim has some great scenes in this episode. Once again we are reminded by how excited she gets while conning through a passionate kiss with Jimmy. Just like him, she has become addicted to the game. Which is what makes it completely unsurprising that Kim doesn't want Jimmy to turn on Lalo. She's even more committed to Jimmy's colourful side than he is by this point in the series, and she is already leading Jimmy away from doing the right thing and turning on Lalo. There are so many lovely little moments in her conversation with Suzanne, from her insistence that Suzanne call him "Saul" to all-but ignoring the fact that there is a "good side" to Jimmy because she doesn't want to face the reality that what they're doing may actually be problematic. Kim has developed really well over the last few seasons, and it's both gripping and terrifying to see her be so cold and ruthless. The Bad: The one flaw that this episode has is that everyone in that final scene outside of Nacho is completely protected since we know that they make it to "Breaking Bad" alive, and we know that Nacho is not going to betray Gus here. Even though the sequence already has lots of tension because of concern over Nacho's fate, it could have been way better if we didn't know about the fate of the other characters. This sequence is tense and exciting, but the prequel problem rears its head and prevents this from being the incredible next-level sequence that it could have been. It's still an outstanding sequence, but there was potential for it to be even better if we didn't know the fates of all these other characters. The Unknown: Did Nacho plan out his death with Mike in some way? Or was Mike as surprised as everyone else with Nacho's actions? Will the Salamancas reply to Nacho's death in any way? Will they go after his father? Will there be any action taken against Alvarez? What are Jimmy and Kim planning to do with Howard's car? What is their next move? Will Jimmy divulge information about Lalo? Kim is leaning towards him not doing that, but does Jimmy agree? Best Moment: Nacho's hate-filled speech to Hector was spectacular, one of the very best pieces of acting I've ever seen. Nacho has had to subdue his emotions for so long, and now he finally has a chance to let it all out and he really unleashes. Michael Mando puts such vitriol in Nacho's voice, and there was a perfect use of a swear in this scene to give Nacho's speech the impact it deserved. I got chills listening to him, and capping it off with a magnificent moment where Nacho got to take control one last time and go out on his own terms was a sad, yet beautiful conclusion for the character. Character of the Episode: Nacho. What a farewell that was. Conclusion: Losing Nacho so early in season 6 was unexpected, but it was done sublimely well. I can't think of a better conclusion for this character, and he was given a suspenseful, exciting, and powerful exit that allowed Michael Mando one final time to shine. This was one of the very best episodes of the show. Score: 83
1 Comment
Joe Y
4/30/2022 04:17:36 pm
Wow. This final season is turning out to be absolutely spectacular so far. Seasons 1 and 2 of this show were very good, Seasons 3 and 4 excellent, and Seasons 5 and 6 so far somehow even better than that. Nacho represents one of the ways that this show has in some ways improved over its predecessor. Mainly, Breaking Bad's supporting cast were a little wooden at times. The Marie theft subplot from S2 is best forgotten. BCS has done exactly the opposite, with Howard, with Chuck, with Kim, and with Nacho. Michael Mando's performance was terrific to the end, and the show's writers humanized him in ways that really made this final grace note land. In a way, Nacho gets a more dignified death than Mike, Gus, and Jimmy, who all become collateral damage in Walter White's story.
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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