So- logistics and long term ramifications on this episode.
#1- Nacho made a bold change to the plan. It seems he was supposed to waste Bolsa, clearing the way for Fring to run the show.
He knows Lalo is alive, but Lalo has zero chance of operating north of the border at this point. The salamancas are a mess.
My take was Nacho refused to do Fring any more favors than he had to- He would absolve fring of the attack, and loosely put the responsibility on Salamanca for being a psycho, and the payment coming from some group of peruvians who apparently have a grudge against Bolsa, we will find out more I guess.
He got Mikes word that his pops would be left alone. He left Fring intact, but didnt advance his agenda... about all he could do to stick it to fring in his situation.
Mike will argue Nacho held up his end of the bargain, and Fring honestly has zero to gain going after Nacho's dad at this point.
Nacho left things in a situation where Mike has power to watch over his father, but didnt go the extra mile to hand the southwest drug trade to fring alone.
#2- Kim is getting worse. She went from passive participant in Sauls schemes to eager participant to taking control of the schemes in this season. She is driving the bus, and Saul is trying his best to keep her safe. She is smart, but Saul is crafty.
She is forcing him to get shady by choosing a path that requires him to navigate.
... I also get the feeling she is very much against Saul going clean on the Lalo situation.
Just her phrasing- "you need to decide if you want to be a friend to the cartel, or a rat".
Kim is smart as hell and a good lawyer. If he was being objective she would have chosen her word differently. If she wanted him to break free and tell the truth, she would have stated how that path would work and how it would be beneficial... but she didnt.
Why not?
Maybe because admitting to being fooled would undermine Sauls credibility. Maybe it would **** up the sandpiper payout timeline. Maybe she wants to be in the dirt with the cartel. Maybe she sees that as a way to the top of the heap.
She is turning for sure. We saw her get all horny after running a small scam, we saw her dump a cush job due to boredom and try the public defender route... which seemed to be derailed when she saw the results of her and Saul manipulating that defendant in to taking a plea deal rather than going to trial- She was against doing it but Saul put on a show, and she went with the results.
It seems her resistance to shady behavior broke completely at that moment, and the depths of her shady side might run far deeper than Saul's.
I am expecting her actions to force Saul once and for all in to the shady lawyer role.
As for Howard- the more I watch their plan, the more I think about it- he will wind up completely marginalized.
He seems squeaky clean, he is smart and powerful, and I cant see him coexisting practicing law in new mexico with Saul's resence after whatever winds up happening with this con they are running.
I have a hard time imagining him leaving Saul to do what he does in between now and the end of Breaking Bad.
We will wind up with some sort of current Day Saul I would imagine.
It is time to start guessing what that will be.
I see 3 possible options.
1- He gets whacked.
2- He goes to seek out kim if she is still alive.
3- Howard, disgraced and broke, finds him and turns him in.