AMC’s Better Call Saul
Season 4, Episode 9: “Wiedersehen”
Directed by Vince Gilligan
Written by Gennifer Hutchison

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “Coushatta” – click here
* For a recap & review of the Season 4 finale, “Winner” – click here
In Lubbock, Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) heads to City Hall on crutches asking about the new plans for the Mesa Verde branch. She claims there’s something wrong in the proposal, wanting to look at the “approved plans” to make sure. A lady named Shirley helps her look through papers, and Kim continues laying on the lies, including having a small child at home. Then Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) shows up playing the aloof husband Bill, carrying baby stuff. He says he left the baby in the car, which sends Kim off angry, playing her part. He strategically places a bag of milk at the edge of the plans with a leak in it, which spreads and soaks through the papers. Now everything’s a mess. Kim freaks out, so Shirley offers to “trade them out” with the other copy. Wonder what Ms. Wexler’s trying to do here. Either way, it’s sketchy, and she’s falling further into the world of Saul Goodman.
At a nursing home, Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis) continues his recovery. He gets a visit from Nacho (Michael Mando) and Lalo (Tony Dalton), the latter being another of the Salamanca nephews. He doesn’t recognise his nephew, so Lalo recounts a memory from years ago, a vicious one at that. This seems to bring ole Tio back to his glory days. The nephew brought along “a souvenir,” too— the bell. Yes, this is where Tio’s bell comes from, a piece of his horrific past. And Lalo further wants to discuss Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito).
Jimmy and Kim celebrate in a diner after their latest con. He’s continually focused on making money from their combined efforts. Kim wants them only to use those efforts “for good.” This is just another stumbling block for these two. Something tells me Jimmy’s going to put her in a compromising position down the road, again, and it might be not only the end of their relationship, it could do irreparable damage to Kim and her career.
At the construction site, the German engineer Werner (Rainer Bock) and his crew are preparing to do some blasting. They mark the wall they’re using the dynamite on with ‘wiedersehen’ – the name of this episode – which translates roughly to ‘meet again’ in English. While Mike (Jonathan Banks) has everybody ready for the detonation there’s an issue with the charges. This sends Werner down himself to take care of things. He goes down there on his own, and in the dark he comes close to having a panic attack. He fixes things, then heads back up top. The blast goes well and everyone’s pleased. What exactly’s eating Werner?
The Germans celebrate their accomplishment and Mike joins in with a glass of beer. He pushes Werner to find out what’s happening. The engineer’s not doing well without his wife, separated for such a long stretch of time. He wants to go home and see her, then come back, and let the slightly hot headed Kai take over while he’s gone. Mike refuses, telling him to tough it out a little longer.
At Los Pollos Hermanos, Mr. Fring is visited by Nacho and Lalo. We see Lalo playing up a lot of bullshit about the “flavourful” chicken when he’s actually there on cartel business. He goes back to the office with Gus, where they have a more personal talk. Lalo offers thanks for helping Uncle Tio, seeing what the chicken man did as a “gesture of peace.” Behind it all is a veiled threat telling Gus: stay in your place.
Jimmy’s only one hearing away from being a lawyer once more. He goes through the motions with the panel, who all seem impressed with his efforts to get back to business as usual. He yaks about “client relations,” which he doesn’t mention will involve representing shady criminals after he gets back to work. All in all, Jimmy uses his charming lies to wow the panel. When he’s asked if anyone inspired him to become a lawyer, he makes stunningly clear that, at least in his own mind, he’s on his own— no mention of Chuck or Kim, or even Perry Mason. Later, Jimmy finds he won’t be reinstated. Why? He’s seen as “somewhat insincere.” No surprise. Finally things are catching up with him.
At a parking garage, Jimmy meets Kim, flying off the handle about the panel’s decision. She’s trying to reel him in. He tells her about the whole thing, unsure of why he was turned down. Kim asks what he said about Chuck, which is the large issue he can’t seem to understand. He lashes out about her seeing him as “Slippin‘ Jimmy” and acting like she’s not on his side when she is THE ONLY ONE ON HIS SIDE! Ungrateful behaviour. He’s beginning to ruin everything, worse than ever. This one conversation does more damage than all the shit he’s done to date.
And so he goes home that night to pack his bags. He understand he’s destroying his life, yet a part of him won’t allow him to fix things. Kim asks if he still wants to practise law, and he says he does. She’s not fully ready to give up on him.
At the site, Mike goes to check on things. None of the cameras are able to catch what Werner’s done, because there aren’t any cameras inside the houses. One camera shows “dead pixels” from a “voltage spike.” This puts Mike into action. They go looking and can’t find Werner anywhere, only a note left with instructions. Oh, shit. Big security risk for people building a giant meth lab.

“What does the law mean to you?”

Only ONE episode left to Season 4! Where’d the time go? Season 5’s ramping up to get incredibly intense. How much longer will the series go? We’re almost in Breaking Bad territory in terms of the amount of seasons, so it’ll be interesting how things move on from here.
“Winner” is next time.