"Better Call Saul": 5.9 "Bad Choice Road" Quiz

Answer: Something Stupid

Last season's 4.7 episode, which was also titled "Something Stupid", featured a split screen that showed Kim and Jimmy/Saul growing apart over a period of months. The montage in that episode was set to Lola Marsh's version of "Something Stupid", but this time, only humming was heard.

This version of the montage also featured the Kim/Saul split screen, but despite the distance between them, they were thinking of each other, as was displayed by Saul's immediate call to Kim once he had cell service and Kim breaking down in tears when she heard his voice.

As actor Bob Odenkirk noted, the scene showed that Saul "knows how much he treasures that life and that relationship", and Executive Producer Melissa Bernstein added that "it was lovely to see how connected they are and how much they love each other".

Answer: Victor and Tyrus picked them up

After reaching the "Alejo Travel Center" gas station, they bought tourist t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops, and sucked down jumbo beverages while they waited to be picked up. Tyrus told Mike that they had someone check on the ambush site, and the carnage was still there, so they were sending flatbed trucks to move the vehicles and bodies.

He didn't think they'd be able to find the last guy that Mike shot because as Mike stated, it was in "the middle of nowhere". Saul started to doze off on the trip back to Albuquerque, but Mike wouldn't let him: "We have to work on your story".

Answer: She saw the bullet hole in his coffee cup

When Saul returned to Albuquerque, he went straight to the courthouse to turn in the bail money, the amount of which drew an audience while it was counted. Lalo was then released, and Saul told him that he had run into car trouble and had to walk across the desert, which is why it took so long.

When Saul arrived home, Kim was very caring and put him in an oatmeal bath to help with the sunburn. When she asked him if it had been worth it, he told her to look in the bag in the living room. She did so and saw the money, but then she saw the cup.

He must have forgotten it was there. She stared at the bullet hole, and then put it back. When she later told him that she knew something bad had happened and that she was available to listen, he told her that something bad DID happen - he had to drink his urine when he ran out of water.

Answer: Juan Bolsa

Mike told Gus that he'd seen the tattoos before on a Columbian gang when he was a cop. Gus said that the gangs were hired, and he then made a call to Juan Bolsa. He told Bolsa that Lalo was released from prison "at a substantial price" and would be returning to Mexico. Bolsa sounded a bit surprised about the latter part, but Gus explained that "Forfeiting bail is the only way to assure he remains out of prison". Bolsa then said that everything would be back to normal and that "your run of bad luck will be behind you".

It was Gus's turn to sound surprised and when he asked what Bolsa meant, he was told "the DEA, the fire, the arrest... my hope is that it's over". After the call ended, Gus told Mike that "I just spoke to the man responsible for the attack". Gus explained that Bolsa was trying to protect the business by keeping Lalo in jail, and that Bolsa didn't realize that Gus wanted Lalo out of prison.

Answer: Let Nacho go

Mike told Gus that Nacho wanted out and that because Nacho had done everything that they asked of him, Mike thought they should "cut him loose". Gus disagreed, "I see no reason to give up an asset". Mike tried to make a case for the move by pointing up that Nacho was running the Salamanca operation, and if he disappeared, the operation would collapse. Gus appeared to consider this, but still wouldn't release Nacho. Mike then said "You have a gun to his father's head. That doesn't sit with me". He said that fear wasn't the best motivator, but Gus disagreed: "A dog who bites every owner he's had can only be disciplined with a firm hand OR put down". Mike got the message and walked out after that.

Answer: Juicer

As Kim put oranges in the juicer, the sound of the oranges being pulverized and the juice pouring out brought back dark memories of the ambush, and Saul started grimacing to the point of pain. When the juice spit out onto Kim, it must have reminded Saul of the blood spatter on his shirt, and he jumped up, dropping his cereal bowl onto the ground.

He apologized, saying that his stomach must still be upset, but Kim could tell that it was something worse that that. As actor Bob Odenkirk pointed out, Saul "definitely has PTSD".

Answer: He disastrously lost the case

Kim and Saul were sitting on the couch watching "His Girl Friday" with Saul soaking his feet, when he got the phone call. Kim tried to talk him out of going to the courthouse, but Saul said he had to because his client was about to lose a plea deal. We didn't get to see what happened, but he apparently did horribly on his case. DDA Oakley mocked him repeatedly: "There you were, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory... ball in your hand, at the goal line, FUMBLE!...law students are going to review the Goodman debacle as a teachable moment, so at least there's that... you'll probably have to change your name... again".

The scene was significant because it showed how the desert ordeal had affected his mind; the usually glib Saul was having trouble functioning. Saul must have called Mike because Mike met him outside the courthouse. Saul asked how long it would be before it was over. Mike gave him a matter-of-fact opinion, which didn't sit well with Saul: "I can't believe there's like over a billion people on this planet, and the only person I have to talk about this to is you".

After he got out of Mike's car and Mike drove away, we could see a couple of skateboarders playing on the corner - a reminder of where it all began for Saul.

Answer: She quit her job

Kim decided to go into work since Saul had gone to the courthouse. She told her secretary that she felt better so she came in to prep for a meeting, but she then found out that Steph had already handled it. So instead, she started to dictate letters for Mesa Verde work, but she soon lost her focus and instead went into Rich's office and quit. Kim handed her car keys to her secretary and asked her to box up her office.

As she was walking out, she went back into her office, and grabbed the tequila bottle stopper from her desk.

The bottle stopper was from the second season episode "Switch" in which Kim and Saul/Jimmy scammed an obnoxious stock broker into buying them a bottle of the expensive Zafiro Aņejo tequila. The fact that Kim only took that item with her when she quit was a pretty good indicator of what she wanted in her future.

The writer/director of the episode, Thomas Schnauz, pointed out that Kim was dealing with her own demons as a result of Saul's ordeal and that it made her question "what is life all about.

When she's been working with her pro-bono clients, she's actually helping people". Actress Rhea Seehorn echoed that comment: "It feels like one of the easiest [decisions] she could have possibly come up with. Clearly this [Mesa Verde] wasn't what's important in life".

Answer: He saw a bullet hole in Saul's car

After a last visit with Hector, Lalo headed south, with Nacho driving him. Victor followed them to make sure that Lalo left. Nacho dropped Lalo off at the well, but as he started to leave, Lalo changed his mind: "Take me back up the road. Slow". Lalo told Nacho that Saul's car should have been there since it broke down six or so miles from the pickup, but they hadn't passed it on the way in. Nacho drove slowly, and Lalo spotted the tire tracks leading to the cliff.

He jumped down to get to the car (it was a stuntman who did the actual jump) and when he looked at the car, he saw a bullet hole.

When he climbed back up, he told Nacho that they were going back to Albuquerque.

Answer: Lalo left after being told off by Kim

Saul was upset that Kim had quit her job; he gave Kim Mike's "bad choice road" speech. Saul's reaction was explained by episode writer/director Thomas Schnauz as Saul pushing back at her "because she's got her foot in the legitimate world; it's a safe world - it's not part of the game".While they were arguing over her decision, the phone rang repeatedly, but Saul ignored it. Finally there was a knock at the door, and when Kim went to answer the door, Saul answered the phone. It was Mike who told Saul to put the phone down where it couldn't be seen but leave it on so that he could hear. Schnauz added an interesting comment on the scene: "I don't think Mike is there to actually help [Saul] or to save [Saul]. He's just there to make sure that the lie that Gus and Mike and [Saul] have constructed doesn't fall apart".

The knock at the door had been Lalo, and he sat on the couch with his gun visible and had Saul repeat his story again and again. Each time Saul would get a bit more descriptive, finally including the detail that he had drank his own urine to survive. But Lalo wasn't satisfied. He told Saul that he had seen the car and that it was in a ditch, and he wanted an explanation. As Saul fumbled with his words, Kim stood up and lashed into Lalo, "Are you kidding me with this? Do you know what he did for you?" After pointing out that Saul did far more than any other lawyer would do for him, Kim asked Lalo what he really wanted. Lalo then said that he "found his car in a ravine with bullet holes on the side. So I'm just waiting to hear how that happened". Kim didn't back down; she brushed aside the bullet holes, pointing out that any bit of metal in the New Mexico desert would have bullet holes in it, and she ripped into Lalo, telling him that the only reason he had Saul pick up his money was because he couldn't trust anyone: "You need to get your house in order". Series co-creator Peter Gould said that Saul was "at the end of his rope. He's exhausted, and he's not able to spin the way that he usually does" but that Kim "put Lalo in his place".