"Bagman" is the eighth episode of the
fifth season of the American crime drama television series ''
Better Call Saul
''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
'', the spinoff series of ''
Breaking Bad''. Written by
Gordon Smith and directed by
Vince Gilligan
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of AMC's '' Breaking Bad'' (2008– ...
, the episode aired on April 6, 2020, on
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered in several countries on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
.
In the episode,
Jimmy McGill
James Morgan Jimmy McGill, better known by his business name Saul Goodman, is a character created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould and portrayed by Bob Odenkirk in the television franchise ''Breaking Bad''. He appears as a major character ...
agrees to travel to the desert as a "
bagman
The term bagman (or bag man) has different meanings in different countries.
One group of definitions centers on the idea of traveling. In British usage, "bagman" is a term for a traveling salesman, first known from 1808.
In Australian usage, ...
" to pick up the $7 million that will serve as bail money for
Lalo Salamanca
Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca is a fictional character on the AMC television series ''Better Call Saul'', a prequel of ''Breaking Bad''. Introduced in the fourth season, he is portrayed by Tony Dalton and was created by Peter Gould and screenwriter ...
. While returning with the money, Jimmy finds himself in the middle of a shootout, where he is saved by
Mike Ehrmantraut. Together, the pair begin their journey back to civilization, while Jimmy's wife,
Kim Wexler, begins to get worried.
The episode's director, Gilligan, said that "Bagman" was one of the most challenging episodes he had to direct in his career. "Bagman" took 18 days to film, which was nine days more than average episodes, and was shot
on location at the
Tohajiilee Indian Reservation
To’Hajiilee ( nv, Tó Hajiileehé, ), Cañoncito Band of Navajos is a non-contiguous section of the Navajo Nation lying in parts of western Bernalillo, eastern Cibola, and southwestern Sandoval counties in the U.S. state of New Mexico, west ...
, with Marshall Adams serving as a cinematographer for the episode. Additionally,
Daniel and Luis Moncada made guest appearances in the episode as the Cousins,
Leonel and Marco Salamanca
''Breaking Bad (franchise), Breaking Bad'' is a neo-Western crime drama Media franchise, franchise created by American filmmaker Vince Gilligan, primarily based on the television series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–13), its prequel/sequel series, '' ...
.
In its initial airing, "Bagman" was seen by 1.42 million viewers in the United States. The episode received universal acclaim from critics, who called it one of the best episodes of ''Better Call Saul''. At the
Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode received three nominations, for
Outstanding Sound Editing,
Outstanding Sound Mixing, and
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
Plot
The Cousins arrive at a Mexican cartel site to pick up
Lalo Salamanca
Eduardo "Lalo" Salamanca is a fictional character on the AMC television series ''Better Call Saul'', a prequel of ''Breaking Bad''. Introduced in the fourth season, he is portrayed by Tony Dalton and was created by Peter Gould and screenwriter ...
's bail money. As they depart, an informant makes a telephone call to report their presence. Lalo gives
Jimmy McGill
James Morgan Jimmy McGill, better known by his business name Saul Goodman, is a character created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould and portrayed by Bob Odenkirk in the television franchise ''Breaking Bad''. He appears as a major character ...
directions to a remote desert pickup site. Jimmy reluctantly agrees to pick up the money for $100,000. Lalo agrees on the price.
Kim Wexler begs Jimmy not to go, saying he is an attorney, not a "
bagman
The term bagman (or bag man) has different meanings in different countries.
One group of definitions centers on the idea of traveling. In British usage, "bagman" is a term for a traveling salesman, first known from 1808.
In Australian usage, ...
" for drug dealers, but he says he will do it because it will be easy and no one will suspect him of being the courier. The next morning, the Cousins deliver two duffel bags of cash to Jimmy at the pickup site.
Soon after Jimmy starts his return trip, several vehicles cut him off. Numerous gunmen exit, take the money and prepare to kill him. The gunmen are suddenly attacked by an unknown shooter. All but one are killed and their vehicles are disabled. The surviving gunman escapes in the only drivable vehicle. The unseen shooter was
Mike Ehrmantraut, who was tracking Jimmy for
Gus Fring. Mike finds his truck was also disabled in the shootout, so he places a still-shaken Jimmy and the money in Jimmy's car and begins driving back to Albuquerque. Jimmy's car soon breaks down. With no cell phone coverage and no vehicle, they push the car over the edge of the road and walk cross-country with the money in order to avoid the surviving gunman. As they camp overnight, Jimmy tells Mike that Kim knows of his work for Lalo; Mike warns Jimmy that if she knows details about the Salamancas, Kim is now "in the game." Jimmy and Mike resume their trek the following morning.
When Jimmy fails to return, Kim poses as Lalo's attorney to visit him in prison. She tells him she is Jimmy's wife and asks for Jimmy's location so she can search. Lalo refuses and tells her Jimmy will be fine because he is a survivor. A dehydrated and sunburned Jimmy reaches his limit and collapses, and Mike fails to motivate him to go on. Mike spots the surviving gunman, but rather than hide as Mike directs, Jimmy regains his motivation and walks into the road to attract the gunman's attention. When the gunman is close enough, Mike shoots and kills him. The gunman's vehicle flips and is destroyed. Jimmy and Mike resume walking, this time on the road.
Production
![Vince Gilligan 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Vince_Gilligan_2010.jpg)
"Bagman" was directed by series co-creator
Vince Gilligan
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of AMC's '' Breaking Bad'' (2008– ...
, who considered the episode one of the most challenging episodes he had to direct in his career.
Gilligan had made arrangements to direct one episode in the fifth season after completing post-production of ''
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie''. Both co-showrunner
Peter Gould
Peter Gould is an American television writer, director and producer. He worked on all five seasons of the AMC drama ''Breaking Bad''. He was nominated for four Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards for his work on the series. After ''Breaking ...
and writer
Gordon Smith, knowing this would be Gilligan's episode, planned for his directorial skills and continually teased Gilligan that the episode was well-suited for him in the weeks prior to filming.
They had compared the episode to ''
Lawrence of Arabia
Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–191 ...
'' in terms of how they wanted it to look, and even had considered renting out the lens used to film that movie, but were worried about the liability if they had damaged it.
The episode took over 18 days to shoot, compared to the average of nine days for most other episodes. Most of the filming location was located on the
To'hajiilee Indian Reservation, about two hours outside of Albuquerque by car, though the pickup location where Jimmy meets the Cousins was only about 15 minutes away from the Albuquerque studios.
Gilligan credited his production team for making sure the cast and crew were protected from heat and had plenty of water to assure the shoot went on without any issues.
Gilligan wanted Bob Odenkirk to employ
method acting
Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...
techniques, and did supply him with a pair of heavy tote bags to carry.
Gilligan praised the script from Smith, which he felt established the bond between Mike and Jimmy that was seen in ''Breaking Bad'' but otherwise absent in ''Better Call Saul'' previously.
Gilligan's associate producer Jenn Carroll and assistant Melissa Ng helped to identify elements to add to Smith's script to further connect the relationship between Mike and Jimmy to what was seen in ''Breaking Bad''.
The shootout scene between Mike and the gunmen was a challenge for Gilligan, and he considered it "the most complicated single scene I've ever directed".
He wanted to have Odenkirk visible in all shots, even while the stuntmen and practical effects were going off around him, as to show the shootout from Jimmy's point of view as much as possible. The overall sequence took about four to five days to complete.
To film the scene with the flipping truck while Jimmy was in-shot, a temporary
green screen was placed on site. Odenkirk's reaction in front of the screen was filmed first, followed by the truck flip without changing the camera's location after Odenkirk and the screen were removed.
The
Suzuki Esteem that had been shot up and pushed into a gully was a duplicate of the one they normally used in filming; the original was still kept at the local studios, allowing them to reuse it for any later flashback scenes as needed.
Reception
Viewership
In its initial broadcast, "Bagman" was watched by 1.42 million viewers in the United States, ranking 29th amongst other American original cable telecasts that aired the same day, and gained a 0.32 rating from the
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
firm.
Critical response
"Bagman" received universal acclaim by critics, with many calling it one of the best episodes of the series. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, it received a 100% Certified Fresh rating with an average 9.83 out of 10 score based on 13 reviews. The critical consensus is, "Jimmy undergoes a trial by gunfire in 'Bagman,' an unpredictable installment that is given blockbuster suspense by Vince Gilligan's direction." The episode, with numerous long takes with Jimmy and Mike in desert scenes, has been visually and thematically compared to Gilligan's previous works in both ''El Camino'' and the ''Breaking Bad'' episode "
4 Days Out", as well as to the 2007 film ''
No Country for Old Men
''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2007 American neo-Western crime thriller film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel of the same name. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin, th ...
''.
Writing for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'',
Alan Sepinwall
Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...
lauded the episode for its premise, cinematography, visuals, and acting, stating that "
'Better Call Saul''can get hemmed in by the demands of being a prequel, particularly on the drug side of things, but its individual moments can feel even deeper and more artfully crafted."
Steve Greene from ''
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...
'' and Darren Franich of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' both gave the episode a grade rating of an "A", with the pair praising the unpredictability of the episode as well as its visual style, and Franich calling it "a marvel to look at, scenes staged with sweaty-exquisite perfection".
Nick Harley of ''
Den of Geek
''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine.
History
''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ...
'' gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars, who considered it to be one of the best of the series, especially praising Gilligan's direction. Kenny Herzog of ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'' also gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars, noting that Kim's decision to ask Lalo about Jimmy's whereabouts was a consequential decision that would cause her to be "in the game."
Donna Bowman of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave the episode an "A" rating, praising the character developments of Saul and Kim, as well as the main desert sequences.
David Segal, from ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', lauded the episode's ending, stating that "It takes nerve and skill to tell a story as grueling as the one told in "Bagman". There is no end. At least there is no end to the suffering."
On April 11, ''
TVLine
''TVLine'' is a website devoted to information, news, and spoilers of television programs.
History
In late 2010, ''Entertainment Weekly''s Michael Ausiello announced that he would be leaving ''EW'' after nearly two years in their employ to est ...
'' named
Bob Odenkirk and
Jonathan Banks
Jonathan Ray Banks (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor. Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Chillum Heights, Maryland, while attending Indiana University Bloomington Banks did theatre. In 1974, he moved to Los Angeles where he be ...
the "Performers of the Week" for their performances in this episode.
Accolades
References
External links
* at
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
*
{{Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul (season 5) episodes
Television episodes directed by Vince Gilligan
Television episodes set in Mexico