Rock and Hard Place

Michael Mando’s farewell performance is his series-best. For so long, we’ve watched him convey the desperation of a man under extreme pressure who somehow manages to maintain a steely outwards demeanor. Now we get to see Nacho, alone and unobserved, emotional during what he knows will be his last conversation with his father. I was moved by his choked-up laugh after he hangs up the phoneand the reveal that he immediately swallows all this to make his move with Gus from last episode, right back to business.

We also see him unleash snarling judgment upon the Salamancas. At first, I misread the underlying rage as straightdespite the signals of over-the-top vindictiveness: “I would have done it for free”, “I wish I killed him with my own hands”, “You think of me!”, maybe a testament to how neatly the rest of his story to exonerate Gus fits with the facts. Nacho has plenty of reasons to hate Hector and Lalo, but nothing we’ve seen from him suggests that he would take any pleasure in flaunting his resentment. He just wanted out. He played the game to the very end, and he played it admirably.

Kim’s conversation with Suzanne Ericsen is the second most tense scene of the episode. It’s nerve-wracking as we wait to see what the DA’s office has on Jimmyand satisfying, plot-wise, to see that Jimmy’s defenses of Nacho and Tuco from the beginning of the series have consequences and how Kim plays it, knowing she’s more familiar with Lalo than Suzanne realizes. When Suzanne makes an appeal to Kim’s sense of justice, I thought for a moment it might shake her. But no, what comes out is her defensiveness of “Saul”, who Suzanne – and seemingly everyone but her – can only see as a “scumbag”.

Looming danger aside, it’s heartwarming to see Kim and Jimmy fully collaborating, not just in their cons but as a couple. When a concerned Kim warns Jimmy of the DA’s investigation, he defers to her for his next move, twice. He trusts her judgement, and he’s aware his decision has implications for her. Twice, Kim refrains from telling him what to do, knowing it’s a decision he needs to make himself. “I guess, it’s basically: do you want to be a friend of the cartel, or do you want to be a rat?”