There was a brief shot from another angle—you could see a gun stashed in the excavator. I don’t remember this scene from an earlier episode. Still, it seemed to happen too fast. It was like he had the gun instantly in his hand after turning out the lights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jELwLk7DDhQ
They made a huge obvious point of showing Gus stash that gun. Chekhov would have been very proud. We discussed it in this thread. I think most viewers knew what was going to happen as soon as Lalo headed to the Laundromat.
Yeah, I totally remembered the gun, and how he hid it, and all that. I was expecting a whole intricate sequence in which he maneuvered near the lights-out switch, grabbed the gun (after carefully counting the number of steps from a pre-arranged spot on the floor to the gun, in the pitch-dark) and then an exchange of shots between him and Lalo. What I got was him being Lalo’s helpless victim, and next second Lalo was dead on the floor.
Still , Lalo’s plan to decoy Mike to Jimmy’s apartment with most of his armed associates was excellent.
That’s kind of what happened except he kicked apart the extension cords.
I agree that the plan was excellent and even better was Gus figuring it out because Kim said that Jimmy talked Lalo into something.
Yes, he says something like “I hoped we could skin Gus alive inch by inch at your pool Don Eladio, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?” His plan was to go to Don Eladio with video footage of the excavation to prove that Gus was planning to betray him (remember Hector telling him he needed proof before moving against Gus?) but when Gus showed up he figured why not kill him at the same time.
Gus requested to make his statement about Don Eladio and the Salamancas not because he gave a damn, but because he didn’t want Lalo to notice that he was pacing side to side over to the power cable. He kicked the cable to kill the lights, then ran to the excavator to get his gun.
I’m not sure how I missed it—but it was how many weeks ago? In any event I did see the cut indicating it was there in the last episode. He killed the lights and had it instantly in his hand? Nah.
I just timed it, it was 2.96 seconds from when the lights went out until Gus fired his first shot - Lalo was shooting at him the whole time he was running towards the excavator. That’s definitely action movie reasonable timing. The hardest part to believe is that he was able to retrieve the gun and shoot it accurately - he was lucky as hell. It would have made more sense for him to hide it on the other side of the excavator, that way all he had to do was get around it into cover behind the cab, then he’d have a few seconds to retrieve the gun and aim/fire from a protected position.
I didn’t have a problem believing that Gus could get to the gun given the setup - he did know the exact distance from the wires to the gun, and Lalo would be disoriented. It’s certainly within the realm of TV realism. The more unbelievable thing is that Lalo would just happen to walk him right into position to spring the trap. Good thing for Gus that Lalo didn’t zip tie him like he did Jimmy!
Normally my headcanon for things like this is that Gus has dozens of contingency plans, but we’re only shown the relevant ones rather than using a bunch of episode time showing them all. But in this case there isn’t much room for that. Lalo has to bring Gus to nearly that exact spot, without restraining or shooting him, or Gus is toast.
I was a bit surprised that Lalo plot thread was wrapped up in this episode. There are what, 6 episodes left? The urgent plot threads seem to all be complete, so maybe there are going to be more episodes set later in the timeline than I was expecting.
Youre gonna have to explain that one to me, is it something to do with the fact that Lalo would not normally change anything he’d planned, let alone if Jimmy asked him to? Because from Lalo’s point of view, whoever went to Gus’s house was incidental for his distraction to work, so that’s why he went along with Jimmy’s suggestion?
Yeah, I didn’t get why Kim going instead of Jimmy would have made any difference. Maybe Gus twigging onto the fact that the shooter wasn’t supposed to shoot, he/she was just supposed to get intercepted in the act but on a certain schedule (?) was what made realize things weren’t as they seemed?
Yeh I agree with you.
Cant see any way back for Jimmy and Kim’s relationship now, after his actions. Certainly not before the events of BB anyway.
It seemed clear to me that Jimmy/Saul was still concerned about Lalo in BB (when Walt and Jesse abduct him in the ski masks), so i assume we’re going to get a conversation between Jimmy and Kim along the lines of… Kim: you heard what Mike said, Lalo isn’t coming back… Jimmy: well he said that last time (about Mexico) etc. I expect Jimmy to become increasingly paranoid now.
If Lalo had picked Jimmy because he thought he had the best chance of killing Gus, there’s no way Jimmy would have talked Lalo out of it. But that was never Lalo’s plan - he knew that Gus knew he was alive and that Lalo was planning to kill Gus that night, so there’s zero probability anyone knocking at the front door was going to get Gus to answer. But Lalo didn’t give a shit who went to the door - his entire plan was to get Gus even more paranoid and move security away from the laundromat. So once Gus realized that killing him with Jimmy/Kim was never actually his plan, he realized the most likely thing was that Gus was going after the laundry.
There are five episodes left and I at first agreed with you but after some thought I am glad that it’s wrapped up. What we have left are what happens to Kim and the what will happen to Gene, especially since the cab driver recognized him.
I am not exactly sure but what we saw was Gus’s expression and demeanor change when he heard that Lalo was talked out of something and then abruptly end the conversation and go to the lab. I think it was the fact that Lalo didn’t give a shit who went to the house because it was immaterial to his plans. He knew they would be intercepted.
Honestly, it doesn’t really ring true to me that Mike & Gus would initially just accept that this was Lalo’s real plan. Like, he’s really going to send Kim Wexler to just knock on the door and assassinate Gus? Maybe it does make some sense - I have trouble sometimes keeping track of exactly what information each character has - but I would’ve expected Mike to be more considered before pulling everyone to Jimmy’s apartment.
I feel like I’m sounding negative and I don’t mean to. I really enjoyed the episode. I’m definitely looking forward to the Kim and Gene storylines, since they’re less constrained by our knowledge of BB. Although Kim’s fate worries me a bit - the main characters from this season who don’t appear in BB are Nacho, Howard, Lalo, and Kim, and the first three of them didn’t fare too well 
.
I assumed that Gus was aiming at the light from Lalo’s little camera screen. Seemed plausible.
As has been discussed, they have made it a point to show that Kim was born and raised in Nebraska. Gene is in Omaha. Maybe it’s a fake out but it’s not a coincidence.
Great point. Also possibly the muzzle flash. Plus Gus is superhuman.
Amazing all the effort Lalo put in to gathering info in Germany and the laundry just to put together a solid case for Don Eladio. Talk about playing detective! Gus was one step ahead of him.
Now Saul really doesn’t know what really happened to Lalo so it’s plausible for him to have his “who sent you Lalo or Nacho?” moment in the desert with Walter and Jessie. Dunno that we’ll get that far in this show.
There is still a world of hurt for Kim and Saul if anyone starts connecting them to Project Discredit Howard. Saul was at the Golf Club, Kim was having that set-up lunch with Clifford. Lots of happenstance can be in play with their stories when the Jaguar is found.
I thought Saul said something along the lines of
“It was Ignacio!” … “Lalo didn’t send you?”
I assume from that he thinks at least there’s a chance Lalo is still alive at that point. Given what we’ve seen in recent episodes I’m putting that down to pure paranoia and maybe a belief that Lalo is invincible.
Really, the only one who knows about the cocaine at the gold club and the prostitute in the car is Cliff. And while he might be willing to accept that Jimmy messed around to get the deal tanked, I doubt he’s going to accuse them of murder.
I think we are done with Howard. It’ll all be Kim and Gene going forward.