With Season 4 of Better Call Saul right around the corner, it’s good to get our bearing on where things left off. The show’s third season was the show’s best — it definitely had the series’ best episode in the excellent “Chicanery” — but there was a lot that happened.
Excitement for the show’s fourth season has been growing, especially since showrunners revealed that it would begin to rapidly approach the timeline of Breaking Bad. Does this mean we may see Walt giving Jimmy’s beaten yellow ride a car wash? Maybe see Jesse’s first encounter with Nacho and the Salamancas?
Here’s where we left the major players at the end of Season 3.
Jimmy McGill
Jimmy was so close to getting everything he wanted at the end of Season 3. He had talked the people at Sandpiper into settling — which would net him almost $1.5 million. He ended up talking the elderly at the living home out of it because his meddling had cost people friendship.
Unable to practice law for 12 months thanks to the BAR hearing, and the Sandpiper settlement now nowhere near done, Jimmy is getting desperate for money.
Kim Wexler
Floundering under the weight of both Mesa Verde and newly acquired Gatwood Oil, Kim worked herself to the bone by the end of the season. She drove her car off the road on the way to an important meeting, scratching up her face and breaking her arm. Working herself to exhaustion forced Kim to rethink her priorities. She and Jimmy moved out of their office, and she was last seen binging copious Blockbuster rentals on the couch.
Mike Ehrmantraut
Desperate to clean $200,000 so he can leave it for his niece and daughter-in-law, Mike turned to Gus Fring. Fans finally saw the true beginning of their relationship as he became an employee of Madrigal so he could use his ill-gotten cash. Mike said he’d only “work” there for 20 weeks, but that clearly lasts much, much longer.
Chuck McGill
After being embarrassed by Jimmy and Kim at the BAR hearing, Chuck’s condition started to get better. He turned the lights back on at home, he returned to work, and he started seeing a doctor. Unfortunately, Howard and the rest of HHM forced him out when their malpractice insurance skyrocketed. This — along with a final conversation with his younger brother, where he told him he never really cared for him — led to a massive backslide.
He turned off his electricity again, threw everything that pulled a current into his yard, and tore his house apart looking for one final thing that he thought was drawing power in the walls. By the end, he kicked a lantern over starting his trashed home on fire.
Nacho Varga
Bent on taking down Hector Salamanca, Nacho’s plan came about in the Season 3 finale. During a meeting with Gus about how their supplies would be shipped going forward, Salamanca overreacted, which set off his bad heart. He took his pills — which Nacho had switched out for poison earlier — and it caused him to collapse. Nacho watched as an ambulance carted off the still-living Salamanca while Gus eyed him suspiciously.
What to Expect in Season 4
The big thing for Jimmy and Kim as Season 4 begins will be the fallout of Chuck’s death. It’s unclear how Jimmy will react — given he tipped off the insurance agency about his brother’s condition and their final conversation. It’s also likely that Howard Hamlin — who pushed Chuck out of HHM — is feeling a touch responsible as well.
For Mike, it’s all about his new life at Madrigal. It’ll be interesting to see his initial reaction to the company, and how he rises to become Gus’ number two. For Nacho, it’s hard to say. We know Salamanca doesn’t die, but this could easily be the event that put him in his wheelchair and gave him that bell. Also, that look from Gus at the end of the Season 3 finale doesn’t bode well.
