Short Summary is an original series in which I write brief reviews of movies, TV shows, video games, books, and more. Spoilers ABOUND!

“Quite a Ride”

I never thought I’d see that big Constitution wallpaper again, but the cold open for “Quite a Ride” (in color, not black and white this time) sends Better Call Saul crashing straight into Breaking Bad’s timeline.

Saul frantically gathers his rolls of money and other belongings from around his office, including cutting a hole in the aforementioned wallpaper and retrieving a shoebox. While he’s in a panic, Francesca shreds documents. He instructs her to dump the remains far enough away from the office and in separate locations. He gives her a couple rolls of cash for her work, and she’s gone, trash bags in hand. Then, Saul calls the extractor to skip town and receive his new identity before hanging up and snapping his phone in half.

Back in Better Call Saul‘s timeline, Jimmy gets his first customer at the cell phone store, intrigued by the promise of privacy. Jimmy tells him that phones are flying off the shelves and also convinces him that the best way to ensure absolute privacy is to use one phone per conversation so that he definitely won’t be tracked. The customer walks out with a stack of phones as a result. Little does Jimmy know at the time that this transaction will cause another light bulb to flash in his brain.

Jimmy initially settles in for another night with Kim, but instead tells her that he wants to make a good impression and do some more work at the store. He takes his own stack of burner phones and spends his whole night outside of a hot dog stand–which, yes, is a real one in Albuquerque, really called the Dog House, and the neon sign is legitimate. He operates out of the trunk of his car and sells phones to just about every kind of person out there, including a biker gang. However, just as he’s about to enjoy a successful hustle for once, a group of teenagers mugs him.

He returns home to Kim and tells her that he was mugged, which is actually the truth this time. Yet he doesn’t tell her exactly what he was up to, of course. Jimmy does seem to have a moment of clarity, though. He says to Kim that he’ll see that therapist she suggested, and the next day, he scrubs the cell phone store windows clean of their message. He heads to a check-in for his law license suspension when he unexpectedly runs into Howard, who’s looking like hell and sounding like he’ll break at any moment. Jimmy suggests the same therapist to Howard, only to discover that Howard’s already seeing one twice a week, like that’s helping the poor guy cope at all. When he leaves the room, Jimmy disposes of the therapist’s number. He checks in with his officer and explains that he’s going to get his law license back, get a new office with Kim, and make everything even better than it was.

“I’m gonna be a damn good lawyer, and people are gonna know about it,” Jimmy says.

That they will, Saul, yet not in the way you’re envisioning it right now.

Meanwhile, Mike’s storyline for this episode alludes to more Breaking Bad material: he’s helping Gus in the construction of the underground superlab. After Mike shuttles in a few foreign candidates (using some questionable methods), Gus himself emerges from the shadows of the laundromat, and construction is seemingly underway.

As for Kim, she takes the chance to defend a few criminal cases, representing clients who presumably can’t afford proper lawyering. However, while she’s dealing with one client, Mesa Verde calls about an error in the paperwork. Kim totally hangs up on them, which honestly got a “YAS QUEEN” out of me. Although she goes to Mesa Verde to apologize, the CEO won’t see her, and she’s told that she can’t do that again. And she promises not to. She can’t handle both Mesa Verde and underrepresented clients, it seems, so she’ll have to choose. I’m positive that she’ll ditch Mesa Verde, but what will that mean for her?

We’re halfway through season 4!