Quite a Ride

"Quite a Ride" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the AMC television series Better Call Saul, the spinoff series of Breaking Bad. The episode aired on September 3, 2018 on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.

"Quite a Ride"
Better Call Saul episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 5
Directed byMichael Morris
Written byAnn Cherkis
Featured music"Street Life" by Randy Crawford/The Crusaders
Original air dateSeptember 3, 2018 (2018-09-03)
Running time54 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
  • Cara Pifko as Paige Novick
  • Rainer Bock as Werner Ziegler
  • Carlos Leal as Foreign engineer
  • Keiko Agena as Viola Goto
  • Tina Parker as Francesca Liddy
  • Marlon Young as PPD Officer
  • Andrew Thacher as Customer
  • Tommy Nelson as Peewee
  • Carlin James as Scooter
  • Cory Chapman as Skippy

Plot

Opening

In a flashforward,[lower-alpha 1] set in 2010 , Saul Goodman and Francesca frantically clear out his office. She agrees to be at a telephone booth on November 12 (Jimmy's birthday) at 3 p.m. to receive a call. He gives her money and an attorney's business card and tells her that if she needs help she should say "Jimmy" sent her. As she leaves, Saul claims the last few years have been "quite a ride". Saul then calls his "disappearer" for a new identity.

Main story

In 2003, Jimmy sells pay-as-you-go phones to a customer who saw his "privacy sold here" sign. He then starts selling prepaid phones on the street, but the venture proves unsuccessful when he is mugged by three teenagers. Kim tends his wounds while Jimmy is concerned that he did not realize the teenagers' intent because he was not thinking clearly. He promises to call the psychiatrist Kim recommended, but instead returns to CC Mobile and spends the day removing the storefront sign.

Mike escorts engineers through the laundry to evaluate it as a site for Gus's planned meth "superlab". One glibly asserts he can easily do the job, but is turned away by Gus, who listens in from a nearby room. Another, Werner Ziegler, impresses Gus by forthrightly expressing his concerns about the risk. Gus offers him the job of planning and overseeing the lab's construction.

Kim thrives in the environment of her pro bono criminal defense work. While waiting for a client to dress before going to court, Paige calls from Mesa Verde and insists they need her help immediately to fix recently filed paperwork. Kim hangs up on Paige and sees her criminal case through, then goes to Mesa Verde. Paige informs her that the bank's legal staff had to drop everything else to fix the problem, and reminds her that when she became Mesa Verde's outside counsel, she promised that the bank would be her sole focus. Kim apologizes and promises it will not happen again.

Jimmy meets Howard in the courthouse restroom and sees that he is looking sleepless, but Howard does not divulge why. Jimmy offers Howard the phone number of the psychiatrist Kim recommended. Howard claims he is going to therapy, so Jimmy throws the number away. Jimmy meets with his probation officer and states his intent to resume practicing law once the one-year suspension of his law license is over.

Production

This is the first episode of Better Call Saul to include scenes that take place during the Breaking Bad series narrative, using the set for Saul Goodman's law offices. Among the possessions that Saul extracts from the wall are passports and a shoebox of video tapes of the Saul Goodman television commercials, which according to Bob Odenkirk, are the same tapes seen in the flash-forward to Saul's new identity "Gene" in the pilot episode.[1] Portions of the episode were shot at the Dog House, a real drive-up diner in Albuquerque and previously used as Jesse Pinkman's hangout during Breaking Bad.[2] The song "Street Life" by The Crusaders is played during the montage in which Jimmy sells mobile phones on the street.[3]

Like Breaking Bad and unlike the rest of Better Call Saul, the opening flashforward was shot on non-digital film camera.[4]

Reception

"Quite a Ride" received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, it had a 100% "certified fresh" rating with an average of 9.62 out of 10 from 15 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Saul goes full Breaking Bad in an exciting, emotional episode that proves 'Quite a Ride'.”[5]

Ratings

"Quite a Ride" was watched by 1.53 million viewers on its first broadcast, earning a 0.4 ratings for viewers between 18 and 49.[6]

Notes
  1. Occurring sometime between the events of the Breaking Bad episodes "Ozymandias" and "Granite State"[1]

References
  1. Snierson, Dan (September 3, 2018). "Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk breaks down THAT Breaking Bad-era scene". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  2. Sepinwall, Alan (September 3, 2018). "'Better Call Saul' Recap: You Can't Keep a Goodman Down". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  3. Nemetz, Dave (September 4, 2018). "Better Call Saul Recap: Street Life". Yahoo! News. Sunnyvale, CA.
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCgDjHDzZRs (6:44)
  5. "Quite a Ride". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  6. Welch, Alex (September 5, 2018). "Monday cable ratings: 'WWE Raw' holds steady, 'Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood' ticks back up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
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