Smoke (Better Call Saul)

"Smoke"
Better Call Saul episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 1
Directed by	Minkie Spiro
Written by	Peter Gould
Featured music	"We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)" by The Ink Spots
Original air date	August 6, 2018 (2018-08-06)
Running time	46 minutes
Guest appearances
Ed Begley Jr. as Clifford Main Javier Grajeda as Juan Bolsa Kerry Condon as Stacey Ehrmantraut Ann Cusack as Rebecca Bois Dennis Boutsikaris as Rick Schweikart Jordan Lage as Barry Hedberg Jeremiah Bitsui as Victor Vincent Fuentes as Arturo Colon Ericka Kreutz as the hospital receptionist Don Harvey as the taxi driver Brendan Jennings as a Madrigal employee Bechir Sylvain as a Madrigal employee Abigail Zoe Lewis as Kaylee Ehrmantraut Mark Margolis as Hector Salamanca

"Smoke" is the fourth season premiere of the AMC television series Better Call Saul, the spinoff series of Breaking Bad. The episode aired on August 6, 2018 on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.

Plot

Opening

In a flashforward, "Gene" collapses at the Omaha Cinnabon and is raced to the hospital, but is discharged after doctors confirm he did not suffer a heart attack. As Gene leaves, the receptionist stops him to enter billing information, but neither his driver's license nor his Social Security number are recognized by the hospital database. Gene is apprehensive, but the receptionist quickly realizes she had made a mistake typing them in and allows him to leave. Gene takes a taxi back to the mall to get his car, but becomes uneasy when he recognizes the driver is making eye contact and he sees an Albuquerque Isotopes air freshener on the rear view mirror. He asks to be let out before reaching the mall and walks quickly around the corner and out of the driver's sight.

Main story

Howard calls Jimmy and Kim about the fire at Chuck's, and they arrive as Chuck's body is taken away. Jimmy sees the appliances outside Chuck's home and realizes his electromagnetic hypersensitivity symptoms returned. He falls into a deep depression which Kim tries to help him out of. Howard takes on the responsibility of arranging Chuck's funeral.

Mike receives his first payment from Madrigal Electromotive as a contracted security consultant, which Gus arranged to launder the money Mike stole from the Salamancas. Though meant to be a paper transaction, Mike enters a Madrigal facility, performs a detailed security audit, and turns the results over to the facility manager with instructions to let Lydia know he was there.

An ambulance comes to take Hector to the hospital after he suffers a stroke at a meeting with Juan Bolsa, Gus and Nacho. Following Mike's advice, Nacho takes the fake capsules containing ibuprofen from Hector and replaces them with Hector's real nitroglycerin. He tries to dispose of the fakes but is interrupted by Gus, who says they need to meet with Juan Bolsa immediately. Bolsa puts Nacho and Arturo in charge of the Salamanca operation for the time being. Afterwards, Nacho drives to a bridge and throws the ibuprofen away, unaware Victor has followed him.

Several of Chuck's friends and associates attend his funeral and give Jimmy their condolences. After the service, Howard tells Jimmy and Kim he believes Chuck relapsed because Howard forced him out of HHM, so he feels responsible for Chuck's death. Kim is shocked as Jimmy lets Howard shoulder the blame and immediately regains his happy-go-lucky demeanor.

Production

In the opening scene, Saul is at his workplace, a Cinnabon mall store. Though set in Omaha, Nebraska, the flash-forward was filmed at the Cottonwood Mall in Albuquerque.

Reception

"Smoke" received critical acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it garnered a perfect 100% rating with an average score of 8.76/10 based on 17 reviews. The site consensus reads, "'Smoke' kicks off Better Call Saul's fourth season by finally shifting Jimmy's disturbing transition to Saul into full gear." Matt Fowler of IGN gave "Smoke" a positive review, with an 8.3/10.0 rating writing, "It's a heavy, reflective chapter that readily relies on silence to create both suspense and sorrow."

Ratings

"Smoke" was watched by 1.77 million viewers in the United States on its original air date, fewer than the third-season finale which brought in 1.85 million American viewers.

External links

• "Smoke" at AMC
• "Smoke (Better Call Saul)" at IMDb