"Slip" is the eighth episode of the third season of the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** AM ...

television series ''

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...

'', a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

series of ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...

''. The episode aired on June 5, 2017 on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on the

streaming service Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in several countries.

Plot

Opening

In a flashback,

Jimmy McGill James Morgan Jimmy McGill, better known by his business name Saul Goodman, is a character created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould and portrayed by Bob Odenkirk in the television franchise ''Breaking Bad''. He appears as a major character in ...

and

Marco Pasternak ''Breaking Bad'' is a neo-Western crime drama franchise created by American filmmaker Vince Gilligan, primarily based on the television series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–13), its prequel/sequel series, ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–22), and its seq ...

break into the McGills' abandoned store in

Cicero, Illinois Cicero (originally known as Hawthorne) is a suburb of Chicago and an Incorporated town#Illinois, incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was ...

. Hoping to use an Indian-head penny for a con, Jimmy recovers his childhood

coin collection Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of minted legal tender. Coins of interest to collectors often include those that were in circulation for only a brief time, coins with mint errors, and especially beautiful or histori ...

. He explains that he started his collection following his father's futile attempt to return a rare coin to its owner after the owner mistakenly used it at the store.

Main story

Mike Ehrmantraut Michael Ehrmantraut () is a fictional character in '' Breaking Bad'' and its spinoff prequel ''Better Call Saul'', portrayed by Jonathan Banks. Mike is a former Philadelphia police officer who works for Gus Fring—and, on occasion, Saul Goodm ...

drives to the site where he committed the ice-cream truck robbery. Using information

Nacho Varga Ignacio "Nacho" Varga is a fictional character who appears in the AMC television series ''Better Call Saul'', a prequel spin-off of '' Breaking Bad''. He is portrayed by Michael Mando and was created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Dialogue ...

provided, he finds the body of the

Good Samaritan In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

who was killed after freeing

Ximenez Lecerda ''Breaking Bad'' is a neo-Western crime drama franchise created by American filmmaker Vince Gilligan, primarily based on the television series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–13), its prequel/sequel series, ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–22), and its s ...

. He then makes an anonymous call and reports the location to the police. At home,

Chuck McGill Charles Lindbergh "Chuck" McGill Jr. is a fictional character who appears in the crime drama television series ''Better Call Saul'', a spin-off prequel of ''Breaking Bad''. He is portrayed by Michael McKean and was created by Vince Gilligan and ...

shares with Dr. Cruz the epiphany that caused him to realize his

electromagnetic hypersensitivity Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) is a claimed sensitivity to electromagnetic fields, to which negative symptoms are attributed. EHS has no scientific basis and is not a recognised medical diagnosis. Claims are characterized by a "variet ...

might be

psychosomatic A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder,(2013) Howard Hamlin Howard Hamlin is a fictional character who appears in the crime drama television series ''Better Call Saul'', a spin-off prequel of '' Breaking Bad''. He is portrayed by Patrick Fabian and was created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Hamlin i ...

informs him there is an issue with Chuck's

malpractice insurance Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance which helps protect professional advice-, consulting, and ser ...

. After Jimmy produces a successful commercial for a music store, the owners refuse to pay. Jimmy resorts to a "Slippin' Jimmy" con to create a slip-and-fall accident. Howard greets

Kim Wexler Kimberly Kim Wexler is a fictional Character (arts), character from the television series ''Better Call Saul'', a Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Breaking Bad''. Kim is primarily portrayed by Rhea Seehorn, and was created by Vince Gilligan and P ...

at her lunch with Paige and Kevin. Kim tries to pay back the law school tuition loan she owes HHM. Howard declines and accuses her of betraying the firm. Kim replies that he should not have tried to cover up Chuck's condition. Kim returns to the office to find Jimmy with his half of the rent, which he got from the music store owners. Kim expresses doubts about Jimmy's ability to continue paying and considers taking on another client. Jimmy later makes $700 while performing his

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

, which he earns by threatening the supervisor with a

class-action lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...

, enabling a drug dealer also doing community service to leave early. Nacho executes his plan to kill

Hector Salamanca ''Breaking Bad'' is a neo-Western The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and ...

by stealing the

nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating g ...

bottle from Hector's jacket pocket and replacing the contents with lookalike capsules containing

ibuprofen Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is used for treating pain, fever, and inflammation. This includes painful menstrual periods, migraines, and rheumatoid arthritis. It may also be used to close a patent ductus arte ...

. He then returns the bottle to Hector's pocket without being noticed. Mike realizes he cannot spend the money he stole from Hector without attracting suspicion, so he seeks

Gus Fring Gustavo "Gus" Fring is a fictional character portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito in the crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'' and its prequel ''Better Call Saul''. He is a Chilean-American businessman and major narcotics distributor in the Southwester ...

’s help in laundering it. Gus warns him they should avoid being publicly associated so the Salamancas do not get suspicious. He tells Mike the laundering process will be difficult but agrees to help.

Production

The episode is directed by

Adam Bernstein Adam Bernstein (born May 7, 1960) is an Emmy Award-winning American film director, music video director and television director. For his work on the television show '' Fargo'' in 2014, he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for O ...

, who previously directed the season 2 episode "

Gloves Off "Gloves Off" is the fourth episode of the Better Call Saul (season 2), second season of the AMC (TV channel), AMC television series ''Better Call Saul''. The episode aired on March 7, 2016, on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States ...

", and written by Heather Marion, who co-wrote the season 2 finale with creator

Vince Gilligan George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of AMC's ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2 ...

Casting

The episode marks the return of

Mel Rodriguez Melvin Dimas Rodríguez (born June 12, 1973) is an American actor, best known for starring as Nurse Patsy de la Serda on the HBO comedy '' Getting On'', as Todd Rodriguez on the Fox comedy '' The Last Man on Earth'', and as Ernie Gomes on the S ...

as Jimmy's friend Marco Pasternak, after a season-long absence, and

Clea DuVall Clea Helen D'Etienne DuVall (born September 25, 1977) is an American actress, writer, producer, and director. She is known for her appearances in the films ''The Faculty'' (1998), ''She's All That''; '' But I'm a Cheerleader''; '' Girl, Interrup ...

as Dr. Cruz, who last appeared in "

Klick Click, Klick and Klik may refer to: Airlines * Click Airways, a UAE airline * Clickair, a Spanish airline * MexicanaClick, a Mexican airline Art, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Klick (fictional species), an alien race in the g ...

Reception

Ratings

Upon airing, the episode received 1.633 million American viewers, and an 18–49 rating of 0.5.

Critical reception

The episode received critical acclaim. It holds a 100% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 12 reviews with an average score 9.03/10. The site's consensus reads, "'Slip' continues Better Call Saul's character evolution with another gripping episode taking the series' story in unpredictable yet satisfying new directions." Terri Schwartz of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave a 9.2 rating, saying "The acting and direction is top notch in 'Slip,' even if this episode didn't surpass 'Chicanery' as the best episode of the season. It's a strong installment as Season 3 grows closer to the end." James White of ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' rated the episode 4/5 stars, noting the episode "represents yet another great episode, full of little ''Saul'' touches, including two wonderful montages—Mike in the desert, show in time-lapse with his metal detector, and Nacho's careful pill preparation—examples of the show's continued ability to make the most mundane actions dramatic and watchable."