Mabel (''Better Call Saul'')

Teaser

In a flash-forward Gene eats a sandwich during his lunch break at the Cinnabon in Omaha. He's reading a book when he sees a shoplifter hide inside a photo booth. Gene reluctantly points the shoplifter out to the mall security guards pursuing him, but then yells to the shoplifter as he's being led away, warning him to remain silent and hire a lawyer. After returning to work, Gene suddenly collapses.

Main story

Jimmy calls Howard to tell him Chuck has decided against resigning from Hamlin Hamlin & McGill. He helps Chuck remove the foil from his walls, windows and ceilings, and reminiscences over a book they read together during their youth. Chuck is quick to end the nostalgia and remind him that the fraud he committed to steal the Mesa Verde account for Kim will neither be forgotten nor forgiven. When Jimmy returns to the office, he confides to Kim how refreshing it is to not be hated by Chuck even for just a few minutes.

Kim experiences anxiety at running her own law firm and keeping the secret of Jimmy's fraud, despite success at getting Mesa Verde's re-hearing moved to an earlier date. Bauer, the Air Force captain who toured the base with Jimmy and his film crew, confronts him about entering the base under false pretenses and threatens to press charges if Jimmy's commercial is not pulled off the air. Jimmy momentarily cracks (due to Bauer's arguments sounding similar to ones Chuck would use) but is ultimately unmoved. He points out that Bauer risks hurting his own career if the fact that he let unauthorized people onto the base comes to light, and that he could always call elderly "veteran" Fudge as a witness to sway the jury. Bauer storms off after warning that "the wheel is gonna turn."

Chuck plays Jimmy's confession to Howard, who questions what the tape can accomplish given it won't make Kevin and Paige bring Mesa Verde's business back to HHM, and the way the confession was elicited limits the recording's uses. In addition, Howard says Jimmy can deny it's him speaking or argue that the original conversation has been altered, but Chuck assures him the recording does have a use. He asks Ernesto to changes the recorder's batteries, and Ernesto hears the recording. Chuck makes Ernesto promise not to repeat what he heard.

Mike drives away from the scene of his attempted assassination of Hector and checks his car for a tracking device, but finds nothing. Certain someone followed him and determined to find out how the he was prevented him from killing Hector, he dismantles his car at a local junkyard but fails to find a tracker. While looking at a sales display of gas caps, he has an epiphany and takes apart the one from his car, where he finds a battery operated tracking device. He obtains an identical tracking device from Caldera, studies how it works and discovers that it will remotely warn the operator when the battery runs low. He replaces the tracker in his gas cap with the new one, drains the battery of the one he took from his car, and watches his car from inside the house. In the early morning, someone arrives to change the tracker in Mike's car for one with new batteries. Because whoever placed the new tracker is actually carrying one with a good battery, Mike is able to follow him. He dresses, arms himself and begins his pursuit.

Ratings

Upon airing, the episode received 1.81 million American viewers, and an 18-49 rating of 0.7.^[1]

Critical reception

The episode received critical acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode has a 100% rating with an average score of 8.8 out of 10 based on 11 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Odenkirk and Banks carry their respective portions of "Mabel" with ease and innuendo in an episode that enlivens its familiar aesthetic with a peppier-than-normal pace."^[2]