"Wiedersehen" is the ninth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of the AMC television series Better Call Saul, the spinoff series of Breaking Bad. The episode aired on October 1, 2018 on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.
Plot
Jimmy and Kim successfully work a scam to replace the approved plans for the Mesa Verde bank branch in Lubbock, Texas with plans for a bigger building without going through the city government's lengthy refiling process. On their way back to Albuquerque, Jimmy talks of getting reinstated to the bar the next day, and using their combined abilities for more scams, but Kim counsels caution. Jimmy attends his reinstatement hearing and answers the committee's questions. One member throws him off at the end by asking why he wants to practice law and who inspired him; Jimmy pauses a bit at both but still provides eloquent answers. They tell him that they will let him know the results by mail in a few days, but Jimmy becomes nervous after he leaves and waits near the hearing room. When the committee leaves, he finds out from their secretary that they have denied his reinstatement. When Jimmy confronts the panel's chairman, he tells Jimmy that some of his answers were insincere, and he can apply for reinstatement again in a year. Kim and Jimmy meet in the parking garage of S&C's office building and Jimmy complains about how he was treated during the hearing. Kim identifies the problem, and points out that Jimmy never mentioned Chuck in his last two answers; since his dispute with Chuck was the reason for his suspension, the panel members considered his answers to be less than genuine. Jimmy gets defensive about his relationship with Chuck, and argues with Kim. He accuses Kim of "slumming" with him any time she needs a favor or wants to run a con, and says she sees him only as "Slippin' Jimmy". Kim angrily points out that she has been Jimmy's biggest supporter since they first met, and has helped him recover from all his mistakes. That night, Jimmy returns to Kim's apartment and wordlessly starts packing his belongings. He admits he screwed up at the hearing and damaged their relationship, and Kim asks if he still wants to be a lawyer. He says he does, and Kim says she will help make it happen. Lalo and Nacho visit Hector, who has been transferred to a nursing home, and communicates only by moving the index finger of his right hand. Lalo reminds Hector of the time he burned down a hotel and killed its owner after the owner, a former college professor, treated Hector disrespectfully. He reveals he kept a souvenir — a concierge bell from the front desk. He ties the bell to Hector's wheelchair, allowing Hector to communicate more effectively. Lalo asks Nacho to step away while he talks to Hector about Gus and then asks Nacho to take him to Los Pollos Hermanos so he can meet Gus in person. Gus acts happy to meet Lalo, but gives Nacho an angry glare, and Nacho can only look back apologetically. Lalo tells Gus that the Salamancas are appreciative of Gus' efforts to save Hector and postulates that perhaps Don Eladio wants continued bad blood between Gus and the Salamancas in order to preserve his own position. Lalo suggests that perhaps Gus and the Salamancas should cooperate more closely, but Gus states he is happy with the current arrangements. Lalo then takes back his original statement, replying that the Salamancas would never really do anything to injure their relationship with Eladio. Lalo asks Nacho to take him to Gus' chicken farm so he can see the location where the Salamancas pick up their drugs after Gus' trucks bring the shipments over the border. Werner and his crew prepare to blast the rock preventing construction of the elevator in the meth lab under the laundry. When the pre-firing test fails, Werner traces the electrical wire for one of the charges. While in the construction area, he suffers a panic attack before finding a splice that has come apart. He repairs it, returns to the rest of the crew, and pretends there's nothing wrong, though his hands are shaking behind his back. Tyrus drives a semi-truck over a pothole outside the laundry in a move timed to coincide with the detonation, which masks its sound and shock. Werner's crew celebrates the successful blast, knowing the end of their longer than expected job is in sight. Werner admits to Mike that he misses his wife and asks if it's possible to fly to Germany for a weekend, and then come back to finish the work. Instead, Mike offers Werner a longer than usual phone call with his wife, which Werner accepts. After the call, Werner returns to his housing unit, but looks around the warehouse at the video cameras. When Mike receives his morning report from the on duty security team the next day, he notices a few monitors show displays with dead pixels. He and his team check the warehouse, and find that Werner used a laser to temporarily disable the cameras by increasing their voltage, creating a flash effect of several seconds that permitted him to move through the warehouse undetected. He then used a hacksaw blade to cut through the padlocks for the doors leading to the roof, and escaped by climbing down the building's maintenance ladder.
Production
"Wiedersehen" includes the origin story for Hector Salamanca's bell, an item vitally important to the storylines of both Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. In addition, it provides backstory details about the character Lalo, who was first named in Breaking Bad, and first appeared in the Better Call Saul episode "Coushatta". In German, "Wiedersehen" is literally translated as "see you again" or "until we see each other again", and the expression "auf Wiedersehen" is used to indicate "goodbye" or "farewell". In this episode, Werner's crew have spray painted the word "Wiedersehen" on the rock they need to blast to make room for the elevator in the underground meth lab, in effect saying "goodbye" to the obstacle that's put them behind schedule. "Wiedersehen" can also be understood as a reference to Werner's escape, since he is effectively saying goodbye to his crew, to Mike, and to the job of supervising the meth lab's construction.
Reception
"Wiedersehen" received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, it garnered a perfect 100% rating with an average score of 9.5/10 based on 14 reviews. The site's critical consensus is, "A feeling of inevitability permeates 'Wiedersehen', a surprisingly mellow and melancholy penultimate episode beautifully realized by Vince Gilligan and Gennifer Hutchison's creative reunion."
Ratings
"Wiedersehen" was watched by 1.35 million viewers on its first broadcast, earning a 0.5 ratings for viewers between 18 and 49, holding steady with ratings from the previous week.
