'Better Call Saul' S02E04 Recap: Mike Saved from Evil, Plus 'Breaking Bad' Cameos [SPOILERS] : MStarsNews

By the time we meet Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) on Breaking Bad, he's a jaded ex-cop with ties to the drug cartel, even though he fronts working for Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). In the prequel spinoff, Better Call Saul, we get to see how Mike to be the way he is now, and on this S02E04 recap with spoilers, he tries very hard to keep away from evildoing -- with a few cameos here and there.

At the end of week's episode of Better Call Saul, Nacho (Michael Mando) asked Mike to get rid of someone for him as debt mounted around him. This week, the "Gloves Off" episode opens up with Mike bleeding and his face severely injured while he counts money at home.

You'd think he followed through Nacho's request, but it's actually not the case.

Though at some point, Mike considers killing Nacho, his good will ultimately wins out, but not before he's had a discreet gun-selling pal over to show him his options. Breaking Bad fans will recognize Lawson (Jim Beaver), who'd go on to offer his services to Walter White (Bryan Cranston) during his beginnings.

Dear ol' Walt must be back in the school teaching some uninterested kids all about the periodic table while all of this happens.

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In any case, Mike meets up Nacho again and tells him that killing his partner, Tuco Salamanca (who we met in Breaking Bad and already appeared on the first season of Better Call Saul), would be a terrible idea, as it would only mean the cartel would go down on him directly.

After Nacho says the cartel would target him even quicker if he called the cops, Mike offers a different solution to stop dealing with the small-time drug lord, who's grown increasingly unpredictable since he began using meth -- fans of Vince Gilligan's universe will remember the never-fun Tuco on drugs.

As Nacho and Tuco (Raymond Cruz) make rounds collecting earnings from their dealers at El Michoacano, Mike calls authorities from a payphone across the street, reporting a fake altercation.

While the cops take their time to get to the scene, Mike comes up to the restaurant and slightly scratches Tuco's car, which the already drugged-up dealer notices and, of course, it makes him flip out. A scene ensues where Tuco demands Mike to pay him hard cash for a barely-visible scratch. When he refuses, Tuco takes his wallet and punches him right in the face -- and that's when the cops arrive.

Nacho, who escaped the arrest scene and looked downright terrified during the whole ordeal, pays Mike $25,000, but he clarifies he could have made twice as much by just offing the man. Mike takes the money in silence, but we know the craziest of the Salamancas will be out of jail in a few years and walk straight into his death.

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In the meantime, Jimmy McGill (Odenkirk) pays for his two-facing bit in the last episode. Although his cheesy commercial trying to get customers for their current class-action suit was successful, his boss, Cliff (Ed Begley Jr.), and the rest of the partners in the Davis & Main firm give him a hard time for doing something that big without consulting them at all.

None of his arguments reach them: neither the couple of hundred new clients who called nor the low budget. He bent the rules, as he does so well, and he's suffering for it; even worse, his girlfriend, Kim (Rhea Seehorn) is as well.

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Howard and Chuck (Patrick Fabian and Michael McKean) call her up to the office and ask her whether she knew about Jimmy's ad; still, she refuses to throw him under the bus and admit she didn't know he was making it behind everyone's back. Kim ends up getting stuck in the basement for punishment research work at Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill.

Following this, Jimmy goes up to Chuck's place and his brother is suffering one of his attacks, still in a suit and tie under a tin foil blanket. Jimmy takes care of his brother during the night, and yet, when he wakes up, Chuck is as mean as ever, basically saying Kim had it coming for trusting Jimmy, though she knew how he was.

Chuck also goes on a sanctimonious speech about how Jimmy always finds one way to bend the rules to his bidding. He's right, of course, but Chuck isn't frightfully better, keeping his brother away from opportunities out of pure spite.