Better Call Saul – Rock and Hard Place – Review

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55 years ago

Rock and Hard Place was brilliantly written and directed by Gordon Smith. The episode told the end of Nacho’s story, with Nacho coming to terms with his fate and making the ultimate sacrifice. Rock and Hard Place also brought Jimmy and Kim to a new part of their plan to get the Sandpiper case settled that includes Howard’s car. I cannot emphasize how great this episode was, a one-shot teaser of the desert that symbolized death, then moved on to the only life growing a blue flower and ending on a piece of glass. What does this scene mean? What does the flower symbolize?

Better Call Saul has a brilliant use of metaphors to tell a journey. This was Nacho’s journey, and it told the story of how Nacho protected his father and became pure-hearted for his sacrifice.

Nacho continues to run for his life, even hiding in an oil tank to throw off the Salamanca twins who were tracking Nacho. After the twins left, Nacho made his way to a mechanic workshop, where he was able to wash off. The owner allowed Nacho to use his telephone to make two phone calls. Nacho first called his father to hear his voice one more time and say goodbye.
The second phone call was to Mike. Nacho wanted to clarify a few things before Gus’s plans move forward. Nacho told Mike that the only way to make Hector happy and to get out of this was for Nacho to end up dead. But Nacho would only agree to it if he had Mike’s guarantee that his father would be safe. Mike assured Nacho that they would have to go through him if anyone wanted to get his father.

The next time we see Nacho, he is in a hidden compartment in one of Gus’s delivery trucks. Mike pulls him out of the hidy hole, and the two of them talk about what is next to come. Nacho has expected his fate; he knows that the only way to keep his father safe is to follow through with the plan.

Gordon Smith pulled out all the stops for Nacho to have a proper send-off. Nacho started in the series as one of Tuco’s men and turned into one of the most morally complex characters in the Breaking Bad universe. When Nacho was brought to his knees in front of Bosa and the Salamanca, he faced what he had done. He used that moment to come clean about everything. Nacho told Hector that he put Hector in that wheelchair and that every time Hector pisses and shits himself, Hector should think of him.

At that moment, we all knew; there was no return. Including Nacho, he took the piece of glass that he was hiding in his hand, stabbed Bosa in the leg, stole Bosa’s gun, and pointed it at his head. Nacho had everyone on guard; then, Nacho shot himself in the head.

Going out on his terms was a way for him to tell Gus and the Salamanca that they no longer have a hold on Nacho and have decided to make the sacrifice for his father his way. The purple flower growing out of the grown is the new life that came from Nacho’s remains.