The Better Call Saul Season 5 Scene That Went Too Far
"Better Call Saul" Season 5 grabs on to its audience and doesn't let up. If earlier seasons of the spin-off admittedly take a more subtle, gradual approach compared to the fast-paced, life-or-death antics of "Breaking Bad," Season 5 of the prequel series turns the intensity dial all the way up. Lalo Salamanca's (Tony Dalton) activities place Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) closer and closer to the cartel, with Kim especially finding herself "in the game" by the end of the season by choosing to make herself known to Lalo after his arrest. Meanwhile, things grew even more dire for almost every other character. Nacho (Michael Mando) and Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) burn down a Los Pollos Hermanos location to preserve Nacho's mole status, and the season ends with Lalo on the run, allowing everyone else to think Fring's hit team succeeded in killing him.
One of the season's standout arcs involves Jimmy traveling into the desert to pick up Lalo's $7 million in bail money from the intimidating Salamanca cousins. "Better Call Saul" fakes viewers out here; the Salamanca cousins have proven dangerous several times before, but they're not what poses a threat to Jimmy in "Bagman" — the desert itself is.
Jimmy drinks his own urine in a life-or-death situation
In the "Better Call Saul" Season 5 episode "Bagman," Jimmy and Mike (Jonathan Banks) are stranded in the desert after gunmen try to rob Jimmy of the $7 million in bail money he picks up for Lalo Salamanca. After their cars break down and they lose cell phone service, the series' main protagonists are forced to survive in the desert with bare minimum supplies. To emphasize the dire situation, a beleaguered Jimmy resorts to drinking his own urine. It's not the first time a movie or TV show has portrayed such a tactic, but watching characters so desperate to survive that they'll resort to drinking their own bodily fluids never gets any easier for a cable television audience.
It turns out this episode wasn't just rough on the characters. Vince Gilligan told Variety that shooting in the desert added complications, resulting in an 18-day long shoot to film the episode instead of the series' usual nine-day timeline. He also noted that the episode asked a lot of actors. While Odenkirk ultimately chose not to use his own urine for the yellow liquid in the scene, Gilligan did supply him with two 75-pound bags to simulate Lalo's actual bail money.
The hardships of filming certainly led to a scene of gritty realism, although it's one that likely went a bit too far for some "Better Call Saul" fans.