Gloves Off

Mike stumbles home one night with an envelope of cash. He gets a beer from his fridge - and a bag of frozen vegetables for the bruises covering half his face. He stares proudly at the boxing glove necklace he takes out of his shirt pocket.

Cliff and the other Davis & Main partners watch Jimmy's unauthorized commercial, along with the director himself. Jimmy tries to defend it by claiming it was dirt cheap to make and that the commercial was undeniably a success. The partners don't care; Jimmy circumvented them and put their hard-earned reputation in jeopardy. Cliff pointedly tells Jimmy that he would have been fired, if Cliff didn't believe in second chances. He will, however, be closely monitored for his remaining time at Davis & Main.

Jimmy leaves Cliff's office and calls Kim to let her know about his screw-up... if she wasn't already in a meeting with Chuck and Howard over it. Kim claims that she knew about the commercial, but decided not to tell Howard about it. Howard curtly tells her that by doing so, she's made herself and HHM look foolhardy before dismissing her. Chuck asks him how he will respond.

Mike meets with Nacho to discuss the "problem" he wants Mike to take care of - Tuco Salamanca. He details his assassination plan to Mike across the street from the restaurant where he and Tuco collect from their guys, El Michoacano, claiming that the cartel will write Tuco's murder off as dealer mutiny. Mike pokes holes in Nacho's plan, and asks the bigger question - why kill his boss? In response, Nacho shows a piece of bone lodged in his shoulder and explains its story: it's a piece of Dog Paulson's skull, who used to be their supplier for low-quality meth. Tuco started snorting it and got more volatile than usual, which led to him shooting Paulson in a paranoid fit... even with Nacho standing behind Paulson. Tuco liked Dog, but he becomes completely insane while on drugs, and he's just discovered purer crystal meth. "If Tuco finds out about my independent ventures, it's gonna be Dog all over again."

Convinced, Mike comes up with his own plan: to snipe Tuco with a scoped rifle instead of Nacho's hit and run.

Jimmy enters HHM late at night to find Kim's office emptied. However, she's still in - she's been demoted to doc review as Howard's punishment for keeping quiet. Jimmy angrily promises that he will talk to Howard and try to get her out of this, but Kim quashes it by telling him that she would break off their relationship if he did, and that he knew, on some level, that this would happen. Jimmy storms into Chuck's house, only to find him shivering under a space blanket as a result of his venture into HHM. Jimmy brings him some water and falls asleep next to him.

Mike meets with Lawson, an illegal arms dealer, in a motel room to shop for sniper rifles. He rejects some higher-end models for an M40A1, used by Marine snipers in the Vietnam War. Although more than familiar with the rifle, he decides not to buy it. Lawson turns away the cash Mike offers for his time. "When you need what I'm offering, you know how to find me."

Chuck wakes up the next morning to find Jimmy glaring at him. Jimmy accuses him of putting Kim "back in the cornfield" to hurt his brother. Chuck responds that it was Howard's decision, and his alone; he certainly wouldn't have recommended Jimmy to Davis & Main if he was still Chuck's puppet. Furthermore, Kim talked Howard into doing that, and kept him in the dark about Jimmy's commercial despite the fallout HHM could, and did, receive over it. Jimmy admits that he didn't tell Kim that the commercial was unauthorized, and assumes she pretended to know so as not to make Jimmy look worse. Chuck insults her for her poor judgement, aggravating Jimmy into escalating their argument: Jimmy mitigating breaking the rules and pissing everyone off, and Chuck making it clear that he's responsible for Kim's predicament. Jimmy attempts to broker a deal with Chuck - first by offering to quit Davis & Main to save Kim, then tempting him with Jimmy quitting the law altogether. Chuck, however, is offended by Jimmy's conviction that he's willing to extort him: "You want me to commit a felony... because that's what you'd do, right?! Because you want to believe that deep down, I'm some hypocrite!" If Jimmy wants to fix Kim's career, he'll have to find another way to do it.

At their rendezvous about Tuco's hit, Nacho is taken aback when Mike bluntly tells him that it's a bad idea and he won't do it. His real problem, Mike insists, is finding a way to take him out discreetly, lest the cartel get directly involved and bring them both down. When Mike floats the idea of putting him in prison, Nacho contends that snitching, or even just calling the cops on him, will still draw Tuco's ire. However, Mike has a proposition that will lock Tuco up while keeping him under suspicion. Nacho hears him out.

As Tuco holds court at El Michoacano (and forces the future Krazy-8, here just Domingo, to take his "lie detector"), Mike calls the police at a pay phone to anonymously report some gangster threatening someone with a gun in front of the restaurant. From there, Mike drives into the parking lot and "accidentally" hits Tuco's car, then goes inside and orders something even as Tuco grills him about the collision. Playing dumb, Mike flashes the hundreds from his wallet while paying, and Tuco and Nacho follow him outside. Tuco declares that Mike's gonna "make this all right" and demands the cash from his wallet. Mike claims he only has 30 bucks, angering Tuco further, and that he wouldn't pay for it any other way than by insurance. Fed up, Tuco snatches Mike's car keys and tosses them to Nacho, then brandishes his gun to ensure that Mike complies. Mike finally relinquishes his wallet as Nacho hears police sirens approaching. Tuco tells Nacho to leave and starts walking off only for Mike to grab Tuco's shirt. Mike smacks Tuco's gun away and holds onto a support beam for dear life as Tuco whales away on his face. As the police pull up onto their "fight", Mike dares him to throw one more punch, which he happily does.

That night, Mike drives to Nacho's meeting spot with half his face swollen up. After confirming with Mike that he won't have to testify, Nacho hands him half his original fee. He would've gotten the full amount had he done something ten times easier that wouldn't have gotten him beaten half to death or risk being targeted when Tuco is released.

"You went a long way not to pull that trigger. Why?"

To that, Mike silently walks back to his car and drives off.

Tropes

• Accomplice by Inaction: This is what gets Kim in hot water. Despite being at a different law firm, Howard brings her in for questioning on whether she knew that Jimmy made and ran an unapproved commercial involving Davis & Main. When Kim admits (although leaves out the fact that she was Locked Out of the Loop by Jimmy to not make him look worse) that she knew and that he also showed it to her but did not inform any of her colleagues about it, Howard punishes her by demoting her to lower office work.
• All Bikers are Hells Angels: Dog Paulson and Tuco's murder of him is elaborated upon, establishing Dog as a connection to a local biker gang the cartel would work together with in the meth trade.
• Bad Boss: Nacho brings Tuco's tendencies for this into discussion, retroactively making Dog Paulson's death at Tuco's hands another case of this. It's also deconstructed, since Nacho deems him too dangerous to work with, willing to take him out after he's come very close to getting killed from one of his mood swings.
• Batman Gambit: This is Mike’s tactic to get Tuco arrested. He calls the police ahead of time to claim that “a man” is being beaten in a fight by a man with a gun. After he makes the call, he parks next to Tuco's car and makes a dent in its front bumper, which angers Tuco and makes him confront him. And as he's berating him, Mike grabs his shirt to further enrage him, to the point where he starts punching Mike. And Mike himself continues to hold on and refuses to hit back, making it look as if Tuco was the one who started the fight, just as the police arrive.
• Call-Forward:
  • Mike meets with Lawson, Walt's future Arms Dealer, to inquire about sniper rifles he could use on Tuco.
  • Mike explains that if Tuco dies the whole Salamanca family will come asking for blood, which is what happens after Hank eventually kills Tuco.
  • In Breaking Bad, Jesse says he knows Tuco because Skinny Pete shared a jail cell with him. This episode shows why Tuco was in prison to begin with: because he was set up and provoked into attacking Mike in the presence of cops.
  • Nacho tells Mike about the circumstances behind how Tuco killed a guy named Dog Paulson with a Sawed-Off Shotgun. This murder is one that Hank mentions while debriefing his agents on Tuco. Nacho also says that when Tuco is high, he can easily fly off the handle and murder someone he normally considers a friend, which are the exact circumstances behind No-Doze's death.
  • Mike's operation against Tuco takes place after Tuco finishes accounting with Krazy-8, long before he ends up chained to a pole in Jesse's basement. Tuco setting his "lie detector" on Krazy-8 (though fortunately sparing him here) also references the DEA's theory that Tuco was responsible for Krazy-8's disappearance.
  • Krazy-8 is seen wearing a uniform for the Tampico furniture store he works at and driving one of the store's vans, which he discusses with Walt while chained up in Jesse's basement. Nacho also calls him by his real name, Domingo.
  • While still assuming that Chuck is responsible for Kim being reassigned, Jimmy offers to quit being a lawyer if it will undo the damage. Poof, he'll never see Jimmy again, like he never even existed...
• Consummate Professional: Mike buying a weapon from gun runner Lawson is a master class at this. Both reveal their knowledge of the business, deal squarely with the money and obviously have respect for each other.
• Continuity Nod: When Chuck confronts Jimmy over the commercial, Jimmy describes how he is "a chimp with a machine gun" when he sarcastically talks about quitting his job as a lawyer. Chuck previously used that phrase when explaining why he sabotaged his brother's career at the end of a previous episode.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Jimmy thought he'd be Easily Forgiven once the partners saw the success from his unauthorized commercial. Despite Kim warning him to play it straight lest it land both of them in hot water, Jimmy is still angered over Howard impeding Kim's career as punishment. When he suggests confronting him, then Chuck, to get Kim out of it, Kim shuts it down since it would just make things worse.
  • Mike lists several things that could go wrong with his hit-and-run kill on Tuco, and later mentions the consequences and difficulty in hiding their involvement.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Tuco takes Mike's wallet at gunpoint over his car getting sideswiped, damage that can't be more than $200 at most. When Mike grabs onto him, Tuco escalates it into a beatdown. Given that Tuco's the king of this trope, it's exactly what Mike had planned for.
• Double-Meaning Title: "Gloves Off" refers to both the manner in which Jimmy and Chuck confront one another in the episode and Tuco's beatdown of Mike. The latter also includes Mike having torn Tuco's "boxing glove" necklace off.
• Drugs Are Bad: Tuco developed a taste for the cheap meth he and Nacho were dealing in Riverside County, leading to him blasting their biker gang connection with a Sawed-Off Shotgun while high and out of paranoia. As Krazy-8 leaves the restaurant, Nacho tries to discuss Krazy-8's progress, but Tuco ignores it in favor of snorting his pack of crystal. As Nacho puts it, Tuco can easily fly off the handle while on meth and get him next, and with their current purer product, he's getting worse.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Jimmy expects to get at least a little respect and congratulations for his successfully aired commercial. However, Clifford Main, as well as the rest of the partners at Davis & Main, are furious with him and chew him out. And even when Jimmy tries defending himself and pointing out some positive aspects of the commercial airing, they counter that he had no right or excuse to do any of this.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Nacho wants Tuco out of the picture because Tuco's violent tendencies are a bit too much for him. In particular, what happened to Dog Paulson is, in his words, the sickest sight he'd ever seen. He's also horrified by the beating Mike took, and before it happens, he stares at him as if he's worried over Mike being okay with this happening to him.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Sort of, as there isn't clearly a good guy and an evil guy in the encounter. But Nacho is definitely A Lighter Shade of Black compared to a lot of the cartel members he works with. And Mike is on his way to A Lighter Shade of Black too, but that will take some time. Nacho asks why Mike took half the pay and went about things in a way that was ten times the hassle. Mike figures Nacho won't get it even if he tries to explain that there's plenty of reasons not to always go with Murder Is the Best Solution, and not all of them are a matter of Pragmatic Villainy. So he just silently turns around and walks away.
• For Want Of A Nail: If Chuck had been willing to be just a little flexible with his ethics in this episode, a lot of future bad events would have been prevented. Jimmy willingly giving up being a lawyer in this episode means Kim probably stays at HHM (as she would have immediately been taken off of doc review), which means no Mesa Verde subplot, which means no humiliating mistakes or public breakdowns by Chuck, which means no Chuck suicide. HHM's reputation is never damaged, meaning Howard's life includes a lot less depression and hardship. And, of course, Jimmy giving up being a lawyer means he never becomes Saul Goodman, which means he never becomes a cartel lawyer, which prevents the events that caused Howard's death. Oh, and most of the events of Breaking Bad don't happen, with Walter White no longer having Saul to enable his stint in the criminal underworld, meaning almost all the damage done by Heisenberg doesn't occur.
• Gambit Roulette: Mike's plan to get Tuco arrested without implicating Nacho relies on the police taking exactly long enough to arrive to witness Tuco beating Mike up, Tuco getting just angry enough to beat Mike up but not angry enough to kill him outright or cause permanent damage, Tuco allowing Nacho to leave when the sirens approach, and Tuco not getting spooked enough to flee the scene himself. The only complication comes when, instead of starting a fight, Tuco just mugs Mike for the money to get his car repaired, forcing Mike to start the fight himself.
• The Gloves Come Off: As per the title, Tuco does not hold back when Mike grabs and disarms him, delivering a serious beatdown to try to get him to let go. Just as Mike planned.
• How We Got Here: The episode opens with Mike returning home with a swollen left eye, which as the finale shows is the result of the fight he instigated with Tuco.
• Is That the Best You Can Do?: The police have arrived in response to Mike's call, in time to see Tuco throw a punch leaving Mike with a bloodied face. Mike smiles and says, "Is that all you got?" and Tuco laughs at his audacity, before promptly punching his lights out.
• It's All About Me: When Kim is punished at HHM by being put on doc review duty, Jimmy is convinced that Chuck is behind it and that he's doing it to get back at Jimmy for getting a job at Davis & Main. Both Kim and Chuck tell him that he's wrong, but Jimmy doesn't even consider it for a second.
• I Warned You: When Jimmy is bewildered and outraged at the fact that Kim got punished for something he did, she replies that she did this trope.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Chuck may not be wrong in telling Jimmy he had nothing to do with Kim's reassignment into doc review and how Jimmy operates, but they don't take away from the fact that he's being an absolute dick as he says it.
  Jimmy: What did I do that was so wrong?
  Chuck: [Sighs] You broke the rules. ‭You turned Kim into your accessory. You embarrassed Howard, who, God help him, inexplicably vouched for you with Cliff Main! You made Cliff and his partners look like schmucks! Shall I go on?! How he hasn’t fired you for this positively mystifies me. (scoffs) Perspective. You want perspective? I’ll give you mine. You’re my brother, and I love you, but you’re like an alcoholic who refuses to admit he’s got a problem. Now someone’s given you the keys to the school bus and I’m not gonna let you drive it off a cliff!
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Now that Chuck doesn't bother hiding how he resents Jimmy being a lawyer, he can now be more open that he does love Jimmy as a brother despite his actions and part of it is because Jimmy has a really bad moral compass when practicing the law in a professional way.
• Loophole Abuse: Kim warns Jimmy that if he goes to Howard over her punishment because of the commercial he made, she and him are done, for fear of making things worse. So, Jimmy decides to go and confront Chuck instead.
• Made of Iron: In the relative sense. The No-Holds-Barred Beatdown that Tuco gives Mike is just as vicious as the fatal one he'll give No Doze in the future. But Mike at most suffers getting knocked out briefly and a black eye that soon heals.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: Knowing how violently erratic his boss is, Nacho intends to have Mike assassinate Tuco. Subverted and Defied by Mike; while initially considering it, he tells Nacho that they can't just have Tuco killed because otherwise the Salamanca clan will come after Nacho with all their wrath. So they do the next best thing — Mike calls the cops reporting a fight at the location where Tuco has his regular meets, then deliberately sideswipes Tuco's car to provoke him into a fight. The cops roll up just as Tuco gives Mike a good punch to the face. Subsequently, Tuco gets arrested and out of the way, and Nacho doesn't have to worry about either of them testifying.
• Not Me This Time: It wasn't Chuck's idea to send Kim back to the cornfield; It was all Howard. At least, that's what he said, but it did cut when he asked Howard what he was planning on doing.
• Pre-emptive Declaration: Before provoking the fight with Tuco, Mike calls the cops from a payphone describing the very act that they're going to witness when they roll up.
• Real Stitches for Fake Snitches: The circumstances behind Tuco's killing of a "Dog Paulson" are expanded by Nacho here. As it turns out, The Cartel was actually cooperating with Dog's biker gang in the meth trade. Getting high on their own supply of crank, Tuco blew Dog's head off with a shotgun, running with the baseless theory that Dog was working with competitors behind their back.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Kim is back to the cornfield, this time in doc review for being an unwitting accessory to Jimmy's unapproved conduct.
• Reckless Gun Usage: Tuco killed a guy named Dog Paulson with a Sawed-Off Shotgun at point-blank range, while Nacho was standing behind him. Nacho got a shrapnel of Dog's skull lodged in his shoulder.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Nacho, upon hearing the police sirens coming towards the restaurant, decides to leave, getting into his van and driving away right before the cops arrive. Considering his playing along with Mike about the latter hitting Tuco's car, this was most likely part of the plan.
• Shout-Out: After Mike's brush with Tuco's car, Tuco refers to Mike as "Mr. Magoo", an elderly cartoon character notorious for his nearsightedness. Incidentally, Hank calls Walt the same thing in "Crawl Space", after Walt stages a car accident to keep Hank away from the laundry.
• Shown Their Work: Mike and Lawson's conversation references real issues that guns have in harsh use, ranging from excessive weight, an automatic system jamming, and wood furniture warping in heat and humidity. Both are also well-versed in the forensic techniques used to recover a gun's serial number.
• A Simple Plan: Nacho's hit on Tuco is Discussed as this. Nacho claims Mike just has to quickly pull up to Tuco's car at the restaurant, land a headshot, then speed out into the highway. Mike pokes a few holes into it by describing all the ways it could go wrong, from traffic and customers blocking his escape to his license plate getting identified, not to mention the rest of the Salamancas getting drawn into things. Also rather Invoked on Mike's part, since even Nacho realizes he's trying to get out of having to pull the trigger.
• Stealth Pun: Not only does Tuco send several haymakers to deal with Mike, but the latter also tears the "boxing glove" necklace off from grabbing onto the former's shirt.
• Title Drop: As Mike lays back trying to ease the swelling on his face with a bag of frozen peas, he puts down a necklace designed after boxing gloves he'd torn off as a souvenir.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The scene cuts before Mike tells Nacho his plan to make Tuco "go away." Naturally, the plan works.
• Villain Has a Point: Mike's hesitant to kill Tuco, not only because of his own ethics, but because it's something Nacho can't go back from if it happens. Nacho knows putting a hit out on his own partner is nasty, but he tells a story about what Tuco's done to former allies and how it can easily happen to him through no fault of his own unless he can take Tuco out first. This causes Mike to consider the prospect with a scoped rifle.
• Villain Respect: With the police surrounding him, and realizing that Mike intentionally aggravated him so that he'll be sent to jail, Tuco lets out an amused chuckle before whaling on him one last time.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Nacho asks Mike if he thinks that was worth it to get half pay for something ten times harder that could have gotten him killed way quicker than if the Salamancas find the truth behind Tuco's assassination.