History Recap / BetterCallSaulS2E4GlovesOff

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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Now that Chuck doesn't bother hiding how he resents Jimmy being a lawyer, he is also more open that he does love his brother despite his actions and part of it is because Jimmy has a really bad moral compass when practicing the law.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Sort of, as there isn't clearly a good and an evil guy in the encounter. But Nacho is definitely ALighterShadeOfBlack compared to a lot of the cartel members he works with. And Mike is on his way to ALighterShadeOfBlack 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 MurderIsTheBestSolution, and not all of them are a matter of PragmaticVillainy. So he just silently turns around and walks away.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Sort of, as there isn't clearly a good and an evil guy in the encounter. But Nacho is definitely a LighterShadeOfBlack compared to a lot of the cartel members he works with. And Mike is on his way to a LighterShadeOfBlack 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 MurderIsTheBestSolution, and not all of them are a matter of PragmaticVillainy. So he just silently turns around and walks away.

Chuck wakes up the next morning to find Jimmy glaring at him. Jimmy accuses him of putting Kim [[Recap/BetterCallSaulS1E7Bingo "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.

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

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 Paulsen'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 Paulsen in a paranoid fit... even with Nacho standing behind Paulsen. 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 [[Recap/BetterCallSaulS1E9Pimento independent ventures]], it's gonna be Dog all over again."

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 lets him go and starts walking off only for Mike to grab Tuco's boxing glove necklace. 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 and holding his stomach. 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.

To that, Mike silently and confidently walks back to his car as the dust blows, like a Wild West cowboy riding off.

* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: Dog Paulsen 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.
* BadBoss: Nacho brings Tuco's tendencies for this into Discussion, retroactively making Dog Paulsen'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 [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal come very close to getting killed from one of his mood swings]].
* BatmanGambit: 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 drives next to Tuco's ride and and makes a dent in there to as he’s parking next to it, which angers Tuco and makes him confront him. And as he's berating him, Mike grabs his gloves necklace 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.

** Nacho tells Mike about the circumstances behind how Tuco killed a guy named Dog Paulsen with a SawedOffShotgun. This murder is one that Hank [[Recap/BreakingBadS2E2Grilled 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 [[Recap/BreakingBadS1E7ANoRoughStuffTypeDeal No-Doze's death]].

* DrugsAreBad: 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 SawedOffShotgun 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.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: 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 Paulsen 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.

* TheGlovesComeOff: As per the title, Tuco does not hold back when Mike grabs and disarms him, delivering a serious beatdown to try to get him off. Just as Mike planned.

* IWarnedYou: When Jimmy is bewildered and outraged at the fact that Kim got punished for something HE did, she replies that she did this trope.

* RealStitchesForFakeSnitches: The circumstances behind Tuco's killing of a "Dog Paulsen" are expanded by Nacho here. As it turns out, TheCartel 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.

* RecklessGunUsage: Tuco killed a guy named Dog Paulsen with a SawedOffShotgun at point-blank range, while Nacho was standing behind him. Nacho got a shrapnel of Dog's skull lodged in his shoulder.
* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: Nacho, upon hearing the police sirens coming towards the restaurant, decides to bounce, getting into his car 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.
* ShoutOut: After Mike's brush with Tuco's car, Tuco refers to Mike as "WesternAnimation/MrMagoo", 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.
* ShownTheirWork: Mike and Lawson's conversation references real issues that soldiers ran into with weaponry during the Vietnam War, such as automatic rifles jamming and wood stocks warping in the heat.

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. Letting Nacho go, Tuco lets Mike off with a warning, only for him to grab Tuco's boxing glove necklace. 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.

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