"Nippy"
Better Call Saul episode
Promotional poster
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 10
Directed by	Michelle MacLaren
Written by	Alison Tatlock
Produced by	Jenn Carroll Bob Odenkirk James Powers
Featured music	"Harvest Sandalwood" by APM Music "Jim on the Move" by Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography by	Paul Donachie
Editing by	Chris McCaleb Joey Liew
Original air date	July 25, 2022 (2022-07-25)
Running time	51 minutes
Guest appearances
Pat Healy as Jeff Jim O'Heir as Frank Kelsey Scott as Kathy Deutsch Max Bickelhaup as Jeff's friend Carol Burnett as Marion
Episode chronology
← Previous "Fun and Games" Next → —
Better Call Saul (season 6)
List of episodes

"Nippy" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of Better Call Saul, the spin-off television series of Breaking Bad. It was directed by Michelle MacLaren and written by Alison Tatlock. The episode aired on AMC and AMC+ on July 25, 2022, before debuting online in certain territories on Netflix the following day. "Nippy" continues the story of Jimmy McGill, portrayed by Bob Odenkirk, after he changed his identity and relocated to Omaha. In the episode, Jimmy confronts the taxi driver who recognized him as Saul Goodman.

"Nippy" was met with critical acclaim, particularly for Tatlock's screenplay, MacLaren's direction, and Odenkirk's performance. An estimated 1.20 million viewers saw the episode during its first broadcast on AMC.

Plot

In a flashforward to 2010, in Omaha, Nebraska, the motorized chair of an elderly woman named Marion gets stuck in the snow. Jimmy McGill, under the guise of Gene Takavic, appears and offers his assistance, stealthily snipping the chair's power cables, and subsequently offering to push her to her home. He befriends her with stories of his nonexistent lost dog Nippy. Marion is revealed to be the mother of Jeff, the cab driver who recognized Gene as Saul Goodman.^[a] Jeff arrives home and questions Gene's motives. Gene offers Jeff a chance to enter "the game" by burglarizing a department store in the mall where Gene works in exchange for Jeff's silence about Gene's true identity. Gene returns home and retrieves Marco's pinky ring he used as "Slippin' Jimmy", and begins to prepare.

Over several days, he befriends security guard Frank by bringing him Cinnabon rolls and talking about Nebraska Cornhuskers football, tracking how long it takes for Frank to eat a roll while sitting with his back to the security camera screens. He then recreates the dimensions of the department store and choreographs an efficient way for Jeff to maximize his takings. Finally, he has a box delivered to the loading dock to stash the loot. During the burglary, Jeff accidentally trips and falls on a slippery floor, disrupting the timing of the scheme. However, Gene buys time by feigning a depressive episode to divert Frank's attention. The burglary ends up being successful, and Jeff hides in the bathroom overnight. Later, as they relish the con's success, Gene warns that if Jeff ever reveals Gene's true identity, Gene will report him as well as a form of "mutual assured destruction", and makes Jeff promise to never to cross paths with him again. When Gene returns to the mall, he finds a Saul Goodman-style suit in the department store, but leaves without purchasing it.

Production

"Nippy" is the third Better Call Saul episode to be directed by Michelle MacLaren after the first season's "Mijo" and fourth season's "Breathe".^[2] It was written by executive producer Alison Tatlock. Bob Odenkirk, who plays Jimmy, is the only actor listed in the starring credits.^[3] The cab driver Jeff, who had previously been portrayed by Don Harvey, was recast to Pat Healy due to a work conflict by Harvey.^[4] Carol Burnett was cast as Marion, Jeff's mother. Burnett had previously appeared on The Larry Sanders Show with Odenkirk, but the two did not share any scenes on that series.^[5] Burnett was noted as being a fan of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul before her appearance.^[4]

The department store where the heist takes place was an empty space in the mall where the episode was shot. The production designer and art department built the interior and every item in the store was created, purchased, or brought in.^[4] "Nippy" marks a number of firsts for Better Call Saul. It is the first episode to be entirely in black and white and the first to take place completely after Breaking Bad.^[3] It is also the first of the sixth season to not follow the "X and Y" naming scheme, and marked a change in the title credits. Traditionally, the title credits of each season's tenth episode featured Saul Goodman's "World's Greatest Lawyer" mug falling off his desk and shattering on the floor. However, in this episode, the title image prematurely stops and is replaced by a blue screen, recreating the effects of a home video recording on a VCR. The music piece "Jim on the Move" by Lalo Schifrin, from the 1966 television series Mission: Impossible, is included in the episode's score.^[5]

Reception

Critical response

The episode was met with critical acclaim. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of seven reviews are positive, with an average rating of 9.5/10.^[6] Crew members that were recognized for their work on this episode included writer Alison Tatlock and director Michelle MacLaren.^[7] Bob Odenkirk also received praise for his performance as Jimmy McGill/Gene Takovic, particularly in the scene where he feigns a breakdown.^[5][7] Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone described the episode as an unpredictable epilogue to Better Call Saul that "brings emotional color, thrills, and fun".^[5] Steve Greene of IndieWire thought "Nippy" was a reminder that the series did not need high stakes to be entertaining.^[7] Ashley Bissette Sumerel of Tell-Tale TV said she enjoyed the humor and watching the heist play out on screen. "Even though the tone is more somber," she wrote, "it's still great fun".^[8] Scott Tobias of Vulture called it a "brilliant and wholly unexpected stand-alone episode".^[9] Mike Hogan of Vanity Fair, in a mostly positive review, labeled it a bottle episode that he believed was to set the stage for the rest of the season.^[10]

Ratings

An estimated 1.20 million viewers watched "Nippy" during its first broadcast on AMC on July 25, 2022.^[11]

Notes

References

External links

• "Nippy" at AMC
• "Nippy" at IMDb