Sunk Costs

 

 Sunk Costs" is the third episode of the third season of Better Call Saul and the twenty-third episode of the series altogether.
Summary
Teaser

A Los Pollos Hermanos truck drives towards an intersection in Mexico, near the US border. An old pair of sneakers are seen hanging from the power line over the road. After the truck leaves, the laces snap and the shoes fall onto the road.
Act I
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On the desert road, Mike answers the phone call. It's Gustavo Fring, telling him to expect two cars "momentarily". A pair of black SUVs approach from opposite directions. Victor arrives in the SUV approaching from in front of Mike, while Gus and Tyrus Kitt arrive in the car coming up behind him. Mike holds up the note he found on his windshield and asks Gus to elaborate. "It's not in my interest for Hector Salamanca to die at this time," Gus explains. But he will look the other way if Mike robs another one of Hector's trucks. Mike realizes that Gus is Hector's competitor and wants to undermine his supply line. Still harboring a vendetta against Hector, he implies to Gus that he has his own plan.

Meanwhile, Jimmy contacts Francesca and tells her to clear his schedule. He sits down on the curb outside Chuck's house, waiting to be arrested for his break-in. Chuck approaches to tell Jimmy he's pressing charges against him for his own good. "You won't want to hear it, but this is for the best. You'll come out the other side a better man" he says. In response, Jimmy coldly tells him that some time in the future, Chuck will get sick again and that no one will be around when he dies alone.

Jimmy is taken into custody to Bernalillo County Detention Center and while he is booked, photographed and fingerprinted, DDA Bill Oakley shows up to gloat at his misfortune. "How the mighty have fallen" he laughs. Jimmy spends the night in jail.
Act II
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The following morning, Kim wakes up in her office and goes to the gym across the street to change clothes and freshen up. When she returns, she encounters Ernesto, who tells her that Chuck has fired him and that Jimmy was arrested.
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During his arraignment, Jimmy pleads not guilty. Kim enters the courtroom to be Jimmy's attorney, but he refuses and insists he will represent himself in the case. Upon securing bail, Jimmy takes a taxi back to Wexler McGill, where he tells Kim that he wants to deal with the consequences of his actions himself. He doesn't want to involve her in his mess when she has Mesa Verde to worry about.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, Mike visits Gus's physician, Barry Goodman, and receives a small package, which he places in the trunk of his car next to his sniper rifle.
Act III

At the courthouse, Jimmy meets Bill Oakley sitting in the hall, chatting him up about his case. Oakley tells him that he's not handling the case and that the whole Albuquerque DA's office has been "conflicted out" because they all know Jimmy too well; a prosecutor from Belen named Kyra Hay has been brought in.

Back in Mexico, Mike drives to the intersection shown the teaser and tosses a new pair of shoes - the same pair from the teaser - onto the power line.

Hay visits Chuck for a pre-trial interview and Chuck assures her he'll testify in court, despite his ailments. While Hay asserts that she will not let Jimmy off easy during his trial, Chuck becomes emotional. He tells Hay that Jimmy has a good heart and wonders if, rather than throwing his brother in jail, there might be a "better solution for everyone."
Act IV
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Later, from a sniper's nest, Mike sees one of Hector's trucks stop at the intersection and its occupants leave guns at a dead drop. Mike fires his rifle several times into the air, which the drug runners eventually assume is from a hunter nearby. As they leave, Mike shoots the shoes, spraying cocaine—collected earlier during his visit with Dr. Goodman—on the truck's roof and rear steps. When the drug runners reach the border, they are arrested after a drug sniffing dog detects the cocaine.