"Lantern" is the tenth and final episode of the third season of the Americantelevision drama seriesBetter Call Saul, the spinoff series of Breaking Bad. Written by Gennifer Hutchison and directed by series co-creator Peter Gould, "Lantern" aired on AMC in the United States on June 19, 2017. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming serviceNetflix in several countries. In the episode, Jimmy plans to help Irene recover the trust of her friends at Sandpiper Crossing at the cost of his reputation, while Chuck is forced by Howard to resign from HHM, eventually causing a relapse of his condition. Meanwhile, Kim recovers at home from her wounds from the car crash, and Hector collapses from a stroke caused by Nacho. The episode was seen by an estimated 1.85 million household viewers upon release, the most watched episode of the third season. This episode marks the final regular appearance of Michael McKean.
Plot
Opening
In a flashback, a young Chuck reads The Adventures of Mabel to a younger Jimmy in a tent outside their family's house. The camera zooms in on a lantern as Chuck continues.
Main story
Jimmy visits Kim in the hospital, where her broken arm has been put in a cast. After she is discharged, the two return to the site of her car crash and Jimmy picks up her scattered Gatwood Oil papers. The following morning, Jimmy feels partly responsible for her accident because she took on a second client to keep their office open during the suspension of his law license. Kim replies that she alone is responsible, and expresses guilt at the possibility that she could have killed someone by falling asleep at the wheel. Chuck promises to abandon his breach of contract lawsuit against HHM if he's allowed to keep his position with the firm. Instead, Howard presents Chuck a check for $3 million—the first of three installment payments. Chuck believed HHM couldn't afford to pay him $8 million, so he'd be able to stay with the firm, but Howard used loans and personal savings to raise enough for the first payment. Howard criticizes Chuck for putting his personal vendetta against Jimmy ahead of the firm's needs, but then praises Chuck profusely as he informs HHM's staff of Chuck's immediate retirement. Hector attempts to bribe Nacho's father Manuel to allow him to use Manuel's upholstery shop as a front for Hector's drug business. Manuel demands that Hector leave, but Nacho reminds him that saying no to Hector could place their family at risk, so Manuel reluctantly takes the money. Francesca presents Kim with get-well gifts from her clients and Kim tells Francesca to cancel her meeting with Gatwood Oil and postpone her other appointments. They rent movies at a Blockbuster store, which Kim watches with Jimmy while staying home from work. Jimmy tries to make amends with Chuck but Chuck tells Jimmy it's in his nature to hurt everybody around him and that he was never all that important to Chuck anyway. Chuck later relapses and his electromagnetic hypersensitivity symptoms cause him shut off the power to his house and stack all his appliances outside, then destroy the walls of his house and remove old wiring in an attempt to find out what's making his electricity meter continue to run. Unable to find the source, he finally destroys the meter itself. Jimmy checks on Irene, expecting her friends to have forgiven her after she agreed to accept the Sandpiper settlement. To his shock, Irene's friends still don't trust her, because now they think she'll do anything to get on their good side. His attempts to take the blame himself make Irene's friends respect him more and her less. He finally stages an argument with Erin Brill, his former D&M colleague, in which he "accidentally" admits to the tricks he played to get Irene to accept, which vindicates Irene to her friends and causes Irene to withdraw her acceptance. Nacho plans to ambush Hector in order to protect his father. Before he can act, he's pulled into a meeting between Hector, Gus, and Juan Bolsa. Bolsa says that because Salamanca family trucks have been attacked, their routes for smuggling drugs from Mexico to the U.S. are not safe, so from now on Gus's organization will handle the cross-border smuggling for both Gus's operation and Hector's. An enraged Hector suffers a stroke and collapses. As Mike advised, while Hector's bodyguards are calling for an ambulance and Gus is rendering first aid, Nacho takes the fake nitroglycerin capsules and replaces them with the real ones. Gus seems suspicious, but says nothing. The next day, Jimmy and Kim move out of their office space. They apologize to Francesca for laying her off, but she says she will be able to return to her job at the Motor Vehicle Division. Kim insists that Jimmy keep his contact list, despite the fact that his admission to tricking Irene has guaranteed the end of his elder carelaw practice. That night, Chuck lies on a couch in his wrecked house and intentionally kicks a table several times. His kicks cause a gas lantern to fall and start a fire, but he makes no attempt to leave.
Production
The episode was directed by series co-creator Peter Gould, who previously co-wrote "Mabel" earlier in the season, and written by Gennifer Hutchison, who previously wrote the episode "Sunk Costs".
Casting
This episode marks the final regular appearance of Chuck McGill. In the final scene, when Chuck appeared to commit suicide by kicking the lantern off his table and burning his house down, speculation arose over whether or not the act was actually fatal. However, McKean confirmed in an interview with Collider that Chuck is indeed dead, stating:
Reception
Ratings
Upon airing, the episode was watched by 1.85 million American viewers, and an 18-49 rating of 0.6.
Critical reception
The episode received a great deal of critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, it attained a 92% rating with an average score of 8.79/10 based on 13 reviews. Terri Schwartz of IGN rated the episode 9.5/10 stars, saying "Better Call Saul pulled off a fantastic Season 3 finale that perfectly balanced its storylines and brought a big lesson to Jimmy's doorstep. With some hugely impactful moments that were both incredibly emotional and long-awaited by fans, "Lantern" proves that Better Call Saul is better than it's ever been with Season 3." Alan Sepinwall of Uproxx praised the final scene, remarking "the focus was primarily on sending off Chuck, and the finale did it right, in painstakingly painful fashion."
