Warning: this article contains spoilers for Better Call Saul.
Better Call Saul season 6, episode 3, "Rock and a Hard Place" just repeated one of Walter White's most clever moments from Breaking Bad. This time, Ignacio "Nacho" Varga pulls off the impressive feat, while also doing it in a way more suited for his character. Better Call Saul is full of references to Breaking Bad, but Nacho's big moment in this episode is one of the clearest.
Better Call Saul season 6 kicks off with Nacho on the run, fresh off the heels of having helped organize a hit on Lalo Salamanca. Through the first two episodes of the season, Nacho is being pursued by The Cousins and other men involved in the cartel, and things begin to look hopeless. However, Nacho makes a deal with Gustavo and Mike in "Rock and a Hard Place." As part of this deal, Nacho agrees to be turned over to the Salamancas and executed in order to protect his father. The group then beats Nacho, zip-ties him, and brings him to the Salamancas to face his death.
During this tense sequence, Nacho secretly uses a piece of shattered glass to cut through the zip-tie, freeing him to take one of the men as a hostage. While this is an exciting scene in its own right, this scene is also very reminiscent of another zip-tie escape, one that was pulled off by Walter White in Breaking Bad. While Nacho never meets Walt (with Nacho killing himself at the end of the episode), both of these characters were put in shockingly similar situations, with each using their wit to escape.
In Breaking Bad season 5, episode 6, "Buyout," Mike zip-ties Walt to a radiator, leaving him there while Mike takes care of something. Walt's first attempt is to break a coffee pot and presumably use a broken shard to cut through the zip-ties, which is not as successful as Nacho's glass. However, Walt then chews through the wire that is connected to the coffee percolator. Walt then uses the two broken ends of the cord to burn through the zip-tie, allowing him to escape. While both characters eventually escape, there is another similarity besides the situation they are stuck in. Both Walt and Nacho injure their hands in the process of their escape, with the heat burning Walt's hand and the glass cutting Nacho's.
There is one interesting difference between these scenes in Better Call Saul, though. Although Walt and Nacho are put in similar situations, and both end up escaping them, they do it in different ways that better fit their character. Walt uses science to figure out a clever way to escape, whereas Nacho uses the glass to cut through, then stabbing the man he takes hostage. Just the way these two escape zip-ties tells so much about their character. Better Call Saul season 6's scene is likely a callback to Breaking Bad, allowing Nacho to recreate one of Walter White's tricks in his own unique way.
Better Call Saul releases new episodes Mondays on AMC.