Jimmy, standing across the street, hesitated for a moment. But family ties ultimately got the better of him—he rushed into the print shop, shouting at the stunned clerk to call an ambulance, while he himself fumbled to turn off the shop’s lights and yank the copier’s power cord. Chuck was quickly taken to the hospital, but the harsh fluorescent lights above his head, the electrodes stuck to his chest, and the beeping EKG machine beside the bed felt like torture to him. When he heard the emergency doctor order an MRI, Chuck let out a faint protest, claiming the hospital’s treatment was inhumane. This only made the doctor more certain that Chuck might have suffered brain damage.
Fortunately, Jimmy fetched the doctor who had previously dealt with Chuck’s "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" (see Season 1, Episode 5), preventing Chuck from having a breakdown. But this time was different from before—Chuck had been unconscious in the print shop for about a minute. Exams were necessary to rule out heart problems or a minor stroke, as well as to check for cervical spine or brain injuries. Since Chuck refused the exams himself, Jimmy had to apply for temporary emergency guardianship and consent to Chuck’s hospitalization. Jimmy knew full well how resistant Chuck was to hospitals, but he had no choice but to follow the doctor’s advice. When Jimmy entered the hospital room, Chuck was hostile. The moment he saw Jimmy, his first thought was that Jimmy must have been nearby the whole time to arrive at the print shop so quickly. With that thought, he immediately guessed Jimmy had bribed the clerk, which was why the clerk had changed his story. Ernesto, standing beside them, suddenly spoke up, saying he had notified Jimmy when he left the print shop to pick up Chuck. Upon hearing this, Chuck finally calmed down.
Ernesto, as Jimmy’s friend, didn’t want the two brothers to be torn apart, but there was only so much he could do—the rest was up to Jimmy. To stabilize Chuck’s mood, the doctor gave him a small dose of sedative before the MRI. If the emergency room treatment had been torture, lying inside the MRI machine felt like hell to Chuck, as if he were being burned by intense flames. Even hours after the exam, he remained in a state of unresponsive stupor. The doctor determined he was in a self-induced state of anxiety and would need time to recover.
While Chuck was in the hospital, Mike carried out his plan to assassinate Hector. He bought a suitable sniper rifle from an underground arms dealer and carefully adjusted the sights. He also tailed Nacho’s van to find the location where Hector planned to interrogate the driver. This small house deep in the desert was shielded by the rolling hills around it—and those same hills provided Mike with the perfect ambush spot.
Mike drove to the other side of the hills, then climbed up with the sniper rifle slung over his back, waiting quietly for Hector to appear. Through the scope, Mike saw Hector’s men digging a grave. Soon after, the driver was dragged out of the house screaming. Then Hector and Nacho emerged from the house, watching as two other men tortured the poor driver. Mike aimed the crosshairs at Hector’s head, but Nacho kept positioning himself between Mike and Hector, intentionally or not. By the time the driver was shot and dumped into the grave, Mike still hadn’t found a clear shot. He could only watch helplessly as Hector walked back into the house.
As Mike was figuring out his next move, he heard a car horn behind him. He pulled out his pistol and jogged over to his car. A twig was propped against the steering wheel, and a note was left on the windshield that read, "Don’t do this"—but there was no one around. Who was trying to save Hector? Nacho, or someone else? Why didn’t they kill Mike from behind, but only issue a warning? These were questions Mike couldn’t answer.
At the hospital, Chuck finally regained consciousness. The exam results were also in: there was nothing wrong with Chuck’s body. His coma had been caused by a minor concussion, and he was now out of danger. Jimmy took Chuck home as quickly as possible, but he could tell he wasn’t welcome. After settling Chuck in, he had the sense to leave. Jimmy thought that after all Chuck had been through, he wouldn’t bother investigating the document tampering anymore. But this was just Jimmy underestimating Chuck’s perseverance—Chuck had already planned his next steps while lying in the hospital bed. As soon as Jimmy left, Chuck set out to clear his name. Wrapped in a space blanket and carrying an oil lamp, he crept into the garage, which hadn’t been used in nearly two years. It was piled with discarded electronics; from a cardboard box, he pulled out a tape recorder.
A few days later, Howard called Jimmy in a fury, suspecting Jimmy had talked Chuck into resigning. Jimmy had no idea what was going on—why would Chuck, who had always been proud of his career as a lawyer, give it up? He rushed to Chuck’s house and banged hard on the door, only to find Chuck in a terrible state. The entire interior of the house—from ceiling to walls to floor—was covered in space blankets made of metal film. Chuck was finishing the last small section, covering the sliding glass door leading to the backyard with a space blanket. Jimmy hurried to stop him, but Chuck seemed utterly despairing, rambling on about how he had made a mistake, and how electromagnetic radiation from the outside world had damaged his brain, making him unfit to be a competent lawyer.
Seeing his brother’s dejected look, Jimmy’s heart softened. He gritted his teeth and admitted he had tampered with the documents. Everything was just as Chuck had suspected: he had altered the address at the print shop and later bribed the clerk with money. Jimmy confessed to this to restore Chuck’s confidence—and besides, it was just the two of them there. Even if Chuck told others, he would have no evidence. When he saw Chuck’s expression ease a little, Jimmy rushed out of the house to tell Howard the good news. What he didn’t see, though, was Chuck brushing aside a few crumpled space blankets on the coffee table, revealing a tape recorder that was still running underneath.