In the episode, Jimmy McGill agrees to travel to the desert as a "bagman" to pick up the $7 million that will serve as bail money for Lalo Salamanca.

With no cell phone coverage and no vehicle, they push the car over the edge of the road and walk cross-country with the money in order to avoid the surviving gunman.

[1] Gilligan had made arrangements to direct one episode in the fifth season after completing post-production of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.

[2] They had compared the episode to Lawrence of Arabia in terms of how they wanted it to look, and even had considered renting out the lens used to film that movie, but were worried about the liability if they had damaged it.

Gilligan credited his production team for making sure the cast and crew were protected from heat and had plenty of water to assure the shoot went on without any issues, despite temperatures over 100°F.

Bob Odenkirk made an effort to carry realistically heavy tote bags during filming, although not the full 150 pounds—75 pounds per bag—that they likely would have weighed in reality.

Gilligan praised the script from Smith, which he felt established the bond between Mike and Jimmy that was seen in Breaking Bad but otherwise absent in Better Call Saul previously.

Gilligan's associate producer Jenn Carroll and assistant Melissa Ng helped to identify elements to add to Smith's script to further connect the relationship between Mike and Jimmy to what was seen in Breaking Bad.

[4] The Suzuki Esteem that had been shot up and pushed into a gully was a duplicate of the one they normally used in filming; the original was still kept at the local studios, allowing them to reuse it for any later flashback scenes as needed.

[5] In its initial broadcast, "Bagman" was watched by 1.42 million viewers in the United States, ranking 29th amongst other American original cable telecasts that aired the same day, and gained a 0.32 rating from the Nielsen Media Research firm.

[6] "For a long time, the prequel series lacked an 'Ozymandias' – the Rian Johnson-directed, action-packed 60th episode of Breaking Bad ... 'Ozymandias' has been rightly heralded as a near-perfect mini-movie.

The critical consensus is, "Jimmy undergoes a trial by gunfire in 'Bagman,' an unpredictable installment that is given blockbuster suspense by Vince Gilligan's direction.

[10][11][12] Writing for Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall lauded the episode for its premise, cinematography, visuals, and acting, stating that "[Better Call Saul] can get hemmed in by the demands of being a prequel, particularly on the drug side of things, but its individual moments can feel even deeper and more artfully crafted.

[16] David Segal, from The New York Times, lauded the episode's ending, stating that "It takes nerve and skill to tell a story as grueling as the one told in "Bagman".