"Perfection is the enemy of the perfectly adequate..."
Regarding the above quote, this episode is pretty much the former, with the season going in the directions I expected:
The Mike story parallels last episode with a long investigation scene vwithout dialogue, relying solely on superlative directing and facial acting, yet it's compelling. The plot is predictable, yes, but that's the point. That early reveal of Los Pollos Hermanos isn't a surprise, it's the culmination of what we've been waiting for. Then, with that scene of Mike roping in Jimmy to dstake out the restaurant, it's all about making us wait in anticipation until Gus appears... and we're thrilled when he does. Gus is no fool, as Giancarlo Esposito can imply with his facial expression alone.
Even more shocking is when, yep, it's made clear that Mike has been noticed. He's about to fall into Gus' orbit. Things are falling into place.
But the deep, clever drama here is between sweet, trusting, doomed Kim and slippery Jimmy, as Chuck schemes. We see another old/new face as Francesca is hired, a little haphazardly, with Kim being all professional while Jimmy is the folksy charmer. Francesca complains about "too much red tape" in her old job: I don't think shre'll be having that problem again.
It's when Ernesto tells Kim about the tape that things get truly fascinating. Kim does that "give me a dollar" thing from Breaking Bad(!), but she's still dipped her hand in the blood now. She can't pretend she doesn't know, yet she's still blind to the sort of man she's come to love. A con man and shyster who will drag down her professional reputation. A man who isn't violent, mean, verbally abusive or unkind, but a bad and self-centred, amoral man who ruins lives. Including, inevitably, hers.
We end with Chuck's real trap, his clever, intended use of the tape after so much speculation. Ouch. Hook, line and sinker. This is simply sublime telly.
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