Better Call Saul: Fall

 "This is not what fine looks like..."

This episode is eventful, as penultimate episodes of seasons often are. We see Mike's first day as a contractor, for purposes tof proper money laundering, with Madrigal, whom we remember from the final season of Breaking Bad... along, of course, with Lydia.

We also see consequences happening to those who are under pressure. Nacho, unable to wait any longer for the poison to take effect on Hector, is forced to come clean to his appalled father, who must submit to Hector after all, the one thing he didn't want to happen. Meanwhile, conscientious and professional Kim is burning the proverbial candle at all possible ends to make up for what Jimmy isn't doing, overworking and spreading herself too thin. There's a nice bit of foreshadowing early on: the concluding car crash, redolent in metaphor, isn't meant to be a surprise.

Jimmy is oblivious to what Kim is doing for him, of course. Much of the episode focusres on his truly evil mind games with the Sandpiper old fols, manipulating them into accepting the settlement now rather than a larger one later... as Howard says, it's purely because Jimmy needs the money. Slippy Jimmy with stop at nothing for his own selfish needs, and he cares not who suffers along the way.

Chuck, meanwhile, is far more urbane, respdctable and, in some ways, principled. Yet, if his condition isn't real (the jury, I think, is very much out), he may be just as much a con man as his father. And his decision to go scorched Earth on Howard and the firm, rather than accept retirement, is very much a prallel with Jimmy. Both brothers are very much capable of cdestroying others to get what they want. Both of them are far more terrible than they seem.

A brilliant and eventful episode, first class telly... but the characterisation is even more suble than it may at first seem. Superb.