Better Call Saul: Expenses

 "Come on. Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple."

"Oh, Another Brick in the Wall."

"I weep for the future."

Oh my. There's so much to break down here. This is, as I'm fond of occasionally stating, an episode of developmemnt and set-up of plotlines and characters. In a sense, not much happens. In another sense, a lot does.

For Jimmy, he's hit with a new, brutal reality. This con man, who sees rules as being for other peoople, has no choice but to follow the rules on community service. There's no refund for his insurance despite his disbarment as a lawyer. His TV commercial business is failing. He's maxing out his credit cards. He stares in the face of ruin. He's cornered, desperate, dangerous... and so deliberately sets out to ruin Chuck. Behind the nice guy act, Jimmy is not nice at all.

Yet poor Kim can't see this, despite everything. She's besotted. Yet her conscience about Chuck, which is really troubling her, contrasts with Jimmy's latest casual betrayal. And it's revealing that their night out is spent looking at potential marls to con. She's horrified when Jimmy seems to be suggesting it for real, but soon falls back under his spell. Oh, Kim...

Then there's Mike, using drug money to work on a church playground, and... am I reading too much into things, but does he meet a potential love interest?

Nacho, too, is a desperate man. To save his father, he must destroy Hector. So he turns to baseball card man, who will never escape from him. Yet Mike, being Mike, takes control of the situation. So many spinning plates, but Mike spins them with aplomb.

No action, then, but first class writing and action. And an awful lot is being set up. Superlative, as ever.

Better Call Saul: Cobbler

 "It looks like a school bus for six year old pimps."

This episode, fascinatingly, takes place in two different worlds, one of high flying lawyerly professionalism and one of criminality. Yet, as we see in the person of Jimmy, the two worlds are of course linked.

We know, of course, that Jimmy isn't going to make it as a high flying lawyer; this is a prequel, after all. But it's fun, for now, to see him doing well. Even Chuck turning up for a couple of hours. He even has the love of a good woman in Kim, who right now is very keen on him indeed. He's living the dream. But that's the thing with dreams: you wake up.

His career is doomed. His relationship with Kim is doomed. The only question is how.There's no suspense here and the brilliance partly lies in the fact that the script is well aware of this, with subtle little metatextual moments. Kim's present for Jimmy, a cup entitlred "world's second best lawyer"? And the cup, ahem, not fitting as he tries to slot it into the cupholder? Yeah. Not exactly the world's most subtle metaphor. But the script is winking at us.

The other plot this week concerns the rather inept and comical Mr Wormald, in way over his head, and Mike, who exhibits the patience of a saint but ends up solving Wormald's considerable self-inflicted problems rather neatly, prefiguring his future work for Gus, in a way that is hugely entertaining to watch.

And then Mike calls Jimmy to help, which he does, cleverly, humiliating Wormald into the bargain, which is quite fair. And... yeah. I have no doubt that is a real fetish. Rule 34. No, I'm not Googling. But why does Jimmy get involved? He now has no reason to. This indicates, perhaps, a compulsion for the legally murky that may destroy him. 

The last scene with Kim is brilliant. Kim is appalled at the risks Jimmy is taking. They are self destructive. And this is a superb character moment. Jimmy is surprised that Kim, so impressed with the cons last week, is appalled now. But she's right. They're doomed. He's doom. And no amount of cake, however much untouched by human buttock, can alter that.

Better Call Saul: Switch

 "That's right. Not a lawyer. Bye."

This is a fascinating, tantalising, nuanced opening episode, scrutinising the two roads Jimmy can take. Yes, at the end, he relents and takes the swanky law job. But Slippy Jimmy, I have no doubt, is not going back into his box.

We start with a flash forward to Saul's new life in Nebraska, as he spends a night accidentally in a bank vault. Yet he leaves a bit of graffiti: "S.G. was here". Despite the moustache, Saul is still in there. And yes, the name is jarring after a season thinking of him as Jimmy. And Saul, I think, is a development of Slippy Jimmy, a persona whom Jimmy spends the episode exploring.

Not only that, either. He really likes Kim, and tries to seduce her into the Slippy Jimmy lifestyle, with some success. She has fun, and there's an enjoyable little Breaking Bad cameo.Yes, Jimmy relents at the end, but he's still tempted by the con man lifestyle... Kim too?

Meanwhile, Wormald is not a clever man. For a start, that car just screams "My penis is only slightly larger than Andrew Tate's. Ladies, bring a magnifying glass". Then, the moment he arrogantly dismisses Mike and decides he can deal with the crime stuff on his own tells you he's doomed. It's not in question. The only question is how. And it's actually fun seeing his pathetic, clueless performance in front of the visiting police officers.

The episode gives off so much nuance, so many uncertainties. Kim isn't in Breaking Bad. What happens to her? Which way will Jimmy jump? We know, of course, but when? I'm betting the end of the season.

Better Call Saul: Pimento

 "You're not a real lawyer."

Thgois is a gloriously crafted piece of television, whether we see it as forty-seven minutes of drama in its own right or as a pivotal chapter (this is the penultimate episode of this first season) in a larger narrative. Either way, it's already on course to be a superb bit of telly and then the last twist gets you in the gut.

The Mike subplot is sublime. It's just Mike going on a job, casually being the world weary alpha male and having the measure of arrogant arseholes. But at the same time, in a sense, he's a good man. He's a good and loving grandad. And he gives sound advice to the naive beginner criminal employing him. He's a wise old soul, aware of the contradiction of good and evil, law and crime. He's being developed into a nuanced and interesting character in far greater depth even than in Breaking Bad, where he was less central. This is deeply exciting.

But Jimmy and Chuck... we start with Chuck making promising progress against his ambiguous condition, which is ominous; things are, by the rules of television drama, about to go downhill. And so they do. It's dreadfully cleber, with lots of misdirection. The old folks' case is too big to handle, they take it to Howard, Jimmy gets knocked back... and here comes the misdirection. We think Howard's being a dick.We think he's going to fire Kim for challenging him. But... the hostility towards Jimmy isn't from Howard. It's never been Howard. He may have his foibles, but he's not the enemy. Chuck was. Wow.

So we see a disgusted Jimmy, having worked out the truth, betrayed by his own brother's snobbery, the lawyer as sincere vocation vs Slippy Jimmy, abandining Chuck. I can't find the words for how exquisite this is.