Better Call Saul: Rock and Hard Place

 "Today you are going to die..."

Obviously this episode is all about Nacho. Jimmy doesn't even appear until sixteen minutes into the episode. Not that things don't happen with him: his and Kim's plans to screw over Howard proceed apace. Yet again we see that she's really into him. Huell, by contrast, sees right through him in a nice little scene. And Kim and Jimmy learn that Lalo is supposedly dead, while Jimmy has an off ramp for his complicity with Lalo... but will he take it?

Still, this episode is not about Jimmy.

My thoughts keep drifting to those opening few seconds as the camera lingers on some flowers that survive, precariously, in the New Mexico desert. This episode consists of Nacho slowly learning that there's no way he ends up surviving this, however much he begins the episode with some optimism, having escaped for now. Yet in order to dodge being immediately caught he has to literally submerge himself in oil. There's only one way his being on the run can end.

The phone call with his dad is heartbreaking: you feel, suddenly, that this is their last goodbye, and his dad is still disappointed at how Nacho's life has gone. Nacho suddenly realises that the cartel could get at his dad.

And so... he, Mike and Gus work out an ending in which his death is with dignity, on his own terms, and protects both his dad and Gus himself. But watching the events play out is gut-wrenching and unforgettable. Nacho getting the satisfaction of telling Hector what he really thinks... and that final shot, with Hector impotently shooting at a dead man.

Wow. This episode will haunt me.

Better Call Saul: Carrot and Stick

 "Lalo Salamanca lives!"

We don't see Lalo in this episode at all. But his influence is seen everywhere. 

We begin with... domino rally! Mike, again, has his moral code, and is trying to protect Nacho's dependents. But for Nacho things look much bleaker. His hiding place is discovered and, in sloooow scenes, we feel the tension deeply on his behalf as he realises his likely fate. In the end, he only just survives in an incredibly tense and dramatic sequence as the Salamancas (including those terrifying twins) arrive looking for him.

It's all devilishly complex: Gus talks to Don Hector who, of course, knows that Lalo is alive... and Gus sees, from Hector's expression, that this is the case. Giancarlo Esposito is exquisite here: he communicates this through facial expression alone.

And sothe way lies open for Mike to point out, according to his principles but also correctly, to Gus that he must lookafter Nacho. Because if thre Salamancas get to him, and get him to talk as they undoubtedly would... Gus is surely finished. Mike is bravely defiant on this: if Nacho hadn't rung, and asked to speak to Gus, I'm not sure what would have happened... but I suspect, in the longer term, Mike is earning even more of Gus' respect.

The other thread of the episode, with Jimmy and Kim putting their plot against Howard into operation, is similarly complex. It not clear what's going on yet, or meant to be, but it's fun to see this unfold, much as it was with the scams of old... much as it's also fun to see the entitled and arrogant Kettlemans get their comeuppance.

But this seems to be a turning point: Kim is turning very dark here, thoroughly corrupted by Jimmy. It's subtly and brilliantly done, and very much feels earned.

Better Call Saul was already exquisite. But we seem, crazy though it sounds, to be moving to another level altogether.

Better Call Saul: Wine and Roses

"Sounds like the day from Hell."

"It was one of the best days of my life."

And so begins the final season. It seems, at the start of episode one of thirteen, that we're a long way from the events of Breaking Bad. But there can't be far to go. And the pre-toitles is a slow, lingering scene with Saul Goodman's opulent and disgustingly tateless office being examined by the Feds. In the present day, with Saul in Nebraska, the net is closing in. And the episode really lingers on that fact.

And we move directly to the contrast with Nacho, also hunted, desperate, and possibly doomed, with a price from Don Eladio on his head. All the scenes with him are impossibly tense, with us feeling fear on his behalf. Yet he's a pawn. Lalo, wanting everyone to think him dead (although Gus suspects) is out to get him, and plotting with Hector. Mike tries to speak up to Gus about him, but Gus is playing his own inscrutable game. And Lalo has seldom been scarier.

Meanwhile, Kim and Jimmy are the usual contrast- Kim doing good work for the vulnerable and loving it while Jimmy remains a "friend of the cartel". Yet they're both tainted, and Kim is the driving force in their fascinating plot to do over Howard. We're not privy to the details, so it's fun to see the early stages of the scheme play out, reminding us of the scams from earlier seasons... but the stakes are higher. The golf club scene is fascinatingly layered. The golf club stands for the snobbery againstwhich Jimmy has alwayds genuinely struggled... yet Kevin is right to blackball him for being the bounder and the cad that he is. And to play the antisemitism card ("only following orders", ouch!) when he's about as Jewish as my cat... wow.

And plot threads abound. Is Jimmy going to get rumbled in court for the stints he played to get Lalo bail? Is Mike suddenly now not the person on the phone to Nacho? What is Lalo planning? What are Jimmy and Kim planning? And what of that sphinx, Gus? This is a superb start.

Better Call Saul: Bad Choice Road

 "How about a day without drama?"

Oh boy. What an episode.

Kim is, of course, the focus of our sense of mounting dread and, naturally, the episode itself. But let's do a tour of the other plates that are spinning during this penultimate episode of the season...

Jimmy and Mike finally get out of the desert and can begin to recover... but Jimmy is not so battle hardened as Mike, who can afford to be philosophical, true stoic that he literally is. Jimmy is physically worse for wear (although he has Kim, ooooh he has Kim...) but more; he hobviously has PTSD following his experiences.

Gus, chilling as ever, is debriefed by Mike, works out exactly what's going on, and gets back to his usual chillingly amoral ten-dimensional chess, played with typical cold intensity by the sublime Giancarlo Esposito. Mike may sympathise with Nacho's wish to get out of this cartel life, but to Gus, Nacho is just another pawn. Once you become a "friend of the cartel", you don't get out... are you listening, Kim?

But Kim... oh, so many bad decisions. Shockingly, she gives up her job so she can focus on her pro bono workm much less well paid. This is... unwise, and ties her even more to Jimmy's criminally adjacent, "friend of the cartel" life. The final scene, with Lalo demanding andswers from Jimmy, is a masterpiece of tension, with Kim very much present, involved... and showing real guts in resolving the situation.

But she's in, now, irrevocably. Her decision to quit her main job wasd, ironically, so she could focus on work with which she feels much more ethically comfortable rsather than driving old men off their land... but she's driven into the hands of Jimmy, who may not like getting his hands dirty but has zero morals as long as he isn't personally close to the bloodshed.

Oh Kim. I'm now certain. Her downfall will not just be the ruin of a genuinely good person. The moment has come: I'm certain that we're going to see her die. Itr's her only possible trajectory.

Better Call Saul is not Jimmy's tragedy. It's Kim's.

Better Call Saul: JMM

 "No rings. Okey dokey..."

After last episode's deeply dishearening last line, we begin the last line with the world'd least romantic wedding ever, presided over by a very bored and disengaged judge. No rings, no wedding guests, witnesses who are not exactly friends, no celebration... and let's say the two new spouses are not exactly equally invested. Poor Kim. This is the wedding she gets... and this is the wedding she gets. Even worse, she really should know what she's marrying, and gets more reminders later when she realises Jimmy- no, Saul- is being forced to get Lalo out on bail and is quite happy to use this to get money. Oh, Kim...

She isn't in Breaking Bad, of course. I fear for her. Perhaps a fate even worse than ruin awaits. And she's a good, decent person.

Interestingly. Kim, the other lawyers and Kevin all reconcile, after a little brutal honesty on both sides, in a situation of genuine mutual respect. No Jimmy here: these people are all grown-ups.... and that makes the situation worse. Kim is decent, professional, respected. As Kevin says, she could do a LOT better.

Mike is a grown-up too- we see him doing the patient hard work of making amends to his family, and successfully. But the ongoing cold war between Gus and Lalo, with Nacho and his dad in the middle, is getting increasingly complex. Lalo's engaged Jimmy to get him out on bail so he can skedaddle... so why is Mike, on Gus's behalf, handing him the means to do so on a plate? Gus has reason to be furious at Lalo: I suspect the latter is not long for this world, and Gus has plans to kill Lalo in ways thst won't start a "war". The discussions with Lydia and Gus' desperate old German friend is fascinating, pointing ahead to the Madrigal stuff but hinting at quite a long history. Giancarlo Esposito continues to play Gus with such exquisite nuance.

Yet it feels very much as though big things are being set up. Despite this, the episode is as gripping as ever.

Better Call Saul: Wexler v Goodman

 "Because it's cold pizza fondled by community actors..."

For the first time, the pre-credits shows a small episode from Kim's childhood: she refuses to get intothe car with her mother, who's been drinking, and bloody well sticking to her principles, even back then. Not hard to see what the subtext is here. Kim has her strong moral principles. We know that. But alas, she seems to be in love with Jimmy for some reason, and I'm sticking to my own guns: Jimmy will be her ruin and her downfall.

Bizarrely, we then see a young Kevin in an old Mesa Verde commercial, zand get a long montage of Jimmy trying to film stuff in his plot against Mesa Verde, getting stuck in to the writing, the directing, anything but lawyering... and along comes Kim. She wants out, unnerved by Rich's suspicions. It's gone too farand she's even willing togive some of her own money to the old man so there can be compromise. And... Jimmy agrees, so that's that, right? I mean, it's not as though he's the unscrupulous type, right...?

We then shift to Nacho who, like Kim, won't be in Breaking Bad. But with him, I suspect, we're looking at literal death. He simply lives too dangerously, inforning Gus and Mike of what Lalo is up to... and wow, as ever, Gus isquite the presence. It looks as though we'll see a lot of Mike and Nacho together from this point. Lalo may appeal to Mike's morals... but, of course, Gus owns Mike. We're so far into Better Call Saul at this point that the nuances between all the characters are utter perfection.

And so cue another series of scenes where we get to see how Mike operates, this time manipulating a librarian and the local police into dropping Lalo right in it... ending in what looks like Lalo's arrest. Nut this, I suspect, is a mere opening skirmish. I note that Lalo has a pet lawyer... although, of course, on this occasion, I use the word "lawyer" in its loosest possible sense.

Still, yes, there's an interlude of Jimmy being an utter **** to Howard but, as the episode comes to an end, it looks as though Kim's going to get her was with Mesa Verde... and then Jimmy REALLY goes for the kill, harassing Mesa Verde to the max, and Kim is furious, very visibly so, to be thrown under the bus like this. This threatens to have dire consequences for her, despite her very visible and real anger.

Kevin, incidentally, has a very clearidea of exactly what Jimmy is, and he certainly isn't a lawyer.

Finally, we have the confrontation. Kim really laying into Jimmy and there's a sense that even he may now realise that he may have gone too far. Is this it? Kim is beginning to sound like he might dump him, as she should have done long ago....

"Maybe we get married".

Oh Kim....

Obviously, this is televisual perfection. Yet again.

Better Call Saul: The Guy for This

 "It's not about what you want. When you're in... you're in...!"

I often note the artiness of the openings to these episodes, but the one here, with the fire ants climbing last time's ice cream cone as though it were Everest and, eventually, incrementally, disposing of it... wow. That's superb.No sure what it's supposed to conver- the transience of human existence in the wider context of nature?- but wow.

The "a" plot here, with Jimmy, is superbly exciting. Firstly, we get to meet, er, a "younger"(!) Hank and Steve Gomez, but they're just patsies in a plot by Lalo and Nacho (it's short for Ignatio, the penny drops!) to screw over Gus... and, of coutrse, this involves using Jimmy (Saul?) as a lawyer. It look as though this is just the first of many times too. Yet, despite the ethics, Jimmy's lack of real choice and, worst of all, Nacho's truly terrible car interior decor, this is a lucratiuve day for him, pointing towards the future. It's nicely done.

Kim's "b" plot is very different. She seems displeased at having to work for Mesa Verde these days: her heart is in her criminal work, morals above money. And yet, given a morally dodgy job to do- helping evist a man from his house- her attempts to do good are rejected. Is she becoming more Jimmy-like? Is her arc one of eventual corruption and darkness?

Meanwhile, we see very little of Mike... but he's not in a good way. What happened to Werner is REALLY getting to him.

This is a very impressive episode, more so even than usual. Yet I can sort of see where Jimmy's arc is going. Kim's, and Mike's, less so...

Better Call Saul: 50% Off

 "Dude, that's almosthalf!"

I love these kinds of episodes- slow, building up to something, lots of character stuff, lots of room to breathe.

We're fainly fcusing on Jimmy- busy busy busy with his new, Saul Goodman, type of criminal law stuff, and having to juggle things- proper con man stuff. And, of course, his massive discount sparks off a minor drime wave... but hey, it's all about Jimmy, as ever. Never mind the little people who get hurt.

The relationshiop between him and Kim... well, she's busy and blows off a movie night. Are they drifting apart, with their obvious ethical differences, and that nonsense with the big house being obvious pie in the sky? Well, yes... but we still see him charming her as ever.

It's an interwsting scene with Mike, too. At first we see his wholesome grandad side... but then he lashes out angrily at Kaylee when she asks too many questions about her dad being a police officer. This is a fascinating scene... but I'm sure, too, that it's leading somewhere.

But most fascinatingly, perhaps, we have Nacho. His father threatened by Gus, he has to gain Lalo's trust in order to relay thingsback to Gus... and does so in pretty much the most badass and hugely entertaining fashion possible, in a sequence that has to be the highlight of the episode... but what does he want with Jimmy....

Superb stuff, as ever.

Better Call Saul: Magic Man

 "Doesn't that sound like you're envouraging people to commit crimes?"

We begin the season- as we haven't for a while- in the monochrome present, in Nebraska, as the artist formerly known as Jimmy continues his life of constant worry and looking over his shoulder, miserable, with nothing to look forward to. We continue in this vein until, suddenly... he's recognised by someone from New Mexico. So what to do? Yet another new life (from the same bloke and the same actor!) would be far too expensive... so he's going to take matters into his own hands.The whole sequence takes thirteen minutes, and only then do the titles kick in.

This is exciting, to say the least. For every other plot thread, we know roughly how things are going to pan out. That Jimmy is going to practise as Saul Goodman, that Gus is going to win out over Lalo, that Kim was nowhere to be seen in Breaking Bad. But for this, in the "present"... this is uncharted territory. It seems this part of the show may get more prominent.

And yet so many more plot treads, potential season arcs, are beginning to unfurl. Nacho, having thought he'd won, now has to contend with Lalo. And Lalo is a problem for Gus too, who is on the back foot in relation to him, and can't overtly act against Lalo without annoying Don Eladio. But Gus is Gus, and it's clear he intends to kill Lalo... an arc for this season?

Interestingly, there's a comment about Gus. he's competent, he gets results, but he's "not one of us". Subtle racism?

Then there's Jimmy, setting up as Saul Goodman to the existing criminal clientele to whom he's been selling phones... and he is, as ever, quite the successful salesman. Kim, of course, being a real lawyer, can't understand what he's up to, and it seems the rift will grow... and yet, at the end, she is again seduced by his tricks despite hereself.

Most interestingly... Mike sends away Werner's very scared crew, and when Kai states that Wener had it coming... he gets hit for his troubles. And yet, when another German tells Mike that Werner was worth fifty of him... Mike lets it slide. Ouch. There even seems to be a rift developing between him and Gus.

Already, this season is sizzling, with so much going on. At last, we really feel as though the world we experienced with Walter White is not too far away. Superb television, as ever.

Better Call Saul: Wiedersehen

 "We should only use our powers for good..."

This is a fascinating penultimate episode. An awful lot happens, and there's so much character development... but it's still not clear how the finale is going to shape up. Well, aside from Werner escaping and trying to go home because he misses his wife. This is nicely done, and logically follows on from subtle hints that have been recently dropped. The lab is progressing, and starting to look like the lab we know from Breaking Bad.  Morale with the other Germans is high. There's a cool sequence with the demolition.

But then there's new guy, Lalo Salamanca, who we (and Nacho) first saw last episode. Suddenly he's in charge, using a clearly annoyed Nacho as an underling and throwing his weight around. He visits his "Uncle Hector, now disabled as we knew him in Breaking Bad... and, in a bizarre little mini-origin story, gives him the bell. This is a symbolic changing of the guard from one Salamanca to another. He's smarter than Hector, confident, and I love his comment that his uncle is  "Same old Hector... just wants to kill everybody".

He's going to annoy a lot of people, of course. His confrontation with Gus, two intelligent alpha males sizing each other up, is fascinating. But I rather fancy Gus' chances. Lalo isn't long, I suspect, for this world.

We start the episode with Kim and Jimmy on another scam, Kim by now absolutely a natural at the lying and all that comes with it. The two of them are on exactly the same page. Jimmy confidently expects to be reinstated as a lawyer... and he now has a new potential clientele, who know him as Saul Goodman. It looks like the future is being set up...

But he fails his reinstatement hearing.

And Jimmy doesn't take it well. The mask slips. Jimmy, a selfish, malevolent, entitled *** behind the surface charm, lashes out at Kim, who in turn tells him some home truths: she always comes running to him.

They seem to reconcile, but... what now? I don't know, but this is extraotrdinary television.

Better Call Saul: Coushatta

 "Yes, well, I got my crawdads in my pants."

Another subtle little character episode here, setting things up for the final two episodes, in which, Ive no doubt, a lot of dramatic stuff is going to happen. As is often the case, though, the episode essentially being set-up doesn't make it any less gripping.

We haven't seen Macho in a while, but here he is, taking Hector's place at the back as each dealer comes in with the money. It's fascinating seeing him violently assert himself- he's clearly playing a part, effectively, yes, but with such visible discomfort that he has to be reassured. Nacho is a man trapped in a life and a role he does not want. He has too much self-awareness, too much decency, to tolerate this existence.

Yet at least he seems to have stability... until the end, where another mewmber of the Salamanca clan, Eduardo, introduces himself.

Mike, meanwhile, is supervising Werner and his underlings at a rather unpleasant little strip club. They are, inevitably, indiscreet, including Werner. Mike realises the implications, and so does Werner by the end. A brief but chilling pefrformance by the estimable Giancarlo Esposito makes it very clear that Gus does. Given Werner's little speech to Mike on his love for his wife... I don't see him getting out alive.

And there's the fun little Slippin' Jimmy trick to get Huell off that gradually unfolds throughout the episode, from the bus-based letter writing montage to the exasperated judge. Jimmy's plan is brilliant, underhanded, discraceful, inspired... and very, very Jimmy. He may start the episode on very thin ice with Kim, but the scheme ends with her spontaneously kissing him... until, in the cold night of day, it becomes clear just how unethical it all was. Poor Kim. Helplessly ensnared in the web of a self-centred man who destroys every life he touches. But then, aren't we all, watching this exquisite little character study of a show?

Better Call Saul: Talk

 "The one after that, she stabbed her boyfriend over a grilled cheese sandwich..."

Just realised the judge in this, whose hearings are being "observed" by Kim for some reason, is Neelix from Star Trek: Voyager. Wow. (And yes, I do plan at some point to do the whole Star Trek marathon thing, but let's not rush...) 

Anyway, this is one of those quietly fascinating characterisation-based episodes that usually means it's all about to kick off. Everyone gets some sort of development here.

Mike gets a little support group plot, eposing a fraud and flirting a bit with Anita, while showing just how good he is at this security consultant lark. But, inevitably, he's summoned by a superbly menacing Gus, and is clearly about to start Tthe kind of work for him that we recall from Breaking Bad. Impressively, he's low key accused of not being open about the Nacho thing... and gets to maintain his alpha male status in front of Gus himself. Impressive.

Then there's Jimmy, moving a little apart ftrom Kim, waking symbolically alone and reacting in a very Jimmyish way to her suggestion of a shrink. Interswstingly, he self-sabotages a job offer only to reverse course and take up a soul-destroying job... only to make a hell of a lot more money from the illicit exploits from last episode. Legitimacy, it seems, doesn't pay. Jimmy's immediate reaction is, shall we say, interesting.

But Nacho. Oh, Nacho. The webs we weave. We get to see, all from his POV, the deaths and the bloodshed madevnecessary by his lies. And, as we realise at the episode's end, Gus knows. But we always knew, didn't me? From Giancarlo Esposito's facial acting alone. What a show.

Better Call Saul: Something Beautiful

 "It never loses suction."

I was going to use a certain quote concerning gold nuggets, but decided I'd better not. Anyway...

This is a fascinating episode, which has the air of calm before the storm. Not that Nacho's extraordinary actions- faking a hit, including having himself shot and wounded twise, in order to cover up the death of that bloke- are exactly calm. But these are the lengths he has to go to, conflicted between his loyalty to the cartel and towards his father. He's badly conflicted and he can't, surely, keep getting away with this. He's lucky to survive... for now. And that doctor has such a wonderful bedside manner.

These things create ripples. Gus isaffected, with supplies disrupted and having todeal with conflicting demands from on high. Yet we also see him interact with an ambitious Gale for the first time, another old face.

Jimmy, meanwhile, is "masterminding" another dodgy scheme... eventually, when he can persuade a patsy to do the cat burglaring. I love how we spend such a long, tense scene with things almost going very badly indeed, yet with intentional bathos as the rather pathetic victim has been kicked out of his house by his wife. This is all sort of comic relief, but I suspect I ought to be seeing this as a clue that things are about to get serious.

We see Kim, working to hsrd while she should be resting, but... it she reaching some sort of crisis? Chuck's letter to Jimmy is actually nice, and it is she who tears up while Jimmy remains cold, as he always is deep inside, because what she loves is the mask, not the man. Is she beginning to realise...?

As ever... wow.

Better Call Saul: Breathe

 "I decide what he deserves. No one else."

Better Call Saul already seemed to be pretty much the embodiment of televisual perfection. Yet, two episodes into its fourth season, it seems to show signs of getting... better? Can such a thing be possible?

Jimmy's job interview for the position of photocopier salesman reveals so much about him, even though his real agenda is revealed later on. He's so very suited to the job, whuich suits him far more than being a lawyer- not to stereotype those in said profession, but Jimmy is outgoing, dishonest, a born bullsh***er, and entirely devoid of any true moral sense. He effortlessly charms his prospective employers, "selling" himself to get the job despite his dodging the awkward question on why he stopped practising law... and throws it all away by insulting them as soon as he gets the job out of what looks like pure self-loathing- and I think, despite the ulterior motives, that remains a fair summation.

Kim, meanwhile, is a total git to poor, decent Howard, guilt tripping him on Jimmy's behalf at the discussion of Chuck's will... and hiding Chuck's letter to Jimmy. Jimmy's behaviour is rubbing off on her. Kim is, of courdse, doomed by her love for Jimmy... perhaps this will be via the slow ruination of her character? She always liked the Slippin' Jimmy stuff. She's the good girl who fell for the bad boy.

Mike, meanwhile, is confident despite his sparring with a highly annoyed Lydia: Gus likes him, and he knows it. And Gus has never been more chilling than in this episode, nor Giancarlo Esposito a more sublime example of acting perfection: Mr Esposito truly is up there among the greats. Gus's sadistic, vindictive desire to consign Hector to a life of fully conscious, helpless paralysis is a thing of pure horror. As is the tone of voice wioth which he says "you're mine" to Nacjo after the horiffic final scene.

Wow. Can Vince Gilligan make some more telly please?

Better Call Saul: Smoke

 "Well Howard, I guess that's your cross to bear..."

We begin, as season openers tend to do, in the monochrome, smaller-than-life present day, with Jimmy existing, if not living, as a a small business owner with a rubbish moustache in Nebraska, recovering from the incident with the vault, with every arty shot simply dripping with existential ennui. For Jimmy, this is a Hell indeed. And, as we emphasise, there's the constant stress of discovery. He's miserable, depressed, and forever looking over his shoulder. We're reminded that, however much of a terrible person Jimmy is, it will lead only to darkness in the end. His sins will not go unpunished.

Nacho, in the usual timeframe (2003-04?)- is unwittingly in a similar position. Don Hector has had his stroke... but his replacement wants everything to continue as before. Was it all for nothing? Worse, he's under suspicion, and Gus is eloquently concerned about a gang war filling the gap left by Hector. This is all going to get complicated.

For Mike, though, things are looking up. He leaves his old job and receives his first monthly paycheque of more than $10,000!!! We haven't seen much of him lately, so it's great seeing somre cool, fun scenes, including a warehouse montage(!) where he checks Madrigal's security.

But Jimmy... oh, Jimmy. He's very down after Chuck's death, but still very much not the grown-up. Both Kim and Howard do a lot of adulting here: Jimmy does none whatsoever.Worse, Howard, who comes across as more and more decent the more we gets to know him, confesses that he feels responsible for Chuck's death. Jimmy, who has far more cause to blame himself... just lets him. Wow. 

Jimmy deserves his eventual fate. Terrible moustache and all. I can't help wondering, though... what next? We can see where Mike's thread is going, and all the gangland intrigue. But what next for Jimmy?

I am, needless to say, gripped. The camerawork, the depth of the characters... I'm running out of ways to praise this show.

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.

Better Call Saul: Slip

 "This is the land of the free and the home of the lawsuit."

Once again, and I know I'm always saying this, an episode that's clearly setting stuff for later proves to be a superb character piece. The dramatic episodes aren't necessarily the only good episodes.

Jimmy is still struggling to earn a living and pay his half of the office money. There's a brilliant early scene where his TV commercial racket is brutally exposed. Yet Jimmy is a con man par excellence. The pre-credits scene is highly revealing: not only is he in denial about how his selfish actions ruined his opnen and generous father, but he sees his father's honesty and integrity as a weakness. Manipulate, or be manipulated. And this is how he gets out of the hole he's in.

So he gets out of a day's community service by conning the supervisor, rather impressively, and earning himself $700 into the bargain. Why should Jimmy have to suffer consequences for his behaviour? Shame is for suckers. And worse, he seems to manipulate Kim, who adores him, into letting him off paying his half... and taking extra work, spreading herself thin. Ouch. Does Jimmy care at all about the woman who clearly loves him? Obvioisly not. Behind the surface charm is a cold, calculating, self-centred git.

As an aside, I wonder about Chuck, too. Was his "condition" always a lie? Does this episode show him finding a way to escape from having to pretend not that the condition no longer serves its purpose? I don't know, and I may be wrong that he's ben faking. We shall see.

As a contrast, other characters prominent in this episode are all, to a degree, on the criminal side. But they have morals and integrity, at least of sorts, things that Jimmy will never have. A tense and extraordinary scene shows Nacho delivering poison pills into Hector's pocket, but he's doing it for his dad. Mike is also trying to do Hector over, but he has his reasons. And then we have his arrangement with Gus at the end... Gus, too, has his principles.

A nuanced and fasdcinating episode. As ever. These characters are extraordinary.

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: Off Brand

 "It's a name..."

This episode is a crossroads in several ways. It moves away from the Jimmy/Chuck sparriung of the first half of the season into other plot threads, and also makes a conscious choice to look ahead to Breaking Bad. Hence Gus deciding on the meth lab. The surprising cameo from Lydia. The first inkling we see of Don Hector's health problems.

There's also a nice wholesome scene between Mike and Stacey highlighting how sweet and wholesome their relationship is, utterly unlike all the other things in Mike's life. But there's nothing else at all wholesome in this packed episode.

We begin with Kim being magnificent in defending Jimmy, succeeding in limiting him to being barred for twelve months only. She does so much for the man with whom, sadly for her poor, doomed self, she is besotted. Besotted in spite of glimpses of his bullshitting self which she is nowhere near sufficiently stupid not to notice. There's one momernt in particular here, where Jimmy seems to disown Chuck in front of Rebecca, that his coldness really shows. And Kim doesn't fail to see it.

There is also much fascinating political skulduggery between Don Hector and Gus, with Nacho in the middle. It is he, as lieutenant, who exerts violent authority on behalf of Hector. And yet, when Hector threatens to use Nacho's father's business as a front for smuggling, suddenly Nacho has a motive to turn right against his boss. I've no doubt this will be a step in Hector's downfall.

Jimmy, of course, is not a lawyer for a year, and needs to do something else to keep Kim and himself afloat. He's desperate, creative... and then it happens: a TV commercial for TV commefcials. But he can't do it as Jimmy the lawyer. after some "Karloff" stuff... the character of Saul Goodman is born. Viewers had, literally, better call Saul.

This is, needless to say, exquisite.

Better Call Saul: Nailed

 "Like two hundred bucks expensive...?"

Oh Jimmy. Oh Kim. Oh Chuck. This penultimate episode is where, if I can play fast and loose with metaphotrical cliches, the chickens that are Jimmy's sabotage with the photocopier last episode come home to roost. Which is... yeah, a terrible sentence. But I'm going to leave it as it is, because I'm a terrible person.

Chuck, in court, is humiliated, meant to look a buffoon. Then, and shortly after, it's made clear that, while in recovery, he's mentally fragile, however intellectually sharp he may be, and however easily he may be able to realise what's happened... which leads us to a truly fascinating scene played with utter sublimity by three actors of the very first rank. Chuck explains to Kim what he believes Jimmy did, with great perception and accuracy. Bob Odenkirk is superb in playing Jimmy's blustering, while Rhea Seehorn is extraordinary, giving us a seething emotional reaction from Kim which could mean either she believes Chuck or she doesn't. Despite initial appearances, for Chuck's benefit... she does. And this is going to remain unspoken and drive a wedge between her and Jimmy.

As an interlude... Mike's subplot is the fun one, aa he stages a caper to steal huge wodges of cash. Very clever. Very Zorro. Well done. Drinks all round. Except... Nacho can put two amd two together. Will Hector? Worse: a "Good Samaritan" died because of Mike's actions. Yes, Hector was the killer, but... consequences.

So it is for Jimmy. He sees, with his own eyes, the consequences of his actions as a Chuck who is stressed, upset, not well... hits his head on a counter. Jimmy is charming, personable, likeable. It takes a while to realise what a malevolent, destructive, evil man he is. And yes, he is. You're right, Dave.

This extraordinary series gets deeper and deeper into the human condition.