Better Call Saul: Waterworks

 "Anyways, this guy, any good?"

"When I knew him, he was."

Observation number one: Jimmy/Saul/Gene... let's say "Saul" because that's who he's reverted to... is no Debbie Harry. Observation number two: wow. This Vince Gilligan-written-and-directed episode is tense, thematic, and beautifully structured.

Surprisingly, the first twenty-seven minutes are spend with Kim, in her humdrum, monochrome present. Dull job selling sprinklers. Dull social life. Dull husband. Dull sex life ("Yep, Yep. Yep. Yep."). And we spend twenty-seven minutes seeing this, at a slow pace- a brave but inspired choice. The thrill of the scamming is long behind her.

Any we end up seeing her side of the conversation with Jimmy. Leading to her full confession, firstly to Howard's widow and secondly to the law. She's willing to calmly face the consequences of her actions, unlike a certain con man of our and her acquaintance.

There are some flashbacks of the moment the divorce papers are signed, with Kim, inevitably, acting with integrity. It's weird seeing her in that office... and quite the surprise to see her interacting with a very sharp and on-the-ball Jesse.

But, inevitably, we return to Saul, following him during the ill-fated burglary... and again the tension is allowed to fester and fester. We know Saul is about to face his downfall, it's just a question of how. And, when the denouement comes, it does not disappoint. All throughout, Saul has relied on his charm... and especially, in his Sandpiper days, on his ability to get old ladies to look fondly on him. So it's delicious to find all his tricks failing utterly with Marion, leaving him exposed, desperate and on the run...

Again, wow.

Better Call Saul: Fun and Games

 "What you talk about is not justice. What you talk of is revenge. It never ends."

Thus speaks Nacho's grieving dad, and he speaks for decency. In a world where all the main characters- including Jimmy, Mike and now Kim-  are tainted by association with a morally reprehensible cartel, that destroys lives and exploits the hopeless, he speaks the truth. And a truth at the core of the show: Chuck and Howard, arrogant though they could be, were right. Because the law, despite its flaws, is everything. The alternative, as has been known ever since Aeschylus' Oresteia, is a never ending cycle of revenge.

And ironically this arises from Mike, with his code of ethics, trying to do the right thing. But there is ethics and there is ethics. This episode seems, for most of its length, to be about tidying up loose ends from last episode's momentous events. But it's so much more.

We see Gus defend himself, successfully, to Don Eladio from the accusations of Hector. It seems he's won, and is now master of all he surveys. Yet only now do we get a glimpse intoa different Gus, a wine snob, a sophisticate... and, secretly. I'm sure, from the probable bigotry of the cartel, gay. Of course he is. It never crossed my mind before, but of course he is. And it's fascinating that we see this further layer of the character now.

But we also see the consequences ogf Howard's humiliation and death. HHM is destroyed, the names of Hamlin and McGill both now discredited: Jimmy destroys all he touches. And yet, in an excruciating scene with Howard's wake, it is Kim who cruelly gaslights his widow.

But then... wow. It hits hard. Kim loves Jimmy (he thinks he loves her, I'm sure, but is he capable of feeling the real thing?), but she leaves him, as they're morally bad for each other. And she's no longer a lawyer. This is her penance, her redemptive sacrifice, her quest for atonement.

And these are things that Jimmy will never understand.

No.

Not Jimmy. Saul. All ties to Jimmy's past are now gone. We end the episede with the Saul we know from Breaking Bad. Wow. Things are moving fast. Television has seldom been better than this.