Summary: In a flashback, Chuck stays by his mom as she dies while Jimmy leaves to get food. In the present, Jimmy runs in to help Chuck. Chuck is taken to the hospital and recovers but accuses Jimmy for mysteriously being at the copy shop. Ernie saves him by saying he called Jimmy. Chuck is taken out of the hospital and returned home after some time. Chuck calls Howard and tells him he is retiring from law. Jimmy goes to convince Chuck to keep at the law and does so by confessing that he sabotaged the Mesa Verde files. However this was a trap set up by Chuck who taped the confession. Mike gets a sniper rifle and attempts to shoot Hector but a mystery person leaves a note on Mike's car telling him not to.
The Good: This was a very strong season finale which did a lot of unconventional things, but also ended the season on a brilliant note. The opening scene was another brilliant flashback between the 2 brothers which once again added some more depth to their relationship. We can see that Chuck has always been the "good" son, staying by his mother's bed while Jimmy goes out to get a sandwich. But he is still not valued as much as Jimmy because Jimmy can make others laugh and smile. It was sad to hear Chuck's mother call for Jimmy before dying, and it really gives Chuck a good reason to hold a jealous hatred towards Jimmy. In the end it was small things like Chuck refusing to tell Jimmy his mother's final words that led to Chuck being so damn antagonistic to Jimmy all the time. The scene was probably my favourite cold open scene from the whole show as it developed so much in such short time with some brilliant subtlety. In the main plot, I really enjoyed the follow up to the cliffhanger from last episode. Jimmy was kind-hearted as he saved Chuck and it led to some good conflict down the line between the brothers. I think putting Ernie on Jimmy's side was brilliantly done. We can understand why he would pick friendly Jimmy over the angry and egotistic Chuck, and it made sense for him to want to help Jimmy. It's the detail given to these supporting characters that makes them so likeable and organic. Chuck in the hospital was handled fantastically. That one scene where Chuck was taken by doctors who performed tests on him was amazing. The cinematography, sense of unease and Chuck's desperate wails were awesome and rely allowed us to sympathize with him for the situation he is in. This episode did a fantastic job of painting Jimmy as more of a good guy here too. Though I have said this conflict between the brothers is in a very gray area, it is still necessary for Jimmy to be liked by us more than Chuck because he is the main character. This episode accomplished that by showing us that Jimmy is the better "brother" so to speak. he is caring towards Chuck and ensures that he is never a casualty to what Jimmy wants. Jimmy is shown to be kind-hearted as he cares for Chuck despite the conflict, sticking by his bed and also refusing to have him committed. This makes it so easy to hate Chuck by the end of the episode when he exploits this brotherly love for his own cause. He has the ability to do dirty con jobs like did at the end, but acts like he is on the next level. This is very effective at making us despise Chuck despite the fact that what he is doing is technically just. Now to get more in depth with that huge final scene. First of all, I have to say that this is one of the most genuinely powerful scenes in the show. It was extremely tense and Jimmy letting everything out to Chuck at the end was fantastic. It was easy to understand why Jimmy would tell Chuck the truth because of his aforementioned brotherly love, but it made sense for Jimmy to show some frustration because everything went so much worse than he had expected and wanted. Of course the tape reveal was a huge bombshell too. It was a huge shock to end the season and is a perfect cliff-hanger as it leaves us wanting to see the repercussions of this tape in the next season. Now onto the Mike storyline. This was very entertaining too but not quite as good as the rest of the episode. I enjoyed the sniper scene the most but I did have a small problem with it (see: The Bad). I think the sniper scene was better than it should have been though. While we know that Hector survives, we still don't know how he got in the wheelchair and I believed for a second that perhaps sniper-fire from Mike is what caused it. Now that wouldn't make any sense when you think about it, but the scene was tense enough to make me not get a chance to think much about it which made me believe in it for a little bit. I am very interested by the mysterious note but I have a good idea of who sent it (see: The Unknown). There were a lot of nice little scenes here too. Jimmy's commercial was very fun to watch. It was a good way to bring closure to the few commercial scenes throughout the season. I enjoyed Kim's few scenes with Jimmy as always. I do wish she had a larger role here but I understand why she didn't since this episode was heavily focused on Jimmy and Chuck's relationship and conflict. Lastly, I was happy to see this show still continuing to provide laughs even in darker episodes. The old people comedy is still fairly funny and brought a smile to my face. The Bad: The Mike sniper scene felt a bit too long for a scene without dialogue. Sure it was fantastically constructed, but I don't feel it was quite tense enough to justify 7 whole minutes of it. The Unknown: Who left the note for Mike? I'm 99% sure it was Gus. Who else would make sense at this point of the story? And who's return would be dramatic enough for it to be a season finale cliffhanger? All the signs point to Gus. The question for me now is how does he know about Mike? Has he been following Hector too perhaps? Or was it something else? What will Chuck do with the tape? I am not too sure on how much it can do to Jimmy, because Jimmy will surely deny any accusations he makes. However we have learned now that Chuck can be a great con artist himself, so perhaps he has a dirtier plan in mind. Best Moment: The last scene between Jimmy and Chuck was stellar television. Probably the best scene from the entire season. Character of the Episode: Chuck. Conclusion: This was a splendid season finale that delivered a lot of powerful and climactic moments which set up next season very well. As for the season overall, I thought it was excellent. There wasn't a bad episode in the bunch and my interest in the season gradually increased with every episode which is very impressive. The only other shows that can accomplish this kind of season long build up and deliver a satisfying pay off are Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. It goes to show how good Better Call Saul has been if it can do that too. A lot of episodes this season were set up, which may turn off some people, but I feel like the amount of attention given to writing and story really let those episodes be much more fascinating than they should have been. The writing here was what made this season so damn good in the end. I think it has surpassed season 1, despite being weaker on paper, because the amount of effort and care put into it was tremendous. If season 3 can continue this same quality, even if it doesn't improve, I would be very satisfied. Score: 75
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|