Summary: Flashbacks show Saul meeting Walt and Jesse. Later, he ponders helping them but Mike advises him to let it go. Saul doesn't listen and goes to visit Walt at his high school anyways. In the present, Gene calls Francesca and gets updates on what has happened. Gene learns that Kim checked in on her and after Francesca hangs up, Gene opts to call Kim. It doesn't go well. Hurt again, Gene opts to return to Jeff so they can get back to scamming people. Gene starts a new scam, getting snobby rich people drunk at bars and then having Jeff and Buddy sneakily break into their houses while they sleep to steal all of their important information and sell it. Gene continues doing this and even commits to doing it to a cancer patient. Buddy gets cold feet and decides not to go through with it so Gene fires him. He and Jeff go to the man's house and Gene forcibly breaks in, intent on completing the scam.
The Good: Again, we have a wonderful character study episode that I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Last episode showed Gene channeling his inner Jimmy McGill to solve a problem, and we were treated to callbacks to early seasons of "Better Call Saul" as Gene resourcefully solved his problem in an undoubtedly Jimmy McGill way. This episode offers a direct parallel to the last by showing Gene channeling his inner Saul Goodman in an attempt to solve a much different problem. This time, the episode is filled with references to "Breaking Bad", and it sees Gene abandon Jimmy's sense of morality, embracing Saul Goodman to help himself deal with the pain of what I can only assume was another harsh rejection from Kim (see: The Unknown). These last two episodes have been methodically paced, but they work so well because they tell self-contained stories that parallel each other and expand on the multi-faceted character of Jimmy/Saul/Gene so much. Of course before I dive into the excellent character work, I have to address the elephant in the room, that being the scenes that took place in the "Breaking Bad" timeline. It was wonderful to see Walt and Jesse again, and though they look noticeably older (especially Aaron Paul), I still loved seeing them again, and I had a grin on my face whenever they were on-screen. Their dynamic is entertaining as ever, and it's enjoyable to see them from the perspective of Saul as he considers investing in Walt for his own personal gain. We also have a lovely scene between Saul and Mike (presumably their last in the show) where Saul decides to go against Mike's wise words and pursue Walt, sealing his own fate. While these scenes are fun to watch due to the time period, they offer so much more in terms of highlighting how Saul just can't help himself when it comes to personal gain. His inability to stop directly parallels what is going on in Gene's story and it makes these flashback scenes fit perfectly within the episode. Plus we get some outstanding transitions in this episode, my favourite easily being the transition from the empty grave to Gene lying in his bed. It's an effective visual story of how Saul meeting Walt and Jesse sealed his fate and metaphorically killed Saul Goodman. The present day storyline does a lot of great things. The first order of business is for Gene to go from being willing to hang up his boots at the end of "Nippy" to fully embracing his return to grifting. The way that this happens is extremely clever. We start in the Gene timeline in an unexpected place as we follow Francesca on her way to the phone call that we hear about in "Quite a Ride". On the other end is Gene, and we get a really well written conversation that catches us up on the fallout from "Breaking Bad". There are some nice little details like hearing about Skyler's deal being successful, finally getting resolution on Huell's fate, and a hilarious gay joke regarding Bill Oakley, who is revealed to have finally found success. But the main impact of this call comes from Francesca's offhand mention that Kim had called, and inquired about if Jimmy was still alive. This moment is great, and we can see hope return to Gene upon hearing this. Maybe there's still a chance for this relationship, and it's this slight chance which leads to Gene reaching out to Kim one more time. While we don't hear what exactly happens, what we do know is that it was a total disaster. Gene's rage-filled response is heartbreaking, and it seemingly burns down any possibility of there being a happy reunion between these two. This devastating moment causes a relapse for Gene. We saw back in "Fun and Games" how Jimmy fully embraced Saul Goodman to help cover up the pain of Kim leaving him. Now in this episode, we see the same thing happen once again. Hurt once again, Gene decides to embrace his inner Saul Goodman to make all of this pain go away, and this leads to him restoring his partnership with Jeff and Buddy. The middle of this episode is classic "Better Call Saul" as we are slowly introduced to another new con with every little detail being revealed to us in immensely satisfying fashion. We get several staples of the show in this period. We have the classic slow paced con reveal, devoid of dialogue and featuring characters deliberately going through their actions as we slowly learn what is going on. Then to contrast that, the scene is followed with a classic montage as we see Gene, Jeff, and Buddy become accustomed to their new scam. It's a joy to watch these scenes of course, but there is a bit of a dark feel to it. Eventually we learn that this isn't just a small-scale con; it's large-scale identity theft. It is the enormous effect on the people being conned that separates this from being harmless Slippin' Jimmy. This is Gene embracing his worst tendencies as Saul Goodman, and his hunger for scamming these people is disquieting to watch. This is especially prevalent towards the end of the episode when Gene ruthlessly continues his con on a cancer patient, being completely unwilling to see the possibility of not conning this guy. Even after there is any way that this con could possibly go off as planned, Gene still pushes ahead aggressively to ensure it happens, going as far as openly breaking into the cancer patient's house. This is important because Gene's con hinges on the fact that the victim is unaware that their information was compromised, but that can't be the case anymore. There's no doubting that Gene is making a boneheaded decision by continuing this, but that is cementing how desperate he is to experience the thrill of a swindle to help him contend with his inner pain. It's Gene's tragic flaw, and I suspect that this will directly lead to his downfall. The final few minutes are surprisingly intense. They capture tension superbly because we can see that Gene is making a mistake and that there will almost certainly be enormous consequences to this mistake. It's saddening to see that Gene might not be redeemable after all and that he always slips back into bad habits. On one hand, we know he deserves whatever is coming for him. But on the other hand, we want to see him overcome his weaknesses and find new happiness. These contrasting emotions create an uneasy sense of suspense as Gene approaches the cancer patient's house (paralleled beautifully with Saul approaching Walt's high school in the past). The episode ends on a fantastic cliffhanger, and the next episode promises to be extremely significant. The Bad: This is another slow episode which might annoy some people. It doesn't bother me though, "Better Call Saul" has always been methodically paced. The Unknown: What happened on Gene's call with Kim? What made him so mad? What did he say to her? Did she reject him once again? Or did they fight because of something different? Did Gene reach Kim at all? It's possible that his rage was because she left and that he now has no way of reaching her. The episode lingers on Marion noticing Gene, Jeff, and Buddy doing something suspicious. How will this pay off later? Will she learn about what is going on? How will this affect the story? Will Gene be able to successfully pull off the scam on the cancer patient? What will go wrong when he attempts it? What will be the consequences? Will he be caught and sent to jail? If he is caught, how will it happen? Best Moment: Gene's call with Kim was emotionally painful, even with the omitted details. Character of the Episode: Gene. Conclusion: "Better Call Saul" continues its consistent run with another excellent episode, this one being another fascinating character study that effectively creates a sense of doom and dread to set up the final two episodes. Everyone will be talking about the Walt/Jesse appearance, but don't let that distract from the fact that this was a great episode even without them. Score: 73
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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