Summary: Jimmy keeps fighting for the Sandpiper case, but the work proves too much for him and Chuck so they go HHM. Howard declines Jimmy a job though and only wants the case so Jimmy refuses to hand it over in anger. Kim goes to Jimmy to try to convince him to give Howard the case. Jimmy discovers that it was Chuck who doesn't want to work with him. Jimmy confronts Chuck who lets out his anger and tells Jimmy he was never proud of Jimmy for becoming a lawyer and felt cheated. Jimmy leaves, disappointed. Mike gets his new job as a bodyguard of an amateur criminal who makes a drug deal with Nacho.
The Good: This was very enjoyable for the most part, but became excellent in the final 10 minutes. This show never quite got me completely hooked into the story because I didn't feel much emotional connection. But this episode finally changed that. The ending of this episode was absolutely devastating and I can say for sure that I'm invested in the story being told. More on that in the next review when I reflect ont he season as a whole. For now, let me get into the actual episode. I'll save the ending for later and I'll start with the Mike storyline. And it was very entertaining in this episode. Mike hasn't done a whole lot in this season, and in this episode he is in a storyline completely on his own, away from Jimmy. And it works brilliantly. His little squabble with Trevor from GTA (Hell yeah Steven Ogg!) was hilarious and featured the brilliant Mike we all know and love. He takes no crap, does his usual calm and collected ass-kicking and even references Breaking Bad with his love for pimento sandwiches (from the episode "Cornered" in season 4). This was the coolest and funniest moment from the episode in my opinion, but I wouldn't say it was the best moment. Keeping on Mike though, we had a nice reintroduction to Nacho here. It's interesting to see Mike and Nacho cross paths, so I'm left to assume that they will get into a storyline together. I enjoyed seeing Nacho again, Michael Mando plays him well and he delivered with his intimidation again. I have a little more to talk about Nacho in "The Unknown". It was funny seeing Pryce attempting to be a criminal and being horribly unthreatening and hilarious. Now onto the Jimmy storyline. I liked that we got some continuity on the Sandpiper case despite it very clearly not being the focus here as there were a couple other key emotional moments that I'm glad were focused on instead. I enjoyed seeing Jimmy in the courtroom against Schweikart and his excitement at working with Chuck was brilliantly conveyed and also made the shock ending all the more tragic. The first emotional moment that was focused on that I enjoyed was Chuck returning to HHM. This would be an easy moment to gloss over but I'm very happy that the writers decided to show this. It was a moment to make the characters happy before what comes next and there was a lot of good symbolism and storytelling shown there. We get to see Jimmy caring for Chuck to contrast with Chuck's extreme selfishness that he demonstrates at the end. We also see that Kim is at Jimmy's side which is very important. It was nice to get more of an idea of what is going on with Kim who has been mostly in the background thus far. She had a logical and well-written story in this episode with confronting her boss and showing her loyalty to Jimmy. The continuation of the Jimmy vs Howard conflict was very good. We got a huge scene here that was very powerful. Bob Odenkirk did a spectacular job with this episode and this was one of his standout scenes. He portrays Jimmy's disappointment and rage outstandingly and the scene had true venom to it and I couldn't take my eyes off the screen the entire time. The rare usage of swear words really pays off here too. If somebody drops an f-bomb it will make an impact, and Jimmy calling Howard a "pig f***er" felt like a huge moment and was a great way for Jimmy o let out his frustrations. His later scene where he vented to Kim was good too, though that was played for more of a comedic effect. I thought that would be the best moment of the episode when I watched it for sure. But it would be topped just 10 minutes later with a spectacular ending scene between Jimmy and Chuck. Take everything I praised the last scene for and amplify it by 100 for this one; it was just that damn good. The acting was superb, the emotions could be felt in every line each character said and I couldn't take my eyes away for even a second. The scene was incredibly heart-wrenching and executed a brilliant plot twist which will surely be a major stop on Jimmy's road to becoming Saul. It helps that I never saw the twist coming until Jimmy started accusing Chuck himself. The episode did a good job of making me forget Chuck's mystery phone call by adding so many other good scenes. I was still reeling from the Jimmy/Howard scene and wasn't able to piece things together quick enough and so that final scene really hit at home. This whole season has developed all of these characters very slowly, but that all paid off here brilliantly as everyone had a role to play that satisfied the 8 episode build-up to this episode. The Bad: Not much to put here. I thought the big Mexican guy running away from Mike was a little bit much for that scene, though it was funny. Kim hasn't received much of a role in the story so far. She needs some more fleshing out. The Unknown: How will Chuck's betrayal effect Jimmy? What will he do now? Will we see Saul emerging by next episode? What will happen with the Sandpiper case? Will Jimmy cave and give it to HHM? Or will he stubbornly keep I to spite Chuck? We are told that Nacho's real name is Ignacio. This raises a lot of questions because the name "Ignacio" is mentioned in breaking Bad by Saul when Jesse and Walt kidnap him. So clearly Nacho will play a major role in something that happens in the future involving Jimmy. I wonder what that will be? Best Moment: That ending twist was an incredible moment. Character of the Episode: It's a tough decision. I think Jimmy edges out Chuck for this one. Bob Odenkirk was more impressive by a slight bit for me. Conclusion: A fantastic episode that delivered a lot of emotional pay-off which was wonderfully built up to throughout the season. This makes everything else better by default and has completely hooked me into the show. Bring on the season finale and season 2! Score: 78
2 Comments
Joe Y
4/30/2022 04:22:44 pm
I think in many ways, the final scene between Chuck and Jimmy is still one of the major pivot points of this series. I find Chuck very much in the wrong. He's resentful and hateful of the brother who took care of him when he really needed it in ways that are clearly beyond Jimmy's personal flaws and more have to do with the fact that he was their mother's "favorite" and he always was so good with people (adding another layer of tragedy to it--he *could* have been a great lawyer). At the same time, though Chuck may have a role in Jimmy's moral disintegration, there is a sense that Chuck may have been right about him on some level. Whether his transformation into Saul Goodman was a self-fulfilling prophecy by Chuck or always was in the cards is ultimately left up to the viewer. I think it's a really clever way of making the whole show that much more engaging.
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Aaronic
5/1/2022 04:06:10 pm
I love the decision to use Chuck as a major antagonist for Jimmy in these early seasons. I totally agree that his influence on Jimmy's transformation into Saul enriched the whole series, and this final scene was probably the moment that I realized that I was watching another great TV show, not just a very good one. I agree with Chuck being in the wrong, but I can't help but understand and sympathize with him all the same. Season 2 did an especially good job of making me question whether to side with Jimmy or Chuck. What a fascinating character Chuck turned out to be. I love your final point. Its storytelling depth like this which makes Better Call Saul feel so special.
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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