Summary: Jimmy is in serious heat from Cliff but is luckily able to keep his job. Kim has been demoted to doc review by Howard which frustrates Jimmy. Jimmy goes to Chuck to convince him to get Kim her job back, offering to quit the law to get it to happen. Chuck rebuffs him. Nacho needs dead because he is becoming dangerous. Mike doesn't want to kill and offers Nacho a solution that will put Tuco in prison. Mike calls cops in advance and stages a situation to get himself in a fight with Tuco. The cops arrive and arrest Tuco.
The Good: This was a really good episode. It feels refreshing to get an episode this early in the season that isn't dedicated purely to set-up. There were a ton of brilliant scenes and the story felt like it was being told now, not being held back for a later episode. And on top of that, there were a ton of exciting developments which should set up for a very exciting second half of the season. It was great to get some blow off on Jimmy's poor decision to air the commercial without consulting anyone. There was genuine tension when he was facing Cliff and the others as we didn't know if he would be fired. In the end he gets to keep his job, but it's Kim who suffers the most. Jimmy's scene with Kim was also very tense as we didn't know how Kim would react or how she planned to move forward. I like that through every scene Jimmy is in, he is always saying that the commercial was a success, acting as if the results would cover up anything else. And it was set up that he would believe this to be completely logical, making his repetitiveness not annoying, but rather enjoyable as we get to see Jimmy's very different morals get him in some serious trouble every time he brings them up. And then of course there was the big confrontation between Jimmy and Chuck we have all been waiting for. And boy did it deliver. First off, I really enjoyed Jimmy's conflicted feelings for Chuck. He is still angry, but yet he still loves his brother and cares about what happens to him. This is shown nicely in the short scene with Jimmy and the mailbox. That excellently conveyed Jimmy's emotions towards Chuck in a simple manner, setting the stage for when they meet again. Seeing Jimmy help Chuck recover was nice to show the brotherly bond that these 2 used to have. And then it was followed up by a really tense, beautifully written, verbal sparring match between the McGills as Jimmy tries to get Chuck to free Kim, while Chuck tries to tell Jimmy it has nothing to do with him. There was a lot of emotion blown out here by both men and it was such a great scene. There were so many different beats to analyze, but I'll get into those later (see: Best Moment). Kim was excellent in this episode. Seeing her choose to push forward herself and not have Jimmy do anything is very admirable and helps make her likeable. Kim was rather underdeveloped last season, but so far after 4 episodes, we have learned about her determined nature to get things done the right way (which is totally in contrast with Jimmy's ideals) and we have also learned about her extreme loyalty to Jimmy. This time she takes a bullet for Jimmy by not telling Howard that she didn't know Jimmy hadn't consulted Cliff. It's a dumb decision for herself, but its honourable, and that makes us root for Kim to find her way out of this mess that Jimmy got her in. And now we get into the Mike storyline. It's pretty shocking that the Jimmy story had so much to it, despite only being half of the episode. It goes to show how big this episode really was. Anyways, I really liked Mike's story too. His planning scenes with Nacho were fun and had a little bit of that "Breaking Bad" aspect to it as both men plan about how to take care of Tuco. The scene was good at showing us Mike's expertise over Nacho as Mike comes up with several different ways the plan could easily go wrong. The scene did great stuff for Nacho though. We learn the difference between Nacho and Tuco in this episode, ad we get to see that Nacho is a decent person for a drug dealer, compared to the insane rage that Tuco possesses. This helps make Nacho more likeable, which is good since he will likely be appearing a lot more in the show. His story about Dog was very well done, and it even has a connection to Breaking Bad, as Dog was mentioned when Hank was looking for Tuco. I really enjoyed seeing Mike executing his plan against Tuco. We weren't told the plan, which made it very exciting to watch everything play out. Tuco was hilariously, well, Tuco throughout the episode and his interactions with Mike were great. Everything played out very nicely and it was a cool bonus to see Tuco squaring off with Mike by the end of the episode. I think the strongest element of this story though was Mike's actions. He took a half measure to take care of Tuco, which completely contradicts what he told Walt in Breaking Bad. Clearly whatever happened that made Mike realize that half measures are bad hasn't happened yet, and I'm very curious to see what I is that makes Mike realize this. Could this Tuco plan completely backfire on him in the near future? I'm very interested to see where things go from here. It was nice to see some Breaking Bad cameos. Krazy 8 and Lawson appeared in brief roles this episode which was great. These cameos have been handled well as they are used in logical ways and never distract he viewer from the important scenes that are playing out. The Bad: The only flaw with this is that Mike's story lacks tension. We know that nothing too terrible is happening to him since he is around for Breaking Bad. The opening scene does help a little as it gives the sense that something may have gone slightly wrong, but other than that there is little tension to be felt throughout the Tuco scenes. The Unknown: Will there be any unexpected side effects for Mike jailing Tuco? Will Mike and Nacho work together again? Will Tuco get out of jail before Breaking Bad? Or is he stuck there? Will Jimmy end up going to Howard? Is this where his relationship with Kim ends? Best Moment: Jimmy and Chuck battling each other was tremendous. There was a lot of character exploration with that scene too. It was wonderful seeing Jimmy accuse Chuck of being just like him, and sticking to his belief that extralegal shenanigans will get him exactly what he needs whenever he needs it. It fit his character, and it also fits what we have seen from Chuck that he would refuse Jimmy and continue to put himself on a superior level over Jimmy. There was even more great interactions to look at. I enjoyed seeing Jimmy attempting to provoke Chuck to get some kind of reaction, and I loved that Jimmy refused to believe pretty much anything that Chuck said. Chuck constantly rebuffing Jimmy was fantastic and I loved seeing Chuck continuously criticize Jimmy at ever possible chance. There was so much included in a short amount of time with the scene. But better than all that, I think it's fascinating that neither brother is portrayed as the good guy and neither is the bad guy. These exchanges explored some really morally grey areas and highlighted how most arguments are spurred on by both parties being wrong about things. So far the relationship between Jimmy and Chuck has been fascinating, and I look forward to learning more about them. Character of the Episode: Tough to pick in this episode, but I'll go with Mike. Conclusion: This was very enjoyable all the way through. Both Jimmy and Mike's storylines were at a climactic point in this episode and they provided some very gripping and thought-provoking television. This is definitely one of the stronger episode we have seen from this show. Score: 74
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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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