Summary: In flashbacks, Gene recovers from fainting and takes a taxi ride but is alarmed when the driver keeps looking at him. He gets out of the taxi ahead of time and walks away. In the present, Jimmy learns about Chuck's death and goes into silent grieving. Howard blames himself for Chuck's death and Jimmy goes along with it, coldly dismissing him. Nacho disposes of the pills, but Gus has put a tracker on Nacho's car and Victor sees him do it. Mike infiltrates Madrigal and turns his fake job of security consultant into a real one as he points out the facility's security issues.
The Good: As expected, this episode heavily focuses on the aftermath of Chuck's death and it is very powerful stuff. Jimmy's initial shock reactions are sad and powerful and the scenes with Jimmy and Kim do well to demonstrate Jimmy's grieving process and how shook up h is after losing Chuck. The subdued nature of Jimmy's grieving is terrific and makes a lot more sense than actual tears considering the bad terms the two brothers were on before Chuck died. This leads to ta shocking development at the end though (see: Best Moment) as Jimmy takes some major steps towards becoming Saul Goodman as he coldly brushes past Chuck's death and tries to move on quickly, clearly still bothered by Chuck's final words with him. As expected, this episode did a fantastic job with the little details. I loved the callback to Chuck sitting on the bench and being afraid of the transformer from "Rico" back in season 1. It fit the story because it's entirely logical for someone in grieving to reminisce over recent memories, and that memory likely sticks with Jimmy since it was one of the last memories that Jimmy had of Chuck before their relationship was destroyed. I also love how Chuck's face and body is never shown in this episode, which is a terrific way of symbolizing Jimmy's lack of closure as well as his alienation from Chuck which explains his bizarre reaction at the end of the episode. Lastly, I loved that they played the Sicilienne song during Chuck's funeral, which was the same song that Chuck played on his piano back in "Cobbler". The other storylines were also very well done. Mike's storyline as really fun to follow and I'm very thankful for that as it keeps the episode from becoming overly depressing. I enjoyed seeing Mike do what he does best as he monitors Madrigal's security and tells them how to improve it. The entire sequence of him exploring the facility was really well done and enjoyable to watch. The most fascinating part is that we have no idea what he is planning to do and we come up with all of these possible explanations in our head until the show reveals to us that Mike is only doing his job. It's a funny twist and fits Mike's character as well as he seems to be lacking a purpose without a job. Nacho's story was very good too and he appears to have gotten himself in deep trouble. The scenes were incredibly tense as Nacho is essentially surrounded and watched by enemies at all times. We want him to get out and be free, but as expected Nacho isn't careful enough when disposing the pills and Victor takes notice, essentially putting a target on Nacho's head. While this episode didn't accomplish a whole ton, it does let us know that Nacho is in huge danger and his story will be very exciting to watch this season. Gene's scene this season was great at always. There was so much tension seeing Gene go about his life as so many moments teased him being found out, like the moment with the secretary and the taxi driver. The show has done such a good job of demonstrating how paranoid Gene has become because he is so afraid to face the consequences. But he is already facing the consequences and is living in a prison of his own paranoia. The Gene story is building up really well and I'm excited to spend more time with him. The Bad: The opening shot of Jimmy and Kim with the fire burning was a bit too cheesy for my liking. The Unknown: Did the taxi driver recognize Gene or was it just Gene's paranoia? What will Gus do to Nacho now that he likely knows that he was involved with Hector's stroke? What has happened to Jimmy? He went full Saul Goodman in that final scene, is it just him repressing Chuck or has he taken Chuck's words about not being remorseful anymore to heart? Best Moment: Howard comes to confess the truth to Kim and Jimmy and Patrick Fabian delivers his best scene yet. Howard's guilt is powerful and it earns our sympathy as we can understand that Howard respects Chuck and treats him like a friend, so to see him feel responsible for his death hurts. But the scene takes a dark turn as Jimmy coldly replies "that's your cross to bear", showing no empathy and earning shocked looks from Kim and Howard. Then, Jimmy goes about his business, feeding his fish and making coffee, just like the opening sequence of the episode, showing that he has moved on. They even added in a whistle, mirroring the scene in "Breaking Bad" where Walt was whistling, showing to Jesse that he really wasn't bothered by Drew Sharpe's death. This was just terrific and powerful storytelling and it gives us a crucial hint as to why Jimmy will become Saul in the future. Character of the Episode: Howard. Conclusion: This was the usual slow paced opener, but the storytelling was still terrific and there was a lot of emotion in seeing the reactions to Chuck's death. While this won't be remembered as one of the best episodes, this was a strong start to season four. Score: 67
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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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