Summary: Jimmy takes Kim on a surprise trip to an open house where they smooth things over between them for the moment. Jimmy begins working as Saul Goodman and tackles countless cases quickly, going as far as to break down an elevator to stage a meeting with Suzanne to discuss clients. Nacho's threatened by Gus who orders him to gain Lalo's trust to learn his intentions. After an unfortunate drug bust which ends with Domingo arrested, Nacho sneaks into the stash house to get rid of the cocaine before the DEA can find it, earning Lalo's respect. Mike has started drinking again and lashes out at Kaylee after being reminded of his guilt. After Jimmy leaves court, he's picked up by Nacho.
The Good: This was probably one of the funniest episodes of the show. The opening sequence was hilarious, and it was edited to perfection. It's goofy fun that we don't normally see from "Better Call Saul", but it fit right in with the changing dynamics of the show. The rest of this episode had plenty of moments that continued the comedic tone, whether it was the comical way that Domingo was busted by the cops or Jimmy's overly dramatic acting as he stages an elevator breakdown to finish up some cases with Suzanne. It was a refreshing change of pace, and made this episode pretty memorable. The infusion of comedy and drama has become less frequent with this show as it has gone on due to the show's darker tone in the past few seasons. However, it's telling of how good these writers are that they are able to squeeze in these laughs without taking away from the serious tone that permeates much of this episode. But that's not to say that this episode can't be serious. Instead, it seems to take pleasure in mixing the serious with the comedic. Take the ending cliffhanger as an example. This is a huge moment for the show as Jimmy and Nacho have reunited for the first time in almost 40 episodes, finally beginning Jimmy's journey into the criminal underworld. The show understands the significance of this moment - the entire 50% off opening sequence provides a direct link from Jimmy to the Nacho storyline as a wonderful piece of foreshadowing - and the scene is shot in a dramatic way. Yet we still have the joke with Nacho refusing to allow Jimmy to enter his car with an ice cream cone. It's a brilliant case of humour mixed with a serious tone, and somehow it doesn't feel jarring since my emotional reaction flowed naturally throughout the scene. Jimmy's storyline was terrific in this episode. There is a wonderful open house sequence that may seem like a complete waste of time on paper. But in execution, it turns into a wonderful exploration of the Jimmy/Kim relationship, giving the characters some time to get past the troubles that came from Jimmy's change into Saul Goodman. I thought that it was telling how Kim refused to work with Jimmy when he was trying to sell her an apology, only coming around on their trip to the open house when they start messing around and ignoring their day-to-day life. It's clear that these two love each other and that there are still plenty of reasons for Kim to stick with Jimmy. But there's still conflict bubbling under the surface that needs to be explored. The remainder of Jimmy's story focuses on him enjoying his new life as Saul Goodman. He's a force in the courtroom, going from person to person and concluding cases as casually and flippantly as he possibly can. And how wonderful was that single shot of him in the courtroom? This show never stops with its innovative cinematography to add a little bit of extra flavour to the scenes. What's evident from the two Saul Goodman sequences is that Jimmy loves this new life. He's free to be himself like never before, scheming and conning his way to success while still serving his clients. This is the lifestyle he's dreamed of and it tastes just as sweet as he imagined. But it's going to be short-lived. Saul Goodman is destined to be drawn into life as a criminal, despite what Jimmy may want. The dropped ice cream cone at the end of the episode is symbolic of this. Before Jimmy is able to fully enjoy the wonders of his new lifestyle, he's going to be thrown out of his depth, and once that happens there is no going back. And it looks like that time is now. This episode spent a lot of time on Nacho's storyline, which was done very well. Gus' chilling threat early in the episode set the tone very well for Nacho. He wants nothing more than to go on living quietly, but with Gus' veiled threat on his father, he has no choice but to do some of the riskiest and most reckless stuff in order to gain Lalo's trust. Nacho isn't given very many lines of dialogue, yet it's always clear what his intentions are and what the inner conflict is that he's dealing with. The emphasis on visual storytelling is "Better Call Saul" playing to its strengths. Furthermore, what makes Nacho so engaging to watch is that we don't have to be told to sympathize with him. He's such a morally grey character and it would be easy for the show to try to force us to like him. But the show never does that. Instead we choose to care about his internal struggles without there being any telegraphed attempts to get us to like him, and that makes this story all the more satisfying. On top of that, we get an outstanding sequence where Nacho tries to sneak the cocaine out of the stash house. We understand why he's doing it (to gain Lalo's trust) but it still seems like a stupid and scary idea. This scene mixes the nail biting tension of Nacho getting caught with some wonderful levity as Lalo commentates the whole escapade, resulting in a unique and immensely enjoyable sequence that sticks to this episode's theme of blending in humour with drama. The last storyline to dive into is Mike's. Mike had a quiet episode, but still a very effective one. We get to see Mike fall back into his drinking habits, and the guilt over what he did to Werner is evidently eating him alive. Jonathan Banks communicates this all so perfectly, and the tragic scene where he lashes out at Kaylee is hard to watch. The poor girl is only wanting to learn more about her father, but her attempts to do so bring Mike's guilt over what happened to both Werner and Matty to the surface, and that has dire consequences. I'm not sure where Mike goes after this, but it should be interesting to see what he has to do to resolve his inner dilemma. The Bad: I don't think there was any problem with the content we got in this episode. It was all very good stuff. But when put together, something about this episode felt off. There are so many storylines going on, and everything didn't quite flow in this episode. Things felt disjointed, without a focused story pushing things forwards. It's here where the episode's biggest strength (its humour) becomes its weakness, as the humour ends up only adding to what already feels like a pretty cluttered episode. Every individual scene worked, though the overall package felt like it was missing the focus it needed to really deliver. The Unknown: What is Lalo planning to do about Gus? Hector told him to go after Gus' money. How does he plan to do this? I liked that we got to learn how Domingo got his nickname. It was a harmless bit of fanservice that did actually fit in the episode. I wonder if this arrest is what leads to Domingo becoming a DEA informant. I really appreciate that the show has been quietly developing Domingo in the background. Will we actually see him become the Krazy 8 that we know from "Breaking Bad"? What does Nacho want with Jimmy? Does this have to do with Lalo's plans for Domingo? I suspect that Nacho will want to recruit Jimmy to get him out of custody. Best Moment: Nacho getting the cocaine out of the stash house. A wonderfully original sequence that was shot perfectly and blended humour and drama in a tremendously fun way. Character of the Episode: Nacho. Conclusion: This ended up being a great episode that finally merged Jimmy's story to the cartel story. The use of humour was a highlight of the episode, and there was plenty of interesting character exploration to set up the remainder of the season. 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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