Summary: Jimmy goes on a bus ride and writes postcards the entire time. He returns to Kim and they prepare to enact the plan. Kim is executing a con, as Jimmy will pose as the people of Huell's hometown Coushatta, who all love him and don't want him imprisoned. Kim pressures the attorney and the judge with fake letters and Huell is ultimately allowed to get no jail time. The con rekindles Jimmy and Kim's relationship. Kim gains a desire to do more conning and tells Jimmy that they will do another one. Mike lets his guys go to a strip club. Kai causes trouble again and a drunk Werner reveals too much information to another man. Mike isn't pleased and reports it to Gus but says it won't be a problem. Nacho is running the Salamancas' business himself now but is secretly planning to skip town with his father. However Lalo Salamanca arrives to monitor Nacho's business.
The Good: Much like "Fall" last season, this episode was coated in dread. I was on-edge the entire time watching it and the tension never really diffused as all of the central characters were placed in a position where their plans are setting up for failure and disaster. Jimmy and Kim's story was the central focus of the episode, fitting after all of the set-up last week, and I think their story was the strongest, unsurprisingly. The con that Kim came up with to get Huell out of his situation was very fun to watch. The scenes were slowly paced but they were extremely well-crafted (again, unsurprisingly), and also just delightful to watch with a lot of fun moments. Jimmy's Cajun accent, Huell being treated as Santa Claus and the return of the film crew were extremely fun and added a lot to the experience. Of course that teaser sequence was classic "Better Call Saul" by showing us a character doing something we don't fully understand with some fun moments and very good scene construction. But the storyline never feels too happy and pleasant as there is always tension present. With the season nearing its conclusion and Kim and Jimmy's relationship on rocky ground, it felt like something was bound to go wrong. The amount of focus on Ms. Ericsen only increased these feelings as I was constantly nervous that she would figure out something and get both Kim and Jimmy in huge trouble. The story was paced slowly, but with fun moments and tense moments both, it became really engaging. The best part of the Kim and Jimmy storyline was of course what happened to their relationship. I, along with most of the internet, suspected that Kim and Jimmy's relationship would end soon after Kim saves Jimmy, but surprisingly, "Better Call Saul" swerved in a new direction with Kim and I really love it, but more on that later (see: Best Moment). I do like that the show went with the unexpected and reignited the Jimmy/Kim relationship with a con. This made sense too as their relationship was always the most passionate when these two were conning others as Viktor and Giselle. It's a great call-back and is a logical way to bring them back together. However, this can't possibly be good for Kim, who I am genuinely scared for now. Her career has hit the roof and now she is taking a massive risk by working with Jimmy, so there is genuine fear that she will lose everything because of their relationship, which I think is a much better story than having them just slowly drift apart. Leave it to this show to still surprise and impress me. There were some specific scenes which I really enjoyed. Mrs. Nguyen and Jimmy briefly talking about Jimmy's problems with Kim was a nice scene and I appreciate seeing Mrs. Nguyen help Jimmy out, after all they have known each other for a good while now. Kim has a lot of great scenes in this episode. I liked that she keeps the Zafiro bottle cap in her office, showing how much the exciting cons with Jimmy meant to her. I also liked the scene with Kevin and Paige as it effectively illustrated that Kim is starting to lose interest again, while also letting us understand why as what they are doing is pretty boring. Mike's story was much better in this episode, as the possibilities have opened up for where his storyline is heading. I initially thought it would just be Kai who is an issue and that Mike may end up killing him as a first kill, but that would have been pretty flat, predictable and inconsistent with what we have seen of Mike so far, as he has always been avoiding the kill option. But now by having not only Kai, but also Werner make a fatal error, it feels like the lives of all of the Germans are in danger here. Mike doesn't want to kill them, but he may be forced to, which is much more interesting for his character, and will likely help him make the big change from BCS Mike to BB Mike. Furthermore, I care about Werner after he got some great scenes to bond with Mike, so I'm more engaged with the story overall. Lastly, I get to Nacho's story which was excellent. The first sequence with Nacho was an effective way to show us what has changed in his lifestyle since we last saw him. He runs the Salamanca operation now and has everything, a big house, girls and tons of money. But Nacho doesn't enjoy it, as he is still stuck being somebody he doesn't want to be, ripping out earrings and acting touch. When he gets home he feels deflated and can only look at some fake IDs to get some hope, promising an escape and a new life on the horizon. But that all goes out the window at the end of the episode with the introduction of Lalo, another Salamanca for Nacho to contend with, making him feel more trapped than ever, still unable to escape. Lalo was terrific in his brief scene and immediately has a presence. He is so cheerful and charming in his personality, and yet he is chilling and has a terrifying atmosphere around him, making him an ideal villain for the show. I especially loved the introduction to Lalo as we hear some friendly music inside El Michoacano, but we know something bad has happened. Domingo and the cook are sitting at a table, silent and unmoving, which is chilling in itself as none of them dare to speak a word. It's a great introduction to Lalo and lets us know everything we need to know about who he is. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. The Unknown: Why was Lalo sent to Nacho's operation now? What happened that required his presence? What are his real motives? What is going to happen to Kim now that she is going to be conning more regularly again? Will her relationship with Jimmy persist? More interestingly, having Kim turn to her darker desires does actually make her fate a little more unclear. I could legitimately see her working alongside "Saul Goodman" now, so perhaps a break-up isn't on the horizon after all. Or this is all just a big red herring. Either way, I know I will be satisfied by what happens. Best Moment: Kim approaches Jimmy at the end of the episode with a desire to con once more. Jimmy does his usual shtick where he says he won't do anything questionable again. But with Kim joining him, there is nobody around to keep him in line, which could spell disastrous results for everybody. It's a scary and foreboding scene because of that and a lot more effective. Additionally, I loved seeing how turned on Kim was by all of the conning, and her desire to do more felt significant, and it felt genuine. Great storytelling. Character of the Episode: Kim. Conclusion: This was a really strong episode, coated with tension, and it also puts all of the central cast in precarious positions for their stories, as it feels that one wrong move will send everything crashing down. This episode was really enjoyable to watch, and did a great job of establishing the show's future. Score: 71
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Summary: Many months have passed. Kim and Jimmy have grown apart as Kim settles in at Schweikart and Cokely as Jimmy continues to sell burner phones. Hector has woken up with his mind intact, so Gus halts his treatment to prevent him from getting better. Mike's worker crew continues building the superlab but an accident sets them back. Huell knocks out an undercover cop who was arguing with Jimmy, not knowing he was a cop. Huell is told he will get 2.5 years of prison so Jimmy goes to Kim for help. Kim reluctantly agrees to help Jimmy with Huell and gets to work, but she refuses to do it his way.
The Good: This was another really well-executed episode. It has been a quiet season for "Better Call Saul", but the way the show has been put together continues to amaze me. This episode was entirely set-up, but the storytelling was incredible and the episode had me engaged with an almost melancholy tension which was ever-present throughout the episode. The opening montage at the beginning was outstanding, quite possibly the show's best montage. I usually tend to be indifferent towards timeskips because they very rarely satisfy me, but this is a rare case of a timeskip being executed perfectly. Instead of skipping all of the development which characters undergo throughout a timeskip, this episode began with a montage which showed us the complete story of Kim and Jimmy's relationship across those several months in a very impactful way. Their relationship has gone cold ever since they branched out in the last episode, and the montage was a heartbreaking show of how rarely they interact with each other as they go through with their normal life. I love the added touch of a black bar in between both Kim and Jimmy throughout the entire montage which highlighted how split they have become. The ending moment was particularly poignant for me as both Kim and Jimmy sleep facing away from each other, not even speaking to each other. Then in what I think was a beautiful piece of foreshadowing, Kim fades into the darkness as Jimmy opens his eyes in total silence. This was just tremendously well done. The episode didn't stop there though and immediately followed up with another beautiful sequence as Jimmy welcomes somebody into a building which he is thinking about renting, showing the person around with his normal high energy. At first I thought it was Kim, but it became clear after there were no responses that it wasn't her. For a moment I even thought it was Jimmy alone trying to possibly recite what he would say to Kim to try to win her back for Wexler-McGill. But instead it was revealed to be Huell, who delivered some funny lines about being a lawyer. It was a good reveal, but more importantly it made me understand how much Jimmy and Kim's relationship fell apart. Ordinarily Jimmy would be showing this location to Kim, and yet he likely didn't even tell her about it as he chose to show Huell around instead. Furthermore, it seems that Jimmy doesn't even really consider getting Kim back, having resigned himself to the fact that Kim is practicing elsewhere. Surprisingly though, Jimmy compares his new office to Kim's in a small moment, almost as if he is trying to find a place better than hers. Perhaps a small part of him is still hopeful that Kim will work with him, and that's really sad to see. The central conflict introduced in this episode was really good too. The tense confrontation between Jimmy and the cop was pretty tense, but it was resolved in hilarious fashion as Huell just stumbles by and knocks him out. But a terrible set of conveniences leaves Huell incriminated with a potential 2 and a half years of jail time. This is a really logical story to tell and it's a good way to put a highlight on the deterioration of Kim and Jimmy's relationship as they are now forced to interact and in no way do they come off as lovers anymore. A far cry from how they were together in the early parts of the season. As an aside, I love that this slow deterioration was hinted at last season where Kim and Jimmy did appear to be drifting apart before the harsh reality of Kim's accident put them back on the right path. Their conversation in Kim's office was great and I really appreciated Rhea Seehorn's acting as she learns about what Jimmy has really been doing and asks him about him, only for him to ignore her and for her to simply brush it off. She doesn't even seem to care anymore as the two have them have essentially been living apart for the last few months anyways. I enjoyed Kim and Jimmy pursuing the case together. Kim had a terrific scene as she argued with a prosecutor about the Huell case and she unexpectedly and to take a look at who Jimmy has really become. She's evidently bothered by it and I'm interested to what she will do about it. Kim hasn't changed on her morals and I cab I especially loved her refusing to tear down another upstanding man. Regarding Jimmy's plot though, it seems eerily similar to his ploy which he used to take down Chuck, which highlights another great dimension to his character: he hates upstanding law enforcers because they remind him too much of his brother, which is an excellent motive to make his transformation into Saul more believable. Speaking of Saul, this episode was the first where I noticed that Jimmy's behaviour was more like Saul than it was like Jimmy, showing how far along the road to Saul he has gone. I really enjoyed the short Gus scene in this episode. The episode gave us a crucial piece of information about his feud with Hector as we learn that Hector could have potentially made a full recovery but Gus is keeping him in the chair. Giancarlo Esposito was terrific again as he subtly showed his joy that Hector was fully conscious in his current form, and he was chilling as he left Hector in such a disabled form, quite possibly the cruelest thing we have seen him do thus far. This works really well as it also makes me look back more fondly at his speech int he previous episode which sets up this decision which Gus makes. There were a few other scenes I really liked in this episode. I loved the sequence where we were shown how the workers get transported to the superlab. I was wondering how they would be transported and it was good to get some confirmation. Additionally, I loved the scenes with Jimmy at Schweikart and Cokely as he started off as the charming Jimmy that Kim grew to love, but he soon lets his hatred of the place that took Kim away from him come to fruition as he badgers Schweikart about more expensive vacation trips than the ones being planned. The Bad: The Mike story just doesn't interest me very much. The storytelling is fine, but there is nothing that really makes me care and we aren't learning anything new about Mike's character. Perhaps this is leading to a big moment where Mike finally decides against ever using half measures, but as of now, it doesn't do very much for me. I'm disappointed that Nacho was absent again. He was such an important part of the first four episodes, so it feels weird that he has just been absent for three successive episodes. It's especially disappointing for him to not be seen in such an important episode which sped through time. I would be interested in seeing what he has been up to, but sadly it appears to have been skipped unless we get another montage, or something of the sort next week. The Unknown: What are Kim's plans to get Huell away from jail? Why did she pick up all of those art supplies at the end of the episode? Best Moment: So many moments were well done, but I'll pick the opening montage because of the sheer skill that was used to put it together. Character of the Episode: Kim. Conclusion: This was a great set-up episode, and it seems like a normal thing to get at least one exceptional set-up episode per season with this show. The exploration of the sad state of Kim and Jimmy's relationship in this episode was terrific and carried this to becoming one of the season's best episodes. Score: 71 Summary: A flashback shows Jimmy deciding to pursue law to impress Kim. In the present, Kim decides to join up as partner with Schweikart and Cokely, bringing Mesa Verde there so she can have help. Jimmy learns the news and is hurt that his dream of Wexler-McGill restarting has been ruined, but he tells Kim that it's fine anyways. Jimmy reignites his burner phone business and starts by getting revenge on the three teenagers who mugged him previously. Werner provides Mike with a team to start putting together the superlab and Mike organizes a place for them to stay. Gus visits Hector, whose condition has worsened.
The Good: This was another really strong episode, highlighted by the duelling Kim and Jimmy storylines coming together in a meaningful way. Kim's story was solid here. She tried to just force herself to keep working on Mesa Verde, but her desires are pointing elsewhere. Now she has fully acknowledged it, and realizes that she can't keep going on like this, and so she actively makes a move to repair her problem, and that move is joining Schweikart and Cokely. This conflict within Kim was a good story and the resolution in this episode is solid. But the most fascinating part about Kim's story this season is how it has managed to make a huge impact in Jimmy's story. Kim following her dreams for her career has sadly crushed Jimmy's hopes of reinstating Wexler-McGill once he gets his law license back. It's easy to understand why Kim would make this decision and it's also easy to understand why Jimmy is hurt by this. It's a sign of good character drama for us to understand the impact of a development such as this without needing to have anything explained. Jimmy's reaction to this news is one of the best moments of the episode. He excuses himself and we are treated to a fantastic and brief moment as Jimmy feels sick to lose his dream, which he became determined to accomplish just one episode ago. These emotions are undercut with the repeating sound of knives hitting the cutting board, allowing us to easily visualize the impact that this reveal has on Jimmy. But Jimmy swallows his emotions once again and acts as excited as always, telling Kim to go for the opportunity so she can be happy. It's nice to see Jimmy being so selfless for Kim, but since their relationship is pretty much fated to end in a split, the scene becomes tragic as yet another log has been added to the fire which we know will burn down their relationship. Jimmy's hopes for a future in law with Kim were the only things keeping him from breaking out into Slippin' Jimmy again. But the moment they are turned to dust, Jimmy immediately pushes forward, giving himself no time to grieve as he settles on expanding his cell phone business in a big way, committing to his questionable life after seemingly taking a bit of a reprieve in the last episode. Jimmy could have been doing better things, but Howard's sad state as well as Kim's new job have prevented Jimmy from breaking away from his normal habits. The final scene was a thing of beauty and is one of the most unsettling scenes of "Better Call Saul" yet. Jimmy's revenge on the boys who beat him was cathartic of course, but Jimmy ended up going so much farther than expected to regain his reputation as a con man who is not to be disrespected. The tension in that final scene was terrific, created from some exert cinematography and sound design, as well as the fact that we aren't entirely sure what Jimmy's plan is for the three teenagers. What I did know for certain however was that this is the darkest and coldest we have seen Jimmy so far in the series, and Saul Goodman seems to just be a few steps away from where we are currently. The flashback sequence in this episode was really good, just like last episode's flashforward. The scene didn't tell us anything we knew already, but it reminded us that Jimmy did everything in his law career for Kim, ensuring that we understood the full significance of Kim wanting to break away from Jimmy. Furthermore, the opening sequence also bookended significant developments just like the previous episode. But whereas that one bookended the beginning of Saul Goodman with the ending, this episode bookends the first steps of Jimmy's relationship with Kim with what may be the first step towards the end of their relationship. There were a few other really good scenes spliced through Jimmy's storyline. I liked that Jimmy and Kim had a proper conversation regarding him seeing a shrink, as it properly rounded out that loose thread while also letting Jimmy explain how he isn't the type of guy to wallow in his misery like Howard. Speaking of Howard, he shared another terrific scene with Jimmy as he explains how his firm is going downhill rapidly. It's easy to understand how this effects Jimmy, who has a long history with HHM, but I really like that Jimmy tells Howard to move forward and to stop being so afraid and depressed in a very matter-of-fact way, sacrificing Howard's opinion of him to actually help him out a bit. Lastly, I loved seeing Jimmy learn of Mrs. Strauss' death, as it allowed us to see how Jimmy normally should be grieving, in the way he didn't grieve when Chuck died. But what's more fascinating is why Jimmy is so effected by Mrs. Strauss' death. Mrs. Strauss represents Jimmy's love for elder law as she was his first elderly client, and losing her allows Jimmy to reflect on how his life was when he was a lawyer and momentarily makes him consider doing more law work despite it being against the law. He may have resisted this time, but it's only a matter of time before he gives in, forges a new identity and becomes the most famous "criminal" lawyer around. Mike's storyline was solid. I enjoyed seeing him preparing the housing quarters for the new team coming in, doing the picky work which he does best. I also liked him reconciling with Stacey and also letting us know that he is done with the group therapy sessions. After all, Mike is like Jimmy and does best to push forward with his life instead of letting his emotions out. Gus had a tremendous scene in this episode as he lays out a long speech to the comatose Hector. While I do have my problems with Gus (see: The Bad), I thought this scene was extremely well done with stellar acting from Giancarlo Esposito and a chilling atmosphere provided by a combination of strong dialogue, the aforementioned acting and a dark use of colour and atmosphere. As I've said before, I can always count on at least one scene in a "Better Call Saul" episode to be cinematically mesmerizing. The Bad: It's hard to care about the superlab story sadly. While it is cool to see how everything came to be in "Breaking Bad", the problem is that I have no emotional investment to it. There isn't any real character work happening in the storyline which detracts from its overall importance to the story. I've enjoyed Mike's stories in season 1-3 because his character was the primary focus. Until that happens with this storyline, I can't be bothered to care about what is happening, especially with things involving the German work team. Gus has been a little bit disappointing this season because he doesn't really have a proper arc. Last season it was enjoyable to see him turn the tables on Hector, but that is done now. Here we get more about Gus' patience and desire for the petty torture he will ultimately inflict upon Hector. This is good stuff, but the problem is that we already know this from "Breaking Bad". If "Better Call Saul" came first, this wouldn't be a problem, but since it didn't, the scene ended up feeling like just a big easter egg. I don't have a problem with easter eggs as I have enjoyed them a lot in this show, but I don't want significant moments to be built for the purpose of easter eggs. I want to see something more from Gus than just his hatred for Hector. The Unknown: It seems likely that Kai will do something wrong. What will happen? Who will face the consequences? Jimmy is holding everything in. He has gone through a lot and yet he hasn't spilled anything. What will cause him to break? Where is Nacho? Is he still healing? It's been two episodes without him. I think it's fair to say that the Gus and Mike story is lesser without him being involved in some way, since his excellent character work and murky future make the story more interesting. Best Moment: There are many to choose from for different reasons. As memorable as the Gus scene and the ending scene were, I think I'll go with the smaller moment of Jimmy losing everything he has been pushing to obtain. The brief moment of Jimmy suffering while the knives cut loudly int he background was very powerful. Character of the Episode: Jimmy. Conclusion: Despite some weaknesses in the Gus/Mike side of the story stemmed by a lack of the relatable Nacho, this episode was another excellent instalment. Jimmy's descent and his relationship with Kim have been getting the screen time they deserve and its made for a pleasurable viewing. Score: 69 Summary: Jimmy starts his business selling burner phones to criminals. Kim starts doing public defender work and starts slacking on Mesa Verde. An error goes through and Kim isn't available, which angers Paige. Jimmy works overnight and sells a ton of burner phones, but he is mugged by three teenagers. Jimmy is upset and tells Kim what happened. Jimmy runs into Howard at the court and Howard is in rough shape. Mike calls in people to build Gus' superlab until he finds a proper choice.
The Good: This episode didn't have very many important or climactic scenes, yet it was fantastic. It reminded me of "Rebecca" from season 2, where the episode was carried by perfect character development, editing and storytelling, making it a tremendously strong episode. Jimmy was terrific here and his story was one of the best we have seen him in. I loved his scenes in the store as he set himself up for business and worked hard to ensure that he would be successful. The little traps he set for his first client to ensure that he buys the phone were well thought-out and in character. I was pleased by all of the little schemes that Jimmy invented and they made the scene so much more satisfying to watch. Furthermore, I loved the touch of Jimmy returning to his magic hands gesture which he used back in season to try to get the truck to stop at his store. It was a great little bit of character continuity. The real meat of Jimmy's story came from the splendid montage of him selling burner phones at night. The scene was so well done and the set-up for it was brilliant. I really liked seeing Jimmy committing fully to his illegal side, and having a hell of a time living the life he really enjoys. The scene was wonderful, well-shot and even included a few familiar "Breaking Bad" locations (the laundry place and the Dog House). I also loved how it escalated in tension, especially with the arrival of the biker gang for Jimmy. You felt that it couldn't possibly end well for him, but Jimmy is so good at his job that it goes off without a hitch. It's not until his guard is down that he takes the fall at the hands of two nonthreatening teenagers, which is another bit of strong storytelling. Jimmy is so used to being respected as Slippin' Jimmy, so he genuinely doesn't expect fellow criminals/hustlers to turn on him and it's that assumption which costs him dearly. I love the scenes with Kim too. Before his night out, Jimmy initially wanted to spend the night with Kim, but as she was busy he decided to step out. This proves how Jimmy is still in a major conflict with himself, as it seems he is unable to simply relax in his own mind, constantly trying to keep busy to avoid all of his problems, which ties into his overall story arc this season, which I'll get into a bit later. But back to his scenes with Kim, I think the scene after his night out was really powerful. Both characters show genuine concern for each other and it's a great wake-up call for Jimmy who realizes how unhealthy everything he is doing is. It makes him consider actually visiting a shrink and dialing back on his Saul Goodman persona. But this change in mind is short-lived as a brilliant encounter with Howard changes all of that. Howard is not doing well at all, and the show has done a terrific job of showing how his health has deteriorated as he mourns Chuck and deals with guilt. Seeing the pitiful state Howard is in allows Jimmy to commit to his scheming side, giving him no interest in exploring his feelings and feeling as awful as Howard is right now. His final monologue to the guy at the end is great to show Jimmy setting his mind towards proving himself to the world by forging ahead, the same way he set his mind to please Chuck all those years ago. It's a great story and will hopefully lead to even better things in this season's second half. Kim's storyline was really good as well. She enjoys her PD work and is clearly having a blast practicing criminal law again. But her dreams are cut short as an error in Viola's work forces her to face Mesa Verde again and try to commit herself to the bank once more. But it remains to be seen how long she can keep herself working, but I don't see her involvement with Mesa Verde to remain much longer. Mike's storyline was pretty good too. While there wasn't much of an emotional element to the story, it was put together beautifully and fun to watch. The long montage of the French man being escorted to the laundry was good and set up how difficult it would be to get a man to create a superlab. Yet he is rejected due to his cockiness and need to just net a profit. Instead it's the less professional German who is hired due to how thorough he is and how he treats the task as important. It has a good juxtaposition to see the more thorough worker being hired, while Jimmy, the shortcutter, profits in his storyline. The Bad: Nothing really. The Unknown: What was in the box that Saul grabbed in the cold open? Also where did he tell Francesa to go? Best Moment: The best scene in this episode was the cold open. As good as the rest of the episode was, it didn't really have a standout moment overall, but this cold open was just a ton of fun to see. It was an unexpected surprise to see Saul Goodman in a flash-forward and I was ecstatic to see his office again. The scene wasn't only fan-service however as it ended up being a powerful reminder that Jimmy's path will lead him to being completely emotionally detached from everything, which ties in thematically to what this episode explores about Jimmy's character. Furthermore, I loved seeing Saul reminisce a little, telling Francesca to tell whomever she is going to that Jimmy says hello. It was a sad moment with a lot of power hidden underneath it. Of course the humour scenes were fantastic too and I loved his interactions with Francesca, as they felt straight out of "Breaking Bad". Speaking of "Breaking Bad", I love that the scene was shot on film, the same way that "Breaking Bad" was. It's a great touch. Character of the Episode: Jimmy. Conclusion: This episode was a fantastic character piece for Jimmy with strong side storylines to aid it even more. The show continues to be slow, but the character work remains unmatched, making it easily one of the best television shows to be watching at the moment. Score: 74 Summary: Jimmy takes a new job at a cell phone retailer to avoid Kim's request for him to see a shrink. He finds himself bored at his new job. Kim observes a case at court. Mike lashes out at Henry during group therapy, as he learns that Henry has been lying about his grief. Nacho joins the cousins in attacking the Espinosas who Gus has framed for attacking Nacho. The three of them kill everyone. Gus tells Nacho to rest so he goes back to his father's place. Gus calls Mike since he has a job for him.
The Good: Mike's storyline was the strongest here as he seemingly cuts his ties with everyone at the group therapy. I liked seeing him finally crack and accept that he doesn't belong in group therapy just because of who he is. Mike has always been to himself, so it was only a matter of time until he felt alienated by the depressing and open nature of the group therapy. It's just who he is. Stacey starting to get past Matty and Henry's phony stories don't help Mike either and just fuel his anger until he snaps in a scene which was somewhat reminiscent of Jesse's rant in "Problem Dog" though it doesn't quite have the same impact. Mike has shown desires to live a normal life in season 3, but now that he has it with the Madrigal job and group therapy, he doesn't seem happy. Not only does he snap at group therapy, but his relationship with Stacey worsens and he even mouths off to Gus when they meet at the end of the episode. It seems that he is calling for a life that suits him better, one that helps him deal with the grief of losing his son in the only way that suits him: ignoring the pain inside of him by doing a difficult and dangerous job. Nacho's story was the other stand-out of this episode. Nacho has been the highlight of this season as his struggle has been the clearest out of any of the other characters (see: The Bad). Nacho is trying to be free of cartel life, but he is unable to escape as he has no friends and only enemies who are forcing him to do their bidding. The shootout in this episode was terrific as it demonstrates how dangerous Nacho's current life is as he fights through his injuries to try to fight with the cousins and accomplish what Gus has asked of him. And his reward for his hard work? He gets to rest for a little bit before he gets his next job. Nacho is the easiest character to sympathize with this season and that makes his storyline the strongest and most enjoyable to watch. I hope that he and his father get to make it out of the show alive, though it's hard to see how that could happen at this point. Jimmy's story was pretty good again. With his desire to hustle returning again, the only thing preventing him from going full-on Saul Goodman is his relationship with Kim. Jimmy didn't need to find a new job as he hustles to get his money, but he knows that to keep his credibility with Kim he needs to get a job. Unfortunately for him, the job is a total bore. In the end I presume Jimmy may find himself at a crossroads weighing his pros and cons. Should he pursue his desires as Saul Goodman or pursue a life with Kim? One of these will have to be sacrificed, and sadly we know which one Jimmy will choose. This episode provided some good set-up for this storyline in the season. I liked Kim's story for what it was. In "Lantern" we have learned that Kim always wanted to be a heroic lawyer like Atticus Finch, so logically she is going to try to pursue her desires. Faced with what could be a lifetime of work at Mesa Verde, she now has to discover if that is what she really wants to do. The Bad: This season's drama hasn't been as clear as previous seasons. Characters react and make decisions based off of reasons we don't totally understand and usually have to speculate about. This is because there are always multiple reasons. While this can be a good storytelling device, and I praised it a few episodes ago, this season is relying too much on it. Jimmy, Mike and Kim's storylines all featured this device in this episode and that is too much. We need more normal storytelling like in Nacho's story for the season to fully engage our emotions. This season is also being hurt by having too many storylines. This show is already slow paced, but when we have four different storylines in a single episode which all hardly move forward, things get a bit frustrating. I don't have a problem with each of the individual stories, but when they are all cluttered in a single episode like this, it makes for less satisfying viewing. It was fine when there were only two or three storylines in season 2, but four is too many and it is taking away screen time from Jimmy, who we need to see more of this season. The Unknown: Why was Henry at the group meetings? Was he just really lonely? I presume that Mike won't be going back to the meetings now. What will happen with his relationships with Anita and Stacey? What is Gus' next job for Nacho? And what is his job for Mike? Could he be asking Mike to kill Nacho? I'm curious to see what Gus' next moves are and how both Mike and Nacho factor into this. Was Ira's mentioning of getting a new phone for a new job a backstory of Saul's infamous drawer of phones in "Breaking Bad"? That's a nice little detail. Best Moment: Mike's outburst was the best moment emotionally, but I really enjoyed the sequence of Nacho attacking the compound with the cousins. I appreciate that the show never tried to be bigger than it is as the focus was never on the Salamancas killing everyone, but instead on Nacho trying to help out and survive. The scene was shot beautifully and I loved the Nacho POV coverage of the scene, as it played out almost like reading a book in terms of how we got attached to a single character for an entire sequence. It was classic "Better Call Saul" in terms of directing. Character of the Episode: Mike. Conclusion: This episode had great storytelling as expected, but it was the least satisfying episode in a while. Score: 65 Summary: Victor and Tyrus stage that Arturo and Nacho were attacked by somebody unknown. Nacho is shot multiple times to follow this story. The cousins pick him up and take him to Caldera to save his life. Gus is called by Bolsa who says that they don't want product crossing the border anymore and that Gus should get a supplier. Gus talks to Gale to get him to make product from his end. Mike refuses Jimmy's deal to steal the Hummel, so Jimmy gets Ira to do it for him. Ira almost gets caught so Jimmy has to go bail him out. Kim gives Jimmy Chuck's letter but Jimmy has no real reaction to it, which shocks and hurts Kim.
The Good: This episode was divided into two contrasting halves, the cartel stuff and the main Jimmy/Kim storyline. The contrast was surprisingly effective as somehow the stories had similarly bad things happening to its characters despite the differing stakes. It was handled well, spliced together appropriately and didn't take away from the experience at all for me. Nacho's story was very well executed but it was extremely risky and ambitious. The entire storyline banked on how much we cared about Nacho and if we didn't care, this would have been dull and unsatisfying. Thankfully, the show has done a terrific job of making us like Nacho, so this worked very well. It was emotionally powerful to see Nacho in such a helpless place with nobody to truly help him. The idea that the cousins are the only ones who are on his side at the moment is very good at establishing how lost Nacho is right now, and it also shows how difficult it is for him to escape the cartel life now. It's sad and effective storytelling. The opening scene in particular was extremely well done. Everything was so mysterious and confusing and I had no idea what was going on for a long time, but then the pieces finally came together and Nacho was shot, making the moment feel more significant. "Better Call Saul" is the only show on TV right now where I can always count on watching an impressive cinematic feat in every episode, and that helps it feel special. I also loved seeing Gus manipulate even more. It's great to see all of the set-up that went into the creation of his meth empire in "Breaking Bad", and it also allowed for a tremendously fun cameo from Gale, who was hilariously and impressively singing the elements song. The Jimmy storyline was also tremendously strong. Jimmy is closer than ever to being Saul Goodman and he continued to show that here. He is so determined to get the money for the Hummel that it is off-putting. There are a lot of people who got in his way to try to get him to stop, but he just callously goes through them to get to his goal anyways, no longer giving a damn about what he had to do. He doesn't even care for Mike's reasoning that somebody needs to deserve what their getting, as Jimmy simply wants to get money without any thought about the person he is robbing. It's a disturbing morality and it's sad to see Jimmy like this, but of course it had to be like this since the beginning of the show. This season so far is feeling more tragic than any of the others before, and it seems like a reality check for us watching, to remind us that this does not have a happy ending. The struggles of Nacho mentioned earlier, as well as Kim's in this episode continue to highlight that feeling. Additionally on Kim, she is very clearly being set up for a fall and it is heartbreaking to watch. She is trying so hard to work for Mesa Verde and be successful while also trying to take care of Jimmy, who she loves. But both of them are completely destroying her in this episode. Mesa Verde essentially just piled an absolute ton of work on her lap while she is still fresh off of the car accident. She isn't even being thorough anymore, letting her assistant Viola do work which she isn't even bothering to check herself anymore. And then we add on Jimmy being extremely cold and detached and it's really easy to see the pressure mounting on Kim. The final scene is a breaking point for her as all of her emotions come pouring out all of a sudden (see: Best Moment). I enjoyed the break-in sequence as well as it was very tense. I also loved the cameo of Ira, who was the owner of Vamonos Pest in "Breaking Bad". I was ready to call the cartel story as somewhat bad because Gus didn't seem to plan it out too well as Nacho could have easily died. But then I realized that Gus didn't care for Nacho's life. If Nacho died, then it wouldn't matter to him since it would be another threat taken out, but if he survived, he could be of further help. Gus clearly didn't value Nacho's life at all considering what Nacho did to Hector. The Bad: Nothing really. The episode is very depressing which could be grating on the viewers. The Unknown: What are Kim's feelings on the Mesa Verde expansion? Does she not want to work with them anymore? It appears to be overwhelming for her. Was Chuck's letter authentic? Could it have been made by Kim to lessen the impact on Jimmy? That could be one of the reasons that she cried. Speaking of which, why did she end up crying? The most fascinating part of this show is how a single character action makes sense but it could have 4 or 5 different reasons for why it happened. Best Moment: Kim gives Jimmy Chuck's letter and Jimmy just reads it out casually and isn't effected by it at all. All the while Kim notices how broken Jimmy is and she tears up seeing him like this. It's powerful and heartbreaking television with so many layers. An extremely impressive scene. Character of the Episode: Kim. Conclusion: This was another great episode with layers and powerful emotions. The show has gotten darker and more depressing, and it is hitting the emotions harder than before. Score: 69 Summary: Jimmy goes for a sales interview and is immediately hired after he puts on a great performance, but Jimmy is upset by this an refuses the offer. Kim goes to a meeting arranged by Howard regarding Chuck's will and she lashes out at him for offloading his guilt onto Jimmy. Nacho tells his dad that it's over and seeks to get out of the business. The cousins visit Hector in the hospital and Gus sends a proper specialist for him. Lydia talks with Mike about him doing his job. Arturo tries to take six packets of drugs again but is murdered by Gus. Gus tells Nacho that he knows what he did and takes ownership of him.
The Good: Jimmy's story continues to fascinate me as it progresses. What makes it so enthralling is that we don't fully know how he has dealt with Chuck's death and how it has affected him (see: The Unknown), and that makes his actions unpredictable and fun to analyze. Take the sales scene for example. It's hard to understand why exactly Jimmy decided to do what he did and chose to potentially rob the people who hired him, but that is what makes it so fascinating. There are many different possibilities (Jimmy I reminded of his dad, he's still upset about Chuck, he's torn about what kind of person to be, etc.), but it remains unclear where Jimmy's mind is currently at and what his next moves will be. This pays off spectacularly with Kim's story as Kim's actions are based off of how she interprets Jimmy's actions following Chuck's death. Evidently, Kim believes that Jimmy has been broken by what happened, hence his carefree demeanor continuing on despite such a life-changing event. I initially interpreted her look at Jimmy in the previous episode as one of confusion towards why Jimmy would do something so cold to Howard, but now I see that it was in fact shock for how detached Jimmy has become after everything that happened to him. She believes that Jimmy has been destroyed to the point that he no longer cares and she will stand by him because of this. It should be engaging to see if Kim I accurate in her judgement and if she will face consequences for siding with Jimmy once more. I also really loved how Kim's loyalty for Jimmy led to her viciously attacking Howard at HHM, showing her passion in her beliefs and in Jimmy (see: Best Moment). The other half of the episode with Nacho was very good too. The ending of course was terrific, but I think the build up to it was very good too. I enjoyed the scene between Nacho and his father. It showed that both characters were unwilling to forget their past, as Nacho wouldn't let the relationship with his father go away and his father truly wanted Nacho to get out of the business. Both characters felt sincere and subtle in their wishes and it was well-executed to the point that it made me want to see Nacho escape from his life, which made the final scene with Gus all the more tragic. Additionally, the scenes with Hector in the hospital were very good. The cousins made a welcome appearance and instigated a surprisingly funny scene where Arturo and Nacho spoke to Hector, parodying the idea of people speaking to their loved one while they are in a coma. Only this time Arturo and Nacho were talking about how they were ruling the streets in the Salamanca name. I also liked that Gus was keeping tabs on Hector, sending his men into the hospital stealthily to watch over his health. Of course this takes us to the shocking ending scene. I'll start off by saying how I love the way that "Better Call Saul" and "Breaking Bad" both play off of previous scenes in the series, making them feel richer and more important to the plot. The scene from last season with Arturo and Nacho taking six packages felt like a complete scene and served its purpose back then, but it is deepened a lot here as it ends up paying off with one of the most dramatic scenes that this show has ever done. Arturo tries to take six packages again but he pays the price with his life and Nacho is essentially picked up as Gus' new man. Gus came off as terrifying and threatening in this scene in the same way he was back in "Breaking Bad" and we seem to have witnessed the event that made Gus so cold-blooded as a person, seeing that he was rather tame in the last season and didn't use his power threateningly. The scene was also shot to perfection, particularly the reveal of the shadow before Gus swiftly attacked Arturo. Lastly, I enjoyed Mike's storyline in this episode. Mike and Lydia both detest each other in "Breaking Bad" and it looks like we are getting some story to flesh out their history. There are already tensions between them presented in this episode and I enjoyed seeing them essentially write each other off. I especially liked seeing Mike scoff at the thought of going to some fancy hotel to meet with Lydia, clearly thinking she is pretentious and overly cautious in bad ways. The Bad: The final scene had a problem with tension. While it's interesting and exciting to watch, it doesn't have us as engaged as it should because it doesn't hit us with as much tension as it thinks it does. The problem is that we know that Victor and Tyrus survive until "Breaking Bad" and we also know that Nacho won't be dying in this episode because it won't be satisfying. This means only Arturo is in actual danger and that removes majority of the tension from the episode. The Unknown: What does Chuck say in his letter? Will Kim choose to give it to Jimmy? Or will Jimmy find it himself? How will Jimmy react to Kim withholding information from him? Why does Jimmy want Mike to steal the figurine? Is it just a way to punish the store owners? More importantly, what was with Jimmy's interview? Why did he turn so suddenly on the owners? Was it because they reminded him of his father? Or was it because he is still torn on what kind of person to be? Perhaps both? Perhaps something else entirely? Best Moment: Kim attacking Howard was one of the best scenes in the entire show so far. It was so damn powerful. I love the subtle detail with Kim not even bothering to properly dress up o meet with Howard, subtly foreshadowing that she may not keep her emotions in check. Anyways, Howard trying to cut Jimmy out and offload his guilt has rubbed Kim the wrong way and her rage slowly comes out at Howard as she exposes everything he has done to Jimmy and how selfish it is. Rhea Seehorn kills it in this scene and delivers her best performance yet. But most impressive is Howard, who does a terrific job of adding even more power to this scene. Howard is evidently a good person and he clearly didn't intend for things to be taken this way. When he asks how he can fix things he feels sincere. He has been through a lot and is now trying to do whatever he can to bring things back to normal for himself but he is in over his head. It's easy to sympathize with him throughout the scene despite Kim throwing all of her rage at him. The scene has so many layers of depth, emotion, character, conflict and more to it, making it all the more impressive. Character of the Episode: Kim. Conclusion: This was a really solid episode raised up by an outstanding scene between Kim and Howard. It's an easy watch and continues the story in very fulfilling ways. Score: 70 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 Summary: Howard pays off Chuck with his own money and forces him to leave HHM. Jimmy takes care of Kim who is finally starting to loosen up a bit. Jimmy has regrets about what he's done and goes to see Chuck to try and fix their relationship. Chuck isn't having any of it though and sends Jimmy away heartbroken. Jimmy plays the villain and turns the elderly community against him so Irene can have her social life back. Chuck relapses into his illness and destroys his house to remove all power sources. He knocks over a lantern after losing hope, setting his house on fire. Nacho tries to take things into his own hands to kill Hector. He is stopped though when Hector has a secret meeting with Gus. The pills kick in this time and Hector collapses and is taken away in an ambulance.
The Good: Every storyline in this finale was excellent. The follow-up on last episode with Kim's crash was great. I like that it impacted Jimmy as much as it did, letting him realize his sins and stray away from the path of Saul. It was a real look at what almost losing someone you love can do to somebody, and Bob Odenkirk was spectacular at showing a more shaken and scared side to Jimmy throughout the episode. I liked the changes to Kim as well. The crash allowed her to open her eyes and realize that work isn't everything. This whole season has just been Kim overworking herself and being dedicated to work, so it's a surprising development to have her finally take a break and relax, possibly enjoying it a little too much. This could be a huge change in Kim's character and I'm excited to see how it will come into play next season. I enjoyed the continuation of their stories as well. I really enjoyed seeing Jimmy go back to doing the "right thing" again after what happened, by ultimately destroying his own career in elder law in order to get the heat off of Irene. It was honourable and highlights exactly why it's easy to sympathize with Jimmy. He did a terrible thing in the last episode, but he never intends for any lasting consequences with these things. Clearly he was hoping that Irene could get back to her life after everything, but when that didn't happen he did anything to undo the damage he caused. It's somewhat tragic, but Jimmy was very clearly digging a hole for himself by doing so many bad deeds and I'm glad that he had to face some major consequences for his actions once more. The Erin cameo was also great and I enjoyed her brief conversations with Jimmy. I also love how the dialogue between them during Jimmy's little con felt completely staged because it obviously was. I do like that the season ended with Jimmy practically losing his entire career which opens up a lot of possibilities for what he does in the next season with Kim now that they are moving out. Chuck's storyline was even more powerful in this episode. Like the Jimmy storyline, I thought there was some superb follow-up in this episode with his conflict with Howard. I thought the storyline may take longer, but I think the fast resolution makes more sense because Howard should absolutely be done with Chuck after all he's done. It's easy to sympathize with both sides here, and it's completely understandable that Howard would do everything to get Chuck out of the way to protect the firm. There was some genuine emotion in Howard's speech when he lets out his disappointment in Chuck, which was also contrasted with the emotion from seeing Chuck's despair when he realizes that losing his job may be a reality. I thought the ensuing scene with Chuck leaving HHM was tremendous and Michael McKean was wonderful as always in showing Chuck's distaste in leaving HHM while being forced to put on a fake smile. Howard says Chuck won, but in reality he really didn't. Another nice touch I enjoyed was seeing Howard stop clapping and leave while Chuck is still not out the door, demonstrating the broken nature of their relationship. While on the topic of broken relationships, this episode makes it clear that Chuck's flaw which lead to his suicide is his inability to work with others. He is egotistical and selfish, which was highlighted with his dead relationship with Jimmy, and then used again here as his own ego completely destroys a very long friendship with Howard. As easy as it is to sympathize with Chuck for all this, the show has done an excellent job of demonstrating that everything that has happened to Chuck has happened for good reason. I think that one of the strongest points of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is that everything that happens to the characters are a result of their previous actions and decisions. It makes for very satisfying and deep storytelling, which is always the reason why my scores for these shows will be really high on average, because of the extremely satisfying nature of the story. Anyways back to Chuck now, I like how the deep storytelling I mentioned before applies to his relapse. On top of losing his own job, he completely breaks Jimmy in a powerful scene when Jimmy comes with hopes to rebuild their relationship (see: Best Moment). Chuck's sadness at losing his job and purpose in life, combined with the guilt of what he said to Jimmy as a result of his own selfishness are a deadly combination and completely destroy Chuck mentally. The montage of Chuck relapsing was absolutely spectacular as we get to see him slowly lose it and give in to his sensitivity to electricity. Seeing him destroy his house completely was surprisingly effective at making me sympathize with Chuck and it conveyed its message of Chuck getting overwhelmed by his mental illness really well. Mentally ill and depressed people would focus on anything to escape their troubles and in this case Chuck made it his mission to find the power source in his house, but eventually he broke and couldn't take it anymore. That final scene was brilliantly shot as we didn't know exactly what was happening until the end when it hits us that Chuck has fallen over the edge. The final image of Chuck's house starting to burst into flames was extremely chilling and dark, ending the season on a shocking and powerful note. The Nacho storyline reached a wonderful climax in this episode too. I really liked how Nacho's desperation was shown when he became afraid that the pills wouldn't work in time. The scene at Nacho's father's shop was great and very tense as Nacho had to practically beg his father to tae the money from an angry Hector. The scene really raised the stakes and highlighted how Nacho's father wouldn't last long because Hector has lost trust in him and will more than likely kill him for his own benefit. It was the perfect scene which would push Nacho into trying to kill Hector himself in a very tense scene where Nacho would attempt to kill Hector with a gun. I bought that Nacho would reach the point where he would try to kill Hector so rashly and it made for a very tense sequence since we know if Nacho kills Hector, there would be some major consequences for him. I do like how Hector was portrayed in this episode. While he is a complete and total ass, we can still somewhat sympathize with him as he completely rages at Bolsa after he is having his drug business taken from him by Gus. That scene was very good and Mark Margolis was phenomenal as always. I really like that he incorporated one of Hector's signature mouth twitches from Breaking Bad when he was angry. The stroke (I accidentally called his stroke a heart attack in past reviews. It was obviously a stroke which affected him and I think the pills caused a clot in his brain which led into a stroke, and it wasn't a heart attack which crippled Hector.) was a big moment and was very satisfying to watch. I like that Gus lost composure to save Hector. Hector was always his weakness, so I like that it was kept as his weakness in this scene as Gus is horrified at the thought that Hector dies without receiving his comeuppance. The Bad: I do wish that we got to see more of the effects on Jimmy after his conversation with Chuck. What Chuck said was absolutely terrible and I wish we got to see more of the real Jimmy dealing with that, instead of Jimmy acting all pleasant the very next scene while talking to the elderly. The Unknown: Is Chuck dead? We didn't see the body, but I assume he is dead. How will everyone react to Chuck's death? I expect Kim, Jimmy and Howard would all be blaming themselves. How would they deal with it? What will Howard's role in the story be now that Chuck and Kim aren't involved with HHM anymore? Gus seems to suspect Nacho. Will he try to do something to Nacho in return? Or will he perhaps ally with Nacho? What is in store for Kim and Jimmy? What are they going to do no without the office? How will Kim's new change in behaviour affect her career and relationship with Jimmy? Best Moment: Jimmy and Chuck's final scene was extremely powerful. Chuck's selfish and egotistical nature once again took over as he completely ruins Jimmy's morale and tells him the most hurtful thing a brother could possibly say to his sibling: "you never really mattered much to me". It was a brutal line and I really like that the camera lingered on Jimmy processing the words and slowly leaving the house in silence. It was really powerful television and just about sums up the relationship between these 2 brothers. Character of the Episode: Chuck. Conclusion: An excellent season finale. All the stories climaxed in the perfect way, allowing for a lot of story arcs to be resolved with a lot of interesting set-up for next season. This season as a whole was excellent. It's the best season of the show for sure as it had loads of powerful climactic moments, including the best episode of the show thus far in "Chicanery". The first half of the season was very well paced as every episode progressed the story in a meaningful way while also offering some truly excellent scenes to keep us on our toes. The back half of the season wasn't quite as good, but it featured Better Call Saul's signature storytelling and pace which allowed for some really worthwhile stories to be told, which all culminated in superb fashion in this episode. Score: 77 Summary: Jimmy visits Irene Landry and discovers that if Sandpiper settles he will make over $1 million. He tries to talk Irene into settling but when it doesn't work, he completely destroys her social life to get what he wants and Irene decides to settle. Mike visits Lydia to get on Gus' payroll. Gus and Hector meet and the cartel approves their joint operation to Hector's dismay. Hector hasn't died yet so Nacho is forced to tell his father that Hector will be going to visit soon. The insurance company threatens to raise the premiums of everyone in HHM and Chuck responds by seeing them in court. Howard has had enough and wants Chuck to leave HHM and retire. Chuck isn't pleased and threatens to sue HHM, while also threatening Howard. Kim gets in a car accident.
The Good: Like last episode, this episode was mostly set-up but the execution was superb. The episode moved at a good pace, had a purpose, and there was an overall tension throughout the episode which never went away. This was every bit as impressive as the set-up in the previous episode, and all the storylines were extremely exciting as they reached a boiling point. I can't wait for the payoff in the finale. But before I get into the finale, I'll have to talk about this episode. I'll start with the Mike storyline for this one. I think Mike's story has been the weakest in the back half of this season (see: The Bad), but nevertheless, I enjoyed his storyline because it managed to finalize the deal with Gus and because it allowed us to see Lydia and Madrigal once more. The Gus and Hector storyline remains interesting too. There hasn't been much time given to that storyline since "Sabrosito", but in a single excellent scene their rivalry got to continue in a big way. We got to find out why Gus was happy about the joint operation, because he suspected the cartel would be fond of it, and it ended up being a perfect way for Gus to smite Hector. I really enjoyed getting that pay-off by seeing Hector's anger. It also helps remind us that Nacho's swapped pills will be taking effect soon, but we have no idea when. I like that every scene Hector is in has an air of tension because we don't know when the Ibuprofen pills will actually hit him hard. I suspect we will be seeing the big moment in the finale, but I'm sure that Better Call Saul will find a way to make things less predictable and more tense. Also as a side note, I really enjoyed the cinematography in that scene. The lighting, camera angles and sound were great at conveying the mood of the scene to make it feel especially brilliant. I enjoyed Nacho's scene with his father. That story hasn't been developed much, but it is simple and it's easy to follow the emotions of both characters. It was a powerful scene which delivered some good set-up for when Hector inevitably comes to Nacho's father's business, likely in the next episode. Kim's short storyline was very well done too. We have seen her under a ton of stress in the last few episodes, and to see her drowning herself in work to try to avoid facing it is very good television. It's so subtle that I feel like there may be varying interpretations as to why Kim is working herself so hard. I took it as her dodging her guilt and stress by working extra hard, but I can understand if somebody else sees the storyline in a different light. Her story had a lot of tension too because there was just something off about the tone in her scenes. It felt like something would go wrong, and that car crash at the end felt like a culmination of all that tension. The jarring nature of that scene was also a great call-back to the scene where Kim took a brief nap back in "Expenses". The Chuck storyline was a highlight in this episode. His conflict with Howard came quicker than I expected, but it felt very organic since the consequences of Chuck's malpractice insurance going up were much greater than I thought they would be. It was a pleasant surprise to see such huge consequences from Jimmy's actions back in "Expenses" and I think it did a great job of developing the tensions between Howard and Chuck. The meeting between Chuck, Howard and the insurance people was excellent and it conveyed Howard's growing frustration in a great way. After all the bad decisions Chuck has made in the recent past which have hurt HHM, it is hard to blame Howard for wanting to get Chuck out of HHM. I was happy to hear Howard still trying to act friendly and pleasant even when suggesting Chuck retire, which fits the character of Howard that we have come to know after 3 seasons. The following scenes were great too as Chuck reacts in a very negative way, suing HHM. The "god dammit Chuck" from Howard was a funny line, but it felt real and transitioned nicely into the verbal spat between Howard and Chuck. Once more we get to see Chuck's despicable side coming out, but it's refreshing to see that it isn't Jimmy on the receiving end this time. It makes it easier to sympathize with Howard, who only wants to keep his father's firm alive afterwards. Lastly, we have Jimmy's storyline which was tremendous. In the last review I commented how Jimmy seems to be starting the transformation into Saul, but just one episode later he seems to have whole-heartedly committed and I honestly think it's a good thing. This process could have been dragged on, but it wouldn't make sense. Jimmy has already conned before, so there isn't much change for him to ponder. In his mind, he's getting results through conning again, so he's going to keep doing it to reap his reward. And when the reward is $1 million which will solve all of his and Kim's problems, why wouldn't he go back to his "morally flexible" side to get it? This show has done a great job of making us understand Jimmy's character to the point where we are able to understand why he does something as depraved as ruin an old woman's life for his own gain. But still the show is able to convey how despicable this is to the point where we no longer support Jimmy. Once again his motivation is to help Kim, but this time he goes too far. Chuck wasn't an innocent, but here Jimmy just prays on an innocent old woman who never did anything to harm him. And worse yet he does it without even an ounce of remorse for her. It was tough to watch and I genuinely felt bad for Irene by the episode's end, which was helped by a stellar performance from the actress who conveyed Irene's heartbreak in a painful way. The bingo scene where nobody clapped at all told a story in itself. I liked the little things in the Jimmy story too. The set-up of Jimmy's con and its execution was very satisfying and a lot of it was very fun to watch. Jimmy is so charming when talking to the elderly which is very fun, and on top of that it was great to see little things like the trunk full of shoeboxes. The Bad: Mike's storyline has been disappointing after it started off so well this season. He hasn't done much of note since "Sunk Costs" and his deal with Gus was very disappointing. It occurred too quickly and without enough build-up, making it lack the emotional impact it should have had. This hurts the Lydia scene in this episode because I really don't buy into why Gus is willing to go so far for Mike when they really haven't known each other for long or done much. The Unknown: How hurt is Kim by the accident? Will there be repercussions with Mesa Verde or Gatwood? How will Jimmy react to Kim's injuries? How will Chuck vs Howard go? Will they eventually make up or will this actually be taken to court? Best Moment: The bingo scene with Irene was excellent fun to watch and the following scene where Irene showed her confusion and pain at losing her friends was just as powerful. Jimmy really did his worst deed in this episode, and there isn't anything else even close to as bad as this. Character of the Episode: Irene. Conclusion: While not as explosive as the penultimate episodes of previous seasons, this was a very tense hour that set things up for a big finale. I really enjoyed this and it leaves me very excited to see a lot of these storylines come to a head in the next episode. Score: 70 Summary: A flashback shows Jimmy and Marco return to Jimmy's father's store after it is closed down. In the present, Jimmy's clients try to back out of the deal to Jimmy's dismay. Jimmy reverts to Slippin' Jimmy to make a profit out of them. Later Jimmy pulls a con job on the Community Service Hours guy to make money off a drug dealer who wanted to leave. Kim signs on with a new client, Billy Gatwood. She runs into Howard who is very upset at Kim doing so much damage to HHM from the trial. Chuck is recovering from his illness but he is met by Howard who has to discuss insurance. Nacho prepares for the pill swap and executes it without being detected.
The Good: Jimmy's storyline was excellent. This episode feels like Jimmy taking his first steps to becoming Saul, and you can even say that he figuratively took on his first Saul Goodman client in this episode with the drug dealer. This was a long time coming, and it feels so satisfying to watch Jimmy ultimately taking his first steps towards Saul territory. And yet it also feels somewhat sad to see Jimmy relapsing to Slippin' Jimmy like this, which is a testament to how well this show has been written. It's mastered the ability to create a mixture of emotions for every storyline. Both of the cons were extremely enjoyable to watch and they effectively demonstrated how being Slippin' Jimmy is much more effective for Jimmy than whatever legitimate business he is working right now. Adding on to the Jimmy storyline, I really enjoyed the brief scene between Jimmy and Kim. It's being established that both are growing more and more distant despite working together and I'm sure that this will lead to a breakup at some point in the future. It is hard to predict when though. The actual conversation was interesting and it's nice to see Kim still trying to cut Jimmy a break, despite Jimmy now being able to easily pay off his half. Kim's storyline continues to intrigue me. She is still feeling the guilt for what she did, but now we learn that it's much more than just guilt for Chuck. She has practically betrayed HHM and that is definitely hurting her a lot on the inside. Her scenes with Howard were very good as Howard was excellent at showing his anger after all the reputation of HHM was practically destroyed. There was a very tense conflict there and I'm very excited to see how it plays out later. In the end this storyline was set-up, but I enjoyed it more because it never felt like set-up. We got to see a lot of conflict happening now, which distracted from the nature of the set-up, and making the storyline more engaging as a result. Furthermore, it was nice to get to see the full nature of the damages to HHM after Chuck's breakdown in court. It's interesting to see Howard having to work extra hard because of it, and it does make me believe we will be getting a split between Howard and Chuck at some time in the near future, perhaps early next season. Chuck's storyline was very good too. It's nice to see that he accepted his mental illness right away. While Chuck may be a prick, I'm glad that the writers have given him some redeemable qualities. Chuck seems very decent in this episode, even likeable as he accepts his condition and simply works to improve it without showing off his ego as much as he usually does. I like seeing this kinder side of Chuck and it does help us sympathize with him a little bit now that he seems to have actually left Jimmy behind. Of course things may change with the insurance storyline, but more on that later (see: The Unknown). Nacho's storyline was an absolute joy to watch in this episode. It was completely dedicated to Nacho just pulling off the pill swap stunt and it was compelling to watch. I loved seeing him prepare everything and the little things like seeing every step Nacho took when crushing the pills down and the addition of a small scene showing Nacho breaking the AC vents on the roof. The actual pill swap was fantastic too. It is undoubtedly the most tense scene in the whole show thus far and had me at the edge of my seat. I had a sense that Nacho would pull it off, but there was always a chance he wouldn't because he isn't in Breaking Bad. And additionally, we know Hector doesn't die and Nacho's pills were intended to kill Hector so there was always the chance of a little wiggle room which kept me tense. It was a great sequence to watch unfold. Mike's story was good too. It was nice to get some closure on the man who was shot by Hector and I think it fits Mike's character. It also helps show why Anita's speech may have made Mike go to Nacho since he didn't want the man's wife to suffer without closure like Anita did. The final deal with Gus was nice too and was a good note to end the episode, but I feel it wasn't as big of a deal as it should have been (see: The Bad). There were a few other small things I enjoyed. The flashback was great as it showed us more about Jimmy's past, adding even more depth to the storyline with his father. It was also great to see Marco again. And finally, I love that Francesca was trying to secretly read a magazine which she quickly put away when Kim leaves her office. The Bad: There was a very awkward cut away from Chuck in the grocery store. It looked like he was about to pass out, making it feel awkward to leave us thinking that before showing Chuck later on completely unaffected. It felt like some stupid drama that added nothing to the story. The Mike and Gus deal felt like it came out of nowhere. We understood why Mike went to met Nacho (to find the man who was shot), but we don't know why he suddenly went to Gus. I don't buy that Mike would trust Gus completely and I feel like they shouldn't trust each other so much yet. This deal feels like it should have been made a little later on. I suppose more time was wanted for Mike's choice to work as Gus' "head of security" but it still feels cheap to see this deal created so suddenly. The Unknown: How will the insurance affect Chuck? Could it put Chuck back on Jimmy's scent? This could add a lot of irony as Jimmy's actions may inadvertently have caused Chuck to become a thorn in his side once again. The flashback was very interesting. I'm not sure what it's purpose was since it didn't accomplish a whole lot except for fleshing out the relationship between Jimmy and his father. I'm curious to see if it has anything else to it that may be expanded on in future episodes. Could the box of coins come into play later on? Best Moment: The pill swap scene was a master-class of tense filmography. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Character of the Episode: Jimmy for reaching into his inner Saul. Conclusion: This was an excellent set-up episode which still managed to have more than enough of an identity to itself to overcome the crutches of set-up episodes. Like "Rebecca" from last season, this was a surprisingly great set-up episode which exceeded my expectations. Score: 70 Summary: Jimmy struggles to manage his new commercial business while also finishing his community hours. Jimmy works hard to get clients, but is unable to make a profit as his clients are few in number and only ever want a single commercial. He is forced to shoot a commercial spot for free when he runs out of options. Jimmy goes to his malpractice insurance place to try to cancel it but learns that he can't and his premiums will be going up. In spite, Jimmy ensures Chuck's rates go up too. Kim begins feeling guilty for what she and Jimmy did to Chuck. Nacho makes a deal with Daniel to get empty pills identical to Hector's. Mike meets with Nacho and gives him advice for what he is about to do.
The Good: The scenes of Jimmy doing community hours were very good. This episode did a great job of portraying the struggle Jimmy was forced to go through throughout the episode which led to his breaking point at the end of the episode. The community service hours were excellent as we saw him working hard to collect trash while also trying to make important phone calls to get his business going. And of course the fact that he only got 30 minutes of credit only added salt to the wound. And on top of that it gave us a great joke with the "I can make it zero" line which would be reused in hilarious fashion later in the episode. Jimmy also conveyed his struggle wonderfully while actually shooting the commercials. The scene where he is talked down to making a commercial spot for free shows him at a real low, which would then be beaten when Jimmy is forced to give his own pocket money just to pay his film crew. It was effective television to make us sympathize with Jimmy and understand why he did the needlessly cruel thing at the end of the episode. Back to the commercial shoots for a second, I also thought they were excellent in terms of comedic value. There were some great comedy sequences like the film crew rushing to get into the car, and the Duke City recliner commercial being shot twice with Jimmy being forced to pretend it was the best thing he ever saw. While this episode gave us Jimmy at a real low with some serious storytelling, it was also able to keep things lighthearted so the depressing storytelling wouldn't be a turn-off at all. Jimmy's story also tied nicely into Kim's. Whereas Jimmy is suffering because of what Chuck did to him, Kim appears to be suffering because of what Jimmy did to Chuck. It's a very nice irony and I like the way it was explored here. Kim is understandably guilt-ridden, since she can sympathize with Chuck more than Jimmy at the moment. To Kim, Chuck is just a sick man and all they did was just completely ruin the one thing he cares about the most: how people respect him in public. Her meeting with Paige was also very good as we got to see Kim in a rare moment of annoyance where she lightly took out some frustration out on Paige before quickly apologizing. Kim and Jimmy's stories got to meet in spectacular fashion at the bar, which was one of the best moments in the episode. Jimmy's anger at the world clashed with Kim's feelings of guilt from working with Jimmy at damaging people. The idea of making them discuss conning people hypothetically was perfect for this, as it easily allowed for both of their storylines to reach a brief, tense moment. In the other half of the episode, Daniel made a very funny return as Nacho went to him to get some empty pills. It was great to see him return for a cameo and there were a number of hilarious things in his story, including him going through all the security just to find Nacho waiting for him and the baseball game he played when he went to talk with Mike. I enjoyed his conversation with Mike, who continued to completely disregard anything Daniel tried to say and for good reason. The final scene with Mike and Nacho was great too. I'm glad that we got to hear exactly what Nacho's plan is for Hector as it answers some questions and prepares us for what I'm expecting will be a very tense storyline of Nacho trying to keep all of his moves below the radar as he attempts to end Hector. I'm very excited to see this in the final three episodes of the season to see how this storyline climaxes. There were a few small scenes I really liked as well. Kim's mini-nap was excellent and I think the filming of the scene did a fantastic job of capturing the jarring feeling of waking up after a nap. Also, I like how the first scene mirrored the episode "Amarillo", which effectively showed how much Jimmy's life has been damaged by Chuck since that episode. And of course the Kevin Costner reference was very funny and satisfying. The Bad: I'm a little hesitant to put this in The Bad, but I didn't enjoy Mike's storyline very much. I understand that they were going for a story of him trying to leave the business, but being unable to, but I just didn't find it particularly thoughtful or exciting. Mike's family life just isn't exciting, and while I liked Anita, she really didn't provide much to the story. Also, I was never clear as to why Mike actually decided to go help Daniel. Anita's story would probably have affected him in some way, but I can't figure out why. Maybe this would be better suited for The Unknown, but I feel like we need to understand more of what is going on in Mike's head than we do. This may not be a problem in the future, but I think it takes away from my enjoyment right now, and that's worth putting in The Bad. The Unknown: What does Mike want from Nacho? Could this have something to do with why he decided to accept Daniel's request? What consequences will arise from Jimmy's actions in the insurance office? Best Moment: I haven't mentioned the insurance scene much in this review. And that's because I was saving it for this section, because it was an excellent scene. This last scene was a real showcase for Bob Odenkirk, who had to convey a whole myriad of emotions throughout the scene as he tries to get things to work out for him. Jimmy's breakdown was superb and I believe it honestly started as something real in some form, but Jimmy took complete control of his breakdown and kept it going in order to smite Chuck for all the pain and suffering he put onto Jimmy. I love this scene because it once more explores that gray area in the relationship between Jimmy and Chuck. What Jimmy did here was completely wrong and cruel, yet can you blame him for doing it? It's a fascinating scene to think about, just like many previous scenes involving the relationship between these 2 brothers. Character of the Episode: Jimmy. Conclusion: This was a rock solid episode. There weren't any big moments, but this was a very necessary episode of story progression that builds things up for the end of the season. Better Call Saul continues to avoid having weak episodes even when it is transitioning between storylines. Score: 67 Summary: Jimmy is spared from disbarment but is suspended for a year from practicing law. Kim wants to lower their expenses by finding a new location but Jimmy doesn't want to do that. He tries to find a way to make money and decides to create commercials for other clients since he still has several airings left for his "Gimme Jimmy" commercial which won't be used. Jimmy creates a commercial for himself, using the name Saul Goodman. Chuck talks to Howard and he decides to move on and leave Jimmy behind. However he then goes into the city and calls Dr. Cruz. Nacho is now doing the work Tuco usually did for Hector involving Krazy 8 and Gus. Hector wants to use Nacho's father's business as a front.
The Good: This was a very solid episode overall to follow up the show's masterpiece which was "Chicanery". There were a ton of different stories in this episode which I will examine. I'll break my usual format and actually tackle the Nacho storyline first. First of all, it was good to see Nacho getting some focus after all this time. He has never felt like a real main character like everyone else due to limited appearances, but this episode allowed us to see more into his head and how he is as a person which is excellent. And on top of that, this episode gives him a problem to solve which will surely help us understand him better as a character. To get into more detail, I really enjoyed that opening scene. It gave us a good look as to how Nacho differs from somebody intense like Tuco. Just based off of Krazy 8's mannerisms, we can tell that Nacho is often much friendlier and isn't as effective as an intense drug dealer. Hector's supervision also demonstrates this and it was pleasing to see Michael Mando display Nacho's conflict through some great subtle facial changes. Having Nacho as a main character is pointless if we don't like him, but by showing us that Nacho is a decent human being it helps us understand him more. And on top of this, it allows us to understand why he ay consider betraying Hector since he wants to take his father's business. I'll discuss more on this in The Unknown, but the ending of the storyline in this episode was very good set up and leaves me wanting to see much more. Now onto the main storylines of the episode. I like that there was plenty of time given to follow up on the court proceedings in showing that there was more that happened after Chuck left the witness stand, which helps the court realize that Jimmy would be good for the community. I also liked the editing done in the scenes that spliced Kim's speech in the courtroom with Chuck suffering at home after what happened. The immediate follow up with Rebecca was nice too. I enjoyed seeing Jimmy and Kim celebrating briefly over their victory, but more than that I was extremely happy with Jimmy coldly dismissing Rebecca and not wanting to help Chuck. While it seems cruel, what Chuck did to him was much worse since he manipulated Jimmy's emotions. It felt very real to see Jimmy still holding it against Chuck and refusing to go help him, having learned from the last time he went to help Chuck. This was a perfect conclusion for the Jimmy/Chuck plot in this episode as both characters seemingly moved on to different things. Chuck's scenes after that were very good. I enjoyed seeing Howard show his friendly and loyal side for once, refusing to leave Chuck just like Jimmy did back in "Klick". While we have been trained by the show to dislike Chuck ever since "Pimento", but this does show us that Howard isn't as bad as Chuck and is simply just a friend trying to help Chuck out through this whole case with Jimmy. It seems like Chuck is actually trying to develop an affinity to electricity now which is nice to see. I'm interested to see if he can actually recover now. Lastly, the walk through the city was a magnificent sequence. This show has been brilliant at bringing Chuck's illness to life and this scene was another example of that. Jimmy's storyline for the rest of the episode was great too. I like that he is trying to keep everything he and Kim worked so hard to attain from the end of season 2 until now, refusing to lose the office and Francesca. It fits what we have seen from Jimmy in the past that he doesn't want to give up things he has worked hard to earn which may affect Kim, just like he did with the Davis and Main job. I enjoyed his immediate follow up to this too. The several calls to the older clients were hilarious and it was nice to see Jimmy's patience getting tested after having to speak with so many different elderly people about the same thing. I also do like how it reminded him about the commercials which would then become a major plot line for the episode. I feel like everything was done organically, with every action from Jimmy leading to the next problem he has to take care of. The actual commercial shooting was fantastic too. I loved seeing Jimmy offer to shoot commercials for clients, but ultimately estrange them in his desperation. It was good comedy and led to Jimmy facing a very credible conflict which he then managed to somewhat subvert when he made his own commercial. The actual shooting of his own commercial was awesome and there was loads of humour as he prepared to do it. It was great to see the film students once more as they consistently produce some of the show's best comedy. The commercial itself was amazing too. It was hilariously choppy and I love how Jimmy dressed up with various articles of clothing which belonged to the film students. It was a really well put together commercial that injected Jimmy's character into it perfectly. And on top of that it brought in Saul Goodman into the story in a very good way, making for a very satisfying moment at the end when he reveals his name. There were a couple other small things I enjoyed. Jimmy's goldfish was some nice continuity as we see that Jimmy bought a tank and is properly feeding her. And of course, I loved seeing the Lydia cameo and it was nice to see the location of the superlab from Breaking Bad being introduced. The Bad: Mike's story feels a little aimless at the moment. I understand that the show wants Mike to settle down after enacting his vengeance, which will likely lead to him eventually going to Gus. The problem is that we know this is going to happen, so there is little drama to be had. Jimmy's story has a similar problem, but it always overcomes it because there is much more depth to Jimmy as a character and it's compelling to watch other characters like Chuck and Kim in that storyline. Stacey and Kaylee aren't interesting enough to carry Mike's story here and it just feels really bland at the moment. We love Mike for being a smart badass who can pull off some crazy stunts. Without playing to Mike's strengths, his storyline gets boring quickly. Gus and Hector's operation confuses me and that's a problem. The scene between Nacho, Arturo, Victor and Tyrus (!) was hurt by this. We don't know what Gus and Hector's deal is about transport so I didn't know what the significance of Nacho grabbing another package was. It also didn't help that I didn't know for sure that Hector had ordered Nacho to do that, which took away from the drama as well. The Unknown: Why did Chuck call Dr. Cruz? Is it to help him get past his illness? Or does he still have Jimmy in mind and is planning something? Will Nacho give in to Hector and let him use his dad's business? Or will he step up and face against Hector? It's safe to assume that Nacho does get in legal trouble at some point which will bring him back to Jimmy, but we don't know why yet. This adds some drama to his storyline since we don't know what his fate is and when it happens. Could this conflict lead to that? Hector also had a very key moment where he had a stress attack of some kind and took pills to calm him down. Could this problem he has potentially lead to his stroke which puts him in the wheelchair? And also, will Nacho cause this to happen? He has hidden a pill under his show so could he potentially be thinking of using it to end Hector? Best Moment: I'll go with Jimmy and Rebecca's scene from early in the episode. It was the most powerful moment in the episode. Character of the Episode: Nacho. Conclusion: This was a solid episode that set up a lot of storylines for the second half of this season. There were a few flaws, but the good stuff was good enough to make the episode enjoyable. Score: 66 Summary: A flashback shows Rebecca meeting Chuck again. Chuck tries to conceal his illness and as a result ends up getting Rebecca to leave in disgust after he swats her cell phone out of her hand. Jimmy meets with Caldera before the trial with Chuck. Howard and Chuck plan for the upcoming trial. On the day of the trial, Kim and Jimmy fight their case and Chuck is eventually called up to the witness stand. After using Huell to slip a battery into Chuck's pocket, Chuck's illness is proven to be mental, which causes Chuck to have a breakdown and throw accusations unprofessionally towards Jimmy, effectively allowing Jimmy to win the trial.
The Good: This was a rare focused episode of Better Call Saul. This was all Jimmy/Chuck, no Mike, no Hector, no Nacho and no Gus to be seen here. And that was perfect for this. Better Call Saul's most engaging plot line has easily been Jimmy and Chuck's feud, so it works very well to give a full episode to look at their conflict. The focus, engagement and more which will be discussed below made this episode into the best of the series for sure. I'll start this review by talking about the preparation for the courtroom battle, which was very enjoyable. Chuck and Howard's conversation was very good and also highlighted Howard's standings in all of this: he really doesn't care as much about getting Jimmy disbarred as he does making his firm look good. That's very curious to know, because surely Chuck may have brought on some bad publicity to HHM after his breakdown. Howard didn't look too happy at the end of the episode, and I'm very interested to see how his relationship with Chuck will be affected. Kim warning Paige and Kevin was great too. It hints at a little bit of guilt on Kim's part as well which makes sense because she knows Chuck wasn't wrong about Jimmy but his reputation is being completely tarnished by everything, and he hasn't exactly done anything wrong. Kim did not look satisfied after Chuck's breakdown at the end of the episode which also brings up the idea that she may not be happy with what happened. I like how Kim and Howard's characters got set up extremely well n this episode for what I would assume is a future storyline. Lastly, I really enjoyed Chuck trying to come up with good lines for the judge, and it's telling that he mainly focused on the part of saying he loves Jimmy. After all, lies usually take the most practice to say in a truthful way. It was a very nice and interesting little detail, which I'll elaborate more on later (see: The Unknown). The best part of the courtroom set up in my opinion was absolutely Jimmy's part though. His scene with Caldera was lovely and very funny, with lots to love. But most importantly, this led into the best cameo of the whole series in my opinion. The moment Caldera mentioned tight spaces, it clicked right into my head who was coming, and it ended up being a great joke and an excellent way to hype up Huell. The scene where Huell bumped into Chuck was a downright pleasure and Huell is the perfect loveable character to bring back for a brief role like this in Better Call Saul. And now finally, onto the fantastic courtroom battle. Now I'm going to divide this into two parts: part 1 is Howard on the witness stand and part 2 is Chuck, so that I can organize my thoughts accordingly. Of course, I'll start with part 1. I thought this was fantastic and was a very exciting way to bring us into the court battle. None of the major cards were played at this point, no tape, no EHS talk. This was all build up with a lot of exciting information being drawn, which is essential for something as detail-oriented as a courtroom battle. We need to learn as much as possible and to have logical questions and exchanges to make the courtroom scenes work. This was done fantastically in the first half of this episode as Kim battled with Robert Alley when questioning Howard. There were nice moments throughout with both sides offering a lot of big moments which were treated excellently; there were no dramatic moments or shots, simply a subtle change in facial expression managed to convey these major moments, which I found impressive. The highlight for me was Kim scoring a win over Howard by making his "nepotism" excuse completely fall flat. It was an early victory for the heroes and it was nice to see Howard look a little satisfied with Kim doing well for herself in court. It's the little touches which really make this show special. I also really like that the idea of mental illness was dropped early in the court trial, which was great set up for the climax later on. While I really enjoyed the first part of this trial, there's no denying that it was mostly set up and there wasn't a whole lot of tension. That completely changed however, once Chuck arrived for the second part. and wow what a great part of the trial it was. The first thing I have to praise here is Michael McKean's performance as Chuck. He really brings the character to life as a pompous and arrogant man, who has tons of intelligence but is completely overly confident. He constantly puts down Jimmy in subtle ways, disguised by the polite tone in his voice. It's hard to play this role as it could just as easily feel too phony, or too detestable, but Michael McKean completely nails it and strikes a perfect balance for Chuck. The fact that he didn't receive an Emmy nomination for his performance here is something which will forever mystify me. The arrogance, confidence and intelligence in Chuck was portrayed perfectly without even a single weak second. Now that I've sung tons of praise for Michael McKean, let's discuss the actual story here. This was very well done. I love that all the details were touched on that were brought up before, including Kim's involvement, Jimmy possibly denying the voice is his, Kim trying to prevent the tape from being used as evidence and more. They all amounted to some really good moments which continued to satisfy my detail-oriented side. The best part about Chuck on the witness stand was absolutely when Jimmy questioned him though. There was loads of animosity between them and I think that both actors fantastically played their subtle hate towards each other at this point in the story, throwing jabs at each other whenever they could. I also loved how Jimmy was notably less calm and composed than Kim when asking questions, seeing that this is a very personal thing for him to do and it's still bothering him. And then of course, there was that spectacular last scene which took the final 5 to 10 minutes involving Chuck but I'll get to that in detail later (see: Best Moment). The last big thing about this episode is Rebecca's involvement. We learn that Rebecca is Jimmy's trump card and was why he went through everything in the last episode to ensure this could go as planned. I expected her to do more, but I was pleased that the show went with a bit of a surprise approach by having her only here to boost Chuck's confidence in thinking that he can best Jimmy's best trick. It took away from any generic melodrama and replaced it with he excellent final scene that we ended up getting. But back to Rebecca, I did enjoy her involvement and it seems that she won't be done in the story as she will likely want to help Chuck now. The flashback also did a great job of introducing a possibility for how she could come into play later on and it also gave us a better idea of her relationship with Chuck since she was only briefly seen in season 2 when she was introduced. The Bad: The only problem that lowers the score a bit was this episode's predictability. At some point it became fairly clear that Chuck wasn't going to win the trial and that took away from some of the tension. Granted it was still very good, but it does hurt to have an idea of where the story is about to go. The Unknown: What's next for Jimmy and Chuck? Will Chuck keep trying to pursue Jimmy or will he give up? Will Jimmy ever try to be friendly with Chuck again? Also does Chuck actually love Jimmy? We have seen Jimmy be kind towards Chuck but Chuck hasn't really reciprocated in any way. Does he actually completely despise Jimmy for everything he's done? How will everyone else be affected by this? Will Chuck be able to move on and accept his condition is fake, or will he descend to a worsened state? How about Kim? How will she deal with her guilt? Could her guilt end up losing her Mesa Verde at some point? And how will Howard react to this? Will his relationship with Chuck be put under strain? Best Moment: The final ten minutes, and especially Chuck's breakdown were outstanding. The build up to Chuck's big breakdown was tense to watch and I love how Chuck's ego was constantly inflated in a secret way by Jimmy to make his realization at the end all the more painful. The constant mentions of mental illness were too much for Chuck to handle, and it was Robert not denying Chuck's mental illness which caused Chuck to finally snap. It was a very tense moment and it was simply fantastic to see Chuck dig himself into a hole as he continued to spit out accusations at Jimmy, making I look like he is mentally unstable and just after his brother. The ironic part here is that everything Chuck said was correct, just his heart isn't at the right place, and it does count for something to have your heart in the right place, like Jimmy. The final breakdown was tremendous and I love that the episode ended right there with a shot of Chuck looking tiny and pathetic after he realized what he just did, under the pressure of electricity from an exit sign. Character of the Episode: Chuck. That final breakdown was spectacular. Conclusion: This was an incredible episode of Better Call Saul. Though its predictability lowers the score I want to give, I can't deny that this was a spectacular courtroom battle which exceeded my expectations in just about every way. This is what I love to see in television shows: a cathartic spectacle which hits all the emotional beats it needs to and then some. I can watch this episode over and over, it was really magnificent. Score: 85 Summary: A flashback shows Hector being one-upped by Gus in the eyes of Don Eladio in the drug trade. In the present, the DEA ransacks The Winking Greek to shut down Hector's business. Hector goes to Gus and demands that Gus transports his product too, but Hector has played right into Gus' hands. Jimmy enlists Mike to help get some pictures of Chuck's house anonymously. Jimmy and Kim hatch a plan to fight Chuck and Howard which involves the recorded tape in some way.
The Good: This was an excellent episode of Better Call Saul. This episode had a unique Breaking Bad feel to it, making it very different from what we have seen before. And honestly, I loved it all. From the Breaking Bad humour with Mike and the drill, to Don Eladio making an appearance, I really loved the different tone to this episode as it added some great things for fans of Breaking Bad to enjoy. I have said in the past that Better Call Saul needs to be careful not to go full-on Breaking Bad, but I feel like once in a while it's fine if Better Call Saul draws some inspiration from its parent series. There were lots of cameos to enjoy in the early parts of the episode too. Seeing Don Eladio and Bolsa again was lovely for Breaking Bad fans, even if the 2 weren't featured that much. It was still a pleasant surprise. I also loved the opening moments of the episode. Any fan of Breaking Bad will instantly know where we are in terms of story from the shot of the swimming pool alone. Also, seeing Eladio in the pool, eyes wide open, is reminiscent of his death which was a wonderful little touch. Lastly, I also enjoyed seeing Ximenez return briefly (he was the driver who was killed back in Klick). Now to the actual episode. I'll tackle the Gus storyline first. The flashback was really well done in my eyes. Don Eladio was excellent as always with his excess amounts of charisma for a drug kingpin. It was a joy to watch him taunt Hector and Ximenez throughout the scene while keeping things light. More than that though, the scene also helped develop Hector's character so we can understand why he hates Gus before Gus even did anything to him. We see Hector's jealousy and we can understand his hate now, which is essential for his entire conflict to work. I do like the comparisons in efficiency between Hector and Gus too, as they really let us know how much better Gus was as a businessman. The Pollos Hermanos sequence in this episode was fantastic. It felt similar in tension to a Breaking Bad scene, and I really loved it. The tension was amped up brilliantly and Hector was excellently portrayed as an intimidating man despite his age, and having Arturo and Nacho back him up helped a lot. I did enjoy the little touch of Nacho getting Arturo to let the family leave. In addition to that, the workers were portrayed well in their desperation too as Hector poses a very obvious threat. The following meeting with Gus and Hector was nice too. They mostly talked business, but Better Call Saul did an excellent job of quietly showing us their hatred for each other through simple things like Hector scraping gunk off of his shoe's onto Gus' desk. I enjoyed their conversation too as Mark Margolis brings in a lot of fire to Hector in every word he says. I am very interested to see where this story goes, and I really want to see more, so in that regard this episode really succeeded. Mike and Gus had a good scene too. I like that Mike refused to take the money, not wanting to work for Gus since it will likely involve him doing more brutal things. It makes sense for his character and I'm interested to see what kind of story leads to him finally choosing to work with Gus full-time. I also liked seeing Gus let out some of his hate towards hector to Mike. Now on the other half of the episode, Jimmy managed to keep his story just as interesting. I really enjoyed seeing Kim and Jimmy working on strategy, as details like that are always highly entertaining to watch. The meeting with Ms. Hay supervising was fantastic too. I really enjoyed Chuck and Howard arguing with Kim on the wording of the "damaged property", which was a great tease of the battle for details we are about to witness soon in court. I also loved Jimmy apologizing to Chuck while also throwing in the fact that "no one should treat their brother that way", as a hidden shot to Chuck treating him poorly. A small thing I really enjoyed was the intro to the scene too. With some brief greetings consisting of somebody's name, we got a complete examination of where each of the characters stand with each other. It was very impressive and did a tremendous job of showing the current emotions of all the characters prior to this courtroom battle. And finally, I enjoyed the final shot of Jimmy and Kim leaving the building together. Its artful shots like that which make Better Call Saul so special. Mike finally meeting Chuck was another welcome surprise in this episode. I really love the entire plan put together behind that scene too. I enjoyed Kim trying to call all the different repair locations, as it shows how hard she will work to do what she needs to. I was happy to see Jimmy and Mike working together again and their conversations were hilarious as always. The actual scene with Mike and Chuck was excellent as Mike exploited Chuck's allergy to electricity in hilarious fashion to drive him away from where the door us being repaired. The Bad: I was a little off-put by Kim working with Jimmy on the calls. Wouldn't she be morally against that? It was an odd detail to add in there. If the show wants Kim to be working desperately and sacrificing her morals to save Jimmy, there absolutely should be more focus on that. The Unknown: What are Mike's pictures for? How does Jimmy plan to use them in court? It seems he wants them as evidence, but how will he get them in as evidence? Is that what Kim was looking for from Chuck and Howard after the meeting? Did she want to determine how easy it would be to declare something as evidence? Or was it something else? Could Jimmy and Chuck be planning to use the tape in their favour somehow? How does Hector joining businesses with Gus benefit him? I'm curious to see what Gus' overall game plan is. Best Moment: There are many great scenes to pick from. I'll go with Mike and Chuck finally interacting. Character of the Episode: Hector. Conclusion: This was a very strong episode. Better Call Saul has drawn on Breaking Bad sparingly, making a heavily Breaking Bad-influenced episode all the more successful. this was a real joy to watch and hyped up all of the season's storylines in a shockingly enjoyable fashion. This episode was a very well-disguised set-up episode and I applaud the writers for making me never realize the nature of this episode. Score: 75 Summary: Jimmy is taken into custody by the police. Kim arrives to help represent him but Jimmy wants to represent himself. After getting a PPD from Chuck intended to get Jimmy out of his situation without jail time but at the expense of his law career, Jimmy finally agrees to let Kim help him. Mike and Gus meet and come to an agreement: Mike can sabotage Hector's business but not kill him. Mike complies and enacts a plan, allowing for Hector's Regalo Helado trucks to be suspected for transporting contraband at the border.
The Good: This was another solid and easy to enjoy episode. I really enjoyed Mike's storyline in this episode. His meeting with Gus was long awaited and I was a little surprised to see it happen so quickly in this episode. I expected a longer wait, but I'm honestly pleased that we were given this meeting sooner rather than later. after all we waited three seasons to see Gus and it made sense for him to reveal himself here, and so he did. Their conversation was excellent fun and helped organically fill us in with Gus' current position in the business when compared to Hector. He is on good terms with he cartel at this point it seems, but he is competing with Hector's drug business as well. Mike's half of the conversation as good too as we got to see him try and fail to get over Hector, as h simply couldn't give up on the idea of getting revenge. This decision feels logical too and consistent to Mike's character as we have seen him go for vengeance back in "Five-O" when he killed Hoffman and Fensky. Mike's actual plan was tremendous. I loved the cold open which built up a lot of mystery regarding the shoes, and it was great to see what happened with hem, though it seems that there is more story to be told at that location (see: The Unknown). I enjoyed seeing Mike go through with his plan. We have no idea what he is planning and are genuinely confused when we see him put the cocaine inside the shoes and when he shoots the sniper rounds into the air. But then, masterfully, the show gives us enough information so that we can figure out what Mike is doing at the exact time the show wants us to figure it out. This is a perfect example of how to show off an intelligent character going through a well-thought out plan. We are immersed by the mystery an extremely impressed once we finally figure out what the plan was and how many layers there were too it. The whole sequence was a real joy to watch and was nearly as enjoyable as the excellent Los Pollos Hermanos scene from last episode. Now onto the Jimmy half of the story which was a little less impressive, but still very good. This episode was mostly Jimmy/Kim centric as it focused more on their current relationship and it culminated with a very good final scene where both of them ally with each other. In most shows it would feel unrealistic that Jimmy doesn't want Kim's help, but here it makes sense as it isn't just down to the clichéd reason of pride, but it's down to Jimmy feeling guilty for getting Kim involved with this in the first place and not wanting to have her waste more time with his family drama. That extra layer makes this story work so much more than it should. The final scene is a very good closing point too as we get to see Jimmy and Kim finally agree to take this on together while also getting significant plot progression with the reveal that Chuck isn't going to put Jimmy in prison, but he is instead going to take away his law career. There were several other short scenes in this episode which I really enjoyed. Jimmy and Chuck's brief conversation at the start of the episode was incredible as always (see: Best Moment). I also liked seeing Jimmy talking with Bill who makes a great return. It was a nice look at Bill's crappy life which Jimmy had barely escaped from. The scenes were easy to enjoy and had some great humour, though they weren't without fault (see: The Bad). It was great to see Doctor Barry Goodman from Breaking Bad once more. His scenes were nice and it was good to see him establishing a connection with Mike. Ernie and Kim was another good scene as we got the unfortunate reveal that Chuck fired Ernie after using him. It was sad to hear as Ernie had become pretty likeable in the past few episodes but it also helps us continue to dislike Chuck desite him doing what he believes is right. The Bad: This episode had some major pitfalls though unfortunately. Without them, it could have been just as good as the last episode, but these really detract from the several quality scenes we got. There were a lot of scenes which felt entirely skippable which is quite rare for Better Call Saul, a show which has always used its time wisely to develop characters and add new layers to the story. This time we get some rather pointless scenes which stand out pretty badly. The Kim montage was a very impressive feat of cinematography, but what was the point? All I learned was that Kim goes to the gym, which is completely unnecessary. Also, did we really need s many scenes with Bill? Sure it was good to see him again, but he got far too much screen time which isn't really used to help the story along in any way. Jimmy's growth since season 1 should not be the focus right now as he prepares to enter a legal battle with Chuck and the lack of ay urgency in the Bill scenes really hurt them for me. In addition to feeling pointless, the show kept its slow pace. Now I have praised the show's deliberate slow pace before, but when there are so many seemingly pointless scenes in an episode, the pace stands out much more and it can really test your patience if there isn't much interesting going on. This affected this episode and really hurt the final scenes as my interest was quickly dwindling under the fatigue of so much time-wasting. The scene with Chuck and Ms. Hay and the last scene with Jimmy and Kim were both hurt by this. Rather, the entire Kim/Jimmy story was hurt by this. It was obvious that they would end up working together but it should have been fascinating to see them work to get to that point. But everything felt so slow and pointless, that a story with such a predictable result like this one doesn't work nearly as well. This was good content, but unfortunately there was a lot of padding which took away from the main storyline and really hurt the show's momentum coming off of 2 excellent opening episodes. The Unknown: What else will go down with the trucks? It seems that Los Pollos Hermanos trucks will take over Hector's route, but it definitely seems like there is more story there. In the cold open we see bullet holes on the stop sign. We haven't been shown the cause of said bullet holes so I anticipate seeing what happens to cause them. How will Jimmy and Kim try to fight against Chuck to get Jimmy out of his situation? Or will Jimmy lose? This entire thing may be why Jimmy goes as Saul Goodman if he has to change his name because Jimmy McGill is no longer able to practice law. Best Moment: The Jimmy and Chuck scene was tremendous. Chuck tried to talk to Jimmy, trying to cool the flame, but it is so easy to hate him despite what he's saying. Though Chuck's argument makes sense, it's easy to relate to Jimmy's anger and it allows us to get just as annoyed with Chuck as Jimmy is. But then the scene takes a dark and brutal turn as Jimmy tells Chuck that he will die alone some day. It was a really chilling sequence and it is powerful to see the relationship between these two brothers so badly fractured. Excellent television. Character of the Episode: Jimmy. Conclusion: This was more excellent content, but it also featured some major flaws in execution, which is rare for this show. Hopefully it's only a single hiccup, and I firmly believe that it is since this show has been putting out extremely polished content since its started. Score: 67 Summary: Jimmy and Kim hire Francesca as a receptionist. Mike tracks down his tracker and it takes him to Los Pollos Hermanos. He gets Jimmy to go inside to scout but Jimmy gets noticed by Gus. Mike is then led to a road int he middle of nowhere where he picks up a phone left on the ground which rings for him. Ernie tells Kim about Chuck's tape and she tells Jimmy and prepares for the legal battle. Jimmy is visibly depressed and snaps heading to Chuck's house. This is part of Chuck's plan though as he has hired a PI to serve as a witness to Jimmy breaking into his house. Jimmy does so and destroys the tape in full view of Howard, Chuck and the PI.
The Good: This was a very entertaining and plot-heavy episode, which delivered total pay-off to everything which was set up in the last episode. This more than met my expectations. I'll tackle the Mike story first for this review. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Mike follow the man all over Albuquerque doing whatever he was doing (see: The Unknown). At first glance it is a dull sequence, and sometimes it can be slow to watch, but I feel that this show is able to do so well with the smallest things because the execution is good. There are a lot of extremely impressive shots which feel totally cinematic, with the highlight of course being that illuminated bridge with the city lights behind it. While this part of the episode was slow, it was absolutely gorgeous and was a pleasure to watch despite the fact that not much actually happened. And of course this also helped build up the ultimate Los Pollos Hermanos sign reveal. We all knew it was coming, but it was still awesome to see and the way it was revealed was absolutely masterful and totally delivered on expectations. Staying on Pollos Hermanos, I was happy to see Mike call Jimmy once more to do a quick job. Their interaction were fantastic as always and I was very intrigued to see exactly what Gus' men were doing. But of course I need to talk about that outstanding sequence inside the restaurant. If it wasn't for one other scene, this would absolutely be my favourite moment in the episode. It was so tremendously shot, and was genuinely tense, creative and funny throughout. We usually see professionals doing stealth missions like this in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, so there was something really refreshing about seeing somebody so woefully bad at it. Jimmy never felt forced or fake when h watched the man and there were a number of hilarious moments as he tried to "discretely" keep an eye on him. More fantastically, the reveal of Gus was tremendous. I love that he was introduced in the background as a bright yellow shirt. There was complete restraint here and that was great because it drew on the fact that the viewers know who Gus is and they know how to identify him. This reveal created a genuine sense of unease for the rest of the scene as we know Gus did something to cancel the meeting and we don't know what he is about to do to Jimmy. Their conversation later on was excellent too and I love that Jimmy was smart enough to put his watch into the garbage when he was confronted by Gus for scavenging the trash. There were so many fantastic little details in this scene and I could discuss them for hours. It was just brilliantly put together and very well thought out. Probably my single favourite sequence of this show. There were a few nice Breaking Bad cameos in this episode too aside from Gus. It was great to see Victor again for a brief role. I would love to see Tyrus later on too. And of course Kim introduced us to Francesca earlier in the episode. I love how Jimmy took an instant liking to her as he just wanted to get a receptionist as fast as possible. It was an easy way to keep Jimmy and Kim at odds despite their partnership and relationship. Francesca was excellent and I love that she was played with more energy and happiness than in Breaking Bad. It will be very interesting to see how Jimmy turns her into the cold and unhappy person she is in Breaking Bad. The Jimmy and Chuck storyline still managed to remain a standout in this episode despite all the other excitement. Ernie's role was very well done and he comes across as a very likeable guy through what he's doing. I like that he tried to keep things secret but continued to screw up when he talked with Kim. I like how Kim took full control and prepared to fight for Jimmy, which really does well to show how much she cares for him. Better yet though was Jimmy's reaction to all this. Bob Odenkirk has played the character with such energy that it's really noticeable when he displayed Jimmy's change in heart. It's sad to see Jimmy so broken and his disheartened state makes it much easier to believe that he would lose all rational thought and go straight for Chuck's house. Speaking of Chuck, I enjoyed his preparations too. It added some intrigue since we didn't know what his plan was, and it added to the tension when we learned what the plan was near the end. Also, Howard jumping fences was absolutely fantastic. More of that please. And now finally I get to the titular "witness" scene which closed the episode. Needless to say, it was tremendous. Bob Odenkirk acted his heart out as he let all of his rage out at Chuck, showing his complete displeasure of being taken advantage of because of his are for his brother. It's completely justified for Jimmy to be angry and it helps build our sympathy for his cause when we see Chuck coldly use his brother's good heart against him, making us firmly want to side with the person who is a kinder soul. Chuck crossed a line here and seeing Jimmy's reaction to all of this confirms that. The stunned and angry look on Jimmy's face when Howard and the PI say they are witnesses is painful to see and feels very cathartic. This final scene more than delivered with the intended emotions. The Bad: The Mike tracking scene was very slow which still did hurt my enjoyment a bit despite the gorgeous cinematography. Also the predictability of the Los Pollos Hermanos reveal did lessen the impact greatly. A surprise would have been fantastic, but it was pretty much expected by this point. The Unknown: How is Jimmy going to defend himself against Chuck? Will this be the end of Jimmy's law career? Will this conflict be what leads to Jimmy changing his name to Saul? What was the phone call at the end about? Gus is definitely onto Mike, but what will he want from him? And who is the one talking to Mike? Is it Gus? Victor? Or someone else entirely? What was Gus' man doing while Mike was following him? I presume he was picking up money through dead drops. This would makes sense as Gus' business would presumably be less polished since he wouldn't quite have as much experience as he does in Breaking Bad. I hope this means that we will get to see Gus' business and control expand over time. That would be very exciting to follow right alongside his conflict with Hector. Best Moment: The ending scene was fantastic and powerful. A great moment that raises the stakes for the next episode. Character of the Episode: Gus for finally making his debut on this show. Conclusion: This episode was awesome. Last episode was mostly set-up despite being extremely enjoyable, and this episode delivered on what was set-up. With two standout scenes and consistent quality throughout, this is absolutely one of Better Call Saul's finer instalments. Score: 73 Summary: In the future, Gene gives up a criminal to the police but tells him to call a lawyer. Gene later collapses. In the present, Chuck shows the tape to Howard and prepares a plan to bring justice to Jimmy. Jimmy is confronted by Bauer about his commercial but he is able to weasel his way out of trouble. Mike finds a tracking device on his car after a ton of searching. Mike buys another version of the tracking device and enacts a clever plan to allow him to follow whoever is trying to track him.
The Good: This was a really strong season premiere even though it had a slow pace. There was so much to love and a lot of story was set up in very tense fashion. First of all though, we were treated to another excellent scene with Gene. These scenes are always extremely well put together and this was no exception. It has been fascinating to slowly learn more about Gene and to see the differences between him and Jimmy. Here we get to see how he is trying to stay out of the public and definitely away from cops, yet his inner personality wants to be a lawyer again and it creeps out from time to time. With the main story, I thought there were a lot of excellent scenes that continued to develop relationships and progress the story. I really enjoyed the scene with Jimmy and Chuck near the beginning. There was a great metaphor for their relationship added in with their differing ways to peel off the tape. Chuck uses finesse whereas Jimmy is pretty rough around the edges. It's a really clever comparison and reminds us of these 2's conflicting morals. I also loved to see the 2 brothers reminiscing a bit. They have been at their throats for so long that we do need a reminder from time to time that they are brothers. Fascinatingly though we got to see Chuck completely cut off the brotherly moment with a chilling line, telling Jimmy "you will pay". The scene conveyed the state of the brothers' relationship so well and even got out some emotion with that chilling final line. Jimmy was involved with a lot of other good scenes too. His scenes with Kim were great as usual and continued to highlight their differences as well. Kim is always so fretful with details and being good in contrast to Jimmy taking shortcuts and still believing that the result is all that matters, without any thought about the means. This, I believe, was also shown in an amazing scene with Captain Bauer who makes his return from "Fifi" (see: Best Moment). And that was surprisingly it for the Jimmy storyline. Not a whole lot happened in it, but it had a genuine air of tension throughout with the threat of Chuck looming in the background and with Jimmy facing so many conflicts with other characters. There was limited story progression, but the show continues to explore its dynamics with incredible depth and detail which will always make for a compelling viewing. In the other half of the episode we got a lengthy story revolving Mike which surprisingly featured very little dialogue. I thought this was a brilliant decision though and it made for an impressively cinematic and gripping story as Better Call Saul got to use its fantastic visual storytelling to ensure that we always know and understand what was happening in he storyline. Scenes like the car montage were incredible as they got their point across very well while also remaining entertaining through a use of creative cinematography and our love for the character of Mike. Speaking of Mike, I love that we got to see his plan to reverse the situation on the man tracking him in complete detail. This could have been accomplished in 5 minutes easily, but where would the satisfaction be? It wouldn't be memorable and it would just be a plot transition. By taking a risk and aiming big here, Mike's story became memorable and downright fascinating to watch as we can see a real professional working to get himself out of a very tedious situation. By dedicating so much time to this, it made the final scene when Mike gets his tracker out to follow the man feel so much more satisfying and impressive. We can really appreciate Mike's intelligence an dedication now that we have seen him use those traits to his fullest ability. I was preparing to make some complaints about how there were some holes in the story, but the story had so much dedication that there are no possible holes. The tracker storyline had a danger of being too contrived, but it made sense and we got scenes to show each and every step that Mike took so we got to understand every detail of the plan. I was also extremely impressed that the show actually addressed how Mike made time for everything while still working his job. Any other show would have forgotten about that, but not this show. This show is too careful to leave a plot hole like that. The Bad: The pace was very slow which may turn off some viewers. I didn't find it to be a problem though since the pace of this show has always been deliberately slow and it has allowed for huge improvements to writing, cinematography, storytelling and character development. I'll gladly take a slow pace to experience this kind of quality. The Unknown: Chuck's entire story goes into the unknown. We don't know what his plan is and I'm very interested to see what it is. It seems like he conned Ernie into hearing the tape, again showing he is just as deadly with conning as Jimmy. It seems that he is going to try to use Ernie to tell Jimmy about the tape. I wonder what that will accomplish for him. What was with Gene's collapse? Was it just from anxiety after his encounter with the cops, or could it be something else? Best Moment: Jimmy is confronted by Captain Bauer who is pissed about the commercial. This scene was fantastic as it had a genuine air of tension as we can't be sure that Jimmy's commercial is safe. It was great to see Jimmy make a comeback and threaten Bauer's job when he is threatened with being put in court. It was very enjoyable and tense. And then leave it to the writers to turn the scene into something more powerful by using it to also highlight Jimmy's frustration with Chuck. That was done in such an organic and subtle way that I must applaud the writers for it. Character of the Episode: Mike. Conclusion: Despite the slow pace, this was a wildly entertaining season premiere which completely satisfied me. Score: 69 Summary: In a flashback, Chuck stays by his mom as she dies while Jimmy leaves to get food. In the present, Jimmy runs in to help Chuck. Chuck is taken to the hospital and recovers but accuses Jimmy for mysteriously being at the copy shop. Ernie saves him by saying he called Jimmy. Chuck is taken out of the hospital and returned home after some time. Chuck calls Howard and tells him he is retiring from law. Jimmy goes to convince Chuck to keep at the law and does so by confessing that he sabotaged the Mesa Verde files. However this was a trap set up by Chuck who taped the confession. Mike gets a sniper rifle and attempts to shoot Hector but a mystery person leaves a note on Mike's car telling him not to.
The Good: This was a very strong season finale which did a lot of unconventional things, but also ended the season on a brilliant note. The opening scene was another brilliant flashback between the 2 brothers which once again added some more depth to their relationship. We can see that Chuck has always been the "good" son, staying by his mother's bed while Jimmy goes out to get a sandwich. But he is still not valued as much as Jimmy because Jimmy can make others laugh and smile. It was sad to hear Chuck's mother call for Jimmy before dying, and it really gives Chuck a good reason to hold a jealous hatred towards Jimmy. In the end it was small things like Chuck refusing to tell Jimmy his mother's final words that led to Chuck being so damn antagonistic to Jimmy all the time. The scene was probably my favourite cold open scene from the whole show as it developed so much in such short time with some brilliant subtlety. In the main plot, I really enjoyed the follow up to the cliffhanger from last episode. Jimmy was kind-hearted as he saved Chuck and it led to some good conflict down the line between the brothers. I think putting Ernie on Jimmy's side was brilliantly done. We can understand why he would pick friendly Jimmy over the angry and egotistic Chuck, and it made sense for him to want to help Jimmy. It's the detail given to these supporting characters that makes them so likeable and organic. Chuck in the hospital was handled fantastically. That one scene where Chuck was taken by doctors who performed tests on him was amazing. The cinematography, sense of unease and Chuck's desperate wails were awesome and rely allowed us to sympathize with him for the situation he is in. This episode did a fantastic job of painting Jimmy as more of a good guy here too. Though I have said this conflict between the brothers is in a very gray area, it is still necessary for Jimmy to be liked by us more than Chuck because he is the main character. This episode accomplished that by showing us that Jimmy is the better "brother" so to speak. he is caring towards Chuck and ensures that he is never a casualty to what Jimmy wants. Jimmy is shown to be kind-hearted as he cares for Chuck despite the conflict, sticking by his bed and also refusing to have him committed. This makes it so easy to hate Chuck by the end of the episode when he exploits this brotherly love for his own cause. He has the ability to do dirty con jobs like did at the end, but acts like he is on the next level. This is very effective at making us despise Chuck despite the fact that what he is doing is technically just. Now to get more in depth with that huge final scene. First of all, I have to say that this is one of the most genuinely powerful scenes in the show. It was extremely tense and Jimmy letting everything out to Chuck at the end was fantastic. It was easy to understand why Jimmy would tell Chuck the truth because of his aforementioned brotherly love, but it made sense for Jimmy to show some frustration because everything went so much worse than he had expected and wanted. Of course the tape reveal was a huge bombshell too. It was a huge shock to end the season and is a perfect cliff-hanger as it leaves us wanting to see the repercussions of this tape in the next season. Now onto the Mike storyline. This was very entertaining too but not quite as good as the rest of the episode. I enjoyed the sniper scene the most but I did have a small problem with it (see: The Bad). I think the sniper scene was better than it should have been though. While we know that Hector survives, we still don't know how he got in the wheelchair and I believed for a second that perhaps sniper-fire from Mike is what caused it. Now that wouldn't make any sense when you think about it, but the scene was tense enough to make me not get a chance to think much about it which made me believe in it for a little bit. I am very interested by the mysterious note but I have a good idea of who sent it (see: The Unknown). There were a lot of nice little scenes here too. Jimmy's commercial was very fun to watch. It was a good way to bring closure to the few commercial scenes throughout the season. I enjoyed Kim's few scenes with Jimmy as always. I do wish she had a larger role here but I understand why she didn't since this episode was heavily focused on Jimmy and Chuck's relationship and conflict. Lastly, I was happy to see this show still continuing to provide laughs even in darker episodes. The old people comedy is still fairly funny and brought a smile to my face. The Bad: The Mike sniper scene felt a bit too long for a scene without dialogue. Sure it was fantastically constructed, but I don't feel it was quite tense enough to justify 7 whole minutes of it. The Unknown: Who left the note for Mike? I'm 99% sure it was Gus. Who else would make sense at this point of the story? And who's return would be dramatic enough for it to be a season finale cliffhanger? All the signs point to Gus. The question for me now is how does he know about Mike? Has he been following Hector too perhaps? Or was it something else? What will Chuck do with the tape? I am not too sure on how much it can do to Jimmy, because Jimmy will surely deny any accusations he makes. However we have learned now that Chuck can be a great con artist himself, so perhaps he has a dirtier plan in mind. Best Moment: The last scene between Jimmy and Chuck was stellar television. Probably the best scene from the entire season. Character of the Episode: Chuck. Conclusion: This was a splendid season finale that delivered a lot of powerful and climactic moments which set up next season very well. As for the season overall, I thought it was excellent. There wasn't a bad episode in the bunch and my interest in the season gradually increased with every episode which is very impressive. The only other shows that can accomplish this kind of season long build up and deliver a satisfying pay off are Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. It goes to show how good Better Call Saul has been if it can do that too. A lot of episodes this season were set up, which may turn off some people, but I feel like the amount of attention given to writing and story really let those episodes be much more fascinating than they should have been. The writing here was what made this season so damn good in the end. I think it has surpassed season 1, despite being weaker on paper, because the amount of effort and care put into it was tremendous. If season 3 can continue this same quality, even if it doesn't improve, I would be very satisfied. Score: 75 Summary: Mike sabotages one of Hector's trucks, leaving the driver alive and takes his money with intent of having the cops discover the scene. Mike learns from an angry Nacho that Hector escaped the cops by killing a good citizen who freed the driver. Chuck overreacts after the error in his paperwork and loses Mesa Verde to Kim. Chuck immediately suspects Jimmy but is unable to prove t anybody that he is responsible. Chuck goes to the copy shop where Jimmy copied the papers to get Lance to ID Jimmy, but Jimmy pays him off. Chuck gets frustrated and with all the electricity in the area, he passes out and hits his head off the counter.
The Good: This was an amazing climactic episode. There has been a lot of build up, and this was all pay-of as we went from one terrific scene to the other in an episode which was absolutely filled with tension. I'll start where the episode opened up: Mike extracting sweet vengeance upon Hector. We got a lovely Breaking Bad-esque scene where Mike sabotages a Regalo Helado truck and takes the money. It was a very cool scene, but the highlight for the Mike storyline was absolutely what came afterwards. We get to see more consequences come Mike's way as a result of his half measures as this time his sparing of the driver caused an innocent civilian to lose his life. It's a rather tragic twist and is a very real way to keep the storyline going. Surely Mike isn't done with Hector since he didn't get the intended result of turning the cops onto his business. Perhaps there will be a continuation in the finale and I'm excited to see it. Now onto the Jimmy storyline, which took up most of the episode and was the best part easily. I'll tackle each scene chronologically, starting with Chuck heading to court and realizing the errors in his work. The scenes before the court scene were great as they built up Chuck's hubris nicely, which made him insulting Kevin and Paige seem more realistic without it losing its power as a major mistake from Chuck. When you realize that had Chuck not been so proud and had simply stayed home, he would have caught Jimmy in his tracks and this wouldn't have gone so badly for him. This was a good way to work in Chuck's pride as his downfall here, and it makes it more believable that Howard doesn't believe his accusations against Jimmy since he knows Chuck is a proud man who wouldn't easily own up to the fact that he made a mistake. The actual court scene was well done too and there was a nice air of tension involving the changed address and Michael McKean played Chuck very well. I was also pleasantly impressed with Howard attempting to keep things happy and calm in the courtroom. We have always seen Howard attempting to be overly friendly to his clients and it was lovely to see him continuing this even when there is conflict arising. I really enjoyed the court scenes, but they were almost instantly one-upped by what came next. Jimmy and Kim are instantly sent over to Chuck's house to collect the papers where we get a tremendously powerful scene between Jimmy, Chuck and Kim which I believe is the first time that just the three of them have talked together. The scene was truly excellent and did a fantastic job at exploring how each of the characters will be feeling after the situation. This was shown with Chuck's anger and betrayal, Jimmy's frantic attempts to keep his relationship with Kim under control, and Kim in a stunned silence trying to process what exactly Chuck is saying. It was a big conversation and the acting involved was tremendous. But I think it peaked at the perfect time when Kim sided with Jimmy over Chuck and completely called him out for being a terrible brother. It was a powerful scene and while Kim technically lied to keep Jimmy safe, she was completely right about the entire brotherly relationship. It's really sad to see these 2 brothers in such a hateful relationship and Kim was able to highlight its problems in a quick and emotional speech, while also continuing to show her loyalty to those she is close too. I really enjoyed the brief car scene where Kim lets out her frustrations letting us know that Kim is aware of Jimmy's ways by now and is just accepting that she has to live with them. I think what this scene nails (see what I did there), is that each of these 3 characters have been completely put through the wringer as a result of this conflict. Following up this scene was the commercial scene. This scene did feel a touch awkward (see: The Bad), but I loved it overall. It gave us a great moment of levity in a very tense and serious episode and had me laughing at numerous points. I would honestly love it if there are just clips released over youtube or something of Jimmy just filming commercials with these guys. This material is hysterical. Lastly, I finally get to the copy shop scenes and man were they fantastic. First we got Jimmy bribing Lance to tell Chuck he isn't recognized which I loved (more on Lance later). It was a very fun scene and got some laughs as we got the necessary build up to the episode's big climax. Chuck's arrival was humourous at first but it quickly became tense when Jimmy was shown watching and with the fantastic cuts showing the electricity affecting Chuck. In quick time I was on the edge of my seat wondering if Lance would cave in udner pressure or if Ernie would say something that pisses Chuck off. The scene quickly gripped me and when Chuck hit his head, it was a legitimate shock to the system and ended the episode on a brutal cliff-hanger. Everything here was executed beautifully and built up an incredible sense of tension for that shocking ending. For those who say nothing ever happens in Better Call Saul, I will say that this season has developed the characters an absolute ton in just 10 episodes, whereas other shows would take seasons to accomplish this much with its characters. And every little detail that happened in previous episodes always progresses the plot and adds on to some major character developments. It's not that nothing happens in this show; rather it's that this show is able to make small occurrences very important to the plot, allowing them to honestly effect a ton, without anybody ever realizing it. Season 2 has been masterful at progressing the story and deepening the characters and because of that, I would say it has improved on season 1 in an excellent way and has really fleshed out the story to make me even more excited to learn the fates of all these characters. Speaking of characters, I love the way this show handles its side characters. They are given basic motivations and likeable traits which makes them memorable and enjoyable whenever they appear. Daniel, Steven Ogg's character and Omar were excellent in previous episodes, and this episode really does a great job with Lance and Ernie. Their roles are minimal but they still feel like real people with a purpose in their lives, rather than plot devices used to progress the story. The Bad: The commercial filming scene's timing was a little weird because we had just seen Jimmy get out of a tense conversation with Chuck. To show him completely unaffected literally a minute later felt rather cheap and it really felt like the scene should have taken place in the last episode but was shifted for some reason. This was a rare moment of poor organization in a show which I would say is the best put together show on television. The Unknown: What is Chuck's fate? Will he survive the hit? That seemed like a really bad head injury, and it could have possibly been fatal. It would be a real shock to lose Chuck tragically as a result of Jimmy's actions and would give him some real drive to become Saul. Whatever happens to him, I'm sure he, and everyone else, won't be unaffected by it. There will certainly be consequences, as there always is on this show. Will Jimmy go in and save Chuck? Or will he keep his position seek and only watch? Either way it will make sense for him and he is left with a terrible decision here. It should be exciting to pick up with his decision in the finale. What will Mike do to get back at Hector? I'm willing to bet he's not just going to forget about Hector now. Will Nacho be involved with this at all? Or will he be affected by whatever Mike has in store? Best Moment: We are truly spoilt for choice but I'll pick the final copy shop scene as it was a masterpiece of tension and had a truly stunning ending. I can't imagine not wanting to watch the next episode after this scene. Character of the Episode: A VERY difficult choice. Everyone has a claim to this, even Lance. I will narrowly pick Chuck for this one I think. Michael McKean is just too good. Conclusion: What a fantastic episode, one of the very best from this show. This was powerful and climactic, delivering a huge exclamation point to this season after tons of excellent set up. This exceeded my expectations and is my favourite episode thus far. Score: 83 Summary: Kim informs Howard that she is leaving HHM and he lets her go. Kim is able to convince Mesa Verde to stay with her but with the help of Chuck, HHM is able to get them back. Jimmy realizes Chuck took Kim's clients and sabotages Chuck's Mesa Verde files when he is sick, changing the address of Mesa Verde from 1261 Rosella Drive to 1216. Hector is using his business for nefarious means and is transporting contraband across the border. Mike learns of this and begins to form a plan.
The Good: This was another very solid and very enjoyable episode of Better Call Saul. This was all set up and things seem primed for a big climax in the next 2 episodes and I can't wait for it. I'll start on this episode with the beginning though. That opening shot at the border was a true cinematic masterpiece. I stand by the idea that Better Call Saul is the best put together show on television and it's scenes like this that help reinforce that. I was completely blown away by the single take that opened up this episode showing a Regalo Helado truck going through border inspection on the way to Albuquerque. It was visually stunning and also introduced a new concept into the story seamlessly, allowing for us to understand exactly what is going on when the Regalo Helado truck arrives at Hector's business, The Winking Greek. The truck tie in was handled very well with the Mike story. I was glad to see him getting information about Hector's business and it definitely seems that he may have discovered something crucial involving the ruck. It remains to be seen what Mike is planning but I'm definitely intrigued and I want to see him extract some vengeance on Hector. The Kim storyline continues to be a very enthralling part of the back half of this season. It was engaging and satisfying to watch her finally free herself from HHM and it's a testament to how well the show has handled her story that it was impactful. The scene was well done and it transitioned with a great sense of urgency into a battle to see which side gets Mesa Verde. It was gripping drama and very tense to watch as we all hope that Kim can keep the clients that she is so passionate about. The show did an excellent job of painting HHM as the bad guys by making us grow to love Kim over the last couple episodes, so we can't possibly root against her at this point. Our love for the good and kind Kim also accomplishes something else in this episode: it allows us to support Jimmy as he does something completely illegal because he is doing it to help Kim. Jimmy should be the bad guy here as he sabotages Chuck's files and sets him up for failure, but since Kim's happiness will happen at Chuck's expense we root for it to happen. The sabotaging montage was very enjoyable though and was the second most artsy moment of the episode after the opening scene. I love how getting to know Jimmy in season 1 has paid off, as we are completely able to buy Jimmy doing something difficult and tedious like this since we have seen him do it before. I really enjoyed Jimmy and Kim buying an office together. They have had excellent chemistry and I've completely bought into their relationship now. Their relationship has helped define both characters and also provides some great drama and tension on a consistent basis and I really love that. In a way, Jimmy and Kim's relationship has been the central focus of this season as it has been effected by or has caused several of this season's conflicts. Lastly, I enjoyed Jimmy shooting what seems to be his personal commercial. It provided some excellent humour to give us a brief break from the tense battle over Mesa Verde. The Bad: Chuck's confidence didn't seem quite good enough to get Kevin to switch to HHM in my opinion. It was very professional and impressive, but I still feel that something was missing that would really turn Kevin's head. The Unknown: What is Mike setting up the hose for? How will it come into play in whatever he has in store for Hector? What will be the consequences of Jimmy sabotaging Chuck's files? How will Chuck react and will it be enough to get Mesa Verde to switch back to Kim's side? Best Moment: Not a whole lot stood out so I'm inclined to pick the visually stunning opening scene. Character of the Episode: Again it's tough to choose as everyone got shining moments in this episode, but nobody stood out from the pack. I think I'll go with Kim for this one though Jimmy is a close second. Conclusion: A very good episode that builds strongly to the final act of the season. Score: 68 Summary: A flashback shows Jimmy working with his father at is convenience store. Jimmy's father gets conned. In the present, Jimmy gets himself fired without cause at Davis and Main so he can keep his bonus money. He goes to Kim with a deal to be partners in a new firm he wants to create with her. Kim declines and chooses to go to her interview with Schweikart. However, she realizes that she needs to be a solo practitioner and offers Jimmy a new deal: 2 different practices working together. Mike frees Tuco of the gun charge but keeps his gaze set on Hector.
The Good: This was another very good episode of Better Call Saul which continued to move things along nicely. The opening sequence in this episode was terrific. It ties back to Chuck's story from "Rebecca" but this time we see Jimmy's story and it's easy to understand why he did what he did. His dad was a sucker and was already destined for failure; after all if Jimmy wasn't taking money from the till, his father would be giving it out to random strangers who are conning him. I love this because it features a very realistic element of life: the fact that when there is a conflict, there are always 2 sides to each story. We can understand why Chuck blames Jimmy for what happened to their father, but we can also understand why Jimmy did what he did and why it seemed to be the right thing for him to do. This is excellent exploration of morally grey territory and it helps us realize that in this brotherly conflict, neither Jimmy nor Chuck are completely in the right. This brotherly relationship has silently been the best thing about this season despite Jimmy and Chuck only having interacted a total of 2 times in this season. That's a sign of some expert writing. I also enjoyed that we got to see Jimmy and Mike together again, albeit briefly. their storylines have diverged a lot, so it is good to see them coming together even if it is for just a single scene. Their interactions remain hilarious and I loved seeing Jimmy trying to talk to Mike about Tuco but getting rebuffed by an irritated Mike. It was a funny scene but it also served to tell us that Mike till feels some anger towards Hector and isn't ready to let this situation go just yet. I think the Jimmy storyline was the absolute highlight in this episode though. After taking a bit of a backseat in the past few episodes, Jimmy becomes the focus again and I is fantastic. His firing from Davis and Main was superbly executed from start to finish. The initial letter he tried to make Omar write was great and it allowed for a hilarious moment of realization when Jimmy realized he would lose his money if he quit. Of course that comedy was nothing compared to the amazing sequence that followed (see: Best Moment) which had me laughing hard every 10 seconds with a new joke. More on that stellar sequence later though. Back to Jimmy though, I enjoyed him trying to at least be decent to those that were good to him when he quits. He is kind to Omar and tells Cliff he's a good guy (and Cliff has a hilarious response). It showed Jimmy's humanity after all the colourful antics he performs to get himself fired. The follow up on the Jimmy storyline may not be as awesome to watch but the storytelling remains impressive. I was happy to see him try to make a deal with Kim; he had tried once before and it makes sense that he would want to continue working with her. Their relationship has been well developed throughout the season and I can buy that they would both really want to work together. But more than that, I can also buy that Kim is aware of Jimmy's "colourful" nature and would want to stay away from that. Their conversation as nice and I loved that they both accepted that Jimmy would be Jimmy no matter what. A lesser show would take these conflicting ideals and use it to create drama later on, but Better Call Saul is smarter than that. This show acknowledges that these 2 are long time friends and no each other and would be honest to each other. It's a brilliant touch which I respect a lot. Kim's story was also very good in this episode. Her ultimately making the decision to listen to Jimmy was given the appropriate time, which I was happy about. her decision could have come out of nowhere, but just a few scenes of her contemplating her next move and the small "Howard" she said to Schweikart helped make the decision feel real. And buy the time Kim came to Jimmy with her new idea, I believed that she would have come up with it and that she would be excited t follow through with something like that. Lastly, I loved Jimmy's return into the nail salon. The Cocobolo desk getting a conversation was some nice downtime and it fit in with what e know of Jimmy. I like that Omar got a little more development too. he was a genuinely likeable person and I wouldn't complain if he makes a quick appearance later in the show. Jimmy changing his voicemail was a fantastic little character moment too, showing how he has changed from the man he was in season 1. And of course, it's great to have that crappy yellow car back. I missed it more than I ever imagined. The Bad: The only flaw I have with this is the inconsistency of time. Jimmy's sequence looks like it should have taken about a month or so considering how many things he does and how many different suit combinations we see him wearing but then we see that Kim hasn't even been interviewed yet by the time he is fired. It's a small issue but it still exists. The Unknown: Will Jimmy agree to Kim's offer? I am sure that he will since I can't imagine him saying no. What does Mike want from Hector? What good will stalking him do? What plan does he have in mind? Will he communicate with Nacho about it? Why did Jimmy have the film crew in his office? What is he planning to use them for? Is he making another commercial? Best Moment: The sequence was really incredible. There was some really special editing and effects throughout which made it a very visually pleasing sequence; probably the most beautifully constructed montage on the show thus far. I appreciated the short scenes intertwined in the sequence too as they always had some really hilarious lines and moments. Whether it was Jimmy not flushing or "dude, I'm from Michigan", I was laughing non-stop throughout. And to top it off, I love the idea that Jimmy was inspired by one of the big inflatable men; that was a hilarious touch. Character of the Episode: Jimmy of course. This was all Jimmy throughout. Conclusion: This was another solid episode, but its score was improved by the stellar firing montage which is one of the show's best scenes to date. This season hasn't had a weak episode yet and I'm getting more and more excited as it nears its conclusion. Score: 69 Summary: Jimmy can't find comfort at his company apartment anymore and returns to the nail salon. Kim is given a job opportunity by Rich Schweikart after she appears in court. Kim thinks about the opportunity and is leaning towards taking it because Howard isn't giving her any other opportunities. Kim performs another con job with Jimmy and they discuss their future plans. Mike has to fight off several scare tactics from Hector, who wants him to take the deal but ultimately caves and meets with him after Kaylee is threatened by the cousins. Mike accepts the deal and threatens Hector to ensure he makes 50 thousand dollars. He splits the money with Nacho.
The Good: This was another very strong episode. On the surface there isn't a whole lot, but storywise this was another exciting chapter to give the show some steam as it enters the season's second half. First of all I will tackle the Jimmy storyline. Jimmy has taken a bit of a back seat in the last 2-3 episodes but I think it is fine because he makes the most of his time and still progresses his story, while the other time spent on Kim ad Mike is definitely worth it. This episode we get to see Jimmy beginning to feel some annoyance at his job with Davis and Main. It was always there a little bit before but now we can really see his displeasure in every scene he is in. The opening sequence was a genius bit of writing to demonstrate this and I loved the use of the company car to continue to show Jimmy's annoyance in his position. It ends the episode on a high note as it seems that the Saul Goodman part of Jimmy may be emerging soon. It also ended the episode on a hilarious note with the destruction of the cup holder. Kim's story was the show-stealer in this episode once more. It was great to get an entire episode dedicated to the big decision of Kim choosing to leave HHM. Like Jimmy's storyline, this is made so much more enjoyable and rewarding with a number of small touches and details that make everything so much better. The walk through the office with Howard was something really special and goes to show Howard's distaste for Kim which helps drive her away. Contrast this to how much Schweikart values her and it's easy to see why Kim would leave HHM despite her owing loyalty to them. Additionally, I loved the touch of Kim not unpacking her stuff; after all who knows how long she will stay anyways? In 16 episodes she has been booted from her office twice. The final scenes with Jimmy were also good fun and were easy to enjoy. Mike's story was excellent in this episode too. After some cool down in the previous episode, this time his story is filled with tension and excitement and even brings back some of the Breaking Bad feeling into the show. Early on the Breaking Bad feel made me nervous that this show would just be a carbon copy of it, but now that I am completely engrossed into the storyline, the Breaking Bad feel is a treat to experience along with the Jimmy storyline. Mike was as cool as ever as he beat out each of Hector's attempts to threaten him. I really liked the use of the welcome mat, which made Mike realizing his house was compromised that much more satisfying. Mike's last scene with Hector was awesome too and had an air of tension even though we knew both men would live another day. This was accomplished because we still don't know on what level these 2 will part ways. Mike wasn't much of a factor in Breaking Bad so it should be interesting to see how this storyline is resolved. Lastly from the Mike story, the return of the cousins was an excellent cameo and there was a really good ominous mood to the scene when they just appeared on the rooftop. That scene was crafted flawlessly. A constant trend in all of these storylines is great writing. On paper this episode feels very average and unspectacular, but in execution it is something else entirely. This show has been extremely consistent with things like this and that is what has allowed this show to feel like something special. There haven't been many powerful moments in this season in terms of emotion and spectacle, but the thing that makes this so good is how well it is put together. Watching this show feels so satisfying and pleasing to the eye in the way most other shows can't accomplish and that is what makes episodes like these so compelling despite not much actually happening. The Bad: There is one notable flaw in the Jimmy storyline though. Jimmy is annoyed at his job which we understand but we don't have a good idea on his standing with the Sandpiper case. Sandpiper was a primary storyline but it has faded into the background and I didn't even realize it was until I saw the commercial on the TV (another great scene may I add. It did a great job of illustrating how Jimmy didn't realize what was wrong with what he did since he ended up just doing what Davis & Main chose to do, only better). We have been stripped of anything Sandpiper related now. On the surface this isn't a major problem, but it ends p being pretty bad as we don't know what Jimmy is doing involving the case. Has he been taken off of it? Is he still a part of it, just a minimal part? Does he still work on it? We don't know and we really should have been told earlier so this inconsistency won't exist. The Unknown: What is Jimmy going to do next? Will we see him leaving Davis and Main in the near future? How will Howard react to Kim leaving? Will he try to keep her? What will happen to the Mesa Verde case? Does it stay at HHM or go with Kim to Davis and Main? Best Moment: Not much stood out in this episode; everything was consistently good. I'll go with the cousins appearing on the rooftop. Like I said earlier, that scene was crafted so well. Character of the Episode: Kim again steals the show. Conclusion: This was another very strong episode of storytelling. Bring on the rest of the season. Score: 68 Summary: A flashback shows Jimmy having dinner with Chuck and his wife Rebecca. Jimmy is now being monitored by Erin. Jimmy continues trying to help Kim but she wants to save herself without any help. Kim works very hard and gets Howard a good deal but still isn't taken out of doc review. Chuck talks with her regarding Jimmy's past and says he will try to get Kim back to her former position. Mike is met by Hector who wants him to take Tuco's gun charge to reduce his jail time.
The Good: Better Call Saul kills it with another great episode. This was cool down from the big climax in the last episode, but this was just as good as that episode in a lot of ways, and in some ways it was even better. There was fantastic character work all the way through and I was totally engaged by the depth, detail and exploration of all of these characters. Every scene provided some characterization or development which just added on to make this episode excellent. Even the minor characters like Howard and Erin were given motives and personality. I'll tackle every storyline individually. First of all, the flashback sequence that opened up the episode. It was an interesting twist to show us that Chuck has an ex-wife and it raises a few questions (see: The Unknown). But I thought this scene was awesome. It helped show us the difference between Jimmy and Chuck and also helped us understand why Chuck has such a big distaste of Jimmy. Here we get to see some jealousy in Chuck. Chuck does all the hard work and yet Jimmy still gets along better with people despite his flaws. Chuck's jealousy and incapability to be charming in the way Jimmy is, is shown excellently through the use of lawyer jokes. This scene was so brilliantly written and expertly introduced a new element in the ever-growing complexity of Jimmy and Chuck's relationship. Next up are the Jimmy/Erin scenes. These scenes were probably the weakest of the episode but there was still a lot to love about them. Obviously, there was a hilarious humour to everything as Jimmy kept being exposed by Erin over his illegal shenanigans that he always tries to pull. I really do like that the show still makes Jimmy relatable even though he is doing so many illegal things. This is where season pays off as we know the hardships Jimmy had to endure to get to where he is, so we instinctively want to defend his actions. The writers have done an excellent job of creating a morally grey world. And of course any scene where Jimmy cross paths with Mike will be hilariously awesome. This was no exception. Jimmy was also very enjoyable as he tried to work things out with Kim. Suing HHM seems like just the kind of illogical decision Jimmy would make that would make perfect sense to him but nobody else. The scene with Kim was terrific and really brought out Kim's angry side that is disappointed in what Jimmy did. We got to see a lot of likeable fire in Kim which makes us support her and root for her. Her declaration of "I save me" was also a great way to buck the trend of males saving females. The show followed through very well with Kim wanting to save herself. She absolutely stole the show this episode and her plot line carried the story in such a magnificent way. The montages were lengthy, but beautifully crafted and they were also extremely necessary. We really got to see Kim's determination and by having the montages go on maybe a minute longer than they needed to actually paid off in making the moment Kim finally gets a good deal feel very special. We were cheering right alongside her when she did a quick high-energy dance in the parking lot. And then our hearts were broken alongside hers when Howard broke the news to her that she will remain in doc review. To a casual viewer the scene means nothing, but for people who regularly follow the show and are engaged by it, it is a heartbreaking scene and Rhea Seehorn did a tremendous job of portraying Kim throughout the scene. Her change in mannerisms when she learns that she is still in doc review was so expertly done and helped deliver on the emotion of the scene. And then of course there was the scene between Chuck and Kim. Wow was that one good. Their awkward interactions were excellent throughout, and I really loved seeing Chuck actually helping Kim. Again it shows that both Chuck and Jimmy have positive elements and neither one is completely in the right in their conflict. Chuck relating to Kim for being manipulated by Jimmy feels like a logical character move and their subsequent conversation as a real wonder. Chuck's story about Jimmy stealing the money from their father was a real highlight of the episode for me. It goes to highlight how far back Chuck's dislike for Jimmy goes as he clearly blames him for the death of their father. It's sad to hear about and yet it makes perfect sense and fits right in with the show by adding more details to the Chuck/Jimmy relationship. Lastly, there was the Mike stuff. His conversations with Stacey were the usual expected stuff, but the real highlight here was the ending. Namely the return of Hector Salamanca, prior to his time in a wheelchair (see: The Unknown). I was pleasantly surprised by his return and I absolutely loved the touch that the scene opened with the ringing of a bell. His deal with Mike makes sense and it provides a very organic way to introduce him into the plot. The excitement slowed down this episode after last episode was filled with it, but the ending cliff-hanger absolutely builds up some excitement for later episodes this season. The Bad: Nothing as such. The Unknown: Why did Chuck and Rebecca split up? Will that story be explored later on? I sure hope so. What puts Hector in the wheelchair then? Was it really or stroke or something more deadly? We never got it confirmed in breaking Bad about what it is that puts Hector in the chair. so could it have been something more dramatic than we all expected? And of course if Hector has returned, may we be seeing a certain fried chicken businessman soon? Best Moment: Chuck's story about Jimmy and their father takes it for me. There are many scenes to choose from though which is one of the reasons this episode was so good. Character of the Episode: Kim. Her character is coming far this season. Conclusion: This was just as good as the last episode by just providing consistently amazing characterization, character developments and storyline progression. If the rest of the season is filled with episodes like this with an exciting finale, I will be more than satisfied. Score: 74 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 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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