Monthly Archives: March 2020

Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul “Wexler v. Goodman” (S5E06)

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“You never listen!” – Kim’s mother

How does Kim go from a teenager who knows better than to get in the car with her intoxicated mom, to present day Kim proposing marriage to Saul after he betrays her by turning her into a sucker (once again) along with Mesa Verde? Nine times out of ten, Kim knows what’s best. She knew she was better off upping Mr. Acker’s settlement to $75,000 and pay the difference out of pocket from Mesa Verde’s share.  For her, it’s better to take the financial hit and put this mess behind her rather than risk her career and reputation over a scam that entails dragging her most depended client through the mud.  Best case scenario, the scam makes her feel good that Mr. Acker keeps his home and Jimmy feel good for working his magic as a con man.

From the beginning of the episode, Kim comes to the conclusion that the thrill is not worth it and musters up the courage to call it off, despite Jimmy’s much expected disappointment.  She has good reason, considering her boss Rich Schweikart has already declared his suspicions of what’s truly going on.  Jimmy argues that nobody will ever find out they’re in cahoots but he knows he’s at a loss.  As much as he hates to see a walk-off homerun dribble foul, he agrees to call off the scam.  He does this, guilting Kim in the process by stressing how deflated the student film crew will be after how hard they worked in preparation. Jimmy is a tad manipulative here, similar to Walter White making Skyler feel like the party pooper when she orders him to take Walt Jr.’s Dodge Challenger back to the dealership to avoid suspicions.  Jimmy honors Kim’s wishes, but only until he can turn her words of caution and reasoning into an invitation to go against them.

The question for Jimmy here is…why?  What drives Jimmy’s need to go forward with the scam to the point where he figures using Kim’s genuine surprise and anger as a means to clear Rich of any suspicion is in any way excusable to the act of steamrolling her to begin with?  Is he this desperate to mask his grief with Chuck by getting a rise out of screwing people over, even if it includes deceiving someone he cares about?  By not going forward with defaming Mesa Verde and accusing them of every absurd, scandalous offense under the sun (including a claim of copyright infringement which would actually hold water), Jimmy’s goal to turn the world upside-down would result in an anti-climax.  Anti-climax is the exact thing Jimmy strives to avoid because under Chuck’s watch, it’s all Jimmy was ever advised to endure.

Jimmy is gun-ho to put his talents to use on his own terms.  He doesn’t want to hear reasons not to, no matter how valid or sound, because he’s eager to prove that his way of doing things was always the way they should have been done long ago.  Perhaps he feels an incessant need to go through with it because he’s been held back for so long and needs to make up for the lost time of making choices for him and him alone.  It’s something Chuck never allowed him to do as it causes a fallout of damage at the expense of others.  Problem is, Jimmy still cares for Kim and wants to be a couple, therefore his needs are going to clash and the consequences of his actions still need to be considered if he wants to maintain the relationship.  But what does Kim actually want? Because one episode she’s mocking the air of arrogance and greed Kevin Wachtell carries and the next she’s come to her logical senses, arguing not to bat the beehive.

As I go on to explore Kim’s mindset in this episode’s review, I discover that I already hit most of the nail on the head back in last season’s “Coushatta” write-up.  The same analysis applies:

“If the proceedings for Mesa Verde weren’t such a drag for Kim, she probably would never make this worrisome choice. I think back to the younger, eager version of herself in the cold open of “Pinata” where she’s Jimmy’s #1 buddy but her admiration for Chuck and aspiration for becoming the rockstar lawyer is her real draw. You have to consider what happened to her along the way where Howard locked her in doc review and Chuck proved to be more of a disappointing role model. Even though she never achieved Mesa Verde properly (because of Jimmy), she still owned it through her hard work, but even that pales in comparison to what Jimmy has always consistently offered her in which Howard, Chuck, and even Kevin Wachtell have failed to. And that’s the rockstar, home run moment. Between her scamming ‘Ken Wins’ out of buying the most expensive tequila, fighting in Jimmy’s corner in the case against Chuck, or pulling off a Hail Mary in getting Huell no jail time, Jimmy has always been the guy that granted her the rewarding satisfaction of winning.

There’s always been a corruptible blot on Kim’s x-ray and she’s overcome that with the firm belief that working within the lines of legitimacy was her ticket for gratification. She wore this like a badge of honor to the point where she even warned Jimmy in season 2 that fabricating evidence in his cobbler scheme was not worth sacrificing the more lucrative, straight and narrow road he’s built for himself. However, Jimmy has proved time and time again that through the same willpower in which Kim possesses, he can run each side of the law like a ski slalom in his favor. It’s that exhilarating feeling of coming out on top that triumphs over the lawful standards Chuck reveled in, where currently for her it’s all tunnel and no light. That said, I don’t think Kim is stupid. By telling Jimmy “Let’s do it again”, it’s not that she’s willing to unnecessarily bend the law when there’s no present hurdle giving them a reason to, but a message to Jimmy that she’s willing to fight dirty in his corner when the next situation calls for it. It’s too much of a stretch that she would join Jimmy as a criminal partner (she still has higher morals), but she certainly seems eager to be a disciplined asset to him.”

Everything transpiring this season leading up to “Wexler v. Goodman” expands on this line of thinking with new information and developments.  It’s not so much that Kim is bored with helping Mesa Verde’s campaign to expand their territories but the corporate evil to the process that’s impeding on the lives of unsuspecting citizens is wearing on her.  She’s learned that the law isn’t her neat and tidy road to salvation and in fact, by following it she’ll continue to be the loser who’s ordered around by Kevin and who’s made to look like a chump by Jimmy.  Jimmy called Kim out in last season’s episode “Wiedersehen”, addressing how she always has her feet in both camps when it comes to embracing and rejecting him as a partner.  He’s always been hurt by this even if he always kept it to himself.  It’s probably what drove him to reject Kim’s wishes not to go forward with blackmailing Mesa Verde here.  By doing it, he kills two birds with one stone.  One stone sets to prove that his colorful way of doing things goes off without a hitch and therefore Kim should have trusted Jimmy, while the other punishes her as the added sucker for not listening.

Obviously there’s a level of delusion at play there when it comes to justifying the act of sideswiping her and believing his original con with Rich’s suspicions in tow, to be such a shoe-in, but this is essentially his way of putting his foot down.  This is who Jimmy is and if Kim doesn’t want to continue to be made the sucker picking up the pieces, then it’s time for her to finally make the choice she’s been dreading all season.  She can either wash her hands of Jimmy and leave him (which is what she acknowledges in the episode’s closing scene) or commit to him fully as a partner.  Both feet in one camp. It sounds crazy when you consider how much sense Kim possesses, but this choice is derived from a much more complicated, existential dilemma than most logical reasoning can sway.  It’s about living.  Not just surviving and playing it safe while the rest of the world gets the better of you, but living on the edge.  I think Kim would rather live a riskier life that works in her and her partner’s favor, as well as the moral favor of others (Mr. Acker being the prime example), than to tow the line, get pushed around, and lose someone she loves over reservations of the legal right and wrong.  She put the law and the act of ‘going about things the right way’ on a pedestal all her life and it’s been known to fail her.

Young Kim knew that the right decision to make when her mom showed up late and under the influence of alcohol, was that she shouldn’t get in the car with her.  She was put in a position to reject her mother’s offer to drive her home, no matter how much context Kim may have (that we don’t) as to why her mom drinks.  We don’t know how hard Kim’s mom has it other than their family growing up poor to the point of dodging payments with multiple landlords.  For all we know, Kim’s mother means well and although struggles with certain vices, ultimately aims to give Kim the best upbringing she possibly can.  You can see on her mom’s face that she isn’t proud of her problem or lying to her daughter to reassure her safety, but the last thing she wants is her kid walking three miles home by herself carrying a cello.  That said, she drives off nearly insulted that Kim doesn’t believe her despite Kim being in the right.  It’s a tough scene, but it brings up the notion of possible abandonment issues that Kim holds towards her mom.  Not so much that Kim’s mother might have abandoned her, but that Kim might have pushed her mother further and further away in favor of doing what’s right.

It’s possible that this became a pattern of choices Kim dedicated herself to which would have resulted in a wider divide between mother and daughter.  There’s no telling what may have resulted from that but perhaps whatever unfolded is the very thing Kim doesn’t want to repeat at all cost when it comes to Jimmy.  The difference between Jimmy’s hang-ups and lies compared to Kim’s mother’s, is Kim has undergone deeper understanding and sympathy as to why Jimmy is the way he is.  Being a kid, she may never have had a chance to give her mom the same consideration.  “You never listen!” might be the guilty echo of her mother’s words that still bounces in Kim’s head.  A haunting mantra she could redeem herself from in the case of her relationship with Jimmy.

 

By proposing that they get married, it’s her way of saying “I’m going to listen, embrace you, and live life.” If it means Kim can be on the same team with Jimmy going forward and not get caught off guard in the whirlwind of his actions, then that’s a life decision she might find more important and valuable than anything else.  Even if it’s the more dangerous route that could result in a horrible wreck like getting in the car with her mom, a life with Saul promises something richer than the life she currently leads. Not just money or even winning, but maintaining the smaller things in life that she pushed away from her mom like splitting a box of McNuggets, seeing what’s on TV, and embracing the warmth of two people who love each other.  She’ll take that at the risk of losing someone over walking alone again in the cold. Because what is Kim’s life without Jimmy and what has it already become from estranging herself from her mom and family?  This breaking point pushes her closer to her role as a criminal partner, rather than just a disciplined asset to Jimmy.  Kim still has her morals but at what point do they become further compromised after fully committing to Saul Goodman? Will those morals deteriorate along with his or does she come to another breaking point?

Mike has also committed himself to a partner in Gus despite the moral conflict that may come from it. Gus apparently has sold Mike on an empathetic life pursuit of revenge made more preferable than the dead-end path Mike’s grief was taking him.  As one of Gus’ right-hand men, Mike is now tasked with getting Lalo out of Gus’ hair for good.  According to Nacho, Lalo plans to do whatever it takes to hurt Gus, such as hitting their supply trucks, getting their customers sick, or cutting off power before eventually damaging Gus’ operation enough where his connection down South is severed.  Lalo already has Krazy 8 informing on Gus’ men, in which Gus responds they get replaced with low-level dealers or new hires in order to protect their most essential members.  The war has started and Mike is going along for the ride but it’s Nacho who remains the moral compass who tries to persuade Mike of how evil the people he’s getting involved with, are.  Mike doesn’t want to hear it until Nacho informs him of his father’s life being on the line depending on whether Nacho follows Gus’ orders or not.  It’s reassuring to see there’s still a line Mike draws with what’s okay and what’s not, but he tells Nacho once they solve the Lalo issue, he’ll get back to him on that topic.

This is the most hopeful moment for Nacho in a long time as he finally has someone on the inside of Gus’ operation who could possibly help free him from his enslavement and save his father’s life, but there’s something off about the scene as well.  For one, it’s very glaring that Nacho was unaware or forgetful of Mike’s initial warning to be careful of higher figures being at risk of being affected if Nacho is to go forward with swapping Hector’s pills.  This far in, it’s the lack of reflection over the fact that he got into this mess with both eyes open that makes me, as part of the audience, worried of what else he can’t see. When or if death comes for him, which is more likely than anything, will he be ready to avoid it?  Nacho is in very deep right now and he’s not without options just yet, but I at least hope he’s ready for whatever happens in the end, regardless if it’s death or not.  When we first meet Lalo, he hands Nacho a meal he prepared, promising, “You’re gonna die,” and Nacho replies “No, thank you”.  His fate remains ambiguous, but Nacho is definitely closer to his than anyone in this show.

A close second would be Kim after the leap of faith she’s prepared to take with Saul and the fact that we know she’s not, to our knowledge, in the picture of Breaking Bad. We may be seeing the beginning of a possible explanation as to Kim’s future absence when Mike (under the false identity Detective Dave Clark as used in the former show) speeds up the investigation of who’s responsible to the arson and murder at TravelWire by convincing a witness to “remember” Lalo’s car being at the scene.  It’s the same car that would match the hit and run that happened within the vicinity and timeline of the fateful events at TravelWire.  Mike even goes through the trouble of blending in at the APD to ensure the developing information gets to the desk of Breaking Bad’s Detective Tim Roberts.  The final nail in the sabotage of Lalo is to masquerade as a police officer who has spotted the make and model of Lalo’s Chevy Monte Carlo. Nacho informs Mike on Lalo’s whereabouts and Mike relays this over the police squad radio.  As four patrol cars surround Lalo and order him to take his keys from the ignition and drop them out the window, he begrudgingly surrenders.

We can fully expect what happens next (now that a violent shootout is off the table) is Lalo will be calling the guy with the mouth, Saul Goodman, to work any angle he can to save him.  Knowing what Lalo is capable of, he’s going to expect freedom at any cost and if that doesn’t work out, what dangers await and for who?  Everyone’s connected now in this dangerous line of hellfire.  If Lalo isn’t the reason for Kim or Nacho’s absence, it could be Gus or Mike or law enforcement or Saul.  Anyone! There’s no telling what tricks the writers have up their sleeve, but there’s no denying we’re entering the end times before the final season.  There’s no way the connection of both the show’s parallel worlds can maintain itself safely now that it’s merged.  Not all characters will be coming out the other side by the time its over. Even the souls of the characters we know survive are at risk depending on what transpires.  At a certain point, the plot was going to catch up to a show that is intriguingly based on character-driven choices, and that plot can only end badly.  We can only hope that these characters stand by or understand the choices that lead them to the conclusions they face.

Lingering thoughts:

“Freedom. Freedom to ride. Freedom to explore. Freedom to bank the way you want to”.  The old commercial for Mesa Verde seems to be selling more than just a bank but the exact thing Kim desires in life.  To live free of principle and explore new horizons without restriction or limitations.  By proposing to Jimmy, she’s banking on a life she can lead on her own terms, full of thrills.  “Let our family help find your freedom at Mesa Verde!” (Mesa Verde being the catalyst to her decision to embrace Jimmy).  On an unrelated note, Kevin’s father, Don Wachtell is played by Mr. Show alum Jay Johnston.  It’s more than appropriate that the scene he gets involves a Mr. Show-esque edit as it’s turned into a classic Saul Goodman commercial.  It even features the old phone number used in Breaking Bad.

Kim apologizes to Rich and Rich reassures her it’s okay to call him out on something but to never do it in front of the troops, as it affects morale and confidence.  Rich inviting Kim to walk with him out to lunch so as to show the office that they’re back on good terms was a sweet moment between them before everything goes to hell.  It felt very Twin Peaks in regards to the show’s ability to lighten itself up amidst all the doom and gloom that lies in wait.  I admire how Rich, like Howard, was initially presented as an antagonist to the audience in season 1, but has proven to be one of the more gracious and endearing characters in the show.

Saul unleashes two prostitutes on Howard making them embarrass him publicly in front of Cliff Main, acting like Howard owes them for some dirty sex arrangement.  This show doesn’t do anything by accident which is why last week we saw Howard call Jimmy again regarding his offer to join HHM.  The more Howard can’t take a hint, the more Jimmy is willing to destroy him.  It’s funny but it’s hard to watch and I can’t imagine Howard isn’t going to have suspicions as to what might be going on now.  The vandalism against his car could have been chalked up to the workings of no-good punk teens, but prostitutes being sent to the hotspot restaurant the lawyer community is known to congregate at is way too specific for a second sabotage.  Howard isn’t that dumb.  He’ll narrow down the suspects to who’s behind this.

Also it’s important to note that Jimmy finally giving in to the prostitutes services was meant to lead us on to the possibility of Jimmy betraying Kim.  He doesn’t cheat on her, but he does indeed betray her when going ahead to call Olivia Bitsui (the owner of the photo that inspired the Mesa Verde logo) in the same scene where he’s enjoying the sabotage of Howard.

Finally, I’m a sucker for the long Kubrick-esque zoom-in on Kevin fuming in silence as everyone tries to get a handle on the situation in the aftermath of Jimmy’s blackmail.  Wonderful directing by Michael Morris.

What’s everyone else’s thoughts?

Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul “Dedicado a Max” (S5E05)

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“Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.” – Chuck

Saul’s on a path to destruction that’s never going to course-correct and now Kim has made the conscious decision to join him.  Secretly appointing her boyfriend Jimmy as Mr. Acker’s attorney against Mesa Verde makes for a desperate, contrived play, invoking blatant conflict of interest and rising tensions with her most financially secure client.  The crooked schemes of Saul Goodman are too far-fetched for her to play ignorant to but Kim goes forth with it as C.E.O. Kevin Wachtell is blinded by her loyalty.  The question of the episode is how far is Kim willing to go to put her career at risk for a morally favorable outcome? Like Mike recovering from a stab wound across the border, she’s at a crossroads of what she actually wants to make of her life.  There’s still time to turn back from the dangerous path but does part of her even want to?

One would wonder if subconsciously Kim is setting herself up for failure by trying to solve the Mr. Acker situation in such a daringly transparent manner. Surely she knows involving Jimmy as the opposing council is a bad idea prone to suspicion from her peers and most trusted client, but perhaps it’s a hard and honest attempt at seeing what shakes loose by pushing her limits.  Termination for malfeasance? Losing Mesa Verde and freeing herself from the role of playing loyal soldier to meet a mega banking firm’s corporate needs at any cost? Confirmation that Saul Goodman is no good for her? A lot is at risk here, but Kim has carried an existential burden and moral hypocrisy for so long, this entire arrangement might be her way of allowing the universe to sort things out for her, no matter how difficult the outcome may be. Kim dreads change but there’s no denying (and I think she strongly senses this) that something needs to give, sooner rather than later.

Kim has always been fascinated with law and order applied to all fields of specialty.  When she quit HHM and tried to go it alone as a solo practitioner, Mesa Verde served as a life raft. As far as she was concerned, helping a banking firm expand by jumping over technical hurdles and cutting through red tape was just as noble an exercise as Jimmy McGill pursuing elder law.  As long as the law was being upheld, she could do no wrong.  Little did she know how much more complicated things would get when Mesa Verde’s campaign to expand its territories would become a long, mundane, and unfulfilling process.  It’s one thing that her client has always been tainted through Jimmy’s document tampering, leaving Chuck’s reputation tarnished and his life eventually destroyed, but the situation with Mr. Acker is the last straw, proving that all of this was for nothing other than helping a big bank become richer.  Kim gets nothing out of it except a compromised heart and soul to a process that’s all tunnel with no foreseeable, redeeming destination.

For the past year, she has found the perfect balance in spiritual and professional fulfillment by dedicating most of her time to pro bono work.  Helping people, not corporations.  If there’s anything promising that she knows she values for certain, it’s this.  When Jimmy proposed the idea of scamming one of her pro bono clients in the season premiere, she fiercely shut the idea down to the point of scolding an excitable Jimmy in the courthouse hallway within her client’s earshot.  She’s aware of Jimmy’s intrusiveness and the overbearing impression he can have on her, especially when she realizes it’s easier to go ahead with scamming her pro bono client behind Jimmy’s back, than admitting any humility or defeat over their confrontation.  In the following episode “50% Off”, Kim draws the line and makes it clear that her clients are off-limits.  “Dedicado a Max” sheds new light on those principles though as Mesa Verde becomes the exception.

This once again excites Jimmy as he’s detected Kim’s virtuousness as an exposed, corruptible spot in her armor (something that’s always existed), allowing her once again to come down to his level.  Jimmy takes pleasure in getting her to scam Mesa Verde because for him it’s an exhilarating game no matter who’s on the other end.  It’s show time and he wants Kim to enjoy it just as much as he does.  When asked to recap her initial play of the scam against Kevin during their meeting at the country club, Jimmy insists that she imitate Kevin (voice and all) while Jimmy plays as her.  It’s an unusual, funny request and Kim’s thrown off by how much pleasure Jimmy gets out of this, but she indulges him.  In what might be the most hilarious performance by Rhea Seehorn all season (Seriously, the range she has in this show is extraordinary), we see something surprising is brought out in Kim, being her true disdain for Kevin and the contempt for her role in working for him.

These are feelings that she hides well under the guard of professionalism and an exercise in integrity she upholds even when at home. Kevin Wachtell has pushed her to the brink though, so when she finally lets loose and vilifies Kevin through her impersonation of him, even Jimmy is sideswiped by it.  This is the unfiltered Kim that Jimmy adores and always strives to unveil.  By doing so, he’s opened Pandora’s box, eager to explore the gifts that lie within (a new shared page in the chapter of their relationship) while ignorant to the unspecified evils and consequences that likely will come from it.  Kim doesn’t like to keep that box opened.  She tends to creak it ajar every now and then but right now she’s very vulnerable and willing to see where it gets her.

“Dedicado a Max” (translation “Dedicated to Max”) isn’t just in reference to Gus’ late partner, but can also be wordplay applied to how far characters are willing to go for a desired goal.  Kim plays on Kevin’s impatience and intolerance for nonsense as Saul Goodman throws Mesa Verde every BS reason for postponement on demolition of Mr. Acker’s house that he can.  The logistical issue of the financial hit they’re taking by ramming through each of Saul’s roadblocks is enough an argument for Kevin to back down.  What Kim doesn’t account for is Kevin’s arrogance and the stubbornness instilled within him by his father.  Like Mesa Verde’s logo, Kevin relishes in the horse-riding cowboy mentality of winning a duel and acquiring land.  He’s willing to do that at any cost, calling on Kim to step up her game.

She can fold or take her dedication for Mr. Acker to the next level by consulting a third party, which Jimmy warns her only heads into more dangerous territory, while sneakily piquing her curiosity with the idea to begin with.  Jimmy is willing to test Kim’s determination by calling Mike for help.  Due to bad cell phone reception from Mike being out of the country, Jimmy asks if he’s currently in a tunnel.  Metaphorically, like Kim, Mike is caught in a tunnel, dwelling in a suspended state of uncertainty with lack of fulfillment.  It’s a strong similarity among several that’s shared between Mike and Kim (both are dependable, thorough in achieving their goals, and no-nonsense) which makes their potential to cross paths all the more of a tease when Mike declines Jimmy’s request for help.

Instead, Jimmy goes down the veterinarian’s criminal underworld totem pole and summons Steven Ogg’s character (credited as Sobchak) who introduces himself to Jimmy and Kim with the alias, Mr. X.  This is the same loudmouth criminal P.I. that Mike subdued in season 1’s “Pimento” when hired as a potential bodyguard for Daniel Wormald (Pryce).  While he can come off as kind of a bumbling goon, he does prove useful by infiltrating Kevin Wachtell’s house and taking photos of anything that could possibly give Jimmy and Kim an edge.  How far Kim is willing to go is indeed tested here as she questions how he broke into her client’s house.

She’s somewhat relieved when learning it was through the guise of a security system repairman under Kevin’s consent.  Jimmy can sense that beyond Mr. X doing everything he can to potentially dig dirt up on Kevin, his services are superficial and when Mr. X proposes the next step is to kidnap Kevin into an unmarked van and drive him out to the desert, Jimmy shows him the door.  This is how quickly following the wrong path escalates and thankfully they were able to do away with him before things got more out of control.  But are they learning what happens when overlooking how things get done when leaving things in the hands of those who are less morally-inclined? Kim might have spawned an idea from what she sees in the photos and it involves the Mesa Verde logo.  Perhaps a copyright issue?  Still, she’s recognizing the silver lining to misbehavior that she’s getting in way over head with.

Kim’s tunnel-vision in sabotaging Mesa Verde might be a hail mary that Kevin and Paige are none the wiser to, but she never considers that her boss Rich Schweikart is able to pick up on what’s really going on, being someone who can see the situation from the outside, in.  He rightfully calls her out for the contrivance of Jimmy’s involvement as opposing council and the convenience that Jimmy’s fighting for the exact thing Kim went out of her way to contend against in prior meetings.  Rich knows that taking Kim away from her pro bono work to help Mesa Verde has been like pulling teeth as of recent so he can apply that pattern of behavior to her true motives.  It’s why he prefers she’s temporarily taken off the case until the Mr. Acker situation is dealt with, hinting at the possibility of malfeasance.  This stirs Kim up and she compels Rich out in the open of the S&C law office to come out loud and clear what he’s accusing her of.  It’s her way of feeding the narrative of her innocence by showing she doesn’t care who hears her protest.

The truth will always set you free, so to speak.  Of course, we know Kim is defending a lie and Rich is only trying to protect her, but if she refuses his protection, he’s just as willing to let justice take it’s course.  During this public unraveling, Kim reminds Rich how hard she’s worked for Mesa Verde and demands he tell her why she would risk everything for some squatter.  In this moment, Kim isn’t so much asking Rich this as she’s asking the question for herself.  That’s the dilemma she’s left with when returning to her office.  Why is she going so far to protect Mr. Acker at the expense of her own career and reputation?  Because of moral reservations and her own childhood which influences it? Because of Saul Goodman dangling the carrot into bending the law in favor of a world she sees fit?  Kim is pushing the limit at this point and instead of Saul’s scams giving her an easy out or shaking an outcome loose to help dictate her decisions going forward, she’s once again back where she started yet more exposed.  The burden of what road she goes down from here is completely on her.

If you couldn’t tell by now, this is a big Kim episode, but as mentioned Mike is also at a crossroads.  In fact, he’s done much worse for himself in order to solve his problem by using a deadly altercation with street toughs as a fateful solution to end his misery over Werner’s murder.  Mike is indeed saved through Gus’ surveillance and transported across the border to treat his wounds.  Frustrated that he can’t escape being held under Gus’ wing, he marches down the road in hope to find any conceivable path to lead him home.  A security cart whizzes down the dirt road like something out of a science fiction movie, bringing more emphasis to the strange land Mike finds himself in, but when it’s revealed to be driven by Gus’ doctor, he informs Mike of his orders to take care for him.  Gus’ doctor, Barry, gives Mike a choice to allow this to continue until he gets better and Mike begrudgingly accepts.  Human contact is not something Mike usually embraces outside his family, so it’s quite the step to witness him willingly surrender to someone else’s care.

What’s most important is he’s not being forced to stay.  It just makes sense for him to until he gets better and Dr. Barry even gives Mike detailed directions on how to get home once he is.  After his son’s murder, it’s hard for Mike to trust anyone again, but this small community thrives on innocence and altruism as he’s provided food and shelter while on the mend.  He’s reminded of the tenderness in humanity when a group of school children frolic past him when dismissed from class.  When determined to build a phone charger of his own accord to revive his dead cell phone battery, we’re reminded of the GPS tracker he meticulously arranged in order to meet Gus to begin with.  As the audience, we’re expected to see Mike independently solve his own problem in the way he always does, but that’s undercut by his caretaker simply handing him a new phone charger.  Mike is so used to being self-efficient and trusting only in himself, that he’s forgotten that people are willing to help him.  The world hasn’t given up on Mike and he shouldn’t give up on it.

However, this doesn’t take away from Mike’s serious qualms with Gus.  When he calls Gus on the phone, Mike sums him up as a man who doesn’t do anything without a reason.  Unlike the good people Mike is currently surrounded by, there’s always an ulterior motive at play.  When Gus finally visits, Mike questions what that motive might be and calls out Gus’ potential strategy of manipulation.  Showing Mike there’s a brighter side to Gus? Or that his anonymous donations to this secluded community is a sign that he’s not a remorseless monster unwilling to compensate for his actions?  Gus stays truthful though and owns up to the man he is.  He knows he’s guilty of despicable and outright evil things.  He doesn’t pretend otherwise but he does distinguish a difference between himself and the people he’s up against (namely the Salamancas).  By showing Mike in full transparency that’s he’s come to terms with himself and what he’s done, he’s showing Mike there’s hope for him to do the same.

Gus has already given Mike the leg up in taking the moral high ground against him.  Maybe it’s a blessing that Mike can still feel bad about the things he does, but I don’t think Mike wants to suffer from it anymore.  If the alternative to suicide is working for Gus, there needs to be some merit behind it.  Gus needs a soldier and particularly one who understands the pains of revenge.  As bad as Gus is, Mike can at least commiserate in helping another man correct something that can’t be corrected.  It’s not a question of morality, but an opportune quest of coming to peace with oneself.  Mike is a killer.  That’s who he’s always been and killing doesn’t solve anything, but when directed at the right people, it gives him purpose and satisfies that undying need for payback.  That’s a quality Gus cherishes in Mike. It might be the very bridge in getting Mike on his side, but the bridge is incomplete as of right now.  Mike doesn’t know Gus’ story and if he’s to fully understand their connection, Gus might have to share his horrific past.  Unless Mike is so desperate to get back on his feet, that the memorial fountain that lies before them is enough for him to put two and two together.

Other thoughts:

Document tampering was once a scam consequential to a multiple season story arc leading up to Chuck’s demise and integral to Jimmy’s transformation into Saul.  In the fight to help Mr. Acker keep his home, it’s only a mere kickoff to a series of throwaway schemes involving a fake ancient artifact excavation, orchestrated concerns of radioactivity, and a parade of religious fanatics pouring onto the property over a mock-image of Jesus on Mr. Acker’s fence.  This goes to show how careless Saul Goodman is to a consequence Jimmy has already payed heavily for in the past. Before you can even make the connection to season 2 and think about what bad can come from one scam, he’s already on to the next one.  This is rapid-fire behavior that’s not going to end well.

The head of the construction crew was played by Futurama’s John DiMaggio.  Took me a second viewing to notice!

Howard calls Jimmy with no clue as to what happened with his car and wants to know if Jimmy has mulled over the options of his proposal to work at HHM.  He tells Jimmy he’s ready to go over the details and Jimmy responds with a “sounds good”, hanging up with Howard in mid-sentence.  Surely this is the end of the proposal, putting a final period on how far removed Saul Goodman is from Howard’s world.  Or is it?

Your thoughts?

Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul “Namaste” (S5E04)

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When Saul is called upon to represent the two addicts from “50% Off’s” cold open, he’s still on a high from playing a part in an intricate power move amidst high profile forces involving the D.E.A. and a war between drug kingpins. He’s come out the other side unscathed (for now) and it’s a rush which makes him realize what his talents are truly worth. Saul raises his rate with these two to $4,000, being half off (as promised), but to the $8,000 he received for his business with Lalo.  When they protest, Saul pounds his chest in regards to his skills before strong-arming them into asking for clean money from one of their grandparents to meet his costs. He even uses the same power play as Hank and Gomez by making his way out the door, guilting the addicts for their missed opportunity.  At this point, we can expect as long as Lalo manipulates Saul into remaining his go-to attorney, Saul will be requiring much more than $8,000 in future endeavors and an increase in rate from his low ranking clients. Jimmy is taking charge of his newly crowned moniker as he continues to learn what he’s capable of.

Saul is no longer just a name.  He’s becoming defined. When called into a lunch meeting with Howard, he’s put on the spot to distinguish the difference between Saul Goodman and Jimmy McGill as if he’s an analytical fan of his own show.  Saul proves surprisingly articulate on the spot, deeming himself as a life raft when you’re sold down the river and a friend to a friendless, among a multitude of colorful, rapid-fire summations.  Howard wonders whether Jimmy McGill could also live up to this sparky ideology and Saul deflects that it’s possible but Saul Goodman already does. It’s here where Howard detects the underlying sore spot of how the Jimmy McGill name and legacy has been tarnished from HHM entertaining Chuck’s resentments by refusing to hire Jimmy when he was barred or when he brought in the Sandpiper case.

Howard wants to correct his lack of backbone from the past now that Chuck isn’t pulling the strings and states that as far as he’s concerned any bad blood HHM has been through with Jimmy is of separate issue between Jimmy and Chuck. While Jimmy maintains composure the best he can, Howard’s spiritual upswing and forward-moving mentality is precisely what gets under Jimmy/Saul’s skin. Howard gets to move on and play the gracious, welcoming gatekeeper to HHM, while he forces Jimmy to self-reflect and rub his nose in his deep-seated hang-ups with Chuck (precisely what he aims not to do).  As soon as Howard mentioned Chuck’s name, you could see the micro-cataclysms buried within Jimmy and masked by Saul begin to erupt.  However, for the sake of social niceties and Howard’s good intentions, he hears him out even if by doing so while using food and multiple swigs of his drink to keep himself in check.  What Howard is offering here is not just an opportunity that was denied to Jimmy for so long but a new hopeful and honest take of who an outside force sees him as

Jimmy’s argues valid reasons for why hiring him wouldn’t be a good idea (referring to Jimmy’s own misbehavior at Davis & Main), but Howard proceeds to turn a blind eye to it in favor for valuing Jimmy saying what he means and calling out truth and judgement for what it is.  Jimmy has tried to prove otherwise to what people see him as (a lawyer guilty people hire, morally flexible, Slippin’ Jimmy, etc.) for the better part of his life and Chuck was the major catalyst in having him finally double-down into Slippin’ Jimmy with a law degree, but nobody has ever sized Jimmy up in a more positive light the way Howard is here.  Kim has always argued Jimmy’s potential but she was never a gate-keeper of opportunity to the extent that Howard is.

For Jimmy, Howard’s buttery praise is too little, too late.  Jimmy’s trajectory towards Saul reached a point of no return last episode when he got involved with Lalo, so while Howard is making a sincere (if not desperate) effort to rectify injustices against Jimmy, it’s a convenient slap in the face that it’s now that someone recognizes Jimmy’s potential.  Saul is already on the path to rectifying the mistakes of Jimmy McGill and Howard just sets himself up (like pins to a bowling ball) for Jimmy to take a higher power’s offer and shove it back in their face.  It’s the same thing that happened during the interview at Neff’s Copiers last season but with Howard it’s much more personal.

Usually Jimmy’s methods in scamming someone or getting things to go in his favor undergo an intricate and well thought out process, but because of the deeply sensitive nerve Howard struck with Jimmy, it’s no wonder that the payback against him is nothing more blunt and clunky as simply chucking bowling balls on Howard’s fancy car.  Will Howard be able to retrace his steps and deduce Jimmy as the perpetrator or is he too oblivious even when claiming to understand Jimmy?  Poor Howard.  He’s a good, smart guy who means well, but he’s a prisoner to the McGill War’s aftermath no matter how much therapy has helped him and at the end of the day, he’s just not long for Saul Goodman’s world. Hopefully, for his sake, he stays far away.

Kim, on the other hand, is not so lucky as she starts her morning recovering from a drunken stupor with Jimmy from the night before.  Never has a tooth brushing scene, which has been a symbolic runner of the state of their relationship since season 2’s “Switch”, been more depressing and zombified.  Bad day of prior aside, she aims to start fresh and resolve the problems of yesterday, even taking it upon herself to sweep up the broken beer bottles she and Jimmy chucked from the night before.  Kim tries to sway Mesa Verde’s C.E.O. Kevin Wachtell to reconsider buying up an alternate vacant lot (2375 which has a flooding problem) over the lot where every homeowner but Mr. Acker has complied to vacate for the construction of the banks’ call center.

She argues that the lot has shored up the drainage, repaved roads and that their operation will become more efficient and pay dividends in the long term despite eating the cost of the land they already own.  This is her last chance to save Mr. Acker from getting kicked out his house.  It’s the moral right she cherishes over the legal, but Kevin and Paige are dismissive to the reputational risk of throwing a man from his home and argue that as long as they’re in the legal right, they’re willing to fight Mr. Acker on this.  Sadly, to great hesitation, Kim confides in Saul Goodman, who just got finished lighting a court case with figurative fireworks as he tricks an eye witness into pointing at a dummy defendant, not realizing the real defendant is sitting in the back of the room.  The courtroom stirs into upended commotion over this reveal which results in a mistrial.

This is the trouble-making spontaneity and unpredictable flare that Saul thrives with, but it’s at the expense of everyone involved, even his client who will not get disciplined by the State for his crime, and therefore not learn from his actions.  Saul will play with fire to get his way and this is who Kim resorts to calling for her rescue after every possible by-the-book effort to fix the Mr. Acker problem herself, fails.  Kim’s most quotable line from season 2, “You don’t save me. I save me.“, is a badge of honor she’s always carried, but in this case it’s reached a dead end.  That’s owed to how much her involvement with Jimmy has chiseled away at her legal compass.  She drew the line last season in “Wiedersehen” when declaring that she would only go forward with a scheme after weighing the moral outcome as she sees fit.  A man getting to keep his beloved home at the cost of her most depended client Mesa Verde getting dragged through the mud is something she decides warrants the green light.

She recruits Saul to offer Mr. Acker his services as a defense attorney and Saul follows through by prying open his gate and keeping one foot in the front door before flashing Mr. Acker a photo of man fucking a horse.  It’s the gall in delivering such a graphically perverse pitch and applying symbolism to how far Saul is willing to go to stick it to Mesa Verde (their bank’s logo being a cowboy on a horse), which wins Mr. Acker over.  Kim is essentially sacrificing her own civic duty and reputation in helping Mesa Verde legally expand their banking enterprise, as well as compromising herself morally by pursuing an end to justify the means.  How does Saul going up against Kim as opposing council, even if structurally orchestrated by the two, not result in an absolute mess?  It’s like reciting Beetlejuice’s name three times.  He’ll probably get the job done but not in any way anyone wants.  You can whole-heartedly expect Kim will regret summoning him.

Kim allowing Mesa Verde to take a crucial hit in the name of preserving something more valuable is awfully similar to what Gus must allow happen to his operation. If Gus wishes to raise no suspicion of Nacho relaying Lalo’s every move to him, he needs to allow the D.E.A. to capture the money from the reported dead drops. We get to see Hank and Gomez surveil the culvert from season 3’s “Witness” which is where one of the dead drops is reported to be.  The dread Gus anticipates as he awaits the sacrifice of three men to the D.E.A. and an estimated $700,000 loss in drug money amounts to a frustration he can only contain by abusing his role as a Los Pollos Hermanos owner.

Gus needs some form of control in this crisis so he pressures Lyle into cleaning the deep fryer to perfection ala Walt enlisting Jesse’s help in catching a fly in the superlab.  It was likely spotless from the start, but Gus continues to find flaw in Lyle’s efforts.  Lyle also might be manipulated into cleaning it twice in order for Gus to strengthen an alibi depending on what shakes loose from these busts.  Hank and Gomez’s stakeout/chase scene being intercut with Lyle’s unwavering perseverance to make his boss happy is an effective manner in getting into Gus’ headspace and showing the viewer how much tension he carries beneath such rigid composure.

And that leaves us with Mike who shows up at Stacey’s thinking it’s his time of the week to babysit Kaylee.  He wants to apologize for snapping at her the way he did but Stacey has already hired another sitter for the day after trying to call Mike previously and getting no response.  She states she’s better off if Mike just take a week to get back to himself because something is clearly off with him.  In the same way Howard triggers Jimmy by bringing up Chuck, you can see in Mike’s grief-stricken expression that he’s using every ounce of energy to prevent himself from bursting into flames when Matty is mentioned. He shoots venom at the notion of “getting back to himself” before storming back to his car.  Mike hasn’t had a clue how to get back to himself ever since Matty was murdered.  He’s been on the path to finding his place and correcting something which can’t be corrected in the wake of his son’s tragedy, but ultimately it’s lead him down worse avenues.

Putting himself in the position to murder Werner directly has proven Mike’s been running in an inescapable circle. Like Kim and Gus, he feels he has no other choice but to succumb to a more chaotic solution bearing unforseen consequences in ending his misery.  By strolling through the bad neighborhood and granting the group of thugs from last episode an opportunity for revenge, he’s craving pain and punishment.  Whether he lives or dies, his life and the burden he carries is put into the universe’s hands.  After getting the shit kicked out him and eventually stabbed, the scene cuts to black before revealing Mike in a strange, if not reminiscent setting where his wounds are being treated.  This could be the residence of Gus’ doctor from Breaking Bad on the other side of the border or something and somewhere along the same vein, but two things are clear:

1) The street thugs must have been thwarted or else Mike surely would have died.

2) Gus is the only one who has taken a special interest in Mike, so he must have had someone keeping close tabs on him similar to Jesse Pinkman after Gale’s murder.  Otherwise, I doubt Mike would have received medical attention in time and in such an unconventional place.

What happens from here will undoubtedly contribute to Mike’s rehabilitation and the rescue alone could likely spark the beginning of him feeling absolution for what he’s done. Trauma will always exist, but perhaps this place, presented to the viewer as something of a sanctuary, is key to shedding perspective for Mike after a near-death experience.  Jesse needed a retreat after a four episode downward spiral in Breaking Bad when Gus ordered Mike to take him on a ride-along.  Mike is more independent from being under Gus’ thumb so even if his physical and mental health does improve, what draws him back as Gus’ proud right-hand man?

Other stuff to note:

It’s appropriate that Howard’s licence plate is the 1337 (LEET) spin on the phrase Namaste (being Namast3) because for Jimmy the digit 3 being a backwards ‘E’ is like a flippant way of saying “Howard, you can take your pretentious clarity and gesture of respect and shove it.”

In the cold open, those three bells in the antique store’s doorway first made me think of Gus’ doctor office, which used a similar angle when introduced in Better Call Saul’s season 3 episode, “Sunk Costs”.  Nothing thematically really ties the bookend of Mike’s mysterious sanctuary with Jimmy’s mission to buy bowling balls, but I appreciate the use of imagery putting the vague idea of Gus’ doctor in the viewer’s head without officially revealing his presence at all.

Hank and Gomez might have been successful in making a major dent in an illegal drug dealing operation, but Hank is still smart enough to know that they haven’t even scraped the surface.  Krazy 8 will be put to good use by them in the future but Hank knows he’s not the key to getting the more high profile players.  Hank might come off like a macho clown, but you can already see the deeper layers within him beginning to show.  He’s hungry for greater things and the potential to pursue it is there.

Your thoughts?

Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul “The Guy For This” (S5E03)

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“It’s not about what you want.  When you’re in, you’re in.” – Nacho

If last episode was about Saul setting events in motion for himself, “The Guy for This” is about him realizing his point of no return. Too many high factors are at play that are beyond his control and will prove more urgent than taking any last chance reservations over his life choices. The prospect of navel-gazing has long passed, being something that might have saved him last season if circumstances with Chuck’s death and their final conversation didn’t drive Jimmy’s decision to avoid therapy. The fun of Jimmy’s reinstatement as the fresh and colorful Saul Goodman stops the moment Nacho scoops him off the street.  The beautifully shot, Blue Velvet-esque cold open plays on these themes of underlying menace with the ants engulfing his discarded ice cream. If there was any shred of innocence remaining in Jimmy, it’s now too late to recover as he’s attracted alien-like adversaries to his happy corner of the world. Jimmy McGill has officially become contaminated and Saul Goodman will soon have no choice but to join the complex inner workings of Better Call Saul’s deep criminal underworld.  A member of the colony, if you will.

This infestation of Jimmy’s soul has been a long time coming.  If it wasn’t for his mix-up with Tuco in the desert, pleading every argument accordingly to prevent Tuco from skinning the skater twins alive, Lalo wouldn’t hold Saul Goodman in such high regard as a “criminial lawyer”.  Jimmy tries to turn away Lalo’s proposition by offering him a drop phone, but is advised that this is business that’s better conducted with a lawyer in person.  Jimmy then tries to increase his rate to a made-up figure of $7,925, suspending disbelief that Lalo and Nacho are no more high profile than his usual clients.  He hopes this expense will repel them but Lalo rounds the offer up to $8,000 with ease and for all we know, was willing to pay Saul more.  If there’s anything Jimmy McGill and Saul Goodman have shared in common since the start, it’s that money is everything.  This is what seals the fate of both counterparts and turns Saul into a greasy cog within the drug game’s machine.  As Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad will later state, “I guess people see those zeroes dance before their eyes… it’s kind of like highway hypnosis.” Jimmy never foretells how he ends up down the path his choices lead, as long as money fills his pockets in the present moment.

Before even getting into what Saul is hired to do here, it’s important to note that Lalo chalking up Jimmy’s talents as the guy with the mouth going “blah blah blah” is a telling sign of disrespect.  He thinks of Saul as a bullshit artist and for the time being, he’s entertained by this superpower, but there’s only so far Saul can spin BS as an attorney and dazzle as a criminal associate before it amounts to some dire consequence.  Jimmy might not consider the repercussions of the shortcuts he takes or the crimes he commits, but he’s pretty aware that this business arrangement is bad news.  Lalo is expecting perfection from Saul like two skater twins walking out of the desert scot-free despite Tuco wanting them dead, but in reality, they got wheeled out of that situation each with a broken leg.  There’s a reality to Saul Goodman’ where there’s always a sorry fallout to his actions and Lalo is unable or refuses to see that.

It gets worse for Saul when he learns he’s assigned to represent Domingo Molina (Krazy 8) and use his client’s ongoing detainment as a way to feed the D.E.A. incriminating information on a third party.  For Saul, this party remains a mystery, but for us, we know the intel of dead drops is in direct conflict with Gus Fring’s operation.  Hector’s ominous idea from last episode to hit Gus where the money flows is now put into play and Saul is caught up as the middleman.  If the intel fails in leading to arrests, then Krazy 8 is going to be locked up and Lalo won’t be a happy customer. If the plan goes off without a hitch, then Saul gets more on Gus’ radar, regardless if we know the two, to Saul’s knowledge, have never met.  There’s really no winning outcome here and as of right now, Nacho informing Gus on Lalo’s plan makes all this double-dealing more transparent and hopefully more manageable.

That’s not to say this isn’t an extremely messy situation.  I would imagine Gus gets the better handle of it and Lalo will become Saul’s true foe, but as of right now the money remains in the places reported to the D.E.A. so as not to raise Lalo’s suspicions of any betrayal.  As a line of communication, Nacho is more valuable to Gus than how much of a hit his operation takes.  That could be seen as a blessing but also a burden since Nacho might continue to be even more of a punching bag depending on how much damage Lalo causes.  Essentially, Krazy 8 is the hotline between the D.E.A. and Lalo while Nacho is the hotline between Lalo and Gus.  Everyone’s connected to a line nobody wants to be a part of.  Even the unwilling Saul Goodman.

Considering it’s Lalo who Saul is most afraid of in Breaking Bad and Fring is more or less a ghost to him, you have to wonder what Lalo is willing to do to ensure he keeps Saul Goodman in line.  Saul tries to excuse himself again from providing any further services by stressing the tightness of his schedule but Lalo doesn’t take no for an answer.  We have seen how far Lalo will go just to get what he wants by tailing Mike, surveilling Gus, and even killing an innocent civilian (TravelWire clerk) outside the game.  He’s intrusive and competent in getting results at any cost.  At what point does Saul throw his hands in the air when what’s asked of him gets too hot? What if Lalo responds by tracking Saul’s residence followed by threatening harm upon Kim? A man like Gus would be wise to avoid tangling with any officer of the court, because he has to maintain the cover life he’s invested so much time building for himself.  Lalo on the other hand, as a Salamanca, is a loose cannon and always has the option to run back home until the heat dies down.

Nacho’s original plan to flee to Canada with his father seems to becoming less and less of an option as Manuel notifies him about his upholstery shop getting a generous buyout offer.  He suspects Nacho put the buyer up to this so Manuel can be in a better position to lam it.  This becomes apparently true as Nacho can barely keep himself from lying to his father’s face when confronted on it.  What stings most is how hurt Manuel seems that the very business he planned to pass on to his son is nothing more than an expendable hurdle Nacho needs to do away with so he can go forth with running from the problems he’s brought upon himself.

As much as Nacho predicament pains me, I have to agree with Manuel’s frustration because it’s the same frustration that can be applied to most of the show’s characters.  The cost of empathy or consideration for others being the means for these characters to get what they want and the lack of responsibility for one’s actions.  You live the life you’ve made for yourself but you can’t expect others to stray from the lives they’ve intended to lead.  Manuel won’t run and he makes this clear.  At this point, Nacho can either flee on his own or accept his fate in the game he told Saul there’s no escape from.  Whether he goes to the police or takes his chance continuing to be a helpless puppet, this is the life he chose and eventually you reap what you sow.

Mike descends further in light of Werner’s murder similar to how Jesse spiraled after Gale’s.  Both numb themselves with their vices (in Mike’s case, binge-drinking) and explore unorthodox ways to deal with their grief like Mike seemingly inviting an altercation with a group of thugs. This adds an extra layer to Mike taking Jesse under his wing in Breaking Bad, even if begrudgingly.  This is without a doubt the most off-kilt Mike has been mentally and emotionally throughout both shows and I honestly couldn’t tell you a solution for it other than time taking its course.  In Breaking Bad, Gus fueled Jesse’s self-worth by employing him as Mike’s partner for collecting dead drops and granted him self-confidence by orchestrating a mock ambush he could overcome. This helped Jesse deal better with his grief and post-traumatic stress, but swaying Mike out of his whirlwind of self-loathing might take a higher degree of finesse to the point where it’s barely a manipulation.  If Gus didn’t have so much on his plate right now, I’d say a sincere sit-down is in order, but who knows if he even owes him that.

It’s hard to envision how Gus and Mike get back on even ground but in the meantime Mike is belligerently demanding a bartender take down a postcard of the Sydney Opera House, being the architectural feat which Werner mentioned his father helped achieve.  The image of this famous structure obviously provokes Mike directly because of this but even deeper, it’s a symbol for the pedestal his own son put him on. Someone to be marveled at in his greatness.  Mike does not feel he deserves such praise as he was forced to confess to Matty long ago that he was down in the gutter with the rest of the crooked Philadelphia precinct which would later spawn the two cops who murdered him.

Kim gets in a stand-off with crabby homeowner Mr. Acker regarding the house he’s built and resided in since 1974 being on land that he doesn’t actually own.  The stipulation of his 100 year lease says the property owner can buy him out any time at fair market value plus $5,000.  Due to good will and inflation she ups the offer to $18,000.  He scoffs at the idea, sizing her up as a rich snob in a suit who probably donates to charity or serves at a soup kitchen to make herself feel better for tearing families from their homes. This hits a nerve with Kim and she unloads, declaring that the price is now $10,000 if he comes to his senses and a sheriff will get involved if he doesn’t obey.

Kim basically becomes the very thing thing she fights against when pursuing her pro bono work for low income clients.  She’s forced to defend the law through its technicalities in favor of a big bank’s expansion, all at the cost of one man’s suffering which is a nuanced human issue she holds more value towards.  By ripping into Mr. Acker on his decision to fight against what higher powers demand of him, she’s playing devil’s advocate to her own struggle to stay on the straight and narrow while Jimmy continues to do the opposite and slip further and further from her life as the strange Saul Goodman.

The pro bono case that’s now set to go to trial is something she feels reassurance of through the fact that jurors will be summoned, being real down-to-earth people who might treat her client’s case with the appropriate level of human perspective she feels it deserves.  This is the work that the Mesa Verde’s expansion fails to offer and what’s worse is when Kim takes it upon herself to talk to Mr. Acker more openly,  one lowly, humble person to another.  She’s gracious in taking time out of her schedule and paying out of her own pocket to help him find new property he can own. She eventually discloses a personal story out of sympathy for him about how her family never owned a house.  Kim, who never divulges into her past, shares how she sometimes would get shaken awake in the middle of the night and dragged outside in her pajamas and bare feet so that her family could skip rent and hop over to the next apartment. Sometimes it was so cold out in the streets, her toes turned blue.  This is not information Kim feels comfortable admitting, no less to a stranger, but it’s her best approach.

Mr. Acker unfortunately still shuts the door in her face, signifying that others or (better yet) the world will remain unsympathetic no matter what hardship she’s struggled with.  This could become a dangerous epiphany for Kim if she decides to embrace Saul Goodman and his mission to take initiative against a world that always kept him down.  Plus, that available house for purchase that Saul dangled before her in the previous episode? It’s something we now know to be more specifically alluring, after learning the rough upbringing she was forced to grow up with.  Kim and Saul end the episode not being able to confide in one another but both being on the same unspoken page as they begin recklessly throwing beer bottles from their balcony.  This could be interpreted as their shared disdain for the world, almost like Kim adjusting her world view to meet Saul’s.  It could be a cry for help or a way to mask the disintegration of their relationship, but could also be the adaptation of them growing closer.  The transformation of these two characters and the road they’re heading down is happening right before our eyes and like ant-covered ice cream, we can only sit back and watch.

Other things to note:

  • Did I not mention the D.E.A. agents who Krazy 8 will become a confidential informant for are Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez? Very exciting to see these two!  How much of a role they play in this season is to be determined, but I have a feeling they aren’t going anywhere just yet.  The layers of deception to Krazy 8’s arrangement as a C.I. and the stipulations Saul sets to prevent him from having a target on his back helps cleverly set the stage for why Krazy 8 continues to be a player in the drug game the way he continues to be in Breaking Bad.  
  • I wrote this review while waiting in a criminal court building after being summoned for jury duty.  The waiting process took all day so it was the perfect opportunity and setting to really give my review some thought.  I was dismissed from consideration to serve on the jury panel by the end of the day.

 

Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul “50% Off” (S5E02)

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“In the end, you’re going to hurt everyone around you. You can’t help it so stop apologizing and accept it. Embrace it. Frankly, I’d have more respect for you if you did.” – Chuck

Jimmy can pull himself back from going too far as Saul all he wants but Saul is already setting events into motion from the limits he will continue to push. The episode opens with two skells taking Saul’s ‘50% off’ per legal representation offer as an excuse to go on a wave of frenetic, doped-out crime sprees in the hope to score more drugs. For these addicts, reward trumps risk and they are just two potential clients wrecking havoc out in the world out of who knows how many but their actions will reverberate exponentially. Within the hour, Saul has already caused a direct chain of events that leads him right back into the stammering guy we knew back when he was on his knees before Tuco and Nacho in the desert.  The broken gnome from the cold open and Saul’s tossed ice cream cone at the end perfectly illustrate this correlation.

But is Jimmy the same person from the last time Nacho saw him? Saul has always possessed fear in the face of immediate danger as a defense mechanism.  Fear is not a trait that distinguishes Saul from Jimmy.  It’s Saul’s lack of remorse for the consequences of his actions which Jimmy periodically carries with him. I wouldn’t say the Saul we see here is completely free of doubt or regret, but it’s much easier for him to be.  Not only is Chuck not around to judge him, but Chuck is the one who told Jimmy he would have more respect for him if he owned up to his misgivings and skip the show of remorse as a process. Saul is consciously carrying out Chuck’s worst nightmare, sticking it to his deceased brother by wielding his law degree around the courthouse bowels like a chimp with a machine gun. In another way, he’s subconsciously fulfilling Chuck’s challenge to embrace his slippery ways to the fullest, out of the respect he always craved from him.  The elevator hustle he runs on Suzanne (who was already conned into a loss over last season’s Huell dispute) is a brilliant, if not extremely shady way to accelerate their shared case load so he can make room for more clients and in turn, make more money.

In order for Jimmy to embrace himself as a criminal lawyer without regret, he must lose consideration for who gets caught up in his tailspin.  What he will or won’t come to learn, evident of the chaos that ensues in the cold open, is his behavior has a much more expansive blast radius than he can imagine.  If it wasn’t for his 50% offer deal to the addicts, they wouldn’t take that as an invitation to illegally obtain as much fast cash as they can.  If it wasn’t for all that cash, the storm drain as a delivery system wouldn’t be clogged with 10 bags of dope.  This leads to the Krazy 8 (a nickname originating as Ocho Loco for his bad poker play) getting busted by the police trying to fix it, which leads to Lalo coming up with an idea to get Krazy 8 help, which leads Nacho boomeranging right back into Jimmy’s world.

Whether the idea of Jimmy’s crooked services as a lawyer sprang up because of Nacho’s history with him or Saul has made such a splash in the criminal world already to the point where he’s on Lalo’s radar, this is the dangerous road Jimmy/Saul was going to go down one way or another.  Jimmy’s world of building a new name for himself while juggling his relationship with Kim has now begun its convergence with the criminal underworld. Up until now, these two sides of the show have ran mostly parallel.  Only two episodes into season 5, Lalo has already made an influence on Saul Goodman’s life and we know from Breaking Bad that it’s only going to get worse considering Saul feels relieved at gunpoint when it’s verified Walt and Jesse are not associated with this prestigious cartel member.

This is what makes Kim and Jimmy’s brief visit at an extravagant open house all the more worrying. On one hand, it gives them a chance to clear the air.  Kim makes her reservations known that scamming her clients at any measure or time is not okay with her and Jimmy humbly accepts that.  Jimmy is also honest about the slip-up he made in giving a 50% off deal per legal representation of non-violent felonies and vows he’ll never make that mistake again.  He reassures her that nothing too bad will happen from it, which we know is a reassurance he can’t be certain of and in whole isn’t true, but Kim takes this in good stride nonetheless.

Kim and Jimmy have their differences but their relationship in this moment feels more hopeful after coming to an understanding with one another. Kim even entertains the prospect of them living in such a big house together and is playful and laughing when soaking a fully clothed Jimmy in the shower.  This is all fine and dandy considering we want these two characters to be happy with one another and maybe possibly share a future, but we know Saul’s trajectory doesn’t end in rainbows and sunshine.  As Better Call Saul’s two main worlds begin to merge amidst the brink of war between Gus and Lalo, how soon is it before Kim is crossing paths with any of these dangerous figures? How might they influence her absence from Breaking Bad?

What’s great about these storylines melding together is that I’m just as invested in the fate of Nacho as I am in Kim’s.  I’ve never felt such a heightened sense of dread and despair since Breaking Bad’s final season compared to when Nacho is abducted from his bed by Gus’ crew and made to sit and watch as Gus holds a figurative scythe over his father’s head. It’s a shocking mood shift that really makes you feel like this is the end for Nacho’s father but Gus uses this as fearful motivation to get Nacho to gain Lalo’s trust.  As much as I fear for Nacho and his father, I’m also curious about Gus because we learn in Breaking Bad that he does not believe fear to be an effective motivator.  He tells this to Mike in regards to Walt’s motivation to work for him after Mike proposes the idea of filling Walt in about Tuco’s cousins and how working for Gus would protect him.  What happens with Nacho that makes Gus stray (as best he can) from this method?

As of right now, instilling fear in Nacho is working. He’s willing to risk everything for his father by jumping across rooftops to snatch the remaining product from the stash house as it’s being raided by police.  All of this is to gain Lalo’s trust as Gus demanded, but how long can Nacho thrust himself upon grenades before Lalo takes advantage and pushes him to the limit? Lalo has a great amount of respect for Nacho now, but what does that mean coming from this charming lunatic? This is the same guy who treated Nacho’s prison-defying action stunt like it was a scene from a movie, chuckling at the idea that he’s about to get caught.  Nacho gained his trust but as a soldier willing to nearly fall on his sword for the operation.  Something eventually is going to give here and now that Saul Goodman is becoming more involved, what transpires next remains wildly unpredictable and won’t be pretty.

There’s also a matter of Krazy 8, who’s become more and more of a character as this series progresses.  Saul likely has been recruited to represent him but from what we know from the former show, I have to ask the question. Is this the bust (taking place in 2004) where Hank Schrader flips him into an informant? Hank reports to his task force in Breaking Bad’s season 1 episode “Cancer Man”, “Way smarter than your average cheese eater.  I turned him out when he was street level.”  Gomez then goes on to say that Krazy 8 would snake out all the small town dealers he informed on in order to climb the ranks, so we can suspect this was an ongoing process. Enough to last roughly four years though until the Breaking Bad timeline begins? It’s hard to say, but if this is the start of Krazy 8 getting flipped and Saul is the one who’s representing him, doesn’t that complicate things? Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself here but there’s a gap of story that’s again, curious.  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve had so many questions going into a season but it being the penultimate, it’s a good sign to how increasingly compelling this show is becoming all across the board as a prequel.

Meanwhile, Mike wakes up hungover after a rough night, being clearly is in a bad place after murdering a good man.  It’s one thing to see Mike lose his cool at work and not be on good terms with Gus, but it’s another when his double life bleeds into the one that matters most.  This episode is about worlds colliding, being cleverly titled “50% Off” not just because of Saul’s deal with potential clients, but because Better Call Saul has been more or less two shows in one where until now has striven to be neatly divided.  That’s never fully the case though in a universe that’s established how every piece and action undertaken matters.  Eventually your decision in one world will dictate what happens in the other and for Mike, this leads to him scolding Kaylee after a significant nerve is hit when she inquires about her dad’s death.  Specifically about his job as a cop and how “the bad guys got him” is what sets Mike off.

We’ve seen Mike’s nerve struck in last season’s “Talk” when Stacey shares how she’s starting to feel guilty for not thinking about her late husband Matty for stretches of time, but taking it out on Kaylee is much more upsetting.  I don’t blame Mike for his grief, but this is the dark, descending spiral he’s been on for a while now and it’s now catching up to him.  I’m sure he feels regret for lashing out on his grand-daughter so we can only hope he can come to terms with what he’s done and the life he’s chosen for himself before the people he truly cares about suffer for it.  It’s a strange thing to hope for since it basically means Mike has to become more cold-blooded and numb to the horrible things he’ll continue to directly or indirectly take part in.

One last thing. It looks like Howard wants to set an appointment for lunch with Saul.  Bob Odenkirk gives a superb, subtle performance when confronted here by allowing a shred of Jimmy McGill’s guilt to peek through the Saul Goodman mask.  Jimmy doesn’t know what Howard wants but from his perspective, Howard was always more in Chuck’s camp and any judgement Chuck carried may have been passed on to his grieving law partner.  We have to remember that the last interaction between these two before Chuck passed was Jimmy trying to get Howard to settle on the Sandpiper case followed by Howard coldly calling him out as transparent and pathetic for trying to hustle the money.

Howard has obviously dialed that resentment back ever since Chuck’s death, but them being on the same page with one another is still something I wouldn’t say is completely warm.  On the other hand, Jimmy did give Howard a tough love speech to help save HHM which might have worked, while also donating $23,000 to Howard for Chuck’s memorial reading room.  Imagine if Howard wants to hire Saul at HHM? That would be crazy, but whatever the case is, Howard associating with Saul Goodman at this point is just another future of a character we’re going to have to add to the list to be concerned about.

Some tidbits:

  • Kim barely has any closet space for herself seeing as it’s packed with Saul Goodman suits and attire.  A sad metaphor for her misplacement in this relationship and the not-so-bright future of her sticking around.
  • Jimmy apparently has 45 clients to juggle.  The scene where he’s ironing his clothes while trying to talk on his cell phone was a perfect way to introduce Saul Goodman’s hands-free bluetooth ear-piece. The physical transformation is almost complete, save for the combed over mullet.