While Mike kicks ass and takes names, Jimmy encounters betrayal from a place he least expects.
What They Say:
Better Call Saul is the prequel to the award-winning series Breaking Bad, set six years before Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) became Walter White’s lawyer. When we meet him, the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and often against, Jimmy is “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), a beloved character introduced in Breaking Bad. The series will track Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman, the man who puts “criminal” in “criminal lawyer.”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode is all about Jimmy and Chuck’s brother relationship–and that’s a very, very good thing. While a big reveal toward the end of the episode could have been played off like a soap-opera in any other series, Gilligan writes this reveal with such dignity and clarity of character that the scene only improves upon the plot of the series. Furthermore, Jimmy and Chuck’s relationship takes on a larger complexity here, one that not only heightens the realism of the series but also cements the troubled morality of Jimmy’s society. It all serves to create an increasingly compelling story moving forward.
We continue where episode 8 left off with Chuck combating his electricity allergy and succeeding. With great effort, he’s able to stay outside for long periods of time and even travel. In regards to the nursing home case, Chuck recommends that himself and Jimmy take their case to HHM, Jimmy’s rival firm (in a sense), as their fighting a case that requires extra manpower. Jimmy grudgingly agrees and takes his case with Chuck to HHM. HHM’s Hamlin is excited to take this blockbuster case, but when Jimmy inquires about HHM hiring him, Hamlin rejects him. I’m not up on my protocol in regards to law and hand over a huge case to a firm, but it’s apparent that Hamlin’s rejection of Jimmy, the whole frontman of the case, is not only nonsensical but also a kind of breach of good conduct. Regardless of that particular context, Jimmy’s anger is understandable to us sympathizing viewers.
Later that night, alone, Jimmy starts to consider why his phone ran out of battery over the previous night. He pieces together that Chuck must have called Hamlin before they met to tell him not to hire Jimmy. This is the aforementioned “big reveal,” and Jimmy confronts his brother to try to learn “why.” In a burst of pride and frustration, Chuck says, “You’re not a real lawyer.” We learn that Chuck resents Jimmy’s “short-cut” path to law when Chuck himself “dedicated his whole life” to his career, implying that Chuck wants his younger brother to stay weak and dependent (which is, paradoxically, Chuck’s own position with his “electricity allergy”).
To pile on the insult further, Chuck claims that Jimmy hasn’t changed, that “people don’t change,” and that he’s still the delinquent criminal “Slippin’ Jimmy” inside. It’s an interesting claim, in that my gut reaction was to disagree with Chuck, and yet I know from previous knowledge that Jimmy will soon become Saul Goodman, criminal lawyer. Do people really not change? Is Jimmy still, deep inside, the scam artist he was as a younger person? Or will Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman be because the people in his life refused to give him the opportunity to prove himself? I’m curious to see whether the season finale next week will begin to answer these questions.
While in previous episodes I felt the show was a bit disorganized, this episode seemed to solve the problem somewhat between two methods: 1) bringing back a henchman from Tuco’s group briefly, if only to tie various subplots back to each other again, and 2) more even focus between two distinct characters with their own distinct conflicts. More specifically, this episode spent its time rather evenly between Jimmy and Mike, the latter of which has just taken a protection job. We get a genius scene in which Mike sarcastically interacts with the two other hired guns, ends up beating one up and then chasing off the other. He escorts a pill-manufacturer or pharmacist(?) to a deal with one of Tuco’s henchman, in which pills are exchanged for a cash reward. Mike finally gets to exercise more of the bad-assery and intelligence we were used to seeing in “Breaking Bad.” Overall it’s an excellent action-ridden, humorous subplot balanced well with Jimmy’s part of the episode.
In Summary:
Gilligan finally finds a greater sense of balance this episode that makes for an amazing viewing experience. While the scenes with Mike’s job bring on the humor, the scenes involving Jimmy and his brother Chuck are compelling in their complexity. It’s a shame the season finale is already next week!
Grade: A
