Better Call Saul 2.04
Mar. 9th, 2016 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which we have a Mike A-Plot and a Jimmy B-Plot, and I wish it was the other way around.
Or that we could back to letting Mike make only cameo appearances for a while, like at the start of s1. All of which is my kneejerk reflex against stuff like Kaylee's painting for her granddad on his fridge as MartyredForFamily!Mike staggers home in the teaser. I DO NOT WANT THIS STORY, SHOW.
Objectively, there's nothing wrong with the Mike scenes, which deliver the type of drug criminal underworld tales part of fandom wants to see, the actors are good as usual, and I appreciate that Nacho continues to be a rational guy, wanting Mike to take out Tuco not for macho competitive reasons but because he's very aware that Tuco is a walking time bomb, especially now that he's using, and remaining his minion is a suicide mission. Mike going out of his way NOT to kill Tuco but to find a way to get Tuco into prison without Tuco realising that Nacho had anything to do with it was both clever and a sign post that Mike's yet a far cry from the guy declaring there should be no half measures. Everything is ic, there's nothing but to complain about other than my very own issue with Mike getting Walt's self excuse played straight as a storyline, which, again, I do not want.
Meanwhile, all the Jimmy scenes (and the one Kim, Howard, Chuck scene) were what the show is about to me and I loved all of them, in that getting-your-heart-torn-out way. That was another problem I had: I didn't want to see how the Mike plot resolves itself (not least because we already know he won't kill Tuco, seeing as to how Tuco is alive at the start of Breaking Bad), I wanted to know what happened with Kim's demotion and the McGill brothers next, and after the fantastic Jimmy and Chuck sequence, we didn't get any more of this and have to wait for another week.
Anyway: what we did get was Jimmy not really getting why everyone chez D & M is upset with him because hey, what's a little harmless rule breaking vis a vis proven success. You could tell there were people talking in an entirely different language with each other in that first scene. But Jimmy must have realised by everyone's behavior there could be consequences at the HHM front as well, since he calls Kim next, and that's where the true emotional punch kicks in, when we see Kim chewed out by Howard over Jimmy's offense while Chuck sits on the table in silence. Kim had said that because she vouched for Jimmy, her own professional reputation was on the line, but I don't think it sank in both to the audience and Jimmy that this was literally true until this scene and the follow up, when Jimmy arrives at HHM and sees Kim is back in the cornfield because of what he did.
(Sidenote: the episode leaves it open whether or not Jimmy's subsequent accusation that this was Chuck's idea, not Howard's, is true. The neat thing is, it could be either. The one jerkish thing Howard did in season 1 we know that Chuck definitely wasn't responsible for was demoting Kim due to the Kettlemans, so it's really not like Howard has any problems being a jerk without Chuck's influence when it comes to punishing Kim for making the firm lose face.)
And the emotional stakes get upped. When Kim forbids him to talk to Howard, Jimmy races off to talk to Chuck instead, and that's when we get another gloriously messed up siblings sequence. Seriously, I could watch these two actors in these roles for days, they're so good together. Jimmy going from incensed at Chuck to worried about Chuck to back to incensed again and then another epic confrontation which goes to the core of Chuck's self image. If he took Jimmy's offer to quit the law if Kim is reinstalled, he'd have to admit he's committing blackmail, committing a criminal offense, and thus no better than how he perceives Jimmy. And so he can't. So do I think Chuck hoped the whole Howard-demotes-Kim would result in Jimmy quitting the law? Sure. Do I think Chuck realised he was doing this and exactly what this kind of behavior is in legal terms before this confrontation? Nope. He realises while arguing with Jimmy, and that puts him into a complete bind.
And that was when I spent the rest of the episode waiting for the next scene in this plot while it continued relentlessly with the Mike plot, and you can see my frustration. I mean, I have guesses what can happen next - obviously Jimmy won't quit the law, and I could see Chuck leaning on Howard re: Kim just to prove he's no extortionist, but otoh this show is good with consequences and Jimmy already managed to undo a demotion for Kim in s1, so I doubt it will happen so easily again. Roll on, next week!
Or that we could back to letting Mike make only cameo appearances for a while, like at the start of s1. All of which is my kneejerk reflex against stuff like Kaylee's painting for her granddad on his fridge as MartyredForFamily!Mike staggers home in the teaser. I DO NOT WANT THIS STORY, SHOW.
Objectively, there's nothing wrong with the Mike scenes, which deliver the type of drug criminal underworld tales part of fandom wants to see, the actors are good as usual, and I appreciate that Nacho continues to be a rational guy, wanting Mike to take out Tuco not for macho competitive reasons but because he's very aware that Tuco is a walking time bomb, especially now that he's using, and remaining his minion is a suicide mission. Mike going out of his way NOT to kill Tuco but to find a way to get Tuco into prison without Tuco realising that Nacho had anything to do with it was both clever and a sign post that Mike's yet a far cry from the guy declaring there should be no half measures. Everything is ic, there's nothing but to complain about other than my very own issue with Mike getting Walt's self excuse played straight as a storyline, which, again, I do not want.
Meanwhile, all the Jimmy scenes (and the one Kim, Howard, Chuck scene) were what the show is about to me and I loved all of them, in that getting-your-heart-torn-out way. That was another problem I had: I didn't want to see how the Mike plot resolves itself (not least because we already know he won't kill Tuco, seeing as to how Tuco is alive at the start of Breaking Bad), I wanted to know what happened with Kim's demotion and the McGill brothers next, and after the fantastic Jimmy and Chuck sequence, we didn't get any more of this and have to wait for another week.
Anyway: what we did get was Jimmy not really getting why everyone chez D & M is upset with him because hey, what's a little harmless rule breaking vis a vis proven success. You could tell there were people talking in an entirely different language with each other in that first scene. But Jimmy must have realised by everyone's behavior there could be consequences at the HHM front as well, since he calls Kim next, and that's where the true emotional punch kicks in, when we see Kim chewed out by Howard over Jimmy's offense while Chuck sits on the table in silence. Kim had said that because she vouched for Jimmy, her own professional reputation was on the line, but I don't think it sank in both to the audience and Jimmy that this was literally true until this scene and the follow up, when Jimmy arrives at HHM and sees Kim is back in the cornfield because of what he did.
(Sidenote: the episode leaves it open whether or not Jimmy's subsequent accusation that this was Chuck's idea, not Howard's, is true. The neat thing is, it could be either. The one jerkish thing Howard did in season 1 we know that Chuck definitely wasn't responsible for was demoting Kim due to the Kettlemans, so it's really not like Howard has any problems being a jerk without Chuck's influence when it comes to punishing Kim for making the firm lose face.)
And the emotional stakes get upped. When Kim forbids him to talk to Howard, Jimmy races off to talk to Chuck instead, and that's when we get another gloriously messed up siblings sequence. Seriously, I could watch these two actors in these roles for days, they're so good together. Jimmy going from incensed at Chuck to worried about Chuck to back to incensed again and then another epic confrontation which goes to the core of Chuck's self image. If he took Jimmy's offer to quit the law if Kim is reinstalled, he'd have to admit he's committing blackmail, committing a criminal offense, and thus no better than how he perceives Jimmy. And so he can't. So do I think Chuck hoped the whole Howard-demotes-Kim would result in Jimmy quitting the law? Sure. Do I think Chuck realised he was doing this and exactly what this kind of behavior is in legal terms before this confrontation? Nope. He realises while arguing with Jimmy, and that puts him into a complete bind.
And that was when I spent the rest of the episode waiting for the next scene in this plot while it continued relentlessly with the Mike plot, and you can see my frustration. I mean, I have guesses what can happen next - obviously Jimmy won't quit the law, and I could see Chuck leaning on Howard re: Kim just to prove he's no extortionist, but otoh this show is good with consequences and Jimmy already managed to undo a demotion for Kim in s1, so I doubt it will happen so easily again. Roll on, next week!
