Better Call Saul 3.02
Apr. 18th, 2017 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Chuck's plan becomes clear.
Complaints out first: look, I liked Gus, too. He was the coolest kingpin of Arizona, and considering the actor was wasted in the role of Sydney/The Genie over at OuaT, it was good to see him in this star turn again. But: the Mike portion of this episode dragged, for me at least. Because we already know where it's going. We know Gus, we know what he does, we know Mike's going to become his Enforcer. So him and Mike playing cat and mouse carries no suspense for me. Yes, the entire show's premise is something we also already know - Jimmy becomes Saul - but with Jimmy, the show has managed to build up interesting relationships he has as Jimmy (Kim, Chuck, even Howard) which weren't there in Breaking Bad and keep me invested in wanting to find out more about them. The Mike part of the show doesn't offer me that. And thus I always want the action to go back to Wexler & McGill.
On to the good stuff. It had been clear from his reaction after Ernie had left last episode that Chuck had set him up and wanted him to tell Jimmy about the tape. But he overplayed the admonishments somewhat, so Ernie a) waits before spilling the beans and b) doesn't spill them to Jimmy directly, but to Kim instead. Who makes Jimmy her client in order to have legal cover and then does massive research, only to end up with the same conclusion Howard drew last episode, that the tape has no legal or moral use, so she can't figure out what Chuck wants with it. While the audience, courtesy of Chuck in the teaser already having a new house guest in the form of a solitaire obsessed P.I., probably has twigged the game: the whole point of the tape wasn't the thing itself, it was to provoke Jimmy into trying to steal it in front of witnesses. The climactic scene in which it happens concludes the episode, and sums up the comedy-tragedy the show excells at: starting with Howard having to climb over various walls in his Hamlindigo-coloured suit in order to arrive at Chuck's by stealth (Patrick Fabian is a great straight man for this type of humor) to a raging Jimmy arriving. Though here I should go back, because Bob Odenkirk's big sequence is actually earlier in the episode: the utter shock when Kim tells him, the playing normal with the old clients, the careful removal of the tape from the wall the way Chuck taught him until Kim has left and Jimmy finally allows the rage to take over. Saul was comic relief over at Breaking Bad more often than not, and Better Call Saul doesn't waste Odenkirk's talents in this regard, but he also gets to do the big character stuff here, and this entire reaction sequence was a case in point, breaking everyone's heart for Jimmy yet again. While the showdown at Chuck's is mostly played as black comedy until Howard and the P.I. reveal themselves, and the implication of what just happened sinks in. Taping Jimmy had been a dastardly move (in response to a dastardly move), but it had been something Chuck could have let be the end of it (were he emotionally capable), without any legal consequences for Jimmy. Whereas tricking Jimmy into an assault and evidence destruction in front of witnesses is irreversible. The genie is out of the bottle now. And I think we've just seen the scene that explains why Jimmy won't be able to practice law as Jimmy McGill anymore.
Trivia: hello, Francesca, long time, no see. Figures she's known Jimmy in his pre-Saul days.
Jimmy sucks at stealth surveillance. At least he could have eaten the dam chicken. No wonder Gus made him.
Complaints out first: look, I liked Gus, too. He was the coolest kingpin of Arizona, and considering the actor was wasted in the role of Sydney/The Genie over at OuaT, it was good to see him in this star turn again. But: the Mike portion of this episode dragged, for me at least. Because we already know where it's going. We know Gus, we know what he does, we know Mike's going to become his Enforcer. So him and Mike playing cat and mouse carries no suspense for me. Yes, the entire show's premise is something we also already know - Jimmy becomes Saul - but with Jimmy, the show has managed to build up interesting relationships he has as Jimmy (Kim, Chuck, even Howard) which weren't there in Breaking Bad and keep me invested in wanting to find out more about them. The Mike part of the show doesn't offer me that. And thus I always want the action to go back to Wexler & McGill.
On to the good stuff. It had been clear from his reaction after Ernie had left last episode that Chuck had set him up and wanted him to tell Jimmy about the tape. But he overplayed the admonishments somewhat, so Ernie a) waits before spilling the beans and b) doesn't spill them to Jimmy directly, but to Kim instead. Who makes Jimmy her client in order to have legal cover and then does massive research, only to end up with the same conclusion Howard drew last episode, that the tape has no legal or moral use, so she can't figure out what Chuck wants with it. While the audience, courtesy of Chuck in the teaser already having a new house guest in the form of a solitaire obsessed P.I., probably has twigged the game: the whole point of the tape wasn't the thing itself, it was to provoke Jimmy into trying to steal it in front of witnesses. The climactic scene in which it happens concludes the episode, and sums up the comedy-tragedy the show excells at: starting with Howard having to climb over various walls in his Hamlindigo-coloured suit in order to arrive at Chuck's by stealth (Patrick Fabian is a great straight man for this type of humor) to a raging Jimmy arriving. Though here I should go back, because Bob Odenkirk's big sequence is actually earlier in the episode: the utter shock when Kim tells him, the playing normal with the old clients, the careful removal of the tape from the wall the way Chuck taught him until Kim has left and Jimmy finally allows the rage to take over. Saul was comic relief over at Breaking Bad more often than not, and Better Call Saul doesn't waste Odenkirk's talents in this regard, but he also gets to do the big character stuff here, and this entire reaction sequence was a case in point, breaking everyone's heart for Jimmy yet again. While the showdown at Chuck's is mostly played as black comedy until Howard and the P.I. reveal themselves, and the implication of what just happened sinks in. Taping Jimmy had been a dastardly move (in response to a dastardly move), but it had been something Chuck could have let be the end of it (were he emotionally capable), without any legal consequences for Jimmy. Whereas tricking Jimmy into an assault and evidence destruction in front of witnesses is irreversible. The genie is out of the bottle now. And I think we've just seen the scene that explains why Jimmy won't be able to practice law as Jimmy McGill anymore.
Trivia: hello, Francesca, long time, no see. Figures she's known Jimmy in his pre-Saul days.
Jimmy sucks at stealth surveillance. At least he could have eaten the dam chicken. No wonder Gus made him.
