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Better Call Saul 6.01. and 6.02.
It's been two years! I have to admit I had to refresh my memory on where we left our antiheroes, but once that was done, it felt like coming home to watch these first two episodes of the last season that Netflix just released.
No black-and-white season opening that showes us post Breaking & Bad "Gene" living the paranoid and lonely working life; instead, we get, in color, what is a flash forward from the main story's pov but for Breaking Bad viewers a scene within that later show's last few episodes that was never shown, to wit, the forces of the law collecting Saul Goodman's worldly possessions at some point post Ozymandias and before the finale. To signal that we've almost arrived at the point where Jimmy-turned Saul enters another canon, perhaps, or to save the further adventures of Gene for the BCS finale?
After this introduction, we get back to Nacho on the run from just about everyone and Lalo deciding to play dead a while longer while being on the revenge path. (I have to admit it took me a while to understand why he killed the couple who took him in and were downright fannish about him, and I only got it when he later called Uncle Hector and told him he'd let everyone else believe he's dead a while longer to go after Gus. These two would presumably have revealed to the world Lalo Salamanca is still alive.) It's a reminder that Lalo may have a better temper control and far better manners than the rest of the clan, but he's no less a vicious killer. Meanwhile, in this and in the next episode Mike tries to convince Gus that loyalty is a two way road, which in this particular case means not killing Nacho, which would be, from Gus' pov, the blatantly best solution now that Nacho has done what Gus wanted. I can't decide whether the writing team wants to see Mike as carrying this belief with him to his death, because on the one hand you have him taking to Jesse because of Jesse's capacity for loyalty and making a great deal of "his men" in B & B., otoh, before that in late s3 of BB, you also have Mike telling Walt "no half measures" and advising him to kill Jesse. Incidentally, I think Gus thinks of himself as a good employer rewarding loyalty, both in his legitimate business and in his drug business, but when push comes to shove, he also has no problem cutting of loose ends.
As Nacho and Lalo are original BCS characters whose fate is not covered by Breaking Bad, I found myself more engaged than I usually am by the drug lord parts of the plot. But my heart is mostly owned by the lawyers, and here, too, this season seamlessly continues where the last one left of, with Kim proving she hadn't been kidding about going after Howard, and Jimmy somewhat shocked by this, much as he tries to hide it, and also can't resist joining. BCS continues to do awesome character work, because Kim isn't suddenly Ms Hyde, fighting for the disadvantaged is still as important to her as ever, see her venting about how her current client gets framed for a rich kid's crime - but she's also gleefully sure of winning the case, calling this one of the best days of her life life, and I think it's all connected. Howard's last actual misdeed against Kim is several years back (mid s2), and in recent times, the worst you could accuse him of was him acting patronizing. But she has classified him as the embodiment of privilege and has now arrived at a point where she sees herself entirely entitled to destroy him for this reason.
The second episode, "Carrot and Stick", also showcases Kim's ruthless smarts and smart ruthlessness, not lessened by any sympathy whatsoever when coupled with disgust, in the scene with the Kettlemans. Now the Kettlemans are on the one hand worthier targets than Howard, because both in their original appearance in s1 and here, they are both amusing and infuriating in their utter conviction of having done nothing wrong and being the victims while simultanously still fleecing other people. (Just on a smaller scale than they used to due to having fallen off the social ladder post Craig's stint in prison.) Note Kim's expression when she watches the old lady, aka the latest victim of Kettlemanian entitled fleecing, emerge from the "building". But on the other, they are so clearly outmatched that Jimmy feels sorry enough for them to hand over some money. And that's an intriguing difference between Kim and Jimmy. Jimmy, both in the past as Slippin' Jimmy and currently as early Saul Goodman, does see himself as someone playing those for suckers who deserve it, not as someone who would cheat on the weak. (See also his elderly clients of seasons past.) And he can get angry about the way the system is rigged. (That con at the golf club used some real anger, methinks.) I think he's also self aware enough to know he simply loves a good con and his creature comforts, and does not see himself as doing it For Higher Justice. He may have ranted two finales ago about how the system is rigged and how people like him and the episode's guest star would never be good enough, but that anger wasn't really directed against specific people. (His relationship with Chuck carries some of it, but Chuck is his own special case in Jimmy's emotional make up due to all the disappointed love and after his death also the guilt.) Betsy Kettleman was irritating, high handed and ungrateful towards both him and Kim in s1, but if he instead of Kim had found out what she and her husband were doing these days, I doubt he'd have given it another thought. Conning them into spreading reputation-destroying rumors about Howard, then shutting them up by using their current misdemeanours against them, with a sideline of forcing them to return their ill gotten gains to their fleeced clients: that's a Kim thing to do. (A Jimmy thing would be making a rich jerk pay incredibly expensive drinks for them the way he did the first time Kim played along in a con of his as Giselle. He could laugh about it and tell himself the guy deserved it, and would not have thought about him beyond that occasion, let alone taken him apart.)
My current speculation re "life or death" for Kim, Nacho and Lalo:
Lalo: dies. This was settled when he declared his intention to destroy Gus, who is very much alive and doing well years later. I mean, there's always the possibility he could fake his death (again) and move to New York and become Kate Bishop's stepdad, but... I doubt it. (Sorry, could not resist the casting joke.)
Nacho: lives. Given Jimmy and Mike are the two main characters and their fate is settled by Other Canon (well, not "Gene"'s fate, but you know what I mean), I think Nacho's survival against the odds will provide the feel good factor for the show's ending.
Kim: 70 % sure she lives, but no more than that. I used to be completely sure (in seasons past, I simply assumed that after some final break up with Jimmy, she'd left Albuquerque for good and started a new lawyerly life elsewhere), but that was before last season and the show revealing her own road to heroic villaindom. I still think it's more likely than not that she lives - and she and Jimmy might even meet again in the finale - but not without massive scars; she's accumulating enemies in her own right, what she's currently doing would be reason for disbarment if uncovered, and how Kim, who worked so hard to be a lawyer all her life, will exist without being a lawyer, I don't know.
No black-and-white season opening that showes us post Breaking & Bad "Gene" living the paranoid and lonely working life; instead, we get, in color, what is a flash forward from the main story's pov but for Breaking Bad viewers a scene within that later show's last few episodes that was never shown, to wit, the forces of the law collecting Saul Goodman's worldly possessions at some point post Ozymandias and before the finale. To signal that we've almost arrived at the point where Jimmy-turned Saul enters another canon, perhaps, or to save the further adventures of Gene for the BCS finale?
After this introduction, we get back to Nacho on the run from just about everyone and Lalo deciding to play dead a while longer while being on the revenge path. (I have to admit it took me a while to understand why he killed the couple who took him in and were downright fannish about him, and I only got it when he later called Uncle Hector and told him he'd let everyone else believe he's dead a while longer to go after Gus. These two would presumably have revealed to the world Lalo Salamanca is still alive.) It's a reminder that Lalo may have a better temper control and far better manners than the rest of the clan, but he's no less a vicious killer. Meanwhile, in this and in the next episode Mike tries to convince Gus that loyalty is a two way road, which in this particular case means not killing Nacho, which would be, from Gus' pov, the blatantly best solution now that Nacho has done what Gus wanted. I can't decide whether the writing team wants to see Mike as carrying this belief with him to his death, because on the one hand you have him taking to Jesse because of Jesse's capacity for loyalty and making a great deal of "his men" in B & B., otoh, before that in late s3 of BB, you also have Mike telling Walt "no half measures" and advising him to kill Jesse. Incidentally, I think Gus thinks of himself as a good employer rewarding loyalty, both in his legitimate business and in his drug business, but when push comes to shove, he also has no problem cutting of loose ends.
As Nacho and Lalo are original BCS characters whose fate is not covered by Breaking Bad, I found myself more engaged than I usually am by the drug lord parts of the plot. But my heart is mostly owned by the lawyers, and here, too, this season seamlessly continues where the last one left of, with Kim proving she hadn't been kidding about going after Howard, and Jimmy somewhat shocked by this, much as he tries to hide it, and also can't resist joining. BCS continues to do awesome character work, because Kim isn't suddenly Ms Hyde, fighting for the disadvantaged is still as important to her as ever, see her venting about how her current client gets framed for a rich kid's crime - but she's also gleefully sure of winning the case, calling this one of the best days of her life life, and I think it's all connected. Howard's last actual misdeed against Kim is several years back (mid s2), and in recent times, the worst you could accuse him of was him acting patronizing. But she has classified him as the embodiment of privilege and has now arrived at a point where she sees herself entirely entitled to destroy him for this reason.
The second episode, "Carrot and Stick", also showcases Kim's ruthless smarts and smart ruthlessness, not lessened by any sympathy whatsoever when coupled with disgust, in the scene with the Kettlemans. Now the Kettlemans are on the one hand worthier targets than Howard, because both in their original appearance in s1 and here, they are both amusing and infuriating in their utter conviction of having done nothing wrong and being the victims while simultanously still fleecing other people. (Just on a smaller scale than they used to due to having fallen off the social ladder post Craig's stint in prison.) Note Kim's expression when she watches the old lady, aka the latest victim of Kettlemanian entitled fleecing, emerge from the "building". But on the other, they are so clearly outmatched that Jimmy feels sorry enough for them to hand over some money. And that's an intriguing difference between Kim and Jimmy. Jimmy, both in the past as Slippin' Jimmy and currently as early Saul Goodman, does see himself as someone playing those for suckers who deserve it, not as someone who would cheat on the weak. (See also his elderly clients of seasons past.) And he can get angry about the way the system is rigged. (That con at the golf club used some real anger, methinks.) I think he's also self aware enough to know he simply loves a good con and his creature comforts, and does not see himself as doing it For Higher Justice. He may have ranted two finales ago about how the system is rigged and how people like him and the episode's guest star would never be good enough, but that anger wasn't really directed against specific people. (His relationship with Chuck carries some of it, but Chuck is his own special case in Jimmy's emotional make up due to all the disappointed love and after his death also the guilt.) Betsy Kettleman was irritating, high handed and ungrateful towards both him and Kim in s1, but if he instead of Kim had found out what she and her husband were doing these days, I doubt he'd have given it another thought. Conning them into spreading reputation-destroying rumors about Howard, then shutting them up by using their current misdemeanours against them, with a sideline of forcing them to return their ill gotten gains to their fleeced clients: that's a Kim thing to do. (A Jimmy thing would be making a rich jerk pay incredibly expensive drinks for them the way he did the first time Kim played along in a con of his as Giselle. He could laugh about it and tell himself the guy deserved it, and would not have thought about him beyond that occasion, let alone taken him apart.)
My current speculation re "life or death" for Kim, Nacho and Lalo:
Lalo: dies. This was settled when he declared his intention to destroy Gus, who is very much alive and doing well years later. I mean, there's always the possibility he could fake his death (again) and move to New York and become Kate Bishop's stepdad, but... I doubt it. (Sorry, could not resist the casting joke.)
Nacho: lives. Given Jimmy and Mike are the two main characters and their fate is settled by Other Canon (well, not "Gene"'s fate, but you know what I mean), I think Nacho's survival against the odds will provide the feel good factor for the show's ending.
Kim: 70 % sure she lives, but no more than that. I used to be completely sure (in seasons past, I simply assumed that after some final break up with Jimmy, she'd left Albuquerque for good and started a new lawyerly life elsewhere), but that was before last season and the show revealing her own road to heroic villaindom. I still think it's more likely than not that she lives - and she and Jimmy might even meet again in the finale - but not without massive scars; she's accumulating enemies in her own right, what she's currently doing would be reason for disbarment if uncovered, and how Kim, who worked so hard to be a lawyer all her life, will exist without being a lawyer, I don't know.
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And I hope Nacho does escape but I am not counting on it. I am afraid Gus will do something awful to both Nacho and Nacho's father. There are some pretty big "guns on the mantlepiece" there that have amped up Nacho's peril.
I am so looking forward to the final season and I have a feeling things will be speeding up -- lots of plot to resolve and also there may be at least one entire episode that is in the far future, post-Breaking Bad, I suspect.
Such a great show.
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