Better Call Saul 6.03
Apr. 26th, 2022 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakTo quote The Wire: The Game is rigged, man.
Nacho! I really did believe his survival against the odds would be the audience's consolation price for the other main characters going to metaphorical hell. But in terms of in-universe logic, it does make sense - he had too many people aligned against him who wanted him dead, sooner or later, his luck would run out no matter how brave or clever he was, and most crucially, due to his father, he was open to blackmail. (I.e. if he had no father to protect, maybe he could/would have tried to disappear for good, but as it is...) Incidentally, my wild action movie created theory of how he'd get out of this alive was that Lalo had meant him when saying he had a witness, and would save his life in order to produce him as a witness against Gus to the Cartel, and then he'd escape again somehow. But now I suspect Lalo is actually after Jimmy (withh or without Kim as colleteral), though I don't see how Jimmy would know anything about what Gus is up to or how Lalo would assume he did. However, given the show didn't kill Lalo of in last season's finale, they must need him for something in this season.
Aaanyway. Back to Nacho. I am glad he departed from the script handed to him by Gus somewhat (enough to make Gus the unflappable sweat a little before exonorating him) in order to put a curse on both their houses, so to speak. Pest and Cholera indeed. Nacho's loathing for the entire bunch of drug lords who had thrived on terrorizing him was so visceral, and telling Hector Salamanca he was responsible for Hector's current condition was inspired, since not only did it make Hector mad but it also robbed Gus (who considers this his revenge) of feeling satisfied.
Sidenote: Gus in Breaking Bad won a lot of audience sympathy due to his low-key organized mastermindness and the contrast to Walt, not to mention Don Elario presented as even worse, but he was never less than a ruthless Kingpin, and for all of Mike's "we had a good thing going before you came along" to Walt, what they had going was an organization built on human misery. Better Call Saul by not contrasting Gus with Walt but offering Nacho as the pov on Gus & Co. strips away the niceties and emphasizes the chilling side that was always there.
Nacho shooting himself after giving everyone the "the reason you suck!" speech rather than rely on Gus' minions to do so (or allow the Salamancas to torture him to death) also felt like the least bad of only bad options and allowed him defiance to the end. And the last conversation with his father was absolutely heartbreaking.
There were only a very few scenes featuring lawyers this week, understandably given the main tragedy, but they were efficient. Huell gets the traditional role of the fool speaking truth to the boss as with a few lines of dialogue he manages to point out to Jimmy that what he and Kim are doing re: Howard is them ruining their own lives which at this point could be going really well in a legitimate way, and for what? Nothing but pettiness. That kind of self destruction was something Jimmy did a couple of times in the Slippin' Jimmy past, but not Kim. He tries to outsource his conscience to her again later in the scene where she tells him what the state attorney said to her re: Jimmy & Lalo Salamanca, but Kim doesn't play that role anymore. (Also, she's had Lalo in her apartment, even if she did manage to talk Jimmy and herself out of that situation. My point is that Kim is under no delusion as to how dangerous the Cartel guys are.) Given her last sentence does imply that "Friend of the Cartel" is the better option over "rat" (certainly the one with the larger life expectancy), and we know Saul Goodman is of course a "criminal lawyer" in the BB era, my suspicion that Kim will end up in prison or on the run, but definitely not as a lawyer anymore, is strengthening.
Nacho! I really did believe his survival against the odds would be the audience's consolation price for the other main characters going to metaphorical hell. But in terms of in-universe logic, it does make sense - he had too many people aligned against him who wanted him dead, sooner or later, his luck would run out no matter how brave or clever he was, and most crucially, due to his father, he was open to blackmail. (I.e. if he had no father to protect, maybe he could/would have tried to disappear for good, but as it is...) Incidentally, my wild action movie created theory of how he'd get out of this alive was that Lalo had meant him when saying he had a witness, and would save his life in order to produce him as a witness against Gus to the Cartel, and then he'd escape again somehow. But now I suspect Lalo is actually after Jimmy (withh or without Kim as colleteral), though I don't see how Jimmy would know anything about what Gus is up to or how Lalo would assume he did. However, given the show didn't kill Lalo of in last season's finale, they must need him for something in this season.
Aaanyway. Back to Nacho. I am glad he departed from the script handed to him by Gus somewhat (enough to make Gus the unflappable sweat a little before exonorating him) in order to put a curse on both their houses, so to speak. Pest and Cholera indeed. Nacho's loathing for the entire bunch of drug lords who had thrived on terrorizing him was so visceral, and telling Hector Salamanca he was responsible for Hector's current condition was inspired, since not only did it make Hector mad but it also robbed Gus (who considers this his revenge) of feeling satisfied.
Sidenote: Gus in Breaking Bad won a lot of audience sympathy due to his low-key organized mastermindness and the contrast to Walt, not to mention Don Elario presented as even worse, but he was never less than a ruthless Kingpin, and for all of Mike's "we had a good thing going before you came along" to Walt, what they had going was an organization built on human misery. Better Call Saul by not contrasting Gus with Walt but offering Nacho as the pov on Gus & Co. strips away the niceties and emphasizes the chilling side that was always there.
Nacho shooting himself after giving everyone the "the reason you suck!" speech rather than rely on Gus' minions to do so (or allow the Salamancas to torture him to death) also felt like the least bad of only bad options and allowed him defiance to the end. And the last conversation with his father was absolutely heartbreaking.
There were only a very few scenes featuring lawyers this week, understandably given the main tragedy, but they were efficient. Huell gets the traditional role of the fool speaking truth to the boss as with a few lines of dialogue he manages to point out to Jimmy that what he and Kim are doing re: Howard is them ruining their own lives which at this point could be going really well in a legitimate way, and for what? Nothing but pettiness. That kind of self destruction was something Jimmy did a couple of times in the Slippin' Jimmy past, but not Kim. He tries to outsource his conscience to her again later in the scene where she tells him what the state attorney said to her re: Jimmy & Lalo Salamanca, but Kim doesn't play that role anymore. (Also, she's had Lalo in her apartment, even if she did manage to talk Jimmy and herself out of that situation. My point is that Kim is under no delusion as to how dangerous the Cartel guys are.) Given her last sentence does imply that "Friend of the Cartel" is the better option over "rat" (certainly the one with the larger life expectancy), and we know Saul Goodman is of course a "criminal lawyer" in the BB era, my suspicion that Kim will end up in prison or on the run, but definitely not as a lawyer anymore, is strengthening.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-26 07:58 pm (UTC)I am fascinated to see what happens to Kim. And worried too though I don't think they will kill her off.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-27 06:18 am (UTC)Re: Kim, yes, now that they've killed Nando, I'm pretty sure they won't kill Kim, though something bad is bound to happen. (As I said in the post, my current guesses are prison or being on the run.)