*Spoilers Ahead*
It’s a rare gift to be able to craft a story where the viewers tuning in know exactly what is going to happen and yet are still completely captivated by it. It’s what made Breaking Bad such a great watch and it’s what continues to make Better Call Saul worthy of being that show’s successor.
We want to root for Jimmy McGill because he’s an underdog, he’s a guy who just wants success in his chosen field, it’s something we can all get behind, even if we don’t have a vindictive brother attempting to thwart our every move. It’s become clear, as we spend more time with him, that Jimmy is ultimately his own biggest obstacle, as much as we don’t want to admit it, his brother is right. He’ll always be Slippin’ Jimmy even when he’s attempting to do the right thing. Jimmy knows it too, it’s what keeps eating at him whenever he has to see Chuck.
It’s also what compels him to find another way to get info from the seniors involved in the Sandpiper case. Partially anyway, you see Kim is now wary of his methods too and since she recommended him to Davis & Main she doesn’t want him making her look bad. This brings Jimmy to his next method to reaching the old-timers, a commercial. Specifically, one targeted at the time he knows they’ll be watching during the daily 3 PM showing of Murder, She Wrote. He gets approval to go ahead with the commercial but there’s just one more problem. It’s dull, nobody, especially someone in a declining age, is going to sit there and read the text as it appears on the screen urging them to call. Instead, Jimmy hatches another scheme.
In the most overt callback to last season, Jimmy hires the guys who helped him with the billboard stunt to help him record a commercial involving the old former actress from “Alpine Shepard Boy.” The commercial ends up looking professionally done, if a little pandering but Jimmy can’t bring himself to show it to Clifford Main. He can’t trust that he can do the entire thing on the up and up and instead airs the commercial under the radar. Thankfully, the commercial is a huge success and while he’s watching a film with Kim he gets a call from Main. Instead of the congratulations he expected, he gets chewed out for not letting him or any of the partners in on the commercial.
Meanwhile, Mike investigates his daughter-in-law’s claims that she has been hearing gunshots around the outside of the house and while he finds no proof other than the sound of newspapers hitting the sidewalk in the morning he gives her what she ultimately wants when she insists she heard them again, a place in a new neighborhood. To do this though, requires some higher paying side jobs than what Mike has been taking, ones that involve messier work. This ultimately leads him back to Nacho who wants him to help make a guy “go away.”
As the second season of Better Call Saul continues it seems to be setting it’s two main characters up on different paths that seem almost destined to converge at some point. What seems like two disparate stories now may end up being the thing that ties this whole season together.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- A lot of people were apparently expecting Gus instead of Nacho at the end but it’s not like Mike has made a big enough name for himself that someone would request him out of the blue based on the few small jobs he has done so far. All that said I probably still would have gone apeshit if it was him.
- Got to love Jimmy improvising not having a dolly by using the lady’s chairlift.
- “Wait a doggone—$24 for a side of buttermilk biscuits? That doesn’t sound right!”
- “Once again Jessica Fletcher has to set aside the novel she’s been writing and assist law enforcement.”
Jesse Swanson is a would-be writer, podcaster and funny guy who covers TV shows of all shapes and sizes. You can find him on Twitter @JesseSwanson