We — you, me, Jimmy, anyone he could get to listen to him for more than 90-consecutive seconds — spent the vast majority of Better Call Saul‘s first season being led to believe that Howard Hamlin is an asshole. And he may very well still be an asshole, for all we know. The thing we learned last night is that he isn’t an asshole for the reason we thought. We thought it was him who prevented Jimmy from working at HHM, at least two times; he who was worried about Jimmy tarnishing the cherished McGill brand; him who wanted to buy Jimmy out of the Sandpiper case with a check and an IOU. The truth is that it was Jimmy’s own brother, Chuck, who was pushing Jimmy away, either in cahoots with Howard or using him as the bad guy to to avoid inter-familial ickiness. And, yes, we — this time just us, not Jimmy — pretty much saw this coming if we were paying attention, but still. Sometimes, the truth is devastating.
But the thing about Chuck’s rant is that, I mean, is he wrong? We see Jimmy now, trying, really really trying, to do good and do it right and leave behind Slippin’ Jimmy (for the most part), but we also have the luxury of seeing into the future with perfect clarity. We know he does become, to borrow Chuck’s verbiage, the legal equivalent of a chimp with a machine gun. Slippin’ Jimmy with a law degree. Saul Goodman.
What we don’t know, though, is whether Chuck was right at the time or just proven right by the chain of events he set off. Like, maybe if he lets Jimmy work the case from a nice respectable office Jimmy ends up making both partner and babies with Kim instead of making cinnamon rolls in Nebraska. There’s no way to unring that bell to find out. For all we know this was the straw that broke the camel’s back and sent it tumbling into a life of crime.
(Here’s the other thing, though, and I want you to be really honest with yourself about it: What would you have done if you were Chuck? Your screw-up swindler kid brother — who you got out of prison at least once — secretly got his law degree from some online law school not located in the contiguous 48 states and then popped into your office expecting you to just, like, give him a job at the well-respected firm you spent your whole life building. No, Chuck didn’t have to be such a pretentious ass about it, especially after Jimmy went on to basically become his sole caregiver and defender, but let’s not go and not paint him as totally unreasonable just because we all like Jimmy.)
So… where exactly do we go from here? The Jimmy/Saul falling out — if it proves to be as final as it appeared to be last night — seems to answer one long-term question, which is why we never heard about his troubled brother in Breaking Bad. And the thing we were thinking last week about HHM using Chuck’s involvement in the case as a way to take it away from Jimmy outright still seems like a possibility. And, like, is this the trigger that prompts him to finally burn off the McGill name and become Saul, or am I just way too impatient and excitable? There’s a lot going on and only one episode left in what has been a spectacular first season. I can’t wait to see how it ends.
***
And Mike! MIKE! MIKE!
We’ve seen at least three Mike’s so far in Better Call Saul. First we saw Tollbooth Mike, just sitting there being a grump and grumbling about stickers. Then we saw Sad Mike, when we found out the devastating backstory about his son. Now we’re on to Doing Cool Shit Mike. Doing Cool Shit Mike uses spy gizmos and goes full Liam Neeson on yappy poseurs in parking garages and demands $20 from a squadron of armed drug dealers because he did his homework because Doing Cool Shit Mike ALWAYS does his homework. Doing Cool Shit Mike is the best.
As much as I love Mike, and as much as loved this episode (t-h-i-s much, for both), the one question I have is how the show plans to keep Jimmy and Mike together-ish as we move forward. We know they both teeter and eventually over into a full-time life of crime at some point, so their paths can certainly cross in the underworld. But last night’s episode was kind of like watching two mini-episodes of two different shows: Better Call Saul, obviously, and a second show I’m tentatively calling Don’t Mess with Mike. That’s not even really a complaint, to be honest. More of an observation. If this whole experiment has taught us anything, it’s that the people steering this ship know what they’re doing, and we can feel safe just enjoying the ride for now.
***
– Did… did Mike get that dog just as an excuse to visit Shady Vet? I think he did. That dog is an accomplice.
– The stuff with Jimmy and Chuck really hurt. The words themselves were painful, but to have it come at the tail end of an episode that started with that sweet scene on the bench, man. Grass between your toes feel nice. Know what doesn’t? BETRAYAL.
– Hamlin giving Kim the “Stop. Close the door” treatment to reveal the truth was both a nice plot device and a very sneaky backdoor promotion for the premiere of the ultimate “Stop. Close the door” show, Mad Men, this Sunday. I see you, AMC.
– I don’t know why, but between the way this was shot and the way Chuck kind of scurried out to the mailbox I can’t stop picturing him talking like Gollum during his late night phone call to Hamlin. “Yes… my legacy.”
– Heeeeeeey Nacho. Welcome back to the party!
– As soon Putzy Two Guns started running his mouth about “ethnic types” and such the question wasn’t so much, “Would he get his comeuppance?” as it was, “When and how will he get his comeuppance?” I was very pleased that the answers to those questions were, “Um, now,” and, “Mike bashing him in the throat with the gun he just took from him, then throwing all of his guns in the trash as he gasped for air and a giant ogre man ran away in fear.” Very satisfying. Would watch again.
Your thoughts below.
