Last week’s episode of Better Call Saul was a heart-wrenching look into Mike’s backstory that featured systemic police corruption, revenge, and a father attempting to deal with the bottomless sorrow of knowing his actions — at least in some way — led to the murder of his son. This week’s episode featured Jimmy and Mike doing a bunch of cool-ass spy stuff with remote control cars and black lights. There are lots of ways to make a good television show.
But first heeeeeeeeey welcome back, Mr. and Mrs. Kettleman, you incompetent spineless fraudster and harsh delusional extortionist, respectively. Long time no see. And long time no see going forward, too, one would imagine, now that Jimmy went to great/illegal/Ocean’s Eleven-y lengths to make sure Mr. K took the sweetheart deal Kim finagled from the district attorney. (Seriously, less than two years for embezzling over a million dollars from the government, even with full-ish restitution, is a heck of a deal.) What a shame. Mrs. Kettleman was just starting to grow on me, what with all her redeeming qualities like her… uh… her… passion? And strong convictions? And, uh…
Knowing what we know about her now, I really wish Jimmy’s skateboard caper from the premiere had worked. The one skate nimrod would have thrown himself at her and she would have run him right over and dragged his increasingly lifeless body behind her station wagon for miles and miles and miles. And then when the other one showed up with the camera and tried to run the hush money scheme on her, she would have probably just put two in the back of his head and buried him in the desert. Tuco was weak. Mrs. K does not play.
All in all, another really strong episode in what has so far been a really strong opening season. Better Call Saul is a good show.
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As one of the world’s most prominent proponents of heists and heist-related television programs, I could not have been more overjoyed by the part where Jimmy called in his favor to get Mike to make off with the Kettlemans’ cash. A few notes:
- Mike ate five apples on his stakeout. The average apple contains 4.4 grams of fiber. Eating five apples means Mike consumed somewhere around 20-25 grams of fiber just in the time he spent watching the house, which is almost 100% of the recommended amount for an entire day. There does not appear to be a bathroom in the desert behind the Kettleman home. Mike ate too many apples.
- On the bright side, if my math is correct, he kept five doctors away.
- I like that Mike’s plan was “Okay so the stupid kids were putting the stack of money on their little car and driving it around. That something kids do? Great.”
- The downside of Better Call Saul being a prequel is that I am stricken with the knowledge that Mike and Jimmy/Saul do not go on to become a comically mismatched heist crew, possibly one that hits casinos and art galleries across the western United States.
Point being: This was fun.
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Odds and ends:
– Good to see Jimmy’s elder care law business take off a bit, even if we know it won’t last. How could it not have taken off, though? The man is showing up at nursing homes with a crate filled with Jell-O to call bingo numbers into a skinny Bob Barker microphone while dressed like Matlock. That’s practically cheating.
– And while we’re talking legitimate business, a couple questions: 1) Was that fancy new office space he’s showing off to be funded by his practice or by the illegal ceiling money he just returned? 2) With no ceiling money and no partner/ladyfriend to occupy the corner office, what pray tell happens now? I mean, he already lost a chunk of his security deposit wailing on that door.
– Note that when Jimmy tells Mike he’s doing “the right thing” by returning the money, it’s just as likely — if not more — that he’s referring to getting Kim her clients and job status back at HHM instead of keeping them and/or the money and using Kim’s trouble at work to convince her to come work with him, as opposed to “the right thing” of forcing the Kettlemans to do what they should have done in the first place. Layers and such.
– Heeeeeey Chuck’s back, too! And he’s standing outside! A little! And Jimmy’s got a plot to get him cracking on some legal work! A plot that hinges on Chuck being a Nosy Nellie! Which he appears to be! Okay!
– Really cool shot when Jimmy was exiting HHM and the shifting light slowly revealed Kim leaning against the wall of the parking garage. Have we figured out their deal yet? Did they have a fling? Do they want to have a fling? Are they currently having a fling? Who’s flinging who? I demand answers.
– Mike’s situation in Philly appears to be settled — for now, at least — thanks to a friendly cop and some fast talking by Jimmy. “I’m confused, the state of Pennsylvania can extradite people for returning lost property? Wow, that is one bold state legislature.” Really told those two Philly cheesesteaks what’s what.
Your thoughts below.
