In the aftermath of recent events, Jimmy seizes an opportunity to reconnect with an old friend. Chuck adjusts to a new way of life.
This really has been an impressive first season for Better Call Saul. It's remarkable just how easily the show and the creative team were able to eliminate all my fears about the necessity of this story. Before the show premiered, I didn't know if we needed a prequel series to Breaking Bad and, if so, with Saul Goodman as the leading man. The arc of this season put all those fears aside rather quickly. It was able to dig deep into the emotion of the character that was rarely on display during his supporting turn on Breaking Bad. There really is depth to Saul Goodman. It was unexpected but often times brilliant. Yes, at times, the pacing of the show and its various plot threads was a little weird. And yet, the atmosphere, tone and mood of the piece always cared through in those brief awkward moments. It was able to build into something dynamic that allowed us to care about characters we've already experienced through Breaking Bad while also giving them new shading.Jimmy McGill has the basic desire to do good and be great at being a lawyer. It's because of his brother offering him this opportunity in Albuquerque all those years ago that he was able to find this livelihood. As the penultimate episode showed though, it was all devastatingly false hope on Chuck's part. He never expected Jimmy to rise above and do good work as a lawyer. To Chuck, Jimmy will always be Slippin' Jimmy. That is destructive to him. That was the major turning point in his life. Jimmy was making a good living doing elder work. He was good at it as well. The elderly community of Albuquerque really started to like and trust him. This huge class action suit wouldn't have happened without all of Jimmy's hard work.
That's what makes it so tragic once the truth is revealed and Jimmy has to take a step back from the life he has created for himself in Albuquerque. Everything that he thought he knew to be true wasn't. His brother didn't believe in him and Howard Hamlin really wasn't the bad jerk Jimmy was led to believe. In fact, it's incredibly powerful when Jimmy and Howard sit down at the start of the finale to discuss HHM taking the case as well as getting someone to care for Chuck now that Jimmy is no longer willing to. Howard realizing all that Jimmy has been doing for his brother is a genuine moment that surprises him. Jimmy has all this love for Chuck and Chuck never fully believed that Jimmy was capable of this big change.
You would think that Jimmy learning the truth about Chuck would motivate Jimmy to prove him wrong. Show Chuck that he can be a good lawyer. That is not the case however. Jimmy did the right things to show Chuck what kind of a man he has become. Without Chuck in his corner, he doesn't have to ignore the criminal beast inside him anymore. He is allowed to slip back into his Slippin' Jimmy conman ways because there's no longer a risk of disappointment. Jimmy doesn't care what Chuck thinks anymore.
That last scene where Jimmy asks Mike why they didn't just run off with $1.6 million when they had the chance was very telling of the mindset he was in then and where he is now. Jimmy got to break bad in this episode because there were no expectations for his future. He got to go back to Chicago and reunite with his conman best friend, Marco. They both have jobs that they make their living off of. And yet, both are much more skilled at running cons to make some quick cash. It's a very necessary sequence of the episode. We needed to see Jimmy in this environment for an extended amount of time. If we didn't, we wouldn't have seen the appeal to him. If he stayed put in Albuquerque, he likely would have taken that new job opportunity Kim lined up for him. He would have continued trying to do the right thing. And yet, we all know better than that. He is on a trajectory towards being a criminal. That is what he is always destined to become but Better Call Saul has made it so the journey to that point is just as interesting.
Jimmy is allowed that moment to break down. He returns to call out the numbers at bingo at the assisted living facility. All the elderly residents care about is getting the numbers so that they can hopefully win the "wonderful" prices available. Jimmy takes that moment to be a showman. But he is slowly on the decline. That journey drops off a cliff the moment he starts sharing this elaborate story explaining what a Chicago sunroof is. It's a hilarious and devastating moment. Right now, Jimmy really isn't better than that day in his story. Filing wiles and doing estate planning can offer him stability but it's not the kind of excitement he wants in life. He gets that happiness back during his adventures with Marco. At first, the finale shows an extended bit about their con with a half dollar coin. That was brilliant in showing just how exceptional the two of them work opposite each other. It's then bursts into a trippy montage of brief glimpses of the week's worth of cons they are able to pull.
Of course, things end tragically for these two when Marco suffers a heart attack and dies when they try doing the risky watch con again. They just wanted one last con to go out on. Jimmy does it to satisfy Marco. Jimmy can't stay but he's able to fulfill one last con this time unlike when he was first pulled away to Albuquerque by Chuck. And now, Jimmy is literally caring Marco's spirit around with him as he now wears Marco's ring around his finger. He returns to Albuquerque ready to embrace that more criminal way of life. It's not going to be the same as his cons with Marco. And yet, he's no longer focused on doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do. He doesn't want to join this new firm because that would be the right decision. He wants to embrace his own identity. And right now, that means not doing things in the way that others would expect him to do.
Jimmy doesn't immediately adapt the Saul Goodman persona. And yet, it's very clear now how the show is building towards that change. This episode is all about the shifting dynamics within Jimmy. At the start of the hour, he sees the trash can he damaged at the beginning of the series. He is a changed man who claims to have clarity over his life. He doesn't fully achieve that until his various mishaps of the episode. Mike, Kim, Howard, Chuck and Nacho get to be sidelined in order to fully put Jimmy's story on display. His embracing of this new persona will change his relationships with all of them. That will be fertile storytelling ground for the second season. Right now though, Jimmy is embracing that change while driving away from the courthouse humming the tune to Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" right before the actual song starts playing. It was a very effective way to close the first season and makes me even more excited for whats to come.
Some more thoughts:
- "Marco" was written by Peter Gould and directed by Peter Gould.
- What's more preposterous? Bob Odenkirk trying to play a version of Jimmy 16 years younger than when he first appeared on Breaking Bad? Or someone actually thinking he's really Kevin Costner?
- Jimmy's final interaction with Mike demonstrates who Mike is at his core as well. He has a code and he sticks to it. That's the reason why so many people both in the present and in the future will want to work with him.
- Chuck obviously has some regrets over what happened between him and Jimmy. He's trying to walk outside again just to talk after he notices Jimmy's car. And yet, Jimmy pulls away before Chuck can get up the strength to open the door.
- I kinda figured Marco wouldn't survive the finale because of his coughing happening twice before he was unconscious in the middle of the alley.
- That montage really was so fantastic.
