![]() Jimmy’s girlfriend, Kim Wexler, doesn’t get off as easily. “But know this is both strike one and strike two,” he says, boiling with indignation. The partners of Davis & Main vote 2-1 to fire Jimmy, but Clifford Main opts to give him a second chance. In his opening scene, he is spared a pink slip over that effective but unauthorized client solicitation TV ad. Jimmy McGill demonstrates a type of valor in this episode, too, though one that is quite a bit more warped. And in a scene with a black-market arms dealer (played impeccably by a real-life ex-Marine and seasoned actor, Jim Beaver), Mike is told that an M-40 rifle for sale has a fiberglass stock instead of the wooden one used by the military in the ’60s. He tells Nacho that he could kill Tuco from a long distance with the weary confidence of a man who’s made similar shots before. I’m not sure this is relevant, but there is more than a strong hint in “Gloves Off,” as the episode is titled, that Mike served in Vietnam as a sniper. Keep in mind that as an all-purpose heavy in “Breaking Bad,” Mike kills a number of people and we learned in Season 1 of “Better Call Saul” that he fled Philadelphia after slaying the two officers who whacked his son. ![]() He won’t say, and I’d be interested to hear guesses from readers. Mike would have been paid double his $25,000 fee and would not have risked his cheekbones. One fascinating mystery here is why Mike doesn’t just kill Tuco, a question that Nacho poses before we fade to black. When we get a long look at it, in the closing moments of the episode, I was torn between thinking “Ouch, ouch, ouch” and “O.K., that took five hours in a makeup chair.” Mike’s plan was a triumph, unless you count the gruesome repercussions for his face. “You are one lucky old man,” Tuco says, midway through this improvised sting, not realizing how right he is. Thus unfolds a Rube Goldberg machine of a plan: Mike needed Tuco to 1) see him hit Tuco’s car 2) to dismiss Nacho before the cops showed up 3) to remain in situ as the cops rolled in and 4) to pummel Mike enough to get arrested but not enough to kill him. What I didn’t predict is that Mike would decline the opportunity to kill Tuco and instead connive to have him tossed into prison. Nacho, Tuco’s partner in drug dealing, wants him dead because Tuco is a homicidal loon - a fact that will not come as news to anyone familiar with his history. Last week, I ruled out Tuco Salamanca as the one person Mike would not be asked to murder. It also proved, yet again, that predicting plot is a fool’s game when dealing with storytellers as clever as this crew. In the end, I find myself missing the characters and the world, but am also clearly satisfied in how it wrapped up.At last, a Season 2 episode of “Better Call Saul” that demonstrates how gripping this show can get. ![]() And in that aspect it places among the absolute greats. Even though we have some action and triller moments of drugs, crime and lawyering up, Better Call Saul is in its heart a relational story. But this is in its absolute minority, where the general story is still highly engaging. When a story-line or character is not as engaging as the rest, we might stay there to long, feeling somewhat dragged. Albeit "staying in the moment" is almost always to the show's benefit, it is also the reason for its (very small) weaknesses. They reason for this is clearly the high performances of the actors, with the capabilities of carry such scenes. What is more is that it dares to stay in tension in scenes, and never cut away from the more difficult dramatic moments, like a lesser series would do. It does not rely of the frequent massive gestures, but build up - carefully - to its higher moments, making them all that more impactful. Just like BB, Better Call Saul dares to take its time, in more ways than one. Not only that, the story is well crafted, well told and not least well executed. What is more is that they develop, are molded by the events of the show, giving the viewer a clear sense of progression. Their actions are often motivated, grounded in established personality and situations. And you likely will! The series absolute strenght is its nuanced and often fully fledged characters. Still, you can without problem watch and enjoy Better Call Saul without any prior knowledge. Any Breaking Bad lover will get their fair share of easter-eggs, which ultimatiely actually enhances the original show. Still it holds up on its own, creating its own ID while picking some of the esthetics and, sometimes also the tone, of its masterful predecessor. Better Call Saul is a prequel to one of the absolute greatest: Breaking Bad.
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