by Robbie Jones
Breaking Bad painted Saul Goodman as a bit of scumbag. He lacked a lot of morals, but Jimmy McGill certainly does not. This week’s episode of Better Call Saul is far from great, but in terms of character development, it did an excellent job.
Breaking Bad painted Saul Goodman as a bit of scumbag. He lacked a lot of morals, but Jimmy McGill certainly does not. This week’s episode of Better Call Saul is far from great, but in terms of character development, it did an excellent job.
We’ll start with the negatives since there's not much to expand on with them; this week’s episode was quite boring. Up until the last 10-15 minutes, it’s arguable that nothing really happened, or at least nothing of interesting. The pacing was okay, but the actual content of the episode wasn’t anything worth getting excited about. Luckily that eventually changed, but you have to be willing to get to that point first, because you wouldn’t be blamed for turning it off half way through. If, however, you did, you would’ve missed out on an exceptional ending.
This week focused on the Kettleman's, that money laundering couple who Jimmy failed to bag in the first episode, and their impending court dates. The wife, Betsy, is a stubborn bitch; she insists on claiming that they’re innocent, and demands from both Kim and Jimmy that her husband receives no jail time, when that’s simply not an option. Her constant whining and bitchiness gets frustrating, and you feel like shouting “Fuck off” at the screen. But of course, this plot is essential so we have to put up with it, plus we’re not exactly SUPPOSED to like her anyway. This plot could have gone so much worse; there is literally no way around this case. The best that could be done was 16 months in jail and the money returned, which she wouldn’t have. No loopholes, no last minutes twists, nothing. For a while, it looked like Jimmy would blag his way through the case and get them their freedom, as he’s known for doing in Breaking Bad, but the way this has all been set up, anything that could do that would have been stupid and made no sense. Luckily, the writers of this show know that they’re writing for Jimmy McGill, not Saul Goodman (Not yet anyway...). There is no resolution, and Jimmy forces them to take the deal with help from Mike. Bob Odenkirk’s performance in this episode is terrific; the episode ends as he painfully kicks the door of the office he planned to buy, and it’s quite gripping. Everyone knows doing the right thing isn’t always easy, and it certainly wasn’t easy for Jimmy, who was about to move up in his career with the money he was given. Odenkirk perfectly conveys Jimmy’s pain, and it’s genuinely sympathetic, unlike Saul most of the time. McGill is a very different character, and whilst he may seem like Goodman at times, Odenkirk is giving a totally different performance this time around. But whilst this all and well good, it begs the question: When did this stop? When did Jimmy throw his morals out the window and become Saul Goodman? And more importantly, why? It’s going to be hard to see that change considering how likeable McGill has become because of it, but at the same time, quite interesting. Hopefully big things are in store.
Like last week (But not quite as good as), the aesthetics were on point, with most of the episode being shrouded in darkness for an eerie atmosphere. We got to see Mike doing what he does best, being all sneaky and badass, which we had hoped to see more of following his great moments on Breaking Bad, and the music as well was on point. It’s just a shame that the bulk of the episode didn’t have a lot to offer in terms of it’s plot, but at least we got great central performance, and hopefully we have many more to come.
Like last week (But not quite as good as), the aesthetics were on point, with most of the episode being shrouded in darkness for an eerie atmosphere. We got to see Mike doing what he does best, being all sneaky and badass, which we had hoped to see more of following his great moments on Breaking Bad, and the music as well was on point. It’s just a shame that the bulk of the episode didn’t have a lot to offer in terms of it’s plot, but at least we got great central performance, and hopefully we have many more to come.
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