Better Call Saul: Breaking Great

A show where nothing happening is still fascinating
"Well, son, rest assured whatever your status, I shall defend you till your last breath. I mean my last breath. Excuse the obvious death penalty snafu. I'm slightly inebriated." - Karl Weathers, Fargo, S02E06




Last night, AMC's Better Call Saul concluded a fantastic second season. As I explained last week, there's so much to unpack from this show that it seems necessary to get through it all in two posts. In the penultimate episode of the show, we saw what I predicted to be the death of Chuck McGill, his head striking hard on a counter after suffering a panic attack from stress, electricity, and Jimmy. This week, Chuck is far from dead and instead, has been set up as the major villain going  into season three.

We know which he'll choose, but when?
The finale, titled "Klick," a reference to Mike's military Klicks in using his sniper rifle as well as the sound of a tape recorder popping up, was underwhelming at first glance. I, like many, was looking forward to the show picking up the pace a small bit and bringing us into the world of Saul Goodman. To get to that point, it seemed obvious that Chuck's death would prompt a major transition - perhaps causing a rift in Jimmy and Kim's relationship while at the same time making Jimmy throw all remaining caution to the wind. When Chuck turned out to be not just alive but functioning as the major source of conflict heading into the final season, I was disappointing. This seemed like a good time for a major character death, and the shock of losing such an amazing character would be enough to talk about for a year. On second thought however, I believe that what Gilligan and co. did was even better.

One of the major points of the second season has been the moral high ground that Chuck fancies himself to sit upon. These morals are what makes Chuck believe that Jimmy could never function as a real lawyer - his compass isn't as steadfast and, in the words of Kim, he takes everything from a more "colorful" approach. To a certain extent, Chuck is right - Jimmy can't be as stoic as Chuck or Kim. Jimmy plays by his own rules, and those rules involve a little bit of showmanship, a bend in the law, and a whole lot of charisma. However, this doesn't mean that Jimmy isn't a hard worker, a smart lawyer, or a lost cause. Of course, we know by the time Jimmy becomes Saul he will be, but he's still not there. And really, it's going to be Chuck that forces Jimmy into his next persona.

While Chuck takes the high ground, Jimmy has been trying to get Chuck to come "roll around in the mud with [him!]" Before this finale, Chuck had begun to become the brother to feel sympathy for. We saw his most embarrassing professional moment shortly followed by a hard crack to the head - all of which were caused due to Jimmy. When it comes time for Chuck to take his revenge, it's the first time we truly see him get down and dirty, entering the pool of mud with Jimmy. Going into season three, the war between brothers is no longer cold. While it's not really clear who the Cain and the Abel are, this has turned into something of biblical proportions.

What's fantastic about Better Call Saul is that despite Mike and Jimmy existing mostly in their own worlds, each and every episode manages to tie together their actions thematically. Last week it was unintended consequences. This week, they shared weakness - a willingness to only perform the half measure. Be it Mike never firing off the sniper or Jimmy spilling the beans on his felony, both men aren't as hardened or experienced as they are during the events of Breaking Bad. Last night, they drew one step closer to learning that lesson.

We know he'll show up soon, but when?
After another fantastic scene between Jonathan Banks and Jim Beaver, the only gun salesman in New Mexico, Mike purchases a sniper with which to kill Hector Salamanca once and for all. However, when Nacho stands in front of Hector during the time Mike has the gun out, he doesn't go the full measure and take them both out. Instead, he allows himself to back out of the situation, just in time for his car horn to start blaring. Once there, Mike finds a white card with one word: "DON'T." The cliffhanger of who left the note is an excellent one. Is this the gateway into Gus Fring? Is this Nacho, hence the reason he was in front of Hector all the time? Is this that tarantula from Breaking Bad that the kid in "Dead Freight" later captured?

And there we have it - a finale in which nothing explosive or shocking happened, yet still delivered a knockout punch to the audience. This, once again, is the mark of television virtuoso's. Be it the terrifying directing during Chuck's time in the CATscan, the weasel appearing directly after Jimmy's commercial airs for the first time, or the rainbow in Jimmy and Kim's office painting the old folks waiting there as a pot of gold to collect, there are so many fragments and Easter eggs in Better Call Saul it's ridiculous.

I'll leave with the words I've been touting ever since I watched the startlingly good premiere of this show. Ladies and gentlemen, trust in Vince Gilligan.

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