Hey Party People! So glad to be back with Jimmy McGill. Oh how I missed him. But first, please let me apologize for the unreasonable lateness of this recap. All I can say is life and Geek Squad decided to make me their chew toy these last couple of weeks. But s’all good, man. I’m back and ready to dive into this season.
Second. Look what my sister got me for Christmas this year.
Don’t be jealous of my boogie.
Yep. Those are Heisenberg earrings. They were supposed to be Steve Buscemi earrings, but those were sold out, so Heisenberg it is!
In the interest of time, and a new approach to recapping, I’m going to focus on the storylines rather than a play-by-play to keep things moving along swiftly. Let me know what you think.
So, previously, Jimmy busted his ass taking online courses to become an attorney to make Chuck proud that he made something of himself. But Chuck’s an asshole who wants to be the only McGill brother who made something out of himself so he pressured Howard into taking the fall and telling Jimmy that HHM would never hire him.
Of course, Chuck’s a crazy asshole who doesn’t know how cell phones work and inadvertently outed himself, pissing off Jimmy who went to Cicero to work things out and pull a few more Slippin’ Jimmy cons with his friend Marco, who dies of a heart attack during one of their cons. Jimmy stays for the funeral and takes Marco’s ring before heading back to Albuquerque.
Which takes us to the opening of Season 2. We start in Omaha, again, where Jimmy’s closing the Cinnabon. As Billy Walker plaintively sings “Funny How Time Slips Away,” he takes the Cinnabon trash out. But luck isn’t smiling on Jimmy anymore, so he gets locked in the janitorial corridor for three hours before the night janitor finishes his work. Jimmy spent his time carving “SG was here,” in case you thought he gave up that ghost. But it’s all symbolic and shit with Jimmy thinking about just opening the emergency exit before following the rules since it’s not an emergency, then bides his time like he’s in prison.
Deep, yo. Deep.
After the credits, we flashback to Jimmy walking into the courthouse and playing with Marco’s ring. We follow Jimmy inside where he meets with Howard, Kim and Ed Begley Jr. but Howard calls him “Clifford Main.” Clearly, white shoe law firms in New Mexico had a thing for Teutons, but Ed brought along a woman and a Mexican because he’s down with the diversity. Jimmy asks to speak with Kim, alone, to see if he has a chance with her if he takes the job, but her hesitation answers his question and he bolts taking us to the final scene of the first season where he asks Mike why they didn’t run with the money.
From there, we lead into the main storyline and raison d’etre for Better Call Saul: How Jimmy became Saul. Jimmy’s back in full-on Slippin’ Jimmy mode and after a brief pit stop at the salon where he drinks straight from the cucumber water spigot just to piss off Mrs. Nguyen, the salon owner and cucumber water hoarder, Jimmy heads down to a posh spa resort and does some minor identity theft so he can lounge in the pool with a fruity drink and a bowl of chips and guac on a floatie. Because he’s fancy like that.
He’s got the world on a string, sitting in a floatie.
He has his cell phone in a Ziploc and tells someone he’s not a lawyer anymore when Kim shows up. She’s none too pleased with Jimmy for pissing away the opportunity she put herself out there to get him. Jimmy’s all “Whatevs, gurr. Get yourself a bathing suit and join me in the pool.” Kim opts for giving Jimmy an ultimatum and waiting for him in the bar.
But Jimmy loves Kim so he joins her and they go back and forth about why he should or shouldn’t be a lawyer. Kim’s never met Slippin’ Jimmy, though, so she’s fighting an uphill battle. Jimmy says he’s finally being himself after spending all his time since he came to Albuquerque trying to please Chuck.
Then he tries to order some $50 tequila shots on the guy whose identity he’s borrowing, but after Kim shuts it down, settles on conning some douchebag stock broker into buying them for him and Kim. Who call themselves Viktor and Gisele Sinclair who just inherited $1.2 million from their Boer uncle, Humphrey.
Kim enjoys their walk on the wild side, so she and Jimmy hook up and have a cute moment where she won’t let him use her toothbrush so he brushes his teeth with her finger instead. At least it was cute in the episode. It sounds gross when you describe it. Their moment is short-lived, though, when Kim “subtly” asks Jimmy if he has somewhere to go while she’s at work. Ouch.
Jimmy, you know where that finger’s been.
Not that Jimmy notices. He heads back down to the spa resort to get some sun while he drinks his fruity drinks and eats his chips and guac from a floatie. He sees a hot young woman join a rejected extra from “The Sopranos” and tells Kim to join him because he’s met the mark of marks. But when Kim doesn’t answer his call, Jimmy has second thoughts and decides to take the job with Davis & Main.
Once he’s down in Santa Fe at D&M’s fauxdobe offices, he’s shown the respect he could never get at HHM. He has a beautiful corner office and a solicitous assistant, Omar, who offers to get him new art or a humidifier since it gets dry in Santa Fe, but Jimmy’s relatively low maintenance. He just wants a cocobolo desk, like he told Kim about when he wanted her to join his non-existent firm. Omar says he’ll look into it.
Of course, Jimmy wouldn’t be Jimmy without testing boundaries, so when he sees a light switch in his office that says “DO NOT TURN OFF,” he does. But nothing happens, that he can tell, so he switches it back on. Oh, Jimmy.
Jimmy’s siren song.
He settles nicely into his new life as a white shoe firm lawyer and travels between Santa Fe and Albuquerque often. He even gets a company car, a C-Class Mercedes, for the trips. He and Kim share another of their cigarettes and discuss how Jimmy’s considering buying property between the two cities.
Maybe in Corrales. And with an open floor plans so that walls don’t mess up his chi. Kim thinks he needs to get horses but starts using “we” instead of “you” and now it’s Jimmy’s turn to balk. Kim saves the moment by giving Jimmy a thermal mug that says “World’s 2nd Best Lawyer,” but it symbolically doesn’t fit into the cup holder on his new Mercedes.
I wonder what this means.
Meanwhile, Chuck realizes just how useless he’s become and how well Jimmy’s doing without him, so, of course, he decides he has to go down to the office and sit in on one of the Sandpiper meetings, forcing everyone to give up their phones and fobs because Chuck still sucks.
Jimmy confronts him on why he has to piss all over Jimmy all the time, but Chuck snoots that he’s there to “bear witness.” I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but I seriously still hate Chuck. At that moment, when Chuck has broken down Jimmy’s defensive, Mike calls with a job for him if he’s still “morally flexible.” Jimmy just asks “Where and when?” Oh, Jimmy.
Turns out Mike’s still working with that nerdy drug dealer, “Price,” who’s since leased a garish yellow Hummer with spinning rims and a vanity plate that says “Playuh.” Mike doesn’t want the money enough to ride in that blinking “drug dealer” mobile, so when “Price” says he’s not going to listen to Mike anymore, they do it his way or not at all, Mike walks away.
I don’t THINK so.
Unfortunately, “Price” still goes to the meet and when Nacho sees him alone, he quickly and easily manipulates “Price” into letting him sit in the Hummer to get a feel for it, but instead lifts “Price’s” address and steals his drugs, cash and … baseball card collection. Okay. Sure.
“Price” calls the cops but is an incompetent criminal so when he starts talking they quickly suss out, by the fact that there’s a nice, clear spot of carpet in front of the sofa, that there’s a hidey hole behind it where he kept the drugs.
Luckily, Mike’s working when “Price” rolls up in his pimp mobile and pulls him aside to lay down some truth before he goes inside and confesses everything to the cops and gets them all arrested. Turns out “Price” doesn’t really care about the money or drugs, he just wants his cards back because some of them are his father’s. Mike promises to get the cards back, but makes sure that “Price” doesn’t confuse it with generosity. It’s going to cost him.
Mike knows immediately where the cards are, so he heads down to Nacho’s father’s upholstery shop, where Nacho works, pretending he wants to reupholster his beater. Mike and Nacho pretend they don’t know each other while Nacho’s sweet father is there, but when an alarm conveniently goes off, Nacho’s dad leave them alone, with the warning not to upsell Mike. Oh, Nacho’s father.
Anyway, Mike tells Nacho that he wants the cards back. Nacho gets all mas macho que todo, thinking Mike’s threatening his family but Mike’s not like that. If Nacho doesn’t play, he’s going to tell Tuco about Nacho’s side gig. Nacho tries to play tough, but he watched Tuco gleefully break the skater bros legs, so he agrees to Mike’s plan and returns the cards in exchange for the Hummer.
Pwned by the old dude.
Which leads us back to Mike calling Jimmy. He needs Jimmy to act as “Price’s” lawyer when he heads down to the police station to drop the charges, but really to be there to make sure he doesn’t say anything stupid, which is a very real possibility. “Price” handles himself fairly well, but starts cracking when the cops just want to understand how he got the cards back. This prompts Jimmy to step in and ask “Price” to give him some time alone with the police.
Jimmy proceeds to spin a tale about how the hidey hole wasn’t hiding drugs. Nonononono. It was hiding “Price’s” “art” that he made for his “art patron” who liked a very specific type of “art.” Digital. Not porn. Fetish. Sploshing. Jimmy weaves a tale about how “Price” is a “squatcobbler.” The cops don’t know what he’s talking about so Jimmy uses several more euphemisms: Hoboken Squatcobbler, Full Moon Moonpie, Boston Cream Splat, Simple Simon the Ass Man, Dutch Apple Ass. Take a moment to think what it must be like to work in that writers’ room. I missed my calling.
Anyway, Jimmy finishes up that Price does “Crybaby squats” and that’s all it was. The cops are gobsmacked, but Jimmy points out the world is a rich tapestry. You just don’t want to see most of it. “Price” is thrilled that he’s not in trouble, but they’re not done. He’s going to have to make a video. Crying. While sitting, and squishing, in a pie. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
That face is why no one likes lawyers.
Later that night, flush with his success in getting a client off and reaping the rewards of his good work, four bakery fresh pies, Jimmy heads back to his D&M provided apartment to enjoy some good banana cream pie with Kim. She’s impressed with Jimmy’s ability to weave a tale out of thin air, and he credits the muse. He’s just the vessel.
Life doesn’t get any better than that for Jimmy, and ethics were never his strong point, so he admits that while the story was great, he still needed “Price” to make a video. Kim’s mood darkens and Jimmy assumes it’s because she thinks she’s eating ass pie, but no. That’s not it. Jimmy fabricated evidence. She thinks it’s a big deal but Jimmy’s all “Nah. I was off the clock.” They go back and forth a couple of times where Kim tries to get it into Jimmy’s head that he’s risking his job with D&M, and possible disbarment, by taking these jobs, while Jimmy thinks it’s all jake since he’s doing it on his own time.
Realizing that maybe Chuck was on to something by thwarting Jimmy’s attempts to be a lawyer Kim says she cannot hear about these kinds of activities ever again, because her ethics aren’t as flexible as Jimmy’s.
I hate it when Chuck’s right.
So that’s it. We’re back and firing on all cylinders already. I really love this show, and am glad to see Nacho featuring more prominently already this season. Clearly, Jimmy’s well on his way to becoming Saul, but he’s not there, yet. I expect things will end tragically between him and Kim, Chuck will somehow screw Jimmy over, again, because he sucks, and somehow Howard’s becoming sympathetic.
Sorry it was so brief. I really wanted to dive more deeply into the episodes, but Geek Squad had other ideas. I promise to be more timely starting this week, though. Barring further technological disasters.
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