So another week, another late recap, but at least this time it’s just for one episode! PROGRESS! Anyway, previously on Better Call Saul, after one last Slippin’ Jimmy moment, regular Jimmy decided to take Kim’s advice and go to Santa Fe to work on a fauxdobe soundstage that even Oliver Stone would think was too obvious.
Life was good for Jimmy as he worked for a big firm that actually respected him, was playing footsie with Kim at meetings, got a Mercedes as a company car and, best of all, got to rub it all in Chuck’s smug face. Not that Chuck gave an inch. He still had to find a way to be a dick. Because he’s Chuck and that’s what he does.
Meanwhile, over with Mike, his police training makes him the smartest criminal in Albuquerque, not that his idiot cohort, “Price” understood why. But this is America and ignorance never stopped anyone from taking wise advice because they thought they were sooooo smart, and “Price” went to a meet with Nacho, alone, setting off a series of events that could have gotten them all arrested, but thanks to Mike’s quick thinking, and Jimmy’s lax ethics, ended with Price avoiding prison by sitting in some pies while crying.
This week opens with one of Vince Gilligan’s trademark cinematic opens, this time in a sundrenched stretch of highway in Amarillo to the twangy tones of “Waltz Across Texas.”
Seriously, look at those images. And I suck at getting screenshots. I love how BCS will set the tone for the episode, or even a pivotal scene, by playing with the traditional format and giving us more artful but off-kilter establishing shots to pull you into the scene.
But Jimmy’s not in Amarillo to wear his Matlock suit with an armadillo bolo tie and cowboy hat, although many thanks to Jennifer Bryan for putting Bob Odenkirk in that outfit, he’s there to get a covert meeting with potential client, Alma Mae Urbano, while she and a bunch of other seniors from her Sandpiper facility are on a bus on their way to Birdie’s for dinner. Of course, Jimmy paid off the driver because what else would Jimmy do?
He gets on the bus and starts charming Alma Mae, and the others, immediately. Old people really do love, Jimmy and I have a theory why that I’ll share shortly. Anyway, first he charms Alma Mae, then the rest of the seniors start listening in, then he’s making his pitch, ostensibly to Alma Mae, but hey, if everyone can hear him, is that wrong? By the time they reach Birdie’s, everyone’s signed on to become part of the Sandpiper class action suit.
Jimmy’s the Early Bird Special
So of course, at the next Sandpiper meeting at HHM, when Cliff praises Jimmy’s good work, Chuck has to take a big, steaming dump on Jimmy “wondering” how he got all those clients from just one response to their direct mailer, since Schweikart & Cokely would jump all over them if Jimmy solicited the business. Jimmy fudges the truth and says he didn’t go door to door asking for their business, but Kim knows when Jimmy’s tap-dancing and denies him when he tries to play footsie with her.
As with all men since the beginning of time, realizing that he might not get some play later that evening, Jimmy comes partly clean and says he’ll look into new ways to get signatories, giving Chuck the pathetic, little win he needs because, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it recently but CHUCK SUCKS!
Still, the damage is done, and Kim’s antsy about Jimmy taking short cuts and compromising his ethics. But her concern is more personally motivated. She went to bat for Jimmy and really sold him to Howard who sold him to Davis & Main. HHM and her job are riding on Jimmy. He takes it as her having no faith in him so she “threw him a bone” but Kim gives him a “Buck up, little camper,” speech about how he can do this job. He just has to do it the right way.
I’ve made a horrible mistake.
Okay, so here are my thoughts on why “old people love Jimmy.” Yes, he’s a con man, and yes, his ethics are questionable, but he believes that he’s doing good work on behalf of them. To him, if he has to skirt some ABA ethics to get more clients restitution, he’s good with that. He speaks to them on their level and in their language. Sure, it’s to get himself more clients, but he’s doesn’t see himself as better than them, he’s there to represent them. Not just serve himself. So it’s less that they love him as much as they trust him. That he’s working for them.
With all the Teutonic lawyers, they see their jobs, and their clients, much differently. Chuck thinks the law is “sacred” so to him it’s more important that the law be preserved. The clients are secondary to him. He does flashy good work because he sees himself as a hero. Clifford Main is all about his reputation and making sure the firm is always well represented. He likes being a “pillar of the community.” If that means leaving most of the exploited seniors out in the cold, so be it. They’re not really people to him.
Howard is the least objectionable as he’s in it for the nice suits and comfortable living. It’s likely his father’s firm that he took over in his father’s retirement, and brought in big deal Chuck McGill to expand their influence. He’ll compromise on some things to keep Chuck happy, and makes sure he has plausible deniability for others, but he’s actually the most fair of the three.
Kim, for her part, straddles both worlds. She came from Jimmy’s but took a much more traditional route to get into a more comfortable place in life. She’s attracted to Jimmy’s “act first, apologize later” attitude, but she’s too scared to lose what she has to live it.
Are these guys supposed to look like an Aryan Brotherhood
recruitment poster?
With the meeting over, Jimmy heads back to Santa Fe to review how poorly the mailer is working for them. When Omar shares the bad news that of the over 200 mailers sent to Colorado Springs none were returned, Jimmy quickly susses out that Sandpiper’s corporate office issued a directive for the staff not to deliver the letters. Because Jimmy knows a shady con when he sees one.
Jimmy has the bright idea to run an ad in Colorado Springs during the first commercial break of “Murder, She Wrote.” All Sandpiper facilities operate the same way, and the seniors are always gathered in the lounge area to watch “Murder, She Wrote,” because seniors also love Jessica Fletcher, so they’ll be a captive audience but they won’t be personally solicited. Cliff’s open to the idea, since D&M ran an ad in the past, but explicitly says they need to talk about it the next week.
This send Jimmy back to his AV friends from UNM who are even more sullen and dopey than the last time he hired them. Jimmy explains his vision for the commercial, but “Camera Guy” keeps pulling the rug out from under him, telling him dolly shots cost extra and scoffing at the idea that anyone will watch a b/w commercial of an old lady in a rocking chair. Jimmy wonders, aloud, if anyone actually likes him, but, luckily, their moment is broken as Hummel Granny comes riding down her stair chair all dolled up for the commercial.
Alpine Shepherd Granny
Jimmy and Kim are settling into a comfortable routine discussing all the weird, impersonal details in his D&M provided corporate housing, when he shows her the ad. It’s actually pretty good. It’s shot over Hummel Granny’s shoulder as she rocks in her chair, her voice over explaining how sad and lonely she’s become since she’s been left, all alone, at Sandpiper. Jimmy voices over the deets about calling D&M if they think they’ve been exploited and it ends with a big, close-up of the D&M logo and phone number. I’m sure that won’t cause any problems.
Kim’s thrilled for Jimmy that he’s found a completely ABA approved way to get clients, and is proud of him for being able to both make such a good ad on such a small budget and for getting Cliff to agree to run it. Oops. Jimmy just pretends for Kim that he did.
But he actually does try to get permission. He sees that tape sitting on his desk and wants to show it to Cliff before running it, but realizing Cliff could actually say no, Jimmy decides that it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission and buys the ad in Colorado Springs on his own.
That’s not a good look.
Jimmy’s anxious on the day the ad runs and reviews with Omar how they’ll handle the calls. All calls that start with “77” have been routed to the assistants’ desks. They’ll cycle through the assistants so none of the seniors have to leave voice mails. Everyone will speak with a live person. Jimmy’s satisfied with that answer and checks the time. 3:15. The ad’s running so he goes back to his office, staring impatiently at the phone. In a nice callback to last season, he even does his magic fingers to make the phone ring, but it doesn’t. At first. Then slowly the calls start to come in until finally the entire switchboard is lit up. SUCCESS!
Later that evening, Kim’s back at Jimmy’s to Netflix and chill, only they’re actually watching a movie, and Netflix was a mail-only model in 2002. They’re watching “Ice Station Zebra” while Jimmy teases Kim about the movie, and Rock Hudson, and what is her fascination with movies about men trapped on the North Pole. In another great callback to last season, Kim points out that only “Ice Station Zebra” is set in the North Pole. “The Thing,” the movie she asks Jimmy to in the first season, is set in the South Pole. Totes different. And, besides, “Ice Station Zebra” is her father’s favorite.
As Jimmy’s happiness can only ever be short-lived, Cliff calls to break up their cuddles. Turns out that, despite him seeming on board with the idea of the ad, he really wasn’t and is PISSED that Jimmy ran it on his own. Jimmy tries to defend himself that first, Cliff told him client outreach was his department second, it only ran once on only one station in only one market, and third, they got over 200 calls from running just one ad, but Cliff is more concerned that D&M’s logo was in the ad. What? Way to have your priorities fucked. He tells Jimmy that they’re going to discuss this the next day and hangs up. Damn. Jimmy’s working for CHUCK!
So cute. Too bad it doesn’t even make it to the end of the episode.
Jimmy rejoins Kim on the couch to finish watching the movie but keeps up the ruse that Cliff was pleased with his effort. Kim calls Jimmy the “golden boy,” and cuddles a little closer. Man, that’s not going to be pretty when she finds out the truth.
But enough about Jimmy and Kim, let’s move on to the true OTP of Better Call Saul, Mike and Nacho, or as I will now refer to them, Macho.
Mike’s settled into a level of comfort where he takes low-level thug gigs from the crooked vet so he can help Stacey and Kaylee. He’s a good grandpa and fixes Kaylee’s toy bunny, but notices something’s wrong with Stacey. She’s twitchy and snappish with Mike. Turns out she hasn’t been sleeping well because she’s been hearing gun shots every night for the last few nights.
So adorable for a dirty ex-cop.
At first she thought it was firecrackers, but it’s gotten progressively closer until she was certain the night before that it was three gun shots. She called the cops, but they took an hour to get there, and they only stayed for a couple of minutes, but she knows what she heard. Mike goes into protective mode, and wants to stay with them to make sure they’re safe, but Stacey says no. She only told Mike because he asked.
Of course, he’s Mike so he doesn’t listen to Stacey, but stakes out the house from across the street because he doesn’t want her to know. He’s got his transistor radio and pimento sandwich to get him through the evening, but it’s all quiet. At some point, a station wagon starts creeping down the street and Mike gets his back up, but it’s just the paper delivery. By dawn, Mike realizes Stacey and Kaylee are safe, so he heads off to work.
As soon as he settles in, though, he gets a panicked call from Stacey. He rushes over, and she shows him a chip in the side of the house. She swears that she heard the gun shots, three of them like every other night. Mike asks her what time this was, and she says 2:13 am. Mike tries to gently suggest that maybe she just dreamed it, but Stacey gets angry, telling Mike she was there, he wasn’t, and she knows what she heard.
It doesn’t take Mike long to realize that Stacey’s having PTSD flashbacks to when Matty was killed, and vows to get them out of that neighborhood, hoping it will bring some stability. He goes to the sketchy vet, hoping to get more work so he can move Stacey and Kaylee, but Mike has some boundaries he doesn’t want to cross, so all he can get is low-paying bodyguard and loan shark thug gigs. Mike gives in and takes the bodyguard gig because he needs the money.
Seriously, he’s a sketchy veterinarian.
How is that an actual thing?
Except much later that evening, while Stacey and Kaylee are sleeping soundly in his house, Mike gets another call from the vet. Turns out that he has a big gig for Mike. No details because the guy wouldn’t say what it was, just the pay and it’s huge. Oh, and the guy asked specifically for Mike. Hmm. Wonder who that is?
SQUEE! It’s Nacho. I’d recognize those pointy-toed boots anywhere. He called a meet in an empty warehouse in the middle of nowhere, which is probably 95% of New Mexico (sorry ‘bout it). He has a problem that he thinks Mike can help him with. Mike wonders if this problem is a “what” or a “who.” It’s a who and Nacho needs to make him disappear. Gulp.
Could you say no to that face?
So that’s it. That’s how the episode ended. But we’re getting into the second act of the season, so I fully expect a lot of scary action next week.
But what did you think? I know I’m really late, but if you’re reading this, let me know what your theories are for this season.
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