It's hard to believe that
already a year has gone by since the premiere of season 1 of Better
Call Saul. Season 2 opens with a reminder of where Saul (Bob
Odenkirk) ended up after escaping the carnage wrought by Walter
White; working at a Cinnabon cafe in Omaha. The episode opens with
some tropes we've come to expect from Vince Gilligan; extreme
close-ups, ironic soundtrack, and a dreary disillusionment with
modern society. At the end of another long day, Saul gets locked in
the dumpster area, where the only way out is an alarmed fire escape.
His dilemma in the opening scene reflects the deeper one he faces in
Albuquerque; should he wait around for someone to get him out (or
offer him a job), or should he plough ahead and take a risk (in this
case, getting arrested or fired)?
The episode then cuts
back to where Saul (still going by Jimmy McGill) was at the end of
Season 1; turning his back on the legal profession to live out a life
of directionless hedonism. Jimmy's forced to question every choice
he's made since coming to Albuquerque; if all his efforts to become a
lawyer have been to win his brother's approval, why should he bother
when Chuck has no faith in him anyway? The possibility of redemption
arrives in the form of Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), the one person who
still refuses to let Jimmy throw his life away. As Kim tries to talk
Jimmy into taking up the offer to work at Davis & Main, Jimmy
rebuffs her with his own philosophy. Both arguments make sense given
the characters' situation, and the episode toys with the audience's
expectations about which way Jimmy will go in the end.
The scene leads to a
lengthy sequence where Jimmy and Kim con an obnoxious stockbroker
(Kyle Bornheimer) into treating them to dinner, in exchange for
spinning him a yarn about their long-lost wealthy uncle. The script
wisely doesn't tell us why Jimmy approaches him in the first place,
or what his angle is when he plays up the role of a dupe. It's only
when Jimmy and Kim run out on the check that Jimmy's motivations are
made clear to us, and to Kim: scamming people is fun, and when life
doesn't reward you for your hard work, why not have
a little fun? This scene plays out like a lawyer's patter, with
snappy dialogue and exuberant performances to lull the viewer in, not
getting to the point until the very end. The closest analogue I could
think of from last season was Jimmy's meltdown at the retirement
home, where an innocent game of bingo turns into a truly unpleasant
sob story. It's a form of storytelling that Gilligan clearly enjoys,
and it's used to excellent effect here.
We also see it in the
episode's other plot. Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) is
unimpressed with the decisions made by his “boss”, Daniel Warmolt
(Mark Proksch), and, in a most characteristic way, calmly walks away
when he knows it's not worth his time. Warmolt had only a small role
last year, but there are hints that he could become more central
here. I certainly hope so, as this is a character with a lot of
mileage – with his luminous runners and outrageous compensatory
Hummer, one could read him as a more comical Walter White (if we didn't already have one). His Fargo-esque accent underlines how much
of an outsider he is in sunbaked New Mexico. Endearingly, Warmolt
lacks the most basic understanding of how to be a successful
criminal, like not to call the cops when you've clearly got a dark
secret in your home.
Tuco's lieutenant, Nacho
(Michael Mando) also returns, still as menacing as ever.
Interestingly, it's periphary characters like these that are
currently driving the plot, as Jimmy, Kim and Mike don't really do
much this week. Not that I'm complaining. The season's only just
beginning and it's already itching to go places, throwing all manner
of questions at us.
How does Jimmy go from a
respectable lawfirm to a strip mall? What does Warmolt have behind
his wall? Why wasn't Jimmy supposed to turn off that switch?
Answers to all these and
more coming soon!
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