*Spoilers Ahead*
This week, after focusing mainly on Jimmy’s new job at Davis & Main the past few episodes, Mike takes the main stage and he’s found himself in a very interesting predicament.
Nacho has hired him to “take care” of someone and that someone just happens to be his partner in the drug game, Tuco. Nacho fears that Tuco will find out about his dealing on the side and as any Breaking Bad fan knows, Tuco doesn’t take kindly to any perceived betrayal. So, Mike is tasked with assassinating him and he reluctantly takes the job but it isn’t long before he starts thinking of ways around killing him. Mike’s ultimate plan, which involves getting beat up by Tuco until the cops come to arrest him. Seems very much like something he famously warned Walter White against years later, a half measure.
At first, it seems as if Mike is just being his practical self and making sure that neither he or Nacho have any undue stress put on them in the future and while it could certainly come across that way, even Nacho seems confused at why Mike chose this option over outright killing Tuco. Mike got half the pay for a huge beating and the promise of Tuco looking for him once he gets out of jail. Mike doesn’t choose to fill Nacho in on why he went this route but given his reluctance to accept these higher paying jobs last week it’s becoming clear that Mike is on a path of his own, one similar to Jimmy’s.
Speaking of Jimmy, this week mostly finds him attempting to clean up the mess he’s caused with his commercial. He gets chewed out by the partners at Davis & Main who are less impressed with the results the commercial got and more angered that he cut them out of the process and he ends up getting Kim demoted when she tells Hamlin that she knew of the commercial.
Looking to make things right, Jimmy heads to Chuck’s to tell him that Kim didn’t deserve to be punished for his mistake. Instead, he finds his brother having an episode on his couch and comforts him, staying up through the night to make sure he’s okay. Even with all that’s gone on between them the two brothers still care for one another, still that care goes to the wayside once it’s time to get down to business. Jimmy throws every offer he can think of to get Chuck to reinstate Kim, right down to him quitting law entirely. Eventually, it becomes less about Kim and more about Jimmy wanting to prove that Chuck is a hypocrite by trying to get him to accept that deal. Chuck doesn’t need to accept it though as he’s confident Jimmy will disgrace himself eventually.
Better Call Saul has managed to create an antagonist, in Chuck, who the audience can root against while also completely understanding his point of view. Chuck believes firmly in the law and he knows his brother only has a passing interest in it. Jimmy got into law because, in the end, it was just another way to scam people, namely the people on the other side of the court room but now that’s he tried to play by the rules he’s found himself in a place that he doesn’t want to be.
As I said above, Mike and Jimmy are on similar paths currently. They’re men desperately trying to do the right things even as they know that it won’t last. Mike will eventually have to kill someone if he wants the higher pay and Jimmy will eventually bend the rules again to get ahead. It’s in those moments that their stories will finally intersect and that intersection might just be the turning point of this whole season.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- Nice to see Krazy-8 in the scene with Tuco as well as seeing the weapon’s dealer again.
- It seems like Tuco was written out this week but if I could throw out an insane theory, perhaps he’ll request some help from a lawyer he remembers almost murdering?
- It’s still unsettling to see Ed Begley Jr. so pissed off.
- “Can he talk while you’re drinking a glass of water?”
Jesse Swanson is a would-be writer, podcaster and funny guy who covers TV shows of all shapes and sizes. You can find him on Twitter @JesseSwanson