[rating=8.00] “Slip”
Better Call Saul has always set itself apart from its parent series by relishing in the quiet moments. Where Breaking Bad drew you in with the promise of the extreme. It was a show that began with violence, and it kept that promise throughout its run. Its spinoff, however, pulls the same level of intensity out of seemingly thin air.
It’s why an episode like last night’s can feel so tense while so little is moved forward. Realistically, we’re not that much farther along in the overall story than we were two weeks ago. Nacho is still engaging his surreptitious war against Don Hector; Kim is still figuring out her place in the world; Jimmy is still bored. While it may seem like so much water treading, the human drama is being emphasized like never before.
Interestingly, the one character who’s moving along more than any other is Chuck. He’s made some gains since last we met him, coming to terms with the fact that his disorder is more mental than physical, despite how real it feels to him. He’s been such an asshole to Jimmy over the years that it was hard to feel too good for him as he made his way through the grocery store, yet he does seem to be turning a corner.
Of course, with the news regarding his malpractice insurance coming up, who knows how he’ll react. His mind state is exceedingly fragile right now, and any bad news can put him right over the edge. Howard seemed none too pleased to be delivering the news to Chuck last night, though the result is tantalizingly left for later, leaving us hanging and wondering what’s to come.
It’s just the latest frustration for Howard, whose anger at Kim is starting to bubble over into full froth. One of the best scenes last night came as both Kim and Howard made subtle power plays against each other while both were at meals with their respective clients. “Kim, sit, I insist,” is one of the most infuriating fuck yous I have ever seen. It’s one she immediately gets to turn around him, however, with more power, as she drops a check for nearly $15,000 into his lap—a return of his “gift” of paying for her college.
He’s left seething and unable to pay attention to his clients, who desperately need his attention in the wake of Chuck’s on the stand breakdown. His only power left is to rip up the check, as if to say that he still holds some power over Kim. He made her. He can break her. As Kim reminds him, however, she’s out from under his thumb. And furthermore, if his clients need their hands held while he undoes the damage caused by his failure to disclose Chuck’s condition, well, that’s on him.
One can only imagine the effects of this brewing cold war between the two. With neither side present during the events of Breaking Bad, something has to be done to push them out of the picture. Could they engage in a war of mutually assured destruction? Neither side seems entirely willing to just let the other go at this point, and a protracted campaign could be enough to ruin both parties.
We don’t need to imagine how far Jimmy will slip without Kim’s tempering influence; we’ve already seen what eventually becomes of him. What’s interesting is how far he’s willing to slip even with her in his life. Without his legal career to occupy his time and mind, Jimmy is quickly backsliding into his Slippin’ Jimmy ways. We literally saw him live up to his namesake last night, though admittedly somewhat begrudgingly.
But if Breaking Bad taught us anything, it’s that it’s a lot easier to bend the rules after you’ve already bent them. With a year on his probation period, there’s more than enough time for Jimmy to return to his old ways, which seems more and more likely with every episode. How will this affect his relationship with Kim? She bet a lot on Jimmy, and it’s heartbreaking to know that she threw down for the wrong horse. Will Jimmy’s actions bring her down as well?
(Of course, to speculate, it would be almost more heartbreaking to find out she never left. I can envision a scene, in the last season, that shows Gene sadly drinking a glass of scotch alone on the couch, sighing, and then Kim, whatever she might call herself in a post-relocation scenario, comes to sit down with him, revealing that she was there, lurking behind the scenes of Breaking Bad. Likely? No. After all, we never see her in the vacuum repair shop. Still, with so much yet revealed, it’s tantalizing to think about. Perhaps, after all Saul went through, they’ll give him some semblance of a happy ending when all is said and done, even one cloaked in tragedy and failure.)
Elsewhere, Nacho’s story last night had one of the tensest scenes in recent memory, as he finally made the medicinal switch that will bring down Don Hector. Even knowing the eventual outcome of Nacho’s subterfuge was not enough to disarm the intensity of the moment. One wrong move and Nacho is done for. And in this case, even success is no guarantee of safety for Nacho.
Like Kim and Howard, his absence from Breaking Bad is disconcerting. We know he succeeds, at least partially. But how long will his success last? Will he even get the chance to bask in it after Hector’s debilitating stroke? As Mike warned previously, if Nacho is unsuccessful in replacing the medicine he stole from Hector, it’s only a matter of time before the cartel comes for revenge.
Ultimately, it’s the pieces we don’t know that make Better Call Saul so compelling. Even the outcome is obscured and what we think we know may not end up being the ultimate outcome. Like Saul always implied, truth is whatever is believed and reality can be distorted. With only two episodes left until this season’s finale, there’s no telling how far the truth will come.
