March 20, 2023

Gabbing Geek

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Better Call Saul “Sabrosito”

Season Three, Episode Four.

What I found here was another excellent all-around episode, but it had very little to do with Jimmy McGill directly.  Sure, Jimmy is there, and he has a lot going on, but what makes this episode what it is is that it is very much about the supporting cast.

If anything, this episode exists to further showcase the characters of Mike, Kim, and newcomer (for this series) Gus Fring.  Gus’s rivalry with Hector is expanded a bit, but he also gets to show more of his other face.  Breaking Bad often just showed the cold, business-side to Gus.  Every so often, the face he showed to other people would come out, but it was mostly the emotionless scary Gus that appeared on the show.  This episode actually shows more of Gus interacting with outsiders in the form of his employees at Los Pollos Hermanos and to a lesser extent the fire department than it does with the various criminal elements that are his real source of income.  If anything, Hector interacts more with the big boss and Gus’s assistant manager than it does with Gus himself.

That chameleon aspect of Gus was the sort that was only really hinted at before and rarely shown.  Seeing more of it, it may actually make Gus more frightening because he manages to hide who and what he is so effortlessly.  No wonder Mike might consider working for the guy.

Consider by contrast what happens when Mike works with or for Jimmy.  Yes, Mike will do a job for Jimmy.  He owes him one.  He’ll go do a surveillance job at Chuck’s while disguised as a handyman.   But he doesn’t want to make conversation with Jimmy afterwards, even to comment on whether or not Chuck is a dick.

Look, I know Chuck is a dick, but he is in many of the same ways Jimmy is.

I’m mostly, with Mike, trying to figure out whether he finds Jimmy contemptible or not.  Like, to Mike, it could be just a business relationship, and he really doesn’t much care for Jimmy McGill, or he may just not care one way or the other.  He just knows he has one guy he can more or less work with to get things done, especially if he needs a shady lawyer.

As for Kim, Kim mostly is there as Jimmy’s confession is handled by the DA, shows Chuck being pedantic in many ways, but he’s petty enough that it doesn’t take much effort from Kim to find out he has another tape somewhere of Jimmy’s confession.  That was obviously all according to plan.  But yeah, I think I know which member of the firm I would want representing me in court.  If they were real.  And I was in trouble in New Mexico.

Truthfully, this episode felt more like a set-up to whatever is coming next.  Gus is making plans.  Jimmy and Kim are making plans.  I’d almost feel bad for Chuck if he wasn’t at least a little right about what kind of man Jimmy McGill is.

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