Mike believes Jimmy’s theory because to him it makes sense: Prompted by Jimmy’s cryptic warning, the Kettlmans made their disappearance look like a kidnapping. The crux of “Nacho” is a brief scene between Mike and Jimmy in the stairwell of the courthouse. Once again, he survives on the strength of his only weapon: his mouth. In any case, Mike doesn’t follow through primarily because he believes Jimmy’s theory that the Kettlemans haven’t been kidnapped or murdered but have voluntarily disappeared - an instance where we see Jimmy’s survivalist impulse to bullshit people elevated to the level of real probability. A stretch, but it brings the two characters a little closer together. In a show populated by some gratingly uptempo characters - Jimmy, the Skater Twins, Tuco - it feels good to be in the presence of someone who doesn’t seem like he’s going to catch on fire every time he opens his mouth.) Enter Mike Ehrmantrout, called in by local law at the courthouse to, well - the implication is that Mike is going to muscle answers out of Jimmy, fueled by some residual anger over their weird parking-garage feud. (Let me pause here to say that I like Nacho. Whether he named Jimmy as his counsel or whether they just found Jimmy’s matchbook in Nacho’s pants pocket is unclear what we do know is that Jimmy is hunted down for an answer. Walter White chose Heisenberg Jimmy is on track to becoming Saul whether he realizes it or not.īack to Albuquerque, where we find out that Tuco’s associate - who we learn is named Nacho - has been detained for the Kettlemans’ disappearance. Given how deep we know Jimmy’s cynicism runs in the future, it’s an interesting setup: His future as Saul suddenly seems to be only part-choice, with plenty of accident and circumstance thrown in. Basically, we see him becoming a criminal by trying to make an irrevocably wrong situation right. We see him warning the Kettlemans of imminent danger from a pay phone we see him outside the Kettlemans’ house, talking with Kim and the guy with the most aggressively styled bangs from the slick law firm about the Kettlemans’ subsequent disappearance we see him calling Tuco’s associate from a pay phone, begging to know where the Kettlemans have gone.
#BETTER CALL SAUL SEASON 1 3 RECAP SERIES#
What ensues is basically a series of scenelets in which Jimmy’s ethical mettle is tested. It’s the least consequential lie he tells all episode. Jimmy tells her - and let’s call her by her name, which we find out is Kim-that the Kettlemans, the family targeted for that embezzlement charge, are in danger. Jimmy obviously knows her and she knows him they talk with the amused skepticism of ex-lovers. One of the episode’s most intimate scenes - and really, one of the most intimate moments we’ve ever had with Jimmy or Saul or whatever we want to call him now - comes early, in the nail salon, in the middle of the night, on the phone with a woman from the slick law firm referenced in episode one. Two recaps ago, I suggested that the show’s challenge would be turning a cardboard cutout into a human being. Apparently Jimmy has not only gotten into some proverbial shit, but that shit has led him all the way from small-town Illinois to Albuquerque, a town Jimmy only knows as (1) Impossible to spell, and (2) Where Bugs Bunny should’ve taken a left turn. Here, we start with the past: Jimmy McGill, younger, swaggering, visibly long hair, led out of a jail cell in shackles to the counsel of Brother Chuck. From a writer’s perspective, the device is understandably alluring: What else could hook a viewer so immediately as getting a glimpse into where a character once was, or where they will ultimately end up? ever break their addiction to the flash-forward and flashback? Barely an episode of Breaking Bad - and now its spinoff - started out anywhere other than the future or the past. Saul and Kim discuss some things we still don’t understand.