Saul Gets the Job Done

Kim and Jimmy each did their separate things to save Huell in Monday's new Better Call Saul, resulting in an entertaining if somewhat implausible episode. Nacho's story continues to have nothing worth mentioning while Mike's was almost interesting. But, as usual, Saul is the reason for watching.

Spoilers after the screenshot

At what must be some considerable expense, Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) buys a bunch of greeting cards, goes to Louisiana to ride around Huell's home town, and pays people on the bus to write heartfelt messages. Then he sets up a bunch of drop phones, brings in the student film crew, and sets up a phoney community web site for Huell. And miraculously it all works and fools the D.A.

Meanwhile, Kim (Rhea Seehorn) works her more credible magic, intimidating the D.A. with a group of assistants. Jimmy politely downplays his role but Kim knows its because of his shenanigans justice was served for Huell. And in a satisfying if somewhat cliche dramatic turn, the experience belays and reverses her drift away from him and we get one of those dramatic, sudden kisses, the kind I don't think we'll be seeing guys give on television again for a very long time.

Was it justice for Huell that turned Kim on, though? The danger? Or just the cool efficacy of it all? The episode ends with her surprising Jimmy by telling him she wants to do something like this again; I suspect it has something to do with the idea she shot down at the Mesa Verde conference in an earlier scene. This isn't completely out of the blue--obviously Kim has diverged a great deal from Jimmy at this point but there was a time when she played along with some minor cons at the beginning of season 2. Now she's in a much more respectable position so maybe the desire to rebel is even stronger.

At bottom, I think Kim is tempted by the idea of getting things done faster and better than anyone else, even if it means taking risks. That could be the ultimate lesson from her car accident.

In standard plot trajectory, if you're going to break up two characters, you make them seem to suddenly get fabulously back together first. So here's what I think's going to happen in the last two episodes, between some Mike and Nacho padding: Jimmy's going to try some kind of scheme to help with the Mesa Verde thing; it fails spectacularly; Kim takes all the blame so Jimmy can safely get his law licence back but then she walks away from him. She'll say something about how he's her addiction or he enables some addiction of hers--for reckless efficacy--and how, for her own mental health, she has to stay away from him. This finally turns Jimmy into Saul because the loss of Kim makes him decide there's no reason to hold onto his soul anymore.

I'm not sure if I want to be right nor not. We'll see.