By JASON MARTIN (August 20, 2018)

If there was one truthful statement about Breaking Bad, it was that we all eventually felt lasting sympathy for and a rooting interest in Jesse Pinkman. Despite the shady past, he represented the redemption story in a series full of people that turned out to be nothing like what was initially advertised. From Hank Schrader, who we assumed we’d hate and grew to love and respect, to Skylar White, who lost all the adoration she might have originally had to a degree Anna Gunn herself felt the vitriol from fans…simply for playing the role.

Last week, I compared Jesse to Nacho, who similarly to Aaron Paul, has been played extremely well by Michael Mando. And this week, if you hadn’t felt for the character before, you assuredly do now. He was THIS close to being out of the life and pleasing his father in the process, and now he’s completely under Gustavo Fring’s thumb. His colleague, Colon, was murdered, and now he has to help in the cover-up, which doesn’t just include cleaning off the blood or merely staging a fake ambush.

Instead, Nacho had to endure two gunshot wounds, the second of which to the stomach. It may have pierced the bowel and could lead to a fatal infection. He was saved by a veterinarian fixer, who as usual is played by Joe DeRosa. He’s been good each time he’s been used, and here he’s used both for Nacho as well as to find the right guy for Jimmy’s scheme. He’s a stand-up comedian in real life, which is another casting tactic Gilligan has used in the past.

All of Nacho’s new responsibilities and injuries had to be done to satisfy Gus that his organization wouldn’t be tagged with the death of Colon. It couldn’t lead back to them, and so it was reenacted to look as much like the attack on Don Hector’s truck as possible.

Before leaving the Breaking Bad portion of the recap, we’ve got to talk about the return of Albuquerque’s most eccentric chemist. Not Walter White. That may come, but probably not until the final ten minutes of the entire series. But, Better Call Saul reintroduced us to Gale Boetticher, who we met as he was tasked to assist Walter in his meth production for Gus. David Costabile is always good, in everything, and seeing Gale was great. Remember, it was Gale raving about the purity of White’s meth that led to Gus hiring him.

What did we see Gale doing? He’s doing tests on the purity of a selection of samples, and then suggesting to Fring he could easily do better than what he tested. That’s undoubtedly true, and we know Walter White can do it better than he can, and that brings us to key points in Vince Gilligan’s original series. Watching Boetticher’s role going forward will be quite instructive, especially as it helps inform upon how closely the two stories are and how near we are to the two lines crossing one another.

As for Better Call Saul itself, the most interesting content remains the slow descent of Jimmy McGill, but most compelling this week were the emotional shifts and contortions of Kim Wexler. There are a number of stellar acting performances on this show, but right now I’m not sure anyone is doing better work than Rhea Seehorn. Kim is increasingly seeing problems not of execution of morality and purpose in her case, which has led a rich guy to try and expand into federal lands. She isn’t sure just yet, nor are we, what all the potential problems are, but trouble is on the horizon.

Meanwhile, Jimmy really wants his half of the eight grand for his Bavarian figurine scam. Notice Mike Ehrmantraut warned him not to do it. It didn’t sound like a big deal, but despite where Mike ends up and what he ends up doing, there was always an inherent conscience in that character. Here, we see it. “Plan’s fine as far as it goes. It’s just not for me. And I don’t think it should be for you either.” He declines what sounds like an easy payday and even tries to talk McGill out of taking the low road and robbing the copy office.

Jimmy doesn’t listen, because he can’t. We know he can’t. We know where this is headed. It’s a good scheme, even though it leads to a few unexpected obstacles in the form of a marital squabble that leaves the office manager stuck sleeping in his office and ordering pizza in the middle of the night. This show does the concept of caper very well, and we got a miniature version with the car alarm to pull the poor guy out of the place so McGill’s hired help can escape the building after the swap. It was a fun sequence. Jimmy is always looking to get over, and even though he’s good at his legitimate job, whether being an attorney or selling himself to get jobs he then turns down, he still elects to cheat.

And that’s the larger theme of the series. Jimmy McGill’s destruction will come because he takes shortcuts he simply doesn’t need to take. It verges on being a tragicomedy as a character study, and the show as a whole reflects the same dichotomy. The reason Better Call Saul works as well as it does is because Gilligan and Peter Gould both understand beautifully how to marry the serious with the ridiculous. There’s enough levity to balance the anvils falling from the sky. It’s why HBO’s Succession was so good and why you should watch it. Again, it’s the balancing act and how effectively and seamlessly multiple psychological approaches are handled.

Finally, we get to Chuck’s letter, which Jimmy reads as he eats. His brother says very nice things, that he’s proud of Jimmy and thankful the two share the same last name. He talks of Jimmy’s birth and how much joy he brought his mother. He also points out that while at one time, he worried about his brother’s future, he no longer did. “I’m certain you will land on your feet.” He then closes by saying he would always be in Jimmy’s corner. Jimmy doesn’t emotionally react, simply saying Chuck knows how to put together a letter.

Kim then breaks into tears and has to excuse herself from the room. She’s been through a lot, she doesn’t understand Jimmy’s ambivalence and some of his recent actions, her job is causing her excess stress, and she may have been moved by Chuck’s words. When I heard it being read, I started to think she might have actually written a version of her own and burned the original to spare his feelings. I doubt that’s where we go, but I also didn’t anticipate Charles McGill writing the things he did.

Not after hearing him SAY the things he did while he was still alive.

Three episodes this season. Three successful hours of entertainment. The show is great. It’s more a disclaimer than an opinion at this stage. I don’t recall the last episode I didn’t like, but I’m pretty sure it was within the first three or four of the series itself. I am curious to learn more about Kim and her professional scenarios. Eventually, is it possible that Jimmy doesn’t actually run her off, but her job ends up driving her in a direction we aren’t expecting? She’s involved in something with which she’s uncomfortable, and it’s likely she’s right to be wary. She’s pretty smart. And she’s not self-destructive.

That’s Jimmy McGill’s job.

I’m @JMartZone. Five grand? I’ll use it to pay off my MasterCard.