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| Photo: Nicole Wilder/AMC |
After riding the high of pulling one over on the assistant DA in "Coushatta," Kim and Jimmy come crashing down to earth this week, but not before pulling another scam. This one involves a crutch-bound Kim (excuse me, Lizzie) going into a Lubbock courthouse, where she asks the clerk to if she can go over the layout for a branch of Mesa Verde. She weaves in a few lies--namely being the mother of an eight-month old named Aiden who gets by with a little help from her bumbling brother Bill. Bill is of course Jimmy, whose presence leads to a panic when he blithely mentions he left little Aiden out in the car. Kim/Lizzie returns to find the baby formula Bill set down on the counter has spilled all over the Mesa Verde building layout. Shirley decides to cut her a break, allowing her to swap the courthouse copy for the ruined one. As Shirely gives the map an official stamp, Kim smiles at the flawless execution of Lizzie and Bill's scheme. All this subterfuge so Mesa Verde can have a 13 percent bigger bank branch.
Kim is walking a very fine line; fake name aside, she still went to Texas as a legal representative of the company she actually works for, power ponytail and all. Also, while the series is set before our current era of ubiquitous smartphones and eternal Internet receipts, it wouldn't take all that much for Shirley to check Kim's credentials if she later grew suspicious about the whole thing. Not that that's on Kim or Jimmy's mind as the celebrate at a diner. Jimmy's a week out from his reinstatement hearing, and is already planning to rollover his drop phone customers into clients for his criminal law practice. Though when he suggests he and Kim combine their talents to give clients "the Huell Babineaux treatment," she wavers, her hesistance revealing she still has limits.
Jimmy sails through most of his hearing, displaying his knowledge of current constitutional law and apologizing for the events that lead to his suspension. He gets stumped when one committee member asks what the law means to him, but rebounds by telling a bit of his backstory and how he learned to love being lawyer through connecting with the clients. What's brilliant about this scene is how easily it could read as another McGill con job. However Jimmy really is being truthful, right down to when he answers "University of American Somoa. Go land crabs!" when asked what influenced him as a lawyer. Unfortunately, the committee wanted less Somoa and more Chuck, and denies his reinstatement, labeling him insincere. It's a glaring reminder of how much Jimmy has distanced himself from his own emotions. What else could explain how a guy so good at reading the room couldn't see how not mentioning his brother--a legend in Albuquerque's legal community and reason behind his suspension--would be a faux paus.
"I don't think about Chuck. I don't miss Chuck. Chuck was alive and now he's dead and that's that. "Finito. Life goes on, so sue me!" he snaps at Kim, turning on her when he takes her pep talk about making him sound sincere the next go around as an insult. Kim can't hide her look of disbelief at his callousness, which sets him off again as he lays into her for viewing him as a scumbag with whom she'll gladly conspire but with whom she won't share an office. Kim listing the many times she's dropped her life to help pull him out of whatever mess he's gotten himself into is met with more self pity and derision. "Kick a man when he's down," Jimmy spits, but Kim has the last word. "Jimmy you are always down." Oooh, sick burn Ms. Wexler!
What makes the fight so painful to watch is both parties' accusations ring true. Kim does come to down to the gutter with Jimmy when things get boring, able to wipe the grime off once she's had her fun because she isn't saddled with his reputation. Somewhere in the course of their relationship, she labeled Jimmy as a man she could live and sleep with, but not a man she considered her professional equal. Kim is also right that Jimmy is incapable of viewing himself as anything other but an underdog, unable to settle into any form of legitimate success because he either considers it too boring compared to the next hustle, or sadly, doesn't feel he deserves it.
"I messed it all up," Jimmy says to Kim as he gathers his things to move out. Amazingly, Kim still wants to come to his rescue. "You still wanna be lawyer?" she asks. "Well we can start with that."
Nacho has been looking for ways to escape life in the cartel, first by attempting poison Hector then by squirreling away money and fake IDs for he and his father. With the emergence of Lalo however, the idea of escape seems further away than ever. Lalo's a slippery character. One minute he's regaling Hector with memories of when the now crippled don burned downed a man's hotel (and giving him the infamous bell that will one day take out both he and Gus); the next he's teasing Gus with the idea of teaming up against boss Eladio. Gus is obviously way too smart to fall for that shit and replies he's happy with the current arrangement. Even during this exchange, Lalo's maintains a friendly composure. His affable persona undoubtedly masks a darker nature (just like it's a sure sign hell is about to be unleashed whenever Gus fixes his mouth into a scowl) but just when and how Lalo will display this side remains to be seen.
Werner and his crew are chipping away ever so slowly at the construction of the meth super lab. A temporary hiccup with a demolition gets sorted out, and the crew celebrates. Everyone that is, except Werner, who is missing his wife terribly, even asking Mike if Kai could supervise the work while he goes home to Germany for a few days. "You put your head down and finish your work," Mike instructs, but compromises by allowing Werner to call his wife. What Mike thinks will satisfy the engineer only whets his appetite for more though, and he escapes under the cover of darkness to go see his beloved. Shit.
Although their reasons for being in close proximity vary, all of Better Call Saul's couples are ultimately bound together. Their romance may have blown up, but Kim is still sticking around to help Jimmy regain his livelihood. Nacho may have thought moving up the ranks would give him the resources to flee the criminal life, but even if he manages to disappear, he'll always be looking over his shoulder. Mike, because of the job he chose, is duty bound to find Werner and bring him back to the construction site, when, under almost any other circumstance, he might simply shrug his shoulders and sigh at the turn of events.
Auf wiedersehen.
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