Margaux and I are back on the Better Call Saul beat (sorry it’s late, but real life gets in the way sometimes). Read on for our thoughts about “Fifi.”
Trevor: So before we get into the meat of “Fifi,” which made Kim a casualty of an increasingly ugly war between the McGills, let’s talk about that opening. I dug it, personally – it was pretty slick direction, and the long tracking shot was a nice change of pace for a show like Better Call Saul, which really loves its montages. And we end on that menacing popsicle stick reading De nuestra familia a la suya – “from our family to yours,” a none-too-subtle nod to the Salamancas. How did it work for you? Too much?
Margaux: Anytime a oner can be pulled off the way it was in it “Fifi”, I deeply appreciate it. Everyone loves to act like Birdman invented this shot, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. But I digress, I didn’t think it was too much, I actually gleaned some similarities between the Salamancas business operation in Saul times with Gus Fring’s, some interesting foreshadowing. Something is clearly afoot, but not quite sure yet. But hiding meth (or whatever it is they’re transporting) in ice cream is kind of ingenious.
Trevor: I like it when Gilligan & Gould show off a bit like that. It’s not too overdone, so it feels like a treat, and that one long shot shows the sophistication of the Salamancas’ distribution network.
So, on to the actual plot of “Fifi,” which I can sum up thusly: poor Kim. God, Rhea Seehorn was fantastic this episode (she always is, though). I loved her sprint to her office, and the way she comported herself at lunch. Hell, I’d hire here. My favorite bit of acting from her – maybe in the whole series – was that smile that slowly spread across her face when she was telling Jimmy about the Mesa Verde contract. Should’ve known, though: nothing good on BCS can last.
Margaux: Like a child trapped in the middle of a divorce between two volatile parents, who are acting in her supposed “best interests,” the only person that will always truly loses out is always gonna be Kim, at least when it comes to Jimmy and Chuck’s relationship. Even though Howard can be a grade A asshole, he purposefully intercoms his assistant to get Mesa Verde on the phone while Kim is still standing in the waiting area after she’s tendered her resignation, I don’t think Howard would of won out on the Mesa Verde contract if Chuck didn’t take Jimmy’s semi-involvement in Kim’s HHM departure like a fuckin’ personal attack. Sidebar: Kim running through HHM in those heels is some fine acting, am I right laaaaaadies?
Trevor: Seehorn is a trooper. And Howard is a remarkably multilayered character. He can be a total dickbag – like the intercom move – but he can be professional too. He pays off Kim’s loans, after all; granted, he acknowledges that the law community is a small one, so I’m sure he’s trying to save face, but it really is the right thing to do.
And that scene with Chuck pitching-Kim-but-really-pitching-HHM was hard to watch. Just a brutal takedown delivered with a smile. Michael McKean goes into full beast mode, and for as complex a character as Chuck is, you can tell McKean relishes these moments where he gets to be the mustache-twirling villain.
Margaux: There’s wasn’t much to like in that scene between Mesa Verde and HHM, except the pained reactions on Paige’s face, you could just tell she was hurting for her friend Kim and she obviously could see right through Chuck’s game. But she’s not the one who gets to make the call on which law firm will ultimately get to represent Mesa Verde, all she can do is present her boss with options. It was the literal definition of ‘the suck’, especially if all you could do while you listened to Chuck gleefully discuss the finer points of banking law with a goddamn smile on his face, is flash on how happy Kim was a mere few scenes ago. You know this was going to dash her new found confidence and ultimately played directly into Chuck’s game. What I want to ask you is, do you think Chuck’s disease is a little put on at times? He can switch it off, apparently, long enough to sell Mesa Verde back on sticking with HHM, but the moment they walk out, Chuck collapses on Howard like Betty Draper used to on her fainting couch. It just felt a little…false to me. Chuck has a flair for the dramatics, it would seem, after the flashback last week to Jimmy working in their Father’s shop – the truth to the McGills is somewhat a perceived grey area.
Trevor: I’ll agree with you about Chuck. Collapsing in Howard’s arms was very Look at the sacrifice I’ve made for you. He demonstrates his worth in the conference room with Mesa Verde, then demonstrates his frailty to play upon Howard’s sympathies. It’s a cynical view of Chuck, to be sure, but I will say that I don’t think his disease is entirely psychosomatic. I do believe that he felt incapable of getting from his couch (but one wonders if he wanted Ernie there almost as an audience – if this disease is a con, it’s an incredibly long one).
Margaux: If it turns out that Chuck’s ‘illness’ is simply a long con, I would be delighted because it’d mean that Jimmy isn’t the only one with a little Slippin’ in him and like the only saying goes, you always criticize in others what you hate about yourself. All this would ring one hundred percent realistic to me, should that be the outcome. I guess the other question would be, if Chuck is proven to be a pinche faker, WHY?! Why make your life harder in this way? My stupidly obvious guess would be because something happened to or with Rebecca. Cause dudes always be hella blaming their problems on women, am I right laaaaaaides? (Not sorry, this has become my thing in my two week absence, just asking if I’m right to ladies. Deal.)
Trevor: Well, Jimmy is working on some potentially disastrous revenge, messing with Chuck’s Mesa Verde documents so they have the wrong Arizona address (another montage!). It looks like season two is going to end with the McGills going head to head, which might presage Chuck’s departure from New Mexico and the show itself (Gilligan has said there will only be three or four seasons).
Lastly, I always love shots of Mike being clever. He’s pushing nails through a garden hose, presumably as a trap, and Jonathan Banks once again proves himself to be a master of body language. Count me in.
Margaux: Between Jimmy’s deliberate fudging of Mesa Verde documents and the very Saul-esque commercial Jimmy shoots on an Air Force base by having a former client pose as some FDR-type war vet was not only hysterical, but would look like a prototype of Better Call Saul commercials we’ve come to know and love on Breaking Bad. I think we’re getting close to the becoming of Saul.
This probably goes without saying, but anytime Mike gets to be Grandpa Mike, let alone the type of Grandpa would makes a game with his granddaughter by having her poke holes through a garden hose under the guise of “needing a sprinkler” is the kind of Mike I love to see in action. Sure, he’s a badass, but when he pretends not to be is the most fun.
Trevor: And it’s just enough of a tease for next week’s episode. This show is great at balancing genres: black humor, legal show, crime show, Better Call Saul has it all. In honor of your return, would you like to go ahead and grade “Fifi”?
Margaux: Happy to be back in time to talk about “Fifi” because I really loved this episode, it was one of those Stefon, “THIS EPISODE HAS EVERYTHING” ones. For that I have to give it 4 stars because despite how much I enjoyed watching it, it was also a clever way to lay the groundwork for the end of the season which, unlike other AMC shows COUGH THE WALKING DEAD COUGH, it will make good on all the plot threads they’ve set up.
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