Margaux and I bid farewell to the inaugural season of Better Call Saul.
Trevor: That was, like, an aggressively weird episode. Not Mad Men style weird (i.e. “The Crash” or “The Runaways”) but a brand of surrealism unique to Better Call Saul. It helps that “Marco” was written and directed by showrunner Peter Gould, who really has a handle on this corner of Albuquerque, which seems far from the ABQ of Breaking Bad.
Margaux: Funny you should bring up Gould and Breaking Bad right off the bat because “Marco” had the most recognizable Breaking Bad Easter eggs of any episodes this season. I’m thinking particularly of Jimmy successfully sleeping with a woman whom he convinced he was Kevin Costner, the worlds most boring actor. Shout out to season 3 Breaking Bad Saul!
I think Gould’s interior knowledge of Saul and BB is what gave the finale the aggressive tone, in a way, it felt like the ending of the Jimmy prologue, like now we can really start.
Trevor: Yeah, absolutely. He kind of had to regress to move forward. Slipping back into the skin of Slippin’ Jimmy – terrible pun not intended – showed him beyond a doubt that he has to look out for himself, because Chuck sure as shit isn’t going to.
Let’s talk about the scene that sent Jimmy back to Chicago, where he breaks down while calling Bingo. HOLY. SHIT. Odenkirk was nothing short of mesmerizing. He wrung every drop of pathos and dark humor out of a monologue, delivered to a room full of senior citizens, about shitting into a guy’s sunroof while the guy’s kids were in the car. And it ended with a literal mic drop! Odenkirk has been so goddamn good this season that it’s easy to take it for granted, but scenes like that just show how underestimated he’s been as an actor all these years. I’m glad Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould gave him a chance, I’m glad Saul Goodman grew past his role as comic relief, and I’m really glad they didn’t kill him off in Breaking Bad.
Oh, and speaking of Easter eggs, Jimmy made a Belize reference!
Margaux: I wasn’t sure if I should have laughed or left the room when Jimmy’s Bingo announcing turned into an open mic night gone very, very wrong. Explaining to a room of uncurious old people, in detail, what a “Chicago Sunroof” was hilariously painful to sit through. It wasn’t Jimmy’s finest hour, squared times infinity.
Trevor: The anger and resignation that Bob Odenkirk can drag out of a line like “Kitty notebooks for everyone!” is truly something to behold. It’s the kind of line that even in context is funny and surreal; it almost sounds like something someone would have said on Mr. Show.
How’d you like watching Jimmy and Marco pull that half-dollar con? I respect “Marco” for letting the camera linger. There were lots of long shots, and a ton of dialogue, even for a show as talky as BCS. The montage that followed was very old school, with the jazzy music, snippets of dialogue, and flashes of bar neon. Like I said, this was a weird-ass episode.
Margaux: I laughed out loud at the start of that montage, when Jimmy starts pulling the oldest Craigslist scam in the book, The Nigerian Prince. Though the “straight scammin’’ montage was a fun visual and the jazzy music lent it an odd, throwback tone – it felt out of place and lost its amusing edge pretty quick.
I thought Jimmy and Marco catching up in the old bar where they pulled one over on out-of-towners was a lot of more telling than that montage it was undercut with. Who knew a deathly cough could lead to a heart attack?
Trevor: Yeah, I liked seeing them a little older and more mature (well, not too mature; as Jimmy points out, Marco passed out in a bar at 4 PM on a Wednesday). Mel Rodriguez – currently on The Last Man on Earth – did fine work as Marco, and he and Odenkirk had a nice, easy chemistry. Seeing Jimmy freak out over his friend’s body was strangely poignant. And the pinky ring that Marco’s mother gifted to Jimmy is definitely laying the groundwork for Saul Goodman’s flashy ensemble.
(One more Easter egg: Marco’s fake ID that he uses in the Rolex scam says his name is Henry Gondorff, which was Paul Newman’s character in The Sting.)
Margaux: Even though the passing of Marco was another blow to Jimmy that was hard to sit through, I was honestly relieved to not have to cringe through another scam they pulled that has a high possibility of it going wrong. Similarly, I ended being a lot happier about Jimmy bailing on his partner-making interview with the firm teaming up with HHM for the Sandpiper case because I didn’t want to have to watch Jimmy find a way to fuck that up later on either.
Trevor: Yeah, as cool as it was that Jimmy got the offer, it was weirdly triumphant watching him tear out of the parking lot in his busted-ass Esteem. We all know that Saul Goodman isn’t a model citizen, but after years of trying to impress people – Chuck, Howard Hamlin, Kim Wexler – Jimmy is finally DGAF enough to strike out on his own. Of course, this will get him involved with unsavory characters like Walter White and Gus Fring, but let’s let him enjoy the moment.
Side note: Giancarlo Esposito told Vince Gilligan that he would “murder his family” if Gus wasn’t on BCS, so we have that to look forward to.
Margaux: So Vince Gilligan has some furious typing to do in the coming months, or else, he’ll have to answer to Giancarlo Esposito’s terrifying WHOLE face.
Back to Jimmy flipping double birds while doing donuts in his broken down Esteem, how bad do you feel for that Intern that has to run errands for Chuck? I feel like Jimmy was waiting outside just to offer that kid words of encouragement.
Trevor: Poor bastard, but them’s the breaks, kid! Welcome to the exciting world of law. Now go get the crazy genius some soy milk.
One last question before we talk stars (unless you have anything else to add): what do you think was the significance of “Smoke on the Water”? We know that team BCS doesn’t do anything randomly. My guess is that it shows Jimmy’s transition into the huckster con-man type of lawyer that Saul Goodman always was, the connection being that the other con-man, the titular Marco, was humming it right before he died. It’s kind of like he passed the torch to Jimmy. That’s the best I got, because the lyrics are about a recording studio burning down. Any thoughts? I spent way too much time dwelling on this.
Margaux: Hate to break it to you, but I spent literally zero time thinking about it. But if I had to venture a guess, I’d agree with your assertion that the transition from Jimmy to Saul is underway, which, also ties in with my theory that “Marco” was the beginning of the end of Straight Shootin’ Jimmy. I do worry about what will become of all those old people who still call and leave him messages about drafting up wills and whatnot.
Trevor: Season 2 is going to start with a montage of Jimmy attending all their funerals.
So you know the drill for season finales: episode grade and season grade. Personally I’m thinking 4.5 for each, but I’m open to debate.
Margaux: I’d give 4 stars to “Marco” and 4.5 for the season overall. A lot of the overall season score comes from the strong start in the pilot episode on through “Mijo”; “Marco” had its moments, but you’re kidding yourself if you think this isn’t Bob Odenkirk’s show, through and through. Anytime we steered too far from that center, I was left feeling unsatisfied. Is it weird I’m looking forward more to Season Two than I am excited for this first season?
Trevor: Nope. I feel the same way. First seasons always have their kinks (but since this is Gilligan and Gould we’re talking about, the complaints are pretty minor). And in many ways we’re still meeting the title character. The world of BCS was nicely established in this first season, so here’s to hoping that season two just has Odenkirk in every single shot.
“Marco” grade: 4/5 stars
Better Call Saul season one grade: 4.5/5 stars
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