Like a veterinarian forced against their will to perform human surgery, I’m just trying to get by without Trevor this week, okay?
“Something Beautiful” was the highest of stakes – Kim contemplating her future, Nacho’s life or death mess; and the lowest and dumbest of stakes – I was not aware four grand was ‘shitting gold’, but hey, BCS could possibly take place during the ‘04 recession for all I know. But high-highs and incredibly silly lows are hallmarks of Better Call Saul, right? Kim and Nacho continue to be the closest we have to a Hero’s Journey and Jimmy keeps on slippin’ in the free world because he’s finally gotten away from the shadow formerly known as Chuck.
In the cold open, we’re shown that Nacho was better off sitting his ass down and eating his food instead of attempting to take out Hector. Do you want to get shot in the gut in the desert and be left to die? Because this is how you end up shot in the gut in the desert and nearly dying in a warehouse behind a fast food place. I believe you’re supposed to get the distinct impression that despite his ominous promise last week, Gus doesn’t really care if Nacho dies because why else would you shoot him in the gut to ‘stage’ the appearance of Mike-like ambush and not his leg?
I highly doubt it’s purely to make it ‘look real’. Nacho is a liability either way, and quite frankly, when The Twins showed up, I was surprised they didn’t shoot him in the head – thinking his injuries might not be worth treating. Instead, The Twins did display some unexpected empathy, one of them acting as Nacho’s personal blood bag, shout out type O negative. But in the short amount of time Nachos plan has backfired, it has become abundantly clear that he’s not going to make it out of this show alive. I mean, how? What are his options? How do you look into an attack that was actually a cover up that you had to play into because you’ve been flipped? Just typing that sentence out made me feel like that Swaggy P gif.
One interesting connection I see bridging the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul universes together is the aforementioned veterinarian. Earlier in “Something Beautiful”, Jimmy swings by with his sick goldfish to set up this ridiculous Hummel figurine heist after Mike wisely turns him down. In typical Slippin’ fashion, when the vet can’t seem to close the deal with this locksmith (who, turns out to be the shitty thief from Vamonos Pest, the first of one too many BB cameos this episode, but we’ll get into that in one sec – there’s only one of me today!), Jimmy rips the phone out of his hand and utters the now infamous line, ‘do you want to shit gold?’.
Although this entire exchange is very on brand for Jimmy McGill, lawyer and grifter extraordinaire, I think it also gives a glimpse into the most plausible path of Jimmy-to-Saul. Especially after the vet gives Nacho his nightmare post-op prognosis, he whispers, in what he thinks is menacing tone but I must assure you is not, that after this he is “done”, as if he has the kind of clearance to declare that kind of shit, and never wants to see any of the Salamanca crew ever again.
Which, okay, say the vet gets out of it, with his life or not, that leaves a position open. Judging by Jimmy’s level of smugness after he gets the locksmith to agree, I think he’d be more than eager to jump in the vets vacated shoes. And how is running that vets underground services any different than Saul’s business later on? DID I JUST MIND FREAK YOU?!
Let’s check in with our number ponytail wearer who is not Ariana Grande, Kim. She’s back at work with Mesa Verde, but now she has a paralegal. Thank fuckin’ God! Foghorn Leghorn or whatever her Mesa boss’ name is takes Kim to check out the ‘models’. Models of Tim Burton-esque banks he wants to open up around scenic Utah! Kim looked like she saw into her future and didn’t really like it. Or did she? Rhea Seehorn adds so many dimensions to the character, only she could tell you what’s going through Kim’s head. Maybe she’s slowly learning to delegate and ask for help, or maybe she’s already over it and doesn’t want to spend the next ten years working on banks in Utah. Fair! Whatever the case (unintentional lawyer pun!) may be, what I do think is, she forged that letter from Chuck to Jimmy.
Firstly, I am so relieved they resolved Chekhov’s letter quickly and didn’t wring it for all they could’ve. Secondly, the tidbit that it’s undated, sounds significant. When was the letter written, before or after Chuck all but cut Jimmy out of the will? It doesn’t help Jimmy reads it aloud with all the enthusiasm of a teenager during a current events class presentation; “new paragraph”. I loved the two-shot of them at the counter as Jimmy reads Kim the letter, their disparate reactions made for an absorbing tableau.
Kim’s emotional reaction, and closing the door in Jimmy’s face (well, ajar really) could be her guilt. Whatever way you slice it though, it boils down to: One (Jimmy) is shoving their feelings deep down inside, and they manifest in unforeseen ways, like talking yourself out of a job. The other (Kim) is living their feelings out loud, for a lack of better phrase, and maybe Jimmy’s inability to be moved by “Chuck’s” letter, a letter that Kim wrote to spare him the “one last fuck you little brother from beyond the grave” was the last straw. Jimmy doesn’t take Chuck’s death seriously, Kim does. And the demise of Kimmy continues.
Also, it bears pointing out, Jimmy getting five thousand dollars from Chuck is ACTUALLY easy money. Not this so-called heist gone screwball comedy.
I really don’t want to talk this stupid fucking reckless theft, but I would be remiss to leave out the sheer bleakness going on at Neff printers on this random night. Just when I thought the scene in Neff printers was too easy, Uncle Jack from It’s Always Sunny is having an unexpected rough night, sleeping on the couch in his office. You know things aren’t going well, or at the very least, you’ve gotta stop ordering pizza from this place if you need to specify that you’d like your plain cheese (of course) to be sliced. What a bummer existence. All this over a vacuum?? Y’all need couples therapy. I digress.
We see the ginger who is bad at crime in Breaking Bad being incompetent this gig too, only the stakes are significantly lower, but that’s not really the point. The point is that Jimmy sold this job as making four thousand dollars in eight minutes, and it turns into something much, much more involved. If I were that dude, I’d keep the figurine for myself to make all the money.
And I guess I’d be a bad reviewer if I didn’t touch on the second cameo of the night, Gale. Am I looking forward to learning Gale’s humbling beginnings? Yes. Are we off to a rough start because I found his singing of the periodic table to be grating and annoying? Yes. It makes sense for Gale to show up as Gus’ plan to undermine the Salamana operation out of existence is finally starting to come into full view, but still seems a little too soon and too narratively convenient.
And yet, I have the utmost fate that Better Call Saul gang knows what they’re doing, and maybe last night I learned that two appearances from Breaking Bad characters is my limit. Was “Something Beautiful” the weakest episode thus far? Sure, but we’re only three episodes deep and “Something Beautiful” is a lot of table setting for the rest of the season now that the Chuck death seems to be mostly in the rearview (although I’m sure will his presence will continue to be felt and effect characters), but even a ‘weak’ episode of BCS is still pretty compelling.
3.5 stars
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