Television

Standard Of Review: Nothing Was Better Than This Season Of 'Better Call Saul'

We hope that Bob Odenkirk-moderated games of bingo become a law firm summer associate event staple.

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Well, this was not the Better Call Saul that I had expected (in a good way).

As I noted in my column reviewing the first two episodes of the Breaking Bad spinoff, Saul Goodman was often the comic relief on Breaking Bad and had virtually no moments of pathos. Saul was the subject of tacky television advertisements, had an office in a strip mall adorned by a giant rendering of the Constitution, and, of course, was played by noted comedian Bob Odenkirk (and his lackeys were played by fellow standup comedians Bill Burr and Lavell Crawford). I therefore expected that Better Call Saul would be much more comedy than drama, chronicling Saul as he provided legal representation to a wacky group of New Mexico criminals. How wrong I was. Instead, the first season of Better Call Saul (which ended earlier this week) was in many ways just as dramatic and heartbreaking as any season of Breaking Bad.

Over the course of the season, we learn through flashbacks that Saul’s actual name is Jimmy McGill, and he began his career as an Illinois-based con man named “Slippin’ Jimmy.” After being arrested for performing a “Chicago sunroof” (which I will refrain from explaining, as this is a family website) and hitting rock bottom, Jimmy gets a job in the mailroom of the prominent Albuquerque law firm Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (“HHM”) thanks to his brother Chuck (Michael McKean), a name partner at the firm. Jimmy eventually gets a law degree (albeit from the University of American Samoa) and passes the New Mexico state bar. Jimmy dreams of righting himself and attaining success as an attorney.

But Better Call Saul is not a Horatio Alger story about a man pulling himself up by his bootstraps and succeeding in the legal world. Instead, the show constantly throws roadblocks at Jimmy. First, HHM name partner Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) informs Jimmy that despite passing the bar, HHM will not offer Jimmy a job as a full-time attorney. This scene is gorgeously shot, as the camera waits patiently outside the copy room where Howard and Jimmy speak, and the only noise we can hear is the hum of the copy machines. We only need to see the body language of the two men as Howard delivers the bad news to Jimmy.

While this decision is definitely understandable — obtaining a law degree from the University of American Samoa is hardly a harbinger of success — HHM rejects Jimmy a second time in last week’s episode. After Jimmy finds his niche in the exciting world of elder law (in which, among other things, he amusingly moderates games of bingo), Jimmy discovers that prominent nursing home Sandpiper Crossing is committing massive fraud by stealing its residents’ Social Security funds. Jimmy then breaks into a garbage can in order to recover some incriminating documents that Sandpiper Crossing has attempted to shred and destroy (I would love to see Judge Scheindlin rule on that spoliation motion). Jimmy, with Chuck’s help, reconstructs the documents, puts together a slam-dunk complaint, and negotiates a deal to deliver the case to HHM, which has the resources to see the case to completion. However, Howard informs Jimmy that despite the massive case referral, under no circumstances will Jimmy be able to work as an associate at HHM.

This news infuriates Jimmy and almost torpedoes the deal, but Jimmy soon learns that it was Chuck, and not Howard, who had made these two decisions to deny Jimmy employment at HHM. This Godfather 2-esque betrayal by Chuck — though Jimmy is definitely more Fredo than Michael — completely devastates Jimmy. In one of the season’s most powerful scenes, Chuck explains that he told Howard not to offer Jimmy employment because Jimmy is “not a real lawyer.” Chuck argues that he has “worked [his] ass off to get where [he is],” but Jimmy had just “take[n] short cuts.”

Odenkirk and McKean, both primarily comedic actors, play the dramatic beats of the scene perfectly, as the audience can see how hurt Jimmy is by Chuck’s betrayal. Despite the fact that he eventually finds success as criminal lawyer Saul Goodman, Jimmy has spent the whole season attempting to succeed as a legitimate attorney. In order to drum up business, Jimmy has (among other things), almost gotten killed by criminals, hiked through the desert, and gone dumpster diving. Jimmy has also spent the whole season trying to make Chuck proud of him. It is clear that Chuck was always the successful, brilliant son in the McGill family, while Jimmy has always been the screw-up. Odenkirk perfectly plays Jimmy’s excitement in finally finding success and being able to work with his brother in order to obtain justice for Jimmy’s elderly clients. Accordingly, Chuck’s betrayal of Jimmy hits home even harder.

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McKean is equally fantastic in that scene, as he has been over the entire season. Chuck is a very strange character, suffering from a psychosomatic infirmity in which he cannot be exposed to electricity, causing him in turn to become a recluse. However, Chuck is a very old-fashioned, white-shoe lawyer, wearing three-piece suits and quoting cases from memory. Chuck is also extremely respected in the field; the staff of HHM gives Chuck a touching standing ovation when he arrives at the firm with Jimmy to meet with Howard about the Sandpiper Crossing case. Therefore, while Chuck’s betrayal of Jimmy still stings, it is entirely consistent with his ethos. Chuck has a very high opinion of the legal profession and is accordingly appalled that a lawyer like Jimmy would have a place at a white-shoe firm such as HHM.

This week’s season finale takes Jimmy’s story down an even further tragic path, as Jimmy returns to his old stomping grounds in Illinois in order to drown his sorrows with his old flimflam partner Marco (Mel Rodriguez). With Marco’s help, Jimmy returns to the confidence game, scamming numerous passersby at the bar that Marco frequents (with a great jazzy montage of the two men swindling). Unfortunately, Marco has a heart attack and dies during a con, and Jimmy is ready to return to the Albuquerque legal world; in a moment of deus ex machina, HHM associate Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) tells Jimmy that a prominent Santa Fe law firm is interested in hiring him and wants to meet with him later in the week at the courthouse. But Jimmy decides to spurn the Santa Fe firm, never even making it to the courthouse door. In the season’s final scene, he and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) discuss why, earlier in the season, they returned almost $2 million in cash that they stole in order to return Craig and Betsy Kettleman to HHM. Mike explains in a very Omar Little-like fashion that he was hired to do a job, nothing more. Jimmy replies: “I know what stopped me. And you know what? It’s never stopping me again.”

After delivering the season’s final line, Jimmy drives off to Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” While this scene seems triumphant on the surface, it is actually tragic because we know what Jimmy is going to become. Instead of a successful lawyer helping the elderly fight injustice, Jimmy is going to be a criminal lawyer, helping New Mexico’s underworld evade the law. This is an incredibly depressing turn of events, as Jimmy has concluded that despite his best efforts to reform himself, he is, and always will be, a criminal.

While Jimmy’s dramatic arc is the centerpiece of Better Call Saul, I was surprised at how much the show focused on Mike, especially given that he barely appeared in the first two episodes. Breaking Bad only gave hints about Mike’s backstory (namely that he had previously worked as a cop in Philadelphia and that he has a granddaughter living in Albuquerque), but nothing more. But this season of Better Call Saul gave Mike the standout episode he never received on Breaking Bad. The episode, entitled “Five-O,” provides an extended flashback sequence to Mike’s time in Philadelphia, explaining that he left the force after coldly murdering two dirty cops that had betrayed and killed Mike’s policeman son. At the end of the episode, Mike reveals to his daughter-in-law that everyone, including Mike, in the Philadelphia police department was on take, and that Mike had convinced his son to take bribes as well. On both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Mike is always stone-faced, so it was deeply surprising and moving when he broke down crying and screamed: “I broke my boy!”

Nevertheless, it often felt like Mike was on a different television show, as his path rarely crossed with Jimmy’s over the season’s final few episodes. For example, in last week’s episode, Mike is hired by the nebbishy Pryce (Mark Proksch) to accompany him to a drug deal with Nacho (Michael Mando). Mike is chastised by Pryce’s two other hired heavies for eschewing a gun and only bringing a pimento cheese sandwich to the gig. Undeterred, Mike disarms one thug and scares away the other (leave the gun, take the pimento, amirite?). While this scene (and the eventual meeting with Nacho) was great, I wish that it was a little more connected to Jimmy’s story. Nevertheless, given Jimmy’s revelation of his true criminal nature, I expect that Mike’s and Jimmy’s storylines will converge more often next season.

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This inaugural season of Better Call Saul exceeded all my expectations, and has been one of my two favorite shows of 2015 so far (aside from The Americans). I cannot wait to see what series creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have in store in season two. In the meantime, I hope that Bob Odenkirk-moderated games of bingo become a law firm summer associate event staple.

Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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