Standard Of Review: On 'Better Call Saul,' Characters Are Blowing In The Wind

Despite a few narrative bumps, the fact that our TV critic Harry Graff can write an entire column on Better Call Saul that focuses on two non-leads shows the care the show takes with each and every character.

better-call-saul-key-art-560The seventh episode of this season of Better Call Saul contains a fantastic montage (gorgeously scored to “Scorpio” by Dennis Coffey) that cuts between Jimmy McGill’s attempts to get himself fired from his soul-sucking firm job at Davis & Main and an inflatable air dancer. That air dancer, beautifully and aimlessly flapping in the wind, is representative of the aimlessness that plagued two major characters this season – Kim Wexler and Chuck McGill (this column will contain spoilers up through last week’s second season finale, as well as an ambiguous Billions spoiler).

Up to the beginning of the second season, Kim has basically done everything right in her career. Kim has a Horatio Alger story, going from working in the mailroom at Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill to serving as one of Howard Hamlin’s most trusted associates. But like many young associates, Kim becomes dissatisfied with her job at HHM.

First, Kim finds herself in HHM Managing Partner Howard Hamlin’s doghouse after Jimmy McGill angers Jimmy’s co-workers at Davis & Main by airing a commercial without their consent. Because Kim recommended Jimmy for the Davis & Main job, Howard blames Kim for Jimmy’s faux pas and relegates the mid-level associate to document review for weeks on end.

As a litigation associate who graduated law school only a few years ago, I was fascinated and mildly horrified by Better Call Saul’s depiction of document review in the early 2000s. Kim reviews documents by hand, sitting at a table in a dark basement with many other reviewers. By comparison, my experiences reviewing documents by myself on a computer in an office with a window is a relative Shangri-La (except when the document review software freezes or crashes). While I do not have the first-hand knowledge as to the accuracy of these antiquated doc review scenes, I appreciate that Better Call Saul takes the time to depict one of the most mind-numbing tasks of a young lawyer (and between this and last season on Silicon Valley, document review is in vogue on television right now; I can only assume that the next episode of Game of Thrones will contain a scene in which Ramsey Bolton flays the makers of his document review platform).

On the other hand, as a fan of dramatic consistency, this was one of the weaker storylines of the season. The first season of Better Call Saul established that Howard outwardly acted tough but in reality was the frontman for Chuck’s dirty work. Towards the end of the first season, Howard even revealed that he liked Jimmy and wanted to hire him, but Chuck scuttled the potential hire. This season undid that character development, as Howard doles out an extremely harsh punishment to Kim for something she did not even do. Even when Kim lands a big client by herself – a real coup for an associate – Howard still gives her the cold shoulder. Better Call Saul clearly has a tenuous grasp on Howard. He is the only regular character who is more of a cipher than a real person, playing whatever role is needed to move the plot along.

As a result of Howard’s discipline, Kim is receptive when prominent Albuquerque Rick Schweikart (Dennis Boustikaris, filling out his Standard of Review Bingo card by appearing on both Better Call Saul and Billions) offers her a job to switch firms. But after a meeting with Schweikart’s fellow partners, Kim accidentally calls Rick “Howard.” While this is an embarrassing faux pas, the subtext is that Howard and Rick are interchangeable. No matter the identity of Kim’s employer, she will will always feel dissatisfaction and she will always feel put off by partners’ pettiness. Kim’s plight is surely familiar to many young associates, who bounce around from firm to firm in search of a greener pasture that never materializes.

Instead, Kim decides to work for herself, sharing office space with Jimmy. And Kim even obtains a major client, Mesa Verde, after Jimmy sabotages HHM’s representation of Mesa Verde before the New Mexico Banking Board. Nevertheless, in the season finale (which does not contain much Kim), Kim is relegated to fetching drinks for the host of elderly clients who arrive at the office to meet with Jimmy. Kim thus remains aimless, bouncing around without obtaining professional satisfaction.

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Chuck’s aimlessness is not due to professional satisfaction but instead due to personal jealousy of his less intelligent but more outgoing younger brother Jimmy. The season’s fifth episode, “Rebecca,” contains a cold open flashback to Jimmy’s visit to Chuck’s house he shared with his then wife, the titular Rebecca (Ann Cusack). Chuck warns Rebecca of Jimmy’s boorishness, but instead, Jimmy charms her with numerous cheesy lawyer jokes, annoying Chuck.

The season finale also contains a flashback to Chuck and Jimmy at their mother’s deathbed. With Jimmy out of the room, their mother’s dying words are to twice call out “Jimmy,” breaking Chuck’s heart. My qualm with this scene is that it came out of nowhere and did not have a sufficient foundation in any previous episodes on the show. Moreover, as we learned from the disappointing 2015 James Bond film Spectre, the trope of “being the second-favorite child causes negative consequences” is stale.

Nevertheless, the women Chuck loves, Rebecca and his mother, warm to Jimmy and flat-out prefer him. This disorients Chuck, turning into him into a spiteful maniac.

First, instead of trying to improve his personality to be more like his gregarious brother, Chuck turns to petty jealousy. The first season revealed that Chuck torpedoed Jimmy’s chances to work at HHM. Then, this season, after learning that Kim will be sharing office space with Jimmy, Chuck throws his electromagnetic hypersensitivity aside and personally meets with Kim’s client Mesa Verde to convince Mesa Verde to stick with HHM. And after Jimmy alters Mesa Verde documents that were in Chuck’s house, Chuck loses it, throwing a fit in a copy store (and suffering a head injury) after he is unable to prove that Jimmy was the culprit.

Then, after selflessly caring for the injured Chuck, Jimmy relents and confesses to altering the documents. But the season’s final moments reveal that Chuck has been surreptitiously taping Jimmy as he admits to a felony (cover recording is another parallel with Billions).

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Thus, even though Chuck has experienced great professional success, his life is just as aimless as Kim’s. Chuck is unable to find happiness in his life, instead acting childlike due to what he perceives to be slights. It remains to be seen what, if anything, will truly make Chuck happy, or whether he will just find something else to stew about.

Despite a few narrative bumps, the fact that I can write an entire column on Better Call Saul and focus on two non-leads (and not even mention co-lead character Mike Ehrmentraut) shows the care Better Call Saul takes with each and every character. I cannot wait to see what Season 3 has in store, though, thanks to a very convincing and popular Reddit post, I have a pretty good idea about what is to come – Google it if you dare.


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.