Television

Standard Of Review: 'Better Call Saul' Returns With A Con And A Light Switch

The second season premiere of Better Call Saul represents a solid start, according to culture columnist Harry Graff.

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saulWhen I was in elementary school, my school had numerous fire alarms that – in the event of a fire – required somebody to pull a very small, wiry horizontal rod. There was a rumor that the rod was hypersensitive and the alarm would sound if anyone even touched the rod, no matter how lightly. As an adult, I am virtually 100 percent positive that this rumor was a lie, and that it would actually take at least some minimal degree of force to pull the alarm (if I am wrong, I disclaim any responsibility for anyone who accidentally pulls a fire alarm after reading my column). But the rumor successfully acted as a deterrent; my classmates and I never dared to even touch the alarm for risk of setting it off.

I was reminded of that memory while watching Monday night’s second season premiere of the excellent AMC legal drama Better Call Saul, as the opening and closing scenes provide a point/counterpoint regarding Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman’s propensity to follow or not follow directions. Jimmy McGill circa 2002 is the kind of person who would not hesitate to test the limits of my elementary school fire alarm; the post-Breaking Bad Saul Goodman would not dare to touch it (this season will contain spoilers through Monday’s season premiere, and light Breaking Bad spoilers).

Similar to the opening scene of the show’s pilot, the first scene of the second season premiere is a black-and-white flash forward to Saul Goodman’s life managing a mall Cinnabon in Omaha after the events of Breaking Bad. (One quick housekeeping note: writing about Better Call Saul is complicated by the fact that the show’s eponymous main character goes by two names, Jimmy McGill and Saul Goodman. When I write about that character in the main 2002 narrative, I will refer to him as “Jimmy.” When I write about that character during his tenure on Breaking Bad or the post-Breaking Bad flash forwards, I will refer to him as “Saul.”)

Compared to his life helping Walter White launder money on Breaking Bad – and even compared to his pre-Saul Goodman life on Better Call Saul – the Saul depicted in the flash forwards is a sad sack. Saul’s gregarious nature has been replaced with a perpetual dour expression as his life consists of cleaning his Cinnabon franchise at the end of the day. To make matters worse, Saul accidentally locks himself in the mall’s trash room after hours. After pounding the trash room door in vain, Saul sees a emergency exit, albeit with a warning that if opened, an alarm will sound and the police will be called. Clearly weighing the risk that his secret identity will be exposed and he will be arrested for the events of Breaking Bad with the reward that he will be able to leave the world’s most depressing trash room, Saul decides to go with the conservative route, refraining from opening the emergency exit and sitting on a crate until a janitor lets him out a few hours later.

It is a depressing sight to see Saul Goodman so ineffectual, particularly thanks to Bob Odenkirk’s great acting and the fact that the scenes are shot in black and white. The grimness of Saul’s situation is underscored by the audience’s knowledge that Saul was once one of the preeminent risk-takers in the legal world, unafraid to perpetuate or aid and abet massive fraud in order to prevent Walter White from being caught. However, after Saul leaves the trash room, the camera zooms in on the wall, in which the words “SG was here” were written in small lettering. Somewhere inside that hollowed-out shell, Saul Goodman still lives.

Back in the show’s main 2002 narrative, Jimmy is much less likely to follow directions written on a wall. Picking up where the first season left off, Jimmy spurns an offer to work at the Santa Fe law firm Davis & Mane (despite the fact that a character played by Ed Begley, Jr. works there!), which has joined Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill as co-counsel in the large Sandpiper Crossing lawsuit that Jimmy initiated last season. Instead, Jimmy quits the practice of law, preferring instead to hang out at an Albuquerque resort pool (this episode, directed by Thomas Schnauz, does not contain many visual flourishes, but I enjoyed the overhead shot of Jimmy drifting aimlessly in the pool).

Jimmy changes his mind after he spends a wild and unexpected night with Kim. As Kim angrily confronts Jimmy at the pool about his decision to reject the Davis & Mane job offer, I was worried that Kim – often one of the best characters in the first season – was going to turn into a buzzkilling plot device. But the scene is quickly turned on its head as Jimmy and Kim engage in an impromptu con of Ken (Kyle Bornheiser), an obnoxious financial advisor who constantly shouts into his bluetooth earpiece (for Breaking Bad aficionados, Ken appeared in an episode in the second season of that show and got his car blown up by Walter). Jimmy and Kim pretend to be clueless scions of a wealthy family and ask Ken numerous questions about how to invest the large inheritance received from their deceased uncle. As Ken tries to woo Jimmy and Kim and obtain their business, Kim takes advantage of his hospitality by repeatedly ordering rounds of $50 tequila shots. By the time Ken realizes he has been conned, Jimmy and Kim are long gone. Drunk on tequila and riding the high of conning such a detestable human, Jimmy and Kim spend the night together.

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Rhea Seehorn and Bob Odenkirk are pitch perfect in the con scene. Seehorn perfectly plays Kim’s transformation over the course of the night. When she first follows Jimmy to Ken’s table, she has a “are we really doing this?” look on her face. But she gradually warms to the con, even correcting Jimmy after he claims that their family is from The Netherlands. And Odenkirk, with his comedy background, always excels when Jimmy acts like a con man. I also loved the scene the morning after Jimmy and Kim have sex, as Kim, with a smile on her face, rejects Jimmy’s attempt to use her toothpaste. The scene does not have much dramatic purpose but perfectly illustrates the chemistry between the two.

Spurred by his successful con (and perhaps bored by listlessly floating in the resort pool), Jimmy decides to reverse course and accept a job at Davis & Mane. As a lawyer, he can still put his con skills to use, but on a much greater scale with greater financial reward. Thanks to the Sandpiper Crossing case, Davis & Mane gives Jimmy a gigantic office and a doting personal assistant. As Jimmy surveys his office, he encounters a light switch with a sign stating “Always Leave ON!!!  Do NOT turn OFF!” Jimmy wastes no time ripping the sign off the switch and flicking it off. Of course, like the fire alarm in my elementary school, nothing happens. Jimmy is the kind of person who will throw caution to the wind, not letting something as trivial as a sign as on a light switch stop him from breaking bad. Which makes Saul’s eventual reluctance to open the emergency exit to the trash room that much sadder.

Season premieres are notoriously tricky episodes, as story occasionally is sacrificed in order to effectively set up the season (Mad Men is an example of a great show with consistently subpar season premieres). Breaking Bad is the exception to that maxim; there might be no better non-pilot season premiere than Season 4’s “Box Cutter.” The second season premiere of Better Call Saul is no “Box Cutter” and certainly is not better than the heights of the first season, but it is nevertheless a solid start (I did not even mention the Mike plot, which was enjoyable, despite being completely divorced from Jimmy’s scenes).

Better Call Saul is my favorite legal show to review, as each episode is so rich and contains so much material to unpack. I therefore hope to write about it many times this season (as long as I do not get in trouble for pulling any fire alarms).

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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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