Better Call Saul: Season 1, Episode 10: Marco
So in this one Jimmy needs a little bit of a break after the revelations from last episode. He goes back to Chicago and links up with his old friend Marco (Todd from “Last Man on Earth”) from his Slippin’ Jimmy days. We saw Marco before in a flashback scene when they were running the “Rolex Job” on a mark in an alley. Marco think’s it’s unwise for Jimmy to give up his life of grifting and for old times’ sake, they run a scheme involving some fake history and a silver dollar. The successful swindle sparks something in Jimmy and the have a huge gangster movie style montage of the boys being back in business.
When Jimmy decides to check his voicemail and reconnect with his current life, he finds that his clients need him. Because he’s not a bad guy, his conscience tugs at him and he decides to go home. When he breaks the news to Marco, his friend begs him to stay, but only manages to talk him into one last job. They go for the rolex grift again. It doesn’t end well however, when Marco has a heart attack in the middle of the scam. He expresses to Jimmy that, spending the last week with him has made him happy and he dies with a smile on his face.
Outside of the funeral, Jimmy gets a phone call from Kim telling him that a bigger firm has gotten involved in his case and wants to take him on as partner. His dreams of becoming a legitimate lawyer finally becomes a reality, yet just before he walks into the building, he thinks about Marco. There aren’t any details given, but it appears he has realized that his lifelong dream has been all about impressing Chuck, who has betrayed him.
He has a conversation with Mike about guilt and doing the right thing (Mike has the best speeches) and takes off. He will no longer let conscience get in his way. I’m sure this means he will be focusing on personal gain from now on.
One of the more interesting parts of this episode was seeing that Howard Hamlin isn’t a terrible person. He genuinely cares for Chuck and has endured all of Jimmy’s hatred out of respect for him. The conversation between Howard and Jimmy is pretty interesting, as Jimmy now understands the motivations of his perceived nemesis.
As far as season finales go, this episode was kind of mild. Considering the kind of show this is and it’s predecessor though, it will definitely get better. As usual, the cinematography and psychological prompting were both breathtaking. The bingo scene was crazy. The letter B was like the word “nevermore” from Poe’s “The Raven.” The visual storytelling here is top tier. It will be difficult to wait until next season, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
