Better Call Saul: Season 1, Episode 7: Bingo
This show has really had an incredibly strong start. This season is fantastic. Jimmy was finally getting everything he wanted. That $30k he got from the Kettleman family was buying everything he needed and he was able to at least somewhat talk Mike out of a situation that looked pretty bad. Things were looking up.
The episode started off with a resolution to the last episode. The young hothead of the police duo from Philly was talked down and afterwards, the older more level headed had a heart to heart with Mike. The investigation was all but settled. Then we got the small treat of seeing Chuck battle his mental illness by trying to build an up an immunity to his self-created allergy to electromagnetic fields.
Next up we had the completely arrogant and determined to press their luck Kettlemans refusing a really good deal from HHM. They could’ve gotten a thirty year sentence down to eighteen months, all they had to do was agree. Unfortunately, they opted out and chose to go back and blackmail Jimmy since they had already given him a large sum of money.
This is where this show excels, showing real character conflicts. They put their characters is tough, no-win situations and make them choose the lesser evils. In this case, the only way the Kettleman’s could get a deal was to give the money back, but in order to do so they needed the money they gave him back. They refused to take the deal in any case, so he was going to be forced to try to win an un-winnable case. The problem being, if they went down, so would he. They would tell about the bribe they had previously given him to keep quiet about the money he already knew about.
He did the one thing he considered to be the best he could do. He sent them back to his friend at HHM by having Mike steal the money and deliver it to the DA’s office. He convinced them that the deal was their only option and fortunately, Mr. Kettleman saw reason. He would do his time. Only that would leave Jimmy without the money that was funding his dreams.
This was a true “rock and hard place” menagé-a-troìs for Mr. McGill. He had to give up everything. All of the progress he had made, all of his plans to move forward, were destroyed by the same people who had given him hope. You could see the pain on his face and the closing scene in which he throws a temper tantrum in the office he had hoped for was pure magic. Jimmy McGill is a tortured soul. You can see the seed of him becoming the ruthless man we meet in Breaking Bad (angelic choir noise) being planted.
It’s good to see that he hasn’t lost all hope. The moment when he sucks up his sorrow and answers the phone with his customary fake Irish secretary voice is very uplifting. He will persevere. I’m certain his methods will be much more sinister moving forward…
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.
