Better Call Saul “Inflatable” Review

During last nights
Better Call Saul I started to think
about television spin-offs and
how wildly unsuccessful they are.
They mostly
lack the charm and excitement of the original series and seem
like a way for the
studios to
cash in on the brand. When Better Call Saul was announced I
feared
that it was going to go down the
road of something
like Joey (you remember the Friends
spin-0ff with just Joey
and none
of the others. Good one NBC!) opposed to the Fraiser road
(which in
my mind could be the most
successful spin-off ever). I didn’t
think Breaking Bad needed a
spin-off series and I wondered how
long it
could last. Better Call Saul has exceeded my expectations
and it’s
because it’s trying
to tell it’s own stories and not relying on the shadow
of Breaking
Bad. Of course there are call
backs and easter eggs, and
that makes the viewing fun, but Saul is
trying to exist on it’s own.

And honestly it’s been doing one hell of a job.

Last nights episode,

“Inflatable”, was all about
liberation and brought Jimmy back to the forefront
after weeks of sitting
mostly on the sidelines. We have
watched as this new firm
has sucked the life out of Jimmy, waiting patiently
for him to reach his boiling

point. Well folks wait no longer. After helping Mike out with his gun
problem
(yay story connection and a
great call back to Jimmy’s encounter with Tuco.
Helped make it less a
Breaking Bad cameo and more
of a legit event in
the history of this character.) with the usual wheelings
and dealings, Jimmy
heads
back to the firm to resign. One problem though, if Jimmy quits there goes

his bonus. D’oh! I loved how heart
broken Omar seemed here.

What follows
is a fantastic montage of self
sabotage. We finally get
to see
the emergence of the colors and suits that we associate with Saul
Goodman and
watch as Jimmy does
his damnedest to get fired. And he tries everything from
juicing in the
break room, to suits that would make
a used car salesman blush,
not flushing after going to the bathroom, to the
bagpipes. Everything about this

montage from the cheesy pornesq music to the different antics of Jimmy were

great to behold and laugh out
loud funny (LOL if you will). Having been so long
since he’s been able to
let his hair down you could tell
Jimmy was having a
blast here, and it pays off. For the first time in
awhile, it seems, Jimmy gets
a
victory. Cliff breaks and fires him stating that he could care less at this

point allowing Jimmy to keep his
bonus. Win! I loved how Jimmy buys his desk
from the firm too. His dream
desk from what have been his dream
job.

This
new found freedom is kind of a dangerous thing for Jimmy as
he now has no
strings to
hold him back, but for the first time since this series started he is
full
of self confidence. From the
minute he moves back into his nail saloon back
office Jimmy embraces his new
self. No more fake English
accent on the answer
machine or stealing cucumber water when no ones
looking. Jimmy is on a mission
for
greatness or at least being himself and the first step of that naturally is

having a meeting with his
commercial making crew because what is Saul Goodman
without
commercials?

Jimmy
wasn’t the only one looking to spread
his wings as Kim was more or less
waiting
for her acceptance letter from Hogwarts…ummm the new firm. I’m
happy seeing
Kim realize her
self worth but I can’t help feeling this impending cloud of
doom hovering
over her. She almost seems
destined to be a casualty here and I
keep expecting to see things blow up in
her face. Before her final
interview
with the firm Jimmy pops in with his offer of becoming partners,
and even has
snazzy business
cards made up to celebrate the idea. While Kim is able to submit
to her
feelings for Jimmy she is not ready
to fully throw away her career to be
like him. “You got me…just not as
law partner” was a whole
lot of
ouch but the best course of action for Kim.

Kim asking Jimmy
what kind of
lawyer he would
be was excellent too, but in a different way then the exchange
between her
and Chuck a couple of weeks ago.
Jimmy seems to fall back on the
old, I’ll be a good boy, answer almost as a
defense mechanism but with Kim
he
can just be himself. Saying he’ll be a colorful lawyer is probably the
best way
one could describe
Saul Goodman, and while Jimmy hasn’t fully made that
transformation yet the
brightly colored suit seeds have
been planted. It’s
almost a relief with Jimmy taking accountability for who
he is. I think we’re
past
the point of wanting to see him make the right choice but now are kind of

rooting for him to make the choice
that’s truest to himself.

That’s why
the opening kind of hurts.
Seeing Jimmy take advantage of his
father just
confirms everything Chuck said to Kim, and it was one of those
things you just
didn’t want
to believe. You can tell that Jimmy validates his behavior by
saying he
tried to warn his Dad but that’s
just so he can sleep at night. That
whole scene just made me sad as I was
hoping that Jimmy was a little bit
better
than that. Yes you can argue that he was just being a vindictive kid
taking that
money for
himself, but do it once with out consequence it easily can become a
routine
as we know is true looking at the
man Jimmy is today.

In the end
Kim decides not to take the dream job
at Hogwarts (not the actual firm
name but
I do want to beat that joke to death) and tells Jimmy that they can
share a
building together.
She can have her own firm, be her own boss, and do things her
way and Jimmy
can have his own firm and do
things however he wants to do them.
My only question is how long before Kim
becomes bored with what she’s
doing and
gets dragged into the muck as well. She has the itch to do these
rip off schemes
and I don’t
think being surrounded by Jimmy every day will be good for her.
Just take
the job at Hogwarts Kim!
#poorlifechoices

Mike’s story was
relatively quiet this week, hence
me not mentioning him much. His
daughter in-
law has a new house that she’s going to buy, and might I add
buying a house was
crazy easy.
“I like it!” “It’s yours!” If only. I don’t know what her end game
is
here, maybe getting Mike to pay for
most of it? But there is something shady
going on. Elsewhere Mike is staking
out Hector as taking the blame
for that gun
is really gnawing at his pride. With Jimmy being connected
slightly to this
story now I am
curious to see how he gets brought into the fold
fully.

What did you
think of this weeks episode
Geeklings? Happy to see
Jimmy get canned and start his own firm? Do you
think working side by side with

Jimmy will be good for Kim? Sound off in the

comments.

 

Images from AMC