Better Call Saul “Quite A Ride” Preview

It would appear that all of our main characters are in positions that find their backs against the wall. Jimmy has taken a job that has zero clients and appears to be a soul suck. Kim has lost the joy of being a lawyer and just wants to make a difference, something she isn’t doing working with Mesa Verde. Nacho is stuck working for Gus while trying to maintain his cover with the Salamanca’s all while trying not to get himself killed. Then you have Mike who is kind of in an emotional prison when it comes to his daughter-in-law slowly starting to move on after the death of his son and not allowing himself to be bullied by Gus. This week we start to see how they respond and what it means for the rest of the season as Better Call Saul hits the halfway mark tonight.

Let’s start with Mike who is in a smidge of in trouble with Gus for knowing about Nacho’s attempt at killing Hector Salamanca. We all know how deeply Gus’s vendetta with Hector runs and how he won’t be derailed from gaining his revenge even if it means sacrificing everything he’s ever built. Don’t get it twisted, Gus’s ending on Breaking Bad is a direct result of his hubris and need to continuously gloat about his victory over Hector. That’s why he’s just a little miffed that Mike allowed Nacho to try and kill him. In Mike’s defense, it’s not like he knew about the deep history between Hector and Gus, and not for nothing, it’s not his job to stop Nacho. Sure, he gave him some friendly advice and tried to push him in a different direction, but at the end of the day, Nacho is responsible for Nacho’s actions. Not Mike. Gus doesn’t seem to care about that.

How much do you want to bet that this job that Gus has for Mike has to deal with taking Nacho off the board? I’m not sure how much more use Gus has for Nacho, who is now hiding out with his father, and any time someone who runs a criminal organization asks you to wait to be contacted chances are you’re living on some borrowed time. Nacho’s death could easily be made to look like a revenge hit after the Salamanca Twins destroyed that rival drug compound but I’m not sure if Mike will be willing to take the gig. Something tells me he sees a bit of his son in Nacho and pulling the trigger on him would be easier said than done. Mike’s a professional, as he told Jimmy a couple of weeks ago, and I wonder if he’ll be able to talk Gus out of the hit or help Nacho escape. Which would be interesting because then the entire Gus/Mike relationship would be built on a lie. Very curious to see how this turns out.

Elsewhere Jimmy, having made more money off the collectible than expected, is living in his own personal hell as a cell phone store manager. The store hasn’t seen one client since he started working and if we know anything about Jimmy it’s that he needs that interaction to thrive. Sitting in that store just bouncing that ball against the glass is going to drive him crazy. Especially when you consider he took the job so he didn’t lie to Kim. I was really happy with that decision because I’m not ready to watch Jimmy tear down the one good thing in his life. Even if it is eventual.

I don’t know about you guys but seeing Jimmy work in a cell phone store, I was immediately struck with his desk draw in the Saul Goodman office. I often wondered how Saul had so many burner phones and this job might explain how that came to be. It’s just one of the little details that Saul does that further expands the Breaking Bad universe. After hearing about burner phones I think it’s only a matter of time before Jimmy starts peddling cell phones on the side to more shady clientele.

Kim finds herself in a tricky place as of late as she’s seeing the darker side of her law practice. The rich only get richer and what’s the purpose in that? Mesa Verde has massive expansion plans and Kim’s services are directly responsible for that. Seeing her hang around the courthouse to be reminded what drew her to be an attorney in the first place furthers enrichens the character of Kim Wexler, who has been the season’s MVP halfway through, and I’m willing to bet that we’ll see her spending a bit more time there. She was told by the judge that if she keeps showing up that he’s going to put her to work and I think that’s exactly what she wants.

There you have it Geeklings, a brand new episode of Better Call Saul airs tonight at nine as we start to set up the back half of this season. I do want to apologize for the lack of review last week as I was battling a strain of the flu and was all types of out of commission. Don’t worry, I’ll be back tomorrow as usual and the season reviews will continue as planned. As always be sure to follow me on Twitter @iamgeek32 as I’ll be sharing my episode thoughts in between commercial breaks. See everyone tomorrow and make sure you keep it all good man!

Images and trailer from AMC

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