Better Call Saul Season 1 Episode 7 Review: The Right Thing
Miranda Wicker
at
.
Updated at
.
After the super heavy episode which was last week's background on Mike, Better Call Saul Season 1 Episode 7 lightened things up while making things more difficult for Jimmy McGill.
This is a man on the verge of falling apart. He's trying to keep it together but there's no telling how much longer he'll last.
Where Better Call Saul differs from its predecessor, Breaking Bad, is in the pacing of the two shows. At this point in Walter White's story, there was a sense of urgency. There were blunders and close calls and successes (sort of). So far, the stakes don't feel high for Jimmy McGill, and what we're seeing is a man who just keeps drowning while proclaiming he doesn't need a life raft.
It's great. And sort of slow.
Jimmy is a down on his luck former con man turned lawyer who desperately wants to find some level of success. But why? That's what we've only begun to figure out so far, and that's what I most want to know. What is it that makes this man tick?
Is Jimmy's quest for success because he feels he owes it to Chuck to make something of himself, or is there something Jimmy's trying to prove to himself?
Chuck's trying to prove to himself that he can conquer his "allergy" to electromagnetic fields by exposing himself for longer and longer each day. Jimmy is not proving to himself that he'll be something great by continuing to expose himself to low-paying jobs on the up and up. He's no fan of elder law, no matter how much he pretends to be. It doesn't excite him.
This is a man with a dream and so far no means to achieve it which aren't legally questionable. And that's what he continues to struggle with. Where is the line, and how far up to and over it is Jimmy willing to go to achieve the end result he wants?
It depends on the case.
When it came to the Kettlemans, Jimmy desperately wanted to find a way to win, to exonerate Craig Kettleman and collect a big sum of illegally obtained money which he would then have to launder in order to hide. That wasn't the "right" thing to do, though. The right thing was to kick the case back to Kim, even though she turned him down for becoming his partner.
He did what he did because he has nothing to lose. Except whatever integrity he has by not doing it.
Making the choice to do the right thing is eating away at Jimmy because he's not getting anywhere. He's no closer to his dream of a corner office and a thriving practice than he was seven episodes and however long ago. Where's the incentive to make good choices when all it gets him is broke and sleeping/working out of a hot water closet in the back of a nail salon?
His breakdown in the corner office of the space he wanted to lease was fantastic. Jimmy has this sense of duty to others, which makes him incredibly likeable. It makes him a guy we want to root for. But that's not really getting him anywhere.
I have to admit there's a part of me who is ready to see Jimmy embrace the shadier side of his nature and start running some schemes, which both protect his clients and pad his pockets. In short, I'm ready for the appearance of Saul Goodman, and I can root for that guy, too.
The previews for Better Call Saul Season 1 Episode 8 show Mike returning to the vet who stitched him up to ask for side work, so maybe we're about to see Jimmy's entanglement with Mike get a little more twisted. Maybe that's what will lead him away from the corner office and into the nearly abandoned strip mall.
Or maybe it has nothing to do with Mike at all.
There are so many questions about this show and these characters, and while I'm loving it, I'm also getting a little tired, too. It's watcher's fatigue and it is real.
Here's hoping we get some answers in the final episodes of the season.
What did you think of "Bingo"? Were you surprised Jimmy turned the Kettlemans back over to Kim?
If you missed Mike working for Jimmy, do whatever it takes and watch Better Call Saul online right now. That wins awards for best scene of the night!
Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.
