TV Review: Better Call Saul "Mijo"

Jimmy McGill’s destiny as Saul is calling.

Review by Brandon Wolfe

The one-two punch of “Uno” and “Mijo” could have been alternately called “Goodman Begins.” These episodes really lay down, almost a little too neatly, the quick succession of events that turned hapless Jimmy McGill into the Saul Goodman we knew on Breaking Bad. In “Uno,” we saw how Saul began compromising his ethics out of sheer desperation. Now “Mijo” shows just how Saul developed his unique rapport with the criminal element. When Tuco and his goons (including fellow Breaking Bad returnee No-Doze) haul Saul and the skater boys out to the desert, Saul has to use that silver tongue of his to not only save his own life, but the skaters as well, no mean feat since they made the grievous error of referring to Tuco’s beloved abuelita as “biznatch.” That Saul is able to not only talk his way out of the desert alive, but negotiate the fates of his cronies down from violent death to one broken leg apiece with a complete maniac like Tuco is the moment where he makes the largest leap forward thus far toward becoming Albuquerque’s patron saint of dirtbags.

Saul hones his dirtbag-handling skills further in “Mijo,” being forced to take the lowly gig as public defender while he still waits for the big break that will launch his own practice. Not surprisingly, in a lengthy montage, Saul shows a real aptitude toward not only communicating with his hardened clients, but getting their sentences commuted. It’s not where he wants to be, professionally, but it is an opportunity to cultivate those skills that he’ll later use to pull Walt and Jesse out of the fire years down the road. “Mijo” also places Saul for the first time into an uneasy partnership with a criminal, when Tuco lieutenant Nacho, a wiser, more articulate man than those he runs with, pays Saul a visit to his glorified broom closet of an office and attempts to strike a deal with the lawyer to swipe some of that embezzled cash from that potential client Saul mentioned in the desert while trying to explain himself. Saul refuses to participate with Nacho’s plans, but one doesn’t get the sense that he’ll be let off the hook so easily. What is clear, however, is that Saul won’t be this uncomfortable about getting in bed with lowlifes for financial gain for long.

Saul’s morality is a crucial component of Better Call Saul thus far. On Breaking Bad, Saul was established as a shrewdly unscrupulous slimeball, yet as the series went on and Walt grew progressively more ruthless and craven, Saul emerged as the show’s unlikely conscience, questioning Walt’s harsher actions while never quite having the spine to extricate himself from them. It became clear that this man is oily, but he isn’t a monster. Better Call Saul appears to be telling the story of how Jimmy McGill went down a path that caused him to shed many of his principles, but this isn’t a reprise of Walt’s arc. Breaking Bad was the tale of an ordinary man taking to a life of crime surprisingly adeptly because he had a cutthroat nature lying dormant beneath his milquetoast exterior. Jimmy also takes to criminal enterprises adroitly, but he isn’t nearly as willing to relinquish the entirety of his soul in the process. When he risks his life to barter for the lives of the skaters, whom he could easily and even understandably have left to Tuco’s wrath, he reinforces the fact that he does have a line he can’t cross. Even in the early goings of Breaking Bad, it’s hard to imagine Walt being so charitable.

Though humming along nicely thus far, Better Call Saul still has a few kinks to work out. Both episodes thus far have exceeded an hour in length, something Breaking Bad did on occasion, but only as needed. These episodes did not need it. Each has had scenes and montages that drag on longer than was necessary. The excess length seems to be something Vince Gilligan is doing because he knows that he has carte blanche with AMC rather than because he needs that extra time to tell his stories. Also, the recurring thread of Saul’s brother, Chuck, who either suffers from electromagnetic sensitivity or from the paranoid belief that he does, could use a little work. Thus far, it’s just been isolated scenes of Saul being mutedly exasperated by his brother’s persnickety oddness and it tends to bring the show to a halt. Finally, the big thing Better Call Saul needs to work on above all else is to hurry up and have Mike Ehrmantraut do something more than harangue Saul for inadequate parking validation.

But on the whole, the series is off to a strong, confident start. Gilligan and his team continue to exhibit a wonderful attention to detail and are fantastic at crafting a world rich with quirks and personality. And while I hope the series doesn’t go to the Breaking Bad well any more than it has to (honestly, as neat as it was to see Tuco again, one can’t shake the feeling that it might have been smarter for the show to use an original character to fill that role), the entire desert sequence evokes the earlier series so strongly that it’s impossible not to smile with recognition. Best of all, Bob Odenkirk is giving a full-blooded turn as Saul, not making him the thin caricature of fast-talking bravado that he could easily devolve into when handed the spotlight. If these guys keep up the good work, I’ll be happy to call Saul for years to come.

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