The finale of BETTER CALL SAUL Season 2 does not tie up this season's plot threads in a neat bow nor leave us with another infuriating cliffhanger (I'm talking about you THE WALKING DEAD). Instead it kicks things up a notch while giving us new revelations and insights into the characters. And we get a very good idea how Jimmy McGill ends up as BREAKING BAD's Saul Goodman.
If this episode belonged to anybody, it's to the amazing Michael McKean and his character of Chuck McGill, the electricity phobic older brother. Chuck might be mentally ill, but he is one smart cookie and he's on to Jimmy in every way-he's just has a hard time proving it. That is until the end, when the older brother proves himself to be a better and more ruthless con than his younger brother, eliciting a confession from Jimmy (and secretly recording it) that he sabotaged the Mesa Verde account. This is a bomb that will surely detonate in Season 3 with devastating results.
McKean also shines in the early scenes, when in the aftermath of the copy shop fiasco from last week's episode, he melts down in the ER when he is bombarded with dreaded electricity. Also props to Ernie, who comes to Jimmy's rescue in the hospital when Chuck nails him for bribing the clerk and screwing up Mesa Verde.
The other storyline concerns Jonathan Banks' Mike Ehrmentrout, who is out to take out Mark Margolis' Uncle Tio Salamanca. This sets up an incredibly suspenseful scene where Mike waits like a sniper to shoot Tio as the gang takes out the hapless truck driver whom Mike robbed last week. We know Mike will make it out alive, but we fear for him nevertheless, and the payoff is something we never see coming.
It has been an amazing season for BETTER CALL SAUL, which began as something of a slow burn, but really ramped up as it went along. Who would have predicted the show's central theme would become one of brotherly love and spiteful sibling jealousy. What other show has a relationship like the one between Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler, all praise to Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seahorn for making these characters real. Then there is the outstanding supporting work from Michael Mando, Patrick Fabian and Jim Beaver as the best gun dealer a killer could ever want.
And for a drama, this show is funnier than most official comedies on TV; Hoboken Squat Cobbler anyone?
Who left the note on the windshield for Mike, my money is on Gus Fring or someone connected to him.
I would say, don't forget Michael McKean come Emmy time, but they probably will anyway. All praise to Vince Gilligan, who took the comic relief on BREAKING BAD and made him the center of another amazing show.
I cannot wait for Season 3, but have no choice. Damn you AMC.
If this episode belonged to anybody, it's to the amazing Michael McKean and his character of Chuck McGill, the electricity phobic older brother. Chuck might be mentally ill, but he is one smart cookie and he's on to Jimmy in every way-he's just has a hard time proving it. That is until the end, when the older brother proves himself to be a better and more ruthless con than his younger brother, eliciting a confession from Jimmy (and secretly recording it) that he sabotaged the Mesa Verde account. This is a bomb that will surely detonate in Season 3 with devastating results.
McKean also shines in the early scenes, when in the aftermath of the copy shop fiasco from last week's episode, he melts down in the ER when he is bombarded with dreaded electricity. Also props to Ernie, who comes to Jimmy's rescue in the hospital when Chuck nails him for bribing the clerk and screwing up Mesa Verde.
The other storyline concerns Jonathan Banks' Mike Ehrmentrout, who is out to take out Mark Margolis' Uncle Tio Salamanca. This sets up an incredibly suspenseful scene where Mike waits like a sniper to shoot Tio as the gang takes out the hapless truck driver whom Mike robbed last week. We know Mike will make it out alive, but we fear for him nevertheless, and the payoff is something we never see coming.
It has been an amazing season for BETTER CALL SAUL, which began as something of a slow burn, but really ramped up as it went along. Who would have predicted the show's central theme would become one of brotherly love and spiteful sibling jealousy. What other show has a relationship like the one between Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler, all praise to Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seahorn for making these characters real. Then there is the outstanding supporting work from Michael Mando, Patrick Fabian and Jim Beaver as the best gun dealer a killer could ever want.
And for a drama, this show is funnier than most official comedies on TV; Hoboken Squat Cobbler anyone?
Who left the note on the windshield for Mike, my money is on Gus Fring or someone connected to him.
I would say, don't forget Michael McKean come Emmy time, but they probably will anyway. All praise to Vince Gilligan, who took the comic relief on BREAKING BAD and made him the center of another amazing show.
I cannot wait for Season 3, but have no choice. Damn you AMC.