Halfway through its second season, Better Call Saul has mostly dug in, eschewing narrative progress in favor of checking in to see what kind of headspace everyone is in. Mike is starting to see the ramifications of his unfortunate half measure with Tuco, coming face to face with—of all people—a menacing, fully verbal Hector Salamanca. Meanwhile, Kim, in the highlight of the episode, grimly runs through her phone contacts to try to rustle up promising new business for the firm, only to be tersely shut down by Howard when she suggests the possibility of returning to meaningful work. She has a loaded, tense conversation about her boyfriend with Chuck, who suggests that Jimmy isn’t really a bad person—he just has no impulse control.
That seems to be the view taken by HHM, which has assigned Jimmy a chipper young associate to...well, essentially to make sure he doesn’t do anything illegal. Their pairing produces plenty of comedy, especially when Jimmy tries to give the clerk at the courthouse a stuffed animal (which viewers at home might have forgotten is technically a bribe), but it also prevents him from doing much beyond bristling at his restraints. As much as he’d like to go off and be a hero, or even take the sort of shortcuts that make him a valuable lawyer, he’s in a bind for now, especially if he wants Kim to stay with him. Her curt response to his fallback—an insane plan to sue HHM—rings true: “You don’t save me. I save me.”
Alignment: Chaotic Good
