• By
• Scott Neumyer

After getting his groove back in the latter half of the second episode of “Better Call Saul,” it certainly doesn’t take Jimmy McGill long to lose that newfound confidence.

When Nacho walked out of Jimmy’s nail salon office at the conclusion of last week’s episode, it felt like the lawyer had definitely been a bit shaken by what just transpired, but I thought he’d take that “I’m the best lawyer ever” attitude and keep his luck rolling.

Within just a few minutes of the start of “Nacho,” we get a good sense of just why “Slippin’ Jimmy” is not only so reluctant to get involved with Tuco’s cohort, but it also gives us a glimpse into the reason that he’s clearly out of practice.

The episode opens with Jimmy’s brother Chuck McGill dropping his phone, wallet, and other belongings into a metal box (a nice visual reference, as well, to the way that Jimmy will have to leave his phone in Chuck’s mailbox a few years later).

A few cuts later and we’re in an interrogation room with pre-mental illness Chuck, dressed to the nines as a lawyer, waiting for Jimmy to enter.

The scene is a great one, and not just because we get to hear Jimmy in full-on desperation mode and sporting a pretty funny haircut. It also reveals to us a few important things in just a couple minutes of screen time.

If anyone watching “Better Call Saul” was wondering why someone who would go on to become the slimy, slippery Saul Goodman would be so dedicated to looking after his brother, now you have a good idea why.

Chuck not only saves Jimmy’s life by keeping him off the sex offenders list, but he also gets his brother to promise him that he’s going to actually change. It should come as no surprise that Jimmy is now so beholden to his brother – enough so to put up with filling a cooler with food for Chuck every other day and dropping his cell phone in the mailbox every time he visits.

The other thing this scene does is give us a very good indication of why Jimmy is so reluctant, at first, to take Nacho up on his “offer” to help clean out the Kettleman family.

Slippin’ Jimmy has been down that road before and the only thing it got him was arrested. It also put his life in the hands of a seemingly estranged brother that he probably didn’t really want to call at the time.

For him to jump right back into that life, especially just after he got his mojo back (I mean, come on, he finally got to drink the cucumber water!) would not only be going back on his word to Chuck, but it would also likely be disastrous for his life and career. Unfortunately for Jimmy, it looks like he’s not going to have much choice.

Once the episode jumps out of the flashback, “Nacho” turns mostly to plot machination. It’s all interesting, and surely necessary to get the ball rolling toward Jimmy’s transition into Saul, but it does make this third episode a bit weaker than the first two.

Jimmy, now thinking about his salacious past, tries to find the strength in him to warn the Kettleman family, but he can’t even manage to do that very well. He’s back to being a bumbling, down-on-his-luck, confidence-shot lawyer.

The fact that he eventually gets caught up in the disappearance of the Kettleman family, becomes Nacho’s lawyer (even though Nacho, at first, thinks Jimmy set him up), and cracks the case of the missing thieves is what will likely lead him down his Saul Goodman path.

My guess is that Jimmy, having now seen that the Kettleman family (hiding out in the woods singing camp songs) actually has the money on them, is going to take Nacho up on his offer of getting their share of that money.

At this point, who would even notice if the Kettlemans did actually disappear?

I’ll leave that to Gilligan, Gould, and future episodes of “Better Call Saul” to figure out, but I’m along for the ride as long as they can keep pumping out hours of television filled with as much character development, drama, and beautifully-shot moments as they have with these first three.

Judging by their track record, I’d say “Better Call Saul” should be just fine.

A Few Stray Observations:

• It’s pretty cool to get a look at pre-mental illness Chuck McGill. Michael McKean is great, as always.
• The plot details of “Nacho” were certainly the least interesting part, but I get that they’re necessary in establishing the storyline that’s going to be the crux of where “Better Call Saul” goes. That being said, these characters and actors are strong enough to pull me through even the dullest plot points.
• I didn’t mention it above, but seeing the relationship between Jimmy and Mike start to blossom in this episode was one of my favorite parts of “Nacho.” I’m not surprised, based on these early interactions, that they end up being besties for years to come.
• When Mike and Jimmy meet up in the stairwell of the police department (and Mike explains why he believes Jimmy’s story about the Kettleman’s), Mike tells him, “Nobody wants to leave home.” That sentence from Mike is crushing for Jimmy considering that he had to leave Chicago to escape the legal trouble Chuck got him out of, and maybe even more tragically, as we know he’ll end up having to leave New Mexico and start managing a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska. Sad stuff.
• I’m interested to see where Jimmy’s weird relationship with Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) goes. It’s clearly in a strange place now, but I’m on board to find out both where it’s going and, maybe through some flashbacks, where it has been before.
• When Jimmy greets Chuck in the interrogation room he says, “Here’s Johnny!” which is a reference to “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” (which itself is referenced, of course, in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”). He gives the Kettleman family the same greeting when he opens the tent and scares them near the end of the episode.
• The only song we hear this week is “Find Out What’s Happening” by Bobby Bare during the scene where Jimmy goes into the woods to search for the Kettleman family. Here are the lyrics.
• What did I miss “Better Call Saul” fanatics? Let me know in the comments!

‘Better Call Saul’ airs on AMC on Mondays at 10 PM ET. Follow our recaps af

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