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It may seem like I'm skipping around between episodes of Better Call Saul in Season 1. Well, I am. And I'm also not writing about every episode. As I've remarked before, my blogging about TV and streaming isn't to provide plot synopses of every episode but rather to write about interesting writing. Sometimes that means posting two blogs about one episode. Other times it means writing one blog after several episodes.
Episode 1.09, "Pimento", is the second to last in season 1. It's mostly about a story with Mike Ehrmantraut. The title even pertains to it. Mike takes his first criminal job as a "fixer" in Albuquerque bodyguarding a man in a drug deal. While that story's fun to watch because Mike is a surprising badass for his age and his sardonic wit is a great foil to the showy fools he gets the better of, it's not a story worth writing a blog about. The thing worth writing about happens at the end of the episode, when the focus switches back to Jimmy, aka the title character of the series, for the last few minutes. A single scene with Jimmy at the end provides the emotional climax of season.
Throughout season 1 so much of what Jimmy does is colored by his hatred for Howard Hamlin, the managing partner at fancy law firm HHM in Albuquerque. The story behind it is revealed in a series of flashbacks sprinkled throughout the season. Stitching them together: Jimmy got a job as a mailroom clerk at HHM when he moved out from Chicago several years earlier. It's all his brother, Charles, also a partner at HHM, could get him. Jimmy worked hard in the mailroom while quietly pursuing a law degree nights and weekends with an accredited but not well respected university's distance-learning program. He worked hard and earned his degree. Then he studied hard to pass the bar. He failed the bar exam twice, but then he passed. He shared his passing the bar with his colleagues at HHM. They were all surprised and happy for him. Jimmy thought he'd be given a job as an associate attorney— like his mailroom friend Kim Wexler was offered when she finished law school and passed the bar— but Howard told him No. Jimmy has had a vendetta against Howard ever since. And Jimmy's only gotten more bitter since Howard turned him down for the job.
Jimmy's hatred of Howard is shown in the mocking billboard he rented in episode 1.04. His hatred intensified in episode 1.08. Jimmy had worked hard to build a case against an elder care home defrauding its elderly residents. The case quickly grew too big for him, so he looped in his older brother, Charles. When the case grew too big for the both of them, he brought it to HHM at Charles's urging. Jimmy thought this would finally be his entrée to a partner-track job at HHM. It was a great case, and Jimmy was instrumental to it. He had outstanding rapport with the clients. But Howard once again tells Jimmy the firm won't hire him. They'll take over the case and pay him a small finder's fee plus a share of the eventual settlement, but they won't give him a job. Jimmy is crushed. He's not just crushed; he's pissed. He ends the negotiation and refuses to give HHM the case.
A day later Jimmy uncovers a shocking little fact. His brother, Charles, called Howard the night before the negotiation. Charles is suffering from mental illness and believes he has "electromagnetic sensitivity"— basically a crippling allergy to electric fields. He's ripped out all the electrical wires in his house and hates going outside. Jimmy learns about the call because Charles snuck out to place it on Jimmy's mobile phone— a phone that Jimmy stuffs in the mailbox every time he visits out of respect for Charles's "illness"— late at night. Jimmy doesn't know for a fact what Charles said on the call, just that it happened; but he pieces together the facts. He confronts his brother: "You told Howard to not hire me." Charles admits it.
Charles does more than just admit he told Howard not to hire Jimmy at HHM, both times; he also explains matter-of-factly that Jimmy is a fake lawyer— because his degree is from a school Charles considers fake even though it's accredited— and doesn't even deserve to practice law because he doesn't do it with the respect for the institution Charles believes it deserves. Jimmy is devastated. His own brother has been undermining him for years. It wasn't Howard as the snarling villain holding Jimmy back but Charles the whole time.
Jimmy leaves his brother's house, telling him he's on his own now. Jimmy had been doing a lot to take care of Charles. Because of Charles's fear of going outside and refusal to use anything electrical, Jimmy had been bringing in fresh food and ice every day. (Charles would cook food over a propane camp stove indoors. ...As a skilled outdoors person, I say OMFG! BTW. 😱) Now that's finished. Jimmy went back to HHM and gave them the elder care home fraud case... along with a daily shopping list for Charles. His welfare is their problem now. And I don't blame Jimmy one bit for washing his hands of Charles.
Episode 1.09, "Pimento", is the second to last in season 1. It's mostly about a story with Mike Ehrmantraut. The title even pertains to it. Mike takes his first criminal job as a "fixer" in Albuquerque bodyguarding a man in a drug deal. While that story's fun to watch because Mike is a surprising badass for his age and his sardonic wit is a great foil to the showy fools he gets the better of, it's not a story worth writing a blog about. The thing worth writing about happens at the end of the episode, when the focus switches back to Jimmy, aka the title character of the series, for the last few minutes. A single scene with Jimmy at the end provides the emotional climax of season.
Throughout season 1 so much of what Jimmy does is colored by his hatred for Howard Hamlin, the managing partner at fancy law firm HHM in Albuquerque. The story behind it is revealed in a series of flashbacks sprinkled throughout the season. Stitching them together: Jimmy got a job as a mailroom clerk at HHM when he moved out from Chicago several years earlier. It's all his brother, Charles, also a partner at HHM, could get him. Jimmy worked hard in the mailroom while quietly pursuing a law degree nights and weekends with an accredited but not well respected university's distance-learning program. He worked hard and earned his degree. Then he studied hard to pass the bar. He failed the bar exam twice, but then he passed. He shared his passing the bar with his colleagues at HHM. They were all surprised and happy for him. Jimmy thought he'd be given a job as an associate attorney— like his mailroom friend Kim Wexler was offered when she finished law school and passed the bar— but Howard told him No. Jimmy has had a vendetta against Howard ever since. And Jimmy's only gotten more bitter since Howard turned him down for the job.
Jimmy's hatred of Howard is shown in the mocking billboard he rented in episode 1.04. His hatred intensified in episode 1.08. Jimmy had worked hard to build a case against an elder care home defrauding its elderly residents. The case quickly grew too big for him, so he looped in his older brother, Charles. When the case grew too big for the both of them, he brought it to HHM at Charles's urging. Jimmy thought this would finally be his entrée to a partner-track job at HHM. It was a great case, and Jimmy was instrumental to it. He had outstanding rapport with the clients. But Howard once again tells Jimmy the firm won't hire him. They'll take over the case and pay him a small finder's fee plus a share of the eventual settlement, but they won't give him a job. Jimmy is crushed. He's not just crushed; he's pissed. He ends the negotiation and refuses to give HHM the case.
A day later Jimmy uncovers a shocking little fact. His brother, Charles, called Howard the night before the negotiation. Charles is suffering from mental illness and believes he has "electromagnetic sensitivity"— basically a crippling allergy to electric fields. He's ripped out all the electrical wires in his house and hates going outside. Jimmy learns about the call because Charles snuck out to place it on Jimmy's mobile phone— a phone that Jimmy stuffs in the mailbox every time he visits out of respect for Charles's "illness"— late at night. Jimmy doesn't know for a fact what Charles said on the call, just that it happened; but he pieces together the facts. He confronts his brother: "You told Howard to not hire me." Charles admits it.
Charles does more than just admit he told Howard not to hire Jimmy at HHM, both times; he also explains matter-of-factly that Jimmy is a fake lawyer— because his degree is from a school Charles considers fake even though it's accredited— and doesn't even deserve to practice law because he doesn't do it with the respect for the institution Charles believes it deserves. Jimmy is devastated. His own brother has been undermining him for years. It wasn't Howard as the snarling villain holding Jimmy back but Charles the whole time.
Jimmy leaves his brother's house, telling him he's on his own now. Jimmy had been doing a lot to take care of Charles. Because of Charles's fear of going outside and refusal to use anything electrical, Jimmy had been bringing in fresh food and ice every day. (Charles would cook food over a propane camp stove indoors. ...As a skilled outdoors person, I say OMFG! BTW. 😱) Now that's finished. Jimmy went back to HHM and gave them the elder care home fraud case... along with a daily shopping list for Charles. His welfare is their problem now. And I don't blame Jimmy one bit for washing his hands of Charles.
