BCS 5.09: Kim's a Better Gangster than Jimmy

In episode 5.09 of Better Call Saul a pair of scenes shows that Kim is a better tough-guy lawyer than Jimmy. One of them is a confrontation with a powerful drug cartel member who, after Jimmy's I'm-so-sorry straight man routine probably would have killed both Jimmy and Kim if Kim hadn't stepped up and confronted him with a shrewd insight.

But Kim's first high stakes showdown is one without guns and killers. Kim and her boss, Rich Schweikart, meet with Kevin, owner/CEO of the bank they represent, to discuss next steps after Jimmy's latest con— which Kim was secretly in on, until she wasn't— forced the bank to pay a large settlement to a small-time landowner. Kim gives Kevin a professional apology. Rich nods in the background. Interestingly Rich doesn't blame her... even though he confronted her with suspicions a few episodes earlier that she was in cahoots with Jimmy to tank the bank's deal. As the two are walking out of Kevin's office, Rich dispassionately says, "I think our chances are 50/50"— of being fired.

Kim wheels around and strides back into Kevin's office. She repeats (paraphrasing) that the final negotiation wasn't her finest hour, then adds this time that Kevin shares responsibility for the outcome because he ignored her professional advice several times. She counts off three key actions he took contrary to her advice. "I hope, whoever your next lawyer is, you listen to them better," she concludes.

"Okay," Kevin says, after a momentary pause. "See you on Thursday"— meaning it's business as usual.

This reminds me of something an advisor in school told me about dealing with strong-willed people. When you messed something up, you don't go with your hat in your hands. Powerful people (and those who aspire to power) see it as a sign of weakness and will crush the weak.

My college advisor meant "crush" figuratively, of course. But Kim's next high-stakes confrontation in ep. 5.09 comes with someone who might crush her and Jimmy, literally. Lalo Salamanca.

Lalo confronts Jimmy in Kim's apartment. Both Jimmy and Kim are there. Lalo was fleeing to Mexico, but at the border he thought about Jimmy's story about carrying $7 million across the desert and smelled a rat. He forces Jimmy to retell the story over and over, looking to catch Jimmy in an inconsistency that would reveal it's fabricated. He also confronts Jimmy with observations like, "I saw your car in a ditch; you didn't tell me you pushed it in a ditch," and, "I saw your car with several bullet holes. There are no bullet holes in your story."

Kim astutely realizes that Lalo is going to win if he keeps going on like this. He'll pressure the truth out of Jimmy, then probably kill both of them— Jimmy for working with rivals and lying about it, and Kim for being a witness. Kim stands up to Lalo and confronts him with a painful truth: Lalo asked Jimmy to fetch the $7 million because he couldn't trust anybody else in his gang.

Lalo, gobsmacked, starts to say something once or twice and stops. He puts his gun away and leaves.

Kim's the one who should be the gangster lawyer. Jimmy's a con artist who's in over his head. Kim's the one who knows how to face down powerful people— whether they're bank CEOs or gang leaders.

Keeping the Villain Alive in your Role-Playing Game

I saw an interesting article on Gnome Stew, the (roleplaying) gaming blog, last week: Meeting The Villain— And Letting Them Live. It's about the challenge GMs face in a roleplaying game in creating a compelling villain the players don't just mow down in a few rounds of combat. "Well, just make the villain more powerful," is the simplistic solution. But if the villain's too powerful, then what chance do the players have? The story's hard to make compelling if the players can't score any kind of win.

I've made a lot of compelling villains in my D&D games. I know they're compelling because of how the players respond to them. And part of my success has been that my villains have staying power. They remain villains across a story arc, possibly a long story arc; but they're aren't unbeatable. The players always have some way to find victory in the end, even if it takes a lot of time and effort. Here are Five Things I do to make compelling villains with staying power:

1) Do they even know who the villain is? There's a familiar trope from TV and film that the villain appears to taunt the protagonists, twirling an oiled mustache or swirling a black cape while saying something witty. It's definitely okay to play that trope for fun— I often do!— but it doesn't have to come first. I often introduce the villain's story not by showing the villain but by showing the results of one of their plots. The PCs arrive in town just in time to avert an attack by minions, or are called to a scene to help the survivors of a disaster nobody understands the cause of. They investigate and determine that someone is behind it; they just don't know who. Yet.

2) The villain moves fast. One way to block the party from engaging the villain in combat right away and chopping him/her/it/them down in 3 rounds is to give the villain mobility. Think of it from the villain's perspective: a smart villain doesn't loiter at the scene of the crime to be arrested or killed. They're there to see the results of their dastardly planning and escape before facing much risk. Mobility could be as simple as having a fast horse or being a creature, like a dragn, who can fly away. Or it could involve magic or supernatural effects, like teleporting, or turning invisible, or being able to shapeshift and blend into a crowd. In a scifi game, mobility could mean a fast spaceship or transporter technology that's beyond the garden variety bad guy's means. Seeing the villain and seeing them escape really hooks the protagonists' desire for justice.

3) The villain works through minions. Pretty much no self-respecting villain is a solo act. 😅 Even mad egotists who regard no one as being up to their level will still use grunts and patsies to carry out some of their dirty work— and defend them from trouble. The villain's escape á lá #2 is likely enabled by minions keeping the good guys at bay just long enough. The protagonists can still score a partial victory in scenes like this. Defeating minions chips away at the villain's power and is a necessary step toward the ultimate victory (see below); plus maybe they arrived on scene early enough to thwart the villain's dastardly act even though the villain lived to villainize another day.

4) The villain's lair is protected. Going straight at the villain is a simple idea many players will come up with. While as a GM you can't just saying "No" to a player idea, you absolutely can make it clear, through storytelling and action, that this is a tough, uphill battle. The villain's lair, or wherever they hang their hat, is going to be protected. Whether it's magical wards or high tech traps, the front door isn't just open for anyone to come in. There'll be minions here, too, as guard. Oh, and possibly the local law protects the villain! The PCs may well come at the villain this way— and they may well succeed, too— but to do so they're going to have to use a number of different skills and have a plan to whittle down the villain's defenses.

5) The villain is strong— but not insurmountably so. I pretty much always create the villain as being more powerful, even stripped of all their minions, than the PCs can defeat in a fair fight. At least initially. The protagonists have to earn their victory. In addition to finding/identifying the villain, defeating their minions, disarm the traps, etc., they have to decipher what else gives the villain and advantage— and how to neutralize it. That often involves gaining a level or two while pursuing the villain and also figuring out some sort of magical/technological mystery, like how to overcome the villain's weird power armor or antimagic aura. It could also involve convincing reluctant allies to join the fight.

When the group decodes the final pieces of the puzzle, it's time for the big fight— and then, if they're lucky and good, the villain goes down in 3 rounds.

Another Quiet Weekend at Home. Until Food Poisoning.

This has been another quiet weekend at home. Scratch that; it's been a mostly quiet. Hawk and I took it easy on Saturday when the weather was cooler, planning to go out hiking somewhere Sunday when the weather was warmer. But then Hawk came down with what seemed like a case of food poisoning late Saturday night. She was up more than half the night with upset stomach and pain. Today she's been recovering but hasn't been well enough to want to leave the house even for a quick trip to the grocery store, let alone to go hiking anywhere.

It's amazing, and scary, how hard food poisoning can hit. I think all of us adults know what it's like to have eaten something that disagrees with us a little, or to have eaten too much or drank too much liquor. We throw up, we're weak; but we go to bed and sleep it off. Food poisoning is different. With food poisoning you're not only throwing up, you can't stop throwing up.

You take an OTC pill like Pepto to reduce the upset stomach? You'll throw that up.

You take a prescription med to prevent upset stomach, if you have one? You'll throw that up, too.

You drink even plain water to rehydrate after puking? You'll throw that up, too, a few minutes later.

There's basically nothing you can do to stop the pain or quell the symptoms, short of maybe an IV. Unless you want to go to the emergency room— which is its own form of suck, here in the US— you're stuck bearing the full brunt of the sickness until the food poisoning is done body-slamming you back and forth several hours— or even a few days— later.