'Better Call Saul' Recap: 'Slip'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

When we last left Jimmy McGill and his friends on Better Call Saul, we found each and every last one of them residing in quite the dark place. It seemed as though everyone was slipping down the rabbit hole since Kim was disillusioned with her actions in court, Mike and Nacho were struggling with the consequences that come with their chosen line of work and Jimmy…well Jimmy was slipping further into the darkness thanks to a lack of income and a desire to further his vendetta against Chuck since he made his brother’s illness known to an agent at their mutual provider for malpractice insurance.
 
Which means that in essence, every single character on this show is at a crossroads and they have tough choices to make as to where they go from here. They can either begin to repair the damage done in their lives or feed the darkness in their soul and as it turns out, last night’s episode, ‘Slip’, saw these dynamic characters make those choices and clearly these decisions will put these people on vastly different paths. Because some of them chose indeed to get their lives in order and set the wrongs, right. While others…continued their downward spiral. 
 
With that in mind, let’s talk about the characters who are trying to positively impact their lives since there were quite a few, including Kim who enjoyed perhaps the most powerful moment of the night. Because at a lunch with the Mesa Verde folks, Howard made his presence known and of course, took an opportunity to intimidate and embarrass Kim, allowing for her to finally force a confrontation with her former mentor and stand up to him at last. Because despite his accusations that she and Jimmy caused HH&M great trouble with what they did in the Bar hearing, she made it perfectly clear that all she did was expose the truth about Chuck’s condition, something Howard chose to keep secret from his clients and it was magnificent to see Kim put Howard in his place…and accept what happened in court and decide to move on from it.
 
However the other characters moving in a positive direction didn’t exactly enjoy moments quite as fulfilling. Mike for example, had to go an ugly route to find some internal peace for his actions, such as finding the body of the Good Samaritan he inadvertently helped die and report it to the police before diving back into Gus Fring’s world to ensure that his granddaughter and daughter-in-law have financial security once he is gone. It’s a step in the right direction for Mike, but sadly one that keeps him in the grey area where he operates best. As an added bonus in this episode, Chuck was also working to better himself, since we came to learn that he has made great progress in his recovery, to the point where he can even make it to the store on his own. But the pain he endures there speaks to the fact he has a long way to go and the malpractice insurance issue…may cause Chuck more harm than good. 

---

​But while it was nice to see some of the characters on this show work to improve their lives at last, we do have to discuss the others who decided to indulge the darkness surrounding them, like Nacho. Because he pushed ahead with his plan to make his boss pay and pay dearly by getting those placebo pills ready and despite Nacho’s boldness in the matter, it’s clear he’s fully aware of the consequences if he gets caught in doing this, which made for one intense scene at the restaurant where Hector does business because making the swap almost broke Nacho’s normally solid nerves. But the swap was made none the less and Nacho’s ugly plan to bring down Hector Salamanca is now in motion.
 
Truly though the centerpiece of the night when it comes to indulging one’s darkside however, belongs to Jimmy McGill…because he continued his downward slide into Saul Goodman last night in impressive fashion. If anything, there’s an air of apathy surrounding Jimmy now and he’s had it with doing things the right way or the fair way, he’s just ready to do whatever it takes to get ahead and for proof, look no further than the incident at the music store. Because despite getting these guys more business, they saw an opportunity to handle matters on their own and not give Jimmy a dime for his efforts. Forcing Jimmy to bust a out a simple ‘slip and fall’ con to blackmail them into getting his money by looking at things from a legal side, and wouldn’t you know it, it worked.
 
But Jimmy wasn’t quite done enjoying the thrill that comes with using the law to his advantage and he decided to try something new while performing his court required community service. Because in masterful fashion he was able to break the man supervising said service with legal jargon to not only get a break from time to time and rest his back, while still getting full credit for his hours worked, but he was also able to get a drug dealer released from service and get his full hours as well…in addition to landing seven hundred bucks from the dealer for helping him out and it's clear now that Jimmy is truly getting a taste for skirting the grey line between what’s right and what’s wrong and every single time he makes a decision such as this, he moves one step closer to becoming Saul Goodman.
 
If anything, the best way to describe this episode is bittersweet. Because while it was awesome to see that Chuck is genuinely trying to better his life, that Mike is attempting to right his wrongs and that Kim is ready to leave the Chuck mess behind her…it’s just as heartbreaking to know that Nacho made his dark decision to put Hector down in brutal fashion. But most importantly, while it’s incredible to see Jimmy slowly slip into Saul’s shoes, it’s equally painful to watch it unfold before our eyes. Because little by little, the good in him we saw in the series premiere is fading away and it’s just a matter of time before only the darkness remains, and with only two episodes left in season three, one has to wonder just how much more progress Jimmy is going to make toward becoming Saul Goodman. Until next time.

---