‘Better Call Saul’ Recap: ‘Wiedersehen’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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Let’s be honest, if there’s one thing all of us crave in our everyday lives, it’s acceptance. We love the idea of people seeing us for who we are and being just fine with us, despite our flaws and it’s something we seek out on a regular basis and enjoy from our closest circle of friends since it provides us with a sense of peace. But, the true Zen moment when it comes to acceptance, is when we are able to look in the mirror, and be happy with the person that we see, because it doesn’t get more powerful than self-acceptance and when we aren’t happy in our own skin, bad things happen since we push to fill that void by any means necessary and being happy with one’s self and accepting who we are internally is on my mind today, because it was a powerful focal point of last night’s episode of Better Call Saul.
 
Because ‘Wiedersehen’ put Jimmy McGill’s insecurities and need to be accepted by someone close to him on full display, all while bringing his internal pain and fury when it comes to his troubled relationship with Chuck, and his death for that matter, around full circle in stunning fashion because this episode featured a pivotal moment in Jimmy’s life. For in this tale, we should have seen Jimmy law license be reinstated by the state of New Mexico and considering how impressive his reinstatement interview went, since he was able to wow the board with eloquent and informative answers, it was quite shocking at first to hear that the board would not be giving him back his license for the time being. But, once we saw Jimmy’s fury return after receiving this downtrodden and earth-shattering news, and learned exactly why the board said no, since they claimed he was ‘insincere’, it suddenly all made sense.
 
For in reality, Jimmy put on a show for the board, and ate up the acceptance they sent his way. They made him feel like a lawyer again, but one question and one question alone is what torpedoed his chances. Because when he was asked what the law meant to him, he hemmed and hawed and gave a mostly honest answer. But he forgot to speak to the one big reason that he worked hard to be a lawyer, to impress his big brother. In fact, he omitted any mention of Chuck altogether since he’s made it inherently clear that his brother is dead and gone and it is time to move on, and seeing that kind of cold response brought forth doubt in the hearing and well, it exposed everything that Jimmy has tried to bury internally and in the most stunning moment of the night, Jimmy’s pain was put on full display in front of Kim with equally disastrous results.  

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Because the two of them finally had it out and Jimmy admitted, in his own special way, how badly he needed Kim to accept him for all of his flaws and to love him for the man that he is, and in this moment, the specter of Saul Goodman, and Slippin’ Jimmy were removed from the series altogether, allowing for us to see James McGill, the shattered man. It was here that we saw just how much Jimmy loathes himself, and believes he’s awful, and now we understand why he pushed so hard gain Chuck’s acceptance and in turn Kim’s and well, it was all so heartbreaking to finally see the real Jimmy and see how much he’s suffering and despite Kim’s best efforts to console him and promise him help down the line as he tries to appeal the ruling, I think we all know deep down, that this is the beginning of the end for this couple and that for some time now, they’ve been growing and moving in different directions.
 
If anything, it’s clear now that Saul Goodman’s creation never came about from one particular moment, but instead a series of them. Chuck’s death, the probable end of this relationship and a jading on Jimmy’s part when it comes to the law all helped to create a man that thrives on the acceptance and gratitude of strangers in desperate places and well, I strongly feel as though this episode brought us one step closer to Saul’s true genesis as we close in on Breaking Bad’s timeline and speaking of the source material, Jimmy isn’t the only one closing in on his destiny. For we came to learn in this story that Lalo is the reason why Hector has his iconic bell and Mike’s journey pushed him further into Gus Fring’s pocket since he will clearly do anything and everything to keep the business safe, and Werner needs to be worried about what will happen when Mike catches up to him.
 
But, while I am loving how the two universes are starting to blend together, what matters more here is Jimmy’s journey and how it continues to take a turn for the worse. Because wow, his breakdown in this episode was nothing short of stunning and well, I have a bad feeling that next week’s appeal hearing may be what snaps the last thread that Jimmy’s psyche is holding on to. Because a failure on Kim’s part would only create a greater divide in their relationship and reinforce his fears that he’s a loser and is being abandoned, regardless of the fact that Jimmy’s actions have led him to this point. But, either way, what a poignant and heartbreaking episode, and we are truly on a collision course with fate now for Jimmy, and the fact that we now know that Saul Goodman is forged from pain and anguish adds a new gravity and depth to the character that I never thought was possible. Until next time.  

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