This episode’s intro starts out with a flashback. We’re now inside of a flashback that’s inside of another flashback, for anyone who is counting. Can we go another level and see little Jimmy in grade school back in Cicero?
The intro flashback also features a clip of Chuck looking like a very young, posh lawyer, complete with electronic devices (though he’s ‘grounding’ himself to start the episode). We also get a shot of Jimmy, who apparently went and raided the wig department of “The Americans”.
Back to the main flashback (the show) and Jimmy is at his “office” late at night, enjoying some cucumber water and he calls his friend Kim (from the law firm) and just chats with her. We get some more insight into their background and Jimmy tries to warn Kim that the Kettlemans need to be careful, but he’s not great at being subtle or graceful and tries to write it off as being drunk.
Tune into the TV Soup Podcast (Episode 02: Better Call Saul, "Nacho" Review)
Jimmy is not a bad guy, ok. I think that the impression the writers are trying to make is that he, maybe unlike others in this world, does not want to hurt others along the way. His scams are always for money only and he only ever gets himself hurt. It’s this spirit in Jimmy that won’t let him sleep on this night. He knows that Nacho is planning something and he decides to try and warn the Kettlemans. One crazy phone call later (sex robot voice?) and Jimmy can finally sleep the rest of the night.
The following morning, after more courthouse frustrations (and hilarious television), Jimmy arrives at the Kettlemans empty house, swarming with police after the family has gone missing. The whole time, we feel like Jimmy is not giving up some important information, but really he’s just being a good lawyer and keeping his mouth shut until he really knows what is going on with the situation.
Jimmy is desperate to contact Nacho, and has many, many attempts to call him from a payphone. This scene builds tension and puts in on hold a few times, done wonderfully along with the music. Odenkirk's acting chops are really showing, as this entire scene he is alone. This might seem like an easy part - play a character you've already perfected, but younger and dumber. Looks are certainly deceiving as this acting job he's doing is really top notch.
Jimmy showed off his detective skills and discovers that the Kettlemans have kidnapped themselves. Jimmy still needs to convince everyone else of this though, as there’s overwhelming evidence to the contrary. At this point, nobody believes Jimmy, and this is a problem for him because Nacho is not having any of this nonsense and threatened to kill Jimmy if he doesn’t get him out of it, pronto.
Finally, we get an actual scene with Mike, when Jimmy tries to go back to the courthouse and is denied entry by Mike, the toll booth troll. Jimmy pokes him in a brief altercation and Mike has no problem taking care of him. Inside, where Mike may or may not press charges, the cops from the kidnapping case try to get Mike to lean on Jimmy to get him to give it up, but the condescending cops are too much for Mike. He believes Jimmy's story about the kidnapping and doesn't press charges. Finally, someone believes Jimmy.
Couple notes on Mike - he's the only character we've seen who looks older now than in Breaking Bad, which takes places about 7-8 years after BCS. It's also been 3 episodes, and they haven't said what his name is yet. He's well known to BB viewers, but he's really just the toll troll up until now for viewers of only BCS.
And what's that, an entire episode without a montage? Scoff at the idea! We find Jimmy on a trip through the woods where he's quite ill-equipped, but after what seems like most of a day of walking, he stumbles upon a tent full of the Kettlemans singing "b-i-n-g-o" and we get Saul barging into the tent with a very theatrical "Here's Johnny!".
As Saul tries to drag them out, a fight over a bag ensues and all the cash comes flying out, leaving off at that moment. We’re left on a classic Vince Gilligan cliffhanger, Jimmy is in the middle of nowhere, he’s already alerted people that he found them and now he’s standing in front of a big pile of money. I can’t wait until next Monday, but I’m sure at that point I’ll just have more questions than answers.
