Better Call Saul: Jimmy McGill is dying a painful death

Season 3, episode 7 of Better Call Saul shows us a different side of Jimmy McGill.

From Slippin’ Jimmy to James McGill, we’ve seen many different sides of our favorite TV lawyer throughout three seasons of Better Call Saul. What we haven’t seen yet, though…is Saul. The titular character has finally shown up as a desperate TV commercial director in a Steven Speilberg hat, sure. But we haven’t seen the cold, calculating, jaded lawyer from “Breaking Bad” yet.

That is, until the final few minutes of last week’s episode, “Expenses”, which starts with a new Jimmy, and ends with the new Saul. We first see Jimmy posted up against a brick wall, drinking coffee. He’s not wearing a suit, which is a rare occurrence on the show. Looks are EVERYTHING to Jimmy, as his suit colors and styles have changed over the past 3 seasons to accomplish a presence with his peers or potential customers.

Photo Credit: AMC

Jeans and tennis shoes Jimmy doesn’t have customers. His peers are other people sentenced to mandatory community service, and his look is that of a defeated, desperate man. Throughout the entire episode (and for the past few weeks) we’ve seen Jimmy take blow after blow, suffer loss after loss, and it all started thanks to his confrontation with his brother, Chuck.

The dissolving of Jimmy and Chuck’s relationship over the course of the show has been tough to watch since we’re all rooting for Jimmy despite knowing what he becomes. When the show started, Jimmy thought Chuck was his biggest supporter, and his desire to get his brother’s approval drove him to get a law degree and become a lawyer. 3 years later, we’ve learned the animosity Chuck has harbored for Jimmy since their youth, and how Chuck has been maybe Jimmy’s biggest roadblock throughout his life.

Not to say that Slippin’ Jimmy would have ended up on the straight and narrow, but what would his life be like had Chuck hired Jimmy as an associate, instead of blocking his hiring and letting Howard (Chuck’s smarmy business partner) take the blame?

Photo Credit: AMC

These thoughts have to be running through Jimmy’s mind this whole season. Instead of being his brother’s protege, he’s picking up piss filled Gatorade bottles underneath an overpass, and everyone is taking advantage of him. All because he tried, over and over again, to do what he felt was the right thing.

That is a far cry from the lawyer we came to know in “Breaking Bad”, who once told Walt and Jesse “Conscience gets expensive.”

In “Expenses”, we get to see our first true glimpse at the man Jimmy becomes. It was a rough episode for Jimmy the suspended lawyer and Saul Goodman, the video production manager. Jimmy picks up more trash than anyone else but is only awarded 30 minutes of service time because he was on his phone. Then he gets talked down to $0 for a commercial shoot for ABQ in Tune (shoutout to the Sklar Brothers).

Jimmy is backed into a corner. Not only can he not catch a break, people are hustling him instead of the other way around. This goes on for several days, and his desperation is starting to impact his only other relationship that is still standing, which is with Kim Wexler, his associate, and…girlfriend?

Jimmy’s relationship with Kim is unique in the world of TV. It’s not labeled clearly, and most of the intimacy between them is implied rather than shown. What we do see when they’re together is how well their personalities blend, and how well they work together as a couple. And that doesn’t just mean romantically. As lawyers, and as hustlers, Kim and Jimmy are great together.

But that relationship is waning as well in the aftermath of the Jimmy/Chuck trial. She is not OK with how Jimmy was able to escape tougher punishment, saying that all her and Jimmy did was “tear down a sick man.” She knows that Jimmy has done some less than ethical things as a lawyer, and she’s even taken part in one of his bar hustles before. But when she meets with Jimmy for cocktails in “Expenses”, she isn’t in a hustling mood.

Jimmy, however, begins eyeing up the customers and looking for ways to hustle them out of money. There is no fun, playful tone from Jimmy in this scene, and Kim feels that. He is desperate and tired of being taken advantage of. Kim makes it known that she won’t take part in any type of scheme, and Jimmy backs down and settle into his seat for another drink.

How much longer can Kim keep Jimmy from going full-Saul? We know where his character ultimately ends up. The eventual demise of this relationship will be ugly, and will probably be the thing that pushed Jimmy into full-on criminal mode. But for now, he’s able to control himself enough, for her sake at least.

Which brings us to the final scene in the episode, where Jimmy goes by his malpractice insurance agency to try and convince them to cancel his coverage for the next 12 months while he’s suspended and to either reimburse him for those 12 months or to roll them into an additional year of coverage. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t go well for Jimmy, as he is once again given bad news. Not only will they not cancel his coverage, but when his contract is up for renewal, his rates are going to go up 150% because he’s now a “liability”.

Photo Credit: AMC

Jimmy begins to cry in this scene, and it really takes the viewer by surprise. He unloads on the insurance agent, not in anger but in desperation. He tells her about his ruined relationship with his brother, and about his brother’s mental illness. It seemed very out of character for Jimmy, but not for a human. He admits to still loving his brother despite what all Chuck has done to him and again mentions Chuck’s mental state.

Of course, the insurance lady visibly makes a note of Chuck’s mental issues, and it is obvious that she is scheming in her own head about liability. After all, if Jimmy’s suspension raises his rates, then it’s safe to assume that ensuring a mentally ill lawyer would be a liability as well! Jimmy tried to convince her to forget everything he said and leaves.

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On his way out the door, we get a closeup of Jimmy’s tear stained face as a smile breaks across his lips. He intentionally said those things to that insurance lady, knowing that it would cause his brother troubles. Jimmy may not have been able to save himself money, but he was able to cost his brother more money.

That was our first glimpse at the Saul Goodman from “Breaking Bad”. There was no way to justify his actions like when he messed with Chuck’s documents to help Kim. This was nothing but spite, and it only served to give Jimmy a chance to throw some trash of his own that someone else will have to clean up.

Conscience costs…and Jimmy is just about done paying for it, I think. And as his conscious dies, so does Jimmy. Which leaves the door open for Saul Goodman to finally show up in earnest.

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