In an episode rather lite on Jimmy McGill, “Bali Ha’i” — episode six of Better Call Saul’s second season — sees Mike and Kim searching for escape routes from their professional lives. Burdened by their decisions, both long for something, well, simpler — something that doesn’t careen them even deeper into heartbreak and misery.
Kim has been moved back up to an office (with windows!) and it seems her life at HHM will resemble something normal again. Howard, however, has other plans: he continues to punish Kim by making nice with her in front of clients, and cold-shouldering anywhere and everywhere else. Kim is exhausted by this, and feels that the company she’s logged a decade in — growing from the mailroom on up — in no way has her back.
But, she is not without her suitors. After a Sandpiper hearing where Kim flexed her legal muscle hard in front of opposing counsel, attorney Rick Schweikart — who represents Sandpiper — compliments her courtroom skills and invites her out to lunch. There, Rick tries to poach Kim — even offering to pay off her student loans and set her on partner track.
IMAGE: AMC
At his firm, Rick says, Kim will have “freedom to spread her wings." Kim feels loyal to HHM, but cannot bring herself to reject the offer.
Meanwhile, Mike’s face is healing, but his problems with the Tio clan are not. Tio has sent a man directly to Mike’s doorstep to get an answer about the gun offer — say the gun in the Tuco scuffle is his, accept the charge, let Tuco spend fewer years behind bars, collect five grand. Mike still refuses to accept the proposal. “You sure about that?” Tio’s soldier says. “I am,” Mike replies, as the man slips away.
Of course, street wise Mike knows the situation has just escalated — Tio’s men are now making house calls? No dice. Late one night, Mike returns home, spidey senses tingling. With almost effortless instinct, Mike draws his gun, hides inside, and lures out two men who'd been stowed away in the house into the living room by turning the TV on.
IMAGE: AMC
Mike quickly takes the two men out, knocking them to the ground. Realizing they aren’t there to put a bullet in his head, Mike asks, “What’s the message?” The men reply, “Take the five thousand,” and that they were just there to scare him. “Try harder next time,” Mike says, before barking at them to get out.
Mike cleans his gun and hands in the kitchen sink afterward, seemingly calm and collected — but his hand has begun to shake. Before Mike can wallow in his own anxiety, he grabs his hand, forcing it to stop, forcing the fear back down.
Kim is out day-drinking, mulling over her employment offer, when an engineer named Dale strikes up a conversation and buys her a drink. On a whim, Kim decides to make this bar encounter a little more interesting — and phones Jimmy for help. Soon, Jimmy has arrived at the bar, and the two have assumed their identities of Giselle and Viktor.
Kim has already done much of the setup on her own and seems intoxicated not just by the booze, but by the prospect of conning and being someone else for a few moments. She's practically giddy as she scurries off to the bathroom, leaving Jimmy neck-deep in fictional narrative he needs to quickly navigate.
IMAGE: AMC
Mike believes he’s staved off the problem with Tio for the time being, and enjoys some R&R babysitting his granddaughter poolside at his daughter-in-law’s current abode. But it doesn’t take long for Mike to notice two men watching Mike from afar — it’s the Cousins, two violent twins from “Breaking Bad.” One points a finger-gun at Mike’s granddaughter and pulls the trigger — bang. The threat has been made, and Mike isn’t just unamused — he’s unsettled, and hustles his granddaughter inside.
Threat made, point taken. Mike meets with Tio, Nacho and the Cousins, where Tio tells Mike to accept responsibility for Tuco’s gun — oh, and now, because Mike dragged his feet, there’s no payment of five grand. Mike won’t accept that, and demands $50k — “maybe I need the fifty thousand more than you do,” Mike hisses at Tio. Surprisingly, Tio is amused by Mike’s “giant balls,” and agrees to Mike’s demands.
After the meet, Nacho finds Mike and hands over the $50k — only to find Mike handing half of it back over to him. Mike explains that he “didn’t hold up his end” in the Tuco affair now that he’s accepted the responsibility for the gun — Tuco won't be spending much time in jail. “Your problem,” Mike says, “is coming back sooner than we expected.”
While Mike’s life is chugging toward seriously criminal waters, Jimmy and Kim wake up next to each other following their evening of relatively harmless shenanigans. It’s as if these mini-cons a form of foreplay-through-roleplay for Kim, as she’s finally let Jimmy back into her home, bed and life. But there is a gloominess she cannot quite shake — and when Jimmy inquires about her off mood, Kim can barely place its source. “I keep thinking of you floating in that pool,” she says. “You knew what you wanted, but I got in the way.”
IMAGE: AMC
Jimmy assures her that taking the gig at Davis & Main was the “right decision” for his life. And yet, her comment seemed rooted more in her own existential crisis as an attorney — what have the last 10 years of her life even meant? Why does she feel more alive pretending to be someone else? Is there another road she should have taken? Jimmy tries to cheer Kim up, and the two leave for work on good terms.
But even Jimmy is painting on a happy face for Kim — in reality, he is still stuck with his Davis & Main chaperone, Erin, and his shiny corporate apartment (and life) literally keeps him up at night. Jimmy is only able to sleep soundly back in the cramped, dingy quarters of his nail salon office.
If the perfect, adult life is not paradise for Jimmy and Kim, what is? At the beginning of the episode, Jimmy leaves Kim a sweet voicemail, trying to serenade her back into his life. He sings her the lyrics to “Bali Ha’i”:
No comments:
Post a Comment