Take Three: Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul: Season 1, Episode 4 “Hero” (B)

I’m not completely sold, but there were elements of this episode that indicate that this show may possess the ability to truly be great if it stops long enough to linger on its more potent and haunting moments. There was something about Howard and Kim going to look at the billboard and it slowly coming into view that felt truly and fantastically intense, and really worked. Starting at the beginning of the episode with Kevin Weisman of “Alias” fame as a random acquaintance of Jimmy’s out on the town with him was great because it didn’t clearly introduce the situation or its timing and also gave us the first mention of Saul Goodman. Making it seem like Jimmy was being played for a fool and then finding out that it was actually him who had created the ruse was cool, and it makes Jimmy a very tough character to read. Putting up a sign designed to infuriate his rival and then staging a rescue in front of it shows just how little he cares about the ethics of the methods he uses, which made his reluctance to accept a bribe from Mrs. Kettleman, who didn’t want to hire him since he seemed like the kind of lawyer who represented guilty people all the more perplexing. He clearly managed to pique Chuck’s curiosity enough to risk going out into the ungrounded wild to steal a newspaper, which suggests that Chuck knows him well and would judge him for the tactics he has used to get ahead and earn, among other things, seven new voicemails.