The last season of Better Call Saul ended on a brutal note of desperation. Chuck had taken big strides in combating his mental affliction to electricity, but his world fell apart after Hamlin forced him out of the law firm over Chuck’s reaction to an increase in their malpractice insurance. Unbeknownst to either of them, Jimmy was responsible for the insurance company learning of Chuck’s affliction. The law was Chuck’s life, and after having lost a wife and a brother (both of which he bears partial responsibility for) he succumbed to his psychosis, tore all of the electrical appliances out of his house again, and then kicked over a lantern that started a fire that ended his own misery. It was a rough final image to end the season on, and the aftermath of Chuck’s passing is hard on all of the people left behind.

The first images of Jimmy, other than the black and white opening of him as Gene, are of the embers and sparks of Chuck’s fire floating over the stacks of Mesa Verde files in Jimmy and Kim’s apartment, and then finally are superimposed over Jimmy’s body as he tosses and turns. He’s not yet aware of Chuck’s fate, or of the fire, but he’s been suspended from practicing law for a year, and has a routine of looking for jobs in the morning paper. Jimmy is now a civilian, looking for sales jobs and taking care of Kim as she continues to recover from her nearly fatal car crash. Their apartment is covered with stacks of boxes of Mesa Verde files, since at the end of last season they gave up their law offices. Hamlin’s repeated calls to Jimmy are ignored, until he leaves a distressing message on the answering machine.

Whatever animosity Jimmy had toward Chuck seems to vanish when he sees the burnt out remains of Chuck’s house, as well as Chuck’s body taken away by the coroner. This episode features Jimmy at his absolute quietest, working through his feelings about Chuck’s death, dealing with the guilt he inevitably feels, and sinking into a deep depression. Jimmy quickly figures out Chuck must have relapsed, after he notices the electrical appliances all piled up in the back yard. He knows the firefighters didn’t do this. Chuck was a complete son of a bitch to Jimmy, and in a way is responsible for making Jimmy what he is today. Every time Jimmy tried to do the right thing, and be a good person, Chuck put an obstacle in his way or a roadblock to keep Jimmy from reaching his full potential. The hatred and love these two felt for each other ebbed and flowed, but beyond all of the terrible things they’d done to each other they were still brothers, and Chuck’s death is a huge deal to Jimmy, and he feels responsible for it. At his shared apartment with Kim, Jimmy is surrounded by reminders of how he screwed Chuck over. The boxes of Mesa Verde files sometimes feel like they’re closing in on him. They are stacks and stacks of accusations that silently fill the room.

The roughest scene in the entire episode comes right after Chuck’s funeral, when Hamlin shows up at Jimmy and Kim’s apartment to talk about what happened. It’s clear to him Chuck’s death was suicide, especially given how they all knew Chuck was used to handling lanterns over the three plus years he’d lived without electricity. What comes next is an emotional and gut wrenching admission by Hamlin who believes he’s the one that pushed Chuck over the edge, causing his suicide. He admits after a fight about their increased malpractice insurance premiums (which Jimmy knows he’s responsible for) Chuck wouldn’t back down. Things got so aggressive that Hamlin pushed Chuck out of the firm and bought him out. Instead of consoling the emotional and broken Hamlin, who thinks it’s all his fault, Jimmy’s response is a punch to the gut. “Well Howard, I guess that’s your cross to bear.”

Jimmy’s ability to compartmentalize, shift blame, and then suddenly switches from sullen and depressed, to a happy go lucky guy without a care in the world is startling. Not just for the viewer, but for Kim as well. Jimmy has basically piled on to Hamlin at his most vulnerable moment, letting the misplaced guilt he feels for his ex-partner’s suicide sink in deeper and cut to the core. This could have been a moment of growing, learning, and healing for Jimmy, but we know what path his life takes in the future. No matter how much we all want Jimmy to turn away from becoming Saul Goodman, it’s inevitable. The question is how many more lives will he ruin before Jimmy disappears forever?

An interesting aspect of Better Call Saul is that beyond it being Saul Goodman’s origin story, the show also works as a bookend to Breaking Bad. The black and white scenes at the beginning of each season give us glimpses of the new identity Saul has taken on as Gene, a manager of a Cinnabon in Omaha. We know he’s constantly on edge over having his true identity found out, but things take a turn after Gene collapses at work. He’s taken to the hospital, tests are run, and it all turns out ok, except for a nerve-wracking moment with the admissions person. She’s having issues with his driver’s license, so she needs his social security number. Saul’s worried he’s about to be found out. His paranoia becomes worse after noticing that the cab driver keeps staring at him in the rearview mirror, and there’s an Albuquerque Isotopes air freshener hanging from it. Saul makes an excuse to exit the taxi and hurries away as fast as he can. Is this someone sent to find Saul? Is he in danger of being found out, or is his imagination just running wild?

This episode also shows Mike working his last day as a parking lot attendant, as he begins his new job for Madrigal Electromotive as a security consultant. The way he steals someone’s badge and then has the run of the warehouse and office without anyone batting an eye is hilarious. He finds all kinds of security problems, and eventually brings it to the attention of the supervisor of the building who’s flabbergasted, but mostly confused since he didn’t hire any security consultant. Gus and Lydia brought Mike on, and he name drops Lydia to the man. Taking this job has gotten Mike deeper into the cartel, but it’s also gotten him flexibility to spend more time with his granddaughter (who we see watering some plants with the spike strip hose the two made last season) and also much larger paychecks, which are being used to launder the money he stole from Hector.

Mike’s skills may end up being used very soon, since Nacho’s switcheroo with Hector’s drugs have nearly killed the old man, but didn’t finish him off thanks to Gus. He now desperately needs to dispose of the fake drugs before he’s caught, but is called to a meeting with the cartel before he can get rid of them. Hector’s stroke poses a lot of potential problems for Gus and his boss Juan Bolsa. Neither of them like Salamanca, especially Gus, but they need to keep up appearances that the Salamanca drug trade and turf will stay with the family, so that an all out turf war doesn’t take place and draw the attention of the DEA. Nacho is put in charge of running the Salamanca operation as if nothing’s changed, but Gus doesn’t trust him, and has his man Victor follow Nacho. Victor watches Nacho get rid of the drugs while parked on a bridge. Nacho never makes it onto Breaking Bad. Is this because he’s going to die over what he did to Hector, or does he get out of the drug trade?

This season of Better Call Saul feels like it’s going to go to really dark places as Jimmy gets closer and closer to becoming Saul Goodman. Will his transformation be complete by the end of the season, and if so, how much more Better Call Saul is left before it catches up to Breaking Bad?

*I decided that since I started reviewing Better Call Saul from the very beginning over at The Tracking Board, I’ll continue reviewing the series here since they no longer publish television reviews.