Welcome to the TV Recap series Better Recall Saul that chronicles the adventures of Better Call Saul and a young criminal lawyer as he cuts his teeth down in ABQ (and his Breaking Bad buddies might stop by to wish him luck). Feel free to join every Tuesday as the adventures unravel and the story behind one of the funniest and sleaziest lawyers in TV history begins to take form and remind us why he is such a great character in the first place. Is this spin-off meant for greatness, or is it the worst idea that AMC has ever done? You'll have to read on to find out the truth.
Season 2, Episode 6: "Bali Ha'i"
“Of course you lost. It’s
an unwinnable position."
- Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian)
Plot:
Things are heating up between Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) and Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk). As Jimmy leaves her voice messages every day, Kim enjoys a life as an attorney who is forced to take on unwinnable cases. She longs for the good old days and seeks to blow it off by doing cons that she recently had done with Jimmy. Meanwhile, Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) discovers that he is being stalked by Marco (Luis Moncada) and Leonel (Daniel Moncada) Salamanca, better known as The Cousins. It is then that he decides to talk to Tio Salamanca (Mark Margolis) again, who is still intent on having him take the rat for Tuco to lower his jail time. When he doesn't, Mike grows weary, realizing that it's only going to be more difficult for his family - of whom are hiding out in a hotel. Jimmy contemplates moving back into his old abode behind a saloon.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
MVP:
Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn)
Now that we're on the back half of the season, it's intriguing to see that the season has shifted so much interest onto Kim's story. While she has always been significant, this season has seen her become more involved with Jimmy and his antics. Here we continue to see her fall into position as a legitimate lawyer, and how dull that may end up being. She takes a bum case and ends up longing for the more corrupt days. She's really one of the only characters doing effective work this episode, and one can only hope that hearing all of those South Pacific songs on her answering machine have done her good. She definitely needs it after putting up with so much negativity in her life.
Best Scene
Things are heating up for Mike and Tio, and they meet up to handle business once and for all. With The Cousins in town wanting to kill him, he makes the case for why he shouldn't be taking the rat for Tuco. It's a nerve racking scene in which Mike stands his grounds, but is likely setting everything up for potential failure in the near future. If anything, the pieces that connect Better Call Saul to Breaking Bad are becoming more clear, and the potential for danger only strengthens as time goes on. Now with four Salamancas in the shared universe, one can only imagine how soon until something really bad goes down, or if maybe someone will end up dead.
Overall Thoughts
As stated before, I am not as into this show as most people seem to be. While I like the direction that the series is going in, the average episode feels like it has a little too much filler, or provides very little of substance. Even at the great moments of this episode, I cannot help but feel a little impatient with desire to see something more happen. It was great to see Mike and the Salamanca family finally have a conversation, but most of the build-up wasn't worth it. I am excited to see where Kim ends up at the end of the season. I just wish that there was something more to make me care about the events being depicted on screen however.
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