Better Call Saul – Season 1, Episode 8 – Piecing Things Together 4

The creators and the show and starting to pull the threads together, resulting in what may have been the most satisfying episode of the season.

During the season, Jimmy’s relationship with his older brother Chuck has been pivotal, both to his past and his present. In the past, Jimmy was the small-time con artist who embarrassed his successful older brother. In the present, Jimmy is his brother’s caretaker as Chuck hides in a prison of his own making. For this show to work, you have to buy the dynamic of the sibling relationship. Jimmy, who on Breaking Bad was an entertaining and creative attorney who had long since gone over to the wrong side of the law, is a sympathetic character trying so hard to do good, in large part to win Chuck’s respect. And he is extremely protective of him, even though that doesn’t often serve his self-interest.

Chuck is a problematic character, because there’s only so much one can do with a character who sits in his house, in the dark. But the show has been patient, almost to a fault, in developing the different levels of their relationship. As a show of its own, Better Call Saul has worked best when Chuck, portrayed wonderfully by Michael McKean, plays a pivotal role. (I’m not really counting the episodes that rely at least in part on people’s recollections of Breaking Bad, such as Tuco’s guest star turn in Episode 2 or series regular Mike’s standalone episode two weeks ago.) This happened again. Jimmy has been trying to pull Chuck out of his mental illness in various ways. His most recent trick was bringing over law files “for storage,” which has the twin benefit of utilizing his legal acumen but also drawing him into the world.

Jimmy’s inquiry into an assisted living facility starts with him realizing that something is fishy there with how its residents are charged. The facility managers try to shut him down, but Jimmy goes dumpster diving to find the documents they have been shredding. Chuck helps an exhausted Jimmy piece together some of the shredded documents, which leads to him sending a demand letter (after he got ignored and threatened the first time). Chuck is engaged by this time, and Jimmy asks Kim for legal assistance. But there’s a red flag. A big case would likely belong, at least in part, to Chuck’s firm – and we already know that Kim’s loyalties are split. She is the one who points out the issue.

Finally, a meeting is called at Chuck’s house with attorneys for the assisted living facility chain. The lead lawyer tosses out a lowball offer, but Chuck is in the room, and after having a rough time even bringing himself to speak, he demands $20 million because of alleged violations of the RICO Act. By this time, Chuck is very much alive, so much so that when an exhausted Jimmy has left some documents in the car, Chuck just gets up and retrieves Jimmy’s keys from the mailbox and gets them himself.

This is the moment where the show’s patience pays off. Chuck has been unable to function, and he was pleased with himself for standing outside for two minutes during the last episode. Rarely has a man walking outside and getting a box of papers from a car felt so weighty. Will he snap out of it, or something like it? Will he fall apart? And if he does snap out of it, at least to an extent, where does that leave Jimmy now that the lawsuit is a major case that’s beyond Jimmy’s abilities – much less Chuck’s belief in them?

Knowledge of that other series, much less the experience of watching this one, tells us that this is not going to end well for Jimmy. But we don’t know how yet.