‘Better Call Saul’ Takes Us For ‘Quite A Ride’
Welcome to our weekly review-recaps ofBetter Call Saulseason 4. Each week, we’ll delve deep into theBreaking Badprequel series, with spoilers galore. This week we examine episode 5 of season 4, “Quite a Ride.”
Mike’s story this week is brief, but essential. He’s in the process of meeting with engineers who will help build Gus' massive underground meth lab – the one beneath the industrial laundry that will one day be the stomping grounds of Walt and Jesse.We’re treating to funny sequences in which Mike picks up one foreign engineer after another at the airport, makes them put bags over their heads, and then drives them out to the site. The first engineer, from France, makes an unimpressive offer to get the job done, and is promptly turned down.A German engineer, however, sounds like he knows exactly what he’s doing. So much so that he lands the job, and a one-on-one meeting with Gus.Everything here works, but this, coupled with the shocking opening flash-forward, gives me some pause.Better Call Saulseems to be kicking into overdrive now, and speeding towardBreaking Bad. I know this is inevitable, but I’m still in no rush for it to happen.
Kim felt trapped by the scope of the Mesa Verde expansion, and this week, she appears to be deliberately trying to tank the job. She’s still trolling around the courthouse, looking for a noble case. Again and again, she finds herself serving as a public defender for clients in desperate need. It’s not glamorous, and it’s surely a step-down in pay compared to Mesa Verde. But it’s what she needs. In many ways, Kim is regressing back to the point where Jimmy was when we first met him on the show. She even has to deal with Bill, the prosecutor Jimmy constantly butted heads with.There’s a redemptive quality to these cases. Kim isn’t representing a big, wealthy bank. She’s representing clients in dire need, and she’s doing her best. A fine, quiet moment comes late in the episode, where Kim finds herself representing a young woman named Denise. Denise is due in court on drug possession charges, but she’s scared. She misses her court time, and hides out at home – inspiring Kim to come looking for her. Denise tearfully talks about how she’s so very afraid of going to jail, and Kim levels with her: she can’t guarantee zero jail time, but she’ll do her best, and the chances are very good. This scene is shot with the two women sitting on Densie’s front step, the camera placed in the shadows behind them, looking out. Denise relents, heading back inside to get changed.And that’s when Kim’s phone rings. It’s Paige at Mesa Verde, demanding Kim come in to straighten out some paperwork. The old Kim – the Kim before he car accident – likely would’ve gone. Would’ve hung up the phone, apologized to Denise, and sped off to Mesa Verde. But the new Kim doesn’t seem to care. She rudely hangs up on Paige, and takes Denise to court.Later, Kim apologizes to Paige, and swears it will never happen again. She seems sincere in this statement, which is troubling. Because if she really is sincere, that means she’s climbing right back into her trap after almost escaping. Like Jimmy, salvation seemed to be in reach…only to end up circling down the drain.
