BCS Rewatch: "Slip"

...and slip Jimmy does, true to his old Cicero scam name. It had to HURT to resort to that old trick, and I bet the store owners saw right through it. But at least he got what he wanted... even if it was at the cost of a hurt back... I just wanted to yell at Jimmy when he insisted to Kim that he'll keep holding up his end. God DAMMIT, now is not the type to be all macho! You can afford to take a break if you need it! Now look what you've done, she's overworking herself just to make ends meet. I swear, sometimes this man is just as prideful as Chuck.

This episode always made me root for Chuck, as much of a bastard as he is... just because it's satisfying to see him finally getting some help for his condition. I actually use something similar to his calming technique on a nearly-daily basis, so I always really liked that part. And I actually managed to feel emotional when he was talking about wanting to have a dinner party and invite hundreds of guests once he's better... I just have to ask, though... does he have ANY friends? Besides Howard, I mean. And there's also a tragic air about his optimism, because we all know it goes down the toilet once Jimmy fucks him over for good and he ends up relapsing. Hell, he was even starting to sound regretful over the way he's acted, which, while it wasn't an admission of wrongdoing or an apology to Jimmy, is certainly SOME amount of progress... But then once he realizes what Jimmy did to him, he cuts him off for good (I need to rewatch the last two episodes of this season to get a good grip on his motives, but this is how I always interpreted it- he didn't mean what he said, he just realized that if Jimmy still has such animosity for him, he's better off without Jimmy in his life), and then the guilt of rejecting his brother causes him to relapse and he ultimately ends up killing himself. God, it's such a tragedy. And it really couldn't have ended any other way, because that's just how the two McGill boys were and always will be.

Nacho's pill-swapping scene was so tense- I didn't remember it being tense, but Michael Mando REALLY sold the performance, especially with how his hands were shaking as he filled the pill bottle. In the last episode, Mike's motives were unclear to me, but now it all makes sense now that he's found the Good Samaritan. And now he and Gus are properly teaming up... Yessssss.

BCS Rewatch: "Fall" and "Lantern"

Fall: ...and fall Kim does, asleep that is, leading to her car crash... and fall Irene does in the good standing of her friends. This is the only time in my rewatch when I've truly wanted to skip to the next scene, because the way Jimmy USES this poor old woman, just because he wants a cut of the deal, breaks my heart. I could hardly watch it the first time! I will say, as soon as I saw his sneakers, I did think "oh my GOD those look comfy af," and I laughed at him pulling out her exact size from among thousands of other boxes in his trunk- just how much money did he have to blow to make sure his scheme went off without a hitch? But the scheme itself... god... This isn't the first truly deplorable act that Jimmy has done- that would be gaslighting his brother into thinking he'd made a mistake with the Mesa Verde documents. But I still rooted for him then, because Chuck is a stuck-up prick and it felt like sticking it to him, plus Jimmy's intent behind it was to help Kim. This time, however, he isolated this poor lady from her friends and convinced them to turn on her just because it benefited him, because it was HIS money and he wanted it NOW. It was actually very satisfying to see Howard call Jimmy out on that- he's so precise and controlled most of the time that his anger was refreshing, especially since Jimmy well deserved it. Howard in general was great in this episode- I laughed when he assumed Chuck's letter was announcing his retirement and asked his assistant to plan the party, then he actually read the letter and his face just DROPPED. "Dammit, Chuck" was so perfect for that moment. As soon as I saw the letter I thought "Oh no, I bet Chuck's gone off the deep end and he's going to sue Howard." Next scene: "You're suing your own firm?!" I noticed Chuck and Kim are both overextending themselves to their detriment in this episode. Chuck, thinking so highly of himself, assumes that if he's made progress with his condition, he must be cured all the way, and so he forces himself into situations that he's not truly ready for. Kim, on the other hand, is practically driving herself into an early grave (almost literally!) due to a combination of pressure to look good for Mesa Verde, and guilt over what she did to Chuck, and determination to keep the firm afloat and pay for the office, just like Jimmy wants. The shadows under her eyes spoke for themselves. I will say, though, she looked AMAZING in that desert scene. The suit really flattered her. On a final note, Nacho and his dad reminded me of something... but I'm not sure what. Need to think. And... I realized in his penultimate episode that the reason Michael McKean's acting in this series is so good, is that it doesn't feel like he's acting. I've seen interviews with him and he talks almost exactly like Chuck sometimes, though he certainly doesn't say the same things Chuck says!

Lantern: I just finished watching this episode and I am Shook so it might be hard for me to formulate thoughts into words. I'll edit this post later with some more relevant/coherent thoughts. All I can say is... WOW the scenes with Chuck are every bit as powerful as I remember, I think they could be spliced together to make a short film. The music especially is PERFECT. It angers me and saddens me simultaneously to think that all he needed to do was talk to his doctor, but of course he never would rely on her counsel, he's a prideful man and he wants to figure out his own problems. Kim Wexler getting some R&R... we love to see it. Thank god Jimmy made things right for Irene, but he also made things EPICALLY wrong for himself- burned down every bridge entirely. He's really running up that hill right about now. And I honestly think Gus saving Hector is one of my favorite moments in the whole show, because of COURSE he would do that. He can't let Hector slip away when he's not the one to cause it. I really want to know what he was saying when he gave him chest compressions... was it "don't you die on me" in Spanish, or something like that?