Better Call Saul Review: The Guy For This (Season 5 Episode 3)
Saul Goodman finds the road to the rest of his life on Better Call Saul Season 5 Episode 3, “The Guy For This,” but it’s with Kim where the true heart of the episode sits.
The ants devouring Jimmy’s ice cream on the sidewalk may be the most apt visual the show has gone for. While it may be accompanied by extravagant (and excellently chosen) music, it’s all in service of one ant discovering something and more ants coming along to get in on the action.
By the time Jimmy sees it again by episode’s end, there’s almost nothing left. That’s Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, in a nutshell, where everyone wants a piece and the object of desire is almost gone by the time everyone has their say.
Throughout the episode, Kim is tested and pulled from what she loves to do. Mesa Verde is her biggest client, to be sure, but her heart isn’t in it anymore, not when helping people through pro bono work is where she wants to put her time and effort. She wants to do right by those in need, which is only going to push back on giving her word that Mesa Verde is client number one.
It’s what makes the scene of the homeowner a particularly strong scene, as when she finally breaks, a lot of what’s eating her is finally spoken out loud. The words Kim uses to berate the man is almost like she’s talking to Jimmy at that moment. She’s unloading about breaking the rules and doing things the right way, things that easily fit Jimmy’s way of business.
Kim can’t catch a break with following the rules, and Jimmy’s proclamation that he’s made more money than ever in a single day is tied to this moment. While she struggles by playing by the rules, Jimmy thrives as he breaks every single one.
There’s also the scene of Kim returning to try and convince the man again, to which he belittles her story as manipulating him. It’s one of the very few times Kim is open about her past, and it’s about something clearly painful for her, something that she still lives with. But for it to be dismissed and treated as a tactic is such a harrowing way to take away that moment of her past, something we rarely see her speak about.
There is so much in the small mannerisms and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it work that Rhea Seehorn is doing. There’s the moment on the balcony earlier on the episode, continuously glancing at the beer bottle Jimmy has placed on the balcony’s railing. She knows it can fall at any moment and cause damage, and while Jimmy doesn’t seem to mind, her own mind can’t let go of it, the possibility of shattering below.
That final scene, of throwing the beer bottles off the balcony, can have a few different meanings. Kim could be looking to breaking the rules herself; she could be just venting her anger out; or she could be accepting her fate that with Jimmy at her side, the rules no longer apply.
Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez making appearances becomes the ultimate Breaking Bad reunion. While they will meet more in the future (side note: one has to wonder that Hank and Gomez must realize they’re barking up the right tree if Saul is representing someone), this is the official start of the Schrader v. Goodman war. It’s amicable, for the most part, but a touchstone for what’s to come.
There’s an energy to bringing back such great characters, especially when they’re used perfectly and it feels right. Hank and Gomez could have been shoehorned into the show at any point to make some noise, but here, it fits. Without realizing it, they’re the stepping stone to the bigger picture that causes Breaking Bad.
One little thing that comes out of this meeting is that Krazy 8 is now an informant for the DEA. All the way back during Breaking Bad, there’s a note that he is an informant who uses information to take down dealers and encroach their territory; now we know why: it’s all part of Saul’s plan to help out Lalo and Nacho.
Little things like that go a long way to establish how everything between the two shows are connected, and it’s a testament to the writing team who manage to connect these dots in satisfying, entertaining ways.
Plus, it allows Jimmy to show how malleable he can be under pressure to turn the favor back to his side. Hank and Steve aren’t ready for Saul’s charms yet, but they will be during seasons two and five of Breaking Bad.
A shout out to Dean Norris and Steven Michael Quezada, who bring back their beloved characters with the gravitas their respective show holds. It doesn’t feel like years have gone by since we’ve seen them; they inhabit the characters and bicker back and forth just as we remember them.
Nacho’s father coming to visit is an intriguing moment, as it shows the quiet moves Nacho is making off-screen to take his father off the table as leverage against him. The visit has so much loaded into it, from the way his father looks over the big, somewhat empty house as a means of excess, and shows the disconnect of modesty that exists in the father and is missing in the son.
His father refusing to accept the deal for the business echoes the man that Kim deals with, a mixture of stubbornness and legacy that holds someone to a place because of the history and memories it has created over so many years.
But it puts Nacho’s larger plan into perspective, at the same time. Nacho may tell Jimmy that once you’re in, you’re in for life, but it rings hollow as he secretly looks for ways to excise himself. He should probably listen to his own words, however, as he’s in deeper than ever now that he’s telling Gus of Lalo’s plan for the DEA to raid the dead drops.
Mike continues to wallow, and it’s leading down a destructive path. He has a need to be combative as a form of punishment, where he should be surrounding himself with the things he loves to cope with the pain he feels. He even can’t stand the sight of the Sydney Opera House picture at the bar, because Werner is tied to it. While he may be able to withstand one person in a fight, he can’t stay lucky forever.
Jimmy may be on a path to wealth and infamy, but what kind of cost does it come at? Better Call Saul Season 5 Episode 3, “The Guy For This,” appears to answer that with its image of the devouring ants. One is always followed by more, and until there’s nothing left, there will always be more to come.
Kim is Jimmy’s tie to kindness and goodness, but with how the episode plays out, perhaps she is starting to see the cracks in the foundation of the kind of law she’s trying to practice. If his corruption rubs off on her, it may go down as one of the darkest things Jimmy has done. But there is still good in her, and it’s fighting to do the right thing.
She just needs to find her place in all of this.
What did you think of this episode of Better Call Saul? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Better Call Saul airs Mondays at 9/8c on AMC.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.