Better Call Saul (Season 2)

After the excellent first season of Better Call Saul, Season 2 feels a bit more like a transition season, with a lighter tone, more character development, and unfortunately, less notable episodes. 

Better Call Saul is an odd series to review season-by-season as it feels very much like one interconnected story rather than something divided by an antagonist or major villain. Season 2 is probably the most notable instance of this, as it spends a lot of time setting up the events of Season 3. The tension between Jimmy and Chuck gets worse and worse until the finale sets up their big trial in Chicanery, and Mike slowly gets more and more involved with the Salamanca family to the point where a very important Season 3 character (Gus) has to intervene. It makes it much harder to think of Season 2 as its own thing and that's probably its biggest flaw. However, there are a few really strong storylines and plot threads that are still worth discussing. Mike's conflict with Tuco is incredibly tense and slowly builds up to a bombastic payoff in Gloves Off, Jimmy and Kim deciding to leave their firms together and start a company of their own is a really interesting storyline for the two of them, we get to see a lot of pre-wheelchair Hector, and Chuck's cold-hearted betrayal of Jimmy in the finale was pretty shocking. Even with all of the set-up for Season 3, I think the character work this season was generally really strong, and I liked that Jimmy's fall went back to being a bit more gradual coming after Marco.

The thing that I remember Season 2 for the most, though, is the light-hearted tone. Outside of the last two episodes, this is by far the most upbeat season in both Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, with episodes like Cobbler and Inflatable shockingly low on drama and heartbreak. That's not entirely a bad thing though, as Better Call Saul is a genuinely funny and well-written show with sharp black comedy and clever gags. Season 2 also establishes a pretty big BCS mainstay: the montage. Better Call Saul has a montage sequence in nearly every episode, whether they're used for humor or drama, and they're always slick and well-edited. One of my favorite scenes in the season is the hilarious montage in Inflatable where Jimmy tries to get himself fired from D&M intercut with an inflatable tube man. It's just so visually striking that it has been stuck in my mind for years after seeing that episode for the first time. Aside from the strong comedic moments, however, I don't quite think Season 2 of Better Call Saul is able to reach quite the same heights as the first. None of the episodes even come close to topping something like Five-O or Pimento. Thankfully, there aren't any downright bad episodes this season once again, but I wouldn't really call any of them amazing either.

Still, there are a few highlights, such as:

Gloves Off: The Mike vs Tuco plotline from the first half of the season reaches a head in this episode, and an incredibly satisfying one at that. Mike's decision to not resort to a shooting to take down Tuco, instead tricking him into getting himself arrested for assault.

Inflatable: I already wrote about how much I love the central montage in this episode. It's fun, well-edited, and slick. But I always thought this episode was fascinating as a whole in how it uses an inflatable tube man to encourage Jimmy to go his own way, which I found to be a bit more natural than his similar epiphany in Marco.

Nailed: While not as much of a massive gut-punch as Pimento, that scene at the printing place between Jimmy and Chuck has been seared into my memory. It's a truly chaotic and heart-pounding sequence that shows their relationship continuing to fall apart (literally) in the most hard to watch ways possible.

Klick: As far as season finales go, Klick is fine enough, but definitely an improvement on Marco. As I mentioned above, Chuck's betrayal in tape recording a desperate confession from Jimmy was shocking, and Mike's assassination falling through thanks to a note that reveals someone is watching him is a great set-up for Gus to appear.

Overall, while I definitely enjoyed Season 2 for its character work and strong humor, it feels more like a set-up for Season 3 than its own season, resulting in none of its episodes truly standing out.

3/5 Stars