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Why This Episode Of Better Call Saul Is All Good, Man
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Mar 31, 2025
Better Call Saul is gearing up to return for it's final season, and there have been many episodes one could consider perfect. The follow up series to Breaking Bad has stood on it's own as a truly great series. But this specific episode of Better Call Saul, that lands directly in the middle of the series, could be considered a perfect episode of television. While we move closer to connecting the timelines of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, we look back at what made Jimmy McGill become Saul Goodman.
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You're a sh**ty lawyer, Howard
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But you're a great salesman. So get out there and sell. F**k you, Jimmy
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There you go. Better Call Saul is a near-perfect example of how to approach a prequel series to a show
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that is widely hailed as one of the best television dramas of all time
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Somehow, Better Call Saul's showrunners are able to capture the tonal and thematic elements
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that make Breaking Bad so great and repackage them in a way that feels fresh and new
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Funny enough, the title of Better Call Saul's perfect episode is the same tool that the writers use
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to differentiate the series from Breaking Bad in such a captivating way
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The fifth episode of the show's third season is titled Chicanery. Better Call Saul entered development back in 2013
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when AMC approached Vince Gilligan and Peter Gold to create a spinoff of Breaking Bad
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Better Call Saul was initially conceived as a series of short vignettes in which Saul Goodman
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would be working on cases featuring various celebrity cameos. Writing for this format was a struggle
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and they quickly pivoted toward writing for an hour-long format with a focus on incorporating comedic elements into a crime drama
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The show centers around Jimmy McGill, who would eventually become Walter White's shady attorney, Saul Goodman
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and follows his transformation from a two-bit con man with good intentions
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into the flashy, fast-talking cartel lawyer who cuts so many corners that he eventually whittles away at his sense of self
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until he is almost unrecognizable. The episode we are here to talk about, Chicanery
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serves as the exact halfway point of the entire series and is arguably one of, if not the single most important episode
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for our main character, Jimmy McGill. The entire episode plays out as a procedural courtroom drama
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in which Jimmy acquires the help of Kim Wexler to defend him during a hearing for his disbarment
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Jimmy tampered with evidence that was in possession of his brother in an effort to help Kim secure a new client
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Evidence tampering is a felony, and a complete confession to his crime is there to prove Jimmy's guilt
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The courts and the presenting attorneys have everything they need to disbar Jimmy McGill
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yet we know for a fact that he doesn't get disbarred. Clearly his taste in women is the same as his taste in lawyers
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only the very best with just the right amount of dirty. A lot of the fun in watching Better Call Saul
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comes from our knowledge of where the characters end up. However, because we know that certain characters are safe
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and certain characters are not, the show has to rely on relationships and emotions to drive the tension of the story
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which results in a much richer and deeper story overall. And while we understand that certain
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characters might be physically safe the show repeatedly puts their psychologies perspectives and philosophies in mortal danger While no character is actually killed off during chicanery the episode does feature a couple of major deaths
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in the spiritual and philosophical sense. Rebecca. Yeah. Uh, no. That's fine
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I'm wrong. Chuck. Chuck, what the hell? The opening of chicanery finds Jimmy McGill showing up
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to, once again, take care of his brother Chuck. Jimmy has been caring for Chuck for the entirety of the series
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helping him through a disorder known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity. This condition exists in the real world
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and while there is some debate of the legitimacy of this disorder, it is largely believed to be a psychiatric condition exacerbated by acute paranoia
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This flashback sequence at the top of the episode really does a great job of establishing a few things
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that are absolutely necessary to the emotional weight of this episode. The first being that Jimmy cares deeply about Chuck and his well-being
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He cares to the point where he helps Chuck plan this elaborate ruse to conceal his mental disorder
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from his estranged wife, Rebecca, with whom he is attempting to reconcile
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The second thing it establishes is that Chuck is willing to go along with one of Jimmy's elaborate
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ruses only when it is to benefit himself. Where Jimmy is willing to lie and manipulate the people
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he cares about in sort of a backwards way to help others, Chuck is willing to lie and manipulate the
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people he cares about to save face as a benefit to himself. This also serves as a tool to exemplify Chuck's insane level of pride and inherent need to
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appear to be in control at any cost. He'd rather let Rebecca leave thinking that he assaulted her than admit to struggling
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with something beyond his control. This is all a great example of how important these two incredibly flawed brothers are to
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one another. Despite their struggles, they still respect each other to some degree
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The disbarment hearing in which the bulk of this episode takes place is a seemingly personal
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endeavor for Chuck's legal partner, Howard Hamlin, and most importantly, for Chuck McGill himself
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Chuck has been pulling the strings of Jimmy's legal career for years, and has largely used
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Howard Hamlin as a pawn to execute his desires to tear his brother down at every turn. During the
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scene in which Howard and Chuck are strategizing about how the proceedings should play out
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Howard makes a plea for Chuck to let him handle it and take a backseat. Maybe there's no need to put you through the ringer like this
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This isn't about me or my health. This is about PR. However, Chuck is a control freak who is currently obsessed with delivering a killing blow to a legal career he has tried to extinguish for years
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Chuck wants to beat Jimmy at his own game once and for all. The remainder of this episode plays out like two brothers placing their hands on the top of a baseball bat The upper hand seems to consistently waver back and forth between Jimmy and Chuck during these tense emotional legal proceedings We seen Chuck in Howard hand and we know how
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they intend to play it. On the other side of the coin, we see Jimmy's hand play out just one card
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at a time. In the stairwell, we are treated to a cameo from the Breaking Bad timeline with the
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introduction of Saul Goodman's faithful security guard, Huel Babineau. We see Huel bump into Chuck
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in the stairwell. We know that something happened here, but we're unclear as to what
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Did Puel steal something from Chuck or did he plant something on him? We're slowly being led somewhere
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and it's coming into focus one tiny piece at a time. We also see Jimmy conferring
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with his secretary over the arrival of someone important and delaying the trial
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It's these little moments that reel us into the plot of the episode, but it's the emotional stakes
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that keep us living in the moment. Chuck is trying to kill his brother
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I love my brother. but Ted Kaczynski's brother loved him too. Not in a physical sense, but he is trying to destroy the person who Jimmy McGill has become
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and he's willing to do anything in his power to get there. The crux of his entire assassination attempt rests on a recording he made of Jimmy confessing to felony evidence tampering
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After the opposing counsel plays the tape of Jimmy's confession for the courtroom
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it really seems like this recording is the bullet that kills Jimmy McGill's legal career
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This is also the first time that Kim Wexler gets to peek under the hood as to exactly how she came to become Mesa Verde's lead attorney
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Through Kim Wexler's reaction to the tape, actress Ray Sehorne is able to capture an emotional state laden with surprise and concern
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But there's also an endearment to her reaction as well. Throughout the entirety of Better Call Saul, Kim Wexler has been a character who can see past Jimmy's actions in favor of his intent
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When Chuck finally takes the stand, we see all of that work and hatred begin to play itself out
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He delivers an incredibly convincing speech that seems to be received exactly in the way it was intended
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That's why I did what I did, not to hurt him, but to protect something that I hold sacred
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However, the eyes of Michael McKean's portrayal of Chuck McGill tell a more intricate and painful story
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Under the surface, we see Chuck desperately trying to conceal his emotions
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and remain cold and indifferent to the proceedings at hand. The deck seems to be stacked against Jimmy McGill, but the emotional stakes at play underneath it all
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definitely present an interesting flaw in the prosecution's ironclad case. Before Jimmy cross-examines Chuck, his estranged wife Rebecca shows up
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This was the arrival that Jimmy had been waiting for, but why is Rebecca there
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We can presume that it is to throw Chuck off his game during cross-examination
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but it really much deeper than that Jimmy has disclosed Chuck electromagnetic hypersensitivity to Rebecca What exactly did he say Well that you had been sick allergic to electricity He sent me
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pictures of the house. Chuck, my God. The concealment of this disorder was previously established as
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something Jimmy would protect his brother from, but this pivot toward disclosure is really the
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writer's way of showing us that Jimmy has let go of his obligations to his brother. As finished as
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Chuck McGill is with Jimmy, Jimmy is equally as finished with Chuck. Despite the curveball thrown
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with the introduction of Rebecca into this episode, Chuck still seems to be wildly unflappable during
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this cross-examination, and he doesn't even flinch at Jimmy's ruse with the cell phone
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May I? And this moment is where Jimmy knows he has Chuck right where he wants him
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There's a pause before Jimmy goes in for the kill. He knows what he's about to do and considers it carefully before following through
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Could you reach into your breast pocket and tell me what's there? He reveals that Chuck has had a fully charged battery in his jacket pocket for almost two hours
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thus outing Chuck for being mentally ill. This sends Chuck into an extremely emotional tirade
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in which he drops his carefully rehearsed facade and essentially confesses his true motives to the panel
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A heavy, weighted silence falls over the courtroom. It's at this moment we understand that the tables have turned
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It's now Jimmy who has killed his own brother, and everyone inside this courtroom just watched it happen
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Jimmy hangs his head with guilt because he knows that he has just destroyed Chuck
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In a way, this is also the moment where Jimmy McGill dies, and the real Saul Goodman is born
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Hi, I'm Saul Goodman. Did you know that you have rights? The Constitution says you do, and so do I
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Chuck was the only family Jimmy had in the world, and Jimmy cared for him for years
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All of that is gone now. This slow zoom shows the life leaving Charles McGill's eyes
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and he looks like a corpse as he stares into the warm, red glow of the exit sign
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Chicanery is a perfect episode of Better Call Saul, not because it has the most shocking twists and turns
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or the largest connections to the Breaking Bad universe. it's a perfect episode because it truly captures what separates Better Call Saul from Breaking Bad
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Chicanery is the point of no return for Jimmy McGill, as he abandons his conscience and familial obligations
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and essentially assassinates his brother's character in front of his peers and loved ones
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It's an emotionally charged expose of a strained relationship between two brothers
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that results in almost nobody winning, reminding us that even when the world of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul strays from the world of cartels and drug trafficking, there are still no real winners
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