S01.E06: Five-O

[morgankobi]

Is anyone with me on this? If not, my only hope will be that Vince Gilligan just stubbornly wants to make the kind of show I want him to make, regardless of how many or how few fans are down with that.

I would guess that this will continue to be Saul/Jimmy's show, and the tone will not vary too much. Non-BB viewers needed a good intro to Mike, and this did it wonderfully. Plus, I don't know if I could survive another heavy show right now-I like the lighter tone. (Funny what passes for "light" here!)

 

One of the things I really love about Gilligan is his openness and gratitude with his fans, but I have never felt that he adjusts to their whims. The more I hear him talk about his, and his writers's, process the more I am sure of it.

Edited March 10, 2015 by morgankobi

[ghoulina]

No doubt there will be changes in tone in future episodes - it stands to reason there's going to be some dark stuff, as we do end up in the BrBa universe - but I hope there is still enough comedy and I hope for more development of Jimmy's character as well. He's shown an interesting mixture of good and bad impulses.

 

I would enjoy a good mix of the dark and the humor. I think Gilligan does both very well. So far, I've enjoyed every single episode of this show, for exactly what it was. Mike is obviously an important player in Jimmy's world, so it was nice to get more of his background. I kind of like that this show is different, it almost seems to have a style all its own.

[teddysmom]

Jonathan Banks is on the BCS insider podcast.  Do yourselves a favor and hop over to iTunes. You can thank me later. 

[Umbelina]

Listening to the podcast now. 

 

I'm just so happy for Banks, he talked on DVD extras of this role being a gift to him, after playing so many boring or stupid roles, to have this one come into his life, and make his career seem worth it all.  He was so grateful during BB, and I can't even imagine how he feels after an episode like last night.  Such a pro, and I loved how he didn't chew any scenery, he just nailed it.

[TVFan17]

Bannon, on 09 Mar 2015 - 10:11 PM, said:

 

To follow on, I think the reason why Mike has so little patience for Walter in the future, is that Mike can't fathom why Walter is driven to go to the ends that Walter pursues. MIke, it's clear now, tortures himself daily with the knowledge that he "broke" his son for no gain, with his son murdered anyways . To Mike, Walter serving his pride, taking huge risks, not to provide for his family (think about how Walter's target profit for leaving the meth business spiraled ever upward), but to make up for the insults Walter perceived he had been made to suffer, from parties past and present, is grotesque and disgusting. Mike would suffer a million fold insults for a 2nd chance to have been a better father, and Walter has the chance to simply get his wife and son adequate cash to provide for themselves after Walter's death, but that isn't enough for Walter. Walter needs the affirmation of others, or at least their restraint in disrespecting Walter. This enrages Mike.

 

Exactly!  I completely agree with this assessment, and I thought along similar lines as I watched the episode.  I kept flashing forward in my mind to Mike's conversations with Walt, and what the subtext may have been.  A lot of question marks are being filled in now, and will continue to be filled in.

 

 

 

 

 

Now this is the sort of episode I have been waiting for, and I knew would come along eventually!  More Mike!    There was no way that Mike -- a character rich with intrigue, mysterious connections and back stories -- would be relegated to providing random, curmudgeonly comic relief, doled out from a tiny booth.  That would be a disservice to the character and to Jonathan Banks.  I wasn't sure exactly how big a role Mike would end up playing on BCS -- and I guess I'm still not quite sure how big a role he will play -- but I like where this is going! 

 

I like the darker tone, and Mike is (becomes) a pretty dark character, so I am fine with less of a focus on wacky hijinks and comedy from time to time.  And, truthfully, I really don't think that Vince Gilligan set out to make BCS a comedy -- so I don't think he is pandering.  I think he is approaching this in the same way he approached BB -- the first season of BB had a lot of comedic/darkly comedic moments, and there were comedic moments sprinkled into subsequent seasons, but at its core the show was a drama.

 

Also, I can't tell if the Mike and Jimmy/Saul stories will continue to stay intertwined, or if we will begin to see separate plots and stories involving Jimmy and Mike that have nothing to do with each other.  That's how some of Mike's interesting "associates" could come into play, with or without Jimmy/Saul's help.

 

Whatever the case, this is the sort of thing that I have been saying from the beginning of BCS -- as we begin to learn more about "Past Mike," it greatly informs what we thought we knew, and how we feel, about "Future Mike" on BB.  There is no way I can watch the Mike in last night's BCS episode and not think of who he was on BB.  I thought I had a certain opinion of him on BB, but now that I am learning more about his back story my perspective is changing a wee bit.   A lot of things are becoming clearer now -- why Mike said certain things or behaved in certain ways on BB.  There was no way I could stop myself from pondering

the almost sad irony of Mike effortlessly, seamlessly, taking out two seasoned cops who were going to kill him, knowing that Mike would eventually meet his own demise in a rather sloppy, unplanned shooting at the hands of fumbling non-cop Walter White.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Sherry67

[windowshopper]

It was a quick moment but I loved it when the bartender in Philly told Mike to look out for tarantulas in New Mexico. It was a call back (call forward?) to Dead Freight which was an episode that, for me, signified the beginning of the end in BB.

[ghoulina]

Quick question - I do not own any i-device. Is it possible to listen to the podcast another way?

[Umbelina]

I'm listening on the computer, here:  http://movietouch.sony.com.edgesuite.net/podcasts/better_call_saul_v1/106_Better_Call_Saul_Insider.mp3

 

I just posted a bunch of interesting reviews in the media thread.  There are more out there.  Whoa, didn't expect the link to do that!

 http:// movietouch. sony.com. edgesuite.net/podcasts/better_call_saul_v1/106_Better_Call_Saul_Insider.mp3 (remove spaces for link to work)

Edited March 10, 2015 by Umbelina

[editorgrrl]

I do not own any i-device. Is it possible to listen to the ["Better Call Saul" Insider] podcast another way?

 

iTunes isn't just for Mac OS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/better-call-saul-insider-podcast/id966297954

 

For Android, I think you can use Podcast Addict: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bambuna.podcastaddict&hl=en

[ghoulina]

Thanks, guys! I'm going to try and check them out at some point. 

[editorgrrl]

Jimmy's scene was actually pretty important to the character arc. He asked how Mike could tell that Jimmy would spill the coffee—but Mike just snorted.

 

Here's Entertainment Weekly's take on that scene:

Jimmy wants an explanation for how Mike knew that he would spill the coffee onto the cop. Mike answers with a laugh. After Nacho and Betsy Kettleman, this is at least the third time in the series that the people around Jimmy have assumed that he’s more corrupt than he makes himself out to be, and yet the lawyer always meets their expectations. Jimmy is the passive Walter White. The world is pushing him to break bad, and he’s allowing it, with only half-hearted attempts at resistance. Chuck is only real roadblock on that path, and he doesn’t seem long for this world.

[Umbelina]

Vince just confirmed (on the podcast) that those two cops about to kill Mike put the final puzzle pieces in place, removed any remaining doubt that they had killed Matty, and that is why Mike did it this way.  Final proof that they WERE the ones who killed his son.

[morgankobi]

After Nacho and Betsy Kettleman, this is at least the third time in the series that the people around Jimmy have assumed that he’s more corrupt than he makes himself out to be, and yet the lawyer always meets their expectations.

 

 

I would have to add, though, that is was obviously the story about Mike's son that changed Saul's mind (his looks at Mike spoke wonders). 

Can someone remind me what he did for Nacho that was so bad (especially since he threatened Saul's life and was actually innocent in regards to the kidnapping)?

[ShadowFacts]

The podcast also shed light on something I had wondered about during the interrogation scene -- it was specifically stated that Mike wasn't under arrest, he could leave.  I wondered why he didn't, and didn't put together that he only wanted to see what they had on him, hence needing Jimmy's assistance in getting the notebook.  I doubt I'll have patience for an hour+ podcast again, but was glad I stuck around to have that little elucidation.

[wrestlesflamingos]

No one says "westside Philadelphia." I'm pretty sure Jonathan Banks actually is Mike and has been confessing through Vince Gilligan.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

So many excellent posts in this thread!  Thank you all.

 

I would love to watch anything about Mike.  However, it would necessarily be the darkest TV ever done.  I don't see how such a series could be made and justified economically.  BCS is a genius mechanism as we can still have the brilliantly dark, like last night, and we can have all manner of fun and cray cray characters flitting in and out of Saul's world as he goes about his biz.  I am thrilled that Mike is as central to BCS as he is.  It's more than I had hoped.

 

So...what if the bad cops didn't take the bait that very night?  There'd be a weapon in the back seat, which would have been discovered as cops pull out the back seat before and after every shift to make sure there isn't any evidence that may have been planted by arrested suspects.  That was one heckuva leap of faith in the mendacity of those cops.  

 

I wondered just how motivated the Philly detectives would be in nailing Mike for a righteous killing of really bad cops.  Mike did the world, and the department, a favor.  Were their hearts really in it?  I didn't sense any personal history between them.  Did any of you catch a prior connection?

[Quilt Fairy]

Did anyone else find it strange that the Philadelphia PD would pay to send two detectives out to ABQ for  a couple of days to do nothing more than ask Mike a half a dozen questions?

[shapeshifter]

...I wondered just how motivated the Philly detectives would be in nailing Mike for a righteous killing of really bad cops.  Mike did the world, and the department, a favor.  Were their hearts really in it?  I didn't sense any personal history between them.  Did any of you catch a prior connection?

Based on the way Mike described to his daughter-in-law the endemic corruption within the Philly PD, I think they would be Very Highly Motivated to wipe out Mike because he, like his son, has shown that he is not "all in" with supporting the corruption. The only reason I can see this plot fizzling out is geographic distance and Mike's apparent lack of interest in unmasking the corruption or killing more Philly cops.

[peeayebee]

Re the timeline -- 

 

• In Philly, Mike is faking being drunk in the bar then kills the two cops

• In Albuquerque, Mike arrives on the train then goes to see his DIL Stacy

• Time passes (how much?), and Mike sits in his car watching Stacy's house because she has shut him out of her life

• Cops take Mike to police station and interrogate him; Mike gets cop's notebook and sees that Stacy had called them

• Mike goes to Stacy, mad that she had called the cops; he tells her the truth

 

Does that sound right?

[SlackerInc]

Even if he wanted fan input, you wouldn't see it reflected in the remainder of the season. The way a series is produced, there's enough leeway to slip in something to note a major news event, but that's about it; the episodes are already done.

I agree--I was thinking about the shape of next season.

  

I would guess that this will continue to be Saul/Jimmy's show, and the tone will not vary too much. Non-BB viewers needed a good intro to Mike, and this did it wonderfully. Plus, I don't know if I could survive another heavy show right now-I like the lighter tone. (Funny what passes for "light" here!)

 

One of the things I really love about Gilligan is his openness and gratitude with his fans, but I have never felt that he adjusts to their whims. The more I hear him talk about his, and his writers's, process the more I am sure of it.

This (along with other likeminded comments--thank you all) is reassuring; but of course if you're right, we're going to have to gird ourselves to defend the show against the chorus of calls to "go back to the BCS of Five-O". I get the sense that in certain quarters, the dark/gritty contingent (fans of "The Shield", perhaps) has tasted blood, so to speak, and is less likely to be content with the lighter version of this show now then they would have been had this episode never existed.

[carrps]

I just wanted to say how gorgeous the ABQ train station is. As cool as it is, it's surpassed by the ABQ airport -- if it's still the same as it was back in the 80s. I had a 3 hour layover, which wasn't enough time to really do anything, so I just strolled around the terminal. I'm guessing it was a WPA building --? One of the few airports (Hartford, CN was another) where I actually walked up an outside stairway to get to the plane -- instead of using a jetway.

[shelley1234]

I was just blown away by this episode.  Mike is a character I want to continue to know more and more about.  Banks, as always, is just a pleasure to watch.  Honestly, if you asked me which show I wanted to watch more...one about Saul or one about Mike, it's Mike hands down.  I think he is riveting.  This has been the best episode for me so far of BSC and the fact that it was 90% about Mike and 10% about Saul is not a koinky-dink.  

[wrestlesflamingos]

I want these tiny bits of Mike. Its like tiny pieces of candy.

[MartinKSmith]

I said last week that episode 5 was the first episode that I didn't feel improved on the previous and while still good, I hoped it wasn't the start of a downward slope. Thankfully, with this episode, it appears 5 was just a bump in the road. Really liked this episode. Really like Mike. 

[queenanne]

Here's Entertainment Weekly's take on that scene:

 

That is interesting, but I don't think it carries the gut-punch that hearing it from a near-stranger like the Kettlemans would.  Because I think that Mike and Jimmy will spend so much time together and get along so well, partly because they have recognized each other.  Both are very, almost freakishly, intuitive students of human nature.  Also, dare I say it, even both "good people who do bad things, with what they think are the best reasons and intentions".  I can totally understand and back-door a panicked interpretation like "OMG!  He can smell the Slippin' Jimmy ON ME!", but I think it would be a stretch to assume that Mike is thinking that far, and I'd even have to rewatch to be sure whether or not I feel like Jimmy reacts like he has it in his mind.  (Of course, I'm a person who left BrBa thinking of Mike as primarily a Good Person, so it's possible I'm very suggestible in the wrong direction, lol.)

Edited March 11, 2015 by queenanne

[Susie Derkins]

Beautifully filmed and superbly acted, yet I was bored as hell. Or incredibly bitter that BCS is on TV over Skinny Pete and Badger Amok in ABQ. That's church, yo.

[shapeshifter]

Re the timeline -- 

 

• In Philly, Mike is faking being drunk in the bar then kills the two cops

• In Albuquerque, Mike arrives on the train then goes to see his DIL Stacy

• Time passes (how much?), and Mike sits in his car watching Stacy's house because she has shut him out of her life

• Cops take Mike to police station and interrogate him; Mike gets cop's notebook and sees that Stacy had called them

• Mike goes to Stacy, mad that she had called the cops; he tells her the truth

 

Does that sound right?

Yes, and it makes me realize that not only did I not have the timeline firmly grasped, but it didn't matter to me. It was like I was experiencing Mike's thoughts as he reminisced about what happened, and the order in which the events were shown was the order in which he thought about them.

Maybe I've just watched too many scifi time travel shows, heh.

[peeayebee]

What about the passage of time?

 

Mike's son was killed -- How much time passes before ...

   Mike kills Hoffman and Fenske -- Then the next day ...

      Mike goes to Albuquerque, visits Stacy -- How much time passes before ...

         Mike sits in his car outside Stacy's house

[SoWindsor]

Kaylee Ehrmantraut, Mike's granddaughter, appeared in both shows. Her mother, Stacey (Matt's widow), was seen briefly in Breaking Bad.

I thought Kaylee was young, like 4. This girl looked 7 plus the 5 years would make her 12 in BB.

[FortKnox]

Something I was thinking about. Mike said he got off the booze and as we know we see him drinking in Breaking Bad. I wondering if the investigation with the Philly cops will make him drink again.

[peeayebee]

Remind me when he was drinking. I think Sepinwall said he could only remember Mike drinking coffee.

 

Anyway, Mike could have been lying to the cops about being off the booze since he was playing up being such a drunk after Matt was killed.

 

Re Kaylee -- To me she looked exactly the same age as she did in BB. That seems very odd to me. I wouldn't think the show would make that mistake. It seems to indicate that BCS happens not too long before BB, but that's not the case, right?

[editorgrrl]

Re Kaylee -- To me she looked exactly the same age as she did in BB. That seems very odd to me. I wouldn't think the show would make that mistake. It seems to indicate that BCS happens not too long before BB, but that's not the case, right?

Better Call Saul is set in early 2002. Saul met Walter White in late 2009.

[FortKnox]

Remind me when he was drinking. I think Sepinwall said he could only remember Mike drinking coffee.

Anyway, Mike could have been lying to the cops about being off the booze since he was playing up being such a drunk after Matt was killed.

Re Kaylee -- To me she looked exactly the same age as she did in BB. That seems very odd to me. I wouldn't think the show would make that mistake. It seems to indicate that BCS happens not too long before BB, but that's not the case, right?

In the ep, Thirty Eight Snub, when Walt buys the revolver he meets Mike at a bar and he was drinking and Walt buys him a drinks and has one himself.

Then Mike tells Walt he knows he's carrying and he punches Walt.

Edited March 11, 2015 by FortKnox

[morgankobi]

What about the passage of time?

 

Mike's son was killed -- How much time passes before ...

   Mike kills Hoffman and Fenske -- Then the next day ...

      Mike goes to Albuquerque, visits Stacy -- How much time passes before ...

         Mike sits in his car outside Stacy's house

 

 

Mike kills the two cops 6 months after Mattie was killed.

[queenanne]

Wikipedia (yes I know, but still) says that coffee IS what Mike was drinking at the bar:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-Eight_Snub

 

I can't say where it occurred that we found out in BB, but when it was revealed that Mike was an alcoholic last night, I did get that smack of "Ohhhhhhh", recognition, for whatever that's worth.

Edited March 11, 2015 by queenanne

[peeayebee]

Better Call Saul is set in early 2002. Saul met Walter White in late 2009.

Right, so it is weird that Kaylee looks like the same age. She's definitely not 7 years younger.

 

Mike kills the two cops 6 months after Mattie was killed.

And how much time passed betw when Mike arrived in Albuquerque and when he sat outside Stacy's house?

[Portia]

This show gets better and better for me, and it was great to see Banks get to show greater range...just as Odenkirk is doing.

I was really, really bothered by the inconsistency of Kaylee's age, though. Why in the blue blazes would the creators make that choice?

Beautifully filmed and superbly acted, yet I was bored as hell. Or incredibly bitter that BCS is on TV over Skinny Pete and Badger Amok in ABQs church, yo.

 Damn, that show concept is sick, Son! I'm not just in the bag for that series; I'm writing an episode! It's about this pie eating contest. And Uhura's titties.. (My aoologies to the non-BrBa-watchers. And to everyone else.)

[Consternation]

In the ep, Thirty Eight Snub, when Walt buys the revolver he meets Mike at a bar and he was drinking and Walt buys him a drinks and has one himself.

Then Mike tells Walt he knows he's carrying and he punches Walt.

I think Mike drinks scotch neat and Walt drinks it rocks in that episode.  After

Walt kills Mike

Walt drinks scotch neat.  Much like Walt cuts his sandwich crusts off after he

kills Krazy 8.

  This led to the red herring with the birthday bacon in the season 5 flash forwards.

 

Mike I think is also drinking a beer in BCS 105 while watching a noir film before the cops arrive.  He drinks one beer and one Ensure

while he has a gunshot wound

while watching a noir film before Hank and the DEA arrive at his apartment, I think it is sometime in early season 5 of BB.

[editorgrrl]

And how much time passed betw when Mike arrived in Albuquerque and when he sat outside Stacy's house?

Kaylee was ten on Breaking Bad, meaning she was born c. 1999. Mike sat outside Stacey's house in early 2002, so the day he arrived in Albuquerque (the day he pushed Kaylee on the swing, then Stacey gave him the cold shoulder) couldn't have been much more than a year or so earlier.

On Day 1, Mike turned down a freelance gig from the crooked veterinarian. When does he finally take a walk on Albuquerque's wild side?

[Consternation]

On Day 1, Mike turned down a freelance gig from the crooked veterinarian. When does he finally take a walk on Albuquerque's wild side?

My feeling is that Mike got Jimmy to spill coffee, and that aspect of their relationship is going to head toward being mutual.  Mike's BB intro resulted from Saul calling him.

[shapeshifter]

...I was really, really bothered by the inconsistency of Kaylee's age, though. Why in the blue blazes would the creators make that choice?...

It bugged me too, but I have a theory that I am happy to share as a Vince Gilligan apologist (as if he needs one!):

I only watched it once, but I have a vague impression that the scenes with Kaylee in the swing were shown with a blue-ish filter. Can anyone confirm?

So, since the episode unfolded with a non-linear chronology, and since sepia brown filters are shorthand to most viewers that they are seeing a scene from someone's past, maybe the blue filter is supposed to telegraph to us that we are in fact viewing future Kaylee (around the time of Breaking Bad) being pushed in the swing by Mike.

Does that work?

If it is the case, I'm sure podcast listeners will be able to confirm.

[editorgrrl]

Stacey (Mike's daughter-in-law) is played by Irish actress Kerry Condon, who was Clara on The Walking Dead—the crazy, mouldy-looking woman Rick encountered outside the prison in season 4, who wanted to feed Rick to the zombified head of her husband Eddie.

Edited March 11, 2015 by editorgrrl

[queenanne]

BB-playground-Kaylee then strikes me as a small-Kaylee, if she's meant to be 10.  Both girls look 7-8 to me.  My guess for why this Kaylee looks so young is because VG is estimating future scenes with her and Mike and they need room-to-grow for the young actress. Either that or her schooling and working hours are less complicated than a smaller, younger child.

[Dev F]

It's interesting that some people are sensing some sort of tension in the series between Jimmy's part of the story and Mike's, because this is the episode that finally convinced me that those stories can be successfully synthesized -- that Mike is a part of the series not just because the producers love the character and wanted to work with Jonathan Banks some more, but because he resonates with the show's title character in a compelling way. Part of it is what Bannon mentioned earlier, the fact that both characters come from a similar place of pain and remorse, but I'm seeing the potential for some more explicit parallels as well, particularly in Mike's final speech:

 

"He was the strongest person that I ever knew. He would've never done it, not even to save himself. I was the only one -- I was the only one who could get him to debase himself like that. And it was for nothing. I made him lesser. I made him like me. And the bastards killed him anyway."

 

Isn't a lot of that what Jimmy fears for his brother Chuck? That this towering figure of rectitude in his life will be debased and diminished, and that it's secretly all Jimmy's fault? It occurs to me that he might even see special significance in the fact that Chuck is suffering from a supposedly nonexistent condition -- does Jimmy imagine that Chuck has, in some subconscious way, absorbed his brother's gift for deception the way Mike's son reluctantly mirrored his father's corruption?

 

And, of course, pretty much everyone expects that a major part of Jimmy's transformation into Saul Goodman will come when he finally loses Chuck's moderating influence. Will Jimmy's story end where Mike's began, with the death of the smartest person he ever knew?

[wrestlesflamingos]

Quick reminder: there's a thread for Podcast discussions and a thread for Media discussions. The best practice is to share the episode relevant bit here and offer a longer opinion in the format specific thread. Please let me know if you'd like any posts moved.

 

fyi, All personal promotion can be shared in the Media thread as it relates to Better Call Saul.

[SignGuy]

Oh. How PERFECT and fantastic that 38 Special's "Hold on Loosely" was playing in the bar scene. I literally clapped as I heard the first strains.

I love it when mediocre music attains a new level of cool.

[wrestlesflamingos]

On Day 1, Mike turned down a freelance gig from the crooked veterinarian. When does he finally take a walk on Albuquerque's wild side?

 

Here's my theory - Mike told us in this episode he was dirty. They all were dirty. He sets the table to be tempted. He also seems to have a very loving relationship with his daughter in law before he confesses to killing two people. Mike always says he wants the money for Kaylee. I think Mike eventually follows a thread because he's drawn to temptation and finds something with enough reward for the risk. The Vet was offering small time jobs.

Part of me want to say Mike is terminally sick, but I think that's an emotionally easy way out from accepting that Mike is a lovable asshole. He sucks in the best possible kind of way.

[Constantinople]

It's like killing Caesar. Everyone's guilty - Mike Ehrmantraut to Stacey Ehrmantraut

 

I wonder if they put that line in before or after they hired Octavia of the Julii from Rome to play Stacey.

[jnymph]

Under normal circumstances, I’d probably be upset at so little of my boyfriend Jimmy in an episode, but this was exceptional.    

An  outstanding episode flushing out Mike’s background and Jonathan Banks performance was a joy to watch.   I thought Kerry Condon (Hi Octavia!) held her own up against Banks and she had some shiny moments.  (was so weird to hear her talk in an American accent; since I was the biggest “Rome” addict there was.)

 

Random thoughts:

Interesting how they never show Kaylee full on.   I like that.  It’s refreshing, besides it’s not HER story.  However, the age discrepancy of little Kaylee DOES bother me.

 

God. I continue to crush on Jimmy.  The look on his face when he realized Mike had a son and died in that manner.    He’s really a deeply nuanced character, smart, compassionate and a killer sense of humor.

 

“A young Paul Newman dressed as Matlock.”   <- I die.  Along with the “Juan Valdez bump and dump.”

 

Along with the bartenders reference to tarantulas, the train tracks in the opening sequence immediately brought me back to the BB ep of “Dead Freight”

 

I LOOOOVE how VG ends these episodes! 

“Can you live with it ?”

[ShadowFacts]

 

So...what if the bad cops didn't take the bait that very night?  There'd be a weapon in the back seat, which would have been discovered as cops pull out the back seat before and after every shift to make sure there isn't any evidence that may have been planted by arrested suspects.  That was one heckuva leap of faith in the mendacity of those cops.

 

Mike had nothing to lose with that, because an experienced cop with a heavy revenge motivation would know to plant an untraceable gun.  Then if he didn't end up needing it, it would be on the two who were responsible for the car to explain it. 

 

 

 

And, of course, pretty much everyone expects that a major part of Jimmy's transformation into Saul Goodman will come when he finally loses Chuck's moderating influence. Will Jimmy's story end where Mike's began, with the death of the smartest person he ever knew?

It's looking that way.  And that means, probably not!  I don't know, but I like the parallel that Dev F described.  My unpopular opinion is that Mike is not likeable, he is only ominous to me, the only thing he cares about is Kaylee and that makes him dangerous.  Jimmy still retains likeability for me, his humanity is in full view, he wants to get the little old lady's figurine collection properly accounted for in her will. 

 

 

Mike always says he wants the money for Kaylee. I think Mike eventually follows a thread because he's drawn to temptation and finds something with enough reward for the risk. The Vet was offer small time jobs.

 

Yes, and I'm now thinking he may have been cultivating Jimmy when he gave him the idea about the people (Kettlemans?) having absconded on their own.  He might be recognizing someone he can work with in the future, because I think he is highly motivated to support Kaylee the way her father should have, for which he blames himself mightily.  Calling Jimmy for the coffee spill caper was to see if he could get his hands on the notebook, and to see how much he could get Jimmy to do.