At this point in Season 3, I would rather call show this Better Call Mike.
We must start with the opening scene in Better Call Saul where Mike meets with Gus, and two very important characters from Breaking Bad that we have never seen together, as far as I can remember: Victor and Tyrus. Also, I must give a quick thumbs up for showing the doctor that repaired Gus in Breaking Bad.
So Chuck, Saul’s brother, has set him up — and I already predict where this is going. This will create the name of Saul, as Chuck wants Jimmy disbarred, or rather, his name off the menu. Jimmy and Kim will somehow find a loophole, and Saul will be created. Easy enough.
I’d also like to give a heads up to the director John Shiban, as this show gave us the closest to a Breaking Bad feeling I think we will get for awhile. I would also like to throw props to the actor Peter Diseth (he is the assistant district attorney that Saul tries to bribe with a burger), who has actually been around since Season 1 watching Jimmy’s rise to power, with some jealousy. He is a wonderful add to the show, and I’d like to see more of him, Iam just not sure where his story arc could go… unless it is he who gives Jimmy the idea of becoming Saul.
But, then there are the shoes.
So, Mike, with an agreement with Gus not to kill Salamanca (whom we knows what happens to) decides a different play. He visits the doc in Mexico, and decides to pick up what appears to be cocaine around “I dunno about this long and this high.” [paraphrased] This also clearly shows that Mike, even through his cop beat, has likely never even smoked a cigarette, much less done cocaine.
He sets up a masterful trap, as usual, and while confusing the “soldiers” he shoots a hole through some shoes thrown up on a line and cocaine spills on the truck. This causes the dogs at the border crossing to get a “hit” which, my guess, will disrupt Salmanca’s route and both give Gus ultimate power and the “friend of a friend,” which if you are a Breaking Bad fan, is being created.
Wonderful episode. At this point I want way more Mike and way less Jimmy. However, the show-runners aren’t idiots, and I am sure by next week this will change.