1992 - Jimmy runs a scam with the help of an associate who pretends to be a victim.
2002 - Jimmy talks the Kettlemans into giving themselves up. They want him to take a bribe but he insists that he can't. He takes the money, in the end, but it isn't clear under what terms he took it. He starts figuring out how to account for the money once he gets back to his office.
Jimmy gets Nacho out of jail. Nacho still suspects that Jimmy is the one who warned the Kettlemans. Jimmy tries to convince him that they are even now but Nacho doesn't seem to fully accept that notion. Jimmy also points out all the mistakes that Nacho made.
Jimmy uses the money to buy a nice suit, get his hair done, and buys a billboard. His image on the billboard and the logo strongly resemble that of Howard Hamlin, the lead partner of Hamlin Hamlin McGill. Howard is not happy. Kim delivers a cease and desist letter to Jimmy. She tries talking some sense into him but he is determined to stick with his plan.
Jimmy is called before a judge to answer to the charge that he is infringing on HHM's business practice. Jimmy insists that he isn't. He calls several media outlets trying to get them interested in his story. He is a little guy who is being bullied by a big guy. None of the news services are interested in taking the story so he hires a couple students from the University of New Mexico to cover the story.
The crew from UNM are filming him pleading his case in front of his billboard as a worker is about to take it down. The worker slips and falls off the billboard ledge while the crew is filming Jimmy. The man is wearing a safety harness but he is still stuck dangling 65 feet in the air. Jimmy rushes in to help. He climbs up to the billboard, without a harness, and rescues the man. Once the man is back up on the ledge it becomes clear that this was all a publicity stunt.
Many people see the rescue happen, in addition to the crew from UNM. The Albuquerque Journal runs a piece on it which includes Jimmy's picture. Jimmy gets back to his home/office that night and finds that he has lots of messages on his voice mail. He goes to see Chuck and brings him all the day's newspapers, except the Journal.
Chuck is desperate for the Journal. He makes a mad dash outside and takes his neighbor's copy of the paper. He leaves a dollar behind to cover the cost of the paper. He gets back inside and looks at the paper and sees the story on Jimmy.
Thoughts
Kevin Weisman, played the guy who Jimmy scams in the flashback to 1992. He is best known for playing Marshall Flinkman on Alias. Dawnn Lewis, who is probably best known for being on A Different World, played the part of the judge.
The scene where Chuck rushes outside made me laugh. It was partly the way it was filmed and partly his neighbor's reaction.
I'm curious to know how Jimmy left things with Kettlemans. I think that there has to be more to it than just them giving him money. Before I watched the episode I wondered if he was going to offer to hold the money for them.
What will Nacho's next move be? He isn't about to give up on Jimmy but how is he going to work his way back in? My guess is that the publicity stunt is going to make him suspicious that Jimmy took money from the Kettlemans.
This episode is another step in the right direction. This isn't Breaking Bad. It is nowhere near as dramatic or as violent as that show but I like how Better Call Saul is slowly unfolding. My guess is that he will finally start using the name Saul Goodman at the end of the season or maybe the beginning of the next one.
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