Better Call Saul New Episode Review: 'Mijo' Puts Jimmy McGill in The Game

The Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul returned just 24 hours after its pilot episode on the second night of its two-night premiere with "Mijo," an hour that helped position Jimmy McGill on his journey toward becoming Saul Goodman.

The parallels and comparisons between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul will be here for a while, at least until the spinoff gets enough traction and momentum to stand on its own two feet. In some ways, that's good because Better Call Saul should honor its parent show. And it seems apparent that Jimmy's transformation to Saul will mirror Walter White's transformation into Heisenberg, but that does not mean the two journeys will be the same. In fact, the opposite seems true at this juncture.

"Mijo" showed that Jimmy McGill is just as weak and ineffective as Walt was at the beginning of Breaking Bad. He tried to scam a rich client, only to land in the clutches of Tuco after the twin skateboarders hit the wrong car. From here, it looked like Jimmy was a goner because Tuco is every bit as crazy in the pre-Breaking Bad world as he was when he was snorting meth off a knife.

Tuco drove Jimmy and the twins out into the desert, where he spilled the entire truth. But Tuco didn't believe him, which forced Jimmy to think on his feet and bounce between lies and truth before he eventually convinced Tuco not to gut him. This entire scene was reminiscent of Breaking Bad, thanks in large part to Michelle MacLaren's wonderful direction.

The lengthy scene continued with Jimmy negotiating with Tuco on what a proper punishment should be for the twins, and they eventually settled on one broken leg apiece. The scene was filled with tension, and the final sounds of Tuco snapping their legs like twigs were sickening.

The look on Jimmy's face told the whole story and showed how different his story will be from Walter's. Walt made hundreds of conscious decisions to become Heisenberg, but Jimmy is having this world forced upon him by happenstance. If the twins had hit the right car, none of this would have happened. He doesn't seem to want to change, at least not yet.

After his encounter in the desert, Jimmy went back to doing his usual job as a public defender. The montage of his day-to-day life showed that he seemed somewhat happy (or at least, not miserable and scared). He even went on a date, but the sound of snapping breadsticks reminded him of the twins' legs and things went south from there.

The final scene in the episode with Tuco's associate drove home the point that Jimmy is reluctant to join this criminal world. He's resisting getting involved with these people, and who could blame him? The trick to Better Call Saul is that we know how this character's story ends, so the show needs to keep us invested in getting him there. So far, so good.

Notes:

- Vince Gilligan and company love the extreme close-up shots, and they used them well in the opening scene of the episode with Tuco chopping up the tomatoes.

- Also, Tuco holding a knife remains terrifying.

- From the moment Tuco's grandmother went upstairs to watch her stories, you knew the twins were screwed. It was classic Breaking Bad, and it made you wince when Tuco knocked them both out with her cane.

- Jimmy's brother appears to be a fascinating character, so let's see where he goes from here.

What did you think of "Mijo"? Let us know in the comments section.