Better Call Saul season 2 episode 2 recap: Never eating pie again

Better Call Saul gets back into its stride with “Cobbler,” the second episode of the new season.

The final moments of Better Call Saul’s first season set up a Season 2 that would start in turbo drive. It showed how Jimmy McGill, a seemingly legitimate lawyer with something of a moral compass, turned into Saul Goodman, the super attorney of the criminal underworld.

The first episode was solid. It started with a flash-forward to Saul Goodman in hiding in middle America. (Always dangling the carrot in front of us, Better Call Saul writers.) We got Jimmy reliving his days as a minor criminal days with a new partner, Kim Wexler. Then came the whole yellow hummer/shoes/watch ordeal.

At the end of the last episode, Jimmy was in his new office, and had his pick of anything: car, table, chair, artwork…you name it. Then he’s left alone for a second, JUST A SECOND, and he looks to the wall and finds a switch with a note that specifically says not to flip it.

Jimmy looks at it. You know what he’s thinking, and I know I was thinking: “JIMMY DON’T FLIP THE SWITCH COME ON MAN THEY GAVE YOU EVERYTHING AND LITERALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO DO ONE THING WHAT IF IT’S A TEST?” He flipped it.

Nothing happened. It’s weird that the switch was there in the first place. What was the point? I don’t get it. Maybe we’ll find out in episode two.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched the episode yet, please vacate the premises.

The episode begins with Jimmy’s

snake in the grass

brother Chuck jamming out some righteous tunes on the piano in his non-electrified palace. Chuck doesn’t quite handle mistakes well. He misplayed a few notes, was visibly frustrated, and restarted. He did it again. His career as a professional pianist seems like a non-starter. He smacks himself in the head a few times anger as Howard arrives at the door.

They speak a bit, Jimmy comes up, and Howard tells Chuck that his brother got a job as an attorney at Davis & Mane. Naturally, Chuck’s skeptical. Their powwow concludes with some super disingenuous smiles and a “well, that’s great for Jimmy” from Chuck.

Next, we’re in the office, and a nervous Kim Wexler does some seventh grade magic to make sure she got her boy Jimmy to sit next to her at the big important table. That was cute. She switched the seat arrangement. Then she plays footsie with Jimmy.

This is what we all wanted in Season 1! It must be too good to be true, though. Come on. It’s a spin off of Breaking Bad. I bet Jimmy tries to get Kim to participate in his low-level cons and Kim decides she’s had enough, breaking his heart. Stay tuned.

WOAH. Definitely too good to be true.

Jimmy goes to pick up his new company car. Personally, I’m going to miss the old yellow clunker. There was something endearing, and very Jimmy McGill, about it.

But dangit: the mug Kim gave him just doesn’t seem to fit in the cup holder.

And look: the nice nerdy fellow with the yellow hummer and yellow shoes makes his first appearance in the second episode! Last we saw him, he got his drugs and baseball cards stolen. So he thought it was wise to tell the police. Because this guy is the biggest clown of a criminal in the world. They haven’t said his name yet, so I’m going to refer to him as the Yellow Nerd.

Man, this is exactly what I’d be like as a criminal: very bad at it. Except I wouldn’t have a yellow hummer, shoes, watch, etc. C’mon, son.

He doesn’t get it. He doesn’t think the cops are suspicious of his criminal activity. He also thinks it’s cool to be a middle aged pudgy white man with a yellow hummer, yellow shoes and a yellow watch. Again: c’mon son.

Mike, because he’s a not an idiot, advises this ignorant drug dealer how to not be so ignorant, because he knows this guy will crack quicker than a windshield hit by a Kyle Schwarber bombshell.

Advice: when Mike tells you to do something, do it.

The Yellow Nerd acquiesces once Mike says he’ll find his baseball cards. He thinks Mike does this out of the kindness of his heart, but Mike assures him that this isn’t charity, and exits the vehicle while the Yellow Nerd is in mid-sentence, discussing finances.

Mike is such a badass. Man. That dude is like, I don’t know, 123 years old, but he’s still on top of the game. It’d be like if Kobe Bryant wins the NBA MVP five years from now. He convinces Nacho to fork over the baseball cards by name dropping Tuco Salamanca. WOAH, BREAKING BAD CHARACTER CROSS ALERT!

Random thought: Raymond Cruz (Tuco), I thought, was one of the best actors to emanate from Breaking Bad. His character was certifiably insane with Hall of Fame level energy, and Cruz captured that.

We come back to Mike convincing Yellow Nerd to sell his car to Nacho. Poor Yellow Nerd tries to teach Nacho how to wash it and how it handles, but Nacho shuts him down. “I’ll tell the boys at the chop shop to be real gentle with it.”

Cold world.

Alas, the Yellow Nerd gets his baseball cards back. Hopefully, this teaches him to stay out of the drug game. This isn’t JV.

This episode has been driven by Mike. There’s got to be something big coming from Jimmy within the last 20 minutes.

The real criminals tell the faux-criminal Yellow Nerd that their business is done. Good decision.

We cut to a business meeting. Jimmy and Howard are talking. Then an assistant whispers something in Howard’s ear, he gets up, interrupts Jimmy, and tells everyone to put their cell phones in a bin.

WE ALL KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS! HERE COMES CHUCKIE!

Jimmy gets uncharacteristically flustered, but it’s nothing that a well-placed hand-on-the-thigh from Kim Wexler can’t fix.

Jimmy gets his mojo back.

Chuck the Snake wants to chat with Jimmy. They don’t talk much before Jimmy’s phone rings, causing Chuck to flee.

Right on time, that phone call is from Mike. “Are you still morally flexible?” he asks. “I might have a job.”

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!

“Where and when,” Jimmy answers.

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!

(Yes, I’m aware that “where and when” should’ve been followed by a question mark in the name of grammar. But Jimmy said it like a statement. We’re going to pretend it’s a statement because the question mark makes it look like there was indecision or room for debate. There was none.)

Commercial. Dammit. *scootches back of the edge of my seat.*

We return. Jimmy meets his first criminal client: the Yellow Nerd. Really? This is the infamous first criminal that Jimmy/Saul will represent? Come on. This guy?

The Yellow Nerd is being interviewed by police, but meets with Jimmy first. Jimmy lets the Yellow Nerd talk, listening as he digs himself deeper holes. Finally, Jimmy shuts him up and tells him to leave. Smart decision.

Wait, did Jimmy say the Yellow Nerd’s name was Dan? Meh. I like Yellow Nerd better.

Jimmy is trying to find ways to cover for his client’s inability to lie. Jimmy spews something about “Digital media…he made videos for the man…private videos…of an artistic nature…”

WAIT, WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

“A lover’s spat. Two consenting adults had a falling out.” HAHAHA.

The police ask what were on the videos. Oh no. Come on, guys. Does he need to spell it out for you?

Jimmy: “They were videos intended to titillate the senses.”

Cops: “Okay, so porn?”

Jimmy: “No, fetish.”

WHAT. The cops keep pushing.

Jimmy: “Squat cobbler.”

WHAT IS THAT? He rambles off more names. AM I UNINFORMED TOO?

Jimmy: “A man sits in pie and wiggles around.”

OH MY GOD THE MENTAL IMAGE OF THIS MAN DOING WHATEVER JIMMY SAYS HE’S DOING NO NO NO EW. NEVER EATING PIE AGAIN.

Jimmy: “Trust me on this, you don’t want to see it.”

YEAH YOU’RE NOT WRONG, JIMMY. IT’S TOO LATE, THOUGH.

Oh no. Jimmy tells the Yellow Nerd that he needs to actually make the video. What? Why? Come on.

Are those…no. Jimmy actually has pies. Thank the lord it’s just him bringing pies to eat with Kim. Phew. This scene could’ve been much, much worse.

It feels like she’s going to slap him. Nothing has gone wrong this episode yet. Please don’t do it.

Jimmy says they later made the video, and the pies they’re consuming are the excess props.

Kim doesn’t like this. Falsifying evidence? She’s getting mad. Can I say I called it?

Kim goes on a rant about why that’s wrong and blah blah blah. This is cute: Kim is talking to Jimmy as if he’s not going to be Saul Goodman one day. She thinks she can still save him.

Wait, it’s 11:01 p.m.—why is the episode still going?

*checks info*

This show is airing from 10:00 p.m. until 11:04 p.m. EST? A bit desperate, AMC.

Back to the show: Kim says Jimmy can’t tell her anything like this ever again. But who will he tell, then? And that’s how it ends.

We’re one episode closer to the full on Jimmy to Saul transition, so that’s a plus.