"You didn't get it, you were never going to get it." 

This episode is amazing, kicking off with that intro scene of Chuck and Jimmy was cruel and tells you a lot about what the episode will be like; Chuck having a lot of relevance and the episode hitting heavy emotional beats.

Contrary to what the intro might make you believe, Winner isn't actually completely focused on Jimmy and his lingering feelings towards Chuck, as it also has a really strong B plot coming from Mike, Werner, Lalo and their little game of cat and mouse and whatever chases cats. There's a really cool duality between both plotlines, that are weaved together through their shared topic of being reduced to one mistake from your life. On Jimmy's side of things, he's still facing the ramifications of confessing to a felony to Chuck, and Kristy who is nothing more than a shoplifter in the scholarship board's eyes. Then, on the cartel side of the story, it's all about his attempt to see his wife and how nothing he can do will make Gus see him as anything other than a liability. 

It's always so cool how this series and Breaking Bad use action scenes in the show, I can think of a lot of examples where there is more of a focus on calculated plans than guns and violence. In this episode for example, there's Mike luring Lalo into a car park and jamming the ticket machine with gum to block him, which is just such a crazy way to execute an action scene and I love that level of thought put into it. 

This episode also features some of the best cinematography of the series, of course there's the iconic "There are so many stars visible in the New Mexico sky, I think I will go out there to get a better look." shot - which is absolutely one of the best ever - but even the most average of shots that aren't portraying a key moment or anything are still gorgeous and it took me by surprise every time I tool the time to focus on it.

Of course, I had to save the best part of Winner for last. Jimmy dropped multiple of the best scenes in all of TV in just this one episode. I'm running out of words to use to compliment the unimaginable heights of the acting in this series, but holy fuck Bob. His monologue to Kristy outside HHM is genuinely a perfect scene of television, from the acting to the writing of the dialogue, from the dissection of Jimmy's character to the subtext in what he says, it's all unbelievable. After that, a normal person would not expect him to go and do it again when he makes his appeal to have his law license back, and yet again we're sucked into a moment of this increasingly nuanced character finally open up about his brother. Wait, what's that? You're telling me he just lied to us? Kim acta as a POV character for the viewer here and it works amazingly, because we too were moved by his speech, and we too are bewildered by him saying it meant nothing. 

Last paragraph here, because this is already one of my longest reviews and I might hit the character limit. This shows utilisation of the Saul Goodman name is unfathomably amazing writing and is one of the things that makes this such an incredible prequel. Sure, they could take Jim and make him more and more morally bankrupt until he's Saul Goodman, that's the easy route. But using the Saul Goodman name to demonstrate how Jimmy really feels about his brother is something else entirely. Here it is used to tell the audience that Jimmy lied in the prepared statement, meaning it was all a lie about his brother. Going from the line: "If you make me a lawyer today, I will do my best to be deserving of the name McGill." right to his iconic "It's all good man!" shows his willingness to bend the law and people's emotions to help himself, and also the lack of respect to his late brother. 

10/10, I wasn't sure what to rate it because I find it so difficult to rate episodes that are majorly hyped but after reviewing this, I'm sure.

Specials

Season 1

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