@SpyroFinnerty no this is NOT just an action eppy c’mon now. Similar to most critiques of this season for not being as balanced or character focused as the last few seasons, I really feel like most of the people trying to detract from this episode’s quality are ignoring how much there is to love about this upon a closer look. Even without this episode being what Jimmy’s arc throughout the entire season has been building up to, it is genuinely just one of the best shot and most enjoyable episodes out there, it’s one of those eppys where no matter what you look for or value in TV, this has something to offer. [SPOILERS] Because I think it’s important context for what makes this episode as great as it is, despite how many times I’ve talked about Jimmy’s post-S3 development, I’m going to quickly summarise it one last time. While the first 3 seasons of BCS saw Jimmy as an obviously flawed man whose less ideal traits were only exacerbated by his conflict with his brother Chuck, he was also someone that had plenty of compassion and likable traits alongside his flaws, which the show frequently reinforced. The most obvious example is S3’s finale having a plot showing Jimmy sacrificing his elder law career and shared work space with Kim right after Chuck finally cuts him off, cementing that Jimmy does ultimately have interests above his own even when nobody is challenging him to be a better person. However, season 4 sees a radical change in Jimmy for obvious reasons, and by season 5, he has fully transformed into a completely different and less admirable version of the man he once was. The heart within him has died down as he is now only driven by his own interests, the people who held back his less likable side such as Kim now enable his actions, and most importantly, he is refusing to accept the reality of what caused this, which is the death of his brother Chuck. For the past two seasons Jimmy has been running because of his guilt, denial and pride. Bagman is, in my opinion, what his entire arc for the past 2 seasons has been building up to. Within it, he goes on a trip to the border to pick up bail money for his client Lalo, and after a life-threatening altercation with a rival gang of Lalo’s, he is left stranded in the desert with 7 million dollars in cash. Structurally it’s an incredibly unique episode, its climax during the shootout is quite early into the episode, and because of that, the following two thirds of the episode use its falling action as a way to let the weight and severity of the situation sink in. All the way until its ending, this episode feels dire, desperate and bleak. To me this is to ask one core question, what happens when Jimmy is finally put into a situation where he can no longer run? Where he has to come to terms with the truth of his situation for the sake of his own survival? His development within this episode finally answers that, and by its end, the Saul Goodman persona of the past two seasons has been completely torn apart. Starting with the shootout, this is a sequence that I began to appreciate far more once I got what the overall episode was going for. If you see this simply as an exciting action sequence I would honestly consider it underwhelming in some regards. There were absolutely more exhilarating ways that it could have been shot and executed, especially in comparison to the average action scene in Breaking Bad, but once again, the action isn’t the point here. Everything here is extensively shot through Jimmy’s perspective to add a sense of personal and emotional weight to what’s going on and emphasise Jimmy’s emotional turmoil following it. Rather than seeing the first man being shot on screen, we instead see Jimmy’s heartbreaking reaction as the sound design cuts out to emulate the state of shock he’s in, when a lifeless body is trampled over by a fleeing car, Jimmy’s reaction is present in the shot, and whenever one of the gang members is gunned down we either see Jimmy in the shot or are shown their death from his perspective. This scene is about the emotional impact this event has on Jimmy, and everything following it is a microcosm for how he responds to traumatic events, especially ones that he’s brought upon himself or affects those that he cares for. The majority of this episode sees Jimmy in denial of the reality of his situation, whether it be in regards to Chuck, the predicament he’s in right now or how his behaviour corrupts those he loves (a prevalent theme of this season shown through Kim). Since Jimmy as a character would never admit that this is true, the show manages to subtly depict Jimmy’s emotional state through its usage of props and symbolism. The most obvious example is the space blanket and Jimmy’s irrational refusal to wear it, which obviously calls back to Chuck and Jimmy’s inability to cope with him being gone or accept how he’s changed because of it. A more subtle piece of symbolism though is the “World’s 2nd Best Lawyer” mug he got from Kim. When Kim first gave it to him it was an expression of her genuine faith and trust in him, and we now see the mug having a bullet hole in it. I interpret this as showing how Jimmy’s criminality that he has brought upon himself has now degraded their relationship and the good will that Kim once had. In general this episode does a great job of focusing on Kim and how Jimmy betrays her trust, with his two promises to her at the start of the episode and her discussion with Lalo showing how Jimmy frequently misuses the care of those he loves, largely due to his own denial of the gravity of his situation. This finally brings me to Mike in this episode, who accompanies Jimmy on his mission. There are multiple reasons why I think he was the perfect character to accompany Jimmy in this episode, whether it be that we know both of these characters make it to Breaking Bad which helps place the emphasis of this episode less on whether or not they’ll survive and more on the characters, how the arcs of these two characters are parallel to one another (amongst other things, they’re both seen handling grief in a toxic and self destructive way throughout the last 2 seasons), but the best reason of all is Mike’s brilliant monologue near the end of the episode and how it reflects on Jimmy. As he says himself, Mike manages to come to terms with who he is and push forward no matter how much his guilt may get to him because he knows what he’s doing it for; he knows that there are people he needs to provide for whose lives are better with him in it. This is a wake up call for Jimmy, as through hearing this he realises that he’s been running for so long that he hasn’t stopped to think about what matters to him in the first place or reflect on the person he’s become, and the people left in his life that are counting on him he is only letting down by being involved in their life, as seen through Kim’s stress as a result of what he does here throughout the episode. The final stretch of this episode is where every theme and idea from it comes together perfectly. We are given one last hope of an escape or a satisfying resolution to this episode’s crushing narrative with the car belonging to the gang member who fled coming back, and as this once again falls apart, the purpose of this episode is reminded to us and on seeing it a second time, I was honestly emotional watching Jimmy go through one final denial of an easy way out of coping with his situation. Seeing the visual motifs of this episode being resolved (Jimmy finally wearing the space blanket and swallowing his pride and drinking his own pee), the final step to his arc here is complete as the Saul Goodman persona is deconstructed. He isn’t given any easy way to deny the gravity of what he’s experienced, the episode refuses to end on a “satisfying” note, and this leads to the walls he’s built up for himself thus far into the show finally being rejected. I will talk more about how this is important in my reviews of the next two episodes, but even without the added context of those two, this stands on its own as the perfect conclusion for this episode and a moment that completely makes up for the (deliberate) lack of development Jimmy has had throughout the rest of the season up until now. Just an amazing episode and I really don’t think that anything can take away from that. On rewatch I definitely prefer JMM and will probably like Bad Choice Road more as well, but it’s still absolutely perfect and one of the best character studies of Jimmy throughout the show.