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 An hour I love is "Chicanery," from "Better Call Saul."


People call this the high point of the series. Here's how I understand it. Chuck, a troubled man, needs an outlet for his own pain, so he antagonizes his brother, Jimmy. He ensnares Jimmy by getting him to admit (on tape) that he has bent the law. Jimmy's reasons for having strayed from the path of rectitude are defensible, but Chuck won't open his ears.

At the same time, Chuck's rage means that he is also bullying himself. Chuck has persuaded himself that he has an allergy to electricity ("AIDS seemed bizarre, too, when the stories first began to emerge"). Jimmy must show that Chuck is out of his mind--so that Chuck's case gets dismissed. But the process of course requires one brother to humiliate another brother.

Chuck is a monster--but he is also, obviously, dealing with intense suffering. In a flashback, we see him trying to woo his ex-wife. He can't just tell her the story of his new illness, so he invents an elaborate speech about having lost all of his electrical power; he will serve her fish that he has (whimsically) cooked up on a campfire. All seems to go well until the ex-wife's cell phone rings. Instead of digging into his own lunacy, Chuck picks up the phone and throws it across the room. In a haughty way, he says, "It's rude to take a call during dinner."

I can't take my eyes off Chuck. In the hour's final minutes, having lost his case, Chuck notes a glowing "Exit" sign in the corner of the courtroom. This is full of meaning. First, it suggests that Chuck cannot be trusted; if he really had an allergy, he would have detected the presence of the sign during Minute One, and he would have demanded a new set-up. Two, the sign is symbolic: Chuck needs an exit. He needs to leave his family situation--but he also needs to leave the planet. By the end of the season, he will be dead.

I'm always happy to discover a great character, and Chuck seems to be one of the best in recent TV history. I wish that the Gilligan/Seehorn show would happen this season.
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