Details accumulate requiring vigilance. Careful!
At the center of this episode is Howard Hamlin's 1998 Jaguar XJ8, which now has a personalized license plate that reads "NAMAST3." Something about that car becomes a symbol of rage for Saul, who sneaks into Howard's driveway at night and lobs three bowling balls at it. The teaser before the credits for this episode, titled "Namaste" (which is an East Indian greeting that is supposed to convey an Asian version of the Christian Golden Rule), shows Saul in a junk shop browsing carefully for the perfect item to chuck (no pun intended...or?).
Yes Howard remains clueless about Saul, and thinks his old friend Jimmy will come back to work for him. Before having lunch with Howard, Saul defensively adjusts his pinky ring (i.e., Marco's ring acquired at the end of season 1). Howard introduces Saul to his golf partner, a Federal Judge that Saul knows by reputation. The conversation includes the names of older characters: Clifford Main and Kristy Esposito. Little by little, Howard's flakiness eats away Saul, who hammers down his drink. Something about the situation reminds him of his brother Chuck and all the abuse he took in the past as Jimmy.
Perhaps writer and director Gordon Smith (who has been with the franchise since season 3 of Breaking Bad) finally gives us dribs and drabs of what is Saul's genuine dissociative identity disorder (once known as "multiple personality disorder," which in modern usage is not related to a completely different disease called "schizophrenia"). Typically created by abusive family members, the disorder brings about different sustaining personalities in one person. Jimmy, Saul, and perhaps even Gene are not acting. They are actually three different personalities inside the same brain. Becoming Saul allows Jimmy to forget who he once was. This episode shows us like never before how Jimmy can become maniacal Saul. Chucking beer bottles off your balcony is one way of letting off steam, but lobbing bowling balls at a vintage Jaguar is different. Saul is not Jimmy and this is a serious disorder.
Mike faces his issues over Werner and Matty by getting beat up, stabbed, and dropped off at a mission somewhere (Mexico?). Suspenseful crosscutting shows Fring's assistant Lyle cleaning the cooker while Hank and Gomey chase after the guy who picks up the money at the last of three dead drops and gets away.
Oh yeah, and Tucumcari is two and a half hours east of Albuquerque, near the Texas border; Bobby Foster is a boxer with a road named after him; and O'Neill's is a famous Irish restaurant in that neck of the woods. The two meth heads now have names (Sticky and Ron). Stacey Ehrmantraut's car still has Pennsylvania license plates on it.
I know I'm watching as carefully as I can. I hope you are too. Denouement is near.
At the center of this episode is Howard Hamlin's 1998 Jaguar XJ8, which now has a personalized license plate that reads "NAMAST3." Something about that car becomes a symbol of rage for Saul, who sneaks into Howard's driveway at night and lobs three bowling balls at it. The teaser before the credits for this episode, titled "Namaste" (which is an East Indian greeting that is supposed to convey an Asian version of the Christian Golden Rule), shows Saul in a junk shop browsing carefully for the perfect item to chuck (no pun intended...or?).
Yes Howard remains clueless about Saul, and thinks his old friend Jimmy will come back to work for him. Before having lunch with Howard, Saul defensively adjusts his pinky ring (i.e., Marco's ring acquired at the end of season 1). Howard introduces Saul to his golf partner, a Federal Judge that Saul knows by reputation. The conversation includes the names of older characters: Clifford Main and Kristy Esposito. Little by little, Howard's flakiness eats away Saul, who hammers down his drink. Something about the situation reminds him of his brother Chuck and all the abuse he took in the past as Jimmy.
Perhaps writer and director Gordon Smith (who has been with the franchise since season 3 of Breaking Bad) finally gives us dribs and drabs of what is Saul's genuine dissociative identity disorder (once known as "multiple personality disorder," which in modern usage is not related to a completely different disease called "schizophrenia"). Typically created by abusive family members, the disorder brings about different sustaining personalities in one person. Jimmy, Saul, and perhaps even Gene are not acting. They are actually three different personalities inside the same brain. Becoming Saul allows Jimmy to forget who he once was. This episode shows us like never before how Jimmy can become maniacal Saul. Chucking beer bottles off your balcony is one way of letting off steam, but lobbing bowling balls at a vintage Jaguar is different. Saul is not Jimmy and this is a serious disorder.
Mike faces his issues over Werner and Matty by getting beat up, stabbed, and dropped off at a mission somewhere (Mexico?). Suspenseful crosscutting shows Fring's assistant Lyle cleaning the cooker while Hank and Gomey chase after the guy who picks up the money at the last of three dead drops and gets away.
Oh yeah, and Tucumcari is two and a half hours east of Albuquerque, near the Texas border; Bobby Foster is a boxer with a road named after him; and O'Neill's is a famous Irish restaurant in that neck of the woods. The two meth heads now have names (Sticky and Ron). Stacey Ehrmantraut's car still has Pennsylvania license plates on it.
I know I'm watching as carefully as I can. I hope you are too. Denouement is near.