Uno is an outstanding episode, which does an excellent job of setting up the series.

Just started back watching BCS again, having watched season 3 anew since it was posted at Netflix. My appreciation for the first episode just reached a new high. I believe Uno does a superb, thorough job of setting forth the core elements of character for Jimmy and Chuck. It also lays out many of the major themes that course through the entire series.

It’s remarkable, for instance, when Howard politely fusses at Jamie that, in the law, too often the combatants get too caught up in winning and lose sight of the broader humanity. That is certainly something that Jimmy struggles with in the first three seasons and that too often gets the better of him and his brother. Howard at times lets this tendency get the better of him, as well, though he does seem to strain to hold himself to his own standard.

And as someone who has been very much a partisan of Jimmy, one who has emphasized that he went straight and narrow for 10 years after he came out to New Mexico, working long hours in the mail room at HHM and getting his law degree by night, I have to admit that the darker side of his character is amply in evidence in Episode 1.

You could make the case for Jimmy that, by the time of the first episode, Chuck has already put him behind the eight ball by blocking him from joining the firm as an associate, consigning him to low dollar, often arduous piece work assigned by the criminal court. But he is certainly a capable conniver, finagler and manipulator and is not above employing those dark arts.

On a more positive note, Jimmy‘s work at the beginning of episode 1 advocating for the three young punks who defile the corpse is nothing short of brilliant legal advocacy. The way he subtly, gingerly walks the tightrope on his clients’ behalf is masterful.

I could go on, and I’m keen to hear what others think, so I will close with this thought: a couple of the major themes set forth in Uno stand out. First is the high degree of correlation between the skill set of a con man and that of a highly capable attorney. The course of the relationship between Jimmy and Chuck is rife with this theme. Second is the powerful theme of when and whether, in the real world, the law as an instrument for shaping people‘s behavior and determining outcomes has anywhere near the power of brute force and, if you will, chicanery. Jimmy, at the end of the episode, awkwardly proclaiming himself an officer of the law, is very quickly commandeered and shut up by Tuco’s gun in his face.

BCS has many outstanding episodes, many of which are often mentioned here in discussion of the show. Uno, doesn’t seem often to get mentioned in these discussions. I believe it very much merits a place in the pantheon of the show’s finest hours.

Submitted April 29, 2018 at 02:19PM by WeHaSaulFan https://ift.tt/2FraLnR