'Better Call Saul' Season 1, Episode 10 - 'Marco' Recap

We begin the week, as we have so often this season, with a flashback: Jimmy talks to his con partner Marco (remember him? The "butthole" guy?) and tells him about the big opportunity that Chuck is giving him.

"It's like watching Miles Davis give up the trumpet!" Marco says. And it's sad for other reasons too, knowing what Chuck does to Jimmy down the line.

"Sorry I called you a pig f--cker," Jimmy is kind enough to say to Howard when he goes back to HHM to give them the Sandpiper case. He also gives Howard a rundown of everything that he's been doing for Chuck that needs to keep on being done. "You've been doing this every day for over a year?" Howard says in disbelief.

The most heartbreaking thing about all of it is that Jimmy has no wisecracks anymore, at least not yet. A whole scene with him and Jimmy and not a single snarky comment? He must really be down.

He's even off his game during bingo, which he's allowed to do again now that he's given away the case. "B4...B as in betrayal," is just the start of his long monologue that ends up with Jimmy going on a terrible rant about the state of his life that includes a story about taking a dump through a rival's sunroof...while the guy's kids were in the back seat.

Anyway, Jimmy is apparently a registered sex offender thanks to that, which is why he's in Albuquerque now.

Jimmy heads back to Arno's and surprises Marco, plus he's got a special Kennedy half-dollar with Kennedy facing left...perfect for scamming one of the patrons at the bar. Turns out that the two of them haven't missed a beat. Is this the return of Slippin' Jimmy?

It sure looks like it. Vince Gilligan treats us to a classic big-city-style montage of con after con, including the original version of the Nigerian prince con.

Messages from clients call Jimmy back to New Mexico, but Marco convinces him to pull off the Rolex con one more time. But when Jimmy gets out into the alley, he finds Marco lying on the ground, as planned...but definitely not pretending to be unconscious.

At the funeral, Jimmy gets a promising call from Kim: HHM ca't handle the workload in the Sandpiper case, so they're partnering with another firm...a firm that might be interesting in hiring Jimmy on a partner track.

But on his way into the courthouse to meet the new firm, he walks away instead and chats with Mike. "What stopped us?" he asks Mike about the $1 million in cash they had. "I know what stopped me," he says, "and it's never stopping me again."

Our last shot of the season is the double yellow line in the middle of the road; fitting, considering the line that Jimmy just crossed. He had his chance to truly go straight, but now he's really breaking bad.

Speaking of which, how does the first season of "Better Call Saul" compare to its parent show, "Breaking Bad?" The pieces are all there: the interesting visual techniques, the foreshadowing, the terrific dialogue. But the high stakes are missing...Walter White was a man driven by life or death choices, hurtling himself toward an end that could have only come from a gun shot or a prison door. Jimmy, on the other hand, has thus far only faced the slightest possibility of harm and his crimes have been few and negligable.

Of course we know that things will escalate, but knowing what we know about Jimmy's future, will he ever be as fun to watch as Walt?