‘Better Call Saul’ episode 9 preview: Murderers’ row

What we’ve learned so far about “Better Call Saul” is that this is just as much the Mike Ehrmantraut origin story as it is the Saul Goodman one. While Jonathan Banks has not always had the most screentime save for the episode “Five-0,” he has made the most of it. This happens again when it comes to Monday night’s new episode “Pimento.”

What is interesting in analyzing the new sneak peek is that it seems like Mike was not initially trusted when contracted to do a “job” and he seems to be one of many contenders for the position. He arrives on the scene to find the largest man potentially in the history of New Mexico joining him, and another man ultimately joins the two of them. The implication is that they were all hired to do the same job, and we have a hard time envisioning that there is a Justice League of murderers and crooks being formed here.

Instead, this may be a testing ground, a way for these men to prove themselves as viable in the eyes of their employer. Maybe they will end up turning on each other, and Mike’s brutality will shine through yet again.

The struggle that will make itself clear in watching this is having to remind ourselves that Mike is not acting out of a pure need for violence. He is preceding the footsteps of Walter White in many ways with the “I’m doing this for my family” argument. Maybe Mike also does it because he “likes it” and is “good at it,” but the implication does not feel the same.

(Photo: AMC.)