Our discussion of Better Call Saul’s penultimate season two episode, “Nailed,” begins with a key shot that places Kim at the end of a rainbow. We could’ve filmed an entire episode almost entirely on this shot, but we focus on some choice observations as we connect this shot to the running theme of colors that we’ve tracked all season. John and Gus move on from there to the episode’s central confrontation between Chuck, Jimmy, and Kim, a conversation that includes an observation from Dr. Emilio Lizardo about the scene’s (and perhaps the episode’s) pivotal line of dialogue from Chuck: “You don’t have a choice.” John believes that Chuck is right, just not in the way that he imagines.
After the chat turns to small but important touches of costume design and sound mixing, there’s not much time left to talk about Mike’s story in this episode, but John points out that Jimmy’s voyeuristic last scene links his path with Mike’s. And Gus observes that Jimmy and Mike’s distinct reactions in similar circumstances highlights the two characters’ differences, as well.
