‘Better Call Saul’ recap: ‘Colorful’ Jimmy escapes staid law office

Shyster attorney Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) will never adapt to the button-down corporate environment of Davis & Main, even with its generous perks.

That’s why he launches an obnoxious scheme to get himself fired on “Inflatable,” Episode 207 of AMC’s “Better Call Saul.”

While taking dictation for a resignation letter, legal assistant Omar (Omar Maskati) points out that Jimmy will forfeit his signing bonus if he quits within the first year.

This prompts Jimmy to destroy the letter and pretend he suffered a “momentary lapse of reason” due to job stress.

The key, Jimmy realizes, is being terminated from his Santa Fe law firm for being a jerk rather than for malfeasance. And when he sees an inflatable “dancer” sign contorting on a street corner, Jimmy comes up with an idea.

Copying the sign’s garish appearance, Jimmy buys suits, shirts and ties that span the color spectrum and are utterly inappropriate for a legal setting.

As partner Clifford Main (Ed Begley Jr.) angrily puts it, Jimmy wears an “optical migraine you call a business suit.”

The final straw is when Jimmy plays a bagpipe in his office to allegedly blow off steam.

“You win! You’re fired,” Clifford yells. “Tell me. How exactly did I mistreat you?”

“I tried to make it work, really I did,” Jimmy offers. “I’m just a square peg.”

Returning to Albuquerque, Jimmy reclaims his clunker car and tiny office inside a nail salon. Then he asks girlfriend Kimberly Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) to become his law partner by leaving Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill.

“Let’s jump in with both feet,” Jimmy enthuses, “be our own bosses, build our own future!”

Kim has one question. Will Jimmy play it straight or will he be “colorful”?

“There’s no point in doing this if I can’t be myself,” ethically flexible Jimmy admits. “So, yeah, colorful, I guess.”

Kim keeps her options open by interviewing with a rival firm headed by Rick Schweikart (Dennis Boutsikaris). But that job represents a lateral move rather than a step forward.

“You were right,” Kim tells Jimmy. “Time to be my own boss.” Instead of teaming up with Jimmy, however, Kim wants to share office space but pursue separate careers.

“Not partners,” she says. “Solo practitioners, together.”

In other developments, Jimmy does most of the talking at the district attorney’s office when Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) changes his statement regarding an assault by drug dealer Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz).

Mike now claims that a gun found at the crime scene didn’t belong to Tuco. For lying to the authorities, Mike receives $50,000 in cash from Tuco’s ruthless uncle, Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis).

“We want to put this guy [Tuco] away for years,” an assistant district attorney (Kurt Caceres) emphasizes to Mike. “The gun makes all the difference.”

But if the pistol is submitted as evidence, Jimmy warns, Mike will testify for the defense.

Being an ex-cop, Mike wants Tuco to serve a lengthy prison sentence. That was the plan, in fact, when Mike conspired with Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) to lure Tuco into committing the assault just as police arrived.

Their plan was thwarted, unfortunately, when Hector intervened and threatened to harm Mike’s daughter-in-law Stacey (Kerry Condon) and granddaughter Kaylee (Abigail Zoe Lewis).

On the plus side, that cash infusion from Hector will help Mike buy a house for Stacey and Kaylee in a better neighborhood.

“It’s a lot of money,” Stacey says after touring the home.

“Don’t worry about that,” Mike assures her. “We’ll make it happen, whatever the cost.”

And that cost will surely take a toll on Mike as he’s drawn deeper into New Mexico’s criminal underworld.