‘Better Call Saul’ recap: Shady actions could torpedo Jimmy’s career

Reckless behavior could cost Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) his law license and derail the career of his attorney girlfriend, Kimberly Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), on “Amarillo,” Episode 203 of AMC’s “Better Call Saul.”

Jimmy’s new job involves client outreach for a multi-million-dollar class action lawsuit targeting Sandpiper Crossing assisted-living facilities, which routinely cheat elderly residents out of their life savings.

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After his letters to the seniors go unanswered (perhaps Sandpiper illegally destroys the correspondence), Jimmy launches an aggressive and unethical scheme that could get him disbarred.

By bribing a Sandpiper employee, Jimmy gains access to a busload of Texas seniors, including Alma May Urbano (Carolyn Wickwire). Soon the entire group listens attentively.

“Ma’am, I’m here to make sure you get your money back,” Stetson-wearing Jimmy promises Alma May in his usual folksy manner.

“And nothing makes me sadder than to see people of the Greatest Generation, people like my own Nana and Bobo, getting overcharged by some great big company,” Jimmy adds, “even if it was an accident.”

When Jimmy reports the latest recruitment tally at a staff meeting — he signed up more than 200 clients in three weeks — his attorney brother Chuck McGill (Michael McKean) raises a red flag. Did Jimmy unscrupulously solicit new business?

“Really astonishing results, Jimmy. Incredible,” Chuck says. “I’m just wondering how you account for your success.” Because, Chuck cautions, those remarkable numbers will “definitely raise eyebrows” at the opposing counsel.

“What happened in Texas?” Kim pointedly asks Jimmy after the meeting. “I need you to understand something very important. I put myself on the line to get you this job!”

In other words, everything sneaky Jimmy does reflects back on Kim.

Abruptly changing tactics, Jimmy proposes a highly targeted TV commercial that would air when Sandpiper residents faithfully watch reruns of “Murder She Wrote” in the dayroom.

“And let me tell you,” Jimmy informs his skeptical boss, Clifford Main (Ed Begley Jr.), “when that thing comes on, it draws the blue hairs like moths to a bug zapper!”

Unbeknownst to Cliff, Jimmy hires a couple of film students (Josh Fadem and Julian Bonfiglio) to shoot a commercial featuring elderly Mrs. Strauss (Carol Herman) as she clutches a tattered shawl and laments the loss of her nest egg. A phone number for the Davis & Main law firm follows.

Also unbeknownst to Cliff, Jimmy pays a Colorado TV station to broadcast the ad, which prompts calls from 103 concerned Sandpiper residents. When Cliff finds out, he’s furious at Jimmy’s unauthorized actions.

“Did you really think this would fly?” Cliff yells at Jimmy, ordering him to report at 8 a.m. the following day for an emergency meeting with the partners.

Unfortunately for Kim, her “golden boy” Jimmy just jeopardized both their careers.

In other developments, former Philadelphia cop Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) decides to move his widowed daughter-in-law Stacey (Kerry Condon) and granddaughter Kaylee (Abigail Zoe Lewis) to a safer neighborhood.

This after paranoid Stacey supposedly hears gunfire on two consecutive nights in her Albuquerque suburb.

Because Mike’s meager salary as a parking lot attendant won’t purchase a new house, he contacts a shady veterinarian (Joe DeRosa) with underworld connections. Mike could receive $200 for a bodyguard job, but that’s not nearly enough cash.

“You want next-level pay? You gotta do next-level work,” the vet insists.

It’s not long before Mike gets an offer of “serious money” from drug dealer Ignacio “Nacho” Varga (Michael Mando).

“I’ve got a problem,” Nacho tells Mike during a late-night rendezvous. “I can’t solve it myself. There’s a guy. I need him to go away.”

Will Mike become a cold-blooded killer for hire? He’s considering it, at least.

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