Last night on BETTER CALL SAUL (written once again by Ariel Levine), we get the second part of Lalo's search for Fring's lab. And matched with last episode's first stage, we get a nice example of how to do a quest.
(I almost hesitate to use the term, as this is BETTER CALL SAUL, where everything is a caper. It's probably a distinction without much difference in that world, but as it better fits a lot of other shows, I'm going to use it anyway.)
So, a quest, i.e. the pursuit of something enormously important, has a couple main parts that we see play out in SAUL 605 and 606.
First, a quest involves multiple steps. If you face only one challenge to get what you want, it's not a quest, it's a challenge.
That's not to say a quest has to take place in multiple locations, although usually that's what happens. It just needs to involve multiple challenges.
Lalo wants to find Fring's lab. So in 605 he goes to Germany and meets the dead foreman's wife. There he gets a piece of the puzzle, which leads him to the worker he accosts in 606.
And that's the second thing about quests: Each challenge won needs to provide a piece of the puzzle that in turn leads to the next challenge.
It doesn't always work like this. Think some of the early HARRY POTTER stories; the books end with a series of tests, but they don't necessarily gain anything from winning them. They just get to keep going.
But the best quest, which is of course what we want in our awesome TV shows, goes further than that. Each challenge provides an actual key to the next challenge, something specific that the character needs to move on. In this case, it's a location.
Third, Each challenge in a quest is different in character. Last week, Lalo had to seduce a woman. This week he has to fight off an opponent. The variety is really important; if getting to Fring involved just a series of battles, by the second or third we'd be bored. It would all feel the same.
Fourth, and maybe most important, winning each battle has to be hard. If you're going to win something big and important, something you desperately want, the cost has to really fucking high. Last week that might not have been so much in evidence, except that we know Lalo has no trouble torturing and murdering people, and he didn't get to do any of that. You could say that was compassion--see #5--but it was definitely not easy.
This week it's a lot clearer. The guy he's dealing with has an axe, immediately distrusts him and then manages to hurt him so badly that Lalo is rendered weaponless and vulnerable. He only wins through duplicity. (Personally I wish the German guy would not have fallen for the "hand something over" con as that is so basic at this point. You always want your characters playing at the top of their intelligence. But Lalo has been hurt, seemingly bad. So we allow it.)
Having not just chased the bear but had his head in the bear's mouth, Lalo has earned the win. But not until then.
Fifth and finally, on quests characters learn new things about themselves. There's always a twist to quests, something the character could not have anticipated because in a sense it's not about the quest at all, it's about something else. Sometimes that's the cost of winning a challenge--I'll give you what you want, but first I'm going to tell you what your father has been doing to you behind your back. Sometimes it's the product of the effort.
In 605, Lalo doesn't kill the grieving widow. To my mind, that's one version of a new thing learned, a new skill/weapon that Lalo can bring to bear in situations. He has the ability to mix things up and actually be compassionate. It doesn't sound like a very fight-oriented skill, but let's see how we go.
In 606, there's less of an obvious insight or gift, but there is a reminder of his own vulnerability in all of this. He is not a fucking super hero. He should know that already, as he almost got burnt alive. But that was a while ago. Again, we'll see if it has any relevance going forward.
So, the five parts of a good quest, as demonstrated by Lalo Salamanca.
1) A quest involves multiple steps. First he seeks out the widow, then the employee.
2) Each step must provide a key to the next piece. The widow's house gets him the location of a place connected to one of the other workers.
3) Each challenge is different in character. In 605 Lalo seduces a woman. In 606 he fights off a tough guy.
4) Winning each battle is hard. Lalo can't bring himself to kill the widow, so he has to find another way. In 606, he's got to fight someone tougher than he is.
5) The character learns along the way. Lalo learns compassion and vulnerability.
Quests can get boring and repetitive if they're not well organized. But when they are set up right, man do they sing.
