Better Call Saul

Re Mike and deep dark etc: maybe I'm just remembering the future of these characters, maybe he really does, so far, think in the terms of his little Sunday School lesson about how you can be a criminal without being a bad guy, maybe that's how he could have been a good cop who just took the bribes to fit in and stay alive. Then again, he's good at compartmentalizing: in the future, he can do dark shit before and after buying balloons for his granddaughter at the park. Still, even he may have a ways to go, BB-wise.

Agree with the A-Z fudging -- Walt's character was all over the map in season 2. Not so much a gradual descent as "oh, right, he's evil now."

I think the problem is, Odenkirk's so (surprisingly) good, so three-dimensional, that if the script has is motivation pivot in a sudden and cheap way, it's all the more noticeable. Whereas Walt was a mystery, even to himself, and his unexplained mood shifts worked well as part of his enigmatic character (rather than as signposts of rushed storytelling).

"has his motivation", I mean

tbh I would imagine Mike as a cop would do whatever it took if he knew someone was guilty, including planting evidence, setting them up to take the fall for something else, etc

My hope for next season is that Ermintrout gets more screen time.

I'm calling the Chicken Man showing up next season.

last episode could have used more Mike and I was actually surprised how quickly Jimmy turned at the last minute and didn't really buy that. Otherwise though everything about this show is great.

yeah that was an odd moment. hmm i am about to receive the legitimacy, respect, and career path that I have worked so hard for since turning my life around but wait I HAVE A GIFT MESSAGE RECEIVED THX GOD

My hope for next season is that Ermintrout gets more screen time.

Myyk Ermintrout

― oochie wally (clean version) (sic), Wednesday, March 4, 2015 2:47 PM (1 month ago)

There's been a lot of grumbling about Saul's turnaround at the end of the episode but I'd wager that his turnaround isn't going to be quite so quick when it's actually put to the test. He's made the decision to Break Bad but he's still a relatively moral character who's surely going to suffer some pangs of conscience on the way down.

It just means being a bit bent ie taking the Kettelman's cash etc, and we know Jimmy spent most of his youth like that. It doesn't mean going straight to representing meth kingpins.

I think people are putting too much stock into that last scene. I saw it as a sort of 'fourth-wall' moment, similar to the announcement at the end of the first series of Game of Thrones where the narrator said something like 'Do you want to see battles between dire wolves, dragons, zombies and giants? Then tune in next year for season 2', even though that season has very little of those mentioned.

Whoa, what version of Game of Thrones are you watching with narration?

it was only right at the end of the first ever series.

hahaha that never happened but i am loving the idea that it did

i'm sure i didn't imagine it. Maybe it was just a teaser tacked on the end of the version I saw.

that's got to be the case and i'm not popping shots at you DL it's just cracking me up
jon snow looks balefully into the distance beyond the wall, eddying winds swirl around his fur cloak, he dramatically turns and says "DEAR VIEWER: Do YOU want to see battles between dire wolves, dragons, zombies and giants?"

Nah, Daenerys turned to the camera and said it after emerging from the fire.

yeah lol it was totally off-tone and hollywood trailery IIRC.

I think people are putting too much stock into that last scene. I saw it as a sort of 'fourth-wall' moment, similar to the announcement at the end of the first series of Game of Thrones where the narrator said something like 'Do you want to see battles between dire wolves, dragons, zombies and giants? Then tune in next year for season 2', even though that season has very little of those mentioned.

That is how everyone else sees it too, ie corny and bad

I don't think anyone's really putting stock in it as a harbinger of s2

lol I don't think the show creators necessarily have creative control of what the network says in their bumpers

also HBO did not do that in the original US run

- that Bingo contraption looked a little like a methamphetamine still, and all that came out were little blue Bs. HMMMMMMM.

- sheepishly glad to see the actual Kevin Costner bit revisited. "If you build it, I will come ..."

- bugs me a little that all the money they use on the show is old money. New big portraits were introduced in 1998.

But hey, The Wire did that too.

I think Chuck will still be around, I'd have to think they will have to show why he broke down at some point in the series.

lol, i didn't get the "blue b" joke until you underlined it for me

New season starting this spring, right? Anyway, finally caught up with this and was a little surprised both how not like "Breaking Bad" it is and how much I absolutely loved it. So well written/directed/acted. Whoever upthread said it was like a good Coen Brothers movie was OTM.

I think the end of S1 made total sense, btw. After giving going straight a valiant effort, after working his ass off, after doing everything right on someone else's terms, he was no better off than where he began. I think he suspected the alleged job offer was a too good to be true favor pulled by his old coworkers, and he probably was sick of getting bailed out and ripped off by people with better cars than he has.

Heh. Better Car Saul.

Back in just over 3 weeks

!!!!!!

pumped

in a low key way

re-watched S1, confirmed that this show is probably better than Breaking Bad. It's less reliant on constant crises/cliffhangars and much more character-driven, it has a decently written female lead and the other three (Odenkirk, McKean, Banks) are all in top form.

hey! it's me! i got a new car!

are new episodes gonna be on Hulu? I'm getting kind of annoyed at how difficult it is to watch things as they air via Roku

or am I gonna have to buy these through Amazon like I did with Always Sunny

re-watched S1, confirmed that this show is probably better than Breaking Bad. It's less reliant on constant crises/cliffhangars and much more character-driven, it has a decently written female lead and the other three (Odenkirk, McKean, Banks) are all in top form.

'decently written female lead' you've gotta be kidding

nah she's good, I like the way her relationship with Jimmy is played out

certainly better than any of the garbage they gave to SKYLOR and Marie

yup. glad to have this back. definitely better than BB.

If breaking bad taught us anything it's that every single time you need to come up with a trait to round out your female characters, always default to "unexpected flair for lying"

Loved this btw. The grift was so good: "giselle", stock douche being a guy who actually says "wow. Just wow." to himself. Also loved the scene with the cops. And it looks fucking great.

the brief resurgence of slippin' jimmy

loved the DO NOT TURN OFF bit

and the rest

"unexpected flair for lying"

she's a lawyer

"Unexpected flair for lying" pretty much covers everyone in the entire Breaking Bad universe who isn't Walter Jr or already a drug dealer.

That isn't the case but it wasn't a serious post anyway, just thought it was funny as it seemed to be their go-to for "giving skyler something to do" (tho I liked that character more than a lot of people)

Slow burning opener for sure, lots of subtle character moments rather than big plot beats. Realised I can't remember much of what happened in the first season beyond Chuck screwing him over.

Like I've completely forgotten where the gangbanger guy comes into it.

short it. short it. short that shit!