Better Call Saul

the only part of that I didn't get was why it was important that the pick-up man get away

Sacrifice pawns, protect rooks.

Can I just profess my absolute mortification over only just recently realizing that Crazy Eight was Crazy Eight? In my defense, it's been forever since I've seen the first season of Breaking Bad but I still can't believe I never put two and two together until they basically stuck a neon sign reading 'HEY VIEWERS, LOOK, IT'S THE GUY WALTER WHITE KILLED WITH A BIKE LOCK' under his face this season.

I would gather that Gus takes great pains to ensure that none of his men get arrested and wind up, say, becoming DEA informants.

Some of the most fan servicey things on this show have been the v superfluous origin stories like how crazy eight got his name or how hector got his bell (the latter explained in a long monologue lol)

Sacrifice pawns, protect rooks.

^^^

Can I just profess my absolute mortification over only just recently realizing that Crazy Eight was Crazy Eight?

I manage to forget this every season. If I ever rewatch Breaking Bad it'll probably come as a surprise when that nice quiet guy from the restaurant turns up as a nasty baddie.

I didn't make the connection either. Till just now. Onward.

I’ve forgotten everything the happens in Breaking Bad, which makes BCS more enjoyable, I think, and the alleged ‘fan service” goes over my head

Tbh I think it’s stretching it when every callback and character bit gets labelled as “fan service” - I’m not sure it’s a useful critique?

Aside from that I think this season’s been terrific - it’s always enjoyable but season 4 felt like a stepdown at the time

Almost forgot this last night--missed the 9:00, caught it at 11:00. Slightly confused by the end re Kim and her firm. (Not the photo, which I know will be explained. Just...in general.) I thought for sure I'd spotted Laurie Metcalf digging up soil at the site, but I checked, and no. Was that Kim?

lol at Mike wiring up his own cell phone charger

and Saul’s increasingly complicated schemes to keep the guy’s house standing

amazing work

This season has been so much fun, particularly compared to much of S4's morose wheel spinning.

Some great analysis in this thread.

This was definitely the funniest episode in some time. Jimmy and Kim recreating Kim's conversation with her client had me rolling. I needed that.

I had the same thought re the relative lightness of this ep and how needed it was

the only really dark turn was Jimmy explaining that he'd done all of the normal tricks and they were entering a different phase, only for Kim to immediately jump on board

I feel like there's this balance right now where he and Kim are going to end up pushing each other closer to the edge

Oh yeah, egging each other on in mutual bottle-throwing is not a path that ends anywhere good I fear. I love that they’ve gone this way with Kim and it isn’t merely jimmy dragging her unwilling into his bullshit

So I guess mike hooks up with gus out of count of Monte cristo game recognise game. Also I can’t remember how long he’s lived in New Mexico but I would have expected him to have at least a little Spanish - then again he doesn’t talk to that many people

The fall of Slippin' Kimmy is going to be so painful. This is the best tv show ever invented.

Agreed. I'm scared that the last time we see her is going to be in a dark alley where she's just handing goons envelopes of cash to go break someone's legs. Well, maybe not that bad, but you get the picture

Getting bored of the Acker storyline tbh. I couldn't give a fuck whether the old bastard gets kicked out of his house or not

Then think of it as the Kim storyline, since it is.

Is it me or was that last episode really boring?

It was you.

This storyline isn’t about Acker, it’s about Kim’s self-destructiveness, her frustration, and her moral compass

it was boring

So who was Max? Did I miss something?

yeah that escaped me also, so many details lost over the seasons

https://breakingbad.fandom.com/wiki/Max_Arciniega

my presumption is that they were a couple prior to Salamanca murdering him; the internets generally agree but it's open to interpretation

ah, thanks, never would have dug that one out

I should watch this show w/ the wiki open

yeah that was my interpretation too

it explains the deeeeeep need for revenge & the way the Salamancas have always treated Fring

Somebody, I think Lalo, referred to Fring with a homophobic slur and referred to Max's murder earlier this season. They're laying out there for the attentive viewer.

Which would make Gale Boetticher on Breaking Bad kind of an echo of Max? (Gus also paid for his education, I think...or least he said something about a scholarship when he tried to explain their relationship to Hank.)

yep

I never suspected a sexual relationship between gus and gale tbh

yes me neither

i dont get that vibe from them at all

Between gus and max otoh, definitely

def

Even if there wasn't a sexual relationship--and I don't rule it out (Gale was gay, right?)--Gus still may have viewed Gale as some kind of stand-in for Max...Or maybe it was more of a father-son relationship. There seemed to be something there in the way Gus treated Gale (conceding he did cut him loose at one point).

So I guess mike hooks up with gus out of count of Monte cristo game recognise game.

Kind of amazing that you referred to it this way, because the actor who played Mike's doctor also played Luigi Vampa, the captain of the ship that rescued Edmond Dantes (played by Jim Caveziel) after he escaped from the Chateau D'If in 2002's The Count of Monte Cristo!

A reminder to myself that this is on tonight (almost forgot last week). "Wexler vs. Goodman"--major turning point? Too soon if there's still a season-and-a-half.

not if Better Call Saul

Haven't been as big on the recent episodes as some of the rest of you, but that one was excellent. Great opening, great closing, and the shot just before the commercial break of Kim walking in to help Jimmy clean up the commercial shoot was a great MacGuffin (unless it wasn't). Trying to stay vague.

I actually didn't get what Jimmy was up to till he explained at the end. Rotten, but it made perfect sense.

Just read the Rolling Stone recap. I took absent-minded notice of the song Jimmy was strumming on his guitar but forgot the significance of it, especially at that particular moment.

Not sure what Kim was thinking at the end there

she's only human and... god, we do stupid things for love

plus, spousal privilege

otm I was thinking we might get a legal justification next week but mainly she loves jimmy so “what is she thinking” is the exact point and beside it

he's doing exactly what he's always done, and said he'd do, and it's heartbreaking

I could use a better memory--I find it so hard to retain details from previous seasons. Clearly Nacho and Mike have a lot of history. None of which I remember now.

lol

Speaking of that plotline, lalo is clearly about to call his new hotshot lawyer so things are about to get complicated for jimmy/saul, also lalo is still in play in breaking bad and it doesn’t feel like the timelines are near joining up yet