Better Call Saul

Seehorn is the best and I look forward to whatever she does next.

I don't follow the Emmys at all, but I'm guessing that she'll win this year to make up for that. I'm a big Friday Night Lights fan, and I noticed just yesterday that the two leads--after having never been nominated--both deservedly won in the show's final season.

Yeah, Esposito getting a nom and nothing for Michael Mando is crazy

Seehorn really is a standout on a show filled with great performances

Lalo is definitely my favorite villain in the whole series, they absolutely found the right actor there

Oh yeah, Mando is stellar. I already liked him from BB and Orphan Black, but he's been next level on Saul.

The casting has been spectacular for Saul through and through. McKean was incredible, as is Tony Dalton. I never saw Sense8, so he's completely new to me here, he's been so great as well. And I think Odenkirk has gotten even better as this series has progressed.

yeah McKean was perfect, knew the guy could act but man he just nailed it

i dont' even remember Nacho being on BB but these shows have become a miasma in my brain

McKean gives one of the best non-comic performances by a comedian I think I've ever seen--totally unique creation.

i dont' even remember Nacho being on BB

― akm, Wednesday, July 29, 2020 11:56 AM

He wasn't

he is mentioned though which I still find very amusing

it's been obvious to me Emmy voters are lazy and don't watch things they nominate since Margo Martindale took home TWO Emmys for The Americans and Keri Russell got zilch

Oh man, I could have sworn Nacho was in an episode or two, very briefly. Maybe I'm just implanting memories of him there since I like him so much. I haven't rewatched any BB since the finale.

Maybe thinking of Krazy 8 who is in the first few eps and now a couple of BCS...not that I ever would have recognized him

Rhea Seehorn's performance is such a fantastic course correction from the underwritten/poorly acted female roles in BB, they should give her all the Emmys. that bar scene oof.

― Οὖτις, Saturday, May 27, 2017 2:37 AM (three years ago)

it's been obvious to me Emmy voters are lazy

they fucking officiated a wedding and it was one of the realest and sweetest moment of post-COVID tv, period
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cJThKBscGs

AND mero fucked up his foot stomping the glass!

Wow, I've got one more episode left to go in S5, and it's been so great that I already can't remember much about S4 (not that it was terrible or anything). And seriously, Esposito might be the least compelling actor in this ensemble. Seehorn is sooooo good, and Tony Dalton is great, too. Great job finding that guy, show makers.

OK, S5 is in the books. Great cliffhanger. I guess in some ways the show has always been about Kim breaking bad, but I'm a little unclear ... why. The only hint of any sort of primal drive comes from the flashback to her as a kid, right? Which is to underscore her ... stubbornness as well as her abilities and accomplishments? But unless I missed something, I'm still not sure why she's willing to throw everything away for Jimmy, or, barring that, why she has such a chip on her shoulder about her chosen career path and/or peers. Like, Jimmy gets there through hustling and short cuts, and Kim works just as hard, legally, but it's not like her way fails to get results but Jimmy's does. It's almost as if she *prefers* Jimmy's way of doing things, but she keeps sacrificing her own hard work and gains to get there.

The kid flashbacks also show how she dealt with a family member that was negligent in caring for her, with addiction issues

Is there more than one flashback, or just her mom forgetting to pick her up?

This Vulture piece delves into Kim breaking bad: https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/better-call-saul-showed-us-who-kim-wexler-has-been-all-along.html

But I still don't really see it. Yeah, you can make the case that she is the ultimate con artist, because I/we *didn't* see it, but her motives remain nebulous short of mental illness. Jimmy essentially cons his way into a successful legal career, but Kim seems to be conning her way ... out?

I didn't read the article, but what's been given in the show makes enough sense for me. She's not that happy being a lawyer, especially for Mesa Verde, but even for her own clients sometimes. The Slippin' Jimmy stuff gives her a thrill and a way to rebel against that world. Also her relationship with Jimmy keeps becoming more of a sunk cost, e.g. getting married. By this point she sees his business as inextricable from hers. Maybe the one thing that feels unexplained is how she seems to want to impress Jimmy sometimes, outdo him. But all this stuff is what makes her the most fascinating character on BCS to me

Oh, absolutely! She's a great character! All time, afaic. And I get that she gets a thrill from Jimmy. What I don't understand is why she feels the need to throw everything away for the sake of him. I don't know if it's in the article I posted but it's somewhere else, where the show creators said they actually weren't sure where her story was going so left a lot of things open early on. Maybe that's why her turn from modest accomplice to instigator seems so strange, it's not exactly foreshadowed. And it still doesn't explain why she would want to work so hard, successfully, and still prefer to throw it away for the sake of Jimmy's bullshit. Vs Jimmy, whose own pathology and journey has been pretty clear from the start and backed up and emphasized by what the show has showed us.

the episode where Saul had sex with a panda was a bit o_O for me but I agree S5 was a high watermark

someone has a new toy

Kim is increasingly and understandably utterly disgusted with the way "professional" law works, and in love (despite her better judgement) with someone who upends all the ways you're "supposed" to do things.

yup

I think that explains why she's with Jimmy. he's sleazy and underhanded but at least he's not fooling himself about who he is or what he does. the difference between them and guys like Chuck & Howard is that they know what they do involves some degree of evil

I get all that. I just feel like I missed whatever it is that made her so disillusioned and set her on that path. Aside from the panda.

the very little we know of her childhood suggests that maybe she just finds the unpredictable/instability more familiar somehow

she maybe isnt afraid of losing everything the way someone from a more stable upbringing is

I get that, too! I just wonder if, or hope that, the final season fills in at least a little bit more of that stuff. She's as much more questions than answers as Jimmy is more answers than questions.

I think trusting Howard and then seeing what he turned out like did a real number on her.

like did he really need to kill the panda?

I actually just had to look up why Jimmy and Kim were so vindictive toward Howard. Yeah, he didn't treat them right, but a lot of that was at Chuck's behest, and even if Kim snapped because Howard "turned out like did," she's also currently married to a man who came back wounded and traumatized from wandering the desert as a money mule for a major drug cartel, where lots of people got killed and they shot his coffee mug and they were menaced by a charming psycho, so ...

So yeah, Kim is complicated. It could be just in my head, but it seems that she always escalates when Jimmy is either ready to call it quits or call them quits. But she's such a strong character that I really have to think the show wouldn't put in her in that sort of regressive position, either as a Lady MacBeth or a "I Did It All For Love" type. She's really tangled, the sort who would litter a parking lot with broken glass one night and sweep it up in the morning. I suppose we'll see, but it's a tricky narrative line they're walking. There are lots of reasons she would be vengeful or have a chip on her shoulder. It's less clear why she would be so self-destructive, especially since we've already learned she can get away with sketchy stuff at no professional cost. She does definitely seem to be the sort of character who would take issue with *that* so maybe she is punishing herself for ... getting away with questionable behavior even while advancing her career? That does seem like why she keeps going back to doing pro bono cases, and she's been called on it on the show. But they've barely delved into what makes her tick, and they only have one more season to do it. It's a credit to Seehorn that she portrays they character so well, so fully, that I suspect there's a good answer in there, whether we get it or not.

Unless they give her her own show, which would be awesome. A prequel series to a prequel series.

Yeah the pro bono cases are definitely in line with her character breaking bottles, then sweeping them up. I feel like I've known a Kim or two irl. In fact, she's so well-drawn and familiar that I don't care if they don't explain why she is that way, though I admit the one small flashback we got was intriguing

so uh odenkirk went full fucking marvel workout and changed the shape of his face
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlSW7MXEUXE

does a muscular face always look like it's been punched by Soda Popinski

the trailer is also uh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8j6P8QtAYw

he's Judge Doom

Well he at least says GOD DAMN in it, which is one of his strengths as an actor.

i am legit stoked for this tho tbh

it looks kinda boring tbh? also looks like it literally takes place in the John wick universe

i don't put much stock in trailers

I'm into Bob Odenkirk as John Wick and will watch the hell out of this

SAME

I have always loved Odenkirk for his barely concealed rage & there is nothing I want more than to see him finally just crack fuckin skulls BRING IT ON <3

It was so weird to Odenkirk as the gullible, softy chief in the first season of Fargo. Much more psyched for the John Wick version.

That looks killer

this is so bizarre but damnit I'm gonna watch it

GIVE ME THE GODDAMN KITTY CAT BRACELET is a very Mr Show moment