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Better Call Saul. Not coming back until 2020


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3 minutes ago, VinyVango said:

Great show.  On a side note, did anyone notice the actor playing Hank to be a little bit off in recapturing the character?  I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it seems his remake of Hank is a bit looser/sloppier, less serious, less hardened, etc... than the Hank in Breaking Bad, for some reason.  It's not a huge deal by any means, but seems all the other revisited characters have been spot on.

He seems a little cartoonier.

Hank always had this weird mix of slapstick meat head who was also frequently the smartest guy in the room.  He seems a little more the former and a little less the latter in BCS, but it's such a small role thus far, too.

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Yep, the tacit knock on him within the DEA and their other federal partners and Mexico counterparts was that he was gritty, determined but yet calm and humorous.....and ultimately not terribly effective or on leadership track.  Between the Turtle and the parking lot, it hardens and focuses him to the point where he narrows his predator vision so much that he fails to see every little clue in front of him about Walter.  He becomes a better overall agent, but can't see what's in front of him.  It literally takes him dropping his guard (pants) and being at his most vulnerable (sphincter ajar), to finally see what was in front of him the whole time, even with his newly found focus.  

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Hank’s Omar Little level street smarts has never been explained. The aw shucks Hank is just a good cop is problematic for me and for other posters. It could be something the thoughtful perfectionists Gould/Gilligan are thinking about too. I’m  hope we get a complete back story on Hank like we did with with Mike. Five-O is one my favorite episodes of the entire series. Banks should have won an Emmy for that episode alone. 
 

Gus as usual, played this one brilliantly. He had to lose the money and give the DEA some arrests with as little collateral damage as possible. So three street dealers with no relationship to his organization, other than the  dead drops, go down. Meanwhile, all of Gus’ guys get away clean. Losing the money stings, but he’s already seen Lalo’s hand. 

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24 minutes ago, HoustonFrog said:

So I guess I’m just lost...

I have no clue where the Saul bowling ball thing is going.

Also no clue why Mike ended up in some place in Mexico(?)

And yes, Mike is definitely reminding me of De Niro at this point. It’s a little silly

Agreed. Mike as a skilled marksman on Breaking Bad works for me. Mike as Bone Jones on Better Call Saul doesn’t. 

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I think that is deliberate.  In BB, Hank was kind of a goofy jerkoff in the beginning.  He seems to get more serious after the attack by the cousins and things really ratchet up when he discovers Walt is Heisenberg.  

EDIT - Never mind, I see this was already addressed.  That what I get for replying in a tab that has been open for hours without refreshing first.

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2 hours ago, HoustonFrog said:

Also no clue why Mike ended up in some place in Mexico(?)

It's gotta be that Gus was having Mike tailed that night.  Gus doesn't trust Mike after Mike told Gus to f off.  So maybe Victor or Tyrus was following Mike and saved him.  Sent him to Mexico to get treatment rather than an ABQ hospital.

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50 minutes ago, Jive Turkey said:

It's gotta be that Gus was having Mike tailed that night.  Gus doesn't trust Mike after Mike told Gus to f off.  So maybe Victor or Tyrus was following Mike and saved him.  Sent him to Mexico to get treatment rather than an ABQ hospital.

Exactly what I was thinking.

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5 hours ago, PantsTent said:

That's how he was in early BB episodes.  He changed after El Paso, Tuco, the Twins.

Yep. 

One of the great things BB did was turn Hank from kind of a one-note blow-hard caricature into a complex character whom we cared about.  I think it's perfect that they taking him back to the blowhard that he was in early BB.

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2 minutes ago, oSuJeff97 said:

Yep. 

One of the great things BB did was turn Hank from kind of a one-note blow-hard caricature into a complex character whom we cared about.  I think it's perfect that they taking him back to the blowhard that he was in early BB.

"Culvert."

Now that Hank is back in the picture, Vince can definitely bring Walt back in for a gratuitous cameo.  probably in the last season.  

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Like a little dutch boy with his finger in Larry's asshole?  

I guess once Gus got word what was happening with Lalo, his fake CI, and Saul Goodman...he decided to get somebody from completely outside both chains of command that he could trust to vet out what's what...and so he wants Mike protected.  And his connection back to Saul gets Saul to come over to his side and ditch Lalo and Co.  

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52 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

I think it’s Dutch.

Quote

origin unknown; OED calls it "A recent word of obscure origin." Perhaps, as Weekley suggested long ago, it is the name of a long-forgotten engineer or bridge-builder.

interesting

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Watching this season I feel like I get to have a few beers for an hour with a good buddy I lost contact with.

Only thing that seems a tad bit off is Gus; he is fucking severe in every scene he's in.  Part of his allure as a sociopath in BB was the over-the-top fast food owner that wanted to do whatever possible to make customers happy. "May I refill your cup?"  I thought the scene cleaning the fryer might be that opportunity, but nope, he's a stone cold narco boss.

Small quibble. I'm all in and enjoying the ride.

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5 hours ago, Mach 1 said:

Watching this season I feel like I get to have a few beers for an hour with a good buddy I lost contact with.

Only thing that seems a tad bit off is Gus; he is fucking severe in every scene he's in.  Part of his allure as a sociopath in BB was the over-the-top fast food owner that wanted to do whatever possible to make customers happy. "May I refill your cup?"  I thought the scene cleaning the fryer might be that opportunity, but nope, he's a stone cold narco boss.

Small quibble. I'm all in and enjoying the ride.

And yet the master drug lord makes no effort to keep it from his $9/hr staff.

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14 hours ago, Mach 1 said:

...

Only thing that seems a tad bit off is Gus; he is fucking severe in every scene he's in.  Part of his allure as a sociopath in BB was the over-the-top fast food owner that wanted to do whatever possible to make customers happy. "May I refill your cup?"  I thought the scene cleaning the fryer might be that opportunity, but nope, he's a stone cold narco boss.

Small quibble. I'm all in and enjoying the ride.

I don't see the two sides of Gus as "off".  Gus is an anal retentive control freak.  He wants perfection in all things so the service he extends to customers of his restaurants is just an extension of that personality.  In the last episode, he was not in control.  He's waiting on a phone call to let him know how things went down and he's anxious.  It was slightly uncharacteristic of him to take it out on the manager kid as it shows he's lost some control over himself, but as with the Mike yelling at Katie scene, the emotions are overwhelming the usually calm and in control personality.  I loved the end of the scene as the manager left and Gus could help but adjust the handles to straighten them out perfectly.

13 hours ago, Lurch said:

Is Mike trying to get killed? Insurance money? ...

No, I think he's just spiralling emotionally because of having to kill his friend the german engineer. 

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20 hours ago, Jive Turkey said:

"Culvert."

Now that Hank is back in the picture, Vince can definitely bring Walt back in for a gratuitous cameo.  probably in the last season.  

Could picture the last scene of the show's primary timeline being Walt walking in to Saul's office.

 

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3 hours ago, bernorange said:

I don't see the two sides of Gus as "off".  Gus is an anal retentive control freak.  He wants perfection in all things so the service he extends to customers of his restaurants is just an extension of that personality.  In the last episode, he was not in control.  He's waiting on a phone call to let him know how things went down and he's anxious.  It was slightly uncharacteristic of him to take it out on the manager kid as it shows he's lost some control over himself, but as with the Mike yelling at Katie scene, the emotions are overwhelming the usually calm and in control personality.  I loved the end of the scene as the manager left and Gus could help but adjust the handles to straighten them out perfectly.

No, I think he's just spiralling emotionally because of having to kill his friend the german engineer. 

Shut up, you stupid fanboy.  There's no way they're intentionally doing that.  It's sloppy writing, and a total coincidence that it happened to two of the coolest customers from Breaking Bad.

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Gotta disagree with Derka about rewatchability.

My gf had never seen it, so prior to the new season we binged through the series.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Chuck story line might've dragged on a bit, but McKean was a tour de force in that role.

The transformation of Jimmy to Saul is really depressing.  So many times we see clear evidence of how soft hearted, and big hearted Jimmy is.  But when we meet him in Breaking Bad one of his first suggestions is that Walt and Jesse simply kill Badger.

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KIMMMMMMMM!

At least if she’s going down it’s by her own doing. I was worried it would be some situation where Jimmy/Saul screwed her over and she was the victim.

But she’s got her own agency 100% and the fallout will be on her.

I don’t think I would want the full Saul Goodman from BB as my lawyer but I’d consider this half Jimmy/half Saul.

Howard is right to want to hire him - the only difference between him and a David Boies type is better suits and polish.

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5 hours ago, Bama Chick said:

I don’t think I would want the full Saul Goodman from BB as my lawyer but I’d consider this half Jimmy/half Saul.

If you're guilty you definitely want Saul. Mostly IRL they are guilty and would hire a Saul if they could find/afford one.  That's why criminal defense attorneys seemingly never get the benefit of the doubt in ethics cases. 

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Agree with the above - Kim's made her bed. She tried. I mean I fell sorry for the old buy, but a contract is a contract - it sucks, but ... of course, Kevin is being a real horse's ass. "Pride goeth before the fall" he's about the figure out. Guessing he bought actual art with Mesa money?!?

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On 3/14/2020 at 12:45 AM, Augustus said:

The transformation of Jimmy to Saul is really depressing.  So many times we see clear evidence of how soft hearted, and big hearted Jimmy is.  But when we meet him in Breaking Bad one of his first suggestions is that Walt and Jesse simply kill Badger.

I'd say one caveat to this is that Jimmy actually *doesn't* seem to be soft hearted/big hearted to the Albuquerque underworld types, especially the low-level guys. He tends to treat most of them with a healthy dose of disdain, even in BCS.

 

9 hours ago, bamachine said:

If they did kill Badger, who would we get as the voice of Wedge in the new FF7 Remake?

Also, we never would have got to hear about Badger's amazing Star Trek fan fic:

 

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5 hours ago, Bartles said:

Kim's impersonation of Kevin was amazingly accurate.

you know what was great about that was, she built to it. Rhea Seehorn didn't just nail Kevin's accent and mannerisms right from the start, because although she's probably a really good mimic, the character she plays shouldn't be a natural at it or anything.

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I like how this episode had to call Becks to Walter looking at motel room art in the final season of breaking bad and wondering where it all came from

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i liked the episode ok, but most of jimmy's tactics seemed predictable and unimaginative.  i've seen most of them on lesser shows, and reminded me of a shittier version of the skyler/bill burr caper to get a better price on the car wash.  a lot of time and effort was put into that in what seemed to be a longshot of actually getting them to switch locations.  i mean, if they dealt with the first couple, they would clearly fight through the week.

this season is odd.  i've liked a lot of the scenes and some of the setup, but the stories just seem kinda disjointed, or they forget the payoff and i get distracted and don't really notice.  i'm still waiting to see what comes from the bowling ball over the fence and howard job offer.  is it all just to screw with howard? 

a lot of the stuff jimmy/saul is doing doesn't really match the m.o. of the saul we saw in breaking bad, or what we saw at the beginning with slippin' jimmy.  he's a scam artist.  he'll do what he needs to do to get a little score.  being the fly in the ointment seems counter-productive to this.  i understand the thing with the old man was about helping kim, but i would've thought there'd be a payoff at the end from mesa verde.  and the howard stuff seems just personal, which is not really him either.

oh well.  commence with the derka-style flogging.

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25 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

i liked the episode ok, but most of jimmy's tactics seemed predictable and unimaginative.  i've seen most of them on lesser shows, and reminded me of a shittier version of the skyler/bill burr caper to get a better price on the car wash.  a lot of time and effort was put into that in what seemed to be a longshot of actually getting them to switch locations.  i mean, if they dealt with the first couple, they would clearly fight through the week.

this season is odd.  i've liked a lot of the scenes and some of the setup, but the stories just seem kinda disjointed, or they forget the payoff and i get distracted and don't really notice.  i'm still waiting to see what comes from the bowling ball over the fence and howard job offer.  is it all just to screw with howard? 

a lot of the stuff jimmy/saul is doing doesn't really match the m.o. of the saul we saw in breaking bad, or what we saw at the beginning with slippin' jimmy.  he's a scam artist.  he'll do what he needs to do to get a little score.  being the fly in the ointment seems counter-productive to this.  i understand the thing with the old man was about helping kim, but i would've thought there'd be a payoff at the end from mesa verde.  and the howard stuff seems just personal, which is not really him either.

oh well.  commence with the derka-style flogging.

you say it so much better than i can. you talk about liking scenes- Kim doing the Kevin imitation was a great scene, as mentioned several times above. but i agree with you in general about both the season and the character- i'm enjoying it, but it seems a little off/disjointed, particularly since we already know Saul Goodman in his final form. Still enjoyable, just not epic or anything. 

also, small quibble, which some may disagree with, but I thought that Gus's delivery of, "REVENGE" was more along the lines of what I expect from a hollywood villain, and not so much in line with Gus's understated demeanor, even in situations like that. I felt that Gus stating its more plainly and calmly would have been more in line with who he is. 

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^

yeah, that exchange between Mike and Gus was just off in many ways.  I'll chalk it up to Gus gets emotional when he's in front of his little fountain that mimics his lover's blood dripping into a swimming pool and Mike isn't usually that 'chucklehouse' but he'd been cooped up with a woman he couldn't understand and was a bit flustered about what the hell was going on.  Kinda cool that he was off his game while meantime back in ABQ, the guy he punked in season 1 was actually a seasoned operator doing great work.  

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