Better Call Saul

how so? the whole Saul character did a lot of wincing and eye-rolling and hemming/hawing throughout Breaking Bad, and the entire setup of that show was that all of the characters, even the sleazy lawyer, had a conscience and background even if the show didn't spell it out. idk if it translates, but Saul's "jokes" about how in hiding he'd be working at a Cinnabon in Nebraska -- which proves true at the beginning of this series -- is an admission that his life is going to go straight to purgatory due to how he's lived. not hell, because he's schemed and bought his way through life, but he's not worthy of anything better due to some past actions and his BB lifestyle couldn't give him enough money to climb any higher.

I do feel bad for the Kim character so far, really does seem like an aspirational type ripped from a different show, where she might date a down-on-his-luck cop and not the future Saul

Saul and GOB are not at all alike other than being American, tallish, and having receding hairlines

DL is it possible that if two characters look vaguely similar and are american you think they're the same? You just pulled that trick with two blonde women.

you guys all look the same to me.

The actress who plays Kim does have a similar low voice as Claire Danes, but that's about it for their similarities. Also, I don't feel her character is out of place? BCS is decidedly more mundane and less OTT than BB, so a more down-to-earth character with normal aspirations fits, IMO.

Xps there was an interview ages ago with Gilligan or one of the writers that said the show would be set "before, during and after" BB. Tbh I hope they keep that to short flash-forwards, I'm not sure how much of gene I need to see.

Sorta get the impression that Walt & Jesse didn't take up a gigantic amount of Saul's time until the point they decided to go to war with Gus Fring, and then they basically ruined his life? So you would theoretically be able to run this concurrently with Breaking Bad, but I'm not sure how convincing it would be, and it would be virtually impossible to make it stand alone as its own show (as it more or less is up until now).

I don't feel like this is that episodic at present - the three main plot strands (Mike case, drug dealers, Kettelmans) all feel closely interwoven already.

would watch a serious dramatic spin off on how George Oscar became 'GOB'

another great episode; the direction/cinematography is consistently the best on tv.
Though it sorta cheats to get there, this feels like the most successful first season of any show i can think of.
Comparing BCS to BB is a bit of a fool's game for a dozen reasons, most notably that Saul hasn't really had time to prove itself but I'm inclined even at this early stage to say Gilligan has figured out how to achieve consistent excellence.
the major issue is that we know the outcome of all these character's arcs so there's a lot less at stake. gilligan's smart enough to take that into account, I'm looking forward to getting us back to post Breaking Bad life where anything's possible again in s.2

I really like the casual way the show reveals aspects of the backstory. We didn't have any *urgent* need to know how Kim and Jimmy know each other or why Jimmy's relationship with the firm is so poisonous, but finding that stuff out right now is particularly poignant.

copyroom scene with Hamlin was super well done imo
"you want this open or shut?"

I wonder what transpires between now and breaking bad where Mike is able to see Kaylee unsupervised but the mom won't even talk to him

Well I guess I got my answer tonight.

my dvr cut off during the previews for next week, but is Chuck better and outside of his house in that preview?

(I know he was outside the house at the end of the episode but it's not clear what happens next)

he's outside in the previews.
i took that (somewhat clunky) moment as the scene where he finally realizes this is in his head

loved the way jimmy croaked how he was watching the opera while covered in adult diapers

I think this was the episode where this show started to click for me as its own thing, enjoyable completely outside the bbad context

Seems like there's more comedy moments than in Breaking Bad

We pretty much knew that was going to be the case as soon as the show was green-lit.

Just watched last night's episode — this show is so good.

I am still kind of hoping for some "client of the week" type episodes where it's a straight-up farce

that doesn't look very likely

The last 3-4 ep's of this have been brilliant in particular, there needs at least to be one more series of this. I hope they don't kill off McKean/his bro in this one, because he is ace.

he was in breaking bad, so it's unlikely no?

I can't remember him in BB tbh and I watched it all, senility creeping in.

amc ordered two seasons to begin with, so I don't think you have to worry abt another season to come

mckean was not in breaking bad at all iirc

you know what, i think it's my senility. I coulda sworn he was in it but i can't find a link so i don't think it happened.

he and odenkirk have a really fantastic sibling dynamic imho

good use of galt macdermot this wk too

This was a good episode, I love how Jimmy's real strength is shown to be his dogged determinedness of getting results no matter how humiliating it is for him. I guess he wouldn't have gotten there without all those years of taking hopeless public defendant jobs...

One scene which I felt hit a false note was the one where Mike's daughter-in-law (IMDb tells me her name is "Stacey", but I don't think it's been mentioned in the show?) suggested she and Kaylee would need more money... I mean, she must realize what sort of things Mike would have to do to get some extra money, and nothing we've seen so far has suggested she's the sort of person who would ask Mike for that. And if this is gonna be turning point for Mike, the one thing that leads him back to a life crime, I wish they would've put more effort into fleshing out her character and her motivations for pushing him into it. I guess the biggest flaw in BCS so far is that the writers haven't been very good at writing the female characters, they've been relegated to fairly stereotypical gendered roles: the suffering widow, the loyal (ex) girlfriend, the manipulative shrew.

Also, as funny as the scene was, I don't understand why Jimmy was wearing a good suit when he went dumpster-diving? He knew what he was gonna do, so why not dress in some cheaper clothes?

Jimmy so clearly doesn't own anything other than cheap suits.

But didn't he use some of Kettleman's bribe money to buy himself a fancy "Matlock" suit so he would look good in the eyes of pensioners? It looked like that was the suit he was wearing in the dumpster.

And by "Matlock suit" I meant the white suit he bought, not the previous one he got to piss off the jerkass lawyer at his brother's company.

"Also, as funny as the scene was, I don't understand why Jimmy was wearing a good suit when he went dumpster-diving?"

Good to see that Tuomas never changes.

Kinda liked how abrupt the mike thing was

"Money's a bit tight rn"
*sigh* "guess I'd better join the criminal underworld"

When you've already gunned down two cops everything else is a pretty short step from there.

Oh I agree, that's why I liked it! Worth remembering that mike is unambiguously a bad guy in bb & it'd be out of character for him to be wrestling with his conscience

Mike is prepared to go all-in as he Breaks Bad, per his established 'no half measures' code, but I think he certainly wrestles with his conscience. It's one of the things that makes him a more emotionally complex character than Walter White.

the mike episode a couple/few weeks back was a stright up masterpiece, mike is so good, they shd have a mike show too

xpost There's a tension between his willingness to do what he has to do on his path to damnation and his general decency that's in marked contrast with Walt's scorched earth sociopathy.

mike is unambiguously 100% business and his business happens to be criminal at this point

no matter what position you put him in, he gets results

No one was getting past him without the right stickers.

I guess the biggest flaw in BCS so far is that the writers haven't been very good at writing the female characters, they've been relegated to fairly stereotypical gendered roles: the suffering widow, the loyal (ex) girlfriend, the manipulative shrew.

Tuomas otm here, and it was the same in BB imo

I get the impression that this may not be Mike's first foray into crime. Besides murdering those two police, we've already seen him help Jimmy break into the Kettlemans' house, and he seemed completely at ease with that. And there's a bunch of time between the end of his run as a cop and his moving to New Mexico, right? Who knows what he got up to during that interval.

Then again, that would've required him to be fully involved in crime in the same city where he'd been an officer, and doing so while his own son was on the police force. So maybe not.

While I'm speculating, I have to think that Mike was already working for Fring by around the time BB starts. I know that wasn't the original intention for his character, but he was eventually depicted as too important to the Fring operation to have just gotten involved with it sometime after his first appearance at the end of season 2.

thought it was p clear Mike was dirty/doin crimes while on the force in Philly

Mike was important to the organisation because the rest of the Fring muscle were all complete fucking cretins.

I'm not sure I find the story of Mike's sons murder entirely plausible (his dad was a cop also on the take--seems like there are many ways of playing this short of Serpico-ing him).

Am I the only one getting a blackmail vibe from Mike's daughter-in-law?

Not a blackmail vibe so much as a 'morality-clouding proximity to ill-gotten $$$' vibe, a la Skyler White or Carmella Soprano.

the mike episode a couple/few weeks back was a stright up masterpiece, mike is so good, they shd have a mike show too

― lag∞n, Wednesday, March 25, 2015 10:39 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agreed, getting the sense BCS is gonna be almost as much the mike ehrmantraut hour as it is the saul origin/conclusion story although saul will prob remain the primary focus

xp good comparisons