Better Call Saul

Also it is a good scene

that's how 90% of buildings in the us are designed, iirc

in the least convenient way, I mean

how does he know that? Has he been stuck in there before?

He's the manager! The way he races to the door indicates that, yes, he knows what will happen. Thousands of businesses no doubt operate with similar flaws and short-sighted shortcuts, from lights that "just never work" to chained exit doors to mysterious keys that fit no locks to sticky doors. I mean, this is an episode with a light switch in a top law firm that nonetheless has a hand-written sign taped on that says "never turn off!" or whatever. Why not fix whatever the problem is? Because we are people, and we are lazy/cheap.

So was the door stopper defective or just improperly wedged under the door? And if it was defective, a) who would have been responsible for replacing it and b) why had they shirked their duty? Was this an intentional act of malice on this individual's part? Did Jimmy know that the stopper was defective? Why didn't he have it replaced himself? Door stoppers can't possibly cost that much. It's almost as if he wanted to be trapped, using a door stopper which is clearly of such an inferior grade that it can't hold a door open for more than a few seconds. Did anyone catch the brand name of the door stopper? I think that's an important clue.

OL has this routine locked down

xpost Save it for the second spin-off.

The door stopper wasn't defective, because we see the janitor use it when he lets Jimmy out, and it works then. I guess Jimmy might've just put it under the door too carelessly.

...which I guess is symbolic of his character arc: no matter how high he aims, he always eventually fails because he doesn't consider all the contributing factors.

Tuomas also very locked down

But why was he so careless with the door stopper? Was he in a hurry to get home, or perhaps too concerned with his employees getting home safely? It seems possible that he was too focused on getting the trash into the dumpster. Or that he stopped to read some of the graffiti on the wall. There are any number of distractions that could've easily informed his carelessness. I'd like to think it was an entire gestalt of distractions fogging his mind in that moment. I think this will be explained in an upcoming episode.

I'm interested in the shirts worn at the Cinnabon. Are those authentic for the time period being represented? Was that actually their advertising slogan? Why don't I have a Cinnabon?

The shirts are period-accurate as they've been in continual use since 2009, but the cage that Jimmy put over the baked goods wasn't in standard use until late last year, which may be anachronistic depending on when the flash-forwards take place. Based on the version of the Cinnabon logo that we see and the hats that they're wearing, I'd place the Gene scenes somewhere around late 2013. I hope someone addresses this inconsistency on Talking Saul.

But what if those anahchronisms are intentional? What if the neo-Nazis actually caught and killed Saul in BB, and the b&w scenes are really his dying fantasy of how his life could've turned out? (Whereas the colour scenes are your typical "whole life flashing before ones eyes as one is dying" scene.) That would also explain why mall door doesn't work like real doors should, his brain is trying to tell him it's not real... Did I blow your mind?

This theory also explains why the younger Saul in the pre-Albuquerque flashbacks doesn't look like someone in his 20s at all, it's just the same middle-aged guy with more hair. Our self-image is always the same physical age as we are now, it's hard to change it into someone younger, so Saul is simply projecting his current self-image into scenes set in the past.

it is daft that the doors are set up so that it is incredibly easy to get yourself into a situation where the only way out involves contacting the police

The sign is almost certainly bullshit, or possibly once true but nobody bothers anymore (and this schrodingerian nature obv ties in with the light switch in the office) - but it's the chance that makes his inaction so poignant. It's probably fine to open it and go, if the cops were called they might not get there in time to even see him, if they WERE called and DID bother showing up and came FAST enough to find him and if he WAS questioned then his story of being a Cinnabon manager who got stuck in the bin room would check out immediately and entirely. It's that the chance of there being any police involvement at all is so minuscule that shows his sad conscribement, and sets up contrast with the desperate, rule-breaking (light switch! cucumber water for customers only! charge it to my room), changing-his-life-on-whim-after-whim Jimmy of the episode AND SERIES that follows.

(mind blown)

btw Years ago I and a colleague did once get stuck in a room in at the Brazilian Embassy in London, which was designed so as not to allow access to the rest of the Embassy. I can't remember the exact details now, but I and a colleague did end up having to call the Police. It was at the tail end of an evening reception and there seemed to be no one around. Alcohol may have been consumed.

did you call and tell them you were stuck in brazilian territory? sounds like a comedic entry point to a diplomatic incident

Schrodinger's Trash Room and Light Switch otm

Have also been stuck in a stairwell that had doors that could only be opened from the outside.

ditto

What you are all overlooking here is that doors in Scandinavian countries (genuinely) open the opposite direction, so cut a Finn some slack for his confusion.

Also My Mother never watched Breaking Bad, but she has somewhat accidentally become engrossed in this, all I needed to tell her about the Gene stuff was "Yeah, he becomes a sleazy lawyer for meth dealers and such, everything goes south and he has to go work in a cinnabun under a fake identity. No, I don't know what that is either, some American pastry thing I guess."

boston cream splat

Does this stick out so much from the landscape because (it's a desert, i mean) there's so little legitimate tragedy out there that isn't really something else - beautiful loserdom, exploitation, gore, just dumb, etc. - or do I have a greater taste for it because of the comedy and romance (if that's the word)?

People who come to this without watching BB must also bee nonplussed by the title, right? I mean, I'm more than a year into this show and nobody called Saul has even showed up!

He deploys the name in the "Slipping Jimmy" era flashbacks. S'all good, man!

hadn't connected his fear of pressing the bar on escape door where the (v possibly false) consequences are clearly labelled to his flipping a mystery switch in his new office for the hell of it

The world is a rich tapestry, my friends. But trust me, you don't wanna see it.

serviceable episode this one, but I think s2e01 is one of the best of the show so far.

hilarious episode. jimmy looking regretfully at his new sunroof cracked me up along with the whole boston cream splat story. chuck shaping up to be a proper villian

This was great, I really hope we see more of baseball card dude at some point.

Given the constant parade of hubristic chumps they have to deal with, it's easy to see how Mike and Saul agreed to work with Walt, he would have just looked like another out-of-his-depth idiot, which of course he was to some extent.

I cannot unsee baseball dude as a Bruce McCulloch character, his delivery is just *so close* to Gavin

show continues to deliver - Chuck as a background villain is great

that brilliant shot of him playing the piano

How long can they continue to use Jimmy's internal conflict between being good and bad as the axis of the show? I feel like they've already covered this in S1...

His conversion from pitiable figure to villain is pretty chilling. Hates his own brother so much it overrides a real and debilitating mental health issue, yikes.

How long can they continue to use Jimmy's internal conflict between being good and bad as the axis of the show? I feel like they've already covered this in S1...

he remains something of a conflicted character all the way through BB so yeah they're going to mine this

he's done criminal, he's doing lawyer, and now he's learning how to be a criminal lawyer

Why would you keep dumpsters in a long skinny cell like that? Most are emptied by robot truck arms. What, does the garbageman come in and drag the dumpsters out... through the too-small-for-a-dumpster door that calls the police whenever it's opened?

I think it's pretty common for restaurants to hide their dumpsters in an outbuilding or utility area like that. Can't believe we're still talking about the dumpsters.

The future bits are all dream sequences anyway

figured the dumpsters were removed via steel rollup door just offscreen
http://www.guardiandooranddock.com/JPGS/rolling-steel-doors.jpg

Just catching up w thread after first two episodes. Old Lunch riffing aside, I worry about things going fwd if mall dumpster placement is hanging you guys up.

I'm not worried abt Gene turning into some kind of straight heavy. He looked like he was veering off in that direction when it was first disclosed that he prevented Howard from hiring him, but then with the Cicero flashbacks they colored in his reasoning a little more—obv. we knew abt. Jimmy as a once (and future) huckster but seeing him work those $50 scams and freshly sprung from jail in a terrible shirt explained his brother's selfishness a little bit.

One big reason this show works for me is that the ethical compromise, moral dilemma etc. aren't limited to Saul or Mike, but extended to the secondary characters, and for me at least it's even more satisfying to see the apparently two-dimensional creep fleshed out w/ his own set of issues and redeemed a little bit. Like Howard for example, I hadn't expected he wld have any added value but his scenes are great!

fantastic episode!

but to all you dumpster conundrumers - how come Kayleigh doesn't seemed to have aged between BTC and BB?

huh oh well maybe she does. I remember her being about the same age in BB as she is in BTC but maybe not. what is the time span between shows supposed to be, roughly?

Better Tall Caul - the the conversation prequel wherein harry's character is established alongside his rivalry with his inferior and much shorter brother

could still have a character called slippin jimmy

Another great episode. Part of what I love about this show is its ability to wring tension out of such random things - Jimmy puts up a billboard! The boss calls Jimmy in for an early morning meeting! Jimmy hosts bingo! It feels quite... original?

what's going on with mike's... whoever she is again (daughter-in-law)?

i didn't quite work out why he waited outside then she found the bullet damage on the house. were we meant to think that mike had done it, or that whoever did do it saw him there and came back later?

He was there all night = he knows there were no shots but he doesn't wanna tell her. She's having nightmares as a result of the trauma of her husband's death