Better Call Saul

Maybe coming up? Though Howard was informing/deferring to Chuck, re Kim's landing big client, so maybe now she might possibly be considered for redemption. Don't think Howard relishes having to please Chuck so fucking much.

"Though"--"Thought," that is.

Intro set up the other reason Chuck can't stand Jimmy -- people actually like Jimmy! It was painful watching Chuck be a charisma black hole around his wife

Scenes like the one between Chuck and Kim this week make me reluctant to think of Chuck as a villain. Jimmy is a career con artist who embezzled thousands from the family business (supposing that latter story is true as Chuck tells it); it makes perfect sense to think that he'd make for an unscrupulous, dangerous lawyer.

Chuck certainly can be conniving and two-faced, particularly when he needs Jimmy's help. But he's also helped Jimmy, as the opening this week reminded me.

just finished season 1 and mannnn was this good. hated just about everything the ending with jimmy turning down the partner-track gig but otherwise this was arguably at least as good as the best parts of BB, certainly much better than season 1 of BB

also marco totally died of a pulmonary embolism, not a heart attack

very Coen-y, the kettlemans especially

Chuck isn't a villain so much as a pompous control freak, as was made clear by the opening scene

Renewed for a third season:

http://mashable.com/2016/03/15/better-call-saul-renewed-for-season-3/

Yeah, a control freak with compulsions, some of them painful---running through the sunlight to the mailbox, while huddling under his goddammed space blanket, and staring up at the wires!. And his rejection of Jimmy for getting a "spurious" law degree, and without telling Chuck he was doing it, until he'd already passed the bar--his rejection seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy of Jimmy going to the shady side again---but, given their history, and Jimmy's own compulsions, how should/could he handle the little bastid? Family shit runs deep.

trying to imagine watching better call saul having never watched breaking bad and then watching breaking bad

^^I think about that every time I watch the show. I'm not sure what it would be like. BCS is slower-paced, and its take on Saul is of course much subtler, so if you've seen that first, it might seem like Saul is too much of a one-note joke character when he shows up in BB.

On the other hand, it might be cool. BB is a good show on its own, and it could be fun to be surprised by how Mike and Saul get mixed up with Walt and Jesse. Like the episode where Jesse's girlfriend overdoses: you're all horrified at Walt letting her die, and wondering how they're going to deal with it, and then all of the sudden "whoa, there's Mike!" That character showing up would have a weight to it that it couldn't have had for someone who saw Breaking Bad first (especially since IIRC Mike's role was not initially planned to be anywhere near that big).

How about the light in Chuck (and his wife)'s place? Man.

Chapette thinks this season is 'slow as fuck', and it's difficult to logically argue with her when you have like five minutes of Kim Wexler looking at post-it notes. I'm loving it however, it makes the moments of intense drama all the more rewarding.

Why does Howard have it in for Kim so much? Idgi

For showing him up by vouching/covering for jimmy, also he's a dick

I'm sure there's some more shit lurking under the surface as well.

Wow, Rebecca (Chuck's wife) is played by a Cusack.

Also, renewed for a third season!

This show can continue being 'slow as fuck' as long as it likes, afaic. Anyone bothered by that can go watch every other show on tv.

chuck and howard toasting each other - so much hate

montage soundtrack was hilarious

Howard vs. Kim: how much of it is really about her, about the offense of not warning Howard that Jimmy was making this commercial, thus Davis-Main somehow blaming Jimmy's *previous* sort of parent firm, how much of it is Howard being enough under the thumb of Chuck, that Howard is somehow threatened by/beholden to Chuck in all matters related to Jimmy especially? Taking out his frustration on Kim, or just doing what he thinks he needs to, in order to please/somewhat mollify/not look so weak to Chuck (more of a cold calculation than taking out frustration)?
Guess we're supposed to calculate all this for ourselves as it goes along, rather than having the characters explain everything to each other and the audience, like on regular TV and in lots of movies.

Yeah, and I agree that there's probably more to be revealed about Howard's position. We were led to believe that he was a dick all last season before the Chuck card was overturned.

It's interesting that Chuck is painted as such a villain in this show because, to the extent that his narration is reliable and he's not projecting overly much (although we know he is to some extent), he kinda has a point about Jimmy. We all know where this is heading, and what we know about Jimmy's past doesn't exactly promote faith in his actions. He's just so darn likeable, and he has such a good heart!

yeah the shades of gray to all the characters are so well-drawn.

where this show is reminiscent of BB is in the way that a solution to one problem inevitably begets a bigger problem.

Howard's coming off a little Gordon Gekko x Zap Brannigan but I love it

I liked the slight foreshadowing of Tio's appearance with the ringing of the bell at the beginning of that last diner scene.

Nice catch.

ha did not notice that

I was too busy scrutinizing his blurry figure as he approached, since it was clear he'd be someone we knew. "Nah, he's a little too wide to be Gus..."

Wow, was this episode great. I find it kind of inspiring, actually, that with so much good (or good enough) TV out there, there are still occasionally shows like this one that are just so well acted, so well directed and so well written that they are even better than the rest of the good stuff. Someone in that room, or some team in a room, is either just sitting down and working their ass off to make great television, or they're so talented they can't help but make this show great. Probably both, because every last person on this crew is working at the medium's best. Man, Rhea Seehorn? Where did she come from? Or heck, Patrick Fabian? Even the casting has been perfect so far. Unlike a lot of cliffhanger driven series, this one doesn't leave me jittery with anticipating between episodes, or even seasons. It feels perfectly controlled and calibrated, paced out like perfect, satisfying, deceptively rich short stories.

"even better than the good stuff" is a good description.

I'm familiar with rhea seehorn for only one reason: she was on a very bad sitcom with a friend of mine. she stood out then and the friend had nothing but good things to say about her. She's a very solid craftsman.

Howard's coming off a little Gordon Gekko x Zap Brannigan

just wanna say i love this description and i'm sure it will condition how i watch this show from now on

yes, that was good

Fun fact: Ice Station Zebra, the fake company that Jimmy and Kim's mark made the check out to this week, is also the name of the company Saul Goodman has Badger make his money order out to in Saul's first Breaking Bad appearance.

Jimmy loves a good film reference

I was a little confused by that situation. It seemed like Jimmy was putting kibosh on the scam once he realized that Kim was moving from expensive tequila to high-dollar fraud, but she ultimately wound up with a check anyway. Was he just recognizing the situation but allowing it play out anyway? I saw some wincing.

The Breaking Bad universe is slowly creeping into this show in a surprising but still fairly logical way. The scene in Mike's house is about as tense as the show has gotten, yeah?

what made you think kibosh? I see his reticence as part of the play and it's all about the play and taking the guy's confidence and, as a symbol, a cheque

There was half a tick there where it seemed clear to me that he was picking up on details of the scam that Kim hadn't filled him in on, and it also seemed like he realized that it was a little more high-stakes than he assumed. It was subtle and pretty much all down to Odenkirk's chops. I'll say that Jimmy's take was at least ambiguous.

hang on what did she tell you this is supposed to be hush hush we've got a big deal going down and she shouldn't be telling anyone as we stand to make a lot of money

They took the engineer for much less than they did the broker guy—just a check they'll never cash. That wince was just a polished move, IIRC he did that in Cicero too.

Good episode—a step up from last week's, I thought. Looking fwd to "colorful" Jimmy!

Show is just killing it. It passes the highest bar in that pretty much all the central characters could support an entire episode. Jimmy, Kim, Mike, even Chuck. When they're not on the screen, you don't wonder where they are, and when they are on the screen, they've got your full commitment.

Question for lawyers or people who understand this stuff: the lawyer who sort of makes an offer to Kim, is this common? Because she is on opposing council, and even mentions the ethical consideration of going over to their side in the middle of a case, can that get her in trouble or at least come back to haunt her? Would definitely fit the "can't win" arc of Jimmy and to an extent Mike.

Another question: the late night ad Jimmy saw, was that his ad? Meaning the firm, after dressing him down, went ahead and starting running the ad anyway?

No, different ad. The sort of droning "have you or a loved one been blah blah blah Sandpiper" safe text-reading that he mocked before he made the good ad.

No, the firm apparently made another, more boring ad in line with what they'd done previously. Insult to injury, as far as Jimmy's concerned.

xpost

Yeah, Jimmy knows the value of flair.

Which clearly stings. It affirms his suspicion that he'll always carry a whiff of shyster or Slippin' Jimmy, and rather than trying to convince anyone otherwise it appears he's about to indulge/embrace his inner Saul Goodman.

Cousins on rooftop was great. I'm liking the unforced blending-in of BB world.....

I dunno, the last two episodes have been good but the individual plotlines of Saul/Kim/Mike now have so little to do with each other, they are starting to feel like three different shows that converge on each other occasionally. I don't feel like there was an awful lot of forward momentum in this episode beyond Kim being offered a job with the rival firm and getting up to a few Jimmy-abetted hijinx.

I did love him singing down the phone to Kim though - a really touching scene.

Seems like a bit of an un-Mike move for him to be hanging around his granddaughter at a time like this.