Better Call Saul

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.

I wager that the disparate threads will begin to intertwine. Mike might need Jimmy's help after copping to the gun charge, yeah?

Especially since Jimmy and Tuco and his Nacho have already intersected, and they remain a going concern.

I'd love a Tuco spin-off next. Just him doing meth and going beserk for 45 minutes a week.

Just found this picture and died.

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjA3MDk2OTU1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODQwMzk5MTE@._V1_SX1176_CR0,0,1176,661_AL_.jpg

Mike might need Jimmy's help after copping to the gun charge, yeah?

yeah this was my conclusion too.

so glad Kim is getting fleshed out, finally the BB universe has a decent female character

really appreciated Mike refunding the money related to his previous job. he's such a class act, even for a criminal facilitator

yeah that was a nice touch. At first I thought Tio accepting his grandstanding at the meeting was a bit much, but then it occurred to me that Tio couldn't just kill him cuz he needed Mike alive in order to cop to the gun charge.

Started to wonder, during the usually cautious-to-stern-sounding Kim's drunken-to-"drunken" laughter, maybe only partially enhanced (she's not as covertly sober as she thinks she is?), if she's not getting a tad reckless with this flair she's discovered that she has, for the new game Jimmy's turned her on to---of course, when he gets to the bar and has a chance to size up the situation, find out from the mark what "Giselle" has let slip about their $uper-$ecret etc,, he exhibits the usual Madoff/classic reluctance to cut the guy in----but seems like he might also be less than totally thrilled/getting just a bit more deliberate than before, re rookie Kim getting this one going on her own.
She's feeling the pressure of unexpected job offer---which seems like some kind of ruse to me, and maybe her too; that guy is so slimy, but also suddenly realizes she's still an underling, expected to work through lunch so Howard can (have his other girl) get a letter out, even though she's back in "her" office, *and* a guy hits on her---which can't be totally unprecedented, but all these encounters with power suits (incl. latest bit from Howrd, who now seems like he *wasn't* just fucking with her to please Chuck, considering this pissy lunch bit) are rapidly piling up, and initiating the bar scam is an impulsive release of pressure, push-back to/in world of suits, blow against empire.

that's how I read it too, a release valve

I'm starting to wonder if we're heading towards Kim as Saul's future ex-wife (did we ever confirm that he mentions an ex-wife in BB? I can't remember)

can see Kim becoming his partner-in-crime and getting badly burned

Well we know that they won't live happily ever after together, somehow

Maybe she falls on hard times gets a job as manager of a Cinnebon, hooks him up years later

Maybe she gets radical reconstructive surgery, becomes his secretary.

That's possible. Or becomes Walter, Jr. Or: gets too close to Mike via Jimmy, starts running blue meth to white shoe firms for Gustavo Fring, is gunned down in her basement hideout

The Cinnebon opportunity was part of the package he bought from new-identity specialist Robert Forster. Hey, I thought he was dead, but apparently not! Cool that he shares the name with surviving ex-Go-Between.
Kim's prob hauling double-stuffed briefcases around the Legal Aid circuit in rural NewMex right now.

Or doing something less glamorous.

I can't wait until we see the scene where Kim Being John Makovich-es into Holly's body.

it was always a slightly funny prospect to spin off prequel saul when we know how it ends but maybe cinnabon isn't the end and yeah why not he and kim end up together after not seeing each other for years and years or some crap

because that would be stupid/easy

I just can't see this show being quite *that* sentimental

I was thinking this week that it'll be interesting to see what happens once this show catches up with Breaking Bad. Will we see new scenes running contemporaneously with the old show, or old scenes reshot in a new context? I'm kinda fascinated with idea of, for example, seeing what Kim or Chuck were up to while Saul was neck deep in Walter White's shit. And will we get to see what happens when Jimmy outgrows Cinnabon?

I do kinda wonder if the flash forwards/Cinnabon scenes will build to some kind of resolution, or if they're just being included for extra context

This show is giving us much more context wrt what has fueled Jimmy in the past. Something tells me he can only keep his head down for so long before he'll need to scratch those old itches.

I would be happy if upon catching up w/ Cinnabon they made a left turn and the third show is a sitcom, just Odenkirk day-to-day at the mall

That...doesn't actually sound unawesome.

Another thing I was thinking this week is that, after years of stumbling and false starts, I'm so glad that Bob Odenkirk has found solid success. He's one of my favorite entertainment people and he has long deserved a project that really shows off his talent.

Yeah he strikes me as someone who caught a lucky break (w/ this role) but is also v v much deserving. Did I maybe read somewhere that they only decided to expand on this character after he was cast—like they started writing more for him?

yeah it's v gratifying