Better Call Saul

it's then followed by a flash back to the past, which has now told the story up until the point he meets the BB characters. shot at cinnabon, and as he's staring at the ceiling bleeding out, he remembers Jesse walking into his office

Over in the food court Jimmy's about to dig into some Panda Express with Chuck as a blurry figure lingers near Sbarro's in the background....we hear plaintive piano, the dulcet tones of Steve Perry, "Just a small-town girl...."

Cut to thirty years in the future: a lonely and wheelchair-bound Saul is visited at Sandpiper Crossing by a kind stranger bearing fruit salad. After helping Saul eat a hefty portion, the stranger gets up to leave and presses a lily of the valley plant stake into Saul's trembling hand.

Just a small town girly
Born and raised in Albuquerque

Lol cliff otm

This show is still better than anything else on the telly right now, but it does feel like it's started to tread water. IMO it has already developed the characters of Jimmy, Kim, and Mike so thoroughly that it doesn't need to devote so much time to character beats, I'd wish it had more actual plot developments like Jimmy's resignation and offer to Kim in yesterday's episode. (And Mike's subplot didn't really move at all in this ep.) It feels the first season was better paced in this regard?

Dude it just had plot developments. Do you want Jimmy to quit a job every twenty minutes?

Probably pretty hard to balance two (or three) storylines in every ep though.

I didn't mean just yesterday's episode, but the latest stretch of episodes. It was good that Jimmy finally quit Davis & Main, but did they really need to spend four episodes establishing that he didn't fit there, when the whole TV ad debacle already established that clearly and concisely?

Don't get me wrong, like I said BCS is still high quality television, I just hope it doesn't fall for the same thing that many other series with a finite plot (including Breaking Bad) do: stretching the story more and more as they get renewed for new seasons.

The three main characters (or four, if you count Chuck) clearly have well-defined character arcs to go through, and when they are done, the show should end. So I'm hoping the writers don't start needlessly extending those arcs to push the ending further. Compared to the first season, it already feels like this is happening, particularly with Mike, who's arc is moving at a snail's pace now. This is particularly frustrating because with Jimmy and Mike, we already know what their arcs will look like (a slippery slope from trying to be decent into crime and corruption).

And yeah, I know it's not really about the destination but how they got there, but the writers still need to keep thing interesting to make us watch a story whose ending we already know... Maybe that's the reason their focusing more on Kim in this season, because we don't know she'll end up?

The way they've fleshed out Kim, compared to the more stereotypical depiction of her in season 1, has been the best part of this season. I just wish they'd do the same for Stacey, though. We still know very little about her, like whether she's genuinely worried about her and Kaylee's safety or only milking grandpa Mike for money, even though that subplot has been going on since last season.

I do think s2 is not QUITE as good as s1 so far. Still great though.

the juxtaposition of Jimmy's suits and the waving arms guy was great

Yeah, fave bit was split screen of Jimmy parading new wardrobe, with air dancer in other frame, all to the tune of Dennis Coffey's staccato "Scorpio"--sassy soul!
And a 70s polyester nightmare for what used to be called a "white shoe" law firm, already so very far from old-school Manhattan, scared of native redneck Sunbelt incursions (drug cases? Don't even think it!) But they must know that Jimmy's flair for ambulance-chasing will be competitive, hell it's what got him into the firm, but they wanted to control it, to tame him enough that he could be hitched to the team. So Cliff's gotta know this isn't the end of Jimmy Problems, prob just the beginning. But he can't help himself; Jimmy's just unbearable. So I started feeling sorry for Begley's character during the firing scene, like I sometimes feel sorry for Chuck. Their points of view re Jimmy and what he stands for aren't totally unreasonable, but they're prisoners of their own propriety (Chuck moreso, considering his phobic rules), while J's a dirty freebird (but also orbiting his own compulsions). And not looking thrilled at Kim's counter-offer. He wanted a partner, a Bonnie to his whitecollar/orangecollar Clyde.

The way that music is used in this series is great

Did Kim maybe decide to work with Jimmy because she thinks that she messed up in a big way when she called Rich Howard by mistake?

actually preferring season 2. the character development, especially Kim's, is considerably subtler than I'm used to seeing on television. satisfied with each episode, always a little surprised that it keeps satisfying - this "how did he become the person we know he became?" overarching theme, and the constant suggestion that the person you become is the person you already were....it's something I disagree with personally, but it's so Greek drama, you know...and with that always-lurking "this has to end badly" thing that Breaking Bad did well and that this also does well, but differently.

No, I don't think that was it... She could've just continued working for Hamlin & McGill. I think the point of the whole job offer subplot was that it made Kimmy realize that even with a better position and pay than in her current firm, she'd still be subordinate to someone else. Clearly she's been a bit jealous of Jimmy's freedom, and him casually quitting his safe and steady job made her think, why shouldn't I do the same?

(xpost)

Yeah, really enjoy the character studies, though it's gotten to be more character studies than action, while BB always had one coming out of the other, with the momentum of Gilligan's original high concept, which he described as "Goodbye Mr. Chips turns into Scarface." While the action side of this is just Jimmy-to-Saul's brushes with the BB drug pros, and misc. local weirdos, apparently, like Mr. and Mrs. Kettleman. Yeah, can seem a bit slow, esp. with all the commercials.

I think her little Freudian slip was there to suggest that she has taken jimmy's remarks about a lateral move/Howard mk II to heart

I don't need violence or action to enjoy a show, but I think it's the lack of the local weirdos that's made season 2 somewhat less entertaining than season 1. I like that they're delving into the more mundane drama with Kim's arc, but IMO they could spice things up by having a few of those Coen Bros. style characters pop up every once in a while, like the talking toilet guy or the white secessionist in season 1.

I didn't think that Kim would join up with Jimmy. It was looking like she'd continue on the straight and narrow and that they'd drift apart as Jimmy becomes Saul

I really hope he doesn't do anything reckless and/or illegal and end up fucking her over

I had to step away for a moment but wins wrote my post pretty much verbatim so (DELETE).

I can't tell you how glad I am that they're not spicing things up with Coen Brothers style characters. Let this show be its own unique thing!

I really hope he doesn't do anything reckless and/or illegal and end up fucking her over

― paolo, Wednesday, March 30, 2016 11:07 AM (7 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I figure this is pretty much a foregone conclusion, seeing as how she's completely out of the picture by Breaking Bad times.

I really hope he doesn't do anything reckless and/or illegal and end up fucking her over

Sadly, this seems like the most obvious course the show will take + explanation why she isn't around in BB.

(xpost)

he's going to keep being Jimmy, and whether they're partners or just sharing an office, she's going to get muck on her

This season has been all about Kim, definitely. The previous episode, starting with the answering machine and continuing with the headhunting lunch and the PUA guy, was basically "Kim gets courted by schmucks"; if she ends up having a tragic arc, it'll be because of jimmy, so I'm more rooting for her than for them - I hope she gets away

*"them" - Kim/jimmy as a couple, I mean

Let this show be its own unique thing!

I didn't mean they were straight copying the Coens, just that they were doing something within the same writing parameters. And the talking toilet bowl and secessionist guy provided the funniest moments of last season, there hasn't really been anything comparable in this one.

Joan OTM, this season is surpassing a S1 that was one of my favorite seasons of tv storytelling ever.

This season had the baseball card guy doing cobbler porn

He was more lame than funny though... He wasn't even into cobbler porn, he just had to do it because Jimmy made up that story.

That is... what is funny... about that

I liked how they used that guy as sort of a shadow Walt though, since they were both ordinary Joes who got rich by dealing with organized crime in chemicals. But he was more like Walt would be in real life: lame and stupid instead of sociopathic and dangerous, not careful at all in flaunting his newfound wealth, unable to handle violent career criminals, etc.

Yes! Overall (way before the cobbler bit) pretty funny, as written and played; hope the character comes back. He's def the stubborn type, so even now, maybe he's still in the biz (gonna need more money for more cards).

Def a pre-Walt; we see pre-Saul's affinity for goofy guys trying to be clever badasses.

The toilet bowl guy and the secessionist were funny because they were doing something ridiculous while being completely serious about it... But this was just a lame dude who was forced to do something that he knew perfectly well was ridiculous, which I don't think is quite as hilarious.

There are still tons of broad-as-fuck supporting characters - everyone in the rest home (to a groanworthy extent), camera bros, others I can't remember - and sitcommy moments, like jimmy playing the fuckin bagpipes! It's amazing how they get away with this in a show ostensibly all about subtle character study. Like I said upthread it's a real mastery of register

For sure, that's the legacy of BB, mastering that register.

jimmy deciding to ape the fashion sense of the car lot blow up doll, replete with a funky soundtrack, was the best moment of the series for me

Yes, it was very nice to see the initial, American Beauty-esque 'inflatable man = freedom, do u see' imagery turned on its ear.

Erin is such an excellent minor character, she just radiates pissy try-hard disapproval in every scene.

everyone has known an Erin

sometimes you gotta unleash your inner Erin, I think she's great

For some reason this show reminds me of Six Feet Under - a number of prominent characters who don't necessarily interact that often, kind of funny but not full on comedy, "slow" with no real driving conflict but not in a bad way, etc. Even the visual style sort of feels like that but it's been at least 10 years so I might be delusional.

There are still tons of broad-as-fuck supporting characters - everyone in the rest home (to a groanworthy extent), camera bros, others I can't remember - and sitcommy moments, like jimmy playing the fuckin bagpipes! It's amazing how they get away with this in a show ostensibly all about subtle character study. Like I said upthread it's a real mastery of register

― Rainer Weirder Faßbooker (wins), Wednesday, March 30, 2016 4:35 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah the high-wire act this show manages is pretty incredible. So much of it would fall apart in lesser hands.

Erin was so great because she was otm

The universe keeps giving Jimmy people who want to help and support and shape his talents for good & productive ends, and he pissily resists every one

Erin was there to help him conform to and be successful in his new workplace

The fuckin' system, man.

The actress who plays Erin is John Ennis' (from Mr. Show) daughter btw