Better Call Saul

Mike blowing minds in Albuquerque scene with Piss Gus

it's a soaker hose, the nails are to uh, better disperse the water

Yeah if anyone sees a making-of or behind the scenes for that opening, please post it. Loved it.
― a spate of non-fatal hammer attacks (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ)

sadly kinda flimsy

My suspicion is that Mike is not trailing the cartel guys because he intends to hurt them. He's examining their operation because he's thinking of going to work for them, and needs to know how he can pitch himself as useful.

he seems to like Nacho. Not so sure about the guys that threatened to murder his granddaughter.

For sure, but that threat is exactly why I think he must not be looking to strike back at them. Plus he needs the money.

Well, we know Tuco and his uncle make it to Breaking Bad more or less intact. And Mike, and his daughter in law and granddaughter. The question is how he regains leverage with the Salamancas. Or for that matter, how he comes to apparently co-exist with them later c. Breaking Bad.

Good observation in ... avclub, that the Chuck Vs. Jimmy cold war stuff here shows how much work both brothers are willing and able to put into their goals, except that Chuck's dick move is well within his rights and in fact a mirror of Kim wooing her client, but Jimmy's long night of copying shows him putting in hard work in pursuit of what still amounts to a shortcut revenge attempt to discredit his brother. Anyway, put better here:

The tediousness and meticulousness of the work is underlined in (what else) a signature BCS montage. It’s become clearer in the second season that these montages aren’t just some of the most stylish visuals on television; they do thematic heavy lifting, cementing, deepening, and advancing important aspects of character and story. Here it’s a laconic counterpart to Chuck’s verbose conference room performance. Jimmy can work just as hard and endure just as much to sabotage his brother.

But that’s taking Jimmy’s assumption to heart—that his brother sabotaged him. What Jimmy does is actually different from what Chuck does, however reprehensible the latter. Chuck persuades a client, using less sincere tactics but fighting on the same turf as Kim, when she persuaded that same client earlier. Jimmy alters documents to deceive Chuck into working on approvals for the wrong site. His goal is to embarrass and discredit his brother, but he’s also taking revenge on Mesa Verde for their perfidy, and using means that give credence to Chuck’s distrust of his lawyering. It’s a betrayal of another order entirely. And maybe the worst part is that Jimmy takes advantage of Chuck’s incapacitation and then takes credit for staying with him all night.

But yeah, wow, what a show.

time to admit that I don't really get the whole thing with the salamancas

specifically, nacho's "if they find out what we did, we're dead" thing. like surely now that mike's revealed to them that he's a hardcase and not some random senior citizen, it's plainly obvious what he did? what did I miss?

Or for that matter, how he comes to apparently co-exist with them later c. Breaking Bad.

he goes to work for their competitor

it's plainly obvious what he did? what did I miss?

Salamancas don't know that Nacho and Mike colluded to send Tuco up on an assault+gun charge. They think Mike is just some old guy that randomly got in a fight with Tuco.

yeah but everything they've seen him do since makes it absurdly clear that isn't the case, seems like a short leap from "hey this guy's a professional hardcase" -> "hey maybe...."

sure they know he's a hardcase, but why would they connect him to Nacho? as far as they know Nacho and Mike had never met before.

it makes the chance of the fight being random ridiculously small, they don't need to connect it with nacho to figure out someone put him up to it

I think Nacho's main concern is that Tuco and Hector will find out he was dealing Hummer-dude's pills on the side without cutting them in. There's still not a direct line from Nacho to Mike unless either of them lose their nerve. xps

I guess that makes sense, I was just following mike's reasoning: professional hit = cartel start asking questions, uncover nacho's side deal, random altercation = shit happens. Feels like mike's cover at least is blown, which is basically scenario A

but mike may have had other reasons for making that argument. cartel might not actually give a shit & everyone's just paranoid

Cartel top brass also seem a bit pleased that Tuco's getting a bit of a cool-off in jail.

chance of the fight being random ridiculously small

I don't see why. Random people meet all the time. You have two hardcases randomly meet, makes perfect sense there would be a fight.

well yeah but a guy who does all that first blood shit to calmly disarm two hitmen doesn't nec seem like the "get into random fights" kinda thug? Maybe. idk.

it's a classic breaking bad scheme I guess, plausible enough

those weren't hitmen

more like hired goons

...a distinction they will also be able to draw!

haha yes

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Mike and Nacho's scheme does get found out, Nacho gets whacked and Mike somehow weasels his way out of it

nooo mando has been so good ;_;

I want him to stay in for another series at least, not "fleshed out" at all, just popping up being all wary & shit

Cartel top brass also seem a bit pleased that Tuco's getting a bit of a cool-off in jail.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap) Seems plausible, and maybe Nacho's still paying the cartel their cut, just going around the increasingly unreliable Tuco, showing them he can handle stuff?
But prob he gets whacked--or that was the plan, 'til writers saw what he could do (as happened with Jesse)

the salamancas know mike is an ex-cop (and really at that point that's all he is, right?) - hector said something about him getting off easy on the gun charge because of that

I think the simplest route to take with this is that it's already been established that Tuco is completely unhinged when he's speeding it up. He murdered someone he liked in cold blood. It's not much of a leap to imagine that he'd beat the shit out of a random person for the smallest of infractions (e.g. bumping his car) or that the cartel people would think much more about the incident than "Tuco being Tuco".

^^^

I mean, without any additional context or clues, "Tuco being Tuco" makes much more sense than "hey, maybe this old ex-cop dude let himself get beaten up by Tuco because he's actually in cahoots with Nacho".

"hey this random old dude that kept his cool when Tuco almost murdered him for no reason ALSO kept his cool in a meeting we called him to to threaten him AND kept his cool when we sent goons to his house to threaten him? v suspicious and out of character imo"

They know he's an ex-cop, dude. He's not just some random Sandpiper Crossing dweller.

you're telling me but I'm already saying

OIC

lol I like this show too no need to get defensive

It is actually suspicious as shit but the real answer is that this is a world where actual cops are convinced by cobbler stories and people slip magic berry mickies into sachets or whatever

it's drama, not journalism.

Yeah I know that's why I was constantly acknowledging as much, just womdering if there was anything I was missing, there wasn't

Yeah sure, my post prob seemed more snarky than I meant it. I guess I just am remembering people dismissing BB for not being "realistic".

Heh I think it's safe to say those of Us who've made it this far are cool with suspension of disbelief!

Give or take a glaring dumpster access plot hole

I'd be lying if I didn't still occasionally ask myself "no, seriously, how did Walt get Brock to eat those berries?" but I've otherwise been very credulous wrt this world. If only because the plot logic and character motivations in many other shows would lead me to believe that everyone involved is suffering from an ongoing series of brain events.

The writers have acknowledged that the Brock poisoning is their biggest stretch ever. They came up with the result, then struggled & strained and developed a "how Walt did it" that they could juuust accept for themselves to justify it.

the Brock poisoning this was one of the only weak points in Breaking Bad's armour.

I think I read that explanation once & was like "eh seems legit"

How hard is it to poison a kid, kids eat any shit

I was fine with the dead guy adjusting his tie too

yeah i mean for a show that was about storytelling rather than "realism" they still never stooped as low as brother mouzone.

Ha I have high threshold for the cartoonish but that was corny as hell, yeah. Again I think they sold it tho