Better Call Saul

little bit of footage from the finale:

thr.cm/29XOfw

well clearly in dont know how to paste links

I'll bet your brother sabotaged it.

Where's Ernie? We need to investigate.

At first, the way the latest episode ends with a cliffhanger made me think that Chuck doesn't die, because why else wouldn't they have just ended the ep with his death? (So I thought he'd end up as paraplegic or something.) But then I remembered the same thing happened with Breaking Bad, in the final season episode that ended with the Nazi shootout cliffhanger, with Hank still alive, which made me declare he wouldn't die... And then they killed him in the beginning of the next episode! Still, if the next ep of BCS starts with "oh, and Chuck died", I call bullshit on that. It'd be just pointless milking of suspension.

One thing I found interesting is that they left in intentionally ambiguous why Kim lied to Chuck, saying she didn't think Jimmy forged the documents. Did she do it because she didn't want Jimmy to face fraud charges and go to prison, or because she wanted to keep Mesa Verde to herself, so any proof that she knew and accepted what Jimmy had done would make it more likely for Chuck to go after her as well? The former intepretation would be more in line with her characterization as a morally upstanding person, whereas the latter would be a clear break for her. But it wouldn't be completely out-of-character, because we already she's drawn to Slippin' Jimmy's ways on some level. And she probably feels Chuck tricked her out of the Mesa Verde contract, which should've been hers... So that might've be the final straw for her, because she tried the straight and narrow approach (in the previous ep, where she didn't even call Mesa Verde before she'd left her resignation, thus allowing Harry to contact them first), and that just didn't work.

So maybe, if Kim didn't lie just to protect Jimmy but to keep the contract as well, this was her "finally giving in to the devil" moment, just like the Good Samaritan was for Mike and forging those documents was for Jimmy... Which would make her character arc parallel to the other two leads, instead of her inevitably becoming collateral damage to one of Jimmy's scams, which I thought was gonna happen before seeing the latest episode. If this ep signals a change of direction for her, it'd certainly make the next season more interesting w/r/t her character.

chuck's dead and kim lied to protect jimmy and keep mesa verde

Thanks for the info! Did you get an advance view of next week's episode or something?

nope but I watched this week's episode

Okay, interesting. The version I saw must've missed a scene where they confirmed those things, gotta send some email to Netflix Nordic about this.

In the Benelux version you see Hector shoot the good samaritan.

lol Chuck just smacked his head on the counter, he'll be fine

Chuck's gonna be flatlined and it's going to fall to his next of kin to pull the plug.

Chuck would def have wanted the plug pulled tbf

No one said Chuck will be "fine", but IMO they could still have him live as brain-damaged or paraplegic, for example. If the next ep begins with him already dead, then that cliffhanger was completely pointless and they should've made it clear in this ep that he died.

I predict that he survived but that he'll be impaired in some way.

The next biggest element of tension for me (after whatever ramifications this will have on Chuck and Jimmy) is the potential fallout from this happening at the copy place specifically. Why was Chuck there (asked from the perspective of people who don't know)? How much does Ernie know? Is the copy guy going to say anything? How is Kim going to react once she finds out, given that she knows about the forgeries and was somewhat implicit in Chuck feeling the need to go there in the first place?

Chuck going to the hospital means he's going to be thrown on antianxiety meds, at the very least, and probably going to thrash around enough to be put on psychiatric observation

xopst Tuomas the "point" of a cliffhanger is to get the viewer geared up for the next episode, not to justify itself in retrospect

Chuck's swoon looked like typical syncope (fainting), not a stroke or a seizure. He hit his head hard enough to get a concussion but that's unlikely to be fatal. The forces involved weren't enough to produce a skull fracture and epidural hematoma, or even a contusion / subdural hematoma.

Harder to sort out the neurological status in Chuck's case because even without a specific brain injury, he can be very drowsy / encephalopathic just from his usual (psychological) hypersensitivity to EMR. Would be no surprise if he doesn't wake up for awhile even if the scans and other testing are OK. But he should recover.

Whatever the lasting results re Chuck, seems like Jimmy and prob Kim (maybe depending on what Jimmy tells her about what happened) will see this as a line being crossed. Ditto Chuck, if he can still think, and ditto the poor little graveyard shift guy.

And even if Jimmy tries to minimize his own partial responsibility, think she can figure it out, though she's getting pulled further into the same gray area wandered by all these male maniacs.

the poor little graveyard shift guy.

This role was terrifically played, by the way.

he's going to go far in life

Tuomas you're way off. Chuck isn't go to die but he'll be in hospital getting tests and freaking out with all of that electricity. Should be a delight (for me anyway) to watch. Pretty sure Chuck in hospital clears a way for Jimmy to get up to Jimmy stuff somewhat uninhibitedly too.

I wouldn't be surprised if Chuck is dead. If Tuomas hates a cliffhanger well okay wouldn't be the first time he's hated on a standard narrative device.

also I have to say, it is really wonderful seeing two underrated comedy greats play such fully realized characters

I'm not much of a fan of Michael McKean generally and was kinda 'ugh' when it was announced that he'd be on the show but he's been really terrific.

from Lenny to this is a p stratospheric leap

It's Rhea I can't get enough of. In these last two episodes...I keep yelling out SOMEBODY GET HER AN EMMY.

she's been great. The absolute derisiveness to the look she gives jimmy in the car...

Totally

I can't help wondering if McKean was cast alongside Odenkirk with memories of their appearance in the old "Mr. Show" law school sketch

Is he really that underrated? He was a star of This Is A Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and prob Waiting For Guffman (right title? Haven't seen that one, have faith in McK.)

He was also in the 60s comedy group The Credibility Gap, which incl. David Lander/Squiggy and Harry Shearer, who was with McKean in Spinal Tap and a bunch of other stuff. Credibility Gap was prob a little subtle for thee tymes: one of 'em told Rolling Stone they'd done this on-stage panel of concerned citizens and experts, incl. Superman, who cane out against pot. Audience: "Whatta you know about it, YOU EVER TRIED IT MAN?!"

*came* out against pot.

He's a great comedic actor, which I think is a subtle distinction that sets him apart from more overtly crowd-pleasing good teller of jokes/funnymen. Akin to, I dunno, Dan Ackroyd, say.

I only found out yesterday that this show is in 4K WTF? I need a 4KTV stat.

It looks fucking amazing in 4K by the way. All those desert shots.

I thought some of the tension in the copyshop scene was about whether Jimmy would instinctively rush to his brother's aid. Thus meaning that he blew his claim to innocence. Also wondered if he could fully anonymously phone police/ambulance without it coming out that somebody, probably him, had witnessed things and not identified themself. Am now intrigued as to how anonymous an emergency caller actually could be. Without number paper trail or dismissal as hoax.

He did it earlier, last season, calling "anonymously" from a pay phone to warn his sorta clients that they're about to be robbed/attacked/killed.

Matt Dc im so jelly

Also....rumors abound that one Gustavo Fring may make an appearance this eve

oh shiiiiii

To be real honest witchoo, I've been thinking that that very thing might happen. All the pieces have been falling into place leading up to Mike meeting Gus, and it seemed like a pretty dece OMG note to end the season on.

i can see Gus giving Mike the ol' the enemy of my enemy is my friend treatment. still, im not holding my breath.

is this doing well? Everyone I know who watches it loves it, but I can't tell if it's getting buzz or is at all successful really

AMC ordered seasons 3 and 4 a whilke back so i guess its doing well enough

I feel like Breaking Bad took a while to accumulate an audience? Maybe it's the same here.

it's definitely better this season than last. And it was really good last season!

I love that it's not really a "oh my god, did you see what happened last night?!" sort of show, a la Breaking Bad or Got or other water cooler fodder. It's so well crafted and subtly acted/written and not portentous even when it gets fancy that it's like it's just buzzing along on a quiet wave of admiration.

It's only going to get crazier from here on in and cancelling it would provoke a massive backlash given it effectively leaves the story unfinished. Not that Netflix wouldn't just pick it up immediately anyway.