Better Call Saul

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.

Hey, Josh (or anyone) - I never watched Mad Men at all, but was that a water cooler kind of show? Have we had any TV stuff recently that compares to where BCS is coming from?

I didn't watch it, but Mad Men was for sure omg water cooler fodder. Sopranos, too.

Most ppl at my water cooler complained about not enough happening on mad men fwiw

Cool that you all still got water coolers.

Yeah, I honestly don't know much about Mad Men, but it did seem to be compulsive viewing for its fans. A show like Empire is often kind of overlooked, because it's largely got an African-American viewership (65% or something), but its ability to capture and hold numbers is pretty remarkable. I think at one point was, or maybe still is, getting watched in something like 30% of all black homes, which is a huge number. I assume a show like that gets talked about a lot the day after, given what a massively dedicated fan base it clearly has.

And actually, per xpost, I don't think there is a lot of TV that compares to BCS. It's so much slower, more patient, beautifully composed and acted. It's really like chapters of a book, I guess, and so far doesn't feel at all like it's being padded out or primed for an infinite run. It feels like it has a very specific story in mind, told a very specific way - not a season long "arc," per se - and that makes it kind of special, at least to my tastes. Its dynamics are so in balance, especially/surprisingly for a show that is so otherwise stylized. There are elements of comedy, thriller, law, romance, drama in it, but it's not really any of those things.

twitter is the national water cooler
/#obvious #trenchantsocialobservations

oh god, watching this scene with Chuck in his faraday cage in progress.... I know what he grabbed from the garage

so painful waiting for this to drop

so, that was that. I had a feeling he was doing that from the beginning of the scene.

I expect he'll just hold it over him; clearly Jimmy never gets disbarred or he wouldn't be able to practice as Saul later on?

Chuck is respectable as a good lawyer but imo he's just such a bad human being. I mean, every single move he's made could be excused as him being a stickler for the rules and "moral"

That is, until his mom's dying words were asking for Jimmy and he never said a damn thing

"I'm doing everything the right way in life, why does no one like me?"

Great series. Anyone want to speculate about how left the note for Mike? Because I have no idea

who left the note rather

My money's on Gus.

Who is probably also stalking Hector.

pretty poor finale imo. they ramped up the setup for jimmy confessing way too quickly, and "oh look it's a tape recorder" is fairly shit plotting. i didn't feel enough work had been done to make jimmy confess, like not even slightly. it was stupid.

i've really enjoyed this season but the mike stuff was crappy too - some sniper scenes, mysterious note.

sniper scenes were awesome, u mad

tape recorder deus ex machina was both obvious and labored but otherwise a great ep

really enjoyed Chuck digging through the box of electronics with salad tongs

Ehhhh, tape recorder would've been obvious and labored except in this instance, Chuck is once again exposing himself to the dangerous electricities just to screw his brother over.

Several times in this episode, I was feeling pretty bad for Chuck. Like, he's clearly not a well man and maybe I've been too hard on his shittier tendencies. But his little tape recorder game? Pssh. Fuck that guy.

The note was clearly from Gus. So I was almost correct in my belief that he'd show up by season's end. But otherwise I don't think I predicted a single turn the story took. Great season, great show.

i didn't even realize that was finale. thx guys :(

Didn't Gus send Walter White a "Don't" message once?

BTW do we know how Hector got paralyzed? Because I would've bet we were going to find out last night.

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/better-call-saul-gus-frings-back-title-anagram-finale

^ don't read this unless you want some MYSTERIES REVEALED

Hector has a stroke at some point.

Xp

what a great show

Their episode title acrostic was very cute and clever, but did they honestly think the fans couldn't figure out who left the note without their clues? Come on, guys.

speaking to BCS ratings: it is managing about a half million fewer viewers than Love and Hip Hop 5
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2016/04/19/monday-cable-ratings-april-18-2016/

Thought the tape recorder was going to be in the clock. What's up with Chuck and timepieces anyway.

Not crazy about Jimmy going through all of that only to go hey, ya got me. Maybe I'll come around to it later.

He only came clean out of concern for Chuck. He wouldn't have confessed under other circumstances. Chuck knew that Jimmy's affection for him was a weak spot and he exploited it like the fucker he is.

man this show is so good