Better Call Saul

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

Jimmy tries to weasel out of it, Mike just shrugs and is like "yeah, what you gonna do?"

Mike had leverage over Nacho that Jimmy didn't over Chuck tho

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, April 13, 2016 4:22 PM (1 week ago)

curious -- what leverage did mike have over nacho at that point? (referring to when nacho figured out that mike made the truck hit.) seems like nacho had every reason to just waste mike at that point. is it just that he liked him?

thought for sure mike was gonna accidentally shoot nacho in that sniper scene btw -- great red herring by the writers to have that scene with the gun salesman guy where mike misses the mark by a few inches

Do we think that Mike wanted Hector dead simply because he was concerned that he'd come after him when he realised what he was up to with the robbery and the Tuco incident, or is it also because Hector is an evil thug who deserves to die?

And why did they need to execute the driver anyway? I'm assuming that it was because they didn't want word to get out that one of their trucks got robbed

I think I'm the only person who didn't see the tape recorder coming :(

I didn't, either, until Jimmy's (admittedly a little too pat) speech started.

I'm guessing the reason for killing the driver could be anything from your suggestion to Hector being a vicious asshole who doesn't like his employees to fail him.

Hector probably thought it was an inside job. Why else would someone rob the truck and leave the driver unharmed?

It's possible that Mike wanted Nacho dead, not Hector, and that it was Hector who was in the way, not the other way around. Even Nacho said Hector had moved on, but Nacho is the one who was anxious, and also the only one who could connect Mike to anything.

No he wanted Hector dead because Hector threatened his family. He didn't shoot because Nacho was in the way!

Why would he have wanted Nacho dead? That makes no sense.

Because Nacho is the only one who knows who is or what he's been up to? And Nacho is not in Breaking Bad.

Who he is.

I mean, who knows? Why did Mike rob the truck before attempting to kill Hector? And like I noted, Nacho told him Hector had moved on and no longer was threatening him, so why start shit?; surely if Hector wanted his family (or Mike) dead he could have done it.

Yeah but how would Nacho explain how he knows Mike without implicating himself? Also if Mike wanted Nacho dead he could have just shot him at one of their secret meetings.

With respect to Mike wanting Hector dead, it may be as simple as he doesn't like anyone having leverage on him and certainly doesn't like anyone threatening his family. Nacho isn't going to say anything about his involvement with Mike because, as he stated, they'd both be dead. And Mike has been pretty fair and cordial with Nacho, all things considered.

Mike wants to kill Hector because he isn't the killing sort of person, paradoxically. He left the driver alive, and then found out it's the sort of criminal enterprise where people get killed as an example when their shipments get hijacked. Hector kills loose ends, and knows about his granddaughter. So he's going to kill Hector.

Just seems a little too "Death Wish," because, again, Hector could have easily killed Mike's family by now, or threatened them again, or whatever, but we haven't seen him do that. So why would Mike keep stalking him and planning to kill him? Seems a little too short game for him, and petty. But who knows, clearly he doesn't kill him.

curious -- what leverage did mike have over nacho at that point?

was referring to Mike knowing about Nacho's "side business" with the pill guy, etc. Mike could conceivably rat Nacho out to Tuco about that (w out necessarily implicating himself, after all he was just there as pill guy's body man). Nacho had every reason to just kill Mike, which is why he considered reaching for his gun, and at that point it came down to who could kill who first, and Nacho didn't like his chances. That's how I read it anyway.

and yeah damn this show is so good

The tape recorder seems obvious in hindsight and is as a plot twist, but it's entirely believable that Jimmy would fall for it given that Chuck's psychosis over the course of the episode was 100% genuine. That's the thing, Chuck knew that he could rely on Jimmy's essential good nature and fucked him over for it.

The course of the rest of the episode, I mean.

You couldn't not feel for chuck in that hospital but man, what a cunt. I think Kim was right on the money last week: hate chuck, like jimmy, feel sorry for both

Although she may regret saying that "you made him like this" part in front of him, if theres one thing jimmy doesn't need it's an excuse to behave badly

I realize people have to do what feels right when sitting with a dying relative, but Jimmy going to get food and take care of himself and his brother when they'd been sitting by their mother's side was a completely reasonable thing to do! And I didn't get the feeling that Chuck refused to leave because of wanting to stay with his mom as much as it was the "right thing" to do given his by-the-numbers system of obligation and responsibility. If he was really doing it out of love or as a duty to his family, he would have told Jimmy about her speaking.

that scene is still irritating me

chuck is just pathologically incapable of developing himself outside of being the best lawyer man and declaring himself in the right