Better Call Saul

I got the impression in the opening that Jimmy was pretending to be an idiot about law stuff while already studying hard secretly

The last shot definitely conveyed that he was studying on the sly, but I still found it sad because of the way that everybody either condescended to him or patronized him (especially Chuck, but even Kim). And he was doing something that was as vital to office morale as the cases Chuck was winning--things like Oscar pools are what make certain jobs tolerable.

I read the opening sequence as showing how much of Jimmy's law career has been driven by his need to impress Kim. She was the reason he started studying the law, he got into elder law after she suggested it, his whole motivation for resuming his legal career was so that he could set up a partnership with her, he even suggests desperately that they could go into criminal law together, when she talks about her plans to join a new firm. which tbh makes perfect sense for her, not so much for jimmy. they're on separate journeys now and he can't see it, and it's incredibly sad to see.

The gus/hector scenes are kind of a counter to the people who say that you should watch this series cold

In fact the more I think about it the more I think that suggestion is just a daft way of rephrasing the (very true) statement “this show is better than breaking bad”

I got the impression in the opening that Jimmy was pretending to be an idiot about law stuff while already studying hard secretly

Why would he pretend? Could just not say anything even if he had already been going into the chamber of law secrets prior to the lingering shot in which we see him do that.

The final shot on Hector's stationary hand felt like viewer trolling imo - ooooh maybe it moved a nanometer

I think it was just "this is the hand that will kill Gus Fring."

nice earl callback at the end

*huell

I needed Gus's tale to remind me what his motivations are. It's been a long time since the last season.

Why would he pretend? Could just not say anything even if he had already been going into the chamber of law secrets prior to the lingering shot in which we see him do that.

Certainly could be the case, there's not enough in that scene to know one way or the other. But I feel like it's very much in Jimmy's character to mislead people in order to shock them with a big surprise later. I think that's part of why Chuck is so floored when he finds out Jimmy has passed the bar

The thing I love about Jimmy--probably all of us respond to this--is the go-getter side of him. Whenever he starts to lapse into self-pity, he gets over it and rouses himself to do something. It was great when he chewed out Howard last episode. I mean, he's even sending clients Howard's way--he seems incapable of holding a grudge.

He's basically the exact opposite of me.

Pretty good? Basically, Jimmy and Kim drifting apart. I thought the opening was a bit too obvious about that--they were trying to do it in a creative way, and "Somethin' Stupid" was part of it, but it wasn't quite Charles and Emily Kane at the dinner table. I thought the later scene where Jimmy asks Kim to take on Huell's case, ending with a Godfather-like door-close, was the better version. I liked Burl Ives. Completely stumped on what Kim's plan Huell is, other than it's an ingenious plan predicated upon large amounts of stationery supplies.

Gus' monologue was way overlong for setting up a conflict we already know the resolution of. Mitigated by Esposito's wonderful reading.

Was the different colour t-shirt on Kim thing during the montage deliberate? Something about them growing so far apart taht they can't agre on details. I thought the rest of that was supposed to be parallel events at the saem time.

Caught up with last week's before watching the new one. Just thought it was kinda hilarious when I realized that the timeframe of the pre-credits scene should have featured a pre-Mr. Show-aged Odenkirk.

Did Saul ever make oblique reference to Kim in Breaking Bad? I don't remember anything, but then you wouldn't have necessarily caught it even if there had been. I'm wondering if they'll kill her off, or if Breaking Bad allows them to finesse that some other way.

I don't recall any BB reference to Kim, oblique or otherwise. I think she and Jimmy are headed for an epic falling out, probably after some shady scheme gets her disbarred or something, and I also predict that we will see her in the present day before the show is over.

That's close to what I was thinking of, that he may have alluded at some point to a former girlfriend, not named, whom he betrayed or let down. But again, I don't remember anything. (Kim disbarred trying to help Jimmy would be very apropos.)

He mentions an ex-wife, maybe more than one, in a sleazy Saul-esque way iirc but that could just be patter

Caught up with last week's before watching the new one. Just thought it was kinda hilarious when I realized that the timeframe of the pre-credits scene should have featured a pre-Mr. Show-aged Odenkirk.

Ha, right? Yeah, I know there were earlier scenes, chronologically. I just don't think the specific timeframe had occurred to me before. The Remains of the Day reference stopped me in my tracks, though. Like, dude...you should be Larry Sanders's hot young agent rn, not looking like Larry Sanders's much older brother.

was thinking today about how much I love this show and also how incredibly sad it is given that we know, ultimately, how it ends.

and consequently how sad it will be when this series ends. maybe they'll do a season that takes place after BB though.

I just hope Kim gets out alive tbh

otm

I'm not getting the chronology of the fast food place that was inserted in earlier seasons. When is that supposed to be. Saul gets locked out in the smoking space at one point etc.

the Cinnabon? those are future-saul bits from after BB i think?

I used to get stressed towards the end of every season for Kim not getting away from Jimmy, this year it’s every minute of every episode

make no effort to disguise his being played by a middle-aged man

They do put thicker wigs on him, and a bit more makeup, but yeah there’s no point pretending he’s Stevie Grant so why go over the top

that’s not Saul at the Cinnabon, it’s Gene

Yeah gene the thoroughly defeated, paranoid Cinnabon manager is the identity set up by Robert Forster when all the heat came down on the Heisenberg operation

The scam to get Huell off might have been the show's low point. It was so corny, and the idea that this D.A., who seemed so sharp previously, would fall for it seemed more than a little far-fetched. I don't know--maybe it's that burner-phones are so new, working such a scam would have been previously unthinkable. Jimmy's post-coital silliness almost made up for it.

One thing I've liked the whole way is the relationship between Mike and Ziegler, the rare person who seems to command Mike's respect. I laughed when Ziegler thanked someone for their "hospitility."

The judge's reaction didn't seem credible to me either. Previously, the one time we've seen him, he was coolly dismantling Kim with his Verdict bait. Suddenly he's in a panic because of these letters?

Was that Stereolab that Kim was listening to?

Yes! Loved that, and loved the POV shift indicated with the headphones. I also got a huge lol from the background car honk after Kim went Full Giselle. But I agree with clemenza that the con of the DA and judge seemed a bit forced.

yeah, that was def Stereolab that Kim was listening to... didn't recognize the song, but it's unmistakably the 'lab.

cons always seem a little "really?" - this one more than most, for sure - but I think also as a show like this progresses & the lives of its characters feel more real, it becomes harder to concede some gigantic hair-brained scheme. but honestly it's no less credible than the top-secret gigantic state-of-the-art meth lab in the desert built by world-class criminal architects, engineers and detonation experts, the whole BB universe demands that you just let 'em roll with some pretty absurd shit

the thing i liked most about the con was bob odenkirk adopting a modified version of his senator tankerbell accent

half-expected him to start talkin' bout the three holes in the wall

I honestly thought that was badger in the bar

I thought he looked like somebody I should recognise but couldn't quite place.

yes I thought it was Badger too.

Even the voice sounded exactly like him to me

Stereolab song was "Tempter" (b-side to Lo Boob Oscillator, included on Refried Ectoplasm/Switched On Vol. 2)

"Midway between happiness and sadness,
Boiling but not overflowing
Falls to only make a better comeback,
More powerful and poignant, and falls again
Destructive lust for life erected,
On the verge, pricked up like a picket,
Fearing to respond to the tempting but malevolent call of the other side"

I'm up for more crazy elaborate barely feasible scams in this show tbh (and it sounds like I might be in luck).

Kim listening to stereolab, Kim looking saucy while smoking, Kim wanting to pull more cons.....I think I'm in love with Kim Wexler

I'd say there's one main question to be answered in the last few episodes (or last few episodes plus another season): how does Jimmy get to a point where he becomes this guy, Saul, who shows no signs of being haunted by his past? Because I never got any sense of that on Breaking Bad. What allows him, or forces him, to make a clean break with the past?

(Why I never switched schools once I got in full-time; switching schools requires interviews, and I was always terrible at the sincerity test.)

Because I played catch-up with this season, didn't realize that next week is the finale. They'll need another season, right? They can't wrap up everything in one episode. This Rolling Stone piece is pretty good:

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-recaps/better-call-saul-recap-season-4-episode-9-wiedersehen-730125/

I agree with his assessment of the lab subplot: well done but ultimately not necessary. We know the lab gets built--the details getting there don't seem all that important. The contours of Mike's character are already in place, there doesn't seem to be a lot to add there.

I knew I recognized the woman who Kim and Jimmy scam over the Mesa Verde plans: Gladys from The Leftovers, Patti's sidekick.

Ha I came here to write the opposite pretty much! Was gonna post something sarcastic and eyerolly about how at last we find out how hector gained his bell-ringing powers, but then as a counterpoint to that note how unexpectedly riveting the superlab construction plot has been despite it just being the origin story of a location we see in bb

So I guess I agree that it’s well-done but unnecessary I just don’t care about the latter point so much

Lalo isn’t doing much for me at the moment but otherwise I thought this was one of the best eps of the season so far