Better Call Saul

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

clemenza, they announced that they'd been renewed for an additional season almost as soon as the current one started.

This ep was the first time I cared about the construction subplot

how does Jimmy get to a point where he becomes this guy, Saul, who shows no signs of being haunted by his past?

I don't think he's that far off already, based on how he is dealing with Chuck's death or what he said during the argument with Kim in the last ep. Denial of his feelings coupled with accepting his place as the bad guy

Yeah, he's well on his way. Glad to hear they're already committed to another season.

From past pacing, it feels like they'll wrap up the past in S5, though they could stretch it out to 6. What I'd really like to see is a full season in the present day dealing with Gene.

well done but ultimately not necessary

I think this applies to the entire Nacho storyline and most of Mike's as well. It's not Better Call Saul and Mike and Nacho and yet the latter take up almost 2/3rds of the show. Now that Mike's been given a backstory and given some depth, I kinda don't care what happens to him between now and when BB starts - his course is set. Jimmy and Kim's plotline is the only one with any dramatic tension and real emotional weight.

Mike's only in this show because BB viewers were so stoked about Mike as a character imo

I kind of wonder if Mike is ready to take a full measure re: Werner; he seems like "half-measure Mike" still. Has he killed anyone besides the two murdering cops so far? Anyway, I'm still interested in his storyline but not nearly as much as Jimmy's

Yes, I know in his Breaking Bad speech, he says he never took a half-measure again (while being a cop)

Spoiler: Mike is going to kill Werner.

I kind of wish they'd stretched out the Werner story arc further - he's the most compelling new character they've introduced outside of the main Jimmy/Kim/Chuck (RIP) storyline.

Wow, a Rob Sheffield homage for the opening scene.

Excellent ending.

Great long-shot of Mike and Werner, too, reminiscent of Fredo on the boat in Godfather II. I do hate the way that television, or at least AMC, immediately cuts to a commercial, instead of letting the shot linger for a few seconds.

OMG so heartbreaking seeing Chuck caring for Jimmy in the opener :(

i'd wager there are at least two more seasons in this; maybe both before BB, but maybe just one more, and then I do think they have to pick the story up post-BB, at least for a while

Great finale, I feel awful

i didn't realize this was the season finale though. expected more Nacho.

I think you could wrap up everything pre-BB with one season; another season of post-BB Saul/Gene, I'd be all for that. (I think Gene goes into the Witness Protection Program and reemerges years later as Anthony Scaramucci.)

That might just be the best episode yet

Kim looks so disappointed when Jimmy starts explaining his take on the hearing. Is that it for her/them?

That was such a great moment. She's thinking "That's the guy I'm in love with," and it was all a performance. It reminded me in a way of the moment in The Color of Money where Newman finds out that Cruise was laying down in their big game for money. Cruise, like Jimmy, seems to take it for granted that Newman (and Kim) knew what he was up to; they're ecstatic, and they want to share their excitement, while Newman/Kim stand there looking devastated.

bit ambiguous as to how much the 'performance' was actually fake and how much the 'haha suckers' was post-rationalising or whatever. either way it's not good for kim.

Hadn't considered that, but you might be right--Jimmy may be putting the con on himself.

Yeah, he still doesn't want to admit to himself that Chuck's absence has any effect on him: the opener this week being all about the support and mentorship that Chuck did give him, once upon a time, suggests that Gould & al are pointing towards denial at the end.

After a year of disconnectedness and (new sources of) resentment, Jimmy also wants, for self-esteem, to believe that he's smarter than anyone and that he can smarts them into thinking what he wants, at the expense of the real connection he used to have with, for example, his colleagues or his elder-care clents. Cf. last week when he ripped into Kim and refused to acknowledge the massive assistance, love and backup she has given him in his schemes and life.

Rhea Seehorn's non-verbal acting is so great. That look of confusion and near-terror at the end as Jimmy (not Saul, at this point, I guess) is gloating about the suckers in the hearing was perfect.

I meant NOW Saul, at this point. Duh.

I got the feeling straight after that that bit with the deeply disappointed Kim I was seeing a reflection of Chuck in a nearby metal surface. Wanted to go back and check there was somebody standing there to be reflected. Haven't as yet.

that metal surface in full

https://i.imgur.com/s5YqPSv.jpg

Yeah, he still doesn't want to admit to himself that Chuck's absence has any effect on him: the opener this week being all about the support and mentorship that Chuck did give him, once upon a time, suggests that Gould & al are pointing towards denial at the end.

exactly: the way he loses it in the car over a relatively minor thing is very much the way repressed grief can hit you

I love this show.

Struck me that it would be funny if somehow the rejected law student he gives a fuck-'em pep talk to somehow ends up, as an adult, recognising him and being the one who brings his post-BB life crashing down

A strong finale but this season was a little bit shapeless for me. I think the Jimmy-Chuck dynamic was my favourite aspect of the show and its missed that

I really enjoyed the Auf Wiedersehen, Pet homage of the German builders. It could easily have been the "How Jack got his Tattoo" storyline of the season, just filler to pad it out, but it ended up being genuinely interesting and sad.

incredible how much this show focuses on long set-ups and payoffs - the letter coming back into the plot, for ex. Amazing final scene, with Jimmy's transformation complete.

Gould and Gilligan are too good at storytelling to drop the rejected law student after a brief introduction, and good enough at storytelling that there's no telling whether she'll help or hurt him when she shows back up.

(It's down to one showrunner now! Gilligan didn't work day to day on this season.

― 16, 35, DCP, Go! (sic), Wednesday, August 8, 2018 7:48 AM (two months ago) )

he directed last week though

I don't think it's necessary for her to come back -- her being a vessel for Jimmy to dump his petulance and entitlement onto this week was enough. If she were to find a way to cheat into lawyerhood, she still wouldn't be qualified until well into the Breaking Bad era.