Better Call Saul

The look on Saul and Kim's faces when Mike said "that was the route you were setting up for him, right?" (or whatever his exact words were) was pretty crushing. Like, oh shit, this is how his loved ones are going to remember him now.

With the result preordained, I enjoyed the skillful execution.

Seems to me that a possible dangling thread with Mike's plan is Clifford Main, who certainly seemed like he was coming around to Howard's explanation of Jimmy's scam and is likely to ask some uncomfortable questions in the wake of these most recent events.

Yeah, that was very well done xp

The Kim scenes felt pretty tense because we don't know what happens to her.

When we see Kim talking to Gus through the security camera (or whatever it was), distorted and grainy, that looked good--like Lynch, almost.

Really glad to see Seehorn nominated for this, she's long overdue for an Emmy for this series, but not sure why she only qualifies as a Supporting Actress. Or is this one of those things where they lobbied for this category because she's more likely to win?

Ten minutes in the dark; they musta had bat vision. Also, I wouldn't think Gus is any more of a marksman than Kim, even under optimum conditions, and to get him in the neck like that, apparently---so Lalo was just sending whichever, as bait/distraction? He knew Gus wasn't gonna answer the door. But he sounded pleasantly surprised to have Gus actually show up at the laundry; what had he planned to do there?

Sorry if too many spoilers, but not much quality- or surprise-wise to spoil. Also now 5 more eps with one less compelling character---bring back Mrs. Kettleman!

So Don Eladio is gonna make Gus run meth for him, despite the latter's insults (DE couldn/t be surprised, having plugged the other Chicken Brother in front of Gus, out of the blue)(as revealed in BB]

I wasn't sure if those insults were being transmitted live, or if Lalo was recording for later use.

Definitely recording. Some ca. 2005 digital camcorder.

fwiw We see him recording across from the laundromat in a previous episode and he scraps that.

Of course...forgot the timeline. Which would explain why Gus was so free with the insults.

Oh yeah, I guess it would have to be recording back then---thanks, please explain more!

Lalo almost always had that sweet air of purpose in life: he wanted to be the guardian of Cartel-Salamanca Values and family, even fireside, lower-case values---also he envied Gus's own cool and mastery---but Lalo could never be all that, because of his bloody outbursts, just enough of them to mess things up for him. Still, righteous revenge, explained so nicely to Jimmy, was so sweet for him. Lalo's Song. "Let's talk."

Gus's little eyebrow raise when it was revealed that Lalo was talked out of sending Jimmy and letting Kim go instead was a great "this is a ruse, time for the next phase of the plan" moment

I have no idea what Jimmy would have done had he been the one to go to the house, but the writing kept them both true to character -- Jimmy wanted Kim to escape or find help even if it meant Lalo would kill him, and Kim absolutely would compromise her morals and safety to keep Jimmy safe by going through with Lalo's orders. She was going to fire that gun!

Mike's team looked like a black ops operation compared to Kim and Jimmy's well-planned but goofy framing of Howard

Oh yeah, they've been way out of their depth, like sociopathic Jack and Jill. All those comments are otm, thanx.

Lalo is such a little shit for making them think they were going to have to kill someone. I was laughing despite the dire nature of the whole situation when Mike's team disarmed Kim and shoved her in the house

Ten minutes in the dark; they musta had bat vision. Also, I wouldn't think Gus is any more of a marksman than Kim, even under optimum conditions, and to get him in the neck like that, apparently---so Lalo was just sending whichever, as bait/distraction? He knew Gus wasn't gonna answer the door. But he sounded pleasantly surprised to have Gus actually show up at the laundry; what had he planned to do there?

― dow, Tuesday, July 12, 2022 12:52 PM bookmarkflaglink

Lalo definitely sent Kim as bait to pull Mike and his team away, so that he could visit the lab. He expected Gus would figure it out at or before the point Mike's team showed up to find no Lalo at Jimmy's house, and that he'd show up at the lab, and though it probably wasn't necessary for him to keep Gus alive long enough to give him a tour of the facility on camera, he probably enjoyed it from a humiliation perspective, making Gus be the star of his own execution video as revenge for his attempted murder. and sure, Gus would know where things were and make it easier to find and display them.

Obv Lalo had to make the video because if he just gave his word or killed Gus without the video, Eladio would probably whack him in retaliation for doing so without permission, whereas this would be seen as initiative and he'd be rewarded.

*doing so without CAUSE or permission

I was saying to mom "see he can't be livestreaming, this is like 2002", and she was like "yeah, see, we didn't always have stuff like you have today" and I was like "I didn't even have a cell phone that took pics in 2002, mom, much less when I was a kid"

the luxury meth bunker, now with wifi and cell phone signal repeaters for livestreaming your assassinations

lol

Thought that was a very pedestrian episode. Drawing out the Lalo-Gus showdown for 10 minutes just didn't work for me. Gus lives, Lalo dies--we know that already.

I was thinking that they seem to be taking steps to not have Kim meet Gus right now. Thinking the henchman (was he an actual decoy?) was the target, then having Gus speak to her over the phone.

whats interesting to me is in the BB timeline Saul thinks that Lalo is still alive while Gus thinks he's dead.

Good spot. I thought it was notable how Mike says 'he's not coming back' - euphemistic but without explicitly saying what happened.

next they kill Cliff

xp and yeah, really awful how they have to keep going with their horrible Howard lies.

i'm glad they dispatched Lalo now. there was zero drama to gain by drawing it out over the remaining episodes. just do it and be legends, man

She moves to Sweden and changes her name to Robyn

― Evan, Monday, July 11, 2022 11:38 AM bookmarkflaglink

wait, so then who was "Show Me Love" Robyn?

Ah, there's a spare one just for this purpose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Me_Love_(Robin_S._song)

I love how they go right up to the line where Lalo seems to have superhuman abilities, and then very briefly cross it in the scene where he pops out to effortlessly take out three of Gus's goons instantly at the laundry

Since Lalo needs to film his showdown with Gus, I'll give them a pass on one of the oldest movie cliches there is: instead of just shooting him right away, Lalo talks and gloats and talks some more till he ends up dead.

Anyone getting Peep Show vibes from Kim as she walked up to the house
https://img.gifglobe.com/grabs/peepshow/S01E05/S01E05-JcTlD5kH-subtitled.jpg

I mean actually, she was totally going to do it

I think she was too

I'll be interested to see what they do with the rest of the series now Howard and Lalo are no longer with us. Maybe people start asking Jimmy and Kim awkward questions about Howard and the cartel start pressuring Fring. They'll figure out that he took down Lalo sooner rather than later. Or maybe they don't really care

They seemed to be telegraphing that Lalo breaks into the under construction dry cleaner meth lab, gets killed by Gus, and gets buried when they pour the concrete floor for the lab.

― Am I doomposting? I would say you’re not doomposting enough. (PBKR), Monday, 11 July 2022 19:47 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Good shout!

So Gus knew Lalo was at the laundry and went there to finish him off right? That seems a bit implausible when they make such a big deal out of how cautious he is

Gus has to stop Lalo getting evidence of the lab to Eladio though or he's fucked.

They showed him planting the gun there a few episodes ago. He knew this is where things would end. It was all about the lab for Lalo

I take it Jimmy and Kim are finished after this. We know Jimmy can move on from this guilt (as proved by breaking bad) but I just can't see Kim taking it. I think the upcoming tragedy is that Kim needs to be taken out because her integrity keeps her from keeping the story going. That said, I don't know how they write Jimmy around that situation, yeah he has a crazy high self-preservation instinct, but can he go on if Kim get's whacked/whacks herself? I can't see Kim taking the vacuum cleaner after this one, seems like it would be an even worse reality for her compared to the options of living with it or ending it.

The sad thing is, you know this is not going to end with an ice happy bow on it. If one thing is true in the BB/BCS universe, it's that you get what you give and sometimes you get what you didn't give for the worse. As much as I'd prefer it otherwise, Kim's going to get her just deserts.

(Cinnabon)

She goes by there one day in disguise (having gained 200 lbs.) "Makes" Jimmy, like he says, cabbie & stooge bring him to her, she's so excited, dies of a 300 lb. heart attack. Her 300 cats eat her and Jimmy.

She's from Nebraska!

this is the pilot of What's Eating Jim & Kim?

hmm, what other spinoff COULD we cull from this universe

Meet The Kettlemens! Pre-prequel.

amazing how some dude embezzling a million dollars of government money led to the downfall of Mexico's most brutal drug cartel

Off the top of my head, spinoffs I would like to see would involve Huell, the film students and Lyle. Possibly all together

So Gus knew Lalo was at the laundry and went there to finish him off right? That seems a bit implausible when they make such a big deal out of how cautious he is

― paolo, Tuesday, 12 July 2022 22:37 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Gus has to stop Lalo getting evidence of the lab to Eladio though or he's fucked.

― Led By Honkies (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 12 July 2022 23:28 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I could have been clearer there. What I meant was it seems unlikely that Gus would go to take down Lalo himself rather than just send his goons to do it. I know he had plenty of said goons with him but still

A sitcom where Edwina Galbraith inherits her father's vacuum cleaner business and quickly comes to learn what that entails. Maybe it can be called This Sucks!

Don't think Gus trusts anyone else to be able to take down Lalo by that point, even Mike

They showed him planting the gun there a few episodes ago. He knew this is where things would end. It was all about the lab for Lalo

Saw someone point out that in BB S5E1 Hank and Gomez say they found two unidentified bodies under the lab, man the writing on this show is crazy