season 2, episode 8 - called better call saul
― calstars, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 16:40 (one year ago) link
I might watch that BB ep just for some nostalgia
― calstars, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 16:56 (one year ago) link
it's one of the best episodes of the series, iirc
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 17:14 (one year ago) link
pretty cool that this one is named “breaking bad”
That is great symmetry--I'd forgotten about the BCS episode title.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 17:17 (one year ago) link
Season 2, Episode 8: did not recall that it took Walt & Jessie so long to meet The Chicken Man!
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 17:50 (one year ago) link
the chicken man doesn't show up for a couple more episodes, and mike doesn't show up until the season 2 finale
― in places all over the world, real stuff be happening (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 18:03 (one year ago) link
Wow.This Variety piece is mostly about laying out all the Walt & Jessie stuff, which to me wasn't so clear. Don't get the basic point of redux, other than fan service, but maybe will prove more significant. Although of course, we do see Saul not taking Mike's advice, going to the Science Fair/Gene going into the cancer guy's house, loudly breaking glass.https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/better-call-saul-recap-walt-jesse-breaking-bad-1235329653/
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 19:32 (one year ago) link
I think Gene going hard at cancer guy is subconscious revenge against Walt for blowing up his life.
― There are a million things you could object to, and they're all sustained. (WmC), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 19:35 (one year ago) link
Sounds right! Plus frustration with Kim & others from past, everyone and everything going against his wishes (Saul like Walt in that regard, though Walt was, under the underdog cancer workadaddy chem teacher persona, ALWAYS like that, as we gradually learn in BB)
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 19:43 (one year ago) link
also now this henchman in his present going against---nip it in the bud!
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 19:45 (one year ago) link
Excellent theory, WmC.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 19:46 (one year ago) link
It didn't seem very deeply veiled!
Not giving this guy a pass just because he had cancer. Hmm, sounds like Saul might be harboring some feelings about someone who was capable and had cancer. I wonder..
― mh, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 19:47 (one year ago) link
Not giving the guy a pass, sure. Doing stupid shit and deciding to go in on his own? Stupid tunnel vision due to his grudges.
Which, ironically, was how Walt did shit all the time
― mh, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 19:48 (one year ago) link
This ep ruled imo, fully in bcs>bb camp but I honestly can’t believe how good this final stretch has beenIf the only saul stuff from this run of gene eps turns out to be the stuff in this ep from around the bcs ep of bb that is perfect. Mike scene felt ever so slightly off and I would have liked his last scene to have been with nachos dad correctly saying that he is entirely as self-deluding as Walter I’m really thinking no Kim now either. Making the show more episodic in its last few episodes than it’s maybe ever been is a beautiful decision but also newsflash, as some ppl were still saying in 2010: this entire universe is built from (increasingly sad) capers
― Wiggum Dorma (wins), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 19:51 (one year ago) link
Saul's absolutely delusional if he even for a moment thought that Kim would want to hear from him. I can picture what she'd sound like calling Francesca and asking if Saul was dead, just a heartbreaking off-screen thing.
I liked how that played out, leaving us out of the conversation when he made the poor choice to call her, and then freaking out.
― mh, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 20:00 (one year ago) link
I did read an interview with one of the showrunners saying you'll see what that conversation was about later. I thought the same though, you don't really need to know
he also said Mark Proksch's character wound up running the laser tag, but there wasn't a way to really show that
― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 20:21 (one year ago) link
Stupid tunnel vision due to his grudges. Which, ironically, was how Walt did shit all the time
Makes this episode's title beyond perfect.
― There are a million things you could object to, and they're all sustained. (WmC), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 20:22 (one year ago) link
at one point in BB, one of the characters (probably Mike?) says the only ways out of the game are death, prison, or getting disappeared. unless I'm missing something it's pretty much been death for everyone, except Jesse. so it makes sense that Saul would be the one to go to jail. my suspicion is that Kim may be the one who turns him in. though it seems likely that Carol Burnett's character is gonna be the one to call the cops on him.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 20:28 (one year ago) link
Does Kim know where he is? Maybe: Francesca seems like she's maybe hesitating just before "I didn't tell her nuthin" or whatever her answer to Gene was. She might turn him because she's pissed, but more because it might be safer for him (cartel as well as feds might be after him), and for those he might associate with, as accomplices and marks.Yeah, after she left, he settled into being Saul For The People and "sensible, responsible" cog in Fring's machine, recruiting W & J---"you need to be part of a going concern, not learning the hard way," and "You gotta launder money. Here's some ways to do it," and so on.Now he's the guy with just the shoebox full of too much money to deposit, bills too big to use legit, lashing out and so on---
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 20:58 (one year ago) link
turn him in: gotta use the right crime show lingo. Those cops coming up to the house, which house, in next (or final?) ep: maybe it's Burnett's house, but instead of/in addition to turning him in, maybe something's happened to her.
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:00 (one year ago) link
Speaking of excess cash, Jeffie feels the need to say that buying computer wasn't conspicuous consumption, that it's an old piece of crap etc. The constraint of Gene's own way of life now seeming permanent, with offshore account etc etc gone
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:05 (one year ago) link
leg exerciser, though
― mh, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:07 (one year ago) link
It could end with him finding a new "sensible" gig, never mind the capers. Something that might well end badly, but not breaking badly--maybe he could join a church, for inst. he's gotta be some kind of performer, whatever the risks. Maybe he could do infomercials about leg exerciser.
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:10 (one year ago) link
I think the cartel’s pretty much out of the picture by the time breaking bad ends, at least as far as the sangre por sangre: gus killled them all, Walt killed gus, nazis took over, Walt killed the nazis; I don’t think any remnants of the enterprise would care about going after the lawyer in Nebraska Need to say how much I’m into this jeffy, perfect sort of offbrand busey type for a dumbass lowlife coen vibe. “I can see both sides” was a particularly good line
― Wiggum Dorma (wins), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:11 (one year ago) link
Some of the cartel must still be around somewhere---please don't destroy my faith in organizations!re leg excer: He bought it online, mail order? Maybe with Gene's account, be alright--or maybe with one of one of those stolen account numbers??
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:16 (one year ago) link
(starting to see Exerciser Gene as My Pillow Guy inspiration)
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:17 (one year ago) link
Also appreciated how the “fan service episode” started with a 10-minute sequence of a phone call, which a pathetic and desperate gene attempts to draw out for as long as possible… ok but what about huell? Or uhhh… bill burr’s character? Cmon give me something! xo they might be around and maybe even willing to return to New Mexico, no way they give enough of a shit about Saul goodman tho
― Wiggum Dorma (wins), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:18 (one year ago) link
xp - Maybe the $30k was for Francesca to ship him the old one since it wasn't seized in the raid.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:18 (one year ago) link
Also appreciated how the “fan service episode” started with a 10-minute sequence of a phone call, which a pathetic and desperate gene as fan stan trivia junkie parody, maybe---another layer for us geeks to seize on!
― dow, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 21:25 (one year ago) link
Seemed to mirror Walt playing cards with the vacuum man. He’s just desperate for some human interaction.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 August 2022 22:41 (one year ago) link
Lot of time spent on the fucking Cinnabon dough mixer in this episode
― calstars, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 00:20 (one year ago) link
lord knows that as I've aged, watching the laundry machines has gained its own appeal. also, returning to the office recently and having absolute bullshit conversations with coworkers about nothing. we're all paying the vacuum man
(insert link to the classic tweet about whether it's worse to have sex with the weed man for weed or the text man to just get texts)
― mh, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 02:42 (one year ago) link
The shot of Saul, the dough machine spinning round and round, and the exit sign pointing away was an all time-shot for this show. Glad they’re still doing visual story telling.
― hrep (H.P), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 04:10 (one year ago) link
I was so happy to hear that Kim is still alive. And also Huell
― paolo, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 07:50 (one year ago) link
thought the Gene/Cinnabon mixer shot was a nice coin flip of the Walt/meth cooking lifestyles.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 10:02 (one year ago) link
Some of the cartel must still be around somewhere---please don't destroy my faith in organizations!
They didn't definitively kill off Lydia
― Led By Honkies (Bananaman Begins), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 10:05 (one year ago) link
her death was confirmed in el camino iirc
― Clay, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 10:43 (one year ago) link
I thought it was the opposite--that you assumed the ricin killed her in BB, but that El Camino created some ambiguity about whether she survived.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 11:37 (one year ago) link
she dead
― Evan, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 11:52 (one year ago) link
I think in El Camino there's a report of a woman 'not expected to survive' or somesuch. Feels like they wanted to keep the option open of using her again, but they might not have used it. I didn't think she was a particularly compelling character tbh by the standards of the BB-verse, so I'm not actively stanning for her to come back
― Led By Honkies (Bananaman Begins), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 13:15 (one year ago) link
I would hope the writers didn't think a "surprise, Lydia isn't dead!" was what the BCS universe needed approaching the finale. I think the freewheeling nature of this back-end of the season has been wonderful. I would love to read an in-depth oral history of the writers' room for this season down the road because they've done a great job of sticking the landing so far.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 20:27 (one year ago) link
what was the purpose of the dog?
― frogbs, Wednesday, August 3, 2022 1:08 AM (yesterday)
I figured the dog was there to sound the alert if anyone else approached or if the mark started stirring from their drugged slumber
― mh, Wednesday, August 3, 2022 1:09 AM (yesterday)
I figured dude just likes to have his dog around, given how mad Gene got about the dog being around
― Vance Vance Devolution (sic), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 20:38 (one year ago) link
the dog sensed Jeff's mom had been watching too many funny cat videos.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 20:44 (one year ago) link
Once again apologies if this is a bit but yeah, Lydia is not coming after gene. And Marion isn’t her long lost sister or whatever
― Wiggum Dorma (wins), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 20:53 (one year ago) link
the stuff with Madrigal seemed like a potential window into a BB spinoff series but yeah it's not coming back now
do feel like with 2 episodes left there are still a couple more curveballs to come. that phone call with Kim seems mighty important for reasons we probably haven't seen yet.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 20:58 (one year ago) link
― Wiggum Dorma (wins), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 21:00 (one year ago) link
Lydia’s orphaned daughter is coming for revenge
― Are U down with the BVM (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 21:04 (one year ago) link
xp I think madrigal is like gus’s past in Pinochet’s chile, the odd glimpse is enough
― Wiggum Dorma (wins), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 21:06 (one year ago) link
a great callback to skyler white at the 4 corners with the aerial shot of gene after his call with francesca
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 21:33 (one year ago) link
these characters trying to escape the grip of walter white, some even after his death