Better Call Saul

I might watch that BB ep just for some nostalgia

it's one of the best episodes of the series, iirc

pretty cool that this one is named “breaking bad”

That is great symmetry--I'd forgotten about the BCS episode title.

Season 2, Episode 8: did not recall that it took Walt & Jessie so long to meet The Chicken Man!

the chicken man doesn't show up for a couple more episodes, and mike doesn't show up until the season 2 finale

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/

I think Gene going hard at cancer guy is subconscious revenge against Walt for blowing up his life.

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)

also now this henchman in his present going against---nip it in the bud!

Excellent theory, WmC.

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..

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

This ep ruled imo, fully in bcs>bb camp but I honestly can’t believe how good this final stretch has been

If 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

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.

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

Stupid tunnel vision due to his grudges. Which, ironically, was how Walt did shit all the time

Makes this episode's title beyond perfect.

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.

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---

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.

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

leg exerciser, though

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.

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

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??

(starting to see Exerciser Gene as My Pillow Guy inspiration)

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

xp - Maybe the $30k was for Francesca to ship him the old one since it wasn't seized in the raid.

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!

Seemed to mirror Walt playing cards with the vacuum man. He’s just desperate for some human interaction.

Lot of time spent on the fucking Cinnabon dough mixer in this episode

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)

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.

I was so happy to hear that Kim is still alive. And also Huell

thought the Gene/Cinnabon mixer shot was a nice coin flip of the Walt/meth cooking lifestyles.

Some of the cartel must still be around somewhere---please don't destroy my faith in organizations!

They didn't definitively kill off Lydia

her death was confirmed in el camino iirc

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.

she dead

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

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.

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

the dog sensed Jeff's mom had been watching too many funny cat videos.

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

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.

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.

Lydia’s orphaned daughter is coming for revenge

xp I think madrigal is like gus’s past in Pinochet’s chile, the odd glimpse is enough

a great callback to skyler white at the 4 corners with the aerial shot of gene after his call with francesca

these characters trying to escape the grip of walter white, some even after his death

To be clear, I don't think Lydia (who I loved) is suddenly making an appearance, but I do think El Camino planted some doubt about her death. (I've watched it twice, and don't plan on revisiting it again.)