The Better Call Saul (Don't look until you're caught up) Thread

[Hongbit]

Also good call @Motor City Sonics on the flashback scene with Walt & Saul.  

[Shades of Deivi Cruz]

I also loved it, however I don't really understand the coming clean part. At first I thought it was to help Kim, after he was told the widow could come after her. I don't really see how his coming clean helps that situation though.

[John_Brian_K]

Gotta say I was expecting....something else.  I did expect jail or death.  To me it was all about Saul wanting to show he was smarter than everyone else mixed with 3 other things....still had love for Kim and wanted to redeem himself to HER, wanting to be punished for the things he did and EGO, just like Walt.  "Walter White could not have done it without me!" The ego may be all it was...I thought he felt like he deserved to be punished.

Shows he is smarter by getting life +190 years in prison reduced to 7 years, gaming the system to the very end, knowing exactly what he was doing the entire time...only to throw it back in their faces by copping to it all in front of the judge.

I am not sure why Marie was brought in.  That just felt off to me.  She had closure when Walt gave Skylar the coordinates, she knew how it went down, it was 7 years before or so...Saul was a background character in her husbands murder, I really did not like them bringing her back.

The flashback scene...with Chuck...I was confused the whole time because I thought Lenny died...turns out I was wrong, but the whole time I was like this must be a scene from earlier in the year.  Chuck having the book about time travel and that theme running through this episode.  Walt ACTUALLY regretting the life he ended up with and Jimmy just being Jimmy.  The look on Chucks face when Jimmy said "you would do it for me", knowing Chuck would most certainly NOT have done it for him.

Kim, she DID get redemption of sorts.  Her US Bar not expiring.....still not sure if she can practice with the confession, even if they did not prosecute.

The guys on the bus chanting "Better Call Saul" and stomping their feet...kinda cheesy.

I like how they caught him quickly, but that chase scene felt off.

I don't know, I just expected something....... different.  Maybe after a re watch it will come together, but for now I am left a little unsatisfied.  I expected more.  I did not hate it, but I did not love it either.

Still thoroughly enjoyed the show from start to finish though. 

[Edman85]

Poor Jeffy never got bailed out.

[oblong]

Marie and Blanca were there because it's the only time a person who's still alive was there to face justice for the deaths of their husbands.  It was a nice surprise and felt obvious in the context.    Think of the story from a citizens point of view who knows nothing of the people involved.   DEA agents go missing, drug lord goes missing, the bodies of the agents are found, then later on a massacre at the drug compound, you find Walter White dead, others are still missing.  You end up with their lawyer, one of the missing guys, in a courtroom...  you can bet the wives will be there.

Was Jimmy ever able to get some diamonds and the business card back into his band aid box?  When searching the dumpster for the money and diamonds if the cops see that card in the box would they follow up?   If the card is not in the box then they would just probably write it off as garbage.

 

 

[Tigeraholic1]

Great series, sad it had to end. 

[John_Brian_K]

1 hour ago, oblong said:

Marie and Blanca were there because it's the only time a person who's still alive was there to face justice for the deaths of their husbands.  It was a nice surprise and felt obvious in the context.    Think of the story from a citizens point of view who knows nothing of the people involved.   DEA agents go missing, drug lord goes missing, the bodies of the agents are found, then later on a massacre at the drug compound, you find Walter White dead, others are still missing.  You end up with their lawyer, one of the missing guys, in a courtroom...  you can bet the wives will be there.

Was Jimmy ever able to get some diamonds and the business card back into his band aid box?  When searching the dumpster for the money and diamonds if the cops see that card in the box would they follow up?   If the card is not in the box then they would just probably write it off as garbage.

 

 

I dunno it did not compute for me.  Marie knew the dude responsible, he was family.... her sisters husband was the king pin behind it all.

I would imagine the diamonds are lost forever and the can was open so the card probably fell out, even if it did not...not sure how they put that together.  I think he found like 3-4 of them before the lid opened up.  Police probably just thought it was all trash.  Maybe they did search the trash bin though..

[lordstanley]

I liked the bus chanting and feet stomping. Reminded me of “We Want A Hit” in the lower deck in left at my first games at Tiger Stadium in the ‘70s. 

[Motown Bombers]

I kind of feel like the previous episode was the true finale and this was just tying up loose ends. Felt the same way about Breaking Bad.

[Shades of Deivi Cruz]

OK, so the courtroom stuff was not an effort to help Kim, but just to come clean like she did. That makes more sense.

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/better-call-saul-series-finale-explained-creator-interview-1394766/

[Tigeraholic1]

17 minutes ago, Shades of Deivi Cruz said:

OK, so the courtroom stuff was not an effort to help Kim, but just to come clean like she did. That makes more sense.

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/better-call-saul-series-finale-explained-creator-interview-1394766/

Yes, I think Walt's words "So you have always been like this" haunted him. Once he heard Kim came clean he wanted to do the same. Also I think he wanted credit for what Walt created, saying he couldn't have done it with out Jimmy.

[Hongbit]

35 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Yes, I think Walt's words "So you have always been like this" haunted him. Once he heard Kim came clean he wanted to do the same. Also I think he wanted credit for what Walt created, saying he couldn't have done it with out Jimmy.

Walt would’ve strangled Marion in her own kitchen instead of getting caught.  As would Mike, Gus, Lalo, and most of the other criminals on the shows.   Saul/Jimmy was a con man instead of a drug lord.  He wasn’t wired the same as those other guys.  

Edited August 16, 2022 by Hongbit

[oblong]

on the show's podcast today Odenkirk emphasized how in BB you had an explosive ending.  Nazis, machine guns, etc.  On BCS the ending was people talking and just standing there looking at each other.  The suffering was internal.  That is in line with the overall comparisons to the show and he complimented the writers for trusting the actors and the audience to understand that.

 

[MichiganCardinal]

I'm satisfied.

Part of me was disappointed when he came clean, because as the con that led to an offer of seven years was being played out, I wanted to see a 2022 scene shot in color to finish. Where we see a new alias for Jimmy/Saul/Viktor/Gene be born. Leaving the door open in a sense, to Jimmy being out there in some way.

At the same time, upon further reflection, I think this finale offers better closure to the universe. No one wins, and no one should win. I also don't think I would want to see AMC try to re-boot the series in ten years without Gilligan or Gould the way they did Dexter without James Manos Jr.

[lordstanley]

2 hours ago, Shades of Deivi Cruz said:

OK, so the courtroom stuff was not an effort to help Kim, but just to come clean like she did. That makes more sense.

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/better-call-saul-series-finale-explained-creator-interview-1394766/

And until he found out that Kim had already confessed about Howard, he seemed prepared to throw her under the bus. Not to save himself, he had already done that by negotiating it down to 7 years, but for ice cream. Still angry and frustrated by that last call with Kim and thinking she got away with everything, he was about to gratuitously stick it to her. Once he found out that she had come clean, thanks in no small part to his goading of her on that call, he knew what he had to do.  Too late to repair things with Chuck even if he wanted to, too late to apologize to Howard, but not too late to gain back some respect from Kim.  But I believe he would not have done so if she had not shown up to the courtroom to hear him in person.

[Tigeraholic1]

 

 

[MichiganCardinal]

Now that it’s all over, don’t forget to cancel your AMC+ subscriptions before they renew!

What, too soon? 😁

[Motor City Sonics]

I have been a fan of Bod Odenkirk since Mr. Show.   I know he was around before then but Mr. Show is on my Mount Rushmore of Sketch Comedy shows along with Monty Python's Flying Circus, Kids In the Hall and SCTV (and it's Canadian weirdness).   I think his playing multiple characters every week was great training for Better Call Saul.  Just because he played Mr. Show characters for laughs, it doesn't mean he wasn't doing some great acting and a lot of times David Cross got the more bawdy humor and Bob had the harder role of the straight man.    

 

I love how Mr. Show's  "Senator Tankerbell" showed up for Better Call Saul (when he played Huell's pastor).   He played 3 different characters on this show and it's some of the best acting you'll ever see.  Saul was a pretty one-dimensional guy on Breaking Bad and Odenkirk totally changed that.   I don't think he's won an Emmy for this show yet and that's a shame. 

[Motor City Sonics]

I don't know if anyone noticed in episode 6 x 12 but when Kim was at the backyard party the song in the background was Escape (The Pina Colada Song) and it's the second time in the series that song has been referenced. 

Does anyone remember the first? 

[Motor City Sonics]

Congratulations on earning your law degree Jimmy McGill

 

[John_Brian_K]

13 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I don't know if anyone noticed in episode 6 x 12 but when Kim was at the backyard party the song in the background was Escape (The Pina Colada Song) and it's the second time in the series that song has been referenced. 

Does anyone remember the first? 

Without looking it up I would guess one of Walts backyard parties, but that does not sound right.

[Hongbit]

13 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I have been a fan of Bod Odenkirk since Mr. Show.   I know he was around before then but Mr. Show is on my Mount Rushmore of Sketch Comedy shows along with Monty Python's Flying Circus, Kids In the Hall and SCTV (and it's Canadian weirdness).   I think his playing multiple characters every week was great training for Better Call Saul.  Just because he played Mr. Show characters for laughs, it doesn't mean he wasn't doing some great acting and a lot of times David Cross got the more bawdy humor and Bob had the harder role of the straight man.    

 

I love how Mr. Show's  "Senator Tankerbell" showed up for Better Call Saul (when he played Huell's pastor).   He played 3 different characters on this show and it's some of the best acting you'll ever see.  Saul was a pretty one-dimensional guy on Breaking Bad and Odenkirk totally changed that.   I don't think he's won an Emmy for this show yet and that's a shame. 

The Emmys are owned by a subsidiary of GloboChem.  

[Motor City Sonics]

22 hours ago, Hongbit said:

The Emmys are owned by a subsidiary of GloboChem.  

Take it from me..........I love you.

 

 

(you need to be a fan of Mr. Show to have any idea what this is). 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Motor City Sonics

[Motor City Sonics]

22 hours ago, John_Brian_K said:

Without looking it up I would guess one of Walts backyard parties, but that does not sound right.

Nope.    Went Jimmy (pre Saul) is shooting a commercial with his rag tag bunch at an Elementary School, the Principal comes out and asks what he's doing (because he did not have permission).  He comes up with the story that they are making a documentary about Rupert Holmes (The Pina Colada Song guy) and he went to school here as a kid and Jimmy's own makeup girl says "I thought Rupert Holmes was English" and he talks his way out of that one too.  

 

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Motor City Sonics

[Motor City Sonics]

It's incredible that they based intricate story arcs with great characters based on "Did Lalo send you, it wasn't me, it was Ignacio, he's the one".  At the time, it's just a throwaway line to let you know Jimmy is involved in some really bad shit and they made two incredible characters out of that and fit those puzzle pieces so perfectly into the whole story.   I wonder how long it took them to put so much together from one line. 

Another thing that is totally fascinating is that Gus and MIke were never supposed to happen.   Tuco and Uncle Hector were supposed to be the villains through the 3 season run of the show that the producers were hoping they'd get, but Raymond Cruz (Tuco) got tired of playing Tuco, it reminded him too much of a murder he witnessed as a kid and he wanted to portray Mexicans in a more positive light, so he asked out of the show and they needed a villain and they came up with the total opposite of Tuco in Gus.   

Mike happened because the scene where Jane is dead (the morning after Walt could have saved her) was supposed to be Saul coming to the house to clean up.   Odenkirk was shooting something else and was not available (Saul himself was only supposed to be in a couple episodes but Odenkirk killed it so much they made him a main character).   They had to have someone else shoot the scenes, so they came up with the idea of one of Saul's PIs.   They did a casting call and Jonathan Banks was the first or second guy to read for it.   When he finished reading they canceled the rest and hired him on the spot - he just nailed it and he too was only supposed to be in that one episode, but he was so fascinating and good they made him a main character.   

 

Breaking Bad was supposed to be only 3 seasons and I think something like 30 episodes, and it wasn't doing great on AMC and then Netflix got it and it took off.   All of these things happened on the fly and then to come up with a prequel series after all that, and fitting those puzzle pieces together and creating tension when you know the fates of almost everyone.     I'm in awe of these guys. 

 

I need to find the article but someone posted on You Tube that if you start watching Better Call Saul, you can fit episodes of Breaking Bad into BCS simultaneously and you get the whole story in chronological order (like The Godfather Saga).  I'll have to try that.  

Edited August 18, 2022 by Motor City Sonics