Lurker > SovietOmega

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Deca-Dence finished

Really loved it from beginning to end, one slight complaint in the final episode but it's not a super big deal. Extremely fun and enjoyable.

Just finished the show. Got a bit cliche at the end, and it frantically wound things up super quick-like, but all in all a reasonable experience. Not a bad watch for an original anime.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Alright, season finale time. Now is the time for me to be current so that I might wait a year or so and suffer like everyone else waiting for the next season.

After that lovely little visit, Saul's much more forthcoming about the true nature of the events to Kim.

Lalo makes it to the entrance to a dnd dungeon, and inside are a lot of Mexican people who treat him like a hero. With Gus' talk of assassination, I think a lot of these people might not make it to the end.

Saul puts on an act about wanting to take a day off and get pampered with Kim. Kim rightfully sees through to his true motivations that Lalo could do a lot with just a phone call, and also tears down the argument asking about the next day/week. Can't stay afraid of Lalo forever!

"It's gonna be fine, I'll see you later" RIP Kim

At the courthouse, Kim literally goes shopping for felonies. So very many backed up cases.

Nacho is the man on the inside...gets a call to open a gate at 3am. He's understandably concerned about how many people will get hurt.

Howard and Kim have a chat. Her laugh after she asks "And that's it?" is magical. Even now Howard is concerned, continually seeking to help reality penetrate to Saul's state of being. I genuinely wish he could have been successful, but that ship sailed long ago.

Nacho, meanwhile, gets to meet with everyone's favorite Don, who looks favorably upon Nacho's ambitions. Don Eladio even gets a fancy new car. Nice and red and smooth. Wish I was a druglord so I could have a car like that, but then I'd probably end up poisoned years later in an act of exceptionally well planned revenge.

This episode is slowly building up to Nacho's big decision, but while we patiently wait to get there, Saul and Kim talk a while about how to torment Howard. Poor guy :(

"best in the business" my ass. Can't even handle one little Mexican John McClane. Very fun scene to watch, and Lalo deserves better than just a routine assassination. Probably gonna have to be Nacho that ends him. Maybe both at the same time.

Even Saul has some slight hint of a limit to his underhanded tactics. Howard, even in Saul's eyes, is not worthy of being disbarred. But Kim seems to really kinda sorta want to do it. Season 6 is gonna be full of sadness ;_;

Episode ends with a quite pissed off Lalo...I feel for whoever is on the receiving end of his wrath. Which is definitely going to be at least Nacho because Lalo has an eye for detail and did not see Nacho among the living or dead.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Bad Choice Road....I am guess there will be a road in which a choice was made that was not good. It might even be Saul's pet name for the road out to the desert he was on. Or maybe it will just be a symbolic name. Let's find out!

Doing the splitscreen thing again. Less impactful this time around, but no less amusing. Particularly when Kim goes to grab a drink of water. Only for it to instantly stop the second Saul gets a phone signal. Nice.

Back in civilization, Lalo casually congratulates Saul on his wife being hot.

Hah, Saul so fixated on the money to show Kim it was worth it, he forgets that the cup keepsake is close by and also proof that more happened out there than he told Kim. Or to put it another way, it puts a bullet hole in his story :p

Here Mike is informing Gus about fear and motivation. Now where have I heard something similar....

Did Kim just...quit? Sure seems like she just skedaddled from S&C.

Mike's talk about how Saul one day will have the capacity to forget once he realizes he hasn't thought about this trauma in a while, it reminds me of when Mike was attending those group therapy meetings and one person was on a sob story about how they woke up one day and realized they hadn't thought about a person close to them. For them, it was a tragedy, butt for Saul, it would be salvation.

Pretty interesting though, that Saul and Mike have this shared connection with this experience in the desert. You knew they had a working relationship in Breaking Bad, but this definitely pulls them together a bit closer than they've generally been here in Better Call Saul.

It is both amazing, and slightly annoying, that all the baddies are smart enough to pick up on the smallest of details. Here Lalo is, ready to be picked up by the cousins, when he's all 'wait a minute, lawyer guy mentioned his car broke down' and goes looking for it. Slightly absurd, yet still plausible enough given we know Lalo is clever.

He's also some kind of superhero as he just casually leaps down onto the car without worrying about pesky things like physics. He spies one bullet hole, so probably knows exactly how many people were after the money and what their heights and weighs are.

Ah, so 'Bad Choice Road' is Saul mangling Mike's wisdom, using it to explain how he feels about Kim doing what she did. He's so good at seeing other people's problems, not so much his own.

Lalo shows up...Mike's in a hurry, presumably to get there before something unforgivable happens.

...and it hits me that the next episode is literally called 'Something Unforgivable'. Step on the gas, Mike!

Oh, ok, whew. Lalo just wants to hear the story about how his lawyer bravely survived the desert to free him. Sure had me worried for a bit there! What a cool guy this Lalo is, but man that ambient background music sure is ominous...

I don't like how very close Kim is to Mike's line of sight.

Yet...Lalo backs away. Gets in a car. Leaves. Just like that. Quite a lot of tension there for not a lot of resolution, gonna leave me with blue balls for everything to wrap up next episode eh?


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Lalo laughing over the arson he caused. "You wouldn't get it" he tells Saul, and he's right. Amazing the influence he can still have even behind bars, though if this pickup he's telling Saul about happens he'll soon be a free man.

Everything was going like clockwork, thought Saul might have gotten off easy, but then a gang of dudes showed up. Was about to end him too, when a whole mess of shooting started up. Scene has some clear resonance with the one in Breaking Bad out where Walt's money was.

It was Mike...should have known.

The car breaks down...should have known.

Now they gotta get back the long way and dodge those people and also survive on minimal gear. Was not expecting this to escalate like this!

In one of the cruelest ironies, we see the mylar blanket being used for its intended purpose, and Saul refuses one because of Chuck.

"I wouldn't waste that" Saul is scum, but no scum should have to do what this show implies he had to.

And the episode ends with them still out there. Saul's plan succeeded and failed. No easy ride back, no water from the vehicle's stores. The only gain is that the guy is not tailing them any more. They're still in quite the pickle.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Waluigi1 posted...

I hate watching this topic pop off. Makes me wanna watch BCS so I can be included lol.

If it makes you feel any better, I've only got a few episodes left to go. BCS has been a worthy watch though. A little slow to kick off, but if you like the characters it involves, the pacing is no issue at all. By the time it started annoying me some, the show decided to kick things up a notch and have other characters I loved thrown into the mix.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Huell is always a joy to see in either show. Offers to acquire rings for Saul and Kim in his special way. I still can't believe this is suddenly happening. Even with BB in mind, everything in this show was pointing to a falling out. I guess I could rationalize it as they both fell out...together.

I actually really enjoy the show doing a marriage like this. First time I've seen a show do a cut and dry purely legal kind of marriage with zero fanfare of any sort.

Oooh, Saul's new client is Lalo. This'll be good...how do you get a man like that free without resorting to the shadiest of tactics? You don't. You call Saul, and he will do it for you is how.

Kim keeps trying to split from Mesa Verde, and Kevin keeps keeping her.

Lalo is ever the keen eye'd one, instantly noticing the JMM and seeing right through Saul's 'justice matters most' explanation. Or maybe not, but he does suggest an alternative. 'just make money'.

Saul seems to think bail is impossible. Mike seems to think Saul is the guy to do it. All of this is for Gus, who has somewhere along the way become the main character. Just this episode, Saul gets married, but all we care about is how Lalo in prison affects Gus' coalescing empire and what he and Mike and Nacho are going to do about it.

Did not see Gus actually burning down one of his restaurants. I can't remember, but there probably was some mention of this on Breaking Bad. Nacho is all 'HULK SMASH' while Gus is all 'this goes here and that goes there, and I have now weaponized a frozen chicken'.

Seven million. "I can do that" but Saul has to pick it up. It is this moment, Saul learns the true meaning of what it means to break bad.

Howard shows up here at the end. No dummy, him. I feel like this could be the last we see of him. He's pretty much put Saul in the rear view mirror after Saul proudly proclaims how godly he is, lightning from his fingers etc. I can see why the show gravitates towards Gus a lot, because Saul proves that he's considerably lacking in a number of areas. Not that Gus lacks flaws, but he has the decency to be rich and able to hide behind layers of bodyguards and careful meticulous planning, saying only what needs to be said, nothing more.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Oh, I completely spaced on that. Whoops. I have trouble making things out in dark scenes.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Kaylee choosing to walk with a cello on her back. I'd have at least put that in the car. "You never listen to me!" Pretty sure just one beer would not turn you into a teenager all of a sudden. Poor Kaylee...she needs Mike to be around at times like these, but he's off vacationing in Mexico!

Saul being a bit behind the times on green screen technology. Early 2000's is about as late as I'd probably believe someone to be able to be ignorant about how the color green works on camera. More Saul making commercials is a good thing though, he's definitely got an interesting way to go about directing.

Love how Saul's stance is that because Rich might not be able to legally prove something, it is thus not even a problem worth thinking about. At the very least there'd be suspicions and damaged reputations, things that can exist outside a courtroom and still have an impact, unless you are Saul and already wallowing chest deep in the mud. From his view, no bar is too low.

Nacho and Mike, tag teaming up and gonna be taking out Lalo maybe. Sounds like fun!

"My granddaughter's gonna love these" - Mike talking about books, the things that people used to read a lot of before the internet took off. Granted, this is also pre-kindle times, so I guess I can cut it some slack. He might also know his granddaughter better than me, but I know when I was here age, though I loved to read, I'd not care for old books like that. Give her some animorphs and some Encyclopedia Brown!

Saul really does seem to enjoy messing with Howard, even sics some hookers his direction.

"My bank...was funding terrorism" Bwahahaha...and I love how they can't realistically get Saul to stop these commercials from playing in this room, because we needed to see them so very badly. Pure gold.

Saul continues with some copyright infringement nonsense, that's the detail that Kim saw. Her "Kevin, say nothing" was adorable.

Ok, so that didn't go how I thought with the issue being settled, but Saul technically got his victory. And it does seem like the episode title was all about the drama between Kim and Saul, not any fun court nonsense.

Until Kim says right at the very end "Maybe we get married". What is even this show right now XD


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Dedicado A Max. I have no idea what to expect with a title like that.

Somewhere in Mexico....that's about all I can narrow down Mike's location. Until he sees a sign saying 'Autopista 4 km'. I guess that solves that little mystery! Until I look that up and discover that is the Spanish word for 'highway' so this really could be anywhere down there. Doctor guy being here's a nice bonus, so wherever this is, Mike is in good hands. I feel confidant that he will pull through no matter what.

Messing with the address numbers, beautiful. And golly, there sure aren't any other houses around to contest their claim. Actually, thinking about it, this is basically Saul's trademark technique. Just ask Chuck.

Oh, this place is dedicated to Max. I keep forgetting that was the name of the other chicken brother. Which means this would be a place Gus set up so that others with cartel problems might escape some of the pain he had to go through. Now the fun part will be, how much of this will the episode outright state?

Amusingly goofy scene with Kim being Kevin and Saul being Kim. I guess I'm glad she's stuck around, else we'd not have gotten this scene.

The fun continues with some planted pottery pieces put in place by plucky persons protesting profiting plutocrats.

Even harvesting radioactive material from fire detectors! Only to be topped moments later by Saul spraying a savior onto a fence to attract religious folk.

Kevin's got a prime chance to switch to the alternative location with negligible financial damage, just a small ego blow. Which does not sit right with Kevin.

But as for Kevin's moral fiber...that's not sitting right with Saul. It's apparently too pure. Not much of anything useful. But Eagle Eye Kim finds something in those photographs.

You can tell Gus is a bad guy because when asked a simple question like "What are we doing" Gus gives as dramatic an answer as possible. Mike is at a crossroads. Gus is in a war. Uh-huh.

But Gus sees common ground in Mike along the axis of revenge. Two peas in a pod they are there. And so they shall remain until a high school teacher enters their lives and murders them all.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Little weird for Saul and Howard to meet at this point in the timeline, here when Jimmy is now fully embracing Saul Goodman. Howard was from the before time, but here he is in this new era that has more of a Breaking Bad feel.

Brings up a fun point though...just what differentiates Saul Goodman from Jimmy McGill? Saul pitches Saul Goodman to Howard as if he were a superhero. Howard thinks he understands, but we know just how little he knows. If he did know, he'd probably not be offering anything positive to Saul. It certainly adds to the enormous pile of futures that could have been, though.

Quite the license that Howard's got too. Namast3. He really did go through quite the guilt trip, didn't he? He seems to have grown stronger for it, but even still, that's still gotta sting Saul.

Kiiiiiiim, stop fighting this! First she cleans up her bottle mess, and then she tries to help that stubborn guy with a wildly different proposal for branch location pitched to Kevin and Paige. You know, future knowledge here, but in a couple episodes we get 'Wexler v Goodman' which makes me wonder about her going so far as to have Saul represent Acker and her represent Mesa Verde and intentionally, but convincingly, throw in the towel.

Hah, some prime chicanery with Saul going 'that's not my client, THIS is my client' who is sitting in the back of the court. Now that Saul has embraced the sleaze, we get to see him have more court fun, which was always sorely lacking before.

Hank and Gomez having one of the most interesting conversations about culverts I've ever heard. It gets me curious to look the etymology of the word up. Turns out, nobody knows where the word comes from.

Was nice to see this operation play out, pure icing on the cake we already knew, but still welcome. I'm curious what Gus will say to the lead kid cleaning that fryer in perpetuity. My money is something along the lines of 'there was never an issue and this was a test'. As the end comes, we see that not even Gus is immune from everyone's deep seeded hatred against phones, crunching a perfectly good one in his hands. Sadly, he just goes classic Gus and says the dude can go home, the cleaning is 'acceptable'.

Bwahaha...Kim and Saul really are going to do the plan I thought they might. All it took was a little bit of bestiality.

Afterward, Saul decides to fuck up Howard's car with bowling balls. Why? o_O

Then Mike goes and lets himself get beat up. Could have gotten himself killed! Wakes up in a strange place. At least this kind of motivation I can kind of understand.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

It is interesting how the random nature lets loops form, as well as some areas having alternate path options like the room with jolly rodger bay/aquarium or tick tock clock/rainbow ride. There also seems to be a general preference for starting higher in a level, as it is much easier to fall down to a star than climb up to one.

Can't say it's ever anything I'd do for fun, but I can see the appeal as it introduces a ton of extra considerations that are not present in the base game, particularly when one is racing a clock.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

RIP ice cream cone. Of all the ways this episode could have opened, that was not one of the ones I'd have imagined! So very many ants going after that cone XD

Pretty jammin' tune Nacho's got playing on Saul's ride to wherever.

'Wherever' being Lalo. Been some time since the two sides of the coin that is Better Call Saul collided with each other.

Nacho's dad gets to see his pad. I still find it amusing that all the time we see Nacho, this is the place he gets to return to and call home. During this conversation with his dad, I realize that I've always kind of taken the subtitles for granted. Some people might find them a bit annoying, but I'm so used to watching anime subs that I've never even batted an eye at them.

Oh dear, Kim's expected day of nothing but elite boner clients is being ruined by Mesa Verde. Oh the trials poor Kim must bear. I'm sorry, I just have no sympathy for her situation. She's got a good thing going and should be happy she has what she does. I get that it isn't what her heart wants, but that just puts her in the same situation that most humans are locked into...what makes her any more special?

HANK!

HANK HANK HANK HANK HANK!

Here! On Better Call Saul! Hank!

*ahem* Some bald guy and his doofus partner walk in and speak to Domingo. Said Domingo almost spills some beans but for a timely arrival of one Saul Goodman. Considering what I remember of Breaking Bad and Hank talking about the time he busted some half-million operation, that seems like this will be that and Saul's got some work cut out for him.

Especially since Domingo does not seem to be playing by the script. Which is, because this is just the kind of thing Vince would do, probably all part of the script. I get the feeling that Hank's victory here is gonna be manufactured in a way that Gus would be proud of.

Kim's got some tough selling to do to this Acker fellow. But then her job was not to sell, but to end, according to Mesa Verde. Good job Kim, I think?

Not for her it isn't, as she returns and goes the extra mile. Some people are beyond reasoning with, unfortunately.

Other people annoy the heck out their neighbors by tossing beer bottles from their balconies.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

What a bunch of goobers these "50% off!" yelling dudes are. Is there any way these aren't Saul's premier clients?

Nacho's getting roped into Gus' plot. Gus has zero issues with threatening this guy's family and friends. We knew this already, but it is good seeing this here. It is interesting how more hands-on Gus seems in this series, but that might be just a byproduct of having more scenes surrounding him than what we saw in Breaking Bad.

I think the most unrealistic thing on this show is quickly becoming Kim sticking around. After the end of last season, I thought for sure she's exit out of the picture, and while she's faded away from him a bit, she's still showing herself willing to indulge in his flights of fancy and it's mildly sickening given her career prospects.

While it is cool watching Saul transition, funnily enough the meat of this show increasingly feels like it is Gus/Lalo's beef. Saul being sidelined in his own show would, admittedly, be in character. I could watch Lalo muse about what Gus is planning all day...he'll get there eventually, and for some reason we'll never see him again when he does.

Oof...casual chat with Kaylee sets Mike off. The 7's via touchdowns was a cute touch, but then they had to go and talk about her dad. Been a little while since that can of worms was ripped open.

Excellent comedic timing with the cops and the drain pipe.

I thought Lalo getting to that TravelWire guy was impressive, but little did I know that our good pal Nacho was secretly Batman this whole time.

Fun little jaunt into a section of Saul's day, a contrast to the start of the series where Bill was like a final boss with multiple forms, now he's just a small bump on Saul's journey as Saul makes the courthouse dance to his beat.

A wild Suzanne appears to become the new Bill perhaps. Howard even approaches Saul, possibly seeking to consider Saul as a lawyer buddy, but we know how and why Saul is doing what he is doing, I doubt there's much chance Howard gets any result he's looking for. Maybe Vince can make a spinoff series staring Howard in the 90's.

Ah...Krazy-8...he's been around before in other seasons, but it's been a looooong time since he was relevant in Breaking Bad I didn't make the connection. But here's the origin of his name at least with the card game and Lalo.

...oh that's rich. Saul got him and Suzanne trapped in an elevator to get that work done. That's scumtastic, but also brilliant.

Nacho drives up beside Saul out of the blue, likely wanting help with the Domingo situation. In the worst crime committed across both series, Saul loses his ice cream cone. Who knew Nacho was so brutal?

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

And now I get to be within the same year as everyone else regarding BB/BCS. Unfortunately, that year had to be 2020, but maybe this show will be a silver lining, eh?

Future Saul got made by some punk dude named Jeff. First instinct is to run away again. Something changes his mind. Perhaps we will discover the details next season! That was quite a chunk of episode taken for not a lot given.

The real episode picks up riiiiiight where it left off, with Saul getting his forms filled. It certainly makes a lot of sense that the clientele he has in the BB era stems from his little phone business he had the year he was banned from law.

Cute drug system these guys got...a punk kid watcher out front who takes the money, and sending the drugs down the drain pipe. Seems to be some issue with purity though, someone's gonna get in trouble with Lalo~.

"Justice.....mmm...Matters Most" Did he ever say that in Breaking Bad? I feel like he might have, or at the very least had it be a visible detail.

I love how completely oblivious Saul is to Kim's objections.

Gus, however, is the opposite of oblivious, meticulously crafting a story for Lalo

'The Magic Man' as Saul says Huell calls him. Solid montage of him forming his client base. Quite the eclectic bunch that shows up, supposedly just to get phones. All this 50% off...already explaining the next episode's title too, this season is off to a roaring start. I get the feeling that this many people this fast is gonna lead to some major burnout on Saul's end. How is one guy possibly gonna handle so much volume?

And with the Germans rubbing some salt into Mike's wound of killing Werner, he's gonna have to live with the volume of what he's done. But grumble though he might, there's not a whole lot he can do now that he's been roped in by Gus.

Kim's sort of in a similar boat. She's trying to do the honest thing, but as long as she's in Saul's orbit, there's gonna be less-than-legal antics afoot.

Really nice start!

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

skullbone posted...

For what it's worth I was pretty fooled by his speech about Chuck! I think most people were so kudos to you for seeing through it.

If it were true, Breaking Bad would have been quite a different show. Although paradoxically BCS's shown us that in the future future, he does manage to turn a new leaf in some small capacity.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

skullbone posted...

Since you haven't brought it up yet, worth reminding that the desert scene in Breaking Bad mentions two characters by name, Ignacio and Lalo.

"It wasn't me, it was Ignacio!"
...
"Lalo didn't send you?"
...
"Oh thank god"

Ah, I didn't remember Lalo being named there.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

The winner takes it all...and Chuck steals the spotlight from Saul at that karaoke. Rumor has it that he is dead now. Still manages to get a surprising amount of screen time.

Watermelon pickles...Saul has no shame, pretending to say some words to his brother. The aim seems quite clear given last episode's events. Anything to get his law license back.

Mike's got his work cut out for him, and he's on a ticking clock before the wife gets stateside. Luckily, he's Mike, so this should be a piece of cake.

Ahahah...ol' Saul's pitches the 'save judge from a fire' idea, suspiciously similar to the one he made for Huell. At least he has the sense to realize it wouldn't likely accomplish his goal.

Mike's being followed by Lalo...idk who to root for here! Well, ok, I do, it's Mike, but Lalo should be allowed some moments to shine, he's got a bright future ahead of him for maybe the remainder of this episode and a season or two. Alas, Mike knows how to use a stick of gum. Maybe next time, Lalo!

This whole speech Saul gives to this high school girl who had a small mistake on her record would come off as a bit crazy if we didn't have many seasons building up the Saul character before our eyes. Poor girl must think he's half crazy come out there and telling her to screw those lawyers and to cut corners and such. He's very clearly talking about himself, but to her credit, the schoolgirl takes it in stride.

Ok...Lalo can stay. He'd be aces at a sneaking mission, all he would need is a cardboard box. That poor TravelWire guy's having quite the day. Perhaps even his last. This whole cat and mouse thing Mike and Lalo have going on is just what this show needed to spice things up a notch, as befitting of a season finale.

Amusingly, this episode's theme of 'people who fucked up once are never forgiven' plays out in real time with Werner. Be they legal criminals like HHM or illegal criminals like Fring, mistakes are frowned deeply upon.

I think the saddest thing is that this dude's last words to his wife are said in anger, and not even actual anger like she will believe, but fake anger to save her life, probably channeling real anger at the situation.

"There are so many stars visible in New Mexico, I will walk out there to get a better look." The very end there...exquisitely shot. Genuinely feel a little sad for this guy, but it was destined to be.

I love Saul's capacity to manipulate. Tells them he was gonna manipulate their heartstrings through the letter. Says that's wrong. Instead, manipulates their heartstrings around the letter. If it were anyone else I'd be moved, but the show gave us 4 seasons of this guy, who just this episode was pretending to mourn at his brother's grave. Those appeal judges never stood a chance.

I'm a little saddened the show felt the need to supplement this afterward with Saul gloating. It generally respects the audience's intelligence. (edit: that said, Kim did go through some facial contortions so this was less for us and more for her benefit, undoubtedly this is the straw that will break the camel's back)

Still worth for the lady coming up to Saul saying there's good news and Saul mentioned offhand that he's not gonna be practicing under the name McGill anymore. turns and fingerpoints " 's all good, man!"

Pretty much nailed that ending. Would be fine if this was the show's end. Well, except for some loose ends with how Nacho and Lalo ultimately end up, but aside from Kim still being around, Saul's arc was tied up quite well here

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

This episode opens with Kim doing probably not very nice things to Mesa Verde. Saul is there too.

Frankly, one of the most unrealistic things in either show has got to be how much 'character' the entire Salamanca family seems to have. Several generations of it seem to be carefully constructed to be engagingly adversarial in varying ways. I'm cool with it, but how much more of their brood is gonna make it up to Albuquerque before the end? Wonder what it was like in the writer's room "Welp, we've about finished with Hector. but now Nacho has nothing exciting to do...aha! I've got it, another Salamanca will suddenly show up! A new one, one we can kill! It will be great!" And it will be great, because great is all Vince knows how to be.

Somehow I knew the souvenir was gonna be that bell, it just made too much sense. Lalo's already proving himself to be a worthy addition to the Salamanca roster.

Something wrong with one of the charges in the secret underground space. That's not good...someone's gonna die.

Or would, if this were any other show. No, the blast goes off without any major disruption. Admittedly, with Gus, death is never off the table...especially with how secret he wants the place to be, but for now, these Germans are spared.

Saul's being classic Saul in this court meeting. We can easily infer that those letters are probably fake, the 'silver circle' doesn't exist, and Saul likely glanced at one case in the law journal to be able to pretend like he's cared to keep up. Then at the very end he's fielded a question from a bespectacled lass that he wasn't quite prepared for....what does the law mean to him? Such an open ended question shouldn't be hard for Saul to worm his way through though. Of note is what isn't said. No mention of his brother, even with the question of potential influences is raised.

And...they planned to deny him. A question of sincerity. They're definitely right. Somewhere down below, Chuck is laughing.

Somber music with Werner...don't tell me he's gonna do something dumb like off himself. Like, ok, he's away on a job for what, not even a year yet? Compared to the time he's been married, it's really not much at all!

Kim putting the 'Again' on the mug...nice. Their relationship's had ups and downs but we know she still cares about Saul, events just conspire to have them drift apart a lot. She meets with him and pretty quickly clues in on the absence of Chuck mentions, undoubtedly playing a role in Saul's denial.

...and boy are we heading for a big 'down' in their relationship, perhaps maximally down. Speaking of down, I love the closing shot with the camera looking down on the top of this parking garage. It's lovingly placed in the lower center of the screen and Saul's so tiny, just standing there with some nice buildings taking up the rest of the screen space. Doesn't feel like it has any particular deeper meaning behind it, it's just a fun shot and I like it.

Hah, Werner misses his wife so much that he ran away. True to his word, he left detailed instructions, but using his electronic measurer, he caused voltage spikes in the security cameras. It still seems a bit silly to me, but now that he's done this, he's probably never seeing his wife again once caught.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Saul's on a bus. Why is he on a bus? Find out, soon! Definitely up to some old tricks if nothing else.

The German boys get a night out looking at girls, but a more traditional bar is more Mike and the head German's speed. Have a little chat about family they do, specifically their fathers. Supposedly this German's father built the Sydney Opera House. One of those details that would be super easy to fact check for accuracy but that's so minor a point I don't care to.

Back at the strip club, guess who is causing some trouble?

Wait a minute...just hit me as Kim popped onscreen to a fun little tune...that she bought a lot of pens and stationary at the end of last episode, which Saul used on that bus. That was all part of her plan? Has the student become the master? Combine this with a lawyer meeting with the opposition and there's clearly a larger game being set in motion...part of the fun is trying to figure this out on my own. There's likely enough clues being teased, but I can't quite make the connection yet.

I like how even factoring in the rowdy German kid, it is the old one who potentially was the most threat to the operation with his casual bar talk of architecture. He's smart enough to see the error of his ways though, so Mike is able to let him go with a very stern warning.

Bwahaha...love that lawyer honesty. When asked if Kim started the ball rolling, which she truthfully did, she instead replies that she did not instruct those citizens to write and send in letters.

Pretty elegant plan actually...fluster the judge to make working out a deal more appealing. The case is also nowhere near high profile enough to bring in solutions, like handwriting experts, that would see through this act. Even phone numbers XD

Even a website, ok, this is great. The spread of phones that Saul and friends have to select from is similarly a lovely addition to this ruse. You'd need to be an improv genius to sell that many voices, any wrong move and the prosecutor lady would be on them instantly.

But it works, and just like that Kim gets the deal she desired. Even gets a bit romantic with Saul. Followed thereafter by disinterest in a Mesa Verde meeting. The path she's on seems to be a little shaky...there's a lot of success, but she feels almost on the verge of chucking it away by tempting fate. Really, I'd be less concerned if I didn't know that she doesn't appear in Breaking Bad, so something drastic has to happen in the near future, and most of the ways a prequel character fails to appear in a main series are not particularly good ends.

Hah...new Salamanca guy in Nacho's shady restaurant place. Cooks Nacho a meal, says it's so good Nacho will die. Guy's got a lot of charisma, but Nacho is having none of it. This new dynamic has some potential, but I wager Nacho will cut it short if he gets the chance.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

If the first 10 minutes of this episode are anything less than amazing, I am holding you personally responsible SeabassDebeste!

Well, certainly off to an interesting start. I imagine more than a few people went crosseyed trying to follow everything at once. Lots of time passing and lots of mundane daily routine. I like that we get a firm date on screen letting us know that a lot of this season is in 2003 timewise, and now we're on to 2004. I'm also realizing that with this phone gig Saul's running 'Better Call Saul' makes way too much sense as his catchphrase of choice.

Then we go first person mode after the intro. Surprise, it was actually Huell-o-vision! And we exit it around 7:30 into the episode, so clearly, some exaggeration of how much of this episode was a treat has taken place. This smells like a lawsuit to me!

Or perhaps you would have me believe that a horny old man knocking over water for a nurse to bend over and clean up constitutes excitement? Well, yeah, you're right...we get to see Hector nearing his final form. All that's missing is the bell. But this still leaves 30 seconds unaccounted for in your supposed 10 minutes. I'm calling my lawyer.

Solid progress on the underground lab-to-be. It's starting to have some recognizable structure to it, like the top walkway and stairs. Then one of them did an oopsie and prolonged their stay. Tensions are running a little high, but we know it won't take them more than 5 years to sort things out.

Back on Saul's side...he's busy selling phones when a cop comes to rattle him some. Who gets decked by Huell thanks to a convenient combination of earphones and plainclothes.

German guy explains to Mike how these Germans were expecting to be here 8 months and aren't halfway done, that you can't keep people locked away forever. Little did this German guy know that 2020 was just 16 years away.

Looks like if everything is played by the book, Huell's gonna have a small bit of jail time. Saul seems to have other plans. "You do your thing, I'll do mine."

Then Kim decides to go buy a bunch of pens and notepads and whatnot. Just shoves them all in a cart. Idk Kim, I don't think that's gonna be sufficient to bribe a judge!


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

While it is a little lacking in overarching structure, BCS is filled with a lot of great individual moments. I've also grown more fond of all the lingering shots than I expected. One could argue that they waste time, but I feel they often set a nice mood and bring a touch of realism which helps contrast absurd events.

As Piata opens, Saul is in the mail room. I see BCS's first scenes have given up all pretenses of adhering to linear time, opting instead for narrative time.

Saul's notepad with the hypothetical lawyer names and logos that Kim finds is adorable. Always banking law for her, and Saul always lists her first.

Unfortunately, Kim's pushing forward with her life and strongly considering building the banking division at Schwariokart. It would let her offload boring bank work and let her help people, a thing she finds she likes doing. Naturally, this also lets her gracefully exit the scene freeing Saul to further develop as we know he will.

HHM's seen some better days, as Saul's trek over there shows. I feel for Howard in ways I never expected I would.

...$4000 worth of phones. Never would I have guessed that the obscene number of phones we saw him have in Breaking Bad was a downgrade. But man, I wanted him to get phones...and boy did he deliver.

Moments like this Gus hospital speech to Hector are what keep me coming back. Such juicy Gus lore!

And the whole situation with these Germans and their living space is quite interesting too. Definitely looks like an expensive setup.

"You get one warning, and that was it!" Some Gus tier tactics Saul's using here...pretty brutal, and likely effective. Finally brings sense to the title too.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Quite a Ride...seems like we'll be going on a trip. Promises some excitement.

....or the show could just decide 'hey, we're gonna tease the BB era now, you did watch BB riiiight?'. Perhaps showing the fans that what has been established will indeed come to pass. Maybe offering a bone to people who haven't seen BB and want to make sense of the black and white scenes? I imagine if I ever did watch Breaking Bad again, boy will this show recontextualize everything I witness. So much depth added to Saul and Mike, and even the side characters are getting considerable love, the shows complement each other quite well.

Speaking of love, I am loving Saul sell the concept of privacy. Really, Saul missed his calling and in another universe is the world's best salesman.

Bag-o-vision...I think by now this show's eclipsed Breaking Bad in how daring some of its shots are. These are common scenarios with Mike's kind of work, and it is fun to see a new spin on how it proceeds as he guides this guy around. As he lifts the bag off the guy's head and tells him where the entrance will be, everything snaps in place for the viewer who has been similarly kept in suspense. So this is the guy who's gonna build the meth lab under the industrial workspace?

"You can't play Chicken with me, I invented Chicken!" Kim seems to be enjoying her lawyer vacation from Mesa Verde doing some honest grunt tier lawyering.

And Saul? He's peddling some phones to street life. Until a storm of motorcycles blows in...masterfully set up...and then he goes to sell to them too. Music goes from cheerful to ominous, so success is much less guaranteed, but if anyone can do it, Saul can.

...and then gets jumped by the three jerks who blew him off before this segment began.

Kim's starting to worry me some. Her priorities seem to be getting a little skewed. Clearly Saul's been a bad influence on her. That said, without Saul, she'd probably still be working at HHM and underappreciated.

Ok then, THIS guy will be the hole maker. It is good to see them shopping around some, as well as different operation methods by the candidates. Who knew that digging a secret hole for clearly illegal purposes would be so difficult?

Episode ends with Saul being a tiny bit hopeful that everything will be better after he gets his law license back. It will not. It will merely be.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

"Talk" sounds to me like the episode will involve Saul telling Kim about his role in Chuck's demise.

"You wanted me to talk. I talked" What a way to open the episode XD

Kim wants Saul to talk to someone. I think I am beginning to see the cut of this episode's jib.

A judge wants to speak with Kim. Was not expecting some solid life advice from a seasoned judge.

Saul's jumping into the mobile phone scene. I wonder how hilarious this will get given the time period this takes place in, or maybe it will all be played straight. The CC Mobile shop definitely looks the part...I imagine Vince would have it no other way.

Real nice seeing the cousins in action doing the thing they do best...kicking ass while pretending the world is a library.

Ok, episode was just teasing us at the very start. Really was about Mike talking, but not in the way we were lead to believe. Classic Mike through and through.

"New job, new phone" Methinks I see a budding phone habit for our beloved main character. And wouldn't you know it, he just was handed a lot of cash and works in a phone store.

Could watch Mike and Gus interact for hours. Gus is a master manipulator, but Mike is a master of not being manipulated. It's one of those 'can cut through anything/can block anything' kind of deals and I love every second of it.

That said, now that I am in Season 4, one of the things I'm not as keen about this show compared to Breaking Bad is that it doesn't seem to have as clear a sense of purpose. It's just kinda endlessly twirling its thumbs while things are slowly unfolding. Breaking Bad, meanwhile, had a sense of steady progression and something was always at stake. Events were getting grander in scope until they could no longer do so. Whereas here in Better Call Saul, Everyone is all over the place at any given time. Saul is working here, now he's working there, now Chuck is dead. Gus and Mike help keep the overall narrative flowing in the right direction, but Saul's just kind of...there.

Don't get me wrong, the show's still fantastic, but for all of its virtues, it seems to be missing some spice that prevents me from elevating it above Breaking Bad.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Nacho's not having a nice day with this real fake shooting that's almost indistinguishable from reality.

You know, I've seen shows make plots that specifically let an ensemble interact where it would otherwise be difficult, but here I am seeing a plot that specifically is keeping the two apart as Mike declines the, admittedly low sum, of a 4k heist. It should be low stakes, but knowing Mike he's got some valid reasoning that will play out later.

I feel like I am getting a crash course in cinematography with these shows. The cousins come and rescue Nacho after surveying the scene and set the car on fire as they make their exit. The show then lingers a bit on the smoke and flames with a shot facing the sun, with the smoke beautifully obscuring the harsh light of the sun's rays. The moment the sun breaks through to be an issue, the scene transitions to Kim.

Not to belabor the point I was making about cameras and shots, but Kim seems to be turning into one of these cameras as she is curiously lingering on a number of objects for no discernible reason I can currently fathom.

I find it rather curious that so many criminal elements are like 'nope, don't wanna do this figurine heist' and Saul has to sell it to them to potentially get 4k....from the company where he could have worked for and made in like, a month's pay. Honest work that cops wouldn't disapprove of. Since this doesn't make any sense, the hummel is probably a symbol for something like Saul's human decency.

I will say, I didn't expect vet guy to be such a recurring character. He's been consistently solid though, so no complaints here. None from Nacho here who gets to live because of vet guy, albeit with a bullet in his shoulder.

Gus is visiting a chemistry lab in a university. This...can only mean one thing! And he's singing the element song <3

Episode ends with a nice letter from Chuck. Seems to get to Kim much more than Saul. Strange.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

With this episode being called "Breathe" I kind of figured this would feature Hector and his condition, especially after him being wheeled away very recently.

Tickles me how much Saul's background lets him relate to Neff's 'wall of crap' with him working in a mail room, making counterfeit ID, and knowing old people. Naturally, since Charisma is Saul's highest stat, the Neff guys like him a fair deal. I'm wracking my brain because I'm certain I've seen/heard the name 'Neff' before either in a prior season or on Breaking Bad. I feel like there is a connection, or maybe I've just seen a wayward internet comment or two.

...and unfortunately Wisdom is lacking because then he turns around and berates the guys for hiring him. Clearly he's got a time machine and has been stalking Walt because this is pretty much that tier of crazy.

Hector scenes doing some nice work. We see a mysterious grant letting a fancy pants doctor in...I like how much deference the resident doctor shows her. Those two cousins are there being super stoic. Even Nacho shows up and has a little chit-chat about the current state of Hector's empire.

Damn, Kim flaring up hard. I adore Howard as a character, and absolutely love the actor's ability to bring him to life, but Kim...Kim just devastates his intentions. I think this is the most passionate I've seen her, I like it!

Speaking of passion, she and Saul do a little dinner and a movie years before netflix existed. I look the date netflix was founded just to double check that my little jest is valid, and it turns out that netflix was founded in 1997. 2020 strikes again.

Late at night, Saul goes online to look at bavarian boys and sees that they are worth over 8k.

And as the episode draws to a close, Gus lets us know what it is like to not be able to breathe oxygen very well. Not quite a box cutter, and Nacho definitely gets off a bit easy here, but effective nevertheless.

"From now on, you...are...mine" - Gus, putting a number of more powerful villains to shame. Like, Darth Vader has super powers and the ability to blow up planets. What does Gus have? A few people willing to tie plastic around people's heads and some chicken restaurants. Yet slap the two in a head on match against one another, and I think my money's on Gus.

The way the plastic crinkles with the dude's dying breaths...such a glorious detail.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Season 4 time.

Chuck is dead. Nice dramatic irony on the phone call, though it was inevitable that Saul be brought into this moment. Music was appropriately somber and the coroner van just leaving provided a rough timeline we can form in our heads.

Whole lot of somber moods all around, the episode makes no attempts to liven much of anything up. It certainly helps craft a mood.

Poor Nacho's having a time disposing of pills. You'd think dumping them in the river would be safe, but nope...he's being tracked and watched. A bit silly, but drama's gonna drama.

"Boxing is a sport, martial arts are life and death" I get these office folks are just there to make casual conversation while MIke does Mike things, but actually, compared to most martial arts, Boxing ranks quite highly in most circumstances. Most martial arts do well...against opponents of the same type of martial art, but pitted against different martial arts/real world scenarios can have vastly reduced efficacy. Modern times have been a boon to gathering more scientific data on martial arts, particularly through competitions like MMA.

Much needed moment of levity though, I was pretty sure he was doing what I thought he was doing. I wonder how much chewing out he's gonna get for attempting to do his job and not his illegal job.

But enough fun, did you know that Chuck is dead?

Thankfully BCS doesn't linger on the church scene. Just long enough to let you know it happened.

Saul had a moment when he could have told Howard about the insurance and how he told them of Chuck's condition, but chose instead to let Howard think himself singularly guilty.

Then he goes and whistles while making coffee. How very Walt of you, Saul.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Like, it's one of those things where I wasn't truly surprised it happened, it surprised me as it happened with how the show presented it. Particularly with half the episode moving at the speed of old people, it was exceptionally jarring. Kudos to whoever edited that episode. And yeah, thinking back I do agree, there was that phone alarm as a solid foreshadow. Thankfully she seems to be ok, probably just needs some time to unwind and heal any lingering injuries.

Now I gotta dive into the season 3 finale. I am expecting some upending of the status quo!

Chuck 'wins' and is now in retirement. The episode is called lantern though, and one of Saul's fears was the house burning down and a big explosion would be just the kind of thing a season 3 finale would do. I'm a little worried.

Kim meanwhile, is at a blockbuster because those still were around at this time, a firm reminder that this indeed takes place in the past. She's even cleared her schedule to do some movie watching. It sounds shameful, but in her case justified.

Chuck seems to be regressing. He was all thrilled about feeling better and going back to work, but if there is to be no work, why put forth the mental effort to trick your brain into being cured of your fake illness? From a fully electrified house back into darkness, and now there is nobody to care for him because he pushed everyone away. This definitely doesn't bode well.

The show takes a lot of time to indulge him in his search for the missing electricity. He even goes as far as tearing down the walls. If he truly had the ability to be affected by it, he'd easily zero in on it and he knows it. That he persists is just another reminder of how warped his mental state is becoming. Almost painful to see him break an otherwise fine house. Fueled with disappointment after disappointment, he goes as far as destroying the meter. Frankly, he's gonna need to burn his own house down to hide all the crazy he's operating under. Use his retirement money to move to the nearby Indian reservation and live off the land.

And just like that, Hector is out of the game. Awfully convenient for the pills to land by Nacho, but the boy's earned this victory so I can let it slide.

Saul seems to have a history of getting caught by electronics. Though this was obviously his plan, although roping Erin into it to through me for a small loop.

Season winds down with less of a bang and more of a whimper. The era of that office space is now done and over. Kim promises that they'll find a new wall.

Chuck won't though, he's about to lose all of his. That's a lot of kicking he did there. I feel like there'd be better ways to have that happen if he wanted it to happen.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Oof...Saul's trying to get the old people to settle a bit quicker so he gets his paycheck sooner. Not a good look, and you can bet the old lady will chatter about it.

Madrigal shows up now as Mike gets to meet Lydia. Has to give his real info...I can understand his reservations, but as Lydia assures him, he is a rounding error.

Hah, Hamlin floats the idea of Chuck hanging up his lawyer hat. I can almost taste the irony of Chuck's actions ousting him rather than Saul.

I like Kim's case with the oil guy Billy. A nice counterpoint to Saul being scum, she's offering a solution that's effectively a bribe, but legal. They even throw in some bonus tension with her almost pushing her car into the oil extractor.

Dayum...Hamlin's going all out on putting down Saul. "You're like Gollum, transparent and pathetic" "Here, you want a handout?" *pulls out some cash* "Next time why don't you bring a tin cup"

As Hector breaks a phone because he's a big ol' crybaby about how his little empire is failing, it hits me. All of Breaking Bad and all of Better Call Saul is really just Vince's way of creatively sticking it to the telephone companies who must have done some minor slight to him in the past. It is the only explanation why phones keep getting in harms way.

Saul starts working his con magic on the old ladies. I have...mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, old people probably genuinely could use money sooner rather than later, but I can't shake the feeling that he's tarnishing some of the goodwill he's built up with them and so obviously for his own gain too.

Lawl...and now Chuck is suing HHM. Very few people on this show are having good days. Mike...Mike is having good days. Pretty much everyone on the Gus side of the line's doing well for now. But all the other cast members? Some degree of pain, be it self induced like Kim's big workload or via bad choices like Saul. I think I legitimately feel sorry for Hamlin for getting caught in the crossfire between brothers.

...jesus christ wtf at the end there. How the devil did that happen? I guess Kim's worked herself a bit too hard. Maybe that montage a few episodes back wasn't being jumpy for the aesthetics but was actually Kim-o-vision. But man...she's definitely having a bad day now.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Little coin story in this episode's opening scene. Whatshisface is alive, so this is in the past at some point. It also reinforces his dad's saintly nature, which the more I mull it over in my mind, the more I think that it was the dad giving freebies than it was Saul taking from the till that lead to income woes. I'm sure Saul played a part, but Chuck really does think the devil of Saul.

Now Mike is taking up the hobbies of metal detecting and shadow clone making. Truly a man of many talents, believe it!

Music guys have good sense with their rejection of Saul Goodman Productions. Poor Saul ain't ever giving anyone the elite package is he?

Hah, Kim's really taking a shine to Moscow Mules, even seems to be affecting the Mesa Verde folks. Also some drama with her and HHM but nothing more than the consequences one might expect from actions taken in that hearing.

I love Chuck-o-vision so much. We get to hear his illness and see the brightness, almost able to feel his pain. Here he is walking through the grocery, and the lights are more muted than normal, demonstrating that his progress is real. Then he turns onto the freezer aisle and it's like an rpg with trapped hallways and a treasure at the end. Alas, Chuck might not be high enough level for this area's EM encounters.

Hah, so Saul's little slip let him unload the rest of the commercials on the music people. Even got him a guitar. I suppose that's the meaning behind this episode being called 'slip', but there's a dozen different ways that word can be interpreted so anything's still possible.

Nicely done with the Hector/Nacho drug scene. Nacho's got some solid planning skills with the AC breaking to get Hector to take off his suit to let him do a pill bottle transfer. Still unsure if this is the best move long term for him, but him going ahead at all demonstrates his convictions.

Lawl, and so it begind. Saul sticking up for a nobody drug dealer and also himself. Blindsides their overseer with a convincing enough argument to let them slack off/leave and still get hours. Knowledge is power, and power corrupts.

Episode ends with Mike and Gus clasping hands, formalizing their working relationship with one another. I'm expecting some good things from this pairing.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Community service...not a particularly good look for Saul.

Thought that might have been the last we saw of baseball guy, but here Nacho is coming at him with a pill problem that he can solve.

Poor Saul is having bad luck with these commercial spots. Even offering one for free. The toll it is taking on him is so visible it hurts as if I had an EM disorder.

He's spending money he doesn't really have, and seriously considering falling back on his old tricks with Kim, who's merely window shopping with cons and pulls him back from the brink.

...and boy is brink the right word as Saul goes to the insurance place to try and get just some money back. Seems to have a bit of a breakdown, although him mentioning his brother mixing up numbers like Saul didn't have a part in it leads me to believe it might just be a con. Is he trying to tank his brother's credibility? Are these two brothers really gonna make mountains out of molehills?

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I had her initially pegged as a romantic interest, thinking the EM nonsense would have driven her apart. But the episode made it clear that the romance had already been there and she had moved on, but kept in touch.

"Who works for who?" Hector's still able to command, while calmly sipping some coffee. But it is clear where the future lies. Even without Breaking Bad knowledge, the writing on the wall is plain as day.

Also, don't think I haven't been noticing these glitchy BCS opening credits. With their little flashes of 'this is future times' black and white and showing images of what is to be Saul Goodman's mark on the world. BB viewers know to expect it, and even BCS viewers who have been paying attention could see how events might play out.

Suspended for a year and Saul's gotta be a good citizen and such. Pretty light deal all things considered. Chuck's pissed, but Hamlin is seemingly able to talk some reason into Chuck. How much of that truly takes, who can say. He's playing with batteries, so there's that.

Saul not only kept the fish, but seems to have taken the vet guy's advice to heart. Saul truly does not like seeing things suffer, and it is little things like that which make this show what it is. He's also got the fun task of telling all his clients that he's taking a 1 year break.

As Kim and Saul debate on what to do about the office, I realize that there's surely some parallel that can be made between a law office and a meth lab. Which would by association make Kim the Jesse of BCS. Doing their own thing together was like, half of Breaking Bad now that I think about it XD

Interesting pickle Saul is in...has to pay for commercials he can't make use of and there's a contract involved.

"It could work" - Gus upon first examination of what is to be his meth lab's location. Had a little pang of nostalgia for the place. Quite a few memories, fond or terrifying.

Oooh, new commercial. Saul appearing with a sharpie beard and mustache. Pretty cheesy stuff, but the real money shot was at the end...'Saul Goodman'. Finally, Jimmy is sliding into being Saul. You have no idea how many times I've been almost typing Jimmy instead of Saul here, this show's been completely rewriting my perception of him. Thankfully, that's looking like it will be changing sooner rather than later. What's in a name? We're about to find out!


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Finally I get to see Chuck in his formative stages regarding this EM field issue of his. Easily identified as the past because the brothers weren't snarling at each other.

Chuck chucks a cell phone and violin lady is throwing in the towel? She seems a little...high strung.

Kim and Mesa Verde seem to be getting along fine at least, even after her disclosure regarding Saul's file doctoring.

I never tire of watching people try and accommodate Chuck's condition. Ever since the season 1 reveal of his true colors, and him venturing out into the world beyond his home, it has had such a sinister aura about it. To see places normally light and vibrant turned dark and gloomy. The removal of cell phones, while not of particular concern for the viewer, if you put yourself in their shoes, think about how someone would feel having their lifeline to the larger world taken away from them. The isolation a person would then feel, no easy means to call for help should the situation arise. Ultimately, it was a brilliant move on the show's part to set Chuck up this way.

At long last though, we get to the meat and potatoes of this case the season's been building up. Finally chips are being put on the table, the bases are loaded, and it's the 4th quarter and Saul desperately needs to score a strike, or at the very least a spare.

Ahahah...so THIS is how Saul and Huell get involved. We the audience see him casually walking down the stairs and bumping into Chuck. We know he has magic pickpocket powers. What did he take, I wonder?

Ah...so that's who Saul got in touch with. Makes narrative sense to me. So now Rebecca is thrust into BCS's present times and now knows of Chuck's condition.

Oh...ok, so Rebecca is an ex-wife of Chuck's. I probably should have picked up on that earlier. "If you had had...lung cancer...would you have told Rebecca then?" Well played, BCS, well played.

Ah, not take, but placed. A battery. Which then sets Chuck off on a little tirade against Saul for all the people in the room to see. Score one for Saul, but the battle isn't over yet. Really nice to see Saul doing actual lawyer things in a courtesque setting.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

You know, little detail I just realized...the blue block in the Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant? It has a red top. Now, it is completely in theme with the color choices for the establishment, buuuut I gather it serves as an eternal reminder to Gus what happened on that day with his partner. Every time he visits his restaurant, he would be reminded. That's as brilliant as it is dark.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Mexico! Don Eladio!

Suddenly this show has a new prong on the ol' A/B story with the beef between Gus and Hector now demanding some screen time. I remember when this show was just about a struggling lawyer and occasionally a stoic parking garage attendant.

Hector projecting strength is fun to watch, and it makes me realize that this show and Breaking Bad are filled to the brim with rises and falls of various people and groups. We know it is but a matter of time before Hector has an unfortunate accident leaving him a bell of his former self. I get the feeling that Gus or Gus acting through Mike will be the means of Hector's fall. But he bravely tries and defies fate all the same.

Inevitably we were gonna march forward a bit on the Saul plot. Which involved Mike being a repairman. Sometimes you're killing people, sometimes you're stalking them, sometimes you're repairing doors. He's a little bit of everything and that's why we love him.

I found some unintentional humor in Saul's pre-prosecution meeting thingy. Four cast members make their way into that room, all people we've seen interact with each other in various ways, and then the black lady walks in sitting on the other side of the table. While her position is important from a realistic perspective, from a show perspective she's just a minor character here and gone for as long as this trial lasts.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Some shoes on a telephone wire and a Los Pollos Hermanos truck with our opening scene. But what does it mean?!

Like how this meeting in the road is set up, but I can't not think that were a random car or two to come along it would be awkward for all parties. I imagine Gus would have some men on lookout who could warn of any oncoming traffic here in the middle of nowhere.

Saul's lawyer adversary coming around to view him being processed was gold. The icing on the cake that is the whole segment of Saul being brought in. Sitting on the plate of his conversation with Chuck.

Then we jump to a weird upbeat action montage with Kim. It feels so out of place, but I love it.

I like seeing where Saul's morals stand. He knows it would be better for Kim to represent him, but also doesn't want to drag her into what he sees as his mistake to clean up and risk messing with their business.

Speaking of messes, the shoe gets explained. Leaves a nice cocaine dusting on the truck. Probably red shoes to make them easier to spot with a sniper rifle too.

As Kim goes out to have a chat with a smoking Saul, it hits me that these fake ice panel windows sure seem to get a lot of use in a number of places. Seen them in the hospital and here at Saul and Kim's office. Probably a few other places too. Albuquerque must love that decoration.

So now Kim is in the fight. Interesting how they hold hands and make an M.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Methodical Mike continues. I thought I knew what was up, but then this turned into a B-side of Mike and Jesse's adventures collecting drug money. Lots of driving and not a whole lot else. It feels like this was almost training for Mike here. And then it had an even bigger payoff with the big reveal that this was Los Pollos Hermanos that the money was dropped to. I am expecting to see young Gus sooner rather than later!

Which makes me sad that we then have to go back to Saul and his and Kim's quest for a receptionist. Not that it is a bad scene, but compared to potential Gus, it is nothing. I do like how it speaks volumes about Saul's flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants mentality towards establishing a business. He's got a commercial in 11 minutes, and boy it'd be nice to have help.

Just like that, Mike ropes Saul into his side of the story. For breakfast. Which we saw on the Los Pollos Hermanos sign. Hypppppe!

I gotta say though, this place is way too lively for a fast food joint. Especially for so early in the morning. Cashier lady even wipes down the counter right after Saul picks his order up. Its like I'm in bizarro land where fast food is halfway respectable. Which is weird, this show isn't based in Japan...

Saul sips his drink and watches the backpack guy. I see him in the background! I see him in the background! He's fuzzy, but he's there!

Even helps Saul find a watch in the trash. What a guy! Clearly knew his money guy was being watched. Passing him by was likely a signal to scram. I imagine there will be more spy games between Mike and Gus before any big meeting is set.

What an iconic parking lot this place has. I remember way back years after when Hank asked Walt to put a gps tracker on Gus' car. Ahh, those will be the days.

I'm discovering that Saul is pretty much a master at stealing other's techniques. Like Kim just did the 'quick give me a buck' thing that we know Saul makes future use of. And then right as they're talking about what Chuck's masterplan might be, I spy him using the tape removing technique that Chuck had him do.

I get the sense that the battery thing was part of a larger setup on Chuck's part to get Ernesto to talk to Kim and ultimately Saul, but to what end has me scratching my head. But then, Chuck is supposed to be moves ahead of me a mere commoner non-lawyer.

"Doesn't look like a stock market crash?" literally what I first thought he was going for before I realized it was the W and M like on the prototype business card.

Ah...the plan is to get Saul to steal the tape. How...normal.

But then Saul storms in like a hurricane against Chuck's expectations. Even still, he's fallen into the trap. Welp. Sounds like he could use a lawyer. Better Call Saul!


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

"Please...respect...my fence's right...to be a fence" Alright, definitely gonna have to watch through this series now. Being older's gonna pay dividends for this show's style of humor.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

SeabassDebeste posted...

if i caught this as a kid i'd have been super put-off by the animation... and by the accents... and by hank's kinda despicable neighbor friends. most of the humor is very adult; i haven't really seen much slapstick so far.

Grew up in texas, so the accents were effectively normal for me. But yeah, animation was definitely a small sticking point that I had to overcome. The subdued humor is probably why I didn't like it as much as the simpsons/futurama. I'd probably appreciate it volumes more if I were to give it a watchthrough now. Heck...I might just have to do that. I've currently got a deficiency of 30 min shows to watch.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

I'd catch it off and on back in the days when I still had cable. I didn't fully appreciate it then, but even then I knew it wasn't a bad show.

I remember watching some analysis video that lingered on KotH for a bit talking about how it was normally fairly grounded to the point that the need for it to be animated at all was questioned, but by virtue of being animated it allowed for masterful and impossible camera angles among other things.

It's been memefied on the internet pretty hard, but if one actually looks at the source material, yeah, it's a solid show that seems to be aging surprisingly well.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Chrono

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Time for the yearly checkup with Future Saul. He helps the mall cops find a petty shoplifter. What a lame Saul this is doing the right thing and being an upstanding citizen and all around nice guy. Old habits die hard though, and he does manage to shout out some legal advice to the kid. Then he gets splattered in the face with icing as he faints.

Chuck shows Howard the tape. Just as I was thinking about it might play out in court as a secret recording, Howard voices some legitimate concerns regarding the tape both in and out of court. Chuck can think of one use though, and it probably will make Saul's life miserable.

Mike breaking his car to pieces to look for a bug was a joy to watch, all for nothing until he just happens to spy a thing in the shop that ends up being just the ticket. Who did this and why?

Quite the improbable way for Ernesto to find out about Saul on that tape. He's gotta 1. get involved with the batteries which 2. need to be drained and in need of changing and 3. have the thing automatically start once the batteries are in/flub the change up enough to press play and finally 4. have the tape at a meaningful spot for Ernesto to hear.

Such an overblown reaction by Chuck, if Ernesto wasn't suspicious, he's certainly going to be now.

Seems like Mike just successfully pulled off a reverse bug planting. As the perp picked up the planted piece, Mike peep'd the perp and pursued.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Corrik7 posted...

What does British stuff consist of?

My international aisle didn't have a big selection of british items, but I remember seeing things like jaffa cakes and tea. I think there was some kind of jam or whatnot too.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Is there any way I don't follow up on this immediately?

Lawl, show's really trying to justify Chuck's attitude towards Saul with him and Saul's mother's last words before dying being "Jimmy". As Chuck lies to Saul about any words spoken, BCS unleashes its nefarious plot to blind me with that hospital lighting through the glass panes reflecting and magnifying until the room is brighter than the sun itself. Thankfully, the show quickly switches to the title jingle.

He chooses to side with family. The show continues to try and blind me. Also, gotta say, this whole medical sequence is some of the most painful I've had to watch on either show, and I've watched a guy get box cut and then dissolved. I feel for Chuck here, be his condition real or imagined, be he right or wrong in his worldly views. Even being adversarial to the main character, he still scores some pity here, even knowing that the doctors are ultimately just doing their jobs.

Surprisingly, Ernesto goes to bat for Saul. With the darkest of humors, Chuck is once again right about his brother, and every step he takes to prove his case he gets more injured but the world continues to conspire against him.

Damn fine commercial, but good heavens the circumstances we get to see it under....

As Mike decides to become a sniper it kind of hits me that he and Saul haven't crossed paths for some time now. He's just been off in his little world playing with the criminals while Saul has been busy playing jumprope with the line between good and evil.

In the end, Nacho is too much in front of Hector, but it is nice seeing those two cousins in action again. Somehow someone leaves a message for Mike not to do it though. The horn sound cut through the ambient nature sounds, which quickly resume once the stick is removed.

So Chuck quits over the one little mistake he didn't make. Turns his house into a space station. Forces Saul to feel conflicted hearing about all this. Who then does the worst thing imaginable and admits guilt. Chuck probably had a vintage recorder hidden behind the aluminum.

...knew it.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Oh. Well, they certainly didn't have me wait too long for Mike to do his thing. Out in the middle of nowhere pulling a cartoon antic to rob from the bad guys. Still a little fuzzy on motivation, other than needing to suddenly pay for a nicer house for his daughter-in-law, but it is sure nice to see Mike being a little more proactive. I wonder how long he can shake down Tuco's outside contracts before something nasty happens. Also, it never fails to amuse me how these places always have big enough windows for us audience folk to make out what's happening.

And Saul's plan blooms spectacularly. Love how Chuck in his arrogance, flat out tells the Mesa Verde they're wrong, even after being confronted with evidence to the contrary. He really takes issue to this minor error. I think even von Karma would tell him to chill out for a bit.

Oooh, Chuck's suspicions seem to run deep and he summons the relevant parties to his lair. Even changes the locks. This is starting to feel like it is gonna be a legal case without the courtroom. Who will win the fight for truth?

Lots of emotional bombshells going off. Chuck makes the right case, and Saul makes a reasonable defense, but Kim makes lots of emotional sense in that Chuck's demeanor towards Saul has helped Saul be how he is. Both have their share of the blame. Heck, she probably realizes Chuck is right on some level, but is still managing to side with Saul.

Such hoops just to get a shot of a flag behind him. It is as creative as it is bold.

Speaking of bold, Mike goes for another meeting with Nacho with Nacho pretty convinced Mike was the one who did Hector some financial harm. This whole 'not pulling the trigger' thing is forcing me to draw some parallels between Mike and Jesse. Perhaps they had more in common than I care to admit.

Nacho lays out Mike's motivation...to strike back at Hector as well as get cops on him. Nacho also informs him that a random innocent person got killed as part of the cleanup. Even when you try and play nice, innocents can suffer so why not take out the baddies to begin with. Heck, I'm thinking I heard him say something to that effect to Jesse in some conversation.

More importantly, Saul's got 'the best 60 seconds of television ever' made and is poised to show it off the next day. But first he's gotta cover his tracks more at the printing place because his brother is very intelligent, as vampires are known to be.

Oof...that was a very chunky sound as Chuck smacked into the counter. Bad idea going into a place that's 95% electricity. The kicker of it all is that Saul had to watch too to make sure it all went to his wishes, and if he rushes in to help his brother he's then basically admitting guilt. Where will his loyalties lie?


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

foolm0r0n posted...

Did the popsicle stick scene come up yet? Love that shit

With the truck guy getting a gun? If so, yeah.

Shit...those were metaphorical? I DID think it was a bit odd he took so long to finish his popsicle. Then he goes and sticks them into the ground. They supposed to represent tombstones? Seemed to be the vibe I got.

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Fantastically shot opening showing the Mexico/New Mexico border station, a little slice of their work, and how pointless it all can be when you can stroll out from your truck and find a naturally occurring gun under a random rock.

Kim officially resigns and goes to scope out a dentist office with Saul...which somehow manages to look perfect for their needs. Kim even wins over the bank people.

Chuck is baffled by this, and determined to go to a meeting with the lights on to do lawyer things about it. Which he does scumtastically. Kim is absolutely the right choice, buuuuut does she have contacts with the fed and is she up to date on all the latest rules and regulations? A small error could be coooostly!

On the Saul side of the story, he's busy playing amateur filmmaker around 'Fifi' the last fortress bomber.

Even without Mesa Verde money, Saul still wants to do the lease on that fancy office space. Not as fancy as Davis and Main, mind, but still fancier than his eventual strip mall home. Which raises a considerable number of questions regarding him and Kim, but nothing the series won't likely get around to.

Saul gets busy going to a copier place and has fun with numbers. What his true aim here is probably beyond my non-lawyer comprehension. Seems like it will be faked documents to use for some legal point, but to what end who can say?

Mike has kind of confused my this episode, this all seems to be setup for something to come. Just what use is he gonna get out of a drilled hose with nails stuck in it? That can't end well for whoever is on the receiving end.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Suikoden

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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out

Well yeah, they really hammered in how cookie cutter the firm was in later episodes, though that wasn't quite so apparent to me then. The main fact that jumped out at me then was that Saul did it his way without consultation. He had even almost walked to the guy to get it signed off but backed down knowing there'd potentially be issue. Better to ask forgiveness then ask permission and all that.

So Saul tries to resign from Davis and Main until he realizes he'd have to pay back the bonus, then much backpedaling happens. So he can't quit, but...can he be fired then and be fine?

On the way to Albuquerque, Saul gets hypnotized by a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man. I'm not sure what it is supposed to represent exactly, but sometimes a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man is just a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man.

I see Saul is getting a bit vibrant with his suit choices, he seems to be thinking the same thing I'm thinking. Ah, ok. So the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man was to impress upon Saul the nontraditional color palettes. Gotcha.

Hot the montage is even allowed to happen at this firm for more than a day is beyond me. They'd take one look at Saul's antics and fully understand and build a case against him because they're all competent lawyer people.

But this is loony tunes land where Saul can bring in bagpipes to work Naturally, the second I say that, Cliff calls in Saul and says he wins and does the thing I just said would have more realistically have happened.

What blindsides me is that Saul then goes to Kim and pitches himself as an option as opposed to the place she was entertaining. Even goes so far as to admit he's gonna be colorful.

Poor Omar. Dude's aces at his job, real upstanding guy, then the dude comes in with bagpipes and now he's gotta witness that person's former law location in a hair salon and help move in a $7000 desk that doesn't even look as functional as the old freebie metal desk (which he also helps move and dispose of).

Meanwhile, Kim's gotta sort things out in her mind. Ultimately, the pitch thrown at Saul amounts to 'solo practitioners together' which is probably why Saul Goodman can later be his own thing without any mention of a Wexler.


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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out