Better Call Saul

[Arjen Robben]

Rhea Seehorn is just the best. 

[Hellraiser]

So I take it that I'm the only one who was underwhelmed by the last batch of episodes? The people involved in making the show have hyped up the final episodes of this season so much on social media. I was expecting Breaking Bad season 5 levels of escalation. And while these last few episodes have been really good nothing big has happened yet. 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Hellraiser

[GoGo Yubari]

I mean, there can't possibly be Breaking Bad season 5 levels of escalation in terms of, like... major character deaths or public status quo because that's not the level of stakes of this show and the circles this show moves in are a) more in the daylight and b) heavily dealing with the building of an infrastructure that Walter White will singlehandedly destroy five years later. Relative to what the actual stakes of this show are, the last few episodes are massive.

Spoiler

BCS has always basically been two shows; the law side, where the primary supporting cast was Kim, Chuck, and Howard, and the crime side, where the primary supporting cast was Mike, Nacho, Hector and later Gus and now Lalo. These last few episodes have been the point where those two shows intersect and become one; Jimmy's last chance at getting off the road he's on -- taking Howard's offer and going back to HHM -- is gone, Mesa Verde is gone, and Kim's now inextricably linked to the cartel plot. For what this show is and has always been, that's equivalent to what Breaking Bad did because in both cases, it's pretty much definitively putting them into the home stretch.

 

[Bobfoc]

Spoiler

That was such a tense ending. I'm guessing that the shot of Lalo through Mike's gun scope, with Kim stepping into the crosshairs, was further foreshadowing of Kim's fate as collateral damage to Jimmy's actions over this series. Kim standing up to Lalo and speaking hard truths was something I wasn't expecting, but it was delivered brilliantly, although it's likely to only be a fleeting victory now that she's known to the cartel.

These last few episodes have really driven home the reasons why Mike is such an interesting character. Calling him a good guy would be inaccurate because he's a key figure in a crime syndicate, but he also tries to avoid "needless" damage as much as possible. We got at least a couple of examples of this during the latest episode, with his attempts to calm Jimmy down and urge him off the path he's travelling, and also with his request for Nacho to be released from his duties to a pragmatic, yet ruthless Gus. If anything, Mike's an enabler of evil, which doesn't make him innocent by any means, but he's arguably the embodiment of duty struggling against compassion.

What I'm wondering most is what the next (and final) series has in store. I'm fully expecting something big to happen with Kim during the next episode, but what will happen in the last ten episodes? I imagine Nacho will be killed off at some stage, but it's Lalo's fate that's more up in the air. In Saul Goodman's first episode of Breaking Bad, when Walt and Jesse kidnap him and hold him at gunpoint, he asks if Lalo sent them. Now, we know that Lalo must be dead by the end of Breaking Bad Series 4 because Gus informs Hector that he's the last living member of the Salamanca family. Saul, however, either thinks Lalo is still alive during Series 2 or otherwise believes that an order he gave what must have been months previously was being carried out to him. Saul can't have been hard to find, so it seems odd that Lalo's men would be waiting so long to take him out. Maybe Lalo dies during the last series of Better Call Saul and Jimmy doesn't find out because I really can't see the writers killing Lalo off-screen during the later events of Breaking Bad.

 

[MalaCloudy Black]

If Nacho dies I riot. 

[Benji]

47 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

  Hide contents

That was such a tense ending. I'm guessing that the shot of Lalo through Mike's gun scope, with Kim stepping into the crosshairs, was further foreshadowing of Kim's fate as collateral damage to Jimmy's actions over this series. Kim standing up to Lalo and speaking hard truths was something I wasn't expecting, but it was delivered brilliantly, although it's likely to only be a fleeting victory now that she's known to the cartel.

These last few episodes have really driven home the reasons why Mike is such an interesting character. Calling him a good guy would be inaccurate because he's a key figure in a crime syndicate, but he also tries to avoid "needless" damage as much as possible. We got at least a couple of examples of this during the latest episode, with his attempts to calm Jimmy down and urge him off the path he's travelling, and also with his request for Nacho to be released from his duties to a pragmatic, yet ruthless Gus. If anything, Mike's an enabler of evil, which doesn't make him innocent by any means, but he's arguably the embodiment of duty struggling against compassion.

What I'm wondering most is what the next (and final) series has in store. I'm fully expecting something big to happen with Kim during the next episode, but what will happen in the last ten episodes? I imagine Nacho will be killed off at some stage, but it's Lalo's fate that's more up in the air. In Saul Goodman's first episode of Breaking Bad, when Walt and Jesse kidnap him and hold him at gunpoint, he asks if Lalo sent them. Now, we know that Lalo must be dead by the end of Breaking Bad Series 4 because Gus informs Hector that he's the last living member of the Salamanca family. Saul, however, either thinks Lalo is still alive during Series 2 or otherwise believes that an order he gave what must have been months previously was being carried out to him. Saul can't have been hard to find, so it seems odd that Lalo's men would be waiting so long to take him out. Maybe Lalo dies during the last series of Better Call Saul and Jimmy doesn't find out because I really can't see the writers killing Lalo off-screen during the later events of Breaking Bad.

 

Spoiler

I'm assuming the final season is going to be all over the place to be honest. I would guess we're going to get pre, during, and post-Breaking Bad episodes and moments. I can't honestly see how they can tie up everything properly without it, if tying it all up is indeed their intent.

 

[Mick]

 

You know, there's still the matter of how Jimmy/Saul found out about the vacuum repair guy, and considering this is about a year down the road, it wouldn't surprise me if either Kim or Nacho made use of it. 

[Adam]

This show is utterly fantastic. It may have surpassed Breaking Bad for me at this point we're at now. A big part of that is the sheer power of the acting from Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks and Rhea Seehorn.

Spoiler

 

I think - with a couple of tweaks - you could have Bagman/Bad Choice Road as a film contained to itself. An incredible pair of episodes and if the season finale matches it, we are in for a treat.

I have no clue how they are going to resolve this story and these characters but I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they do it.

 

 

[Moses Julep]

20 hours ago, GoGo Yubari said:

This show is so fucking good, good lord. Also, I appreciate their commitment to

  Reveal hidden contents

Lalo Salamanca just being on some parkour shit.

 

Apparently Tony Dalton wanted to do his own stunts because he was on some Mexican Jackass style show back when he was younger!

 

 

[GoGo Yubari]

fuck.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Some comments after the finale.

Spoiler

That sets up the finale with Lalo as the big bad of the last season. It makes sense that he didn't die here because based on Breaking Bad, Saul thinks Lalo is still alive.

I didn't see Kim breaking bad as a possibility, even when this season started. It makes me quite sad but it has been really well done. We all knew this was the story of how Jimmy becomes Saul, but I don't think most of suspected it would also get a Kim transformation. Will be interesting to see how her arc ends in BCS, whether she is dead, alive but not around, or as I've seen some suggest, actually higher up in the cartel world during the Breaking Bad timeline.
 

 

[Benji]

In non-spoiler notes, I love how well Nacho has slotted into the Breaking Bad universe. He feels so much part of the furniture that I genuinely forgot he wasn't actually in Breaking Bad at all bar a passing reference.

[Hellraiser]

Welp, now the waiting game begins again. I doubt that this show will be back by early 2021 like they had initially planned. Let's hope that Jonathan Banks and Mark Margolis make it through this pandemic unscathed. 

[Moses Julep]

It’s not so much a twist per say but seeing Kim break bad so to speak has given the show a whole new layer. I mean given her character’s background it makes so much sense . Rewatching the entire show knowing she’s gonna turn too would be a trip. 

 

Like, all along I kinda felt that Jimmy might become Saul because something bad happened to Kim and now it might seem Jimmy becomes Saul because Kim herself has decided to embrace the dark side. Very cool stuff and I honestly want to see Rhea Seehorne explode after this because she has given us an acting masterpiece over the last few seasons. 

[Kaney]

 

Its a testament to the amazing writing that we went into this season terrified for Kim, and came out the other end terrified of Kim. Her doing the finger guns to a horrified Jimmy is such a good callback.

[Benji]

7 hours ago, Kaney said:

  Hide contents

Its a testament to the amazing writing that we went into this season terrified for Kim, and came out the other end terrified of Kim. Her doing the finger guns to a horrified Jimmy is such a good callback.

Spoiler

Fuck, man, I went into the episode terrified for Kim and had the same reaction, and it never felt out of character.

 

[Sousa]

 

HOLY SHIT, KIM. JESUS.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Sousa

[Adam]

Something that is testament to how good this show is, is that it feels very rewarding when you re-watch past seasons. Episode 2 of the first season ends with

Spoiler

Nacho writing his number down for Jimmy and saying "For when you figure out you're in the game" which is a terrific piece of dialogue when you think of the central changes in Jimmy and Kim's relationship during Season 5.

Gilligan and Gould just make every aspect of the show feel well thought through and realised between the main characters and storylines.

[Jimmy]

I watched the first season upon release and have just caught up with the rest during and lockdown and wow. 

I might be being unfair on Breaking Bad, which I'm now genuinely tempted to re-watch, but I think Better Call Saul is the better show. Which is no disrespect to BB, more about how much I've enjoyed this show. The personal stakes and the character development are insanely well done, especially in the knowledge of the fates of a bunch of the main players. I never thought I could be as invested as I am. 

I'm about to start Succession tomorrow, but until I do, I think this is the best thing currently on TV. 

 

I watched that Kim moment in horror. I was so tense. It was a masterpiece. In terms of 'ramping it up', that was the peak of the whole show for me, that moment, her conversation with Lelo in the previous episode and how that'll impact on Jimmy - that is the ramping up I want. The emotional stakes are so high by the end of Season 5 & it is just truly such a satisfying watch. 

Edited June 7, 2020 by Jimmy

[Bobfoc]

I've got more out of Better Call Saul than Breaking Bad, but I think a massive factor in that has been that I've watched BCS week-by-week, whereas I was late to the party with BB and watched most of them quite quickly. I think these are the kind of shows that are best consumed and pondered upon one at a time, at least for me. I've seen people online who don't like BCS as much because it's less "badass", which I think is missing the point completely.