Better Call Saul

[Curt McGirt]

Whether you have the "I've seen some shit" eyes and voice or not is what matters though. 

[Shylock]

I'm enjoying the cameos and returns as of late.  I have to say watching part of the episode (I think it was the previous week's) where Ernie is looking to go into the Wexler/McGill offices.. I noticed he was had that same nervous tick that Gus had in the elevator (tapping his fingers together) after he got interviewed by the DEA and ABQ PD during Breaking Bad.  I don't know if it's intentional and they're related somehow or not, but it made me think of it.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I wanna punch Lyle.

Also, how can you not love Hector "All the Refills are on Me" Salamanca?

[Craig H]

Lyle may be the whitest TV character ever.

As always, fuck Chuck.

[Curt McGirt]

The musical cues in the parking lot scene that screamed "Mike is gonna make you lose your moral faith in him to a great extent" were pretty egregious but otherwise, this was a great episode. Gus cut an all-time promo to his staff. Kim clearly has SOME kind of ace in the hole though I personally don't know it. Jimmy gets to talk shit to Chuck's face while still appearing to be a nice guy and both of them clearly recognize it and Chuck responds in kind. The next episode is gonna be a banger.

[Curt McGirt]

4 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I wanna punch Lyle.

Also, how can you not love Hector "All the Refills are on Me" Salamanca?

I've got a couple reasons both agreeing in the first case and disagreeing in the second case with these. Of course, who wouldn't want to smoke a cigar in any public place without retribution these days, even if you don't smoke? (probably plenty of people but work with me here)

[bink_winkleman]

I think Chuck's comment on the original tape was something big for Kim.

And yet, we all know Kim is gonna get destroyed, so maybe not.

[piranesi]

On 5/2/2017 at 9:22 AM, bink_winkleman said:

I think Chuck's comment on the original tape was something big for Kim.

And yet, we all know Kim is gonna get destroyed, so maybe not.

I'm trying to figure that out.  It didn't seem like Chuck actually said anything incriminating in that conversation, but what do i know about bar association panels. And they went out of their way to have Howard try to stop him from talking.  I'm at a loss and it's driving me crazy.

I just thought they were going to use those pictures to get Chuck's house condemned or something.

[RandomAct]

I think the pictures are going to be used to present the idea that Chuck is insane. As for mentioning the second tape, maybe it's something about not disclosing that there is a copy? Or not disclosing what's on it in the first place?

[Elsalvajeloco]

3 minutes ago, RandomAct said:

I think the pictures are going to be used to present the idea that Chuck is insane. As for mentioning the second tape, maybe it's something about not disclosing that there is a copy? Or not disclosing what's on it in the first place?

Could be, but they don't exactly need pictures for that. He has various episodes and tantrums that would easily prove that. Proving Chuck is insane doesn't necessarily let Jimmy off the hook. I'm thinking there is some type of loophole involved.

[piranesi]

9 minutes ago, RandomAct said:

I think the pictures are going to be used to present the idea that Chuck is insane. As for mentioning the second tape, maybe it's something about not disclosing that there is a copy? Or not disclosing what's on it in the first place?

Hmmm. Maybe Chuck is violating the bar by not reporting Jimmy's initial crime. Instead he's using it to blackmail/manipulate him and just admitted it.

But if that's the case, you would think Jimmy would tell him that and force him to drop his complaint rather than go nuclear during the hearing (which is what the preview hinted) getting them both disbarred.

[The Comedian]

HUELL!

Jimmy getting Chuck to destroy himself was fucking great.

And apparently next episode the name "Saul Goodman" is uttered by Kim...

[Jrag]

Michael McKean deserves an Emmy.

This season has really picked up the pace and is producing classic after classic. Just like BB did in season 3. My 5 season theory for this show is right on track!

Chuck is going to off himself at some point.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I hope they work Lavell Crawford losing a ton of weight IRL into Better Call Saul. I would love a subplot around Huell falling off the cliff and binge eating.

Huell and Kuby have to pretend to be food critics at Los Pollos Hermanos leading to Huell eating his weight in Pollos Platters.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I fell behind on this because reasons and I had quite a bit of catching up to do but I'm so damn happy I caught up two weeks ago.  I got to see the return of Don Eladio (of course anything with the cartel business, Mike, Gus, etc.  is going to be awesome)  and then this week we finally get the big courtroom battle between Chuck and Jimmy they've been building up for two and a half seasons. It was everything I had hoped for.  

There's a lot going on with the relationship between the two but I think the episode where they show Jimmy coming to dinner at Chuck's (with his now ex-wife) drives it home. Chuck is so damn smart and does everything the way it should be done (in his view anyway) and he is proud of his accomplishments etc.  but at the same time incredibly envious and jealous of how easy...life seems to be for Jimmy.  Jimmy is smart too but takes risks and operates on the other side of the law at times, he's funny, he's charismatic, everyone loves him..  and Chuck hates him for it SO fucking much. Why does Jimmy deserve any of this? Why does everything just fall into place for him while I have to work my ass off and still... I'll never be as liked as Jimmy is. 

Later on after Jimmy leaves and Chuck is attempting to tell some lawyer jokes with his wife while they're in bed and it just fails completely..  he'll never be Jimmy and he can't deal with it. The world shouldn't work this way, he thinks. 

[Curt McGirt]

I loved that whole episode, but this is what it was setting up to 

EDIT: Riffing off of is what I meant to say. It was late, I was drunk etc. 

[The Comedian]

I think the fridge brilliance of Jimmy's play is this: it's not just that Jimmy exposed to the people present the reality that Chuck's illness is psychosomatic, it's the revelation that Jimmy himself never really believed Chuck was physically ill, even as he was defending Chuck in the face of psychiatric commitment. 

 

[Spritenaut 32]

I was glued to my screen, and I don't even watch the show.  I was a fairly large BB fan, but for some reason, I never started watching Better Call Saul.  So I really don't know much about the characters and what's going on, other than recognizing Jimmy/Saul and a knowing that a few other BB alumni reprise their roles (didn't see Giancarlo Esposito or Jonathan Banks last night.  The 35 minutes I caught was all in the courtroom).  Basically, all I know about the disbarment hearing is what i picked up from the episode itself.

That said, that was great TV and I may be all in.  I didn't even realize the show has been on for three seasons already.

Have the built up the brother's illness to electricity as plausible?  'Cause, as a newcomer, it seemed fairly obvious the character is mentally ill and afflicted with a psychosomatic disease.  I would have been surprised if they had even hinted his condition really was real.

[sydneybrown]

It's been proven in at least one episode that it's all in his head.  I want to say it was in the first season but there was a hospital scene where a doctor showed Jimmy how she purposely left electrical items on without Chuck's knowledge and he had no reaction.

[Craig H]

Right. And then in season 2 Chuck has another episode and the same doctor reminds Jimmy that he knew what would happen if this all happened again.

My girlfriend and I are two episodes away from finishing Breaking Bad (this is my third time through and her first) and we both love Jimmy so much. This series, and this season in particular, really sealed it for me that Jimmy has been the heart of this universe. He doesn't walk on the straight and narrow, but for a guy who comes off like a bullshit artist, he's one of the most honest characters between the two shows and he's more legit than the scam artist he sometimes appears to be. In this episode in particular, you see just how much Jimmy loves Chuck despite how much he can't stand him. You see just how much Jimmy has done over the years despite Chuck railroading Jimmy at H.H.M., despite trying to get Jimmy disbarred, despite not helping Jimmy in season 1, and despite using Jimmy to seemingly jump start his legal career.

Chuck does all of that and Jimmy still plays along with the "illness," he prevents Chuck from being put in a mental institution, he tries to repair the relationship between Chuck and his ex-wife, etc.

The more I think about this episode, the more I love it. I certainly didn't expect this moment to come midway through season 3. And just give McKean the Emmy now.

[Craig H]

Oh yeah. Fuck Chuck. Piece of shit.

[Ultimo Necro]

"1 hour 43 minutes"

God bless Huell! I'd love a flash forward to him in Cinnabon meeting Jimmy... "You know how long I waited for...."

[piranesi]

4 hours ago, Craig H said:

Right. And then in season 2 Chuck has another episode and the same doctor reminds Jimmy that he knew what would happen if this all happened again.

My girlfriend and I are two episodes away from finishing Breaking Bad (this is my third time through and her first) and we both love Jimmy so much. This series, and this season in particular, really sealed it for me that Jimmy has been the heart of this universe. He doesn't walk on the straight and narrow, but for a guy who comes off like a bullshit artist, he's one of the most honest characters between the two shows and he's more legit than the scam artist he sometimes appears to be.

 

When first binge-watching Breaking Bad it seemed really clear to me that the only characters worth emulating or learning something from were Saul and Mike.  This is buried in the old BB thread:

Quote

I was thinking more along the lines of who has a more realistic attitude about how the world works and how to survive in it.  Hank, like Walt to some extent, is a bundle of unrealized ambitions and obsessive drives coupled with an uncompromising view of good and bad.  He's hiding plenty of desire and anger and stuff too.

My thinking about Saul and Mike both is that they recognize the way the world is and have a more distant more realistic perspective that isn't based on ideals but on experience that they've actually learned from. I mean, it's not like I'm looking for a model of how to position myself in a criminal empire, but just for how to roll with things without getting consumed by them.  I'm thinking, like, who's general attitude is  more conducive to a regular guy like me

 

1) not exploding into a ball or frustration and impotent rage

2) not being a huge dick to people all the time

 

Being like Hank would probably mean doing at least one of those things at least some of the time.  I liked Hank a lot and I was a little disappointed they tried to darken him up at the end in how he treated Jessie who by that point he should have probably seen as a good-hearted dupe rather than a piece of shit.  That felt a little forced.

 

But I'm not looking for a career mentor.  But there are lots of situations where it would be better to react like Saul than like Hank or Walt or Jessie.  Like, your boss balls you out for no reason and tries to belittle you or something.  If you're Walt you immediately start plotting his death.  if you're Hank you punch him in the fucking face because that's what he deserves.  If you're Saul, you roll with it in that moment and start building your escape plan without making a big scene...just in case there's no easy way out...

 

in other words, you react based on the reality of the world rather on some sense of good guys/bad guys.  Long term that's probably a better way to operate.

 

[Technico Support]

Among the amazing things about the whole deal was that Chuck didn't even need to take the stand.  Hamlin told him the case was airtight and you could tell, while Chuck was schmoozing the court clerk and Howard was just staring off in the distance mulling it over, that he had a strong feeling it could go bad.  But Chuck's ego put him on that stand, because pride is probably the biggest Achilles heel in Vince Gilligan's ABQ.

Walter White: How many times had he made enough money and had a real way to get out, but didn't because his position in the drug trade bolstered his ego?  The one that really jumps to mind now is the dinner with the family after Gale's murder.  Gale's been framed as Heisenberg and Walt is drinking and stewing over somebody else getting credit for his work.  He can't help but finally call out Hank for getting the wrong guy, speculating that Heisenberg is still out there, putting Hank back on the case.

Hank: So desperate to be "the man who brought in Heisenberg" that he goes off after Walt without backup, getting himself and Gomez killed.

Gus: After Hector's role in the murder of his partner, Gus needs to be the only one to kill Hector.  He toys with him and warns others off so he alone can be the one to savor Hector's death.  And it gets him killed.

Chuck: Just like Walt, Chuck hides behind a veneer of virtue.  While Walt justified staying in the meth game by claiming he was doing it only for his family, Chuck works to destroy Jimmy under the guise of nobly protecting the legal field from hustlers like Jimmy, while in reality he's jealous of Jimmy's "easy" life, his likability, and the mere fact that Jimmy had the temerity to sully a field that Chuck believes belongs only to him and people like him.  In the end, HE needs to be the one on the stand, 1) to make grand pronouncements on record about being the guardian of the legal industry and 2) to finally nail Jimmy for good, himself, not by proxy.  And that's what brings him down.  Now everyone knows he's got mental health issues and he'll probably end up the one being disbarred.

Fuck, what a show.

[The Comedian]

Great observation Technico, I noticed the parallels between Chuck and Walt as well. Basically, Chuck is Walt if he stays with Grey Matter. Even with the legitimate wealth, success, and prestige, he's still a miserable, narcissistic prick with a martyr complex.