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***Official "Space Blanket" for Better Call Saul*** (1 Viewer)

Zow said:
Well, I think what they're trying to do is build a significant sense of viewer empathy for Kim.  We know Saul eventually becomes Saul and Kim isn't in the picture, and we know Jimmy/Saul really cares about Kim so, likely, Kim suffers some tragic fate at the hands of BigLaw and likely that helps Jimmy/Saul be able to away from BigLaw/honorable practice to become the money-chasing, rule-breaking strip mall attorney. I imagine, like WW in BB, Jimmy/Saul will eventually do some things that displease the viewer.  Kim is being build as the tragic hero in all of this I think.  If that's the case, then those longer scenes were important. 
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I think Chuck does something awful to him which causes Saul to disavow him and change his name. 

Also I am hoping this goes into a future segment with Cinnabon Saul reaching out to Kim for help getting his life back together. Maybe she moved away, got married, etc 

 
Hang 10 said:
The last episode was definitely tedious. But this whole season has felt like filler and then we're thrown a bone with a BB cameo here and there. Loved the character of Saul Goodman. It's starting to feel like the story of how Jimmy became Saul, isn't all that compelling. 
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Each is certainly entitled to their opinion but I don't get this at all. There are certainly slow scenes but that doesn't equate to "filler" IMO. This show is absolutely delicious and I'm on the edge of my seat regardless of the pace slowing down or chock full of action.

 
What else do we need to learn about Jimmy? That he's by nature a con-artist and that's when he's the most happy? That he tries to please people and it often goes south for him when he does? We learned all that in season 1. How has his arc advanced this season? 

 
Capella said:
I think Chuck does something awful to him which causes Saul to disavow him and change his name. 

Also I am hoping this goes into a future segment with Cinnabon Saul reaching out to Kim for help getting his life back together. Maybe she moved away, got married, etc 
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It's Cinnabon Gene, I believe. 

 
Capella said:
Lord. 

They have to build character development or else what happens to them at the end won't have any significance. So dumb this has to be explained. Maybe it would be better for some of you if Kim just flashed her #### for an hour straight. 
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I enjoyed 95% of this episode

The scenes of Kim spending all that time in the library and making calls could have worked in 2 to 3 minutes..

Instead it seemed to go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on ....

:pokey:

 
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snogger said:
Two COMPLETELY different shows.. and again, I do believe most are missing my point.. LOVED 95% of the show.. Just felt they :deadhorse: the Kim part..
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But that's part of the development.  We can't properly emphasize with her spending 18 hrs. a day doing doc review while simultaneously trying to drum up new business for the firm if it doesn't feel at least somewhat tedious to us, too. 

 
Hang 10 said:
What else do we need to learn about Jimmy? That he's by nature a con-artist and that's when he's the most happy? That he tries to please people and it often goes south for him when he does? We learned all that in season 1. How has his arc advanced this season? 
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I'm just like everybody else that I'm interested to see just how Jimmy evolves into Saul. That said this show is so good that the journey is just as much fun as the destination and I'm in no hurry to get there. So, even if there isn't a significant advancement of things we learn about Jimmy, I'm still thoroughly entertained (although I do still think we are learning quite a bit).

 
Zow said:
snogger said:
Two COMPLETELY different shows.. and again, I do believe most are missing my point.. LOVED 95% of the show.. Just felt they :deadhorse: the Kim part..
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But that's part of the development.  We can't properly emphasize with her spending 18 hrs. a day doing doc review while simultaneously trying to drum up new business for the firm if it doesn't feel at least somewhat tedious to us, too. 
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Agreed and 2 to 3 minutes would have worked.. Would have to go back and time it but it felt like it went on for 10 minutes of a 45 minute episode..

Again, too each his own.. IMO, that part went on a few minutes too long. :shrug:

 
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Interesting interview with Gilligan: link

As much as Gould and Gilligan like bringing Breaking Bad characters back, they are careful not to overdo it. “We love all these characters and actors from the Breaking Bad universe,” Gilligan said. “We were so blessed on that show, just as we are on this show, who we want to spend time with. The difficulty is to not overdo it. The difficulty is to maintain a certain level of self discipline so we don’t appear willy nilly and say, ‘Let’s have this person walk through the background. Let’s have this person get splashed with mud as Jimmy drives by.’ It’s an old Faulkner thing, sometimes you gotta kill your darlings.”

At the end of the panel, Gilligan revealed an upcoming example where they nixed a cameo. Perhaps we can figure out who it might have been when we see the episode in question.

“We had an idea for the final episode of this season,” Gilligan said. “It was a really perfect opportunity for a cameo that we didn’t wind up doing, and you can figure out what I’m talking about when you see the final episode of this season. We had a perfect opportunity, a very organic and logical opportunity for someone from our Breaking Bad universe to show up in the final episode of this season. We didn’t do it and I got talked out of it because I really wanted to do it, and I’m glad I got talked out of it because as Peter and the writers told me, it would’ve been distracting. It would have distracted from a very important thing that was going on.”
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This week’s episode, “Rebecca,” reveals more about Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Chuck (Michael McKean)’s sibling relationship. The episode opens with a flashback of Jimmy visiting Chuck and his wife Rebecca for dinner, prior to Chuck’s affliction with an allergy to electricity. We know that in the present day of the show, Chuck is alone with only Jimmy to accommodate his special needs, but Gilligan and Gould haven’t entirely decided how Rebecca exited the picture.

“We did this on Breaking Bad as well,” Gilligan said. “We give ourselves outs as often as we can. It looks like, especially on Breaking Bad, it looks like we enjoyed painting ourselves into corners and we kind of do, but we always kind of give ourselves outs. Suffice it to say, it’s important to us to know that she’s no longer around, Rebecca. If you held a gun to our heads, we’re not sure we could tell you exactly why she’s not, but we know that she’s not. We like to leave ourselves room to maneuver in the writers room.”
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Kim is a new love interest to Jimmy for Breaking Bad fans, who didn’t see his love life on the previous show. Some are assuming they break up before the end of Better Call Saul, or even drastically that Kim will die. Rumors of her death have been greatly exaggerated.

“Just because we never saw her on Breaking Bad doesn’t mean she doesn’t exist,” Gilligan said.

Seahorn has an even more practical explanation for why we never saw her on Breaking Bad. “Even if she existed and in Breaking Bad, if she was in Jimmy’s life and important to him, would he bring her up to Heisenberg?” She said. “I think all possibilities are open and I refuse to hear otherwise.”
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Great stuff!

 
That scene with her making the calls with the Spanish version of My Way playing is what great television is about to me. Beautifully shot, perfect song, felt the character's frustration. I actually watched twice. This show is genius IMO 

 
for Tanner:

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-better-call-saul-keeps-weaving-in-and-out-of-breaking-bad-territory


 

Review: 'Better Call Saul' keeps weaving in and out of 'Breaking Bad' territory



A terrific Kim spotlight episode ends with a very familiar face
By Alan Sepinwall  @Sepinwall | Monday, Mar 14, 2016 11:04 PM
 



A review of tonight's Better Call Saul coming up just as soon as I do the Carol Burnett thing with my ear...

"You don't save me. I save me." -Kim

What an oddly structured show Better Call Saul can be at times.

Throughout the series, Jimmy and Mike rarely interact — or do it briefly, as happens here when Jimmy expresses concern about Mike's battered face  — and are moving through stories with completely different tones, usually featuring different characters (though both of them have run afoul of Tuco and Nacho at some point), and at times feeling like different genres. Their lives and stories are destined to become far more entwined, but at the moment, Jimmy's in a legal dramedy and Mike's not only in a hard-boiled crime show, but one that for now has much more of a direction connection to Breaking Bad. Saul is far from the first show to split its main characters up like this — that's basically all Game of Thrones ever does — but it stands out more with a cast this small, where most of the audience is already so attached to these two guys, and where the tone and reference points can switch so abruptly. When we get a Mike spotlight episode like "Five-O," or particularly one like last week's that featured both Tuco and Krazy-8, that only seems to increase the clamoring for Saul to feature more Breaking Bad characters, if not to just become full-time Breaking Bad brand service(*), but then we go a long stretch where the focus is on Jimmy's legal career, and nobody seems in much of a hurry to have Gus or Don Eladio show up.

(*) Last week on Twitter, someone asked me if the show might reach a point where it's detailing what Saul and Mike were doing in the Heisenberg years when they weren't around Walt and/or Jesse. I can see an episode, or maybe two, about that, but so much of what both men were up to during that time was driven by their relationship with Walt that it would rob both characters of their agency and turn them into Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. You can do a one-shot story about that; an ongoing series of stories is a lot harder.

That unusual structure is on particular display in an episode like "Rebecca." It starts out with a lengthy flashback to Chuck's days as a healthy, prosperous, and married attorney reluctantly helping Jimmy try to go straight. Then for the bulk of the hour, it's a Kim spotlight episode — and a great one, at that, rewarding every bit of faith the creative team has placed in Rhea Seehorn — with some glorified (but funny) cameos by Jimmy and his new babysitter Erin (played by Jessie Ennis), and a great scene that ties together the Chuck and Kim stories by bringing Jimmy's two loved ones together for a story about how often our hero unwittingly lets down the people who care for him.

And then for the last five minutes, we are suddenly back in Mike/Breaking Bad-prequel mode with the surprise appearance of Tio Hector Salamanca — older and slower than he was in those Breaking Bad season 3 flashbacks, but before the debilitating stroke that left him unable to do anything but DING! — as he tries to sweet talk Mike into helping to reduce Tuco's prison sentence.

Individually, each of these pieces of "Rebecca" were marvelous. Seeing Mark Margolis play Tio pretending to be a harmless old man, for instance, was a delight, given what he's previously done with the character. But there can definitely be a feeling of whiplash associated with watching Saul, sometimes from one episode to another, and sometimes from one act to the next. At times, it reminds me less of Breaking Bad or any other recent cable dramas (save maybe Thrones) than Oz, where episodes were structured so that each of that week's storylines ran in its entirety before the hour moved onto the next one. "Rebecca" wasn't quite that extreme — again, Chuck looped back in by the end, and we did get an earlier glimpse of Mike (including him lying to Stacey about a car accident to explain the bruises that are keeping him from Kaylee for a bit) — but it does serve as a reminder that even midway through season 2, and in a universe they already know so well, Gilligan, Gould, and company are still figuring some things out about what kind of show Saul is and how it should work.

But let's talk some more about Kim. As Jimmy's motivations for going straight have shifted from trying to impress his brother to trying to make things work with Kim by any means necessary, Saul has put in its due diligence in establishing her as someone worthy of that effort. In the grand scheme of this fictional universe, being banished to doc review purgatory with much younger lawyers isn't a horrible punishment. But in the scheme of Kim Wexler's life — a life that, for now at least, has not come into contact with any members of the Salamanca family, has not seen a decapitated man's head atop an exploding tortoise, and only sees box cutters in their intended use  — this stinks. She's worked hard from humble beginnings to get where she is, and her allegiance to Jimmy(**) has seemingly taken all of that away.

(**) Some of you wondered last week why she didn't merely tell Chuck and Howard that Jimmy had lied to her about getting approval. Leaving aside the fact that Kim cares for Jimmy and doesn't want to hurt him, even in a moment when he's screwed her over professionally, it's a situation where the truth would probably have been just as damaging. In the version she lets the partners believe, she made an error in judgment in not warning them and the Davis and Main partners. In the real version, she comes across as a naive dupe of a former con man whom everyone is rightly angry with at the moment. A no-win scenario. 

But rather than play the victim, or take Jimmy up on his ridiculous and self-serving offer to quit Davis and Main, Kim just puts her head down, serves her punishment, and works like mad to bring in a client impressive enough to liberate her. (This is the key difference between her and Jimmy: she accepts her punishment quietly and works within the system to improve her situation; he just keeps hustling, even after she's dared him to try following the rules for a single day.)

There are long stretches of "Rebecca" that just feature Kim pacing and talking on the phone, and it's a credit to both Seehorn (expertly shifting back and forth between charm and desperation as Kim got on and off the phone) and Saul editor Kelley Dixon that those were as compelling as they were. The time put in — both in terms of minutes of the episode and in terms of how many lunch hours she seemed to devote to this quest — made her victory dance in the parking garage feel extra sweet. And, in turn, it made that moment when Howard casually announces that she's still trapped in doc review even more painful. (Just watch the way Seehorn's jaw moves ever so slightly as Kim absorbs this latest hit; it's brutal.)

That Howard, not Chuck, is the one responsible for her punishment is another reminder that Jimmy often argues for things he knows nothing about, and the latest reversal in sympathies between the two main HHM partners. Remember, for most of the first season, Howard seemed the villain and Chuck the good guy, until we found out that it was Chuck preventing Jimmy from becoming a lawyer for the firm. But Howard didn't suddenly become a saint from this news — most of what Patrick Fabian was given to play last season came about before the writers decided on the Chuck/Howard flip — and it's good to get a reminder that sometimes he really is every bit the smug SOB that Jimmy used to accuse him of being.

This all leads to that stunning Kim/Chuck scene, which seems to start off as the latest of her humiliations — now she's the coffee girl? — until he invites her into his office to chat about their mutual acquaintance. Again, the series has really elegantly switched our sympathies back and forth between the four main legal players, and it continues to do so even within the span of this episode. In the opening flashback, Chuck couldn't be more contemptuous of Jimmy — or more annoyed that his wife enjoys all of Jimmy's hacky lawyer jokes — and we seem headed for another round of Snob vs. Slob. But then comes Chuck's story about their father, wonderfully delivered by Michael McKean, which casts a whole new light on the relationship. It's not just that Chuck has spent half his life getting Slippin' Jimmy out of trouble, but that Jimmy's insatiable thirst for the hustle couldn't even be controlled when their father's business was at stake. If I were the one in Chuck's shoes, I imagine I would say something far less kind about my brother than the words he leaves Kim to consider:

"My brother is not a bad person. He has a good heart. It's just... he can't help himself. And everyone's left picking up the pieces."

Yet here's the thing about this weird, marvelous show: I will get incredibly absorbed in the world of Jimmy and Kim and Chuck, and write long essays about how Saul shouldn't be in a rush to get to the Breaking Bad versions of these characters...

...and then the second Tio Hector walks through the diner door, I'm giddy and all I want is to spend a long stretch in that part of Albuquerque. In that moment, I understand completely why some of you wish Mike were the main character, or just keep asking for more appearances from Breaking Bad vets.

For now, at least, Saul has figured out how to have the best of both worlds with this Jimmy/Mike split, even if the transitions can occasionally feel jarring. And that tension between the two halves of the show — and between groups of fans who prefer one half more than the other — is emblematic of what Jimmy is going through, even in an episode in which he barely appears. Eventually, Jimmy is going to leave Kim and Chuck's world and go full-time into Mike and Walt's. We know it's where he's headed, and Saul has done an excellent job explaining why he's probably going to be much happier there (at least until he has to become Cinabbon Gene as a result). But if the series can find a way to give us both worlds, and both Jimmys, for a while longer, that'll be just fine, thanks.

Some other thoughts:

* Though the episode is named after Chuck's wife (presumably now ex-wife) Rebecca, she only appears in the opening scene, in the form of actress Ann Cusack. Much to speculate on here: Did the marriage split as a result of Chuck's "condition"? Or did Rebecca's absence trigger it?

* In case you missed it, the Internet proved my prediction right about a Tuco/Larry David musical mash-up, and now I assume there will be many, many gifs of the court clerk glancing forlornly at the Beanie Baby that Erin (or, as Jimmy dubs her, "####### pixie ninja!") so cruelly withheld from her.

* It's funny: even though we should be conditioned by now to the idea that the Jimmy half of the show is going to be pretty light on any crime, when the HHM security guard started turning off the building's lights and opened the front door to a car, for the briefest moment I thought, "Is he the inside man for some weird legal documents heist?"

* Jimmy Loves Movies: After getting a look at Mike's black-and-blue mug, Jimmy hums the theme from Rocky on his way into the parking lot.

* That's "A Mi Minera" by Gipsy Kings playing over the second montage of Kim working the phones to work her way out of purgatory.

What did everybody else think?
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Capella said:
That scene with her making the calls with the Spanish version of My Way playing is what great television is about to me. Beautifully shot, perfect song, felt the character's frustration. I actually watched twice. This show is genius IMO 
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I'm listening last night and couldn't place it at first then it was like, Holy crap, Sinatra in Spanish! This is awesome!

 
This is how I picture Heather.

41e76691aa607df2268979f181c4c215.jpg


 
Aaron Rudnicki said:
just not sure how someone watching the show didn't realize that was the same guy instantly. plus, there were many many mentions of it in here when the episode aired.
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Sorry. I keep forgetting how pompous and arrogant you people are here.

Plenty of people didn't notice. You must be a special snowflake. Superior, sorry for treading on the same ground you do. I also don't religious read every post in this thread, as most of it is drivel, inane complaining or arrogant, self-righteous assertions that "everyone should've seen/noticed this or that".

 
tonydead said:
Yet you're thoroughly entertained with TWD.  To each their own indeed.
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I love both TWD and BCS...but for different reasons ...and i can clearly see that the gap between the 2 ,as far as writing goes, is YUUUUGE ....one is mindless violent drama and the other is thought provoking drama with humor mixed in  

 
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Harry Manback said:
Sorry. I keep forgetting how pompous and arrogant you people are here.

Plenty of people didn't notice. You must be a special snowflake. Superior, sorry for treading on the same ground you do. I also don't religious read every post in this thread, as most of it is drivel, inane complaining or arrogant, self-righteous assertions that "everyone should've seen/noticed this or that".
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are you really this sensitive?

has nothing to do with being pompous or arrogant. just surprised when things that seem obvious aren't obvious to others. I miss plenty of things too.

 
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  • Smile
Reactions: Ned
Aaron Rudnicki said:
are you really this sensitive?

has nothing to do with being pompous or arrogant. just surprised when things that seem obvious aren't obvious to others. I miss plenty of things too.
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Was it really that obvious? How many years ago did the stockbroker appear in BB? I've never watched any episode of BB more than once and I finished watching the series years ago, so I appreciate when someone points out an easter egg. :shrug:  

 
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Aaron Rudnicki said:
Harry Manback said:
WTF?
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just not sure how someone watching the show didn't realize that was the same guy instantly. plus, there were many many mentions of it in here when the episode aire
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Harry Manback said:
Aaron Rudnicki said:
just not sure how someone watching the show didn't realize that was the same guy instantly. plus, there were many many mentions of it in here when the episode aired.
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Sorry. I keep forgetting how pompous and arrogant you people are here.

Plenty of people didn't notice. You must be a special snowflake. Superior, sorry for treading on the same ground you do. I also don't religious read every post in this thread, as most of it is drivel, inane complaining or arrogant, self-righteous assertions that "everyone should've seen/noticed this or that".
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see.. this is where the new board way of quoting things is a "WTF??"  As I have no idea "WTF" is going on here... :whoosh:

 
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Hang 10 said:
Was it really that obvious? How many years ago did the stockbroker appear in BB? I've never watched any episode of BB more that once and I finished watching the series years ago, so I appreciate when someone points out an easter egg. :shrug:  
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for me it was, but maybe that's b/c I know the actor who played him from other roles so he was easy to recognize.

I didn't recognize crazy 8 in the episode last week, so was glad someone else pointed it out.

the main point that others made before I did was that the Ken Wins connection had already been brought up in here many times when the episode aired weeks ago. not a big deal, but not sure why someone can't take a little ribbing when he posts something that's been posted a dozen times or so already.

 
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Aaron Rudnicki said:
click the arrow in upper right of quote box to go back to the original post and you can see what it was replying to
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That only goes to the first reply.. then you have to click it again to go to the previous reply, then the previous reply, etc.. Nested quotes were a pain at times, but at least you could follow an :argue: when it was going on ;)

 
Aaron Rudnicki said:
for me it was, but maybe that's b/c I know the actor who played him from other roles so he was easy to recognize.

I didn't recognize crazy 8 in the episode last week, so was glad someone else pointed it out.

the main point that others made before I did was that the Ken Wins connection had already been brought up in here many times when the episode aired weeks ago. not a big deal, but not sure why someone can't take a little ribbing when he posts something that's been posted a dozen times or so already.
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It had.. but with all the other nonsense replies in many threads with links and/or comments to nothing that have to do with the show the thread is about, I mistook the "kenwins" comments at first as a reference to some "Internet Joke" and so ignored it until someone stated BB + Car explosion.. than :LightBulb:  :)

 
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