***Official "Space Blanket" for Better Call Saul*** (2 Viewers)

[St. Louis Bob]

I think the toll booth is symbolism for seniors having to poop a lot.

 

[Thorn]

How is there not a Battle Creek thread here?

There is. I bumped it Monday.

Okay, I suck at searching. I literally put Battle Creek into the search and got nothing relevant.

Don't suck at searching...

Thanks.

To search the FFA, I go to google, put in football guys free for all, then whatever actual key words I would use here.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Repost? Jonathan Banks on Conan with a clip from an educational film he did way back.

 

[Daywalker]

I'm still a little undecided on this show. I like it. I really do. I don't love it, and I just feel like I am liking it because I know Gilligan is going to come through with a great story. If Gilligan had nothing to do with this show, and if it wasn't related to Breaking Bad, I'm not so sure I'd be watching.

Do you guys who are loving it think you would still be loving it if Breaking Bad and Gilligan's name weren't associated with it?

I think people were ready to take a dump on this show. The sentiment was why possibly tarnish Breaking Bad with a lame spinoff which they usually are.

Breaking Bad and Gilligan brought eyeballs but you got to deliver. Think the season has been better then anyone expected.

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

I'm still a little undecided on this show. I like it. I really do. I don't love it, and I just feel like I am liking it because I know Gilligan is going to come through with a great story. If Gilligan had nothing to do with this show, and if it wasn't related to Breaking Bad, I'm not so sure I'd be watching.

Do you guys who are loving it think you would still be loving it if Breaking Bad and Gilligan's name weren't associated with it?

I think people were ready to take a dump on this show. The sentiment was why possibly tarnish Breaking Bad with a lame spinoff which they usually are. Breaking Bad and Gilligan brought eyeballs but you got to deliver. Think the season has been better then anyone expected.

Why should we judge this as if there was no breaking bad? There was. It gives the show an advantage of knowing background/future of characters. It's written with that in mind. It's part of what makes the show work. This is like or worse than the arguments "well if you take away his 42 and 65 yard touchdown runs, he only had 65 yards that day".

 

[Otis]

Good not great so far.

 

[Fariq]

Good not great so far.

Oh thank you. I see what you are saying and have downgraded the show.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Good not great so far.

Your face is not good so far.

 

[kutta]

I'm still a little undecided on this show. I like it. I really do. I don't love it, and I just feel like I am liking it because I know Gilligan is going to come through with a great story. If Gilligan had nothing to do with this show, and if it wasn't related to Breaking Bad, I'm not so sure I'd be watching.

Do you guys who are loving it think you would still be loving it if Breaking Bad and Gilligan's name weren't associated with it?

I think people were ready to take a dump on this show. The sentiment was why possibly tarnish Breaking Bad with a lame spinoff which they usually are. Breaking Bad and Gilligan brought eyeballs but you got to deliver. Think the season has been better then anyone expected.

Why should we judge this as if there was no breaking bad? There was. It gives the show an advantage of knowing background/future of characters. It's written with that in mind. It's part of what makes the show work. This is like or worse than the arguments "well if you take away his 42 and 65 yard touchdown runs, he only had 65 yards that day".

I'm just thinking that people are giving it a lot of rope because they really want to like it because of breaking bad. I agree the BB references are cool and add to the show. But I keep feeling like I'm "supposed" to love Saul because I loved BB.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Another repost?

Hank uses the toilet buddy.

 

[Dreamer]

Good not great so far.

Your face is not good so far.

BURN! Otis is going to need some aloe.

 

[Otis]

Folks in here still being really defensive about television shows?

 

[Zow]

Folks in here still being really defensive about television shows?

Have you not been in a tv show thread on this board?

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Folks in here still being really defensive about television shows?

Your face is defensive.

 

[Fariq]

I'm still a little undecided on this show. I like it. I really do. I don't love it, and I just feel like I am liking it because I know Gilligan is going to come through with a great story. If Gilligan had nothing to do with this show, and if it wasn't related to Breaking Bad, I'm not so sure I'd be watching.

Do you guys who are loving it think you would still be loving it if Breaking Bad and Gilligan's name weren't associated with it?

I think people were ready to take a dump on this show. The sentiment was why possibly tarnish Breaking Bad with a lame spinoff which they usually are. Breaking Bad and Gilligan brought eyeballs but you got to deliver. Think the season has been better then anyone expected.

Why should we judge this as if there was no breaking bad? There was. It gives the show an advantage of knowing background/future of characters. It's written with that in mind. It's part of what makes the show work. This is like or worse than the arguments "well if you take away his 42 and 65 yard touchdown runs, he only had 65 yards that day".

I'm just thinking that people are giving it a lot of rope because they really want to like it because of breaking bad. I agree the BB references are cool and add to the show. But I keep feeling like I'm "supposed" to love Saul because I loved BB.

I genuinely enjoy it and it has nothing to do with any notion that I am supposed to like it.

 

[Thunderlips]

Better Call Saul has been entertaining so far. It's not profound or groundbreaking, but it's got more heart than BB at this point in their respective timelines. The show is working now because Odenkirk isn't doing a show with the Saul Goodman character, he's playing Jimmy McGill. If it were nothing but 60 min of Saul Goodman every week, it would reach dead horse status pretty quickly. As it is now, a believable transformation from McGill to Goodman is more essential to the success of the show than Whites transformation to Heisenberg was to BB. I didn't think Odenkirk could be a leading man effectively.....but he's doing a fine job right now.

 

[belljr]

Folks in here still being really defensive about television shows?

Your face is defensive.

more like offensive

 

[Otis]

Folks in here still being really defensive about television shows?

Your face is defensive.

more like offensive

Heyoooooooooo!

 

[Otis]

Are you guys all direct blood relatives of Vince Gilligam or whatever his name is? If not, the reactions in here make no sense.

 

[cowboyz1]

You all know what's coming next. He is hanging out in assisted living facilities and guess who he comes across. Tuco Slamunca's uncle. I was just waiting to see him roll in or a screen shot of Mr. Salamunca in the last episode. Sure to come though.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Are you guys all direct blood relatives of Vince Gilligam or whatever his name is? If not, the reactions in here make no sense.

Most people disagree with you and think you're being stupid. Not sure where the confusion lies on your part.

 

[Ghost Rider]

You all know what's coming next. He is hanging out in assisted living facilities and guess who he comes across. Tuco Slamunca's uncle. I was just waiting to see him roll in or a screen shot of Mr. Salamunca in the last episode. Sure to come though.

Saul was not aware of his existence until Jesse told him about him in the Season 4 finale of BB. When conveying that info to Walt, Saul was clearly unaware of who he was prior to his convo with Jesse.

 

[cowboyz1]

You all know what's coming next. He is hanging out in assisted living facilities and guess who he comes across. Tuco Slamunca's uncle. I was just waiting to see him roll in or a screen shot of Mr. Salamunca in the last episode. Sure to come though.

Saul was not aware of his existence until Jesse told him about him in the Season 4 finale of BB. When conveying that info to Walt, Saul was clearly unaware of who he was prior to his convo with Jesse.

That doesn't mean he won't come across him. Makes all the more interesting in that he won't know who he is. Something tells me he makes an appearance at some point.

 

[Wingnut]

No Hector anytime soon IMO. We got Tuco pretty early, I don't think Gilligan will go there yet.

 

[Raider Nation]

 

[The Ref]

This is what this show was missing. More Mike please.

 

[Raider Nation]

What a show...

 

[Raider Nation]

You go Mike!

But this was one of the instances where knowing Mike was on Breaking Bad worked against the storyline. Normally you'd think those cops might take him out.

 

[Bigboy10182000]

This show is ####### awesome.

 

[johnnycakes]

Well this is losing its comic book factor pretty fast.

 

[Raider Nation]

This may have been Banks' best work so far, and that's a mouthful.

 

[The Ref]

This may have been Banks' best work so far, and that's a mouthful.

 

[Gator Shawn]

That was exceptionally good. Emmy good.

 

[Raider Nation]

This may have been Banks' best work so far, and that's a mouthful.

I even got Sepinwall to concur:

https://twitter.com/sepinwall/status/575128284180119552

 

[regularguy]

This may have been Banks' best work so far, and that's a mouthful.

I even got Sepinwall to concur:

https://twitter.com/sepinwall/status/575128284180119552

Wow. I just RT'd his RT of you. Small world sometimes.

 

[BustedKnuckles]

 

[Gator Shawn]

#fullmeasure

 

[Raider Nation]

"I broke my boy!" -Mike

Towards the end of last week's episode, Mike tagged in for Jimmy as the show's central character of the moment, and "Five-O" powerfully reflects that shift. With Mike as the focus, and Jimmy popping up only briefly to help Mike pull the spilled coffee play, the lightness and whimsy of the earlier episodes are replaced by a dark intensity, illustrating both the difference between Mike and Jimmy as individuals and their circumstances at the moment.

Both are in Albuquerque because they let down family members in the past, but on wildly different levels. Jimmy never did anything to his brother that can't be undone, even if "Alpine Shepherd Boy" suggested that Chuck's episodes can be triggered by Jimmy's shenanigans. Jimmy's getting a fresh start, and gets to apply the skills of his old trade to his new one, (mostly) staying on the right side of the legal line even while spewing his trademark line of BS. Mike, on the other hand, lost a son, and in a way that crushes him, because before Matt lost his life, he lost his innocence and his faith in his old man. Jimmy's running from minor sins, where Mike has three bodies on his conscience in the son he couldn't save and the dirty cops he executed in revenge.

Any hour focusing on this man at this time would have to be significantly heavier than what "Saul" has given us so far, and fortunately "Five-0" had Jonathan Banks to shoulder that burden. He can be a very funny actor, and I imagine we will be getting a lot of amusing interplay between a disgusted Mike and a confused Jimmy in upcoming episodes, now that they've run their first scam together. But this episode didn't need his comedy skills; it needed the gravity and overpowering sadness that he brought to the role of Mike Ehrmantraut on "Breaking Bad," and that in some ways linked this episode to the parent show even more than that one where Tuco dragged Jimmy out into the desert.

I wouldn't want "Better Call Saul" to be this serious every week, as that's missing the point of building a show around the man who would be Saul Goodman. But the series did originate out of one of the darkest, angriest TV dramas ever made, and when you have a superb dramatic actor like Banks on hand, it helps to both get good value out of him and to remind you that Mike is, was and will be far more than our hero's sarcastic, world-weary foil. His work throughout the episode was wonderful, but that last scene — where Mike tells Matt's widow exactly why her husband died, why he feels such guilt over it, and what he ultimately did about it — was some next-level, emotionally naked stuff. Banks didn't win an Emmy for his final "Breaking Bad" season, but he won't have Aaron Paul as competition this time around, and this is one hell of a submission episode, in addition to showing how deftly the new series can shift between its usual state and something that evokes the adventures of Walt and Jesse a bit more.

Can the series go to such a dark place in an episode with Jimmy as the main character? Based on his recent work, I think Bob Odenkirk can pull that off, but I also don't have a problem if the show chooses to make the truly serious stuff the province of Banks (and, to an extent, Michael McKean). Because when you can get work this great without making the audience feel like we're suddenly watching a different show, you take advantage of that whenever you have a good opportunity to do so.

The intense focus on Mike made "Five-0" a pretty simple episode, plot-wise. But as a look at how Mike Ehrmantraut started on the road from mildly corrupt cop to the man who would come to work for Gus Fring, it was stupendous.

Some other thoughts:

* In case you missed it, I spoke with Michael McKean last week about Chuck's diagnosis and how he chooses to play it, what it's like to be part of a spin-off of a show he loved as a fan, and more.

* Mike is for now resisting entree into Albuquerque's criminal world, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least to have the friendly veterinarian return and begin introducing him to a guy who knows a guy who eventually leads him to a local chicken magnate.

* Like Walter White, Mike shows a flair for mechanically improvised solutions, here rigging up a knot that allows him to break into the dirty cops' patrol car to plant the gun he would kill them with later (while Fenske was busy trying to kill Mike with the empty gun he took off him earlier). Wonder if Jimmy will ever try to impress him by showing off how he makes the sex robot voice.

* Everything Mike tells the Philly cops can be read as a lie, but is there a chance he's actually a recovering alcoholic? Off-hand, I don't recall him drinking anything but coffee on "Breaking Bad."

 

[=Smackdown=]

Fantastic episode

 

[Leviathan]

Loving the "Mike" backstory!

Scenes from the next episode:

Bingo!

*Ding!*

Hector?

 

[BustedKnuckles]

''You look like Matlock''

''I look like a young Paul Newman dressed like Matlock ''

 

[The Ref]

Obviously the episode was the best so far. I don't think we are going to get much in the way of argument on that statement.

What I'm most happy about is the Cops are sticking around Mike seems to be in the story for the immediate future.

 

[BustedKnuckles]

Obviously the episode was the best so far. I don't think we are going to get much in the way of argument on that statement.

What I'm most happy about is the Cops are sticking around Mike seems to be in the story for the immediate future.

im gonna guess and say that Mike is To Saul what Jesse was to Walter

 

[comfortably numb]

These writers are very good.

In just 1 episode I feel like I know all I need to know of Mikes past in Philadelphia.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

So ####ing good.

 

[wikkidpissah]

if Gilligan and Co. aren't careful, Ehrmantraut/Goodman could end up TV's best foil/counterfoil since Andy and Barney.

 

[krista4]

This may have been Banks' best work so far, and that's a mouthful.

Any of you fools still want to say this show is disappointing?

 

[krista4]

Yeah, Mr. krista and I were both puddles.

ETA: Though Mr. krista, who is more erudite than I, immediately compared it to Hamlet's "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I . . ."

 

[BustedKnuckles]

Yeah, Mr. krista and I were both puddles.

ETA: Thought Mr. krista, who is more erudite than I, immediately compared it to Hamlet's "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I . . ."

''I broke my boy.....''

 

[krista4]

Yeah, Mr. krista and I were both puddles.

ETA: Thought Mr. krista, who is more erudite than I, immediately compared it to Hamlet's "O what a rogue and peasant slave am I . . ."

''I broke my boy.....''

That killed me.