Better Call Saul

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Better Call Saul

#126 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:31 pm

Of course not, that’s why it’s so tragic. It’s absolutely too little too late, and yet we can simultaneously empathize and recognize that he’s cutting off his nose to spite his face. It’s far more complex and relativist than just rooting full tilt one way or the other, and very validating to his humanity in making the emotionally charged choice.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#127 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:03 am

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I'm very interested to see how this plays into his relationship with Kim, and where she might be by the time we see her in black and white. It's just too perfect that she would be a part of Gene's world, and how everything we have seen over the last 5 seasons plays into his life post ABQ.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Better Call Saul

#128 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Apr 07, 2020 1:11 am

flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:03 am
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I'm very interested to see how this plays into his relationship with Kim, and where she might be by the time we see her in black and white. It's just too perfect that she would be a part of Gene's world, and how everything we have seen over the last 5 seasons plays into his life post ABQ.
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She’s going to need a miracle to come out of this unscathed. I have a feeling that she’ll survive and we’ll see her in the Gene timeline, but we now know how deep she’s into this and with who, and who is responsible. When she looked Jimmy in the eye and said in the clearest possible way “I don’t like this. I don’t want you to do it,” only be be rendered powerless when he invalidated her with a soft hug, a part of me died inside. I think we all have at least one moment in our lives when in hindsight there was a clear turning point that could have altered history, and this was Jimmy’s.

If this episode was the calm before the storm, maybe we’re in for consequential destruction more in line with BB than I had thought.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Better Call Saul

#129 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:43 pm

‘Prediction’ spoiler:
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I now believe that the original plan for this series was for Kim to be in such grave danger that Jimmy has to call the vacuum service to have her ‘removed’ to a new identity. He needs to come into contact with Forster’s service and know it works first hand to be so knowledgeable in BB, and this would explain Kim’s complete absence from his life in that show. That would also be perhaps the worst fate aside from death: Destroying her ability to practice law and live the life she worked so hard to earn after coming from nothing, reduced back to square one because of Jimmy’s actions.

I wonder, even if this was the show’s plan, if they’ll change it due to Forster’s passing, but it feels like the perfect tragedy for this particular story.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#130 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:41 pm

Really liked last night's episode.
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The show has not had many opportunities to put Jimmy/Saul together with Mike and though not much is said between the two it totally worked at keeping my attention.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#131 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:24 pm

Good finale. Didn't really try to top what happened in episode 8 but it lead into some interesting pathways for where it could go next year.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Better Call Saul

#132 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:51 pm

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I'm glad the showrunners slowed things back down to muse on the responses of Kim and Jimmy in the wake of the explosive crisis, revealing their deepest emotions and psychological mechanisms to cope with not only this incident but their general sensitivities. For both characters their behaviors are becoming indicative of living with lifelong traumas, exacerbated by the traumatic acute event of ep 8. Jimmy's is from a conditioned life of feeling "less than" his brother in deep-rooted family dynamics and riding the wave of his strongest skill in clever wit manifested in a specific area that he mistakenly perceives as his only outlet, ignoring the range that would force a divorcement from his core beliefs. Kim's is from feeling abandoned by her mother and trying to initiate control to cover for making the same mistakes again in attaching to Jimmy by doubling down on this 'high' of breaking bad, following him into the shadows to avoid that confrontation with her cognitive dissonance. There is a grey area between freedom and constraint, as Kimmy believes she is freeing herself from these chains of corporate, and freeing herself by engaging in a relationship with a loose, fun guy, but both choices are choosing a safer path that reinforces complacency and refuses the consideration of change.

I'm really curious how Kim's character will contribute to her own fate given her attitude in this last episode, which suggests it may be more complicit and tragically complex than I initially thought. While I really like my previous theory, it now seems too neat and tidy for the density of this character.
I know it's sacrilege to say so, but while BB had me at the edge of my seat, invested and blown away with the creativity of narrative and style more than pretty much any show, Saul might be the better drama. The intricacy is devolved into character completely, and I'll be damned if I've ever seen a more accurate depiction of deep-rooted family dynamics than Jimmy and Chuck's relationship, and Jimmy and Kim's characters have exhibited more authentic emotional and psychological responses than I thought was possible for television. Here's hoping we get a longer 6th season. I'm not ready for this show to be over, and there feels like so much more to tell. Or maybe that's just how it seems when you trade up narrative for the kind of honest character development that will never stop until death.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#133 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:05 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:51 pm
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I'm really curious how Kim's character will contribute to her own fate given her attitude in this last episode, which suggests it may be more complicit and tragically complex than I initially thought. While I really like my previous theory, it now seems too neat and tidy for the density of this character.
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I wouldn't be surprised if the men who accosted Gene at the beginning of this season's first episode were, in fact, her people.


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swo17
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Re: Better Call Saul

#135 Post by swo17 » Wed Jul 28, 2021 12:07 am

Crap

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swo17
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Re: Better Call Saul

#136 Post by swo17 » Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:14 pm


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therewillbeblus
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Re: Better Call Saul

#137 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Feb 12, 2022 1:44 pm

The 13-episode sixth and final season will premiere in two halves: the first seven episodes will air beginning on April 18, the last six on July 11 after a thankfully short/not year-long break

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Re: Better Call Saul

#138 Post by RIP Film » Sat Feb 12, 2022 2:06 pm

Can’t wait for that, probably my favorite running TV series. Also one of the few roles able to tap Odenkirk’s dramatic range and noir sensibilities; he could have easily stood amongst Bogart, Robert Mitchum, et al. in a different time.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Better Call Saul

#139 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Feb 12, 2022 2:13 pm

For my money it’s a more consistently engaging and psychologically interesting show than its spiritual predecessor. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is the best detailing of how one’s personal history related to deep-rooted core beliefs, relationship dynamics, etc. influences their current behavior I’ve seen on TV. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used specialized therapists as advisors

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Better Call Saul

#140 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Mar 10, 2022 11:58 pm


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Roscoe
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Re: Better Call Saul

#141 Post by Roscoe » Fri Mar 11, 2022 11:11 am

Entirely agreed with all the praise the show is getting. My favorite of the current spate of long-form TV dramas. It never once suffers from the self-pity and solemn over-reaching that can mar other works. The tone is speedier and funnier and more devastating in its emotional impact. Watching Jimmy wrestle with right and wrong and what everybody thinks those things mean has been one of the great treats of contemporary drama.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#142 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:37 pm

First two episodes were really solid

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Kracker
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Re: Better Call Saul

#143 Post by Kracker » Tue Apr 19, 2022 10:19 pm

Glad we got a two episode premiere after the long absence since the ending of ep2 was so satisfying with Saul visibly disturbed and conflicted by Kim's embrace of the dark side as she just crushes the Kettlemens under her feet before he shrugs it off with the 'wolves and sheep' callback.

Then you have that spectacular opener where we get to see for the first time Saul's decadent warlord palace he achieved at the height of his Breaking Bad days, complete with gold Trump toilet, with the appearance of the tequila bottle stopper suggesting Kim has an even bigger part to play in this than we think.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#144 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:48 am

Damn

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denti alligator
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Re: Better Call Saul

#145 Post by denti alligator » Tue Apr 26, 2022 9:02 am

flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:48 am
Damn
In reference to?

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Kracker
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Re: Better Call Saul

#146 Post by Kracker » Tue Apr 26, 2022 9:08 am

Damn indeed
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Knew it was going to happen but didn't expect him to be taken off the board so quickly. (Btw fantastic scene where, just like Jesse had to learn what Walt did to Jane, Hector had to learn what Nacho did to him, with Hector's plan to out Gus backfiring on him). This may suggest we will learn the fates of Lalo, Howard and even Kim sooner rather than later, (though the latter is doubtful because they want to keep that character in the story for as long as possible) and the Time Machine book that appears in ep1 and ep2 (six years apart in placement) is alluding to a time jump that will occur during this season's six week intermission with the entire backhalf taking place during the BB and 'Gene' timelines possibly

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Re: Better Call Saul

#147 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Apr 26, 2022 9:38 am

^ that.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#148 Post by cdnchris » Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:05 am

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It was great watching Ignacio stick it to tío Hector, but I found the whole thing just devastating. It was clear it was coming but I guess I was still hoping the writers came up with some insane scenario that we could all ridicule as lazy writing afterwards, but at least allowed him to get out of the situation and make it to Canada or wherever he was planning on running.

And, like others, I was surprised they closed that storyline off so soon in the season.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#149 Post by denti alligator » Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:06 am

Sorry, didn’t realize the third episode was out.

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Re: Better Call Saul

#150 Post by cdnchris » Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:24 am

Also, I completely missed the reference to the situation in one of Saul's Breaking Bad episodes
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where, in his debut episode, Walt and Jesse abduct him and he thinks they're cartel, telling them he had nothing to do with Lalo and that it was all Ignacio. Funny how you get a whole storyline from what was a throwaway line.

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