"Better Call Saul" - pre season and Season One Discussion

I wouldn't like to see this happen. Having 'random' underworld weirdo of the week type plotlines would become old real quick. But I don't think this is likely. It's not how Vince operates. He likes to craft connected stories with a consistent narrative, so when an 'underworld weirdo' is introduced, there won't be anything random about it and it won't disappear off the radar in the next episode.

 

100% agreed. There will always be a purpose. Randomness shall not enter.

 

I foresee the "fall" coming with Chuck's death. How Chuck dies, I'm unsure - medical issues or does someone kill him? Who knows at this point?

 

This show totally found its footing with the Mike Ehrmentraut episode. It's Breaking Bad-level to me, now.

 

I would not be surprised at all if Chuck screws Jimmy over. We are talking about successful lawyers here. Yes, I know, stereotypes, but still.

 

Who knows?... Perhaps the vet who stitched Mike up will be the guy who introduces him to GUS!!

 

Could be, I had this thought also, but I bet the vet gets Mike a few low level jobs, one of which brings him indirectly to the attention of Gus somehow. Gus might not need to know the vet, if he's already at the level where he can procure his own team of Mexican or South American doctors as in Breaking Bad.

I'm already nervous about the Chuck character arc. I'm glad he unwittingly braves the outside world, and Jummy's devices in his mailbox while engrossed in a legal matter in which he's already kicking the defense's ass, but we pretty much know that at some point it's going to end badly for him. That's what I suspect anyway.

Maybe Jimmy gets the money to establish himself as Saul, in his strip mall offices, from the nursing home case? Or maybe it's way too early for that. Then again, how long can Jimmy remain Jimmy given the show's title?

It's kind of a nice to see Michael McKean doing well in a serious role. I don't think I've seen him in anything other than comedies.

 

I tried it for three episodes and (just like Breaking Bad) I didn't like it and didn't find it funny or in any way exciting.
Well, enough great series coming up!

 

I didn't really buy chucks sudden turn there. I get it drives the plot but he couldn't just say 'give him a token job, he's been helping me at home and brought us this case'. Just seemed extreme but kind of out of character

 

I didn't think it would go down that way myself, but the fact that others in this thread saw the signs shows that it wasn't too out of left field.

 

The latest episode marked the end of Jimmy and the beginning of Saul.
Damn...all the things Jimmy has done for Chuck...

 

Wonderful episode. So many great moments and dialog, including Mike's scenes as the muscle and comments about the distinction between good and bad men vs criminals; Chuck's reveal at the end, which didn't feel 'sudden' to me as it's revealed that it was Chuck who kept Saul in the mail-room all those years ago, so it''s a longstanding disrespect for Slippin' Jimmy, and now he hits it big,without doing the hard work by obtaining proper qualifications (in Chuck's eyes).

And, lol, I've heard of tinfoil hat ware, but tinfoil suit lining?

 

I agree with what you said. I have a problem with Chuck not respecting the fact that Jimmy past the Bar exam. It doesn't matter where he got his degree from, IMO, if he passed the Bar and is a legit attorney. There's obviously a lot of baggage between Jimmy and Chuck that we don't know about. They might have weaved that into the story for it to make more sense to us in buying Chuck's 2 am phone call to Hamlin to not hire Jimmy.

Other than that, a great episode, especially with Mike's newest "job".

 

Great scene...
>>>

 

I thought it was an excellent episode. I really felt for Saul, and Kim, and even in his way Chuck.

After the Mike episode I began to wonder "will Mike see that the Vet really can't supply him the type of work he wants and somehow bring Saul into that world?"

Will be an exciting episode next week, the finale.

 

all this time hamlin has seemed like the villain, but it turns out he was actually protecting jimmy, in a sense, from knowing the real truth. that last scene was brutal. i hope that chuck doesn't die, but just rots in that house, and that jimmy cuts off all contact with him.

i think we see now who ultimately creates saul goodman....his brother, chuck.

 

Great ep. The only plot element I had a problem with is Hamlin telling Kim the truth about Chuck (presumably- we didn't see what he told her but that's the only possible thing). After keeping that facade he just broke down and told her the truth, right after she reminded him that Jimmy is her friend?

The Chuck bit is totally believable and I saw that motivation coming- the younger ne'r-do-well brother making a mockery of his "sacred" profession. Jimmy's actions hit him in that tender sport of older brother superiority and professional pride. It also connects back to Breaking Bad with the theme of pride, which is the great builder and destroyer of men in Vince Gilligan's shows.

 

I can see it from Chuck's point of view too. Chuck has probably spent a great deal of time and money and hard work getting his law degree by going through respected channels and he sees Slippin' Jimmy taking shortcuts, as he always has, literally phoning it in part-time, at a bottom of the barrel law school (as he sees it) and still being able to practice law, just like Chuck. I can absolutely see Chuck being put out by this, especially if this follows a pattern of shortcuts from childhood.

Of course, the question of forgiveness is another issue, especially after the all the help Saul has provided since Chuck's EM-phobia etc, but old resentments have a knack of lingering, becoming learned behavior and therefore can be a tough habit to break.

 

I think this may be misdirection and that Hamlin actually isn't the villain he's been made out to be. The fact that he clues Kim in on the deal and that he delivered the bad news to mail-room Jimmy in a flashback under Chuck's instruction, makes me think that Hamlin is only the fall guy doing Chuck's bidding.

 

Somebody posted this image on REDDIT >>>


"Chuck in four weeks"



Link:
http://www.reddit.com/r/betterCallSaul/comments/30vx0l/chuck_in_four_weeks/

 

Well yes that's what I'm saying- I don't think it's a mystery any more about Hamlin, that's what they straight-up revealed, he's doing what Chuck wants. I'm just saying that this facade he put up as the "villain" to Jimmy was dropped in a moment of compassion/weakness when he revealed the truth to Kim, and I just think that's a tad too convenient.
It's just a very minor criticism though, not a sticking point.

 

That seemed realistic to me. Hamlin has been carrying around this secret and if you've ever carried one like that you know it's very tempting to let it out. With Kim he knew that she would fester with resentment unless she knew, and he also knew that she would be inclined to keep the secret at least short-term from Jimmy, and he surmised she could expedite the "deal" by seeing that it was the easiest path for Jimmy, to profit and not know the hurtful truth. These seem like very human, very possible actions in this sort of "workplace."

 

I am an attorney and have been an associate and a partner in my career, in a law firm with older men with huge egos. The law firm scenes were so realistic. Hamlin's screaming at Kim to not bring him her opinions any more--wow, I have lived that. If anything, he was milder than most senior partners are to associate attorneys. Hamlin then turning on a dime and telling Kim that it is Chuck that is screwing over Jimmy, so that the firm will get the big case after all--that is so realistic. A senior partner would do just about anything to keep a large case in the door which will be a source of work for the many underlings which the senior partner has to feed and keep busy with work. The money will be nice, but the pressure to keep everyone occupied with work--every senior partner has that pressure all the time.

I have known so many attorneys like Chuck, who take themselves and their work way, way too seriously, and see the upper echelon corporate practice as a much bigger deal than it really is. Egos are enormous within law firms, and attorneys routinely stab each other in the back in secret within the firm. Someone associated with the show either was an attorney or knew one well.

 

You nailed it! How did you do on your NCAA bracket--I bet you picked all four members of the Final Four, too.

 

I have an older brother, and if I thought he would ever screw me over because he thought I did something that he thought was a shortcut, I would do the same thing Jimmy did. Older brothers should at the very least care about their younger siblings, at least ideally. I think Chuck has everything and anything that comes his way coming to him. He'll have to hire somebody now to do what Jimmy was doing for free for him.

So, is next week the last episode this season? If so, too short.