Better Call Saul - Season 2 discussion

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by stereoptic, Jan 4, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I have a different view of "Better Call Saul" than many of you here. In Season 2, I hope that we do NOT see tenuous or semi-implausible encounters with characters from "Breaking Bad". To me, that just distracts from a great show, cheapens it a little bit. To me, the best parts of Season 1 of "Better Call Saul" were the parts with no direct connection to anything which we saw on "Breaking Bad."
     
    Deesky and EVOLVIST like this.
  2. deadbirdie

    deadbirdie Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    I tend to agree with this. I just binge watched Season 1 and thought the parts with the character from Breaking Bad (no spoilers) was a bit forced and kind of unnecessary. I'm not talking about Mike obviously, as he is a main character and no surprise.

    Excellent show overall though, definitely got better as the season went on. Really looking forward to the new season!
     
  3. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    I wouldn't put a character like Gus Fring in the "tenuous" category though -- in Breaking Bad Mike and Saul are connected to him so it would be quite natural to show how those relationships developed.
     
    wayneklein likes this.
  4. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    You know, I was on the fence about this show (much like I was about the concept of a TV series around the movie, "Fargo"), but when, at the beginning of season one, in the "almost honor students" scene, the prosecutor just slid in the tape and hit 'play,' I was sold.
     
    intv7 and Vinyl Addict like this.
  5. Avenging Robot

    Avenging Robot Senior Member

    My thoughts exactly.
     
  6. Yeah, this is true. Whether Jesse had an implied run-in with Saul or not, in BB, Jesse would still be an easy shoe-in for BCS, simply because of the open-ended nature of how Jesse introduced Walt to Saul.

    You couldn't do Badger in BCS, though, because Badger most definitely ran into Saul for the first time in BB, when Badger was pinched in the park.

    Nobody mentions Hank, though. Of all the characters who are the easiest to put into BCS, it is Mike, Gus and Hank. Hank and Gomie, especially Hank, was very familiar with Saul when we see them together for the first time in BB.

    I'm sure Saul prevented a few of Hank's collars.

    NOTE: Mike, Gomie, Gus, Hank, Tuco and No-Doze are all dead at the end of BB. Only Saul remains. Of the ones we've seen so far in BCS, Tuco, No-Doze and Mike. Gone.
     
  7. Very good points! This, as well as your last post. When I was watching this the first time, I was a little put off by Tuco's appearence. I see now that it was used to set up Nacho and ground us in the BB universe, so I don't care to see Tuco again...and I hope we don't.

    But you're right, Jesse, Walt, and Gus would be a little forced, so I'm on the side of not casting them in BCS, although, again, it would be easy to show Walt waxing Saul's Caddy.

    Therefore the only characters who wouldn't be forced is Hank and Gomie.

    Gus? What would Gus have to do with Saul, when surely Fring would be represented by one of the big dogs like HHM.
     
  8. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    In Breaking Bad it's Saul who puts Walt in touch with Gus, which doesn't mean he's Gus's lawyer necessarily but tells you they have some connection. I suppose the connection is Mike, who works with both of them... And since Mike is part of Better Call Saul already...
     
  9. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Im caught up. Did the marathon run over 2 weeks. Very funny show. Better than BB? Nah. But great in its own way. The inner relationships with Chuck and Jimmy. Mike and his daughter in law. Some great twists and some really funny **** throughout makes this series so far a strong B+ for me.

    Favorite episode: 6. Mikes story is intense, heartbreaking and some kinda acting.

    Jimmy to the skateboard hustlers..

    "I’m number one on your speed dial,
    right next to your weed dealer."

    ha

    I think the weakest episode was the last one. Seemed like part 9 was the climax.
     
  10. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    And Ill bet you a kennedy half dollar that Jesse and Walt will show up in this series. Walt prob just a cameo.


    Oh, and thats the rare kennedy facing west half dollar.
     
  11. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    All very good episodes, I'm partial to the one where "slippin' Jimmy" went back to his old stomping grounds and got up to one more night of his cons and hijinks.
     
  12. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    Right, I feel it highly likely that eventually, seasons down the road, Gus will appear. But he doesn't have to. I'm with HP. . . this series stands quite well alone.
     
  13. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Boy Ill tell ya, that little turn of events caught me by surprise. Im glad Chuck is crazy or otherwise Id have to think of him as a pure a-hole. Eventhough he is pretty much correct about his brother. I felt sick to my stomach when the episodes showed Mike and Jimmy at their lowpoints. Dark humor at its best. Nauseated laughter.

    My favorite line might be Jimmy calling the big wig hot shot lawyer a "pig f*****" and then even funnier when he apologized to him for calling him a "pig f*****". haha.
     
  14. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I just rewatched the first season, and I was really surprised to find that most (not all) of what I remember that made this show great was in the final 3 episodes. I really thought those story lines took a lot longer to develop.
     
  15. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    I was hooked right from the start with all the subtle character layering and interactions as well as the big dramatic moments, of course. The season was extremely well crafted and the writers realized that they didn't need to lean too much on the prior series (Breaking Bad) to produce a standalone product (I think initially they thought they would need to do that, hence the inclusion of the Tuco scenes and BB-style desert scene).
     
    Mr. H and BEAThoven like this.
  16. Vinyl Addict

    Vinyl Addict Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    Starting to binge watch season 1 to refresh my memory before Season 2.
    Some great lines in this series.
     
  17. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    I just finished up, I'm now ready for season 2!

    My favorite lines off the top of my head:

    "cucumber water for customer only"

    "thy will be done"'

    "Team Kettleman!"

    "go land crabs"
     
  18. BEAThoven

    BEAThoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Gotta agree with all of this.

    This series totally defied my expectations. I was completely wrong. I thought the series would provide me with a short-mileage run of corny humor... It ended up being so powerful and clever. I was surprised and hooked from the first episode.
     
  19. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    I found the first episode and the second. . . less than I expected, and the rest what I had expected and hoped for. C'mon Season 2!
     
  20. babyblue

    babyblue Patches Pal!

    Location:
    Pacific NW
    I agree. The con game stuff went on a bit too long and seemed sort of flat. Nothing wrong with the rest of the episodes though. Great series.
     
  21. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I had the same feeling. As I rewatched, I kept thinking, oh my goodness, there are only three episodes left, and they haven't even touched on (about ten things).
     
    mmars982 likes this.
  22. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I loved the last episode. I thought that without it, I did not truly understand what Slippin' Jimmy was really all about. Plus it was very funny.

    Today, by chance, I parked my car and looked up and saw two metal circles in the wall of the nearby building with the word STANDPIPES over them. I laughed out loud. So that's what they look like in real life. I can see why Jimmy's friend did not get much intrinsic joy out of standpipes.
     
    Tim S likes this.
  23. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Ha, thats funny; wasnt sure what standpipes were either.

    Yeah, I guess the background con story just seemed to drag on a bit for me. Just think it could have been shortened and integrated into episode 9. Perhaps 9 lengthened into an 1.5 hr season finally whopper. But, like "The Fly" episode from Breaking Bad I guess it was the seasons oddball. A side story. I didnt hate it, it had its moments. I just felt it was a bit long in the tooth. Plus it didnt have the climactic feel 9 had. Nor did it seem resolutory enough for me to fit it in as a season ender.

    A minor criticism though. Cant wait to see how season 2 unfolds.
     
  24. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    I think it ended right where it needed to, as the springboard into the next season - no, it was not "climactic" in the way a lot of people expect from this type of series. I'm honestly getting a little tired of those type of season enders, sometimes the show writers seem to be reaching too hard trying to attempt this kind of whiz bang finale.

    And again, I LOVED Mel Rodriguez as Marco - his performance was awesome.
     
    JimW and Hot Ptah like this.
  25. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    Another thing I liked about the last episode of Season 1. If Jimmy is going to become a full blown hustler, a con man of an attorney, transitioning into Saul Goodman with an inflatable Statue of Liberty on the roof of his strip shopping mall law office space and making a lot of money doing it--without the last episode we really had not seen very much of his con man skills. For me, without the last episode it would not seem credible that he would have the con man skills to pull it off.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine