Better Call Saul - Season 2 discussion

Why would the cartel go after Huell? He was just the hired muscle. Maybe Huell turned State's witness for the FBI? Given what we know about morality in the BB universe, I think Better Call Saul will end with SG either dead or in jail. It would fit the narrative of following Jimmy's descent into crime.

 

No, I meant that Saul thought that the cartel, or the DEA/FBI, or someone else, would come after him (Saul). I did not mean that anyone would come after Huell.

 

Wasn't Saul more worried about the DEA, after everything had come out about Walt? Didn't he think they would follow the trail to him? Or did he disappear before that?

 

As I recall it the catalyst is the death of Hank and Gomez. That spelled to Saul that his involvement in all this was known or would be.

Hmmm. There is so much to reveal . . . I hope it takes six or seven more seasons to do so.

 

I wonder if Saul was worried about the cartel coming after him. As an attorney, he would know how to cut a deal with the DEA and come out of it all right. It would not be ideal, but it would be possible to handle.

In the beginning of Episode One, Season One of "Better Call Saul", Saul seems scared of the stranger outside the Cinnabon. I think that an experienced attorney like Saul would not be scared of law enforcement finding him. He would probably see it more as the annoying inconvenience having come upon him. But the DEA is not going to kill him on sight.

 

He wasn't wearing a vest because he was afraid of the DEA.

 

True. Now why would Saul think that the cartel would even care about him, enough that they would bother to track him down and kill him? Isn't he a bit player on the outer edge of anything related to their business interests?

 

Wouldn't it be great if Huell just happened to walk into the Cinnabon?

 

I suspect that was put in at the insistence of AMC.

 

I have a Mexican-American girlfriend with a 73 year old mother who lives near us. The conversation between Tuco and his grandmother was absolutely hilarious to me. I have heard some of the Spanish words they spoke to each other, a great many times, (in much more mundane contexts of course).

 

That really rang true for me too. . . it was odd to see Tuco being so solicitous of his Grammy but that was the best part of Tuco's appearance.

 

Well, thats very much cultural thing. My ex was hispanic. Same situation with her brothers. One was a troubled guy. Drugs, drinking etc. Incredibly intelligent but violent. Yet, totally a teddy bear and would do anything for his mom.

 

You might call it 'the rise and fall of Jimmy Mc Gill' Love the way the story is told!

 

Re-watched season 1 last week and liked it even better the 2nd time around. But I liked this latest episode even more. That's how I usually feel anyway about series - like it more after the characters have been established -- things move along better.

One side thing about season 1 - it prompted me to watch the 2003 Spike Lee movie "25th Hour". Jimmy mentioned it in ep. 7. Great movie ... I don't know how I missed it. Stars Edward Norton and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Note Jimmy's car is bright yellow - that color is featured prominently in 25th Hour, including it is the color of Norton's car, seen at the movie's beginning.

 

I was mulling over if I should rewatch season 1 before season 2 started. With some shows I have a hard time remembering what happened in the last episode a week ago, but with BCS S1 I had an almost crystal clear recollection of the events and characterizations that took place all those months ago, that I didn't feel the need to rewatch. Not many shows leave that kind of a mark on me, which is a testament to the clarity of the narrative.

 

I agree with everyone who thinks the first episode of season 2 was really good. This show gives me the same "sink back into the couch and half cover my face with my hands to shield against dread" feeling I got from Breaking Bad. Specifically, I'm talking about the story of Pryce. When he doesn't listen to Mike and goes to the meet alone, I assumed he was a goner, and when he actually got to the meet and starts interacting with his customer, I found the tension unbearable.

I guess I better calm down, or I won't make it through the season in one piece.

It even troubled me that present day Saul etches his name into the wall of the dumpster room--"S.G. WAS HERE". Damn Saul, what if some heavy looking to kill you almost ID's you at the Cinnabon, somehow notices that on the wall, and puts two and two together?

Like I said, I need to calm down.

And of course being an attorney like @Hot Ptah, I gotta pay attention to his comments here. Those law offices were very swanky, but, in my experience, as someone who once worked at an 85 attorney firm, and later a 30 person boutique firm, the smaller firms in smaller cities or suburbs usually have bigger and swankier offices than the large firms in big cities with high rents, which need to maximize attorneys and staff per square foot. I once interviewed at a firm in upstate NY that was in an old mansion, about 15 or so attorneys, and all the partners and some of the associates had really nice living room-sized offices with fireplaces and the like.

Anyway, my point is that Saul's new firm looks like it's a bit smaller than Chuck's firm, so the swank, although maybe a bit over the top with the whole choice of artwork from the private collection deal, still sort of rang true for me.

Anyway, glad the writers had Saul take the firm job. It'll be interesting to see how this develops. I think after the first season, almost everyone had Saul meeting Gus Fring by the second episode of this season. Now we know that's not going to happen.

 

Maybe not a"When Saul Met Gus" scenario, but, hopefully, a "When MIKE met Gus" scenario....

 

I'm hoping to see Wendy again!

 

Listening to the podcast, they regularly point out that AMC gives them almost complete freedom to do whatever they want. They also apparently have a board with all of the old Breaking Bad characters they want to bring back if they can figure out how.

I just got around to watching Talking Bad - there is a great clip from the next episdoe with Pryce & Mike that has me looking very forward to seeing the whole thing.

 

It would be fun to see BB cast snuck in wisely and tastefully. . . but to be honest I so love this pre-Saul material I hope it carries on for a few seasons just as it is. Some of the very best TV of the year.

 

I could see Jimmy availing himself of her services. It would be interesting to see if meth has made its way to Albuquerque in a big way in this earlier year. Wendy's appearance in "Better Call Saul" would be a way of showing that, one way or the other.

 

I'd like to see them doing a cameo, like walking past some of the BCS cast during the show. I'm sure they will be things like that anyway.

 

I'm all for the least amount of Breaking Bad cameos as possible unless it serves the story well.