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

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Sean Murdock, Sep 11, 2013.

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  1. balzac

    balzac Senior Member

    Another great episode; the only bummer is there's only one more episode for possibly the rest of the year? I know, I know, folks who watched "Breaking Bad" in its original run had to deal with that schedule too.

    I've been really impressed with how well Odenkirk pulls off legit drama and emotion. Not just the sort of sad clown thing, but straight drama.

    The idea that Hamlin has essentially been the fall guy/bad buy for Chuck essentially secretly harboring resentment towards Jimmy is very interesting. I'd like to find out *why* Hamlin would go to such lengths. Does he really just value Chuck that much? To do that huge meeting with Jimmy and Chuck to try to hand the case over, with both Chuck and Hamlin knowing it was a set-up (complete with Chuck feigning outrage at Hamlin), that takes a lot of either loyalty from Hamlin to Chuck, or something else.

    I'm kind of surprised, assuming Hamlin told Kim about Chuck making that call, that Kim didn't just tell Jimmy. I guess she was trying to save the relationship between Chuck and Jimmy.

    Obvious interesting question is, will Chuck get worse or will he get better because he's forced to go it alone?
     
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  2. DrAftershave

    DrAftershave A Wizard, A True Star

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    This last episode was good, but not great. I had a hunch that Chuck would screw Jimmy over and I was right. The best part of the episode was Mike in the parking garage. That scene was pure gold.
     
  3. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Was that the parkade where Walt tried to blow up Gus Fring?
     
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  4. amoergosum

    amoergosum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
  5. cwsiggy

    cwsiggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vero Beach, FL
    That scene with Mike in the parking lot reminded me a bit of the scene in Ronin where Deniro disarms Sean Bean after Sean keeps bugging him about what gun he favors.
     
  6. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    That blew me away, because Mike was competent, confident, and extremely dangerous. The punch-to-the-throat is definitely an injury from which it's hard to recover.

    It's very telling that by the time Jimmy McGill "becomes" Saul Goodman, neither his brother nor his former girlfriend are in the picture at all. Clearly, at some point they're out of the picture, either through death or scandal or some other disaster. I don't see good exits for either of them.

    It does beg the question, if Saul had this kind of money in Breaking Bad, why have a sleazy office in a strip mall?

    I got to work with Patrick Fabian on a feature a year ago, and again he played a rich, condescending a-hole character who wore expensive suits and was pushy and superior to everybody around him. Patrick himself in real life was a funny, witty guy who was very nice and a total pro. I'm really glad to see him in a meaty part like this -- there's nobody better who can play this kind of role. It's particularly interesting that his Better Call Saul character has some depth and nuance, to the point where he may seem to be a bad guy, but there may be outside causes forcing him to act that way.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2015
  7. Claxton

    Claxton I like chicks and cars and partyin’ hard

    Location:
    The 817, TX
    I've started listening to the official Better Call Saul podcast. Highly recommended. Great insight provided by Vince Gilligan and others associated with the show.
     
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  8. amoergosum

    amoergosum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
  9. vertigone

    vertigone Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    How do you know this?
     
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  10. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    The more I think about Chuck, Jimmy and Hamlin, the worse it seems. Chuck called Hamlin in the middle of the night on Jimmy's cell phone to tell him not to let Jimmy work on the case or become part of the law firm, before the meeting at the law firm. As he, Chuck, was working on the case, and is still a senior partner in the law firm, that would mean that Chuck knew that he would reap a large financial benefit from the case while Jimmy would get a much smaller recovery. So Chuck didn't just direct Hamlin not to give Jimmy the status of a job with the firm--it is Chuck deliberately screwing Jimmy over for a lot of money.

    I have also been thinking about Chuck's attitude toward Jimmy. I think that in every city, there are "silk stocking" attorneys, as we call them, who went to elite law schools, have jobs with big firms, and work with large corporate clients. They tend to be snobs to some extent to the other lawyers in town, although not all of them are. But in every city there is one or more great trial lawyer who came from a poor background, went to inner city public schools, went to a lesser tier law school and did not get very good grades, but is a very gifted attorney in terms of business generation and trial skills. Those attorneys are highly respected and feared, even by the silk stocking attorneys. They are not shunned like Chuck shuns Jimmy. Chuck is a unusual super snob even by attorney standards toward his own brother. The fact that he acts so seemingly reasonable and soft spoken as he drives the proverbial knife into his brother's ribs--that is really evil.
     
  11. Mike B

    Mike B Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    Yeah. Chuck is clearly both a skilled lawyer and a pro with the best reputation- the kind of person that makes a law firm. We haven't seen anything similar from Hammlin (or anything at all from the other Hammlin). Our Hammlin surely knows where his bread is buttered and he better do what Chuck says, especially if it's at the expense of someone like Jimmy/Saul who he personally doesn't have any stake in.
     
  12. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    That guy selling the pills--he is so non-street smart, so dorky--he reminds me of Walt before Walt shaved his head and got mean. I can really see this guy getting killed by a cartel member during one of the first transactions. He would almost certainly say the wrong thing to Tuco, for example.
     
  13. amoergosum

    amoergosum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    The end of Jimmy McGill...what a powerful scene >>>

    [​IMG]
     
  14. ArpMoog

    ArpMoog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    I was thinking along the same lines. Sad thing is people often take different paths to the same place and I think Jimmy has a natural gift.
    I hope Chuck dies a terrible death. I can also relate to this on a personal level and watching the episode was heavy for me.
    I was the black sheep for a time in my family and my brother held on to them years and treated me with a lot of disrespect years after the fact
    to where I had enough and had to cut him out my life. I haven't spoke to or seen him in eight years.
     
  15. I thought it was incredibly well acted by Odenkirk and McKean. Great drama from two actors who are essentially (almost exclusively) comedians.
     
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  16. amonjamesduul

    amonjamesduul Forum Resident

    Location:
    florida
    The more I watch this show the less I miss the BB characters that are going to show up,it almost seems contrived if they jam in Walt or Jessie just for the heck of it.If it flows with the story ,awesome,but I don't want them doing a George Lucas "Hey look everybody it's Boba Fett" I don't think the show needs a novelty anymore,it's proved itself.
     
  17. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    Absolutely fantastic series. If you've never seen Breaking Bad, doesn't matter. Wonderful on it's own terms. But if you know where it's going (which was basically revealed in the pre-credit sequence of the premiere episode, in any case), even better.
     
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  18. Mike B

    Mike B Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    I'm no longer surprised to see comedians, especially ones that have done sketch comedy or improv- excel at dramatic acting. Probably much less of a difference between comedy and drama acting than appears on the surface.
     
  19. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    Pretty sure a lot of comedic actors can excel in dramatic roles. Not sure if it's as common the other way around.
     
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  20. Mike B

    Mike B Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    That is also my guess.
    One of my annoyances with the Oscars and such middle-brow critical tastemaking is the presumption that drama is serious art and comedy is light entertainment so the former is more worthy and difficult.
     
  21. Bender Rodriguez

    Bender Rodriguez RIP Exene, best dog ever. 2005-2016

    Dying is easy; comedy is hard.
     
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  22. mj_patrick

    mj_patrick Senior Member

    Location:
    Elkhart, IN, USA
    Another excellent episode. Vince Gilligan and his team of writers deliver the goods yet again. I look forward to each episode as if I'm hooked on a certain blue crystal substance.
     
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  23. rburly

    rburly Sitting comfortably with Item 9

    Location:
    Orlando
    persuasion?! ;)
     
  24. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    It occurred to me that Vince Gilligan really, really does not like overly chatty, overconfident male jerks.

    Mike's punch in the throat to silence the guy with many guns reminded me of the scene in "Breaking Bad" when Walter caused the arrogant jackass to finally shut up by setting his car on fire by putting a windshield squeegee, wet with fluid, in his engine.
     
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  25. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I really liked the very beginning of the episode. As the theme music plays, a matchbox cover with Jimmy's photo and the phrase "Better Call Saul" printed on it, is at the bottom of a public urinal and is being peed on. Jimmy has not taken on the Saul name yet, but we know it's coming. It's a great summary of the entire episode--P**s on it all.

    We need another ten episodes this year at least. It will be cruel to be cut off until 2016. How can I wait?
     
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