Extremely disappointing so far, absolutely loved the first two seasons. This one is not doing it for me at all.
The references to Coen Brothers' movies seem very subtle this time around . . . perhaps too subtle. Has anyone mentioned that Vargas seems inspired by the Tom Hanks character in The Lady Killers? Maybe I'm seeing something that isn't really there.
I noticed a couple of things around condensation that don't seem to make sense. They're so blatant that I almost wonder if they were done on purpose for some foreshadowing or style reason. One is a scene in the first episode in the Camaro where from the inside the windows seemed all frosted over. But when viewed from the outside they were clear. It's possible it was done for lighting purposes, but it was just too obvious. I may have noticed it again to a lesser degree in the second episode as well at one point where it seemed to fade from clear to frosted. I'm thinking it may be to foreshadow the brother dying in his car. The other was when old man Stussy went to his freezer. Excessive condensation occurred. But it was winter and the old man was wearing a sweater, so not conditions to see condensation. There was also a scene around the same time with much condensation coming out of I think the parolee's mouth. It was so much and so sloppily done you could see it was a camera trick. Maybe that one was to highlight breath which was a factor later.
im halfway thru first season, great stuff so far, love the cast. and agree with the slow (glacial) pacing of better call saul, i enjoy it but...yeah....they could probably fit a season into a 60 min episode pretty easily if they took out some of the pauses.
Okay, I'm still enjoying it, but the formula is really showing this year. And the performances seem to be even more cartoonish stereotypes. McGregor in particular. I think they've turned up the "farce" level for this season.
Compared to the excellent movie and the other 2 series (which were exceptional), this latest series is not worthy of the same title.
I wouldn't say so myself, and it's early still. . . I sort of hate to put away the cap that was my winter hat. . . . My wife hates it but it's the only one I wore when I had to keep it covered. . . .
Yeah, it's also more 'cinematic', but it's been done before by other TV shows, so it's not that unusual.
But it's just barely different that 16:9. If it was 2:35 I could get the choice as more cinematic ( as he did for some of Legion). Sorry to hear other shows are doing it. Seems distracting and useless to me.
Well, 2.35 AR would be 'worse' as you'd get taller letterbox bars. With 2.0 you get a wider picture but with smaller bars, so I would say it's a better hybrid measure. I first remember seeing this some years ago with the Brit series Utopia (which really was cinematic), but also a few US shows too.
No, I agree 2:35 is a silly idea. My point was 2.0 is barely any different than 16:9 - plus it's probably not any wider, just cropped at top and bottom.
I seriously doubt that the show's producers would allow their meticulously filmed product to be chopped up (ie, cropped) like that. I'm sure it would have been filmed for that aspect ratio, therefore you would get a wider picture. Personally, I don't see a problem with it.
I don't really get all the negative comments. If we are going to pick apart the accents of the characters, then we can also pick apart the hairstyles of the Stussy heads and how they vary from scene to scene. I like it more than last season so far and certainly think it could end up topping that. Unlike most here, I think Season 1 was much better than Season 2 so I'm not expecting it to be that good.
I revently watched season 1 and 2, and I found season 2 to be much better. That's just my opinion though.
I gotta chuckle when you folks talk about how the show is following a formula. It's Hollywood and it's TV. How original could it really be?
And it's based off of a film of the same name... It's still early, but I'm expecting something to elevate this season which will make the formula pay off once again.
You can follow a formula but not have it be obvious. I'd say in the first two seasons, the formula was well disguised - it didn't make itself obvious while you were watching. Partly that's because it was a new show and partly because the story and the characters were compelling. But with the third season, we're seeing the same checkboxes being ticked and overexaggerated. What's more. the characters so far aren't as engaging as before, which doesn't help. None of which is to say that the show is 'bad' or anything, just that it feels less fresh and yes, more formulaic.
