Better Call Saul - Season Five Discussion

Agreed. For a season finale, last night fizzled. Too bad after the way Episode 5-9 ended on a high mark. E5-10 was drawn out, had nothing extraordinary and sorry Gus, but your assassins are "the best in the business"?? The writers of the home invasion scene made you look like you're losing it - or at least they should have cut that line. I mean, Star Wars storm troopers would have done a better job. And the plot against Howard? Childish...

 

I'm really curious about how they play out Lalo. I think his number one target is of course Nacho. Is it worth his time to go after Saul and Kim? And why?

For some reason I can't help but wonder if after dealing with Nacho, Lalo just disappears. This of course keeps up the tension since we know he's out there somewhere. Cue the final episode where Kim rescues Gene only to run into Lalo ala Benny Blanco from the Bronx (Carlito's Way).

 

I don't think Lalo bothers with Jimmy & Kim again.
No idea how it goes w/ him and Nacho, want them both to make it out alive.

 

The painting is just doing what the artist tells it to do, yet do we see the art, the artist, or both in the work?

The point is, like me, I rarely see the writer while watching the show. The first examination is the painting and what it makes me feel. Though I'm a writer, myself, I don't want to see the writer, lest I ruin the immediate experience. Afterwards, I might consider the writers, or the choreographer, or the cinematographer, but anything less than being taken away in the moment defeats the purpose of television for me...or say, a Jimi Hendrix show I've never heard before, or a photograph I've never seen.

I'm simply saying that there could be a trap by peering behind the curtain while the magician is still performing the trick.

And this may be a good tack for some people. Everybody comes from a different place out of the experiences stored within them. Like most people in this thread, I love to pick apart a show after we've viewed it. I simply wonder if some of us are selling ourselves short by doing the picking during the moment.

 

I can only speak for myself in that I only analyze after I've watched the entire episode. I think a lot of us "see" the writer only after we analyze something that didn't sit right... it then becomes something that takes us out of the narrative.

On retrospect, I was trying to figure out why the Lalo "action" scene bothered me so much... It came down to Mike telegraphing that Lalo was not going to be killed, so the long "Lalo as skilled superhero" felt longer and forced because we knew at the start he would emerge unscathed. The rather blatant mistakes made by the "best in the business" assassins also didn't scan correctly.

In addition, the quick pivoting with the Kim character -- on retrospect it seemed a bit forced as though she had to get to a certain place before the start of next season after meticulously developing her character at a more nuanced pace.

 

I don't think Lalo will target Nacho. I think that he will question Nacho and that Nacho will provide a believable excuse. They didn't go through the trouble of having Nacho be invited to mix with Don Eladio for nothing.

 

Thanks for these details. Wouldn't the recoil of the rifle make it difficult or even impossible to shoot that way (one arm down into the tunnel, with nothing to brace the thing when you pull the trigger)?

L.

 

Heh. I tried to delete that post. But you're exactly right. He attempted to use the magazine to brace the weapon, but that only goes so far...upside down, no less. I'm saying that there's a very slim chance that he hit anything like that.

 

Nor did Gus's "master plan." Instead of having them ambushed in the middle of nowhere during their four-hour-plus drive, let's send the team of commandos into a fortified house with barbed wire and armed guards, and ask the guy we don't trust to unlock the door.

 

Not surprised that a poor season had a poor ending.

In particular, the Howard "plans" really ring hollow to me. Actually, almost all of Kim and Jimmy's time together and their dialogue last night didn't sit right with me - it seemed forced, confused, and out-of-character - especially the last 10 minutes or so with Kim.

I might like Howard more than anyone else in the thread, so at first I was glad we were going to be seeing him again, but a plan to ruin him just seems stupid to me - both from Kim and Jimmy as characters and from the writers.


The moment the first assassin missed his shot, we all knew Lalo wasn't going down last night. It's been said several times: sending two of your guys down a narrow tunnel like that is idiotic.

Ok, one last gripe. Yes, Lalo was smart to have the last guy make the call, BUT, really, how long is that going to hold up? I mean if you pay these guys and set up this whole operation, you are going to be satisfied that it all went well based on a phone call? Personally, I'd need to see some bodies, or at least some real evidence. Also, at this point, there is no reason in the world Lalo can't make one phone call right now and get Nacho taken out - and that's exactly what he should do.

Oh yeah, as someone else noted: Don Eladio really showing his age, though he does coo over that ferrari like a 10 year old.

 

I'd add that I don't see the motivation for the last assassin to do anything Lalo asks of him. He had to know he wasn't going to get out of there alive.

L.

 

'Better Call Saul' Star Looks Toward Final Season: "They're Going to Write the Best Ending Possible"

'Better Call Saul' creator breaks down season 5 finale, Kim and Lalo's bold plans

 

And how convincing would a guy with hot oil burns to his face and a gun to his head likely sound on the phone?

 

Great interview with Seehorn. You can see she has thought through who Kim is to a great extent. After Chuck died, Kim was elevated to the second most important character in the show after Jimmy, IMO. I hope Seehorn gets some Emmy consideration for this season finally.

I’m thinking of rewatching BCS from the beginning now as I can’t really remember what happened early on, the ‘Slippin Jimmy’ stuff or even Mike’s Philly background. I’ve only watched these episodes as they aired on TV.

 

Rifles in film and TV have no recoil, exceptions being to provide humorous consequences.

Also, assassins - even "top people" - often don't have great success ratios in film and TV.

 

No. That's when she suggested it. She very likely thought of it long before.

 

Yes, the plot against Howard is childish. Saul with the bowling balls and the hookers was childish, too.

But notice the flow: Jimmy set the precedent for his childish behavior with the Chicago Sunroof (Squat Cobbler is a close second), so we get to see Jimmy's childish side. So, what does Kim do? She follows Jimmy's every move, but tries to one-up him if she can. She even told Saul that his bid to get the Sandpiper case paid out was ill conceived.

But Howard? I don't believe that she would have ever thought of seeking retribution on Howard if Howard hadn't tried to rat Jimmy out to her.

Every. Single. Time. if someone tries to front on Jimmy/Saul, Kim dresses them down. She did it to Chuck; she did it to Howard before; she did it to that prosecutor, and she might have done it to Kevin, too, if her boss wasn't there. It was certainly in her eyes.

So, childish? Absolutely! But there's precedent for Kim, as well.

But don't object to the way life works...in real life. Usually - for those of us who aren't impulsive (as Kim is not necessarily impulsive) - if we're going to do something wrong, or even something good, like spending a few grand to upgrade our system, we play with the idea, play with it, play with it...until usually there is a moment where we break and do it. It can be an epiphany, it can be a timely set of events, it can be anything, but whatever it is, that moment usually comes at once. We take a plunge.

I see the same principle applying to Kim, as human nature is to release in some way. For Kim, the stress of almost losing Saul, the visit from Lalo, the notion that Lalo will be dead soon, culminates into a release of some sort. She's freer. Some of us may take a step back. Some of us a step forward; though whatever the case, it's been building up for a while before a final event makes us act.

Of course writers lead us. As a viewer we have the unique vantage of knowing things that not all of the characters know. We should then take that knowledge and consider as many angles as possible.

There's another angle I consider. I think it's been posted by one member: what if Kim is just telling Saul this scheme against Howard to mollify him? That tactic worked whilst they were eating supper. Kim ran through schemes and scams, knowing that it would take Saul out of his doldrums. Like a charm.

Of course Kim could be serious about pulling one over on Howard, or she could be checking Saul's temperature. It doesn't matter, because any about-face that she does is not only justified out of fear and ego, but it's also necessary to keep her and Saul together - the thing that matters the most to her. Let the chips fall where they may.

 

Maybe. But since I can't read her mind, it'll have to do.

 

In the latest Better Call Saul Insider Podcast, Peter Gould suggests that maybe all is not what it seems when it comes to the plot against Howard. Not a surprising comment, but ultimately I think I'll reserve judgement until the end of the series.

 

Actually, I think that the Assassins, who Gus bragged about hiring, had failed, will lead Gus to kill off Lalo himself in the Final Season.

 

I would contend that Lalo definitely knows Gus is behind it. When the assassin says he doesn't know who ordered it, Lalo says with confidence that he knows. It is after that the assassin says he knows there's a middle man and that's when Lalo looks at Nacho's drink.
So Lalo knows it all. Crunch crunch.

 

Geez, no.

Add that the same show has lawyers that aren’t twats like Howard. Howard is a caricature, which I might add in this instance, doesn’t help the show transcend the average television show.

 

Ah interesting! You have to find Lalo first

 

My favorite part!

Lalo is the star of the show now. Im glad they did not kill him off

 

Lalo is like a combination of a criminally psychotic Columbo and The Terminator. I'm pretty sure he disappears and is believed to be dead, but it is never confirmed. Then he ultimately returns to confront "Gene", knowing that Gene/Saul worked for Gus's organization and that he had prior knowledge of the attempt on his life.