@BEAThoven , I wasn't as bored as you were with the episode, but I agree with a lot of what you said. My beef with BCS is that it feels like too much of the show has been this slow build, with not enough payoffs, but after getting a few earlier this season, it's like they are starting from scratch again with Gene and building. With now only two episodes left, we are getting more building, and I am losing faith that the ultimate payoff in the next two weeks is going to be satisfying, for me anyway.
Agree and I think it's a big leap that Gene wouldn't care about this guy with cancer and suddenly put himself at risk by breaking in. When we find out what the phone call was it better make sense how he got pushed this far. We know the show has a different, slow build style but it hasn't always been used to great effect, hence some of us have been bored at times, Last nights felt long and time not best used so late in the end of the show. It feels like they didn't know best way to conclude this. Hope I'm wrong and the last two come together perfectly.
It feels to me like they are trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle, and forcing a few pieces in places where they are not the exact correct fit. Maybe, they will bring in the actual Jigsaw(from the Originsl Movie) to complete the torture of Gene in the end .
Agree. What happened on that brief phone call with Kim is the key to the conclusion of the series. Did something bad happen to her, did she refuse to talk with him, etc. Whatever it was, it made Jimmy very angry and affected his judgment from that point forward. I'm sure we will see Kim again and that phone call will be explained and I'm confident the cops at the very end of episode 11 do not apprehend Jimmy in the house, I think they were just put in to mislead the viewer. Also, Gus and Mike haven't been involved much in last couple weeks, I'm confident they will be a major part of the final two episodes.
Aaron Paul needs to move on and stop playing Jesse Pinkman. He's 43 years old, ffs! He's even on a commercial for some gambling outfit, dressed and acting like Jesse. Enough already.
The episode could've probably have been the length of the normal episode if they just left the Walt/Jesse stuff out. The whole thing with Gene, the cancer guy, and his "revenge" on Walter could've been summed up when Gene told Buddy, "Oh, you don't think a guy with cancer can be an *******? I'm here to tell you from experience that it's definitely possible."
Well, the writer/director says: Did you shoot any actual dialogue for the scene with Saul calling about Kim in the phone booth? Yes, there’s a scene written. What he actually says, it will be addressed in a future episode. We’ll know some more details of what’s spoken about. Because we had just gotten a very long phone call with Francesca, we decided, “Do we want to do another phone call?” Then we started talking about how it’d be interesting to not hear the details of whatever news he heard about Kim and leave that for later. Something upset him — we don’t know exactly what — but we’re going to see how he deals with that pain. Well, he's been one of the co-stars of Westworld for the past couple of years, and his character there is much different from that of Jesse Pinkman. For actors, most of them believe they'd be crazy to turn down a role, particularly from a producer as important as Vince Gilligan and a show as important as Better Call Saul.
I agree with whoever said earlier that we're almost in a different show now: it's not Breaking Bad and it's not Better Call Saul. As far as I'm concerned, "Fun and Games" was the final episode of BCS and now we're in a strange sequel-like hinterland. The signs are all there: the abandoning of the X & Y title structure, the Blue Screen of Death title sequence, the opening credits only listing actors who are in the episode (so tonight we had Odenkirk/Banks but no Seehorn/Fabian/Esposito etc). This show is a different animal now. One thing that hasn't changed: their love of putting up websites and phone numbers from the show in real life. The latest example - William Oakley & Associates
According to IMDB we have seen the last of the Kettlemans, they will not be returning. Also according to IMDB. . . we have not seen the last of Kim by a long shot. Nor Mike. Nor Gus.
I like the explanation that the reason for the Walt and Jesse backstory is to show that Saul was the cause-in-fact of their ruin: that Mike didn’t want to work with them, that Gus didn’t want to work with them, but Saul smelled opportunity — the chimp with a machine gun, exhibit 43. If the broadest arc of the story is that Jimmy/Saul/Gene ruins literally everybody he touches, then it stands to reason that he might ruin Jesse Pinkman, too — that the seizure of the book from his house, and the Best Quality Vacuum card, might help the authorities track Jesse down. Why else would they glom onto the book twice, and the card when Kim spied it, if Kim herself wasn’t vacuumed? Also, if Skyler White entered into a cooperation agreement with the government, then she would be a most excellent witness against Saul and Jesse. She has her problems, but no more than others who take a deal.
IMDB isn’t always accurate. I’ll reserve judgment on who is or isn’t in the final episodes. Btw I hope Kim isn’t killed off. I think a Kim sequel would be must-watch TV and Sony does want a third show from that universe!
Yes, I noted above last week that she only appeared in these two episodes according to IMDB (which I have found to be pretty accurate in these things.)
You were right. It was weak, the characters don't ring true, and it's now an altogether different show than the early seasons I enjoyed so much. The fundamental problem with that, as I've been pointing out in my criticisms all along, is that we already know from watching BB that Kim has no part in it and any attempt to change that, or even explain it away, would seem contrived. Knowing that, the show shouldn't have gone there. But G&G just couldn't resist, and so here we are. Not to mention that Jimmy is nothing like Walter. I had a negative reaction to everything in the Frencesca scene, from chastizing her stoner son to her drive across town, looking paranoid, to the very contrived phone call and money magically stashed nearby. To bring up Kim at the end of all that nonsense was just horribly contrived and the inability to reveal the ensuing conversation when Jimmy tried to connect with Kim--yet another cheap device that proves the story is not worth telling in a linear manner. Meaning, the writers knew if they revealed the conversation it wouldn't stand on its own. It's not worth telling this story at all. Jimmy losing his **** and damaging the phone booth was out of character. He was shown to have mellowed out during his Gene phase. This is what we were led to believe, at least, until the writers--flying by the seat of their pants--opted to go a new direction. That's actually not a bad prediction regarding Gene possibly learning of Kim being dead, but even if so it just seems so frikkin contrived for Jimmy to just find out about it now--after all the events of BB--as Gene. He obviously cares about Kim, so he would have kept tabs on her throughout his stint as Saul. I'm not buying that Mike killed her or Gus had her killed another way, and Jimmy never found out until now. Whatever he learned on the phone, it's a super obnoxious gambit for the show to withhold that from the viewer. Clearly what the writers are going for is the idea that Gene just gave up, which is not really in Jimmy's nature. He is always willing to fight. They should name the box set with the 4K BB and BCS "Breaking Character". Since that's the game they're playing, it's hard to care how Jimmy ends up getting caught--if that is indeed the ending. As for self-realization, a better question is whether the writers are capable. I agree, and Paul probably agrees too. But Jesse is one of the most beloved characters in TV history and fans and G&G needed him to come back. Paul's agent negotiated a deal and so this is what we get. I've been dreading these kinds of scenes with him and Cranston. They are the worst sort of borrowed interest to force into BCS and don't move the dial at all since we already know what happened. It is unfathomable that Jimmy with all his resourcefulness and determination would be ignorant about Kim's plight until this far along in his Gene phase. Especially since he knew where to call to keep tabs on her. Seems too contrived. Do they have to be?
Gotta agree with this wholeheartedly. I'll add: The fact that we didn't hear the conversation on the phone after Gene tries to connect with Kim came across as a cheap gimmick -- something used by lesser writers to keep the audience engaged when the storyline itself isn't strong enough to accomplish that. If I had to wager, I'd guess the writers originally had a simpler and easier out for Kim as she wasn't in Breaking Bad -- they didn't foresee a large contingent of the dude audience falling into an "Oh Kimmy, I have such a crush on you!" state. Because that character became so popular with a large part of the audience, I think the writers started second-guessing themselves on how to write her ending.
One thing from last night I wouldn’t have got—Francesca makes reference to Saul about how Pinkman’s car was found by the cops down by the border—that was Skinny Pete’s impromptu scheme to have Badger drive a car down that way to throw the cops off of Jesse in El Camino, which we just rewatched over this past weekend.
Makes me wonder if they had the full script done for this episode or if they had a loose idea, brought in Cranston and Paul, and then were tied to fitting in what they filmed.
Good, so he doesn't need to be Jesse for the rest of his life. He can stop any time, the sooner the better IMO.
This scene being at the end of the episode seems to tie into the title of the episode. Gene just had to go that extra unnecessary mile which will get him busted. How it all plays out from there is anybodies guess, I do see him busted here at this point. The prosecutor from ABQ becoming a defense attorney has to factor in somehow so maybe Jimmy/Saul/Gene is extradited back to NM to face charges and stand trial, maybe Jimmy/Saul/Gene sees this defense attorney as a bad sign and somehow Kim re enters the picture to defend him (after she passes the bar...). The 'maybes' make up a huge portion of what is to come next, that's for sure.
Last night it seemed like he was reading his lines off of a teleprompter. He and Cranston do commercials for a Chicago area liquor store and he does the same thing. Like, give me my check so I can blow this pop stand.
