Better Call Saul - Season Four Discussion & Digestion

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by EVOLVIST, Jul 25, 2018.

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  1. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    The regulation of television has a long history that doesn't include efforts to equate violence and dirty words on an offensiveness graph. Nevertheless, I hardly think the US is "prudish" when it comes to swear words (especially the "F" word).
     
  2. Veltri

    Veltri ♪♫♫♪♪♫♫♪

    Location:
    Canada
    On a similar note, the parental advisory this last episode was for language only, so that was a spoiler that cartel violence wouldn't be prominent.
     
  3. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    Actually if an attorney could bring a big book of lucrative law busknsss to an established firm, they would be made partner in a second. Attorneys like that are the superstars that law firms are always trying to find. Kim can keep the associate attorneys and paralegals st the firm busy and profitable. It is like manna from heaven to a law firm. At least this is what I have observed in my 35 years of law practice.
     
  4. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    If a big business generator in a law firm keeps
    Mesa Verde happy and supervises her team well within the firm, the other partners absolutely would let her do something she wanted to do. I have seen this many times in my 35 years of law practice. Big business generators are kept happy and handled with kid gloves by the firm because they are an incredibly precious commodity.
     
  5. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I have always really wanted to know a lot more about Gus’ background, ever since Don Eladio killed his partner but spared Gus because “we know who you are.” This is a fascinating part of this season for me.
     
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  6. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    To me it showed how beat down Howsrd must be to let down his polished guard and talk candidly to Jimmy. It also shows that Jimmy’s supposed big payday in Sandpiper could be turning into more of a remote possibility. If HHM can’t keep financing the case it could collapse.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2018
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  7. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    Someone coming to a law firm with a big book of business from a bank would absolutely be made a full equity partner immediately.
    Remember when Mesa Verde had one project to give a firm, Chuck and Howard were salivating over the revenue it would generate. Now Kim is bringing a firm many multiples of that amount of revenue. In my 35 years of law practice, only a few attorneys in any city control that dollar amount of business. Kim could have gone to any major firm and become a full partner immediately.

    When she walked into Rich’s firm and offered him this huge book of law businsss—that was Rich’a best work day in his entire life. That is how a senior partner of a law firm would view it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2018
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  8. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    In my 35 years of law practice I see the opposite all the time. The big business generator can pretty much do whatever they want. These attorneys are the superstars to be cherished and kept happy by the firm. Kim is bringing an unbelievably large amount of revenue to the law firm, from the models in Mesa Verde’s officd. That degree of bank expansion would immediately make Kim one of the very largest business generators in the firm.

    In fact Kim could have contacted a large New York law firm and set up an Albuquerque branch office for them with that amount of business and made a lot more money. The S&C law firm is almost too small time for what she has to offer.
     
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  9. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    Great post!
     
  10. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I am very different from many who have posted here. This season is my favorite season of Better Call Saul. I find it fascinating how the show is historically moving us to Breaking Bad, Season 1, Episode 1, with a lot of detailed backstory. I love that. How to do that now—this show is doing it in many very unexpected ways. I really appreciate that. I can’t wait to see what the remaining pieces of the puzzle are.

    What if the three prequel films in the Star Wars series had been really great and unpredictable? That is how I view BCS—a model of high quality prequel work. I am immensely entertained by this season of BCS.
     
  11. EVOLVIST

    EVOLVIST Kid A Thread Starter

    Like any consumer product there's a need for a bigger and better, more powerful, latest and greatest buzz. Even if it's not illegal, most of the stuff we buy gives us a greater high. Chocolate for some, sex-a-plenty, big screen TVs, and crank for hopheads.

    Have commodity will travel.

    Recall that when Gus first visited the cartel, they scoffed at Gus' meth, but Gus was sure of it. Indeed, we've seen that Gus is still sure of it, behind the cartel's back, as he has Gale testing flavors.

    It's Gus' certainty of meth's powers that eventually enamored him to Walter White.

    If the quality goes up, so does the quantity sold.

    Neil Young said, "It's all one song." I say it's all one drug.
     
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  12. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    I'm really enjoying this season also. My favorite too but I've really liked them all. I don't analyze them like some viewers do, I just like to sit back and be entertained.
     
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  13. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I have noticed this in other threads on this board on other TV shows. If a show is very good, but not incredibly exciting every moment, there seem to be people who will post that it is terrible and not worth seeing. I always wonder, isn’t there a midde ground? Not every episode of the most classic TV shows of all time was an absolute mindblower.
     
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  14. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I wonder what the odds are that the rebellious German worker, who wouldn’t leave the beer tap to listen to Mike, is killed before the project is over.

    I could see him disobeying all security requirements to go out for a night on the town and find a woman, only to be murdered by one of Gus’ men in a dark alley.
     
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  15. I'll just say I am part of the group that likes the World of The Cartel being a large part of the BCS Series. Thoroughly enjoying it all.

    If it concentrated solely on Jimmy as he transitions, it wouldn't be as entertaining IMO. If they had spent more time showing him as an Attorney (or even working his way up to becoming one), it would be another Lawyer show. BCS is like BB in that it shows the transformation of an individual from being a Decent Human Being into something less - even Evil. The World of Illegal Drugs is that Evil. Gotta show it.

    My 2 cents, YMMV. IMHO, etc.
     
  16. rontoon

    rontoon Animaniac

    Location:
    Highland Park, USA
    Yup.
     
  17. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I remember in Breaking Bad, after Gus is dead and Walter, Jesse and Mike set up their own meth business, Walter is upset at how much of the revenue goes to others. Mike says, do you think Gus set up his meth business in a day? It was 20 years of hard work.

    Walter destroyed the meth lab after killing Gus, and this now seems more amazingly destructive to me after seeing the lengths that Gus went to, in building the meth lab at the beginning.

    I now see that when Mike expresses some exasperation at Walter for having destroyed Gus’ meth business, part of that is because Mike had worked so hard to help set it up. That was not clear to me in Breaking Bad.

    While I was watching Breaking Bad, I had always imagined that the big laundry building had come with a large basement which was suitable for the meth lab and which Gus just needed to make very secure. Breaking Bad now seems more powerful to me, now that I see how patiently Gus played the long game to set up his meth empire—and what a huge amount of money Gus invested in his meth empire, with no certainty that it would succeed in a big way.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2018
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  18. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    my money is on them all getting the deep six.
     
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  19. balzac

    balzac Senior Member

    I think this season has been great. They're all pretty equally great in my mind.

    I do miss a bit of the courtroom-based (or other law firm-related) dealings Jimmy had in previous seasons; those were some of the funniest and most compelling bits. On another show, I might worry that not letting Jimmy practice law would lead to a lull. But they manage to scratch that particular itch in other ways, as Jimmy does kind of engage in the same thing whether he's "lawyering" or running a scam.

    The flashback scene with Kimmy/Jim/Chuck in earlier years at HHM was great and highlighted many things. One is that Jimmy clearly loves Kim, Chuck was always, well, *Chuck*, Jimmy could be a sad sack to the point of awkwardness, but also.... Lost occasionally in the murk of Jimmy's pre-law days as an "apparent* simpleton, and his "Saul" days as a seedy lawyer, is that Jimmy *had* to have been pretty sharp to pass the bar exam, especially going from zero apparent interest or drive in law to passing it. Yes, the "University of American Samoa" is not prestigious, and Jimmy is happy to take short cuts, etc. But, unless we end up learning that Jimmy somehow cheated on the bar exam (including failing prior to passing, as many lawyers do) by having someone else take the test for him (not an easy task I'm guessing, even in the mid-late 90s), Jimmy was able to absorb a lot of knowledge pretty quickly. We never see much of anyone react or show a lot of affirmation for this. We did get the flashback a few seasons ago where Jimmy tells Chuck he passed, and Chuck obviously seems surprised and does his deal with his mixture of ego/bravado/patronizing/backhanded compliments, etc.

    I'm not saying horrible lawyers, and some kind of ditzy people, have never managed to eek out a pass on the bar exam. But generally, it is not a super easy thing to pass. I've known several excellent lawyers who didn't pass on their first try. One lawyer I worked for took, I think, three times to pass?

    And I would tend to doubt Jimmy cheated on the bar exam, because if he was already shortcutting things, he wouldn't have presumably been able to take the cases that he had taken.
     
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  20. balzac

    balzac Senior Member

    I'm thinking this "Kai" guy will indeed have something more going on than simply being the "punk" of the group who acts out and eventually gets disciplined/fired. That seems a bit too simple for this show. At the very least, we'll see a more elaborate situation play out leading to the guy's death/killing.
     
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  21. balzac

    balzac Senior Member

    I know they portray the Mesa Verde guy as a bit of a big, "simple" sort of guy who delegates all the big legal/business stuff. But wouldn't he (and his underling Paige) be well aware that the huge expansions they're planning would be impossible for one single practitioner to handle?

    On the Mesa Verde side of things, what would a bank in their position usually do? If Kim *didn't* move them to a larger firm, would they just hope/assume Kim could still handle it on her own? Would they just assume Kim would "expand" her own firm? I mean, they are surely aware Kim literally doesn't even have an office and is practicing out of her home.

    I'm also curious, what do you think would be Mesa Verde's take on Kim moving the case to a larger firm? They'd presumably be billed a higher amount, right? Would they be happy to both have Kim still involved and have a large firm behind them? Or would they see it as a sign that Kim can't handle things, and/or that she's going to delegate to the point of not being involved?
     
  22. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    Very true about the bar ezam. Just about anyone who takes it anywhere is anxious about whether they will pass it. It is very difficult. I agree that Jimmy’s achievement is never given enough attention by anyone.
     
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  23. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    I would think that the Mesa Verde management would be happy that Kim was going to have a good law firm behind her, so that they would always have someone else to call if for no other reason
     
  24. mfidelity

    mfidelity Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Now that Kim is at S&C and HHM is unraveling, I'm thinking that it does not bode well for Jimmy's Sandpiper money. Maybe Kim gets put on the case (last week's HHM flashback highlighted Kim's love of contract law) and successfully defends Sandpiper? If HHM goes bankrupt and Davis & Main takes over the entire case would Jimmy be cut out of the settlement money? I'm assuming Jimmy's contract is with HHM.
     
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  25. snowman872

    snowman872 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wilcox, AZ
    In effect, the client would be changing representing to a totally new firm, even though Kim was there. The billing would likely be much, much higher than a solo lawyer working out of her home. The entire firm culture would be different than working just with Kim. Personalities and relationships matter a lot in legal representation. I doubt that is something they would just accept (at least in real life). The new firm might be a great match for them, but it might not - especially in light of their expansion plans. I would think Mesa Verde would look for a larger, reputable firm with a great deal of experience in interstate banking. And on top of that, it should be a firm they feel comfortable working with. Realistically, it is doubtful Kim's new firm would fit that bill well. Her decision to move to that firm was based on what was best for her life, not what would be best for Mesa Verde.
     
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