Better Call Saul - Season Four Discussion & Digestion

I found the first episode riveting from the moment he broke down about the fear of losing his family. The "ducks" reference was redundent in BB where they took the same idea and in my opinion didn't expand on it but rather basically told the same story again and just threw away any kind of factor like a person truly trying to be better and just straight up being "bad".

This is why I think if Walt as more a sociopath/narcissist and Tony as just a thug doing his job but still having a conscious about it.

Does anyone else pick up on the Mary Sue vibe that not only Walt has but the schemes that strech credibility like a rubber band in BCS as well?

Criticize the ending to the Sooranos sll one wants, but gotta admit that it was revolutionary and had many of us wanting to bamg the TV because of it. Never in my entire life will I ever be "wacked" like that again.

 

I was hoping to see more Nacho in the second half of the season, but perhaps there are scheduling conflicts with Michael Mando filming the new Spider-Man movie?

 

Just to throw my 2 cents in. I always thought Walter White was a d$%^&*bag that told himself he was doing it for his family. He made a lot of mistakes because of his arrogance. Tony Soprano was exactly what you saw, warts & all. A thug trying to makes sense out of life. Both are great characters.

As far as my opinion goes about BCS, I like it & faithfully watch it but it's not even in my top 10 of all time favourite shows. Breaking Bad is in my top 5.

 

I think whether one prefers BB vs Sopranos could very well boil down to how you were raised and if the characters rang true to you. If you had supportive parents, possibly raised in the south or midwest or at least have a preference to New Mexico over New Jersey, you may like BB better. And if your parents were always arguing, not very supportive, you may like Sopranos better. Anyone agree with that theory?

Again, I don't see how that was the big domino. Jimmy was just being Jimmy when he retaliated against Chuck like that. Chuck reacting was just as big a domino. If he hadn't told the client they were wrong or chased down the copy center where Jimmy did it, or had his episode and whacked his head on the table or let Jimmy play him in court...all dominos that were just as big.

Not only did you make a comparison in that regard but you do it again:

We all have good in us. We all have evil in us. Was Dostoevsky also only humanizing an evil by letting you into the mind of Rodion Raskolnikov? There is plenty to learn about humanity by watching Sopranos. And unless you're being hypocritical, you can draw no dividing line that separates WW from TS as "a true anti-hero" vs "a really bad guy with no excuses".

 

I think the success of the final scene is if the viewer buys into it as well, or if we think Kim should, I didn't for both - I always feel like jimmy is on the grift in some way and was surprised with kim but I guess her feelings ('he HAS to harbor feelings for his brother deep down"), still liked the final whipping around and saying 's' all good man'....still decent finale. with sad but well executed final scene for werner (no pun).

cant compare sopranos with BCS, so different, I think the first 2 seasons of sopranos are top shelf though, started to slide a bit after that. BB was a good show I really enjoyed it at the time, but I wouldn't put it in the top echelon. BCS is a stranger show.....maybe not top echelon but still really good

 

nah, they map out these things way in advance

that's a joke right , lol

 

I didn’t like this season as much as I liked the previous one. Not enough tension!

 

I don’t think it’s surprising at all. The shows mentioned—BB and “The Sopranos,” at least—are concerned with the integrity, and ultimately the fates, of their characters. Are the things they’re doing good—or bad? Why do they do what they do? How do their choices affect other people?

“Better Call Saul” is great, and I think better in this respect than BB, because it’s not a simple morality tale. Jimmy’s character is complicated enough that you can spend a lot of time analyzing the ethics and motivations of his actions. There is no doubt Chuck deeply wounded him. One of the great things about Bob Odenkirk’s performance in “Winner” is the contrast he portrays between the naive Jimmy who’d just been admitted to the bar, who honestly can’t tell that his brother is ashamed of him, and the totally cynical Jimmy of today who knew the score, hated his brother, and felt no compunction about cashing in on him toward selfish ends. Yet, still, Chuck is not responsible for Jimmy’s actions. Only Jimmy is. Part of what makes Jimmy Saul is something that was in Jimmy all along, even before he acquired the excuse of a brother who hated him and put him down: the Jimmy who stole from his dad, because he could sense weakness and wanted to exploit it.

 

I agree with much of that, but I don't think Jimmy stole from his dad to exploit the weakness. He had tried to address the weakness with his dad by pointing out the scam and telling his dad not to be a sucker. His dad didn't listen.

 

I think that’s true — he was troubled by his dad’s weakness and didn’t want him to be a chump. But he didn’t steal from his dad to teach him a lesson. He stole from his dad because he could.

 

I think the experience informed his "me or them" mentality, where he decided there were two kinds of people in the world: those who either scam or are scammed. His dad would go right on gifting his hard-earned money to any scam artist who walked in the convenience store, and rather than let that eat away at him, Jimmy decided to preempt it at every opportunity by stealing from the cash register. His way of saying he wouldn't be joining his dad in letting people take advantage of him. This is probably what motivated him to be a lawyer, rather than be pushed around as the mail room guy.

 

I think the end of the season is a set up for some crazy stuff to come. Saul and Mike are full on.

 

Ive been watching earlier seasons again. Man, when Mike is talking to his daughter inlaw and admitting what happened with Matty, that was some heartwrenching stuff. That whole thing with his son, gutted Mike.

 

it was brilliant, so many finales fade over time, not that one

 

Watching the episode in which Mike sets up Tuco to commit a felony. Nacho says "Plus, when Tuco gets out?"

I think this next season will definitely have a strong possibility of a Mike/Tuco showdown of some sort. Thing is, I cant recall Mike or Gus having any contact or even mentioning Tuco in Breaking Bad.

Still, it doesnt negate the possibility. Tuco is such a strong character though that I can only see him as solo, not as a gang with Lalo.

I think Saul will get involved in Tucos case some way or another. Nacho will be revealed as a trader....and all hell breaking loose.

Lalo is the only character that rivals Tuco as far as a loose canon scarey mo-fo. I can see Tuco and Lalo having some sort of convo about the unresolved situation.

Tuco has had a lot of time to get pissed.

 

It just hit me that there is no episode tonight!

 

Personally I'm going to set up my "Better Call Saul" action figures and play out some scenes. I particularly like using my Gene action figure with icing squeeze tube grip.

 

Quelle tragedie!

 

Same this side.

 

Hearing Jimmy and Mike in Incredibles 2 was pretty cool. When the sister was introduced the wife and I were a little let down it wasn't Kim.

 

Watching all the seasons again.

Im starting to have a strange urge to buy coleman laterns and line my scrubs with foil.

Just the other day I had to correct a nurse that you dont just rip the bandage off the woundsite...."thumb roll!...thumb roll!"

 

Majorly disagree. Started watching BB again, just ran through season 4 and going on into 5, re-watching for the first time.

BCS is an interesting character study of two brothers along with some courtroom drama. Much more lighthearted than BB.

There were many moments re-watching BB S4 where I got chills (probably the show's best season, either that or S2). BCS holds my interest more than anything, and I've enjoyed all four seasons a lot. But it doesn't have the reach, the stakes and the scope of BB (very different shows). I thought a lot of BCS S4 was water-treading.

 

My comments about it being better had to do with BCS Seasons 1-3.

While I liked Season 4, it was more on the level of BB than what it had previously established.

Anyway, I think BCS Seasons 1-3 had greater reach than BB, as well as better characters (other than Walt).

You like BB more - that's fine; most people do.

 

Just seems like a lot of tension is being wrung out by the fact that this is a prequel show. So therefore, we know next to little happens to Mike or Gus. We know Jimmy / Saul survives. The only people we have to be concerned with are Kim and Nacho. And granted, it's not the type of show where the character's survival is some pivotal thing. Just can't believe they spent an entire season getting from Jimmy to Saul where not much happened besides more Gilligan-esque schemes. The building of the superlab has been an interesting diversion, and a good arc for Mike, but I'm not sure what more there is to than that.

And speaking of Nacho, did they forget about the character this season after the faking of the shooting out in the desert? Michael Mando is such a great actor, seems like a missed opportunity to not include Nacho in more of the goings-on with Jimmy, Kim, Gus & Mike.

You never got the vibe that a central character was being left out of Breaking Bad. They were able to weave just about everyone's storylines together in some fashion.

All that said, I have really enjoyed BCS. Though I found this season a bit underwhelming, while still enjoyable. Gilligan and his team are very good at what they do.