Better Call Saul, the TV series
- Thread starter Temis the Vorta
- Start date
Gotcha. I remember driving through Kansas on US-70 westbound many years ago on the eastern side, out of Kansas City, and I was shocked at how hilly and forested it was there. In fact, I remember seeing a massive swath of flattened trees at one point, no doubt by a prior tornado rambling through. As I moved farther west towards the eastern plains of Colorado, however, it got super-flat and nearly devoid of any flora. Much of what I've seen in Nebraska (and Wyoming) looked a lot like that as well, but yeah, I'm sure there are always exceptions and the odd feature that stands out starkly compared to the rest of the surrounding environment.
I found a playlist on YouTube that has all of the Gene scenes, although there's some overlap since the videos come from different sources.
I hadn't watched any of them since they originally aired, but one particular detail I had forgotten is that when Gene retrieved Ed's card, it was with a stash of diamonds. So money is definitely not an issue.
I hadn't watched any of them since they originally aired, but one particular detail I had forgotten is that when Gene retrieved Ed's card, it was with a stash of diamonds. So money is definitely not an issue.
Finally, the two storylines intersected. They converged with a bang, that's for sure. The person in the room who was probably the least corrupt or crooked, i.e. Howard, wound up dead. Where was the justice in that. It was a shame.
The way Jimmy and Kim's wicked scheme against Howard played out in the last few episodes actually turned Howard into a sympathetic figure, at least for me.
Jimmy was being Jimmy, as Howard explained; that is who Jimmy is, a shyster. Howard didn't expect that kind of behavior from Kim. But Kim is no innocent. She got away with stealing that necklace when she was a kid, and so far she has gotten away with her shenanigans with Jimmy.
I am anxious to find out what will happen to Kim. I wonder if Kim is going to get her comeuppance.
By the way, Lalo (Tony Dalton) has a resemblance to former Mexican president Vicente Fox.
The way Jimmy and Kim's wicked scheme against Howard played out in the last few episodes actually turned Howard into a sympathetic figure, at least for me.
Jimmy was being Jimmy, as Howard explained; that is who Jimmy is, a shyster. Howard didn't expect that kind of behavior from Kim. But Kim is no innocent. She got away with stealing that necklace when she was a kid, and so far she has gotten away with her shenanigans with Jimmy.
I am anxious to find out what will happen to Kim. I wonder if Kim is going to get her comeuppance.
By the way, Lalo (Tony Dalton) has a resemblance to former Mexican president Vicente Fox.
I've got a friend who's watching through and currently in season 2 and it's so hard to discuss it with him and remember what I can and can't say at any given point.
I had a friend who was a few episodes behind me who was convinced Nacho was in Breaking Bad. Suffice to say however shocked we were when Nacho died, my friend was much more so!
Weird. I thought the same thing too. Interesting little Mandela moment there…
He mentioned a theory to me that Hamlin got him the job at Davis & Main because Kim had threatened some kind of sexual harassment charge.
Responding to that in a way that only includes information he has at that point was challenging. Talking only about Howard's feelings toward Jimmy at the time and none of the later developments.
Responding to that in a way that only includes information he has at that point was challenging. Talking only about Howard's feelings toward Jimmy at the time and none of the later developments.
as was lalo..
My skin fucking crawled when Lalo slinked into the apartment and he's good at sucking the oxygen out of everything, despite being a smarter/more tuned in sociopath next to Todd.
Howard Hamlin wasn't a uniformaly great character and condescending, but his execution felt very brutal and unjust (effective, nuanced writing).
I was far more torn up over Nacho Vargo's suicide (saddest death in the franchise since Walt callously watching Jane die).
Howard Hamlin wasn't a uniformaly great character and condescending, but his execution felt very brutal and unjust (effective, nuanced writing).
I was far more torn up over Nacho Vargo's suicide (saddest death in the franchise since Walt callously watching Jane die).
Agree, Howard was almost like a caricature , the way he puffed his chest out, slapped on a smile, i can't have been on my own who laughed out loud when he got the pictures of Jimmy handing the frisbie to the guy with the moustache.
Wasn't sure he would die, didn't really think his character was important enough, it was a shock although as soon as Lalo entered the room you knew it would happen.
Agree on Vargo, i was hoping against hope he would find a way to survive and find redemption, if any character could have moved on, made different choices it could have been him, always seemed like there was a proper good guy under it all, a bit like Mike.
Personally think Mikes death was sadder than Jane's, especially after him being more of a main character in Better Call Saul. It almost had a Tasha Yar feel to it, clearly Walt felt it when he realised he didnt need to do it. For his grandaughter never to see him again and have no resolution on the reason seems incredibly sad.
Wasn't sure he would die, didn't really think his character was important enough, it was a shock although as soon as Lalo entered the room you knew it would happen.
Agree on Vargo, i was hoping against hope he would find a way to survive and find redemption, if any character could have moved on, made different choices it could have been him, always seemed like there was a proper good guy under it all, a bit like Mike.
Personally think Mikes death was sadder than Jane's, especially after him being more of a main character in Better Call Saul. It almost had a Tasha Yar feel to it, clearly Walt felt it when he realised he didnt need to do it. For his grandaughter never to see him again and have no resolution on the reason seems incredibly sad.
Jane's death was sadder (even though she was less relevant than Mike) because she was still almost a child really, and by feeling Jesse's emotions and reading an anecdote from a online acquaintance who lost a girlfriend to cancer when she was still very young, there's nothing sadder on Earth than losing a partner you fell in love with (even though Mike was trying to be a more moral dude than Walt ever did, under his gruff and stony exterior).
And Jane was robbed of her 2nd chance at leading a normal life like the still youngish Nacho was (while Jesse got out).
Early in my career (back in the early-mid 90’s), I had a manager exactly like that. They even look alike, which kind of freaked me out. Perfectly quaffed hair, perfect smile, polite (almost condescending) little laugh, pressed monogrammed shirts with the white collar, cuffs and a different pair of cuff links for each day of the week, insufferably arrogant and downright mean when the clients weren’t around.
I’ll admit that I learned a metric ass-ton from him about computer and multimedia production, which was my chosen path. That industry was still very much in its infancy in those days, pre-web, and such jobs were hard to come by, so I clenched my jaw and stuck with it for three and a half years. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and walked.
Others who stayed behind told me he flamed out epically. One of the many menial tasks I was ordered to do is keep an updated spreadsheet of all the things that our team did to justify our existence. After I left, it seems he felt it was beneath him to continue working on it himself and, at his next review about a year or so after I left, thinking he could just talk his way through it, crashed and burned. Seems his managers hated him as much as I did. When he didn’t have that spreadsheet to back his plays anymore, they started grinding him down. He eventually quit not long after that, once he realized that his chances of rising to senior executive in that company was destroyed.
Last I heard, he sold his boat, left the area and went into real estate sales. Karma is a fickle bitch.
Point is, there are actually people out there just like Howard. They may seem like caricatures, but that's a part of their persona, intentionally crafted, to appear larger-than-life. They exist and are worthy of avoidance, as they will never hesitate to use someone else for their own leverage and advancement.
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Objectively with real world logic Jane’s is sadder, but narratively Mike’s is. As a viewer of a TV show, you don’t get as invested in Jane because of the blackmail and ensuing attitude. I feel worse for John Delancie’s character than Jane.
I’m torn on whether Todd was just a psychopath or whether he just had a broken moral compass due to being raised by Nazis. Todd seemed capable of empathy more than some of the other villains, he was just taught a criminal way of life where life is expendable. I got the sense of he was raised by a normal family he would have been a normal person. Whereas villains like Lalo would be murderers regardless of upbringing.
I’m torn on whether Todd was just a psychopath or whether he just had a broken moral compass due to being raised by Nazis. Todd seemed capable of empathy more than some of the other villains, he was just taught a criminal way of life where life is expendable. I got the sense of he was raised by a normal family he would have been a normal person. Whereas villains like Lalo would be murderers regardless of upbringing.
Hopefully I am not thinking Kim is the saddest in a few weeks time.
Hank was quite sad, when he told Marie he loved her you just knew what was coming next.
The saddest might be Andrea.
Objectively some of the saddest are the side casualties we know nothing about. Drew Sharp, Matt Earmantraut, Mike’s Good Samaritan, travel agency guy, random civilian shot by twins in Hank hit. Random border crossers when twins got recognized, the guy who doomed them all by recognizing the twins’ boots.
Objectively some of the saddest are the side casualties we know nothing about. Drew Sharp, Matt Earmantraut, Mike’s Good Samaritan, travel agency guy, random civilian shot by twins in Hank hit. Random border crossers when twins got recognized, the guy who doomed them all by recognizing the twins’ boots.
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Andrea was certainly very sad.
I felt really sad about both of them (but you wonder what Jane's father did wrong for such a sweet, intelligent girl to get hooked on heroin).
Mike was a hired killer and gang enforcer who a decade or two back dabbled in police corruption (ruining his family), then shot an unarmed man in the back of the head on Gus' orders (even though it clearly emotionally marred him when he verbally exploded at his grand daughter). He's palpatable to viewers due to his strong moral centre and sense of justice, even if it's become pretty warped and crumbling:
Nope, Todd was a flat out psychopath and he had a poor, poor theory of mind (he casually popped his cleaning lady who happened upon his stash of cash FFS) and his clumsy attempts at personal bonding were his attempt to curry favour with superiors or to control his slave Jesse.