Let's get it!

Hank and them were so much sloppier with their placement of those tracking devices.

Mike's story is often the most interesting

Mike taking on jobs is what I look forward to in every episode.
It's kinda like preparing for a job in GTA 5.

>It's kinda like preparing for a job in GTA 5.

on this Better Call Saul makes it even that much crazier at who took him out in Breaking Bad.

I absolutely loathe that guy.

Not that Jimmy is a saint or anything given that we know how he turns out but Chuck is a brand of scumbag all his own. I was somewhat understanding until Ernesto's comment on the last ep of season 2.

He's that dude who says he despises his deadbeat relative based on some moral standard but ultimately wants/needs that relative to remain a deadbeat to help boost his own smug sense of superiority. This is particularly glaring in light of everything Jimmy has done to take Carr of Chuck. Jimmy is admirably selfless in that regard.

Yet, it's not enough for Chuck to simply look down on Jimmy. He has to put Jimmy to the floor and stand in his neck at every turn.

It's been increasingly clear over two seasons, but this premiere just underscores it. That was a perfectly run con operation.

Jimmy uses his understanding of people and the law to manipulate the system... but Chuck uses his understanding of people and the law to manipulate people, period. That's why he was so shocked end of last season, because he thought, end of the day, that Jimmy would never turn on him like *that,* and he underestimated just how smart/devious Jimmy can be when he operates outside of the law. But he's clearly not going to make that mistake again. He's going to turn everyone against Jimmy-- everyone-- without stepping one toe outside of the law. He's going to try to win his way.

They're both the same son of a bitch... but Chuck has sanctimoniousness in his game, whereas Jimmy has shamelessness. Flip sides of a coin.

This is why I made distinction specifically in terms of His relationship to Jimmy.

In Jimmy's case, he made a move against Chuck that ultimately didn't hurt him that bad but was also deserved. Chuck couldn't simply let Kim bounce with a good client that HHM really didn't need; he had to be greedy and cut the legs out from under her and, by extension, Jimmy. Chuck lets them have that one bone and all is well.

It cost him a client and his rep took a hit but in the grand scheme of things he would have been just fine. Jimmy's move on Chuck was more about helping Kim (and yes, by extension, himself) in salvaging a client that Kim earned but not malicious at heart.

Conversely, Jimmy ultimately shows his love for and loyalty to Chuck to his own detriment.

The skill and scope of their respective gamesmanship might be two sides of a coin but I think the heart of each character relative to the other has a very clear distinction.

no one's in chuck's life that isn't making tremendous sacrifices to be in his presence.

we'll see how the stories play out, because i'm assuming we'll all end in shades of grey, but he's definitely worse than jimmy so far.

he hates jimmy because people like jimmy, but he never wants to put any work into people because they just complicate his ordered view of the world and the law.

>no one's in chuck's life that isn't making tremendous
>sacrifices to be in his presence.
>
>we'll see how the stories play out, because i'm assuming we'll
>all end in shades of grey, but he's definitely worse than
>jimmy so far.
>
>he hates jimmy because people like jimmy, but he never wants
>to put any work into people because they just complicate his
>ordered view of the world and the law.

That last paragraph is definitely on point.

>The skill and scope of their respective gamesmanship might be
>two sides of a coin but I think the heart of each character
>relative to the other has a very clear distinction.

They still are ultimately both using people. Jimmy's heart may be in a more Robin Hood place, where he fucks with people who he thinks can take it, but he doesn't really consider ramifications as well as he should. Chuck doesn't consider ramifications, but because he's a sanctimonious "I'm within the confines of the law" type, he doesn't really feel he has to, as the law is on his side. Whereas Jimmy, as we saw this week with the military guy, definitely feels hurt by allegations that he's a "bad guy."

But I'm not sure Jimmy *doesn't* hurt people. And I'd imagine as the show progresses, we'll see what Jimmy leaves in his wake. That military guy scene definitely hinted at that last episode.

>In Jimmy's case, he made a move against Chuck that ultimately
>didn't hurt him that bad

Except for almost killing him, yeah. :) Nah, I agree, although I can also see how fucking with an old guy's reputation is probably the biggest slap in the face you could give him.

i forgot this premiered this week, but it became obvious a few minutes in, that I forgot so much from last season. I might peep the last episode of S2 again for a refresher

>was somewhat understanding until Ernesto's comment on the last
>ep of season 2.

Jimmy

mainly because i forgot what happened at the end of Season 2

the Mike parts definitely made this episode

Chuck is a piece of shit human being

more action (or lack of) and less words

That was my take. It didn't seem like an accident.

Maybe he is hoping Ernesto will gossip about it? Or Ernesto could be used as a witness instead of using the tape as evidence?

He left it on play and asked him to swap out the batteries

Chuck wants Ernesto to go to Jimmy about it, then will wait for Jimmy to panic and do something dumb to get him in trouble.

Ernesto probably doesn't know what the tape is about since he only heard a couple of seconds. But he heard Jimmy's voice on it, and Chuck flipping out when it "accidentally" started playing. So good chance he's gonna tell Jimmy about it.

My hope is that Ernesto goes to Jimmy but Jimmy smells the trap, finally stops caring for Chuck and we get a season of maneuvering before Chuck finally eats shit.

>finally stops caring for Chuck

as long as Ernesto tells him exactly how it went down. In Jimmy's area of expertise, this is a step above the skater twins scam.

If there is anyone that should be able to sniff out a scam, it's Slippin' Jimmy. But yeah, will probably come down to Ernesto telling him exactly how it went down.

I loved how old girl said "lilies of the valley" when she was leaving Jimmy's office...

Fring back! Victor back! Honey Tits back!

Jimmy telling her to be folksy on the phone by mentioning Cracker Barrell was hilarious to me.

Again, Mike doing his thing. Gus being super cautious and one step ahead of everyone like always.

And shit hitting the fan with Jimmy and Chuck.

This episode was a ton of fun for me.

I mean, is it necessary to have the exact same actress play his receptionist years earlier? No. But it is a nice touch.

That last scene was some great acting by Odenkirk.

I love viewing the world they created with these two shows so much. They do a great job. I've watched all these seasons of BB/BCS several times. Replay value holds up for me, largely because of the attention to detail.

I saw Victor and was like, run, homie!

V.

And agree with everyone talking about the attention to detail. That's what makes it so enjoyable to me, and rewards repeat viewings. The show can plod along at a snail's pace and it doesn't matter because the writing and the acting is so superb, and the detail-oriented nature of the show makes even the slowest moments (Kim making phone calls, Mike ripping apart a car in silence, etc.) feel riveting.

Brilliant show. Really enjoying this season thus far.

I've never been one who's believed that the Jimmy stuff is boring and the Mike stuff is the show's sweet spot, but I think the time has come to move the show on from Jimmy vs. Chuck. While I'm happy that Gilligan and crew decided to put the inevitable confrontation over the tape in the second episode, what I would find really insufferable is if they dragged out the court battle and the eventual settlement until the season finale. Mike slowly figuring things out has made good TV; I doubt a protracted trial/negotiation over the name of Jimmy McGill would be particularly enthralling.

And yes, Mike's investigation was awesome. I seriously marked out as soon as I saw Gus' yellow shirt in the background. And when Victor showed up in the SUV. Glad things are taking shape on that front.

One last thing I'll note is that Chuck really didn't know Jimmy. He thought Jimmy would show up to steal from him in the dark of night to protect his own ass. But Jimmy went Godzilla in broad daylight, knowing that Chuck's tape was useless as evidence, because it was the fact that Chuck's own betrayal that angered him the most.

but like Chuck, i didn't take emotion into consideration

i kind of agree, i hope Jimmy vs Chuck doesn't drag on too long, but I'm kind of expecting it to.

Jimmy looked obvious as hell watching Gus's guy

but I'm just tired of seeing him on the show. Michael McKean does a brilliant job as Chuck, but I feel like enough is enough. Move on with it.

>I've never been one who's believed that the Jimmy stuff is
>boring and the Mike stuff is the show's sweet spot, but I
>think the time has come to move the show on from Jimmy vs.
>Chuck. While I'm happy that Gilligan and crew decided to put
>the inevitable confrontation over the tape in the second
>episode, what I would find really insufferable is if they
>dragged out the court battle and the eventual settlement until
>the season finale. Mike slowly figuring things out has made
>good TV; I doubt a protracted trial/negotiation over the name
>of Jimmy McGill would be particularly enthralling.
>
>And yes, Mike's investigation was awesome. I seriously marked
>out as soon as I saw Gus' yellow shirt in the background. And
>when Victor showed up in the SUV. Glad things are taking shape
>on that front.
>
>One last thing I'll note is that Chuck really didn't know
>Jimmy. He thought Jimmy would show up to steal from him in the
>dark of night to protect his own ass. But Jimmy went Godzilla
>in broad daylight, knowing that Chuck's tape was useless as
>evidence, because it was the fact that Chuck's own betrayal
>that angered him the most.

I'd forgotten this, but in BB when Saul first hips Walt and Jesse to the Chicken Man, he tells them that he "knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy." Now, I guess it's plausible that they can say that Saul was lying at that moment, but later in the show he seems genuinely surprised that Mike, who he refers to as his "investigator," is in reality an enforcer for a cartel.

So are they going to retcon things? Or does Jimmy/Saul become a criminal attorney through other means, like via Nacho.

but i do remember Saul was legit surprised when Mike said "the boss won't like it"

This might be the only time he ever interacts with Gus

>I'd forgotten this, but in BB when Saul first hips Walt and
>Jesse to the Chicken Man, he tells them that he "knows a guy
>who knows a guy who knows a guy." Now, I guess it's plausible
>that they can say that Saul was lying at that moment, but
>later in the show he seems genuinely surprised that Mike, who
>he refers to as his "investigator," is in reality an enforcer
>for a cartel.
>
>So are they going to retcon things? Or does Jimmy/Saul become
>a criminal attorney through other means, like via Nacho.

...and by extension, do work for Gus too. But it's certainly possible that he gets his start with Nacho and then eventually the Salamancas.

Then he says something like, "Helado didn't send you?" Kind of hard to make up who's name he says.

When Walt and Jesse had on masks and had him out in the dessert.

If so, it will be more interactions where Jimmy has no idea who he's dealing with.

But with all the Breaking Bad callbacks they've done, they can't go back on that "I know a guy who knows a guy....who knows another guy" thing. The show was just too popular and fans would be all over it. I don't see them making it like Jimmy/Saul was lying either. As far as I know, none of their Breaking Bad callbacks have changed the way we view anything about that show.

is all just a goose chase/test of Mike's skill-set, right?

so then Gus let his guy know someone was tailing him then they switched it up to a wild goose chase.

Jimmy moving his seat and seeming to blatantly stare at the guy, and then Gus approaching him when he was digging through the garbage had me thinking that Gus was on to him. We know how observant Gus is. He knew Jesse was high before his initial meeting with Walt/Jesse before he ever went over to Walt. He damn sure had to notice Jimmy changing seats and staring at his guy.

Gus taking out the trash(I think that's what he did when he went out there) when Jimmy was sitting with Mike in the car confirmed it, IMO.

Mike's grandaughter could have done less conspicuous recon. I was damn near shocked how badly Jimmy sucked at this

it seems Gus's presence, or sweeping was a tip off for the guy not to make his drop

For two reasons: one in that he's the one that chose to use Jimmy and secondly in that he choose to steak-out Gus' operation directly across the street from him in almost plain sight.

I'm not sure which was worse; I think using the location across the street to spy on Gus AND using that same spot to have him talk to Jimmy right after Jimmy was in the fast food spot was just plain idiotic. Seeing how sharp Mike has been on this show and Breaking Bad, that was glaringly stupid.

But I guess Gus has to catch on the Mike somehow to move the story along, so it is what it is in a sense.

I figured "the drop" was that the guy put the bag on the ground, along with whatever he was dropping off, and Gus just swept it up into his dustpan. It's why he was "sweeping" around the tables with his back facing outwards: he'd block anyone from seeing he was actually surreptiously picking up the merchandise.

I didn't follow if Gus was sweeping something from the dude, or sweeping something to the dude, but the implication that there was an exchange was there imo

In addition, with Jimmy being so focused on the guy with the backpack, he completely forgot to mention to Mike about Gus and how he just happened to stand right in his line of sight while sweeping.

In fact, him not mentioning Gus at ALL to Mike was probably the biggest mistake made (other than having Jimmy do recon in the first place, as others have mentioned).

>In addition, with Jimmy being so focused on the guy with the
>backpack, he completely forgot to mention to Mike about Gus
>and how he just happened to stand right in his line of sight
>while sweeping.
>
>In fact, him not mentioning Gus at ALL to Mike was probably
>the biggest mistake made (other than having Jimmy do recon in
>the first place, as others have mentioned).


You have to remember neither Jimmy nor Mike know who Gus is at this point.

He never breaks character. I can't decide if that's brilliant or just weird. Like most professional stiffs eventually break character and joke around with somebody. He's just consistently robotic in all his interactions. Even when he's jumping a fence to get to Chuck's house he straightens up his posture and jacket immediately as if he can't ever loosen up just a tad bit.

V.

or how he runs

To me, Howard is the type of person that thinks EVERYTHING is beneath him.

Hilarious.

I wanted to punch him in the face

just made me think about his so-called condition at the fact he didn't get all crazy with all the supposed electricity that would make him all antsy when he previously stepped outside of his house. He seemed calmed and very relaxed as he was talking to Jimmy.


I'm assuming of course that he didn't wear that aluminum padded contraption he worse in prior seasons when he stepped outside of his house.

Jimmy's comeback was ice cold and on point.

I wonder percentage-wise, how much of Chuck's change of heart is out of genuine love and concern for his brother, and how much is about him simply being terrified of everything Jimmy said.

Chuck didn't have a change of heart at all! He played up the crocodile tears in order to suggest the PPD as the more "humane" solution but ultimately he's coming after Jimmy's law degree. He's trying to get Jimmy to basically disbar himself. It's a dirty, POS, humiliation move

>Jimmy's comeback was ice cold and on point.
>
>I wonder percentage-wise, how much of Chuck's change of heart
>is out of genuine love and concern for his brother, and how
>much is about him simply being terrified of everything Jimmy
>said.

i completely blanked about his conversation with Kim

>Chuck didn't have a change of heart at all! He played up the
>crocodile tears in order to suggest the PPD as the more
>"humane" solution but ultimately he's coming after Jimmy's law
>degree. He's trying to get Jimmy to basically disbar himself.
> It's a dirty, POS, humiliation move

Like, you orchestrate it so that he'll do something to further your own little agenda, and then fire him for doing it? Like, you couldn't ask Howard to just re-assign him? Fuck Chuck.

Best episode of the season so far.
That cartel stuff was great.
Fring's patience? Man.
And his speech to his employees..ha ha.

I almost forgot about Jimmy and Kim until they appeared 40 minutes in.
Speaking of, I'm hyped to see what they have planned.
They've setup something but I don't know what.

>Best episode of the season so far.
>That cartel stuff was great.
>Fring's patience? Man.
>And his speech to his employees..ha ha.
>
>I almost forgot about Jimmy and Kim until they appeared 40
>minutes in.
>Speaking of, I'm hyped to see what they have planned.
>They've setup something but I don't know what.

We know where the Mike and Gus story is going big picture- wise which is fine, because getting the backstory is fascinating to me.

And yeah, I'm into Jimmy's story too. I don't have a clue what Kim was going for at the end there, so I'm intrigued about what is next.

Her spiel to Chuck/Howard at the end was her confirming that there was more than one copy of the tape. Because, I'm guessing that when Jimmy & Kim sent Mike over to fix the door, he snagged the original copy of the tape. During Jimmy and Mike's lunch meeting, they look over the pictures, and then Mike hands Jimmy an envelope. Jimmy says something to the effect of "Where did you find it?" and Mike doesn't answer. I'm guessing that was the original copy of the cassette. And now they know that was the original and Jimmy destroyed what was probably the only other copy.

In a broader sense, I'm guessing that Kim's defense of Jimmy is going to entail that while Jimmy overreacted, Chuck is mentally unbalanced and a danger to himself and possibly suffering paranoid delusions. Mike's photos will sure how crazy and unsafe things look inside of the house. They could call in Ernesto and possibly the guy who worked at the Copy store to establish that Chuck has been acting irrationally. They'll probably even call in the doctor from Season 1 to establish that Chuck's "disease" is all in his head.

Another possibly that my wife thought of is that Jimmy kept on telling Chuck that he had to be careful about the dangerous/unsafe condition around his home and that the city could come through any day and red tag the home and evict him for health and safety reasons. Maybe they're setting up Jimmy sending the photos to the city to get Chuck kicked out of his home. That's less likely, but still a possibility.

right?

I mean its going to come up how he got the pictures. All it would take is a simple phone call to the repair company to find out the appointment was cancelled. Then they could piece together it was Jimmy that had a guy play handyman to get in and take pictures. Or is it more important to make Chuck look crazy? Have him look crazy and by the time he puts it all together it is too late?

than the court's (implying his illegal tape could be used).

But the flipside is that Jimmy's pictures, though obtained by shady means, might be usable too.

>Her spiel to Chuck/Howard at the end was her confirming that
>there was more than one copy of the tape. Because, I'm
>guessing that when Jimmy & Kim sent Mike over to fix the door,
>he snagged the original copy of the tape. During Jimmy and
>Mike's lunch meeting, they look over the pictures, and then
>Mike hands Jimmy an envelope. Jimmy says something to the
>effect of "Where did you find it?" and Mike doesn't answer.
>I'm guessing that was the original copy of the cassette. And
>now they know that was the original and Jimmy destroyed what
>was probably the only other copy.

Saul unfolded it and looked at it.
Mike said he got it out of Chuck's address book.

>and then
>Mike hands Jimmy an envelope. Jimmy says something to the
>effect of "Where did you find it?" and Mike doesn't answer.
>I'm guessing that was the original copy of the cassette. And
>now they know that was the original and Jimmy destroyed what
>was probably the only other copy.

...it's the contact info for Chuck's Ex wife. They call her in to say how unstable Chuck became and how his "disorder" is in his head.

They still must have neutralized that tape somehow. That convo confirming the orignal was locked up meant something important.

>They still must have neutralized that tape somehow. That convo
>confirming the orignal was locked up meant something
>important.

it looked more like they were just confirming that there was actually an original copy in existence.

V.

>I almost forgot about Jimmy and Kim until they appeared 40
>minutes in.
>Speaking of, I'm hyped to see what they have planned.
>They've setup something but I don't know what.

i assumed she was taping that convo to prove Saul was setup.... but it could simply be that they confirmed there was only one other tape and that they destroyed it already

after seeing the ending, they have to have something good for jimmy to stay chill like that. I wanted him to just say forget it and not do the deal.

That made me incredibly happy to see him show up.

nm

I knew right there the triumphant return of Huell was imminent.

I felt sorry for him and you can tell Jimmy did too. But damn such a good episode.

I hope he starts calling himself Reek by the end of the season

Like, they all realized he was done and would never be looked at the same way.

Great episode, great build up, great finish.

there are so many parts to the story of Saul Goodman. But when there is something important that needs to be told they spend the appropriate time with that part of the story. Just like Mike's back story in the 2nd season I think it was. This needed the entire hour and they did an amazing job with it.

i coulda watched multiple hours of alla them just going toe to toe in the court room. putting Howard AND Chuck on the spot was glorious.

V.

I was hoping he'd have a heart attack or a stroke.

He's one of the truly awful people in a subsect of a universe filled with awful people.

I count him as one of the worst due to his subversive nature. He’s hiding his malice behind a principle he genuinely believes in. While the principle is objectively valid, it quickly falls apart absent the vacuum of his presentation. Hell, Jimmy’s actions are a direct result of Chuck’s own heavy handed disdain for Jimmy. His move to steal Kim’s big fish client was rooted, to a smaller degree, in greed and to a higher degree, his desire for Jimmy to fail and he had no problem whatsoever with Kim taking damage in the process.

Chuck is essentially a picture of an insidious corruption of power.

He does things that are “legal” but not necessarily just. It’s not that Jimmy is a saint or anything, but time and again he’s shown true affection for Chuck even when that exercise of affection is a detriment to himself. Chuck never reciprocates that affection. Even the act of giving Jimmy a job at the firm serves as a shining example of how awful Chuck is, as he shows so much displeasure to see Jimmy rise above the level of a lowly mail clerk.

Chuck has to ensure that Jimmy is viewed as a bottom feeder in direct contrast to his own lofty stature. It’s not enough for Chuck to succeed; he needs to ensure he keeps his foot on his brother’s neck at the same time and he employs some truly awful methods in the process.

Frankly I could watch Chuck catch a Walter White Bike Lock Special while happily eating a meal. Chuck may not be a murder or meth trafficker, but he’s a particularly hideous and subversive type of person.

Fuck ‘em.

I hope we get to see him slowly go insane for the rest of the season. Not that he isnt already insane. But he deserves a nice slow painful "death". This time there will be an audience to witness him going crazy.

I think he's one of my top three most hated television characters
and definitely the worst television brother of all time. Yes, I realize the the Lannisters have a lot of brothers.

For all the reasons outlined above by others. Fuck him.

... said it all. That was amazing stuff. Glad he's finally getting recognized for the dick he is.

catching up as it was just put on Netflix

I'm very happy.

This season has been much better than S2

NM

I cheered at the end of the episode.

Granted this is off of one viewing right after but it's arguably as well written as anything on BB.

With a better first season IMO

Season for season it has been so much better. But they have a huge advantage with an established world. Characters that people already love and stories that have already been told. All they gotta do is show the journey on how they got there.

>Season for season it has been so much better.

I agree.

>But they have
>a huge advantage with an established world. Characters that
>people already love and stories that have already been told.
>All they gotta do is show the journey on how they got there.

I think they deserve more credit than "all they gotta do is show the journey..." though it's pretty clear that the way your statement is written, and what you actually mean, aren't the same thing.

I don't necessarily disagree that the show has a sort of built-in advantage in having the established, beloved BB guys as the main players, but to give too much credence to that is to short-sell the brilliance of the writing and acting, and the overall attention to detail thus far in BCS.

Obviously there's no possible way for me to ever know this for sure but I can be all but certain that if BB didn't exist, I'd still love BCS.

obviously it'd yoke viewers for a show that, like its predecessor, is probably not as successful as its benefactors hoped it would be because so many people came to BB late and fell in love with Gus and Mike.

but the degree of difficulty involved in telling origin stories for all of the peripheral characters to BB while maintaining the level of nuance and ability to playfully adjust typical narrative threads to catch the audience by surprise that all these characters are known for has to be high as hell. It was one thing to establish the precision of Gus and Mike through a season and a half, two and a half seasons of maybe a feature film's worth of screen time. These are now characters, at least in Mike's case, extremely central to the story they're telling and at every turn the BCS writers have to live up to the mythos they built around these characters and their businesses in limited time previously.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

This season has been strong though

and the amount of beautiful framing of shots in ep after ep, really gets my artsy-fartsy side giddy as hell

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=719857&mesg_id=719857&page=#721664

You keep doing this it's gonna lose some credence.

An episode of a series that's one of the best of the show's run deserves prasie especially when the said show has been hitting home runs week after week.

You OKP niggas are on one I swear.

fx is basically batting in a home run derby right now

that was one of my favorite episodes of anything ever.

Jimmy was far more devious since he drug up Chuck's ex-wife to further embarrass him that much more devastatingly.

I guess I am the lone contrarian here because I won't view Chuck solely as the evil antagonist folks view him; Jimmy did in fact turn into the scumbag lawyer he is imagining in his efforts to disbar Jimmy. Clearly the dude is flawed in many ways, but he has his reasons for his actions towards Jimmy.

At this point, I'm mainly curious if Kim will catch any L's when Jimmy goes the Saul Goodman role.

He's also brimming with redemptive qualities and as you pointed out, he's essentially a Chuck creation. Jimmy continually reacts and has to claw and scratch in response to the continued, long term efforts of Chuck to undermine him.

Further, a large portion of Jimmy's underhandedness comes in the form of an attempt to help someone he cares about and when it comes down to it he will hurt himself rather than hurt Kim or Chuck.

In fact there's a strong argument that Jimmy turns out to be a reasonably upstanding lawyer with Chuck's support.

Jimmy, if anything, is a study on the push-pull of the old nature/nurture debate. Conversely, Chuck is a study in ice cold sociopathy.

>Jimmy was far more devious since he drug up Chuck's ex-wife
>to further embarrass him that much more devastatingly.

More devious, yes, but by necessity. Chuck has backed him into a corner. You can't blame the kid being bullied for kicking his bully in the nuts after allowing said bully to kick his ass for years on end without reprisal.

>I guess I am the lone contrarian here because I won't view
>Chuck solely as the evil antagonist folks view him; Jimmy did
>in fact turn into the scumbag lawyer he is imagining in his
>efforts to disbar Jimmy. Clearly the dude is flawed in many
>ways, but he has his reasons for his actions towards Jimmy.

Agreed, but again, you just hit the nail on the head: Chuck's incessant efforts to hurt Jimmy are what have guided him down this path. A villain who creates a definitively lesser villain only underscores the fact that he's a villain.

Chuck has had all the ability to guide his brother to be
a great lawyer, but instead relegated him to being nothing
more than a low-pay mailroom errand boy. Chuck decided
that he was the big dog, the alpha, the bread winner and
the prestigious lawyer. Jimmy was the servant and the
caretaker who envied his brother so fucking much, he went
and secretly did a law degree to make his scumfuck brother
proud. What did he get for it? He got even more antagonized,
shit on and spat at. The entire relationship between these
two brothers is that of a hustler willing to do anything
for his big brother and a big brother willing to do anything
to elevate his own ego by standing on the crushed spine of
his little brother. I hope Jimmy destroys the fucking pig.

all of Chuck's actions against Jimmy come from the fact that he doesn't trust him...because of everything Jimmy did in the past...so you could argue that if Jimmy hadn't been a scumbag who stole from his parents when they were growing up that Chuck would trust him more and would have taken him under his wing.

I can't stand Chuck either but let's not act like his actions have zero context or reasoning. If you had a brother that stole, conned and weaseled his way through life and you worked your ass off to build a firm would you just hand them the keys because they went and got a law degree out of the blue?

Jimmy saw their father's complete lack of a spine as a child.
We saw how Jimmy tried to let his pops know he was being scammed and pops would hear nothing of it.


Jimmy, as a young boy, was told that the world essentially consisted of predators and prey. Jimmy told pops what was going down and pops, a lot like Chuck, in fact, simply brushed him off. His dad gave him an example of prey and that’s where the seed was planted. Do you want to get got or be a taker?
So Jimmy took. If there’s a chicken or the egg argument, there’s still a case to be made that Jimmy’s father assisted greatly in the creation of Slippin Jimmy .

And when Jimmy made clear and honest efforts to get it together, Chuck despised him for it.

Here’s the thing: If Jimmy was still such a scumbag and Chuck couldn’t trust him, how was it that Chuck trusted him with his finances, his food, supplies, and pretty much everything else outside of wiping Chuck’s ass.

The firm would have gladly assigned someone to Chuck’s care, so it wasn’t as though Chuck was some old man with nobody to help him. Perhaps there was some embarrassment involved, given Chuck’s pride, but that ultimately illustrates the depth of trust he had for Jimmy.

In fact, Chuck trusted Jimmy implicitly. He put his life into the hands of the one person he knew would unfailingly take care of him in the way he needed. The one person with enough blind, unyielding loyalty to Chuck to be at his beck and call at all hours, without question.

His brother.

For a scumbag he didn’t trust, he certainly put a lot of trust in a man who could have poisoned him, signed a will leaving every penny of his share of his firm and ultimately taken everything from him.
Jimmy never asked for the keys. He just wanted a little respect and support from his brother for all the hard work he’d done. In fact, Chuck gave Jimmy the keys to pretty much everything and that just doesn’t jive with a guy who mistrusts Jimmy the way you say Chuck did.

The context and reasoning of every move Chuck has made has been nearly exclusively to Chuck’s benefit and Jimmy’s detriment. As I wrote earlier, Chuck hides his malice behind altruism. It’s crystal clear that while Chuck sincerely believes the law to be a sacred responsibility and Jimmy to be unworthy of such responsibility, that’s not his actual motive. It’s merely his justification and legal standing. He is a lawyer, after all, and a great one at that, and he’s hiding his true, emotional motivations behind the law.

Were Jimmy such an untrustworthy scumbag, Chuck would never have allowed him in the mailroom of his law firm. Think about that:

Slippin Jimmy in the mailroom of a high powered law firm? That’s a big deal. Like, a really big deal. A guy like SJ would see and find a goldmine through such a seemingly innocuous positon. One or two sensitive documents, one or two leaks, maybe some blackmail, something. Who knows. What we can deduce is that nobody with any sense puts a guy like Slippin Jimmy in the mailroom and you don’t have a mailroom if all you’re getting is the electric bill.

No way in hell Chuck allows Slippin Jimmy to take that job in the firm he built. Unless, of course, he believes Jimmy to be sincere.

Nope, Chuck’s distrust is only stirred when Jimmy shows his independence and true competence. Jimmy showed the sort of work ethic Chuck claimed he lacked when he literally pieced together the case in the old folks home. If Jimmy stayed in the mailroom and remained Chuck’s loyal manservant to Chuck’s kingdom, Chuck would trust lil Jimmy just fine.

he didn't fear for his life or think Jimmy would take advantage of him being sick but he did think Jimmy would do something shady to win a case or get a client...which he has done over and over.

Like I said, I hate Chuck too but everybody's acting like he's just this raging asshole who did poor little Jimmy wrong...that's not true though. They both have dirt on them. Jimmy's dirt is just easier for us to swallow...not so much for Chuck who holds the legal profession to this insane pedestal of a standard.

He continued to get himself jammed up pulling scams and Chuck had to bail him out or help him over and over again.

It's akin to having a family member with an addiction. You love them but after a while that bridge gets burned to the point of no longer being able to treat them the way family should be treated.

...it is behavior often caused by neglect and isolation.

Jimmy is a survivor and he found his family on the streets.
He didn't have any support, guidance or direction. He was
smart, though, and he applied his smarts to whatever felt
rewarding and gratifying. American culture likes to reduce
individuals down to simple choices while refusing to see
how each and every person is a made up of events and relationships

...if Chuck gave Mesa Verde back to Kim, which Chuck did in the first place for the SOLE PURPOSE of spiting Jimmy. Chuck made a big deal about turning him down because, at the time, with the justification that he didn't want to engage in illegal activity or "get down in the dirt," as Jimmy put it. But he was perfectly fine with "getting down in the dirt" and taping Jimmy, because he had to have all the power in the situation. Both scenarios would have had the same end, except he didn't want Jimmy to volunteer to stop practicing law, Chuck needed to take it away from him. Because he's a narcissistic prick.

Y'all think I'm team Chuck but I'm not...I'm just saying Jimmy is who he is. Let's not paint him as the harmless victim in all this.

I think the big reason everybody is team Jimmy is because Jimmy is who he is. He knows who he is and doesnt hide it. Chuck looks down at Jimmy when he does dirty shit too. It might not be illegal but he has a holier than thou attitude when he is just as much of a snake as Jimmy or worse.

Clearly something happens where we never see Kim again and you just know she gets fucked over somehow and gets Jimmy out of her life for good.

She's fully aware of the person she's dealing with and chose to involve her law profession with. If she was completely ignorant or if Jimmy conned her somehow, I would feel differently, but she has complete knowledge of how Jimmy rolls.

>Jimmy was far more devious since he drug up Chuck's ex-wife
>to further embarrass him that much more devastatingly.

Solely in reference to this court case and blackmail situation, yes Jimmy went lower by bringing the ex-wife into the equation. But put into the context of the entirety of Jimmy and Chuck's relationship, Jimmy is nowhere *close* to the level of scumbag that Chuck is and always has been. Chuck has, forever, been jealous of Jimmy's uncanny natural ability to endear himself to people. People love Jimmy. Chuck is naturally prickly and people therefore have never taken to him that same way.

That jealousy raged inside him. But in his mind, the one thing he had on Jimmy was his mastery of the law and success in practicing law. Once he started to lose his grip on that singular advantage, he did everything in his power to hold Jimmy down rather than encouraging his brother to grow into a better person. And he frequently cites Jimmy's perceived shortcomings as a person as explanations for his refusal to accept him as an equal in law.

Meanwhile, despite Jimmy knowing full well that his brother has worked against him for years, and despite knowing full well that this "disease" he has is a total sham, he takes care of Chuck because THAT is the right thing to do for family.

Chuck's sense of righteousness comes from conforming to all aspects of the law, but in doing so he manipulates and uses people, including his own brother, to their detriment. Jimmy's shortcomings are many but his righteousness is that he cares for family at all costs and, at the very least tries to be good to people, the law be damned.

I'll take the latter over the former any day.


>I guess I am the lone contrarian here because I won't view
>Chuck solely as the evil antagonist folks view him; Jimmy did
>in fact turn into the scumbag lawyer he is imagining in his
>efforts to disbar Jimmy. Clearly the dude is flawed in many
>ways, but he has his reasons for his actions towards Jimmy.

What I'm trying to get at above is that I actually *don't* think he has good reasons for his actions towards Jimmy. Look at the end of the last episode, where he came unhinged. All he could reference (and really all he could ever reference) to explain his disdain for Jimmy was that he stole some money from his family store's cash register as a kid, and that he takes shortcuts sometimes to gain advantages. Those things are so incredibly minor in the big picture, and not at all any kind of justifiable reason to hate your brother or to work overtime to prevent him from establishing a successful career. Meanwhile, Jimmy comes out looking like a hero in that he dropped *everything* for years to take care of his brother, all the while knowing that the disease he's "suffering" from doesn't even really exist.

So, I think the last sentence in your statement needs to be reversed ... based on how hard Chuck has worked for years to hold Jimmy down, and based on Jimmy's love for his brother despite everything ... it is *Jimmy* who has all the reason in the world to have taken drastic measures (bringing Chuck's ex to the hearing) to avoid being disbarred, Chuck's feelings be damned.


>At this point, I'm mainly curious if Kim will catch any L's
>when Jimmy goes the Saul Goodman role.

jimmy's antics have DROVE chuck up a fucking wall, lol

he doesnt hate jimmy. he just hates that jimmy lives life w/o regard for the rules that chuck has been bound by since birth, lol.

AND the WORST part? jimmy gets away with it. bc he got that swag sauce lmao.

i cry thug tears for my dog chuck, lol.

Dude! I was dyin.

.

I'm hoping the rest of the show isn't about Chuck's redemption, because he hasn't earned it.

Plus, LYDIA! Crazy yatch. No Stevia this time.

And they're telegraphing things with Nacho and Hector pretty obviously.

...I "bye Felicia"'d her when she left Kim and Jimmy's office.

After everything Jimmy has done for Chuck and Chuck trying to have Jimmy disbarred FOR LIFE, she really can't understand why Jimmy isn't in any hurry to go save Chuck (again)?

she left and Jimmy stepped up to take care of Chuck. It's her turn now if she really cares that much.

Glad he didnt. I dont think is going to be a redemption story for him though.

When we asked Chuck "how many cases would have missed out on if he never became a lawyer because he was too busy babysitting a ne'er-do-well relative?"

The irony of the statement is that this is precisely what they are trying to punish Jimmy for. Jimmy wasted so much of his life trying to not only impress his shitty brother but take care of his crazy ass. Unfortunately, it seems like transforming into Saul will be an over-adjustment. He'll become the shadow version of what he was fighting for before the trial. Instead of having a family, a relationship with his brother and a law practice with Kim, he'll have a new name for himself (Saul) but he'll be isolated, disconnected from meaningful relationships, and eventually, a miserable Cinnabon manager.

Often while watching this show i lose sight of where he ends up...and whenever I remember i get super bummed out for Jimmy

>Instead of having a family, a relationship with
>his brother and a law practice with Kim, he'll have a new name
>for himself (Saul) but he'll be isolated, disconnected from
>meaningful relationships, and eventually, a miserable Cinnabon
>manager.

>Often while watching this show i lose sight of where he ends
>up...and whenever I remember i get super bummed out for Jimmy
>
>>Instead of having a family, a relationship with
>>his brother and a law practice with Kim, he'll have a new
>name
>>for himself (Saul) but he'll be isolated, disconnected from
>>meaningful relationships, and eventually, a miserable
>Cinnabon
>>manager.

Makes the writing of BCS even more brilliant tho. Getting such a likable character to the point of having that empty an existence takes some creativity and they are absolutely fucking nailing it.

as in like his character

is he unique, fresh, quirky, charismatic... yes

likeable? fuck no.

he a piece of shit too. he manipulates and uses people. he's obsessively single-minded and short-sighted.

this is a character who allowed all kinds of fucked up shit to happen to people on BB thru Jessie and Walter.

I still even struggle narratively to understand why Kim fucks with him as much as she does.

He could have been incredibly successful and happy. I don't think he'd lose much of his soul in that scenario either.

I definitely imagine other troubles for him but I think he'd have wound up with a much more fulfilling life than what we've seen as Saul.

It's difficult to watch this unfold because I want to pull for him but we already know exactly where he's headed. There's a natural tension there.

I've been tryin to put more people onto BCS because this is a clinic in how to execute a prequel.

He would have done the same at HHM or anywhere else he landed...he's not built for that life

all he ever wanted was Chuck's approval. Getting that approval would have kept him straight.

...Jimmy wanted Chuck's approval and Chuck wanted for Jimmy
to be nothing more than a small, grovelling, mail-room,
errand boy. Chuck's power and confidence within the family
is derived from keeping Jimmy at the level of subservient,
both in the mail-room and in the home of a deranged brother
who is so toxic that even electricity can't stand the site
of him.

>all he ever wanted was Chuck's approval. Getting that
>approval would have kept him straight.

All evidence indicates that he's great with clients and achieving personal connections. He's even good at practicing the law. He doesn't do well with micro-management (as evidenced by his run-in with the assistant last year).

Maybe the last full season, maybe just an episode or two. Maybe that would rob some of the profundity from the end of BB, but I think they could pull off something good.

i hope we get to see some more of post BB Jimmy/Saul

also the shot of Kim and Jimmy outside the law office after he lets all his clients know he gunna be gone for a year, with the two lights, and the moon in the distance... fucn beautiful

up there with the shot of Mike in the desert road with the tennis shoes

Mike watching Gus boy from the distance in the tunnel

this show looks as good as its acting is

(trying to avoid putting her name in the subject line).

Loved seeing Lydia when Gus went to check out the laundry factory, but I need help placing her timeline in the Breaking Bad story. Maybe it's because she appeared so late in the BB series that I didn't know her and Gus were connected THIS early.

Plus, she was so paranoid and nervous working with Walt (and sloppy...that bug on the canister), I'm surprised Gus was working with her. Or maybe he just didn't have a choice. And wait, does that mean Mike will know who she is?

I think I need to go back to BB and rewatch.

I think she was introduced after Gus died and she let Walt know that Gus was part of a larger network who she represented. So the implication is that she was always there in the background since Gus supplied her Walt's product.

As for her being nervous she was more exposed after Gus left. That's why she was so nervous. With Gus she could stay removed from the dirty work. It makes sense that he'd work with her. It expanded his business exponentiallly and it was a more structured way to move product. Working with her was less about her and more about expanding globally...which is a total Gus move.

In BB Mike already knew her. They met in the coffee shop and discussed his guys in jail.

thank you for the breakdown.

I forgot about that meeting in the coffee shop with Mike.

http://breakingbad.wikia.com/wiki/Lydia_Rodarte-Quayle

She was in it with Gus early on.
Los Pollos Hermanos is a part of that big German conglomerate, Madrigal. And Lydia is in charge of logistics/distribution for Madrigal

I guess at this point in the BCS timeline, Gus isn't manufacturing yet. He is just distributing it through the Pollos delivery system.
Lydia is helping him expand.

I doubt anyone but Gus is aware of Lydia. Definitely not Mike

that he left Kaylee on?

That look he had on his face as he walked out of that office was something else. He couldn't catch a break himself, so he made sure to try to get Chuck's rates to rise.

And he really wanted to run that scam on that prick who reminded him of Chuck.

Kim feeling bad about how they did Chuck.

Mike changing his mind and wanting in, seemingly due to the innocent civilian being killed aspect.

This show is so good. I feel like theyve been knocking it out of the park every week this season. If they finish strong, this will go down as an amazing season of television.

what Chuck and Jimmy could accomplish if they weren't at each other's necks. Remarkable how similar the two of them are.

I'd love to know what was going through Kim's head during that dinner with Jimmy. I've said it already in this thread, but it's hard to feel sorry for her if and when she catches an L when Jimmy officially goes the Saul Goodman role.

>what Chuck and Jimmy could accomplish if they weren't at each
>other's necks. Remarkable how similar the two of them are.

If this were "based on a true story" it'd be exceptionally frustrating watching two brothers this brilliant create such a rift in their relationship, considering the damage they could do together.


>I'd love to know what was going through Kim's head during that
>dinner with Jimmy. I've said it already in this thread, but
>it's hard to feel sorry for her if and when she catches an L
>when Jimmy officially goes the Saul Goodman role.

I am terrified for her fate. I trust the writers to do what's most realistic while at the same time entertaining ... but I keep hoping they find a way to keep Kim in the story when Jimmy goes Saul, whether connected directly to Jimmy/Saul or indirectly.

I keep thinking Kim is going to get fucked by Chuck. Nothing is showing that is going to happen. But her compassion is her weakness and she obviously feels bad about what happened. Chuck is going to get his revenge on Jimmy by hurting Kim.

Now that's all I'm gonna be waiting for hahah. Shit man.

>I keep thinking Kim is going to get fucked by Chuck. Nothing
>is showing that is going to happen. But her compassion is her
>weakness and she obviously feels bad about what happened.
>Chuck is going to get his revenge on Jimmy by hurting Kim.

Yeah at first I'm like what made Mike change his mind. Then I remembered the innocent person that Hector killed "disappeared" in the desert. SO the lady's speech about the hardest part being not knowing where her loved one was nor what happened to them must have reignited his need to serve Hector some justice.

I never imagined someone else could be the cause of Hector being in his wheelchair state besides Gus. Just when I assume I know where the story is going they throw a curve ball.

>I never imagined someone else could be the cause of Hector
>being in his wheelchair state besides Gus. Just when I assume
>I know where the story is going they throw a curve ball.

Right before Hector blew Gus up, didn't Gus imply he was the reason Hector was in a wheelchair?

their conversations on his visits to him implied that it was. But then again it could have been Nacho & Gus just took credit for it as a way to stick it to Hector.

>This show is so good. I feel like theyve been knocking it out
>of the park every week this season. If they finish strong,
>this will go down as an amazing season of television.

I've said it before in here but the attention to detail is just remarkable and so impressive. So much credit to the writers/creators. They overlook nothing.

But yea this season may be the best. Assuming they nail the landing, I would rank it that way primarily due to degree of difficulty, all else being equal or close to it. By that I mean, it seems like this season the writers have had to do a lot more in terms of tying BCS storylines together with what we already know about these stories and characters from Breaking Bad. And they've just done it so seamlessly I want to give them a standing ovation everytime I pick up on something or read about something after an episode.

We've already talked about this but while this show is obviously far less action-driven than BB was, I give the writing and production nod to BCS I think. How these slow-burn stories keep me on the edge of my seat is just amazing.

The way they subtly tie everything together is impressive. The writing is definitely top notch.

went from teary-eyed and sniffly to laughing my ass off at how brilliantly i was just emotionally manipulated. and his damn face as he walked away.

that.fucking.scene should win an award.
seriously.

V.

Things are really progressing now in terms of Jimmy getting closer to going full Saul, and Mike and Gus' alliance. And I can't believe they actually had me feeling nervous about whether Nacho would be able to throw poison pills into a coat pocket. I love all the details they always show though. Like Nacho making sure the AC wouldn't be working to ensure he wouldn't be wearing the coat. So thorough.

>Things are really progressing now in terms of Jimmy getting
>closer to going full Saul, and Mike and Gus' alliance. And I
>can't believe they actually had me feeling nervous about
>whether Nacho would be able to throw poison pills into a coat
>pocket.

Hahaha you know, I hadn't even thought of that. I was on the edge of my effing seat thinking this dude was about to get murdered, while subconsciously knowing damn well that he lasts til Walter White comes around. *That's* how brilliant these writers/producers/directors are. They make scenes so fucking tense that I temporarily forget that I am already 10000% aware of the end result.


>I love all the details they always show though. Like
>Nacho making sure the AC wouldn't be working to ensure he
>wouldn't be wearing the coat. So thorough.

Right ! That was so dope. These dudes are smart as hell.

Plus even though this was the plan, we weren't certain Hectors stroke would be from Nacho's switch, or that he'd be able to pull it off.

>Plus even though this was the plan, we weren't certain
>Hectors stroke would be from Nacho's switch, or that he'd be
>able to pull it off.

i legit love this show the most when Saul and Chuck AREN'T on screen

_____________________________________________________
"You can win with certainty with the spirit of "one cut". "Musashi Miyamoto

God I love this show.

he's right there. he at least seems to not be paying attention. we don't see much, but just enough to know he may or may not notice. nacho's aware. he thinks dude is distracted and not looking, but nacho's kind of looking back at him being obvious. the guy easily has enough time to look away and pretend he doesn't notice nacho, but we don't know because we're not seeing him.

then we don't even know if he'd drop dime to don hector, extort nacho for money, mind his own business. hector thanks him and kills him for snitching. or he didn't see shit, and it's not any kind of issue. so many possibilities from that one thing.

is around in that same restaurant for the Breaking Bad universe as well.

You have to wonder though, if the restaurant is closed because it's after hours and he isn't cooking food for any customers, what in the world could be be doing that would consume so much of his time and energy?

>You have to wonder though, if the restaurant is closed because
>it's after hours and he isn't cooking food for any customers,
>what in the world could be be doing that would consume so much
>of his time and energy?

I don't know shit about cooking really but I feel like cooks are always setting shit up for the following day or whatever.

Open and close
~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

>is around in that same restaurant for the Breaking Bad
>universe as well.

When? I'm blanking out

my memory isn't confusing him from the earlier seasons of Better Call Saul, but I remember seeing that mustached face before operating behind that windowed counter.

Mike meeting w/ the police cheif and Sollozzo.

We the audience know the plan, but something minor goes wrong.
Or the process somehow goes awry.
Mike was supposed to come out of the bathroom firing.
Instead he sat down and waited.

Nacho practiced tossing the pills in the left coat pocket with his right hand,
but now had to switch.

Not a direct comparison, but I love situations where something is planned,
and something slightly alters those plans. Or when a character goes off the plan.
Those minor details increases the tension so much.
Really loved that scene.

what a slip! good lord lol.
he's gonna go full Saul any minute.
while we should be viewing his transformation as a fall, or his own personal breaking bad moment, it's nice to see Jimmy sticking it to the assholes in his life and winning for a change. that determination and cocksuredness he's displaying is just a stones throw away from Saul. i'm about ready to see him say fuck the world and start writing his own ticket.

V.

In the future. After Jimmy becomes Saul

"Nah man leave your lawyer. Go see this dude"

And best of all, all the stories involved were equally interesting. Superb storytelling.

Once again, it's almost a shame those McGill brothers aren't working together. Both so similar to each other. Also wonder how many more seasons this show will go on for since it seems Jimmy is that much closer to evolving/devolving into Saul Goodman.

>Also wonder
>how many more seasons this show will go on for since it seems
>Jimmy is that much closer to evolving/devolving into Saul
>Goodman.

... that they plan to spend a few seasons with a pre-Walter White Saul Goodman. Remember, their original plan was to have Jimmy make the transition to Saul by the end of season 1. So I'm sure they have plenty of storylines in mind for when he goes full Saul. I'd picture 5-6 seasons.

as soon as we got the shot of her from the passenger side going over shit. I knew what was going to happen. But I wonder how she is going to feel seeing good ol Jimmy landing on his feet. While she is burning the candle at both ends and struggling to keep everything balanced. She is going to start thinking like Chuck.

>But I wonder how she is going to feel seeing good ol Jimmy landing >on his feet. While she is burning the candle at both ends and
>struggling to keep everything balanced. She is going to start
>thinking like Chuck.

Her biting off more than she could chew was on her. Jimmy has been consistent in telling her the entire time that he was going to cover his end of the rent. She took it on herself to take a case that she shouldn't have and put herself in physical danger. She's also felt she had to prove herself after her interaction with Howard at the restaurant. She wants to show she do everything on her own.

I just kept wondering why does she care about Chuck, why did she take on this case, why did she feel guilt and sign a 14+K check to Howard

But Jimmy ain't shit for what he did to that old lady. Senior circles are nearly on the same level as teenage circles as it relates to importance and pettiness.

was sort of hoping his assistant would reload the same balls and notice they were magnetized and call him out on it.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

They couldn't have cast that role any better. That cute little lady was SO incredibly sympathetic.

thing, the con-artist guy told him in the flashback in his dad's store.

i think sleazy-ish lawyer Saul Goodman is ultimately some kid of compromise between the two

>i think sleazy-ish lawyer Saul Goodman is ultimately some kid
>of compromise between the two

Going from fucking with Chuck's money with the legal malpractice office to playing "Slipping Jimmy" with the music store brothers to "Threatening shithead community service supervisor" makes sense. Going from "Threatening shithead community service supervisor" to "setting up sweet old lady to be terrorized" was a HUGE leap. I'm not saying Jimmy wouldn't deep down have it in him, or that he wouldn't want the money, but they went from Step C to Step X waaaaay to abruptly. Even after the Chuck court battle, there has been anything to indicate that had fuck with an innocent like that.

It came off as "We need a way to make Jimmy waaaay less sympathetic and quick."

The Irene thing seemed like too many hoops for something he probably could have just talked her into, but he loves the game. Doing her that way did seem a bit out of character though

His erratic shifts work somewhat for me since he's hard up for money, bitter, has a ton of time on his hands and is trying to find his lane. So far the closest thing was helping the drug dealer get to his "sick kid"

He's desperate and in survival mode like dude above said. It makes sense to me. He's hurting. I think he feels bad about Irene though.

Like, he had to go back to his old shennanigans to do so, but he was able to justify it because the brothers who owned the store were assholes. To go from running games on jerk-offs to victimizing the little old lady is a pretty huge bridge, survival mode or not.

>Like, he had to go back to his old shennanigans to do so, but
>he was able to justify it because the brothers who owned the
>store were assholes. To go from running games on jerk-offs to
>victimizing the little old lady is a pretty huge bridge,
>survival mode or not.

... for starters, were the music store guys *really* assholes, or just everyday business owners looking for the best deal ? I mean they absolutely acted like assholes in that scene in how they were talking to Jimmy, but I don't really think they were doing anything outside of what a lot of folks would've done. They discovered they were grossly overpaying and tried to do something about it.

>RE: Yeah he really hit bottom when he gave away those free commercials
>He's desperate and in survival mode like dude above said. It
>makes sense to me. He's hurting. I think he feels bad about
>Irene though.

I don't think they took too much of a leap. He's been acting desperate since the suspension. And like you said, I do think he felt bad about what he was doing. It was clear in the look he gave out to Irene sitting alone before he put the magnetized balls in. He wasn't thrilled with his actions. He went thru with it anyway, but he clearly had a conscience about it.

Much bigger than any of that other stuff. It's enough money to solve all of his problems. Furthermore, it's money that he feels like he earned through honest work long ago.

I get the feeling that he truly believes (perhaps through self-delusion) that the old ladies really should settle at this point, and the lawyers really are just holding out for a bigger payday. I think he's convinced himself that the only people he's really screwing over are the two big firms that have already screwed him.

If he was allowed to give legal advice, he'd just be telling the old ladies to settle. But as it is, he can only pull strings behind the scenes.

i think he can easily justify it in his head that Irene is gonna get paid now, and the lawyers are just holding out because it's what they do. Howard called him on it right way, because it's super easy for professional bullshit artists to see through each other's shit.

I mean I can understand that viewpoint I suppose. I just don't think what he did this last episode was *that* deplorable. Certainly pretty cringe-worthy and it was sad, but it wasn't a full Saul move. I'd say they went from C to maybe F or G, not quite X. Haha.

I can't stand him as a person

he's a great character though

Lydia saying to Mike: "a drug dealer? If you think that's all he is then you dont really know Gus Fring", reminded me of a scene from Breaking Bad. I think it was when the chicken bro meet with the Don. Hector shoots the other guy, and then the Don tells Gus something along the lines of "the only reason your still alive is because I know who you really are. But dont push it."
Was it ever revealed in Breaking Bad what both these scenes are hinting at?

>Lydia saying to Mike: "a drug dealer? If you think that's all
>he is then you dont really know Gus Fring", reminded me of a
>scene from Breaking Bad. I think it was when the chicken bro
>meet with the Don. Hector shoots the other guy, and then the
>Don tells Gus something along the lines of "the only reason
>your still alive is because I know who you really are. But
>dont push it."
>Was it ever revealed in Breaking Bad what both these scenes
>are hinting at?

http://breakingbad.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:8850?useskin=oasis

I think I read somewhere that Vince Gillian vaguely confirmed some of this stuff.


_____________________________________________________
"You can win with certainty with the spirit of "one cut". "Musashi Miyamoto

I only had figured Gus was a "somebody" back home, but hadn't considered his possible ties to the regime, or how his (probably) being gay could have factored in.

nm

because we don't see them in BB

>because we don't see them in BB

with that mustached cook in Hector's restaurant in some responses above.

She said to Jimmy that she could cover the rent even though he refused. Was it the thing with Hamlin that pushed her over the edge? Also if she's going to take on all this work why not get an intern or something?

That all seemed odd to me. She seems to be killing herself for no reason.

Even though Jimmy has been able to make rent, she suspects that it was eating into his savings to do that first month and suspects that he went back into Slippin' Jimmy mode the second time (she calls the guy to take on the case after she sees Jimmy laid up in his office).

She doesn't trust Jimmy and seems to be falling out of love with him.

i think her exact words were "for a while"...so why not ride that out until she has to do otherwise?

My impression was that she didn't want to take on the new client, but she felt pressured when the head of Mesa Verde said she could handle both cases.

she changed her mind at the last minute

she originally said no, Howard walked in all patronizing on some "I made her" shit, and she was like, fuck this guy

then she wrote that check

and goes with the theme of the show. Jimmy's had several instances like this where he was triggered by Chuck. Chuck is also being triggered to do things by his ego/pride.

.

Here is the link for folks: http://gothamist.com/2017/06/15/interview_vince_gilligan_peter_gould.php

Enjoy.

I love these guys. They so clearly LOVE what they do. I hope they never stop because they produce phenomenal television.

They just come off so humble and likable, especially compared to peers like David Simon and David Chase.

I was getting pissed because no loose ends were getting tied up. Looks like Gus knows what is up with Nacho. Jimmy still hasnt turned full Saul. But then the end. DAMN! Again I dont like Chuck at all but watching Chuck lose it was tough to watch. Fuck I dont want to wait for the next season.

>Jimmy still
>hasnt turned full Saul.

The older set is where he flourished. All those bridges were burned to help Irene.

at the beginning of next season, in my opinion. Someone already said here (or maybe I read it elsewhere, I forget) but the guilt from the Chuck situation could ultimately drive the final wedge between Kim and Jimmy. Or like dude said below, Kim could be facing a pill addiction. Maybe both. Or maybe neither. Haha.

This show is the best.

Pretty powerful episode all in all. Chuck's speech was interesting since there were some kernels of truth in there.

That look Gus gave Nacho was great.

One thing I noticed was when Kim wanted the strong pain meds. Makes me wonder if she'll get hooked on them. I always feel like everything these writers do has a purpose.

>One thing I noticed was when Kim wanted the strong pain meds.
>Makes me wonder if she'll get hooked on them. I always feel
>like everything these writers do has a purpose.

Subconsciously I thought something was up with them specifically putting that in there, but I didn't really give it a ton of thought. But I certainly noticed it and took specific mental note of it in the back of my mind, if that makes sense. Like her saying "always" the good stuff, or whatever she said, stuck out to me for a minute or so following her saying it.

And now that you mention it, it could be gleaned that her being a little more relaxed and loopy due to the pain meds is directly attributable to the effects of the pain meds.

That's a long ass, rambling way of saying "you may be on to something here"

>And now that you mention it, it could be gleaned that her
>being a little more relaxed and loopy due to the pain meds is
>directly attributable to the effects of the pain meds.

^^^ this should read "And now that you mention it, it could be gleaned that her being a little more relaxed and loopy due to the pain meds directly resulted in her taking time off from hustling and just chilling on the couch watching movies and eating, for the first time since we've known her."

Hopefully she parts ways with Jimmy before something awful happens to her.

she thinks she might be pregnant?

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

When he fixed the back door and took pictures. Did he install anything that uses electricity, and was Chuck right that something was there?

Didn't Jimmy say "and that other thing ?" to Mike as he was leaving the diner ? And wasn't that left ambiguous at the time ? Maybe that's what Jimmy was referencing.

But it's likely that I'm forgetting whatever he was *actually* referencing.

.

Either you leave quietly, or make yourself look crazy (ier) in front of your peers and subordinates. They already think you're crazy, soooooo......whatchu gonna do?

And paying him off out of his pocket and various loan?!? He's confident enough to know he's going to be alright. Goals.

and now he's the most sympathetic character on the show

>RE: man, I HATED Howard when the show started
>and now he's the most sympathetic character on the show

Second only to Kim IMO.

i mean obviously i felt bad about the car crash, but only she thought this office lease was gonna work out. she should've known jimmy was gonna go back to his old ways. now it's a question of how long till she cuts ties.

>i mean obviously i felt bad about the car crash, but only she
>thought this office lease was gonna work out. she should've
>known jimmy was gonna go back to his old ways. now it's a
>question of how long till she cuts ties.

I tend to view it as, she loves the guy. And as shady as Jimmy may be, to this point his dirt has been child's play and mostly harmless. The Irene situation was the first time we could really look at a Jimmy scheme and think, wow, what a fucking asshole. And due to Kim's feelings for him she's willing to kind of turn a blind eye to the shady stuff so long as in the end, no one's getting hurt, he's still *technically* abiding by the law and still treats her good and takes care of his business.

Anyway that's a long way of saying I still think she's sympathetic at this point. IMO saying "my sympathy for her only goes so far" is placing a lot more blame on her than I think she deserves, to this point.

but there are other points this season where she didn't seem to trust what jimmy was saying but didn't do much digging. to be clear, I'm just saying she's not as sympathetic as Howard, not that she's not sympathetic at all.

>but there are other points this season where she didn't seem
>to trust what jimmy was saying but didn't do much digging. to
>be clear, I'm just saying she's not as sympathetic as Howard,
>not that she's not sympathetic at all.

I guess I actually ultimately agree with you re: Howard vs. Kim sympathy levels. I probably just have a soft spot for Kim cause she's hot. Haha.

Howard knew that with chuck out the way they gonna make that money back 4 times over

that shit is ugly as hell on the outside but the inside was beautiful. When you look at the outside you dont think successful lawyer. I know he had this "condition" which most likely kept him from doing any kind of upkeep. But still it was an ugly yellow. It was probably a prize home in the late 70's early 80's. Then the inside was just amazing and roomy. I gotta find the address of this place out and zillow that shit.

it seemed like kind of a weird design, but I liked that. his kitchen was cool too. I always wanted to see the upstairs; for how long and tall the house was we really only ever saw the kitchen, the living room and the bedroom. any time a character went somewhere else the camera stayed in those rooms (besides maybe one or two random times we saw someone use the stairs?), which I also really liked from a creative standpoint as it displayed how limited Chuck's life was in all ways.


that also really drove home his self-realization of the life he'd made for himself after his moment with Jimmy, too. he seemed to realize for the first time that he'd cut off the only two people he had any regular interaction with, and I think internally he realized that his mental condition was in part self-induced out of guilt that he was an old, lonely man primarily because he couldn't find real affection for anyone that mattered in his life and the times were passing him by both legally and culturally. it said a lot to me that he had been recovering when he thought he was reconnecting with the things that made him great, but when he realized how lonely he'd made himself it immediately got worse than it'd ever been. he was torn between a strong desire to isolate himself from the world and be the most powerful person in his world, and those two desires devoured each other until he was so isolated there was no person or thing to express power over other than his home.


so he burned that down too.


what a great, shitty character.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

It was congested and closed all throughout, but in the finale the outside looked different and they shot the inside more open. It was like another house. I wasn't sure if a new director shot it different or if they shot it to look like less of a prison since Chuck was about to get free.

https://www.amazon.com/Guidebook-Breaking-Bad-Filming-Locations/dp/1523718250


***
I ain't lyin. This shit i'm making up is true...

Wonder if they are the same.

...after the episode and one of the showrunners (don't know which one's which but either Peter Gould or Vince Gilligan..think it was Peter) said that was an "easter egg" along with something else. Just episode bookends, at least from what I gathered.

>...after the episode and one of the showrunners (don't know
>which one's which but either Peter Gould or Vince
>Gilligan..think it was Peter) said that was an "easter egg"
>along with something else. Just episode bookends, at least
>from what I gathered.


I think that story Chuck was telling younger Jimmy was an easter egg as well because I vaguely remember Jimmy or even Saul Goodman referencing that story. I don't remember if he referenced it on Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/watching/better-call-saul-season-finale-what-to-read.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&smvar=wkndst

for the paramedics. he seems to cautious for that. But i was thinking given how things ultimately ended in BB, Gus' emotional investment in Hector seems to fuck with his better judgement

and now there'd be a record of him being associated with Salamanca.

I thought it was odd too but I guess he will think of something.

there was no real business reason for keeping him alive, but Hector smoked his boyfriend right in front of him, so it makes sense someone like Gus would want to make him suffer as long as possible. And it worked out great, until it didn't

.

but all the folks that stayed behind have legit businesses they have identities in, while the folks that ran only operate with the illicit side of things.

it seems to be a known name. Plus Tuco's locked up

While the partners and some of the better attorneys rake in good cash. He also said he called in loans as well.

Also it was only $3mil, he's paying in installments.

or would that be a bad look for the firm?

... to the others in the firm. Which kind of goes hand in hand with the "bad look" thing. Would likely make others question Howard, possibly leave, etc.

he also said he took out "a few loans". whatever that means

hopefully VM Varga from Fargo doesn't roll through

most business don't have that much in liquid funds...they would invest it back in the business or pay it out to employees/partners

Been rewatching Breaking Bad and just got to the season 5 episode when Walt, Jesse, and Mike were looking for a new location to cook. With the shady fumigation business where the guys would copy keys, and sell info to crooks looking to burglarize houses, Saul mentioned that he'd been "pulling their chestnuts out of the fire legally speaking for 5 years". 5 years back would seem to take us into Better Call Saul territory pretty soon right?

This writing group doesn't miss a trick and are incredibly true to the established details, I bet we see these Saul working with these guys in the coming seasons.

We'll probably see how a (relatively) innocent Todd turns into Meth Damon. He was STONE COLD. Truly one of the great supporting characters.

>Truly one of the great
>supporting characters.

Deserves additional credit for somehow quickly making me forget about Landry from Friday Night Lights. Typically when a character is that recognizable and memorable from one show I can't get that character out of my head when I see him as a new character in the next show. But his BB character was so good it took no time at all to forget Landry.

Plemons is just on his Ps and Qs.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

No exaggeration.

didn't know he had it in him to create a character like that.

totally forgot about them.

glad Chuck is gone. his character annoyed the shit outta me. I didn't give two fucks about him, and his conflict with Jimmy. I was over it in season 2 and he should've died then...

don't even try the you must not have siblings angle, i have 7 of them.

I love Gus, Mike, Nacho and Kim's arcs and story lines. they are what keeps me invested. Hector too what a piece of basura...

AND the shots, they are amazing in so many scenes and in so many ways. Right at the end when Jimmy is trying to convince them of taking back and being kind to Irene, and they being petty, the kiddy train rolls by. Perfect symbolism about their childishness.

I honestly think they only need two more seasons of this. I don't love Saul/Jimmy the way y'all do, but it's high quality television

really enjoyed it, i may have pushed it a bit because i started zoning out in the last episode.

im starting to get tempted to rewatch breaking bad.

dont remember the episode but was that the brand new jack in the box building? lol