Well the show has aired 2 eps so far, and it deserves its own thread (imo) separate from the Breaking Bad(BB) one.
I am excited that this show stylistically matches BB very well (almost the same team as BB), and that we get to see things ‘unfold.’ Also kinda like reminiscing to the 90s.
The 90’s reminiscing is nicely done…plus it explains how they can have still-working payphones, as used in many scenes.
Another wild episode…that one had a LOT of stuff happening…even the first half-hour had a ton of stuff happening to where I was surprised when I looked at the clock and only 20 minutes had gone by. Loved the scene with Saul making a bunch of phone calls in a row…kinda reminded me of Swingers when you wish he’d stop calling but he won’t.
Have no idea where it’ll go after the ending. Perhaps Saul will do a deal with the couple and, in return, he gets to be their lawyer…
I like how Mike swung over to Saul’s side after Mike ‘arrests’ him, but realizes that Saul was telling the truth. Good to see that Mike has the combat skills (like we knew he would). I am thinking it won’t take too many eps for Mike-Saul to ally each other (or something to that effect).
I am thinking it won’t take too many eps for Mike-Saul to ally each other (or something to that effect).
Yeah, I got giddy from Mike getting some serious dialogue. The more Mike, the better. No doubt Saul may seek more advice from him in the future…
Not to mention that since it SEEMS like Mike isn’t in any shady business at the moment, this could be Mike’s story of “Breaking Bad” right along with Saul’s.
Quite an interesting episode and, like last week, had a LOT to wrap your head around. It’s the second week in a row that I wished I DVR’d it just so I could “review” it and remember everything that happened.
I was close on how he would try to use the Kettlemen situation to try to become their lawyer and even funnier how half-crazy that wife is about the money and such and how they justify the crime…she kinda has parallels to Skylar where she eventually had to accept her husband’s crimes and eventually started defending him. Though, in this case, it kinda feels like she is the reason her husband starting extorting money in the first place. Plus I had assumed that they HAD hired Saul as their lawyer but apparently he just took the bribe instead.
Also enjoyed how I really never realized that most of the episode was a long con until the end. You see him picking out these fancy shirts and getting his hair done and you think it’s just him throwing cash around when it’s all clearly intended to copy the JMM guys for the sole purpose of getting a judge to rule that the billboard be taken down. Then his need to get ANY media to cover it and the funny idea to go to the university paper. Then his need to make sure the billboard is “in the shot” when we all assume it’s just Saul trying to get promotion when it’s just making sure the worker is caught falling. Very nicely done. I kinda figured that Saul would use the rescue for some cheap publicity but never thought it was staged…and this is even after we see Young Saul do a con at the start. Nicely done!
And it’s now two episodes where it’s looked like someone dangerous could happen to Saul’s brother (first the cell phone, then the recent run outdoors) and both were false alarms. That’s the small problem with a prequel…while you know which characters will live until the end…you KINDA know which characters will die…mostly since you never hear from them later on. So I’m KINDA assuming that Saul’s brother eventually dies so I’m kinda “looking” for it to happen…and I wonder if the writers are aware of this and are teasing his death with a few of these scenes. At the same time, it’s unaware if the electromagnetic issue is real or in his bro’s head and Saul seems to think it’s the latter. Also, am I the only one who assumed that was Saul’s dad when I first saw him?
If I have to predict, it’ll be that Saul is exposed in some way, either by his brother or Hamlin and this will officially “soil his name” and he’ll be forced to change it to the Goodman name.
Yea I thought Chuck is Saul’s dad since the actor looks about 20-30yrs older than him. Maybe same dad, diff mom, who knows.
Chuck has a mental illness where he thinks the EM waves are hurting him. Hence the agoraphobia and the metal blanket. Sensitivity to EM waves has not been established as a physical affliction (only psychosomatic).
I am more interested to see what triggers Chuck’s EM hypersensitivity … maybe it’s related to Saul, maybe not.
Maybe same dad, diff mom, who knows.
I kinda assumed it’s one of those cases where he just has a brother that is about ten years older than himself. These things happen and it’s kinda emphasized in the Young Saul scenes when Saul is still some idiot in jail and his brother is already an established lawyer.
Chuck has a mental illness where he thinks the EM waves are hurting him. Hence the agoraphobia and the metal blanket. Sensitivity to EM waves has not been established as a physical affliction (only psychosomatic).
Yeah, it’s an interesting dynamic…though it’s noteable that he noticed that Saul’s cell phone was in his house without even seeing it. So, at least for the Better Call Saul purpose, maybe it’s somewhat legit. It’s hard to say.
Liking the show here people!
So the guy on the billboard, obvious that it WAS in fact a scam that Saul arranged, right?
I like that we’re getting to see his sleazy roots, go Jimmy go!
So the guy on the billboard, obvious that it WAS in fact a scam that Saul arranged, right?
That’s what I liked about the show…they were kinda scamming the audience too. We kinda thought that he was buying all these fancy suits and getting his hair done just because he got some cash but it was all orchestrated to get JMM’s attention so he’s forced to tear down the billboard. Brilliant stuff, Jimmy!
I like that we’re getting to see his sleazy roots, go Jimmy go!
Yeah, unlike Walt, Jimmy’s always had the sleezy streak. He seems to try fighting it times but scams are what he’s good at, obviously.
I knew something was up when he had such specific requirements for his tailored suit: the type of wool, the pearl cuff-links, etc. I just thought he was copying HHM-dude’s look to ‘confuse’ the billboard audience into thinking that he’s from the same place, and for the potential customers to call Saul instead of HHM. This was mostly cause of that lady (who bribed him) saying something like “you’re the type of attorney guilty people go to.”
I drew the incorrect conclusion that Saul decides to use the bribe money to look like the type of attorney that innocent people / winners go to, which is HHM in this show (and the attorneys that lady and her husband chose over Saul, even when he had leverage on them when he saw the stolen money). Perhaps that’s what the show makers wanted us to think. Also, I thought the follow-up step of him calling the media to get them to cover the story was his last attempt at ‘milking’ the situation before the billboard was torn down. Kinda like to get his money’s worth outta that. I had no idea it was part of the Con, and that he intended the end-game from the get-go.
The HHM dude certainly put 2-and-2 together, as soon as he saw the news report.
“Upon this rock I will build my church” 
That’s the most revealing line about Saul yet.
Just waiting for the final change of name now. Guessing that will come at season’s end.
S’all Good, Man. LOL.
Man, I suck at TV shows. Completely forgot it was on last night. Hope I can catch a rerun.
(Looks up…so they’re not airing another until like 4am on Friday? I figured they’d show reruns of it all week! Hmm…I may need to grab an episode from online then…)
Does this mean you are one of the few people left (who watches TV regularly) who does NOT have a DVR?
One of my roommies in my first apartment after college got a DVR and that changed the way I watched TV forever! It was one of the first DVR services and even had a ‘skip commercials’ function. Even though the commercial-skip was the best feature they offered, it was also what led to this company’s downfall as they were sued into bankruptcy by TV execs.
Watching TV with no DVR buffer is … like life pre-microwaves. At least for me, who’s gotten used to being able to pause live programming and record shows. Especially the part where you can enter names of shows (like “Better Call Saul”) and the DVR records all the new eps as they come out. Comes in pretty handy for AMC shows where they run half of the new season in the Fall, and like 8 months later run the 2nd half. Using my DVR I dont have to think about when new eps are airing to ensure they are recorded.
Changing subjects:
I found this link where someone compiles all the Breaking Bad references found in each new eps of Better Call Saul. Me likey!
Does this mean you are one of the few people left (who watches TV regularly) who does NOT have a DVR?
Believe it or not, I JUST got a DVR late last year…I upgraded my ATT service to the next tier since it was actually cheaper to do so…I didn’t really order the DVR or want it…it just came with the upgrade. Never had one before. Got it for my parents too and they like it since they fall asleep during their late shows a lot and can watch them the next day if that happens. I’m just now starting to accept the fact that I can be in the middle of watching a game and don’t have to wait for commercials or for it to end before I step out for a smoke. I can just come back in and rewind it and watch until I’m caught up.
But, either way, I don’t record a show if I’m planning on actually watching it live…like I would with Saul. I don’t much go back and watch a show twice and it’s pretty easy to download episodes online if I REALLY wanted to check something out twice so there’s no reason to for me. Wouldn’t want to clutter up the memory with all these shows I won’t watch ever again.
Either way, I have it set to record the 4am Friday showing of the new episode which is apparently the next time it’s aired on AMC. I could get it online quicker but waiting a few days and watching it on Friday night sounds fine by me.
Watching TV with no DVR buffer is … like life pre-microwaves.
I’m just in the habit of either having a computer or magazine or article in front of me so I’ll check a few things during out commercials and I’ll check that during commercials. Plus, I watch sports a lot so I’ll usually flip around during commercials and there’s usually some other game on to watch during breaks. So I’m still in the habit of watching stuff live but it’s not like I WATCH the commercials.
In the end, sports are probably the only reason I have cable at all…and I don’t much record games since it’s a bit tricky to watch stuff while avoiding hearing who wins. But I’m slowly getting the hang of it.
For live sports I find the [PAUSE] function works better than the [REWIND] if I need to step away from the TV. No spoilers this way.
I use the [DELETE] function for programs I’ve already watched and am done with. When you delete something from the DVR, it is removed from the total ‘memory’ capacity.
For live sports I find the [PAUSE] function works better than the [REWIND] if I need to step away from the TV. No spoilers this way.
Not a bad idea. Kinda tricky to get into this mindset that I can pause TV.
I use the [DELETE] function for programs I’ve already watched and am done with.
Yeah, yeah, I know. But best to not have it there if it’s not needed. Either way, I just need to remember to watch on Monday nights.
Anyway, like I said, I had my Friday night viewing of the last Saul. I was pretty locked in for the first fifteen minutes…I do like how this show will have a simple situation like stealing a neighbor’s paper blow up into something crazy.
They do seem to be emphasizing that Chuck’s condition is likely how Chuck has been reigning in his brother and likely keeping him close…a combination of needing Jimmy to “be good” and a dependency thing where he likely needs someone around. That situation will likely be blowing up eventually…
The Mike stuff was okay and it was nice to see them use him more but it did feel a little out of place where it was all done at the end. Could have interspersed that stuff throughout the show. Oh well.
Wow, nice episode of Better Call Mike last night…I don’t mind them dedicating the whole show to Mike since that story deserved its own episode to get the backstory out in the open so we can better deal with Mike’s issues in the present. Plus who doesn’t want more Mike? Saul basically had a cameo in his own show but it means those two will likely be working together more and more as this things get ugly…maybe Mike needing another lawyerly favor from Saul.