Wow, give Mike an Emmy for that ep. Good stuff.
^No crap…I don’t know where they found that actor but he’s showing he’s not as one-dimensional as his character seemed. Great to see him get more airtime.
Yea this Mike-centric episode was great to see Ehrmantraut’s background and the event which led him to New Mexico. I didn’t know he was an alcoholic but I can see why (after this last eps) he drinks himself into a stupor.
HIs Emmy-nominating moment so far is when he breaks down in front of his daughter-in-law about his son. The tender emotions on his face was such a contrast to his hard-core combat fighting ways.
I can’t wait until they show us what happens in BCS to lead to the estrangement between the daughter-in-law and Mike. Iircc, by the time Breaking Bad rolls around, Mike has a lot tougher time to see his grand-daughter.
HIs Emmy-nominating moment so far is when he breaks down in front of his daughter-in-law about his son.
Yeah, that’s a really tough scene to pull off and he nailed it.
Iircc, by the time Breaking Bad rolls around, Mike has a lot tougher time to see his grand-daughter.
He does? I thought they showed him playing with his granddaughter in Breaking Bad a few times. They’re very short scenes but I’m pretty sure I don’t remember anything weird there.
Man every week the acting by Bob Odenkirk keeps on surpassing my expectations and more.
The last few minutes we see of Saul this week, he is sitting on the floor by the window in the empty potential office (one we know he doesn’t get), getting emotional. Maybe Saul was thinking that by doing the ‘right thing,’ his dreams of the awesome office (as well as an awesome partner for the corner office) has evaporated. At least for now. That scene really got to me.
Give this dude an Emmy / Golden Globe already! I’d be surprised if he wasn’t nominated for a plethora of awards this coming season. It’s like 7 eps in and I am super impressed! Thanks Bob Odenkirk! (and AMC and Vince Gilligan)
Guess what? Better Call Saul was ‘renewed’ for a 2nd season even before the 1st eps aired. Well planned, AMC. Maybe they will add more eps to Season 2 (currently 13 eps).
Man every week the acting by Bob Odenkirk keeps on surpassing my expectations and more.
I’d have to agree. This is a dude who spent years as a behind-the-scene writer at SNL and was really only for comic relief in most stuff…he’s showing his acting chops here.
Guess what? Better Call Saul was ‘renewed’ for a 2nd season even before the 1st eps aired.
I read somewhere that it was right after the first show aired but either way it’s a good sign. I have a feeling AMC will be giving plenty of leeway to Gilligan and the crew.
Loved last night’s show…maybe it’s me but the last two episodes have moved very fast with a lot of parts in each one. It seems hard to take in everything that happens. Nice to see his brother finally waking up and possibly may be over whatever hangup he had…seems like his “allergy” is related to Saul’s success in a way.
This week’s episode gave us more of what we like:
Cinematography:
I really love the way certain scenes are shot, and how the events are portrayed. Specifically, this episode opens with the wheels of a mail cart. We see the bottom of the cart, and follow the progression slowly upwards until moments later, we realize it’s young Jimmy working the Mail Room at HHM, in a flash back into pre-current episode events.
One of the most powerful scenes this week (and idk if it falls under Cinematography or some other term) was the one where Hamlin goes into the Mail / Copy Room to give Jimmy the news. We first see Jimmy celebrate with his friends, and once Hamlin clears the room, all we hear is the audio of a copy machine and the Director lets the silent acting take over. So much more powerful and really brought the point home, especially with no dialogue necessary.
Part of me wonders if Chuck’s illness has something to do with HHM casting Jimmy aside; he’s the brother of a Name Partner and they can’t even give him a 1st Year Lawyer position as this huge firm?! Especially for how hardcore we all know Chuck is / can be,
Another example of fabulous Cinematography is echoed in many episodes, but in this week’s it was the lawyer vs lawyer scene, towards the end of the episode. They meetup at Chuck’s house and it’s Chuck & Jimmy on the LHS, and the Sandpiper Crossing lawyers on the RHS of our screen, across the table from one another. I call this type the “Mirror Image but Opposite” (MIBO) view. We’ve seen the MIBO views a lot; in the previous episode it was with Jimmy and Mike sitting on opposite side of the Bench waiting for the 2 Cops from Philly to show up. I love the MIBO cinematography as it always shows so clearly the ‘similar yet opposite’ feeling of the characters being shown.
Acting:
That dumpster scene was really tough to watch. With no Smell-o-Vision, all of the uneasiness I felt watching that scene was due to, again, the superb acting from Bob Odenkirk. His facial expressions were so good I almost dry-heaved just watching him!
Man I can’t wait for the remaining 2 episodes of this first season. TBH, I first started watching BCS to get some more Saul shenanigans but this show has surpassed my expectations and more. With no Bryan Cranston I though for sure this show could not top Breaking Bad… oh boy was I wrong!
I would NOT be surprised if they are able to work Gustavo Fring into Season 2. I really can’t wait; one of my favorite characters from BB.
I really love the way certain scenes are shot,
I love the production of these shows too…stuff like the abstract scenes that kinda focus out to reveal what they are. And I love those long music montages…they usually did these for Walt’s cooking scenes in BB but they had a nice one for Mike’s robbery in the last episode. I always get giddy for those…just let the music play and the images tell the tale.
was the one where Hamlin goes into the Mail / Copy Room to give Jimmy the news.
Loved it too. No other show does that. And they didn’t need to give us the dialogue…judging from Saul’s brother’s reluctance about hiring him in the earlier scene, you know exactly what’s happening so dialogue is irrelevant. Though it’s a little shady he took the cake, though.
Part of me wonders if Chuck’s illness has something to do with HHM casting Jimmy aside;
Yeah, it’s hard to get a time stamp on some of these. I mean it seems like Jimmy’s always been a screwup so it’s hard to say his brother ever expected anything…I’m guessing that the mailroom gig was what Jimmy did after he got out of jail and that he worked on his legal career at that time. For me, it may be just loneliness with Chuck. It looks like he doesn’t have kids or a wife so it’s likely that law is all he has and he went home to an empty house every night. Eventually that didn’t become enough so he needed Jimmy to visit him and that’s his excuse to get it…now that they’re working together on a case, Chuck doesn’t need the “act” and his brain kinda forgot about his condition. That’s just my guess, of course.
all of the uneasiness I felt watching that scene was due to, again, the superb acting from Bob Odenkirk.
I liked the part where he jams his hand deep into a pile of garbage and just makes a face…we’ve all had that feeling when mashing down the garbage or something where your hand touches something slimy and you don’t want to know what it is…you just want to stop touching it. The phone call was maybe pouring it on a bit much but still quite humorous.
Man I can’t wait for the remaining 2 episodes of this first season.
There’s only two left? Yikes! Oh well…I guess it’s nice for it to end right before Game of Thrones begins.
I would NOT be surprised if they are able to work Gustavo Fring into Season 2.
Maybe, but that must be a strange bit of circumstances and it would probably have more to do with Mike’s side of the story. I don’t mind the Mike parts but I do wish him and Saul would converge a bit more…those two are great together. I was half-expecting Sual to hire Mike to strong-arm the old-folk’s home after he was kicked out but it didn’t happen.
Do we know anything re the relationship between Saul and Kim? I feel like that’s still in the dark, no? Love Michael McKean. I’m motivated now to watch This is Spinal Tap again this weekend. 
Well we know they are ‘friends with benefits’ and on top of that, they are close friends. We also know Kim is keeping the friendship a secret from the partners (Hamlin) at HHM for self-preservation.
It has been revealed that hey have some kind of history (hence the ‘friends with benefit’ status) and that Saul cares for her enough to ask her to be his partner in the Office-he-never-gets. From the latest episode, they have been friends since his days at the Mail Room.
We also know their friendship does not make it into the events of Breaking Bad, so either she dies or is out of the picture somehow (like Chuck).
I’m motivated now to watch This is Spinal Tap again this weekend.
Totally forgot that he was in that movie. Wow.
Well we know they are ‘friends with benefits’ and on top of that, they are close friends. We also know Kim is keeping the friendship a secret from the partners (Hamlin) at HHM for self-preservation.
It seems to me that were a former romance but had to end it yet they’re still clearly friends…Saul clearly still has feelings for her and I’m guessing she does too. The question is what happened to it…perhaps she had to end it after he left HHM or maybe he screwed it up?
We also know their friendship does not make it into the events of Breaking Bad, so either she dies or is out of the picture somehow (like Chuck).
Actually, we can’t say that for sure. After all, it’s not like we see ALL of Saul’s life during Breaking Bad…just his interactions with Walt and Jesse and such. He could have still had been having their heart-to-heart discussions with Kim on the side (same with Chuck). “You should get a load of this crazy science teacher who came in the door the other day…”
No way Chuck lives / is still around and condones even an iota of the shit Saul gets into in BB. I am pretty sure Chuck is either dead or locked away by the events of BB.
No way Chuck lives / is still around and condones even an iota of the shit Saul gets into in BB. I am pretty sure Chuck is either dead or locked away by the events of BB.
A good point. At the very least, they’d be estranged from each other.
^Bwahaha. Such a great scene. Love when they’re chatting about all the dead drummers.
Wow, pretty wild episode last night.
And I’d have to be blind to not see the parallels of Hamlin “clearing the room” before once again telling Jimmy he won’t be hired…just like the flashback in the previous week. And, seriously, Hamlin really needs to learn that it’s much better business protocol to go into another room yourself rather than making everyone else leave.
But, wow, Chuck’s revelations changes a lot…we all kinda suspected it but it was still surprising when he confirmed it all. And doesn’t this throw into question Hamlin’s intentions on Jimmy? Jimmy’s hated him because he always blamed him for keeping him out…but it was always his brother. Heck, maybe Hamlin was willing to hire Jimmy to get the Sandpiper case and his hands were tied since Chuck likely has more clout? The scene with Kim showed how he was probably frustrated about it and he kinda bit her head off before realizing he said the wrong thing and telling her the truth. Really kinda turned the show on its end. Hamlin’s probably still a douche but maybe not as bad as he seems.
And does this mean that Jimmy’s done being Mr. Nice Guy?..He seemed to really only do that for Chuck’s approval.
Also, I’m definitely noticing more Breaking Bad parallels. Both seasons had a first episode where they got in BIG trouble (Walt with the two dealers and Saul and the skateboarders with Tico) and then “cleaned up” for a bit afterward. And now both episodes had a HUGE moment where all their money problems could be solved…and they refused because of PRIDE. As always, pride is one of the biggest villains in this series…it took down a LOT of folks in Breaking Bad so we’re seeing the same theme here.
The Mike stuff certainly took a backseat (always great seeing Mike as a badass) but it was interesting seeing Nacho involved again…the idea of him “going outside of his bosses” implies he’s making a move that could upset the cartel balance. And I’m sure Jimmy will get dragged into it.
^Well said, also, we gots to get a Gus teaser at least next week or early in season 2 with the Cartel coming back into play.
I’m coming at this show ‘backwards’ having never watched BB. However, BB is at the end of the final season on demand, so I may start if they bring it back around to season 1 again. Or maybe I’ll watch it after BCS is complete. Anyway, great show! Fantastic characters. I like the way they tell the story; feels like a puzzle being put together. Even though I don’t have the BB pieces, it’s still very enjoyable. I find I like it more and more each episode, which speaks to to the strength of the characters, I think. I have been fond of Michael McKean since I was young, watching Laverne and Shirley, and was glad to see him. Bob Odenkirk is superb.
^Well said, also, we gots to get a Gus teaser at least next week or early in season 2 with the Cartel coming back into play.
Yeah, I always gathered that Mike worked for Gus first before he really started to do work for Saul…I’m guessing he’d work into Mike’s arc first.
I’m coming at this show ‘backwards’ having never watched BB.
Wow, that’s probably pretty unusual for most folks…there’s not TOO many references to the first show but definitely some parallels…and definitely the same film/art style for both. Glad you’re liking it…just know that BB works in basically the same way so if you like Saul, I’m sure you’d like BB.
It was a shocker to me that Chuck was using Hamlin to be the ‘Bad Guy,’ especially in this episode. Like Jimmy declared, he sorta could understand why Hamlin would not hire Jimmy back in the mail room days but now that he is bring the multi-million $$$ Class Action to HHM, surely they could give him some sort of position …
Now I look at Hamlin in a whole new light; yea he’s still an antagonist but Chuck is the bigger threat … hiding in plain site, sorta. What will Chuck do now that Jimmy’s abandoning him?
I mentioned a few posts ago that I think Chuck dies or gets put away. Now, regardless if those events happen, Jimmy is done with Chuck and perhaps that is the reason we do not see Chuck in BB.
Speaking of BB, Katiemay you definitely should watch it. They had marathoned the entire series prior to the premiere of BCS. Not sure when, but AMC likes to re-marathon every once in a while so you might be able to record those.