Television Better Call Saul | Includes Breaking Bad Spoilers

frostbite

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
3,356
Absolutely! He could have taken the 7.5yrs as Saul, but essentially be doomed to being Saul for the rest of his life. There, he's doomed to spend the rest of his life in prison, but he's free of that Saul persona.
What does this mean? Having to spend the rest of his life in prison is definitely the worst thing that could happen to him. It would be more logical for anyone in his position to prefer to die, than to live in prison forever. After all, as a lawyer he'd have no delusions about life in prison. You certainly cannot "just be yourself" if you are imprisoned for life!
 

George Owen

LEAVE THE SFW THREAD ALONE!!1!
Joined
May 7, 2010
Messages
15,907
Location
Gold Coast, Australia
What does this mean? Having to spend the rest of his life in prison is definitely the worst thing that could happen to him. It would be more logical for anyone in his position to prefer to die, than to live in prison forever. After all, as a lawyer he'd have no delusions about life in prison. You certainly cannot "just be yourself" if you are imprisoned for life!
Also, he is definlety not free of the Saul persona, at all. He will spend the rest of his life, surrounded by people who only knows him and calls him as Saul Goodman.
 

Jericholyte2

Full Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
3,610
What does this mean? Having to spend the rest of his life in prison is definitely the worst thing that could happen to him. It would be more logical for anyone in his position to prefer to die, than to live in prison forever. After all, as a lawyer he'd have no delusions about life in prison. You certainly cannot "just be yourself" if you are imprisoned for life!
Also, he is definlety not free of the Saul persona, at all. He will spend the rest of his life, surrounded by people who only knows him and calls him as Saul Goodman.
But he knows that Kim sees him as Jimmy again. That’s all that mattered to him. He spiralled to the point of bordering on violence and murder when she rejected him as Saul, now he knows she sees him again as Jimmy he can be at peace with that.
 

frostbite

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
3,356
But he knows that Kim sees him as Jimmy again. That’s all that mattered to him. He spiralled to the point of bordering on violence and murder when she rejected him as Saul, now he knows she sees him again as Jimmy he can be at peace with that.
I had a bad crush on a woman once, but thank god I was never deluded like that! Who wants to spend his life in prison only to make a woman (who literally fecks someone else!) think of him as a nice moron?
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
I had a bad crush on a woman once, but thank god I was never deluded like that! Who wants to spend his life in prison only to make a woman (who literally fecks someone else!) think of him as a nice moron?
So Jimmy is the ultimate ****!?
Why is it? Count me as one of those Buddhists that enjoy it.
No idea, I just noticed different posters with 'zen' in their name.
 

Oaencha

Full Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
2,237
SPOILER



I honestly hated the ending and that’s probably a good thing. He was living a crappy life as Gene, constantly looking over his shoulder. At least he did things on his own terms. Prison seemed pretty good for him. I could still do with a jail break and Huey piggy backing him to safety mini series.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
4,053
Supports
Real Madrid
For what it's worth, the head writer of the show said this about Kim being sued:

To your mind, do you think what Saul does in the hearing will get Kim out of legal trouble with Cheryl?
No, I don’t. I think that Kim is on her own journey, and I think he knows that. He does feel bad about what’s happening with Cheryl. But I don’t think Kim would like it if Jimmy pulled some maneuver that protected her from Cheryl. He doesn’t save her; she saves her. They’re done with saving each other by this time.
 

GBBQ

Full Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
4,811
Location
Ireland
So he ruined his life for no reason?
Could argue he’s given her the option of diminished responsibility if she wishes to use it. But at the same time he’s left it so she can also take full responsibility if she needs to. The Saul we’ve known has always been scheming and now he’s giving Kim control to do what she wants to.
 

That'sHernandez

Ominously close to getting banned
Joined
Oct 30, 2010
Messages
24,582
Not a logical reason, no.
All that mattered for him was Kim's opinion.
I’m not sure I buy into that.

I think in part for me, I liked the ending because I no longer rooted for him. He was a detestable character who I had initially rooted for but didn’t like what he became, so I was glad to see that he didn’t get to ride off into the sunset.
 

cafecillos

Full Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2014
Messages
1,446
I thought it was a brilliant ending to a really good show. I won't go into the "all-time great" debate, as there are too many shows I haven't seen, and too much about cinematography that I don't know, so it would be meaningless, but of all the shows I have seen, the combo BB + BCS has to be among the very best, maybe not in the Six Feet Under/The Wire/The Sopranos tier, but close enough. The world they have created is so compelling, its style is so recognisable, and many of the actors (Cranston, Paul, Seehorn, etc) in it have been so incredible I'm sure it will be talked about and copied for decades to come.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
I thought it was a brilliant ending to a really good show. I won't go into the "all-time great" debate, as there are too many shows I haven't seen, and too much about cinematography that I don't know, so it would be meaningless, but of all the shows I have seen, the combo BB + BCS has to be among the very best, maybe not in the Six Feet Under/The Wire/The Sopranos tier, but close enough. The world they have created is so compelling, its style is so recognisable, and many of the actors (Cranston, Paul, Seehorn, etc) in it have been so incredible I'm sure it will be talked about and copied for decades to come.
:lol:

Havent seen 6fu. Should I?
 

cafecillos

Full Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2014
Messages
1,446
:lol:

Havent seen 6fu. Should I?
You should have bolded "of all the shows I've seen" too :lol:

And yes, Six Feet Under is definitely worth a go. It's completely different from the others and quite challenging to watch if you're not in the right mood though.
 

gaffs

Full Member
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
12,872
Location
Moscow 08, Rome 09, London 11
Is this worth watching. I watched most of Season 1 and i thought it was slow. Not much happened and i thought Sauls brother who was agoraphobic to be really annoying.

Worth trying again?
 

Kinky Melinky

Full Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2000
Messages
27,151
Location
Sligo
Thoroughly enjoyed the show. I was also reminded what a complete dickhead Walt was for the few brief scenes he was in. Nothing really to add to a well contributed thread. Good work lads n lassies
 

Zebs

Clare Baldings Daughter plays too much Wordscapes
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
17,060
Am I the only one who enjoyed the Chuck scenes?
I think they added to the story alright. Not sure what people's issue with them is.

'Chicanery' was one of the best episodes of the entire series.
 

Drainy

Full Member
Joined
May 5, 2009
Messages
14,868
Location
Dissin' Your Flygirl
On a rewatch of Breaking Bad and near to the end.

In the penultimate episode Granite State Saul gives Walt 'a nickels worth of advice for old times sake' while they are waiting for new identities.

He says that Walt is leaving Skyler high and dry to face the music on her own and he should walk in head held high and be a celebrity at the prison.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
4,053
Supports
Real Madrid
Is this worth watching. I watched most of Season 1 and i thought it was slow. Not much happened and i thought Sauls brother who was agoraphobic to be really annoying.

Worth trying again?
It gets slower.
 

Nickosaur

Full Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
11,895
Just watched the final episodes. That seals it, although I'd strongly been considering it since season 4.

It's a better show than Breaking Bad for me.
 

The Firestarter

Full Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Messages
28,319
Just watched the final episodes. That seals it, although I'd strongly been considering it since season 4.

It's a better show than Breaking Bad for me.
Highly subjective of course, but I find it better in the artistic sense. The overall story arc of Breaking Bad to me is superior though.
 

acnumber9

Full Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2006
Messages
22,302
I don’t understand calls that it’s better then Breaking Bad. It can’t really stand on its own two feet. Their main characters with the exception of Kim were established in Breaking Bad. That show earned the connection to those characters and multiple parts of the story don’t make sense unless you’ve seen Breaking Bad.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
Just watched the final episodes. That seals it, although I'd strongly been considering it since season 4.

It's a better show than Breaking Bad for me.
Absolutely. BB also had a bunch of filler. The start of season 2 was really fecking boring (where Jesse was being homeless for a couple of episodes) and that fly episode was terrible.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
4,053
Supports
Real Madrid
Absolutely. BB also had a bunch of filler. The start of season 2 was really fecking boring (where Jesse was being homeless for a couple of episodes) and that fly episode was terrible.
Better Call Saul has a lot more filler than Breaking Bad.
Wait what? I thought the pacing was pretty constant. The first 2 seasons were just ultra depressing.
The first season is nicely paced, just has low stakes. It tells a more-or-less complete story about how Jimmy becomes Saul and introduces him to Mike. The show gets a lot slower after that since they decide to not turn him into Saul, everything just slows to a crawl.
 

VanDeBank

Ma’am
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
4,862
Better Call Saul has a lot more filler than Breaking Bad.

The first season is nicely paced, just has low stakes. It tells a more-or-less complete story about how Jimmy becomes Saul and introduces him to Mike. The show gets a lot slower after that since they decide to not turn him into Saul, everything just slows to a crawl.
I disagree, the show is just slow, but I felt like there was a point to almost everything, even if it wasn't immediately obvious to me. Some scenes didn't tie directly into the story but were beautiful cinematography, which I didn't really mind.

If you need to show WW chasing a fly for an hour to hammer home the point that he's a control freak with OCD or if you need 4 episodes of Jesse walking the street stumbling over garbage cans to make the point he has no purpose in his life, that's really shit writing and wasting the audience's time.
 

Iker Quesadillas

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
4,053
Supports
Real Madrid
The problem with "filler" is that it's in the eye of the beholder. If you love a show you'll think it has none; if you don't, you will.

Season 1 ends with Jimmy rejecting a job. Season 2 begins with him taking that decision back and holding that job for 7 episodes before he realizes, long after we did, that he doesn't want it. It's filler and a complete waste of time, it is just there so that they can get out of following through on the S1 ending.

Then Jimmy loses the ability to practice law in mid-season 3 and spends a season and a half not being a lawyer. Entire episodes are dedicated to him doing minor cons, selling prepaid cell phones, stealing figurines. Just a total waste of time. A season and a half!

And then there's other stuff. Take Mike's daughter-in-law. She's introduced as an actual character, there's stuff going on there, Mike has a relationship with her, etc. And then over time she appears in less episodes per season and isn't really doing much of anything, and by the end she's a total afterthought. There was no real arc here or anything of the sort, just couldn't figure out what to do this and dropped it.

Obviously everyone is allowed to like whatever they want, but I can't fathom caring about or even understanding shit like Mesa Verde or Sandpiper, boring legal cases that took up an enormous amount of time and amounted to nothing.
 

acnumber9

Full Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2006
Messages
22,302
I disagree, the show is just slow, but I felt like there was a point to almost everything, even if it wasn't immediately obvious to me. Some scenes didn't tie directly into the story but were beautiful cinematography, which I didn't really mind.

If you need to show WW chasing a fly for an hour to hammer home the point that he's a control freak with OCD or if you need 4 episodes of Jesse walking the street stumbling over garbage cans to make the point he has no purpose in his life, that's really shit writing and wasting the audience's time.
Better Call Saul had multiple episodes watching guys digging a hole in the ground. The series ended with a few episodes showing us that Saul likes to scheme.
 

That'sHernandez

Ominously close to getting banned
Joined
Oct 30, 2010
Messages
24,582
The problem with "filler" is that it's in the eye of the beholder. If you love a show you'll think it has none; if you don't, you will.

Season 1 ends with Jimmy rejecting a job. Season 2 begins with him taking that decision back and holding that job for 7 episodes before he realizes, long after we did, that he doesn't want it. It's filler and a complete waste of time, it is just there so that they can get out of following through on the S1 ending.

Then Jimmy loses the ability to practice law in mid-season 3 and spends a season and a half not being a lawyer. Entire episodes are dedicated to him doing minor cons, selling prepaid cell phones, stealing figurines. Just a total waste of time. A season and a half!

And then there's other stuff. Take Mike's daughter-in-law. She's introduced as an actual character, there's stuff going on there, Mike has a relationship with her, etc. And then over time she appears in less episodes per season and isn't really doing much of anything, and by the end she's a total afterthought. There was no real arc here or anything of the sort, just couldn't figure out what to do this and dropped it.

Obviously everyone is allowed to like whatever they want, but I can't fathom caring about or even understanding shit like Mesa Verde or Sandpiper, boring legal cases that took up an enormous amount of time and amounted to nothing.
That's if you take Better Call Saul in isolation... It's setting up Mike's motivations for Breaking Bad.
 

Zen

Full Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2008
Messages
14,555
Yes but he's right.... that could of legit just been the one episode, the backstory on Mike, they did bring her in to seemingly be a consistent presence, only to realize she's not actually, she's just there to pad out the show, for no reason whatsoever, other than for that 1 episode.

It's almost certainly intentional, but a lot of BCS just feels like it's a semi fly on the wall as opposed to an actual dramatic series. It's very very cuttable without actually losing the development and story of the actual series, hell you could probably make it less than 40 episodes, and still end up more or less with same conclusions and understanding of them.

If you like being a fly on the wall in a world your invested in, then it's not necassarily a bad thing, and for me, it wasn't(mostly). I'd much rather be a fly on the wall than have an episode dedicated to a fly.