Your cross to bear, Howard; who wants coffee! -- I think he just became Saul
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"Better Call Saul" returns tomorrow night on AMC at 9:00.
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Your cross to bear, Howard; who wants coffee! -- I think he just became Saul
My recording ended with Howard about to confess. Frustrating. Have to record another viewing and watch very end
Us? We aren't the ones spending 5 minutes filming it. LOL.
Besides something is up because that was probably one of the longest Cinnabon intros we've had. Maybe the one with the kid shoplifting but this "spot" had a lot more "teeth" to it than anything in the previous 3 years.
These guys are known for setting things up seasons in advance.
to me, the issue is that he is in this self imposed "witness protection program" that was his exit on breaking bad. the paranoia and fear is eating him up. He didn't know if his DL and/or SSN would pass a light review as part of his ER stay. Then, he was paranoid about the cab driver who spent time in new mexico. Did he know Saul? Its eating him up.
the song playing was my echo, my shadow and me by the Ink Spots
We three, we're all alone
Living in a memory
My echo, my shadow and me
We three, we're not a crowd
We're not even company
My echo, my shadow and me
What good is the moonlight
The silvery moonlight
That shines above?
I walk with my shadow
I talk with my echo
But where is the one I love?
We three, we'll wait for you
Even 'til eternity
My echo, my shadow and me
We three, we're all alone
Seem like we living in a memory
That's my echo, my shadow and me
We three, we ain't no crowd
Fact is we ain't even company
That's my echo, my shadow and me
You know,…
He's lonely, miserable, and in great fear. I suspect, in the final episode, he'll do something really dumb to be exposed as Saul after living as someone else and working for minimum wage at Cinnabon for years. Saul will decide it is better to die than to live that solitary life. The story lines of Saul, Kim, Mike, Nacho, Gus, will all be combined down the road in some cataclysmic action by Saul. we know the demise of Mike, Nacho and Gus though.Living in a memory
My echo, my shadow and me
We three, we're not a crowd
We're not even company
My echo, my shadow and me
What good is the moonlight
The silvery moonlight
That shines above?
I walk with my shadow
I talk with my echo
But where is the one I love?
We three, we'll wait for you
Even 'til eternity
My echo, my shadow and me
We three, we're all alone
Seem like we living in a memory
That's my echo, my shadow and me
We three, we ain't no crowd
Fact is we ain't even company
That's my echo, my shadow and me
You know,…
From the Rolling Stone recap:
"Did the cabbie recognize Gene as Saul? One clue is that he was played by Don Harvey, a busy character actor (he’s one of the uniform cops on The Deuce), whom the production wouldn’t have spent money to fly in from out of town for a nothing part."
Did some googling and wiki-ing and I think his future is still open-ended. You had me panicking that I'd missed a big subplot in BB.
quote from my fiancee (who has not watched BB) during that scene:
"OMG what a f**king a**hole!"
I said yes dear, he is very much so . . .
I got my fiancee into BCS, but she hasn't watched BB. So when we watched the first episode last night, I had fun telling her which characters are in BB and which ones are not.
side note: god dam, every scene with Mike and his grand daughter just breaks my f**king heart.
Agree. Mike seems like, to me, a guy with a lot of regrets. He's trying to make up for that. And there is the consistency and parallel in the characters. In BB, the guy was diagnosed with a terminal disease and was trying to make a ton of money quick by cooking meth. He felt "justified" because a partner screwed him and the system didn't protect him. This is a consistent theme with John Grisham novels (and many others) as well.
We, at least I, don't know Mike's complete story. But it has to be consistent with walter whites. And this is consistent with Jimmy. He was a bit of an F-up and found his footing helping people with elder abuse cases. The elder abuse issue was stolen from him and he felt ripped off. Moreover, the only one he wanted to please, his brother, hated him for his success. So Jimmy has a moment where he finally says "screw them, I tried it the good way, now I am looking out for myself". "Your cross to bear" is great because Hamlin was one of the guys that F'ed him over. The fish tank, signifying his lack of remorse by being more concerned about the fish than his brother/hamlin, was the same scene in breaking bad when Walter White went off the rails.
And just like in real life, every crook and murderer feels justified in their life because society caused them to do what they did in order to survive.
That, to me, is what was great about BB and now BCS: It shows how people, normally decent people with a lot to give, feeling abandoned and abused, go to the dark side.
I think that is the hardest part of watching Slippin Jimmy breaking bad into Saul Goodman . . . compared to Walter White, Jimmy was a bit of a screw up but he had several moments where he really was doing good work and being a good lawyer. and his betrayal by his brother and other attorneys wedged him into doing bad things.
and the thing with Mike and his grand daughter is KNOWING what happens in BB. that was one of the most heart breaking scenes on TV.
Agree...but Walter White was a great guy:
- Loyal husband
- Father of a disabled child
- Chemistry Teacher
- Business person
Orange in the New Black has a tangential but similar story. A light criminal, the lead actor, ends up having to "break bad" to survive in a woman's prison. You can't be in the middle, you have to chose a side for protection. And to be on a side, you have to be willing to carry their load against the opposing side. And once you are a side, there is no going back.
Both shows are an awesome reflection of criminal lives, IMHO. I'd like to see a show about a 15 year old kid trying to get good grades in a major city only to get sidetracked into a world of drugs and violence to protect his family.
I thought one of the best scenes in BB was during the finale, when Walter finally admitted to Skylar that he stayed in the meth business because he just enjoyed it.
I fast forward through the Cinnabon intros. There's no information in them that I can determine.
I'm also starting to conflate this with "Preacher" -- I see Saul at Cinnabon and picture him bumping into Hitler making Subway sandwiches. Those two could make quite a team.
I'm also starting to conflate this with "Preacher" -- I see Saul at Cinnabon and picture him bumping into Hitler making Subway sandwiches. Those two could make quite a team.
That was a really strong scene. One of the marks of a well written show is that the writers are never lazy, never content to let a secondary character be a cliche. In most shows (and movies) Howard would be the stereotypical douche. In Gilligan's world he's credible as a corporate lawyer (he realizes he has to push Chuck out for the sake of the firm) but at the same time he's ethical, conscientious, even a little sensitive. Howard needed Chuck, he admired Chuck, feared Chuck, clearly hated Chuck but he still cared about Chuck the human being.
And the guilt at the thought that Chuck killed himself after Howard pushed him out is just eating Howard up. Really complicated stuff and they (and a really excellent actor) get to convey all that. And for a secondary character!
Meanwhile, Jimmy's feelings toward Chuck were more simple. He just hated him, and given what Chuck had done to him, it was pretty justified. Jimmy just didn't want to have to live with the notion that he killed Chuck. So when Howard lifted that off him, he was just giddy. At that moment he couldn't even think about being sad about Chuck or compassionate to Howard -- he was ready for a cup of coffee, ready to get on with his life.
Good writing, very good writing.
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Walter walked away from Grey Matter on his own, he wasn’t screwed out of anything.
didn't his partners even try to include him in the company at some point?
I thought he walked away because his ego couldn't tale being a jilted lover
No, Gretchen did not hook up with Elliott until after Walter walked out on her and took a buyout for his share in Gray Matter.
thanks for the correction. I don't recall they screwed him over as much as his ego removed him from the equation
Yes it was clear it was Walter's decision. Maybe an impulsive decision, probably a decision he regretted. But a good decision for us because if Walter was rich he wouldn't have become a chemistry teacher and met Jesse Pinkman.
Pretty sure it's been mentioned here, but Patrick Fabian (a/k/a Howard Hamlin) got his B.F.A. at Dear Old State. Damn right, he can act.
Yep. He took a $5000 buy out. But he felt that they owed him based on their success using Walter's research. Walter secretly feels that his work was "stolen" from him. This was from Vince Gilligan in an interview.
Walter explains this to Jesse, when they were offered $5m for the recipe and to walk away from cooking. Specifically, Walter says “something happened… I’m not going to go into detail…for personal reasons”.
Regardless of the legal details, WW broke bad (in part) because he felt like he had been screwed over. Perhaps just luck, perhaps greed by his former partners, perhaps something else.
sooooooo . . . many great scenes last night. Fiancee turns to me after the copier company job interview and says, "what the hell is wrong with that guy??" I smiled. There's Saul. And great to see he was playing the long con.
Ending of the show hit like a ton of bricks, great acting by Giancarlo Esposito!
But the hallmark of the show was the Kim/Howard confrontation. FABULOUS acting from Rhea Seehorn. She nails restrained, seething anger like I've never seen before.
Ending of the show hit like a ton of bricks, great acting by Giancarlo Esposito!
But the hallmark of the show was the Kim/Howard confrontation. FABULOUS acting from Rhea Seehorn. She nails restrained, seething anger like I've never seen before.
I couldn't figure out what he was doing at that interview and I'm still not entirely sure but I'm guessing it has to do with the Hummell Figurines?
Yes it did. Giancarlo Esposito would scare the crap out of me if he looked at me the way he did Nacho and that was before what happened. Yeesh.
I loved the Kim/Howard scene. She was fantastic.
SPOILERS:
how he stared at Nacho as the other guy suffocated . . . pure, calculated evil.
"I know what you did, but the Salamanca's do not." . . . he really twisted Nacho's nuts there!
and yes, seems like Jimmy's job interview tour was just casing the various businesses. brilliant
My guess is, in the interview scene, his inner lawyer took over. He dressed them down for not doing their due diligence. Lawyers are taught to think in terms of liability. He wanted the job but just couldn't help himself as his lawyer training took over. I think this was, or leads to, a surrendering that he's a lawyer like it or not. He was so enthusiastic to get a new job and stop lawyering but he just couldn't help himself.
Yea but even before that scene, the week before, when they were standing in the parking lot after the ambulance left and he just stared at him. Scary as hell.
....SPOILER.....
I also don't know why Nacho went through all that trouble of tossing the pills and the bottle into the lake/river. Why not just wait till you get home and dump them down the toilet?
SPOILER.....
So did he know as soon as he looked at the figurines that they were worth a whole lot of money did he formulate his plan to steal them then? I'm ASSuming thats what the call to Mike was about.
Given his long, boring talks with oldsters attempting to gain their trust I believe he had a good handle on which figurines were schlock and which were valuable
That was my thought but later in the episode when she was berating Howard she made excuses for Jimmy’s behavior. I think that is part of Kim’s journey. She loves Jimmy and wants to believe he is good. I don’t think there will ever be an “aha” moment though. It will be a long, painful process realizing Jimmy is gone and Saul has replaced him.
Yes, the last scene was him looking up figurine prices on the internet. One of the ones in the copier firm office was worth thousands of dollars. He's going to propose to Mike that they rob the office (I think) which he's going to justify because the owner (son of the original owner) said he was going to throw all that stuff out.
I agree...but I don't see Jimmy and Mike being crooks, at this point. They appear to be enablers of crooks. I feel like that is their way to deal with their consciences.
Who had the Hummels and were did Jimmy get his knowledge of such things? Was it one of his clients when he was going the elder abuse thing?
