Better Call Saul
 

So... Better Call Saul!

Anyone watch the first episode, Uno? What'd you think, etc, etc!

I commented on it over the 2015 TV thread. I finally finished up Breaking Bad a couple of weeks ago. So the memories are still fresh. Looking forward to the second episode tonight.

Loved it.

One little touch I especially loved - in both first episodes, the protagonists forget that they've placed something on the roof of their cars before driving off.

I thought the pacing was perfect. The beginning at Cinnabon was excellent. Clearly in the future and Saul is hiding from someone Thought the idea of him using the two skaters to try and make some cash was brilliant.

Big fan. Can't wait to see tonight's episode.

The Cinnabon thing was a reference back to Breaking Bad. Just in case:

I do like how they are building things up. I think it is going to take 4 or 5 episodes for them to back fill the story enough to hit their stride.

love it. the negotiation in the desert was hilarious.

Agreed. Really enjoyed both episodes, watched them both last night... would agree that this is a stronger start than Breaking Bad, but I imagine that is because there is already a familiarity with this world and its characters to some degree. Plus, in essence... you know how this is going to end.

So I think that we should just agree early on that there will be spoilers, both of Breaking Bad and of previously aired episodes further along in this thread.

So, what's the deal with Jimmy's brother? Sensitive to electromagnetism? A hypochondriac? Trying some possible cancer treatments? Clearly a bit of a nut in any case.

Definitely sensitive to electromagnetism. Whether it's legitimate or of the tinfoil hat variety remains to be seen.

Thought it was, but wanted to confirm. That indeed was Krazy-8 that was part of Tuco's crew and came to see Jimmy/Saul at the end of the 2nd episode.

I appreciate that Saul had a broken windshield

That wasn't Krazy-8 - it certainly was not the actor that played him in Breaking Bad. On IMDB, he appears to be named Nacho Varga. I imagine Krazy-8 shows up at some point, but that wasn't him.

And ep. 103 is titled "Nacho"

There ya go :)

IMDB does show Krazy-8 in the 2nd Better Call Saul episode. I guess he was just one of the guys in the desert.

Looks like it was a mistake on the IMDB entry. He's now credited with 'unknown episodes' for Better Call Saul.

That is what I saw too.

Either way - really enjoyed the first two episodes. Going to enjoy seeing where they go with this.

I had assumed that the show would basically be slick-lawyer Saul doing wacky and unethical things to resolve weekly conflicts.

It is cool to see them starting pre-Saul and building up to that. The first episodes leave a lot of potential for growth in any number of directions.

So I thought episode two started out fantastically and waned a little bit as the action died down. Still great overall and I'm eagerly anticipating where Jimmy's relationship with Nacho will go.

Loved the opening of episode 2 with Tuco chopping up those tomatoes...had such a familiar feeling.

Enjoying that it's being played much more straight than I thought they'd go. Or should I say, where I worried they'd go. Of course Gilligan wouldn't turn this overly jokey.

REALLY like the direction this series is going. This was a great episode. It will be interesting to see what more we find out about the pre-Albuquerque Jimmy.

It seems logical that the story is now heading towards: Does Jimmy take the money as a bribe to "get himself right?"

Maybe not, as he did call in that he had found them.

This episode shows why modern day Chuck and Jimmy are both having trouble with the fact that Jimmy is now taking care of Chuck. It is so alien to each of them that neither can quite accept the idea that it is happening.

Another great episode last night. Cool to get to see that Saul Goodman was an alias that he's used before. Now that he's getting clients, I can see things picking up story-wise.

I did not see either of the con jobs coming, neither the one at the beginning of the show, nor the one at the end.

You wonder if he is going to get paid off by HHM to quit using his real name? Seems like that might be coming. Or some major blowout with his brother.

I'd expect some blowout with his brother. From the end of the episode, he has a good idea of what Jimmy's up to.

So this show has been a pleasant surprise and is not what I expected at all.

Two thoughts/questions for others watching...

1) After the newspaper fiasco Jimmy's brother is definitely a nutcase right?
2) Do you all think Mike is already in dirty with the Mexican drug gangs or is he just a clean ex-cop who will be roped in later possibly by Saul? It seems like he wouldn't have wanted to help Saul out unless he already did have some ties to the drug gangs already.

Mike's not necessarily "clean" at this point. In Breaking Bad the reason he's an ex-cop is heavily implied through the half measure/full measure speech he gives Walt.

With that in mind, the reason he helps Saul is more likely because of his extreme disillusionment with cops than any involvement with the cartels; until he saw how antagonistically the detectives regarded Jimmy/Saul, Mike didn't care too much about him.

That's how I read it.

I find the Jimmy/Chuck dynamic fascinating--especially as we see what a fuck-up Jimmy was for their entire life.

There are elements I really like about this show, but it is not nearly as good as Breaking Bad. Hard to put my finger on why, maybe it's that it's hard to redeem Jimmy - Walt White had that science teacher/cancer/family thing going for him. But mostly that it seems like there's a half hour of good material being stretched into a full hour. The pacing is irritatingly slow, like a comic who has great stuff, but takes too long to set up each run of jokes.

I'm glad the pacing is slow. My main worry about the show was that it would try to capture all the frenetic energy of Breaking Bad's later seasons and just keep running with it. What people forget about Breaking Bad was that it was kind of a slow burn. Walt didn't morph into what he became overnight.

Vince Gilligan knows he has enough rope to take his time developing the various characters surrounding Saul on this show and he's doing it, all while adding a new dimension here and there to Saul, a character we already know. I don't think the show would work if he just dove right into some major plot point and didn't take the time to develop characters outside of Saul and Mike.

However, I do see your point about how it's hard to redeem Jimmy. No matter what happens, it's still in the back of your mind that Jimmy is a scumbag.

You definitely need to re-calibrate your expectations. Like, by miles. I think Gilligan thought this would be a fun way to explore more of the universe and the backstory of some characters. He's not really trying to tell anything near the same story as BB.

I'm just happy it's not only nonstop, over the top attempts at humor which is what I feared going in.

I'm really enjoying it. BB started slow too. My expectations are to sit back and enjoy more from the BB universe. The first episodes have me very happy with what the future may have in store.

I watched Breaking Bad last summer from start to finish. I had never seen an episode prior. I liked the show -- it's very good -- but I felt it was overrated. In any case, the first half of any of those seasons was VERY slow. Then things kicked in and it was non-stop until the end of a season. I'm really seeing no difference in the pacing for this show. He has been able to give this show a similar and different feel at the same time which is interesting.

I'm not talking about action or plot points, but specific scenes. There have been a few scenes (one or two per episode) that have dragged on like an SNL skit. The point is made, then beaten into us over and over. Odenkirk can't carry a scene and bring nuance like Cranston can. He's got one or two tricks, then it's resorting to artificial filler like clearing his throat.

I don't question Gilligan's ability or direction (he's a wizard with setting a scene), but I do question the pacing of this show. Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's just Odenkirk isn't big enough for the material.

I'll give it some more time, but I haven't really enjoyed it so far, and I loved BB from episode one.

While I don't feel it's quite up to BB levels yet, I'm glad we (probably) won't have to suffer through anything as depressing as all the Skyler/separation bullshit from season 2. That shit was ponderous.

Also, as to Jimmy/Saul being a scumbag, I feel like this show has at least given him a pinch of his humanity back showing him caring for his brother, and some of the genuine concern he shows for Kim(?) and even his scummy clients, or potential clients.

There's been a couple instances of the show just piling on the tension, to the point of making me a nervous wreck.....like the scene after the skater leg-breaking, where Jimmy was in a bar and a guy was cracking breadsticks for seemingly ten minutes solid. Regularly sitting through those kind of scenes could wear on me, both because of its lack of subtlety, and because I'm a little high-strung.

One or two scenes an episode you feel drag? So what, it's 45 minutes, so you didnt enjoy 5-6 minutes of it.....Nitpicking...

Odenkirk has absolutely shown he can carry a scene. It's not fair to compare him to what Brian Cranston became. Cranston was basically the same level as Odenkirk when BB began. I think Odenkirk has been fanstastic and shown his ability to carry the show. His character is in a non stop struggle with himself, and i see it in every scene.

If you just gonna compare it to its predecessor, you might as well give up. It's gonna be very hard to be as good as breaking bad. If you can separate the two, and just enjoy how amazingly fun a story told by Vince Gilligan is, then you'll probably end up really liking it.

The show officially has me hooked now. Great episode again last night. Loved all of the potential crack pot clients, his emulating Matlock to go after the elderly clientele, and finding out more about the EMF issue with his brother.

Looks like next week we get a Mike episode. Very much looking forward to that.

The nail shop that Jimmy is working out of is the same one he tried to offer up as a money laundering operation, right?

Still glad we got the laser tag and the tortilla factory out there too.

I wasn't sure if I was going to watch but I slammed thru the first 4 episodes on Sunday night and caught last night's. McKean kinda annoys me a bit, hopefully they bring him around soon enough. If he wasn't so good as an actor, it would be more painful.

Do agree that some of the camera shots are borderline self indulgent. For example the lingering in Mike in the booth last night was a bit much. I get that it's a style choice, but we could also be getting an extra 2-4 minutes of development per episode.

Love it.


This is what Gilligan did with The Lone Gunmen spinoff from X-Files and it was awful. Looks like he learned his lesson.

The show is exactly what I was hoping and expecting. My only issue is Mike's looking a little too old for playing a younger version of himself, I just need to do my best to suspend my disbelief on that one since I love the character.

I'm pretty sure it is, yeah.

Mike does look old. But I'm telling myself he looks old and worn out because whatever happened in his old cop life has beaten him down. Once he gets rolling in the criminal underworld, he'll be rejuvenated.

:popcorn:

Loving the show.

I miss Tuco, though. He kept you on your toes.

And it's not like this is 20 years before BB - it's only 6 years or so.

Yeah, but he was even looking much older by the end of BB than he was at the beginning. He just crossed the line into old man some time during BB. Hard to recast him in a prequel. But like I said, loved the character and loved how he portrayed him, so I'll look past it.

so, would I need to have watched BB through to the end to enjoy Saul? I'm currently on season 2 (right after Saul was introduced, ironically) honestly if I had a choice I think I'd rather watch Saul first...

It would definitely give you a little more insight into the path Jimmy will take to become Saul. But I don't think it is necessarily a prerequisite to have watched all of Breaking Bad.

I agree - I think having watched BB (far too many times through now...), it definitely adds to the experience. But the show is still enjoyable if you haven't seen BB. I would say finish BB first, then watch Saul. Then some of the subtlety's of Saul will make more sense.