Better Call Saul Discussion Thread [Possible Spoilers]

The Kettlemans were pure gold.

Mrs. Kettleman: You're the kind of lawyer guilty people hire

hands him a pack of dirty money

The whole delivery was perfect.

And

Mrs. Kettleman: "This isn't about what's legal. Slavery used to be legal. Human slavery. "

Jimmy: "Yeah...it's right up there with that."

I was kind of afraid it was going to involve a lot of overly goofy hijinx, but they done good.

@jeff: I know some people have already answered, but I would say the show does work if you haven't watched Breaking Bad. My husband watched all of Breaking Bad and I watched pretty much none of it. I ended up watching the last half season (I think) with him. That is the extent of my Breaking Bad knowledge.

As someone who is unfamiliar with the characters, for the most part, I still find the show pretty enjoyable. I know I am not "getting" some of the stuff that they throw in for the BB fans, but as a show on it's own merits, it's fun. I like the balance between dark, tense moments and humor. Bob Odenkirk is phenomenal. So I would say try it.

Fake like his toupee...

Sex toilets are the future.

Poor Jimmy. The whole situation with Chuck in the hospital would be a pretty awful experience. Knowing you could potentially get your brother the help he needs but at the same time betraying his trust.

Next week's episode looks interesting. An entire episode for Mike? Hell yeah.

TONY THE TOILET BUDDY!

Looks like another Mike episode. I'm not complaining but thought it was kinda strange that they are focusing 2 episodes strictly on Mike. I wonder if the writers just ran out of ideas for Saul or something.

* glad the next episode incuded more McGill.

So, at first I thought Chuck had cancer which in turn made him paranoid about all forms of radiation. Now I'm thinking he just flipped out one day and became a whackadoodle*.

This show is not very good.

Last monday's episode finally reveals how James McGill got his degree and passed the bar exam. Must say since Breaking Bad I always thought his degree was a forge but guess it was legit and done with real hard work on the part of James McGill. On the episode we see how deep James respects his brother Chuck and is always looking for approval from him which makes me wonder that something must of happened between the two to put James on the course he's at by the time he appears on Breaking Bad. Thought it was great episode and sets the next episode up to maybe further explain Chuck's breakdown.

I haven't watched it yet. It looks good though

This will be a good episode for people who haven't watched Breaking Bad. You get to see why people adore Mike so much

Chuck, you motherfucker.

It's getting easier to see how Jimmy becomes Saul.

Pretty good, but brief appearance from Steven Ogg, aka Trevor from Grand Theft Auto V in this week's episode.

Wouldn't say it leads to anything, but cool to see him getting paid nonetheless.

@theht said:

At this point I kinda expect the Jimmy->Saul transition to happen in the finale of this season, because fuck everybody, they don't appreciate Jimmy? And then future seasons are him building up his pretty crooked Saul Goodman practice.

Had no idea that was him, very cool! That scene was so fucking good.

@ssully said:

I think the A-plot and the B-plot of this episode were phenomenal. Great performances from everybody. I think it's one of the strongest episodes this season. I continue to be impressed by their ability to turn Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad's comic relief character into the lead of his own story.

You can watch it on UK Netflix on any of your devices using unblock-us ;). It's how I watch every week.

The style from this finale felt a hell of a lot like Mad Men, which I personally loved. This show is amazing, and I can't wait for the next season. I feel like this is going to be a perfect replacement for the hole Mad Men will leave when it wraps up. Although I do feel like a lot of people won't be back because of the lack of action compared to Breaking Bad, which is a shame, but I get it.

Jimmy's breakdown in the Bingo Hall was amazing, and it was also great seeing him and his buddy pull off that half-dollar scam.

Also this. Slipping Jimmy you son of a bitch.

@recspec said:

The style from this finale felt a hell of a lot like Mad Men, which I personally loved. This show is amazing, and I can't wait for the next season. I feel like this is going to be a perfect replacement for the hole Mad Men will leave when it wraps up. Although I do feel like a lot of people won't be back because of the lack of action compared to Breaking Bad, which is a shame, but I get it.

Jimmy's breakdown in the Bingo Hall was amazing, and it was also great seeing him and his buddy pull off that half-dollar scam.

Also this. Slipping Jimmy you son of a bitch.

Man, I'm all for these subtle callbacks to stuff in Breaking Bad. It was already a funny scene, but now that you reminded me he said that to Walt, it's even funnier. Does Saul have that ring on during Breaking Bad?

Also, this last episode wasn't exactly the note I was expecting the season to end on, but I guess I also wasn't sure what to expect after all the stuff with Chuck in the previous episode.

Seemed like a really big crossroad at the end. Who would've thought Chuck's betrayal and his pal from Chicago death would've that much effect on his decision to become Saul Goodman in the end. I mean from what it sounds like he gave up a decent career move in order to "cross over to the darkside".

@bisonhero: Yeah, you can see the ring in the first episode he shows up in, the attention to detail is amazing.

I'm kinda bummed this show hasn't drunmed up more interest. It's been the best season of TV I've seen in awhile.

Can't wait for season 2

@ottoman673: I'm sure there's plenty of people who've just been waiting for it to appear on Netflix. Even Breaking Bad didn't become what it is today until at least towards the end of it's first season and its appearance on Netflix.

I felt like the show coasted after the Kettleman stuff resolved, and even that resolution was anticlimactic. The big case he put together came out of nowhere and only took place during the last 3 episodes where everything that happened before kind of didn't matter. They have to set that up for sure but the whole narrative felt disjointed to me.

It was split into different arcs and I wish they had tied it all together a little more. First he almost got involved with criminals, then he was doing Kettleman stuff, he got some money, here's a Mike episode, now he has a major case, oops we ran out of episodes, the end.

One of the things that always stuck with me most about Breaking Bad is that every character had a role to play, even seemingly minor characters would often influencing things in a major way but in Saul they introduced a lot of characters that go nowhere. The twins disappeared from the show, the Nacho stuff fizzled out. I'm sure they'll be back in the future but I guess I was expecting more. It felt like they were just setting up the show so that they can make future seasons. I enjoyed watching it but I was never dying to see what happened next.

@49th: I think maybe you shouldn't approach this show with the mindset that it will be like Breaking Bad. I don't think this will ever have the breakneck and rube goldberg-esque plotting of that show, especially because of how free-wheeling Jimmy is and the very premise of the show itself. It doesn't appear too interested in orchestrating a grand narrative that moves its main character down a dark path with cold calculating logic.

It's already doing so much to create its own distinct visual style, with the highlight in that awesome montage in the finale. I wouldn't mind it just telling story chunks here and there throughout a season. Sure, there will still be overarching themes to thread every episode in one season together, as any good serialized TV show should, but I'll be treating this more like Mad Men (as another poster pointed out) than Breaking Bad. I like the characters, I like the dialogue, I like the more personal drama. Yeah, having crazy moments are very much welcome (and obviously inevitable considering where Jimmy/Saul is ultimately heading), but I'm not going to demand that EVERYTHING FITS like I did with Walt and friends.

Just my two cents, anyway!

I'm really enjoying this series! After I was worried about it hitting a lul, these last couple of episodes have been fantastic. Really enjoying the feel of the show, and it's really enjoyable to be along for Saul's journey. Can't wait for more.

@49th: Really, most shows compare unfavourably to Breaking Bad's structure, because they went out of their way for that show to not really have a status quo. Things were constantly either escalating or on the brink of falling apart. That pacing wouldn't make sense for a show about a guy who is a shady lawyer. It doesn't seem that unreasonable for the show to have a couple mini-arcs within its first season. Each of the arcs demonstrated something: the dealings with Tuco and Nacho showed that he has a knack for speaking to criminals without getting himself killed, the Kettleman stuff showed that he's likely to resort to unscrupulous methods to preserve his legal practice, and everything after that with the seniors' home ultimately showed that he doesn't think he's cut out to be a bigshot lawyer who puts in all the hard work and research.

Also, you're misremembering Breaking Bad if you think it didn't have bit characters like the skateboarding twins that go nowhere. Breaking Bad has them, Better Call Saul has them, it happens. Michael Mando is part of the cast as Nacho, so he's definitely going to feature in future seasons, but understandably he isn't in the first one much because Saul is still actively trying to avoid dealing with criminals.

Better Call Saul is currently my favorite show and I've never seen an episode of Breaking Bad.

@davidh219: I suppose its obvious now but you should really watch Breaking Bad.

That's awesome.