Better Call Saul ***Spoilers***

artvanderlay

Episode dragged for me. Started well but overall i thought the previous week's episode was much better. Can't stand the Salamanca psycho twins. Lalo is much more engaging, but I'm guessing he will die before BB (Gus taunted Hector that the Salamanca name will die with him).

s7ryf3925pivug

I find the combination of Mike's ever-increasing supersoldier powers and Jonathan Banks' ever-increasing age to be one of the less realistic aspects of the show.

FrancieBrady

Lyra Gifted Chest wrote: »

I find the combination of Mike's ever-increasing supersoldier powers and Jonathan Banks' ever-increasing age to be one of the less realistic aspects of the show.

Don't you have a 'willing suspension of disbelief'? It's required for most film and TV.

Have to say it is a complete non issue for me.

Penfailed

Lyra Gifted Chest wrote: »

I find the combination of Mike's ever-increasing supersoldier powers and Jonathan Banks' ever-increasing age to be one of the less realistic aspects of the show.

That doesn't bother me at all. The only time I was bothered by anything in the BB/BCS universe was Todd's weight gain in El Camino...and that didn't even bother me that much!

s7ryf3925pivug

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Don't you have a 'willing suspension of disbelief'? It's required for most film and TV.

Have to say it is a complete non issue for me.

I do but I find the oldness getting difficult to ignore. The supersoldier aspect is not so much about breaking disbelief though. It's just not as interesting as a more realistic/human character when it comes to action or the character themselves.

gormdubhgorm

Lyra Gifted Chest wrote: »

I find the combination of Mike's ever-increasing supersoldier powers and Jonathan Banks' ever-increasing age to be one of the less realistic aspects of the show.

Normally I'd agree if he was in a fighting scene. I stop buying into then. But when it is sniper skills, I can still buy into it. Also he Banks did not look as old with the hat and get up.
As for the trek through the desert somehow his old face really suited it as it made him look fatigued.

I still believed 'Mike' could do the trek after his speech because it described his whole reason for being and reason to stay alive. Sheer will and determination for his family, obviously the guilt about his son Matty as well.

FrancieBrady

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Normally I'd agree if he was in a fighting scene. I stop buying into then. But when it is sniper skills, I can still buy into it. Also he Banks did not look as old with the hat and get up.
As for the trek through the desert somehow his old face really suited it as it made him look fatigued.

I still believed 'Mike' could do the trek after his speech because it described his whole reason for being and reason to stay alive. Sheer will and determination for his family, obviously the guilt about his son Matty as well.

That is where I am too.

He missed plenty with the rifle too...it wasn't exact and precision shooting like a Terminator or anything.

His real age didn't impact on me while watching at all tbh.

rubadub

artvanderlay wrote: »

Can't stand the Salamanca psycho twins.

The mirroring each other is a bit stupid. I thought twins would have grown out of dressing the same when they were 9 or 10, unless it was purposely for fun.

do they ring each other in the morning
twin A -I want the silver suit and the gold shirt
B- awww no!! we wore them last week, lets go with the green shirts
A -awww ok, just for you, see ye later brother, don't forget the bullets!...

gormdubhgorm

Anyway I watched the Bagman episode yesterday. I had no real expectations about it, I was half thinking the standard would dip after a run of great episodes.
But at the risk of sounding like one of those people who is thinking that everything is great in a show. It was a fantastic episode from top to bottom. Really top notch acting from Odenkirk, Banks, Seehorn and Dalton.
It was not like watching telly it was like watching a play at times. I was completely engrossed in the whole thing from start to finish.

The way Dalton plays Lalo was really good in this episode. The casual, twisted, calculating, intelligent cold-hearted nature. Odenkirk and Seehorn with thier inner turmoil and anguish. Banks showing the grit, calmness and determination. The only time 'Mike' relaxed was the sheer relief after his final gunshot.

I even enjoying seeing the cousins. The filling the bags with money scene made me laugh out loud properly. The way both twins were completely synchronized. To me both characters can be simultaneously amusing, and extremely sinister at the same time. Great idea to have them say so little. I can see why some people would hate it. I think it is gas though.

It was all the little things I loved in the episode 'the worlds greatest lawyer' coffee cup and how Jimmy wanted to save it there. But 'the world's greatest lawyer' was killed.

Also the bit in the episode the really stood out for me (besides Mike's speech to Saul/Jimmy) was the 'Davis and Main' water bottle. This was the name of the legal firm Jimmy/Saul was in where he was well paid and comfortable.

https://breakingbad.fandom.com/wiki/Davis_%26_Main

But he wanted excitement. And over a period of time annoyed his Boss enough so he would have to let him go (but still get paid).He played guitar in the office stuff like that. I remember one of the things he did was take a big dump in the office toilet and leave there. Made me laugh at the time. Now here he was drinking piss from a Davis and Main bottle.
Basically his taking the piss had gone full circle! And now he was in the sh1t's.

artvanderlay

rubadub wrote: »

The mirroring each other is a bit stupid. I thought twins would have grown out of dressing the same when they were 9 or 10, unless it was purposely for fun.

do they ring each other in the morning
twin A -I want the silver suit and the gold shirt
B- awww no!! we wore them last week, lets go with the green shirts
A -awww ok, just for you, see ye later brother, don't forget the bullets!...

They are such stupid characters. They are like 2 Frankensteins monsters, in flashy suits. Their silence would make sense if it showed that they both had their tongues cut out at some stage, but how do they function in the world given that they never speak? Ridiculous.

rubadub

from Quora

Do the cousins ever speak in Breaking Bad?

Oliver Kruszka, Breaking Bad wiki editor
Answered August 23, 2019
Aside from when they are children, I believe they speak five times:

Telling Fring “You know.” in reference to why they are here to kill Walter White.

“We’ve waited long enough. We won’t wait any longer. - (Gus discusses Hank) “A DEA agent. Bolsa says the DEA is off-limits.”

“Vests?”, to arms dealer. “They work?” Referring to the bullet proof vests.

Lionel tells Marco to “Finish him.” (Hank)

“No. Too easy.” Marco, referring to killing Hank with a bullet, instead using an axe.

expectationlost

you should hear Johnathan Banks giving out about being in the desert heat for so long on the podcast https://podbay.fm/podcast/966297954 (he's only half joking)

seligehgit

seligehgit wrote: »

Wonderful!

Real Breaking Bad vibe!

The Salamanca twins or should I say the cousins!:D

artvanderlay wrote: »

They are such stupid characters. They are like 2 Frankensteins monsters, in flashy suits. Their silence would make sense if it showed that they both had their tongues cut out at some stage, but how do they function in the world given that they never speak? Ridiculous.

Love them and their frankenstein like caricature in all it's glory.

Mad_maxx

artvanderlay wrote: »

They are such stupid characters. They are like 2 Frankensteins monsters, in flashy suits. Their silence would make sense if it showed that they both had their tongues cut out at some stage, but how do they function in the world given that they never speak? Ridiculous.

They are almost like supernatural characters, remind me a little of the twins in the matrix reloaded for some strange reasons

They work despite the absurdity of their characters

gormdubhgorm

seligehgit wrote: »

Love them and their frankenstein like caricature in all it's glory.

Plus those twins/cousins back story was given before. It was implied that Hector gave them thier hard edge during thier childhood and basically broke them.

So at least they are consistent in thier caricatures.

gormdubhgorm

expectationlost wrote: »

you should hear Johnathan Banks giving out being in the desert heat for so long on the podcast https://podbay.fm/podcast/966297954 (he's only half joking)

They shot that Saul/Mike scene in July! I had forgotten the Chuck space blanket reference. Saul walking like Chuck half mad. The Mike and Saul scene reminded me of the one Jessie and Walt had where they bonded over survival in the desert.

yourdeadwright

Hey guys
Iv never seen any of better cakk Saul is it good ?
just finished Ozark and really enjoyed it so looking for my next binge,

gormdubhgorm

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Hey guys
Iv never seen any of better cakk Saul is it good ?
just finished Ozark and really enjoyed it so looking for my next binge,

Definitely yeah, bit of a slow burner at the start. Especially if you watched it week by week. A lot of character development, which is why it is so slow. But it pays off.

I don't even think you need to watch Breaking Bad before it if you have not seen it. The BCS show really picks up in this season and gets set up lovely the season before that.

nullzero

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Hey guys
Iv never seen any of better cakk Saul is it good ?
just finished Ozark and really enjoyed it so looking for my next binge,

Coming up to this season I rewatched all the previous seasons in a binge of sorts and the pacing works much better in that context so you're in an enviable position to be starting it now, once of course you've watched breaking bad.

Mad_maxx

I've only seen bits of BB and had no problem with BCS

Homelander

Better Call Saul works fine without having seen Breaking Bad, but it's not the full intended experience and a lot of detail would go over your head without having seen it.

It's a hard one to call as a lot of people would balk at the thought of having to watch 5 seasons of another show before watching BCS, though if you haven't seen Breaking Bad it is exceptional, particularly the later seasons (BCS is the exact same in this regard)

Penn

Homelander wrote: »

Better Call Saul works fine without having seen Breaking Bad, but it's not the full intended experience and a lot of detail would go over your head without having seen it.

It's a hard one to call as a lot of people would balk at the thought of having to watch 5 seasons of another show before watching BCS, though if you haven't seen Breaking Bad it is exceptional, particularly the later seasons (BCS is the exact same in this regard)

Yeah, I think BCS can still work without having watched BB, but you'll miss so many little things as it goes on. Even in this week's episode, Mike talking about why he does what he does and how he doesn't care what happens him so long as he leaves enough money for his family. If you've only seen BCS, that's a good scene. If you've seen BB though

and know that he ends up having to abandon his granddaughter in a park, gets shot and the DEA find and take the money he'd been saving for them, that scene takes on a completely different feeling and can really be a shot in the heart

that only-BCS viewers won't get.

Penn

Mr.S wrote: »

Spoiler tags, maybe, for those who haven't seen BB

I would have thought BB spoilers would be okay, but fair enough, have spoilered just to be on the safe side.

artvanderlay

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Hey guys
Iv never seen any of better cakk Saul is it good ?
just finished Ozark and really enjoyed it so looking for my next binge,

I liked the first 7 episodes of Ozark: thought it was great, and then it started to go downhill rapidly. I'm 7 episodes into season 3, and I can't do it anymore. I want to shoot Laura Linney in the face.


BCS much better than Ozark.

EltonJohn69

Ozark is a mess !!!

Penfailed

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Hey guys
Iv never seen any of better cakk Saul is it good ?
just finished Ozark and really enjoyed it so looking for my next binge,

I'd recommend watching Breaking Bad first if you haven't already seen it. It's not essential but you'd get a better pay off.

gormdubhgorm

Penfailed wrote: »

I'd recommend watching Breaking Bad first if you haven't already seen it. It's not essential but you'd get a better pay off.

Would it work the other way around as well though? A pay off when you see BB and say oh that's yer man or yer wan. Plus you would have a deeper understanding of the ancillary characters back stories.

Penfailed

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Would it work the other way around as well though? A pay off when you see BB and say oh that's yer man or yer wan. Plus you would have a deeper understanding of the ancillary characters back stories.

Quite possibly. I'd never looked at it that way before!

Thinking about it though, when you see the characters for the first time on BB having watched BCS first isn't going to have the same effect as them appearing in BCS having watched BB first...if that makes sense.

rubadub

Penfailed wrote: »

Quite possibly. I'd never looked at it that way before!

Thinking about it though, when you see the characters for the first time on BB having watched BCS first isn't going to have the same effect as them appearing in BCS having watched BB first...if that makes sense.

I think it would be good, if people are reading this thread without seeing BB then some things are already spoiled, i.e. they will know some characters are going to be or not going to be in BB, to me thats sort of a spoiler.

Mike does not appear until the last episode of season 2 in BB, when he comes along as the "cleaner" for Jesse's place, I would love to have seen that for the first time after watching all of BCS, while watching for the first time in BB was no big deal at all just some random lad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQNpboSz_6o . It would be like the reappearance of Gus in BCS, you know it is coming but not sure exactly when.

Gus does not appear until S02E11 and to me it would be similar anticipation

PieOhMy

Not sure if I missed it but did they explain why Mike was in the desert tracking Jimmy? Was he there to protect him or intending to rob him for himself or for Gus?