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BETTER CALL SAUL


Jay

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

The private eye Hamlin hired has actually been working for Jimmy and Kim the entire time.  Everything he told them (Jimmy follows a routine of only seeing clients, except for this one time he picked up $20k at a bank!) is exactly what Jimmy and Kim want him to tell Howard, so the plan was he'd give the new bribe photos to Hamlin on D-Day saying he took them.  This is the cleanest option, but it seems like if that PI was really working for Jimmy and Kim, we should have been told that already?

 

This theory had never occurred to me! It would be an interesting blindside but why would Jimmy hire that other photographer to take the bribe photos instead of having the PI take them? 

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

The private eye Hamlin hired is only working for Howard and isn't also working for Jimmy and Kim.  Somehow Jimmy was planning on slipping the fake bribe pictures to Hamlin in an envelope and hope Hamlin assumed it was from that PI?  This seems to be implausible as well because how would this PI not have noticed the lookalike judge and film crew coming into Jimmy's office, or Jimmy and Kim having drinks on HHM's lawn at night?

 

Yeah it's a little baffling. Unless the PI was only scoping out Saul's office during the daytime. 

 

No idea how this will go down but there's dozens of ways things could go wrong for Jimmy and Kim here. Surely, if the PI is legit then he already photographed the fake bribe with the fake judge not wearing a cast on his arm. Let's just assume he didn't see Jimmy's film crew also taking photos.

 

Now, if Kim rushes back to reshoot the photos with a cast on, the PI would probably photograph that as well. So there could end up being multiple sets of photos of the same fake bribe, with continuity issues. 

 

I also think the PI would've contacted Howard immediately if he witnessed that bribe, so it's possible Howard already has the upper hand. If he ends up getting slipped another set of photos at the hearing and notices the cast has appeared on his arm, he'll immediately know it's part of a scam (as if the photos themselves aren't suspiciously convenient as it stands, and Howard's already on high alert). 

 

I can envisage a situation next week where the judge walks into the court room and inexplicably doesn't have the cast on (either because Saul mistook his identity in the liquor store, or because it was a setup from Howard) and the whole plan turns to shit.

 

But I guess things can't go too badly because we know Saul is still practising law in BB, despite (presumably) committing multiple felonies with this scam, which the PI would be documenting in his photographs, so... 

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22 minutes ago, crumbs said:

This theory had never occurred to me! It would be an interesting blindside but why would Jimmy hire that other photographer to take the bribe photos instead of having the PI take them? 

 

That's a great point actually!  That's enough reason for me to think the PI hasn't been working for Jimmy and Kim.  So how were they gonna get their photos to Hamlin, and how did they know how to make these new fake ones the same size and also in B&W?

 

22 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Yeah it's a little baffling. Unless the PI was only scoping out Saul's office during the daytime. 

 

Hmmm, MAYBE.  I still think it's odd that Hamlin's PI and Mike's guys on Jimmy & Kim never ran into each other

 

22 minutes ago, crumbs said:

No idea how this will go down but there's dozens of ways things could go wrong for Jimmy and Kim here. Surely, if the PI is legit then he already photographed the fake bribe with the fake judge not wearing a cast on his arm. Let's just assume he didn't see Jimmy's film crew also taking photos.

 

Oh wow, I didn't even think of that!  Yea, if he's really following Jimmy, the PI should have seen that happen!  Then again if he missed all those guys showing up at Jimmy's office then maybe they know how to give him the slip?

 

22 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Now, if Kim rushes back to reshoot the photos with a cast on, the PI would probably photograph that as well. So there could end up being multiple sets of photos of the same fake bribe, with continuity issues. 

 

Yea.... it's all confusing innit

 

22 minutes ago, crumbs said:

I also think the PI would've contacted Howard immediately if he witnessed that bribe, so it's possible Howard already has the upper hand. If he ends up getting slipped another set of photos at the hearing and notices the cast has appeared on his arm, he'll immediately know it's part of a scam (as if the photos themselves aren't suspiciously convenient as it stands, and Howard's already on high alert). 

 

Yea, you're right.... so it makes the most sense if the current PI didn't' observe the fake bribe happening.

 

22 minutes ago, crumbs said:

I can envisage a situation next week where the judge walks into the court room and inexplicably doesn't have the cast on (either because Saul mistook his identity in the liquor store, or because it was a setup from Howard) and the whole plan turns to shit.

 

That'd be fun

 

22 minutes ago, crumbs said:

But I guess things can't go too badly because we know Saul is still practising law in BB, despite committing multiple felonies with this scam, which the PI would be documenting in his photographs, so... 

 

All signs point to Kim ending up being the one to take the fall for all their shenanigans, explaining why she isn't around in BB :(

 

I want her to not be around because she's doing pro bono work with the east coast guys Cliff wanted her to meet, but these shows don't really let many characters have happy endings...

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17 hours ago, Dr. Rick said:

Crap just finished watching. Such a heartbreaking scene with Mike and his daughter in law and grand daughter.  
 

 

I didn't find it too heartbreaking because we know this situation is only temporary, since by BB he's seeing Kaylee in person again

 

I was more bummed out by Kim turning the car around instead of going to her meeting...

 

 

17 hours ago, Dr. Rick said:

Lalo got the wind knocked the fuck out of him!  Shit that was tense.  
 

 

So when he was on the floor, was he pretending he was more injured by that initial axe hit than he really was?  I thought he was like sliced in the gut or something, but then later he said he thought he might have a broken rib...

 

17 hours ago, Dr. Rick said:

the dude pissing in the waterfall feature was absolutely hilarious!  😂

 

Yea!

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

Is anyone else a little disappointed by the final season so far?

 

Not even a little bit!

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

We're now 6 episodes into the final 13 of the series and it doesn't feel like Jimmy/Kim's storyline has progressed much. I don't mind being fed breadcrumbs about the plot to destroy Howard but it feels like we're also being kept in the dark about their motivations. It's like their soul focus is destroying Howard's career and forcing Sandpiper to settle, at the expense of character development.

 

That I can agree with, to an extent.  I have no problem when the show is ahead of us, when there is some mystery involved and we eventually find out what everything means.  But this particular stretch of episodes, I think they have left us a little too in the dark about all their plans.  It's not heard to piece things together or anything, but it seems like this misgauged how compelling being in the dark for this long would be.  I dunno if actor availability and covid protocols changed anything, or if we're getting the exact same season we would have if covid never happened, but either way it seems like the writing is following a different pacing then we're used to after 11 seasons in this universe.

 

I think what might have helped things is if instead of combining the first 2 episodes of the season together as the premiere, we got the final 2 episodes of this half-season as the double-length week.  Then I think the pacing would have felt better.

 

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

Part of me is almost rooting against them, hoping the plan backfires. I guess a similar transformation happened with Walt > Heisenberg in BB, so credit to the writers for toying with my emotions this way... but it feels like there's holes in the characterization of Jimmy & Kim this year.

 

I don't know about that.  The show does have a fascinating effort on the viewer and who to root for and when.  For example when Lalo is making things tricky for Mike or Jimmy, I root for MIke and Jimmy to win and Lalo to go away.  But when Lalo is off on adventure by himself, I root for him to accomplish what he's trying to do.

 

But back to the scam yea, they've made Howard such a sympathetic guy after making you think he was the bad guy in the first season, you really don't want him to get discredited just because Jimmy and Kim want some money.  I have faith the writers have a surprising and well-thought out end to this particular storyline!

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

Appreciated seeing more of Howard's home life (and his frosty marriage – that poor latte!) and it feels like the writers are building sympathy for Howard.

 

I think they've been building sympathy ever since revealing that Chuck was the real villain at HHM!

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

We're devoting a lot of time to the Lalo/Gus plot but it's moving at a glacial pace. I appreciate they're building tension but it's felt like 3 straight episodes of half the cast in hiding, just waiting for Lalo to show up.

 

That I can agree with.  One thing that could have helped these 6 episodes would if the Nacho storyline wasn't resolved in 3 episodes, and then we've had 3 straight episodes of "where's Lalo".  We ended up not getting as much Nacho screentime as we would have liked for such a great character, and we got too many scenes that repeated the same story beat of "Gus is worried about Lalo".   Oh well

 

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

Lalo was one of the best characters in S5 but he's spent the entire season separated from all the characters we want to see him sharing scenes with.

 

I do wonder if Hawkeye filming conflicting with his BCS availability?

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

Clearly he unravels the mystery of Gus' lab but ultimately we know Gus wins. I get they can't bring him back to ABQ too soon considering he's a high-profile fugitive, but I'm wondering how much can realistically play out except him returning > finding the lab > falling into Gus' trap. Maybe just a reflection of prequels, where we know the fates of certain characters (and the broad strokes of others).

 

I hope that they came up with a more interesting end to Lalo's "proof" hunt than him just going to the superlab location without telling Hector or Bolsa first, and getting killed there.  There could be other directions his storyline goes, though obviously the gun in the extractor treads has to be a Checkov's Gun that will pay off at some point.

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

Don't get me wrong, this is still brilliant TV. Maybe I set my expectations a little too high after Breaking Bad's final season (which escalated the story at a breakneck pace). But S6 feels like a heavy step down from S5 at this stage. One of the things I appreciated most about S5 was that, after 4 seasons of two parallel storylines (Jimmy/Howard/Kim/Chuck and Mike/Gus/Cartel), worlds finally collided in spectacular fashion... only for the final season to separate those story threads again, send half the characters into hiding, and almost nothing occurring in one storyline affects the other. Yeah there's still 7 episodes for that to change, but IMO it's a strange narrative choice after very deliberately blurring those lines in S5.

 

That's an interesting way of looking at things, the combining of cartel stuff with Jimmy stuff and then separating them back out again.  I guess I just don't have a problem with it lol.

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

All that said, this episode was excellently directed by Giancarlo, impressive work throughout. And there's an undeniable sense of darkness and dread pervading the season, which I haven't felt in a long time watching a TV show. Maybe I'm just a little underwhelmed that we spent 5 seasons getting to know these characters so intimately, only to have the narrative climax of the series revolve around two protagonists scheming to destroy another character's career.

 

I don't think it's fair to say at all that the narrative climax of the final season is revolving around the Howard scam.  The first HALF of the season certainly is, yea, but I think the writers have something more impression in mind for the second half.

 

10 hours ago, crumbs said:

I assume things will go spectacularly wrong (To'hajiilee style, hence the mid-season break), but there's a lot of ground to cover in the final 6 episodes...

 

Yea, it seems pretty clear at this point that the final 6 episodes should be pretty briskly paced, so much narrative to cover!

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  • Like last week, this episode frustrated me a little. It's probably the weakest of season 6 so far.
     
  • The writers broke their own rule for a second time with this Kim flashback. They did the whole "How long have we been brothers?" thing AGAIN (just line in the first flashback) by having Kim's mom call Kim by name within seconds of the scene starting. I'm not that stupid. I can work it out. Is there really no better way to identify it's Kim without explicitly telling us? Could the scene not have opened up with a shot of the girl with a ponytail?
     
  • We only saw the actor playing Kim's mom in a car at night last time, not really saying much. Here, I realised she actually looks and talks like Rhea Seahorn as well! Amazing casting!
     
  • I thought Kim's mom was playing the store owner well before it was revealed. Though what does this teach us...that this type of behaviour has been normal to Kim from a young age? I didn't get the impression this was a scam. I thought Kim genuinely DID get caught, but her mom didn't really consider it a big deal.
     
  • I like that the earrings her mom steals are the ones we regularly see adult Kim wearing.
     
  • Loved Howard's wife pouring the lovingly made coffee into the travel mug and leave. THAT'S how you tell an audience two characters are estranged without telling them they're estranged!
     
  • Caldera! I guess he couldn't die, but had to get out of the story before BB, so the fact he's packing up business made sense. And yes, Kim and Jimmy obviously end up with the black book from the 601 teaser.
     
  • What were Jimmy's cash withdrawls for? Paying for the office interior? Paying Caldera? Paying actor and student film crew? Some other part of the plan?
     
  • I couldn't tell if Kim was impressed or disgusted by Fancesca's interior decorating skills. Did she not think it was in-keeping with the Saul Goodman persona?
     
  • Lalo! Loved that we skipped past some of his investigating stage. I really couldn't give a shit about the manufacturer of the ruler gift. I didn't need to see that. I knew I recognised the guy in the woods for a while before I remembered it was one of Werner's men. (Casper, though I didn't remember the name). I genuinely thought he got the drop on Lalo and was thinking "How could Lalo be so stupid!?". I was glad when I was wrong. So, Lalo had...a razor blade hidden in his hand? And then he chopped off Casper's fucking foot! Brutal! Loved the "We're going to have talk" line with the dread-inducing score. It could have been scored with one of those "sinking feeling" string outros from LOST.
     
  • I guess Lalo still doesn't have the full picture though - Casper knew they were building an underground room, but he doesn't know for what. And he doesn't know where it is since they were driven there in a blacked-out van every day.
     
  • Loved Francesca's "I'm not gonna make a habit of this" line when Saul was telling her to impersonate someone on the phone. If only that were true, Hank might have caught Walt much sooner.
     
  • Isn't going to drink wine outside the HHM office the day before your big plan to screw them over pays off a really stupid idea?
     
  • "Boss has a problem, he knows how to reach me. If you have a problem...I'm right here." YES MIKE! Best line of the episode.
     
  • I'm now fed up with the drip-feeding of Kim and Jimmy's scam. This is taking too damn long, and I'm sick of knowing less than they do all the time. The writers have gone against more of their own advice - if the audience doesn't know how a plan is supposed to go, they won't care when it goes wrong. I don't mind the coincidence of Jimmy seeing the judge in the liquor store (it's fine when coincidences get characters into trouble rathe than out of it), but I don't understand the implications of the plan going wrong, so I don't really care.
     
  • I thought 13 episodes this season would be a good thing, but it feels as if they've got 10 episodes worth of plot that they've then stretched to 13. I don't mind the show being slow, but keeping the audience in the dark this much has worn thin. I want all these plot threads to start crashing into each other, but it's all so disparate still.
     
  • I don't think Lalo is going to die next week - I think the focus will be on Kim and Jimmy's plan - but I feel like they're holding back the good stuff until 6B.
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3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

The writers broke their own rule for a second time with this Kim flashback. They did the whole "How long have we been brothers?" thing AGAIN (just line in the first flashback) by having Kim's mom call Kim by name within seconds of the scene starting. I'm not that stupid. I can work it out. Is there really no better way to identify it's Kim without explicitly telling us? Could the scene not have opened up with a shot of the girl with a ponytail?

 

Totally disagree.  Her coming into the room and saying "Kimmy!" in that angry tone is exactly what a parent would do in that situation.

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

We only saw the actor playing Kim's mom in a car at night last time, not really saying much. Here, I realised she actually looks and talks like Rhea Seahorn as well! Amazing casting!

 

Ah, I was wondering why I didn't notice the resemblance last time!

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I thought Kim's mom was playing the store owner well before it was revealed. Though what does this teach us...that this type of behaviour has been normal to Kim from a young age? I didn't get the impression this was a scam. I thought Kim genuinely DID get caught, but her mom didn't really consider it a big deal.

 

I think young Kim is neglected by her mother (and father?) and purposely tried to steal something in order to impress her, but then got caught.  It worked - her mom even said she didn't know she had that in her.  But I think what Kim really wants is love and acceptance from her mother - note her reaching out to hold her hand as soon as they left - but can only get it from doing something like this.

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

What were Jimmy's cash withdrawls for? Paying for the office interior? Paying Caldera? Paying actor and student film crew? Some other part of the plan?

 

He withdrew the cash in order to use it in the fake photo they took of him bribing the "judge".


It's an open question still if he KNEW Hamlin had a guy following and photographing him, or not

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I couldn't tell if Kim was impressed or disgusted by Fancesca's interior decorating skills.

 

Maybe impressed under different circumstances, but definitely un-approving of it being right for the Saul persona (that was my take-away, anyway!)

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

Did she not think it was in-keeping with the Saul Goodman persona?

 

Right

 

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

Lalo! Loved that we skipped past some of his investigating stage. I really couldn't give a shit about the manufacturer of the ruler gift. I didn't need to see that.

 

I would have traded one more scene of Lalo investigating for one less scene of Gus being worried about Lalo

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I knew I recognised the guy in the woods for a while before I remembered it was one of Werner's men. (Casper, though I didn't remember the name).

 

I believe he is the one who told Mike that Werner was worth 50 of him.

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I genuinely thought he got the drop on Lalo and was thinking "How could Lalo be so stupid!?".

 

Lalo WAS stupid!  Entering the home turf of a guy with an axe?  He should have lost that duel.   The Lalo I know would have lit the house on fire and waited for him to run outside, then shoot him in the leg!

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I was glad when I was wrong. So, Lalo had...a razor blade hidden in his hand?

 

It was behind the business card

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I guess Lalo still doesn't have the full picture though - Casper knew they were building an underground room, but he doesn't know for what. And he doesn't know where it is since they were driven there in a blacked-out van every day.

 

Thank you, that's what I thought.  So yea, where does Lalo go from here?  That giant warehouse space they all lived in is surely emptied out by now, not that he'd know exactly where that is either.  Hmmm.

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

Loved Francesca's "I'm not gonna make a habit of this" line when Saul was telling her to impersonate someone on the phone. If only that were true, Hank might have caught Walt much sooner.

 

She's an interesting character because we basically see her get corrupted by nothing more than more and more money, which is different from Walt who did it for his ego, Kim who is doing it because of a messed up childhood, and Jimmy who is doing it for a combination of messed up childhood and love

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

Isn't going to drink wine outside the HHM office the day before your big plan to screw them over pays off a really stupid idea?

 

Yup, especially if the private eye Hamlin hired follows them 24/7.  Unless being photographed there at that time is somehow part of their plan...

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

"Boss has a problem, he knows how to reach me. If you have a problem...I'm right here." YES MIKE! Best line of the episode.

 

That line was fantastic!

 

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

if the audience doesn't know how a plan is supposed to go, they won't care when it goes wrong.

 

Hmm, that's a good point!

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I don't mind the coincidence of Jimmy seeing the judge in the liquor store (it's fine when coincidences get characters into trouble rathe than out of it), but I don't understand the implications of the plan going wrong, so I don't really care.

 

I still hate coincidences like that.  But maybe Hamlin sent him to that liquor store, we'll see!

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I thought 13 episodes this season would be a good thing, but it feels as if they've got 10 episodes worth of plot that they've then stretched to 13. I don't mind the show being slow, but keeping the audience in the dark this much has worn thin. I want all these plot threads to start crashing into each other, but it's all so disparate still.

 

Hmmm, I dunno.  I almost feel like we're getting a season 6 and 7 crammed into a long season 6 in a way, with these first 7 episodes being what would have been a season 6 that had a lot more Nacho and Lalo scenes to get us to 10.  And the final 6 being a break-neck paced version of what could have been a 10 episode season 7.  But we'll see!  A lot depends on what goes down next week.

 

3 minutes ago, Anthony said:

I don't think Lalo is going to die next week - I think the focus will be on Kim and Jimmy's plan - but I feel like they're holding back the good stuff until 6B.

 

Yea I dunno.  Since they had Lalo sit out 3 episodes while he traveled from Mexico to Germany, it'd made sense if he sat out episodes while traveling from Germany to USA.  We'll see!

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33 minutes ago, Jay said:

I think young Kim is neglected by her mother (and father?) and purposely tried to steal something in order to impress her, but then got caught.  It worked - her mom even said she didn't know she had that in her.  But I think what Kim really wants is love and acceptance from her mother - note her reaching out to hold her hand as soon as they left - but can only get it from doing something like this.

 

Yes! I love this! It's finally a glimpse into why Kim is doing this. However, who is she trying to impress and get acceptance from now?

 

34 minutes ago, Jay said:

Lalo WAS stupid!  Entering the home turf of a guy with an axe?  He should have lost that duel.   The Lalo I know would have lit the house on fire and waited for him to run outside, then shoot him in the leg!

 

Perhaps. After the scene ended, I viewed it as another "superhuman Lalo" moment whereby he's SO badass, even that situation didn't phase him. He knew he could get out of it...and he was absolutely right.

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I think Hawkeye wrapped in March of last year and they did a few reshoots in September so I don’t think there would have been a clash. 
 

I think I read an interview with Peter Gould where he said they had to be more creative with indoor shooting because of COVID.

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One of the biggest questions about BCS is whether Kim will be killed. At this point, I don't think so. She would only be killed by the cartel and it doesn't seem likely that her story and Lalo will overlap anymore. I also can't see Jimmy continuing to work with that drug world if it caused Kim to be killed.

 

More likely is that she will be disbarred and possibly some prison time as a fallout of whatever she is planning to do to Howard. If that happens, it would mean she would have to take full responsibility for it to leave Jimmy protected to continue practicing as Saul. Or maybe she gets disappeared by the vacuum guy to avoid prison and she remains a fugitive. I know the actor who played the vacuum guy has passed but the vet could be used as an intermediary so we don't actually have to see the vacuum guy.

 

I think it is inevitable that something will go horribly wrong on D-Day. My guess is that Howard will have a severe medical reaction to the vet's drug. The vet said that the drug depends on the person's tolerance to caffeine. Perhaps Howard has a very low tolerance and it triggers a heart attack, perhaps even a fatal one. Just a theory though, but he did make coffee only for his wife and not himself so maybe there is something to it. He might be under doctor's orders to avoid caffeine. 

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Interesting idea!

He was making tea for himself, which can have just as much caffeine as coffee depending on what variety it is

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There is an interesting discussion about temp music in this week's episode of the Insider podcast. Basically, they are all strongly against it but it is interesting to hear why they are against it. 

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An extremely low-key episode! Not the most engaging - bar a couple of moments - though I expect [hope] that it's just a 'putting things in place' kind of instalment. It's the mid-season finale next week so we're obviously building up to some sort of crescendo/cliffhanger.

 

Things I liked:

 

The cold open with another flash-back to Kim's childhood. I agree with you Jay, the actress playing her mother is startlingly similar to Seahorn. 

 

The scene at the veterinary surgery, and 'the book'.

 

The scene with Mike and his grand-daughter on the phone star-gazing. Very touching.

 

The one Lalo scene. I'm guessing this exchange will resume next week(?). 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Alex said:

Imagine they kill Howard by accident. Now THAT would be dramatic.

 

I've suspected for a while their plan would backfire spectacularly and end up killing someone; I just couldn't work out which part of the plan might result in death.

 

Now we know drugging is involved, all the pieces are in place :(

 

Part of me wonders though... what happens if they slip the drug into Howard's drink, but it accidentally gets mixed up with someone else's? What if one of the elderly residents (attending the court hearing) has a pacemaker and drinks it by accident, Irene maybe? Would be darkly poetic if Jimmy ends up killing one of the people he's supposedly been trying to help, in his rush to get that settlement money.

 

I also don't think it's a coincidence we had an extended montage of Howard making a coffee for someone else in this latest episode. Foreshadowing?

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9 hours ago, LSH said:

The one Lalo scene. I'm guessing this exchange will resume next week(?). 

 

I'd be surprised if we saw any more of that. Unless they are going for cheap shock value of more limb decapitation, which isn't their style.

 

I don't know what more we could learn by seeing this scene. We already know Lalo is a psycho killer, and we already know more about the superlab than Casper.

 

Possible important detail:

  • As Kim and her mom drove away in the teaser, a close-up of the car showed it had a Nebraska licence plate. Could it be more than a coincidence that Gene ends up in Omaha?
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My question still stands: does Jimmy end up there for reasons more than coincidence?

 

This shot from 6.02 is feeling more and more poetic. She knocked the dominos over prematurely and they all fell over earlier than we may have expected (as with Nacho's death). Ever since, the writers have carefully been stacking them back up, presumably for everything to start crashing down next week.

 

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For the second half of the season, I'm very curious to see how much of it is spent in the pre-Breaking Bad timeline, how much is spent during the BB timeline, and how much is spent in the post-BB (Gene) timeline. I'm even more curious to know if Kim is still part of Saul / Jimmy's life during the BB timeline.

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Not too many interesting tidbits about the episode in the Insider podcast.


It was a pleasure to hear Giancarlo Esposito talk about his experience directing, and I had no idea he pronounced his last name differently than the usual way you say it.

 

Kelly Dixon again extremely irritated me, trying to make dinner plans with Chris at the start of the episode.  Do that shit off mic!

 

A lot of the conversation was not specifically about this episode, but was extremely interesting nonetheless.  For example, they talk about the importance of each department on a production knowing what the other departments due, the artistic merits of what the editors bring to their work that is truly part of the art and not just a technical job, and a very interesting discussion about temptrack music and how they are among the few writer-producers in the industry that hate using them.  Really good stuff.

 

At one point someone did talk about the private eye as "Hamlin's private eye" so I think that can rule out him actually working for Jimmy

 

At another point they had to bleep out something Giancarlo said, hopefully we can figure out what it was after future episodes are out

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

A lot of the conversation was not specifically about this episode, but was extremely interesting nonetheless.  For example, they talk about the importance of each department on a production knowing what the other departments due, the artistic merits of what the editors bring to their work that is truly part of the art and not just a technical job, and a very interesting discussion about temptrack music and how they are among the few writer-producers in the industry that hate using them.  Really good stuff.

 

 

I particularly enjoyed the discussion about temptrack music and Vince's opinion that the scene should be able to work at some basic level without music, and temptrack music shouldn't be used to hide any deficiencies in the storytelling. I also liked how they acknowledge that asking a composer to basically copy the temptrack can be very frustrating for the composer. They went up in my estimation after hearing that discussion.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

It was a pleasure to hear Giancarlo Esposito talk about his experience directing, and I had no idea he pronounced his last name differently than the usual way you say it.

 

How does he pronounce it?  I'm obviously in my head saying "Ess-puh-zee-doe"

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4 minutes ago, Jay said:

Ess POS it toe

 

I'd also never heard it like that before. I assumed Chris McCaleb was saying it incorrectly, but GE never corrected him.

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Yea that was my initial thought as well when I first heard him say it, but then he said it again at the end and I knew he wouldn't leave a mistake like that in

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Not spoilers, just conjecture. (EDIT: Actually, they do start talking about 6.07 leaks at the end, but there's a warning beforehand, so I switched it off!)

 

 

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I don't think I had well-formed thoughts on the Young Kim cold open after initial viewing, but I really like the interpretation I have of it now.

 

I don't know if Young Kim could consciously tell you why she stole the earrings, but I think subconsciously what was going on was that even at this age, she wanted the world to be just - good people get rewarded, bad people get punished.  This was surely something she was not seeing at home with an alcoholic mother (and do we know anything about her father?)

 

So I think what she (subconsciously) wanted as a result of stealing the earrings was to get in trouble with the store-owner, and then for her mother to come in and be upset as well, and punish her.  Thereby affirming her world view that she did a bad thing, so should be punished for it. 

 

And she thinks that is what happened inside the store, as well as when her mother first comes outside, and she goes to hold her hand.   But then you can see her entire demeanor change when her mother is all smiles, then starts mocking the store owner, then reveals she stole the earrings anyway.  Young Kim is completely crushed by this - all she can do is sit there in stunned silence, just like that was all she could do at the end of season 4, when she thought Jimmy was finally processing his grief over Chuck's death in his hearing, only to come out and call them all suckers for believing him (or whatever his exact words were), and goes to fill out the paperwork to be Saul Goodman instead of Jimmy McGill.

 

She had the unfortunate childhood of being raised by a mother that set no boundaries for her and warped her worldview, and then found a romantic partner that did the exact same thing, and then after he betrayed her trust more than once, she doubled down on staying with him by getting married instead of walking away. 

 

And now in the most recent episode, she had the opportunity to go on the straight and narrow path with Cliff, but again turned around and took the bad choice road to go back to scamming with Jimmy.

 

What a fantastic character.

 

I'd be shocked if Gilliagan, Gould, Seehorn, and one of hte BCS writers haven't had serious conversations about a Kim spinoff.  I could see it focusing on Kim's life after Saul, with lots of flashbacks to Young Kim with these 2 cold open actresses.  Could be good.  But it all depends on where they want her story to go in the last 7 BCS episodes of course.

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Nice, I hadn't thought about it that deeply either, but I love it!

 

Has every season been this deep and given us so much to think about? This is the first time I've been on the message boards talking about this, so perhaps I'm just getting more from it than I would have if I just binged it solo like the previous seasons.

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I thought the whole shoplifting scene was a planned out deal with her mom using young Kim as the decoy?  Back in the day I worked in retail loss prevention and have seen all types of tactics and schemes that some people would use to steal merchandise!  😂

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1 hour ago, Anthony said:

Nice, I hadn't thought about it that deeply either, but I love it!

 

I love it too. BTW, Giancarlo Esposito agrees with my assessment

 

https://variety.com/2022/tv/features/better-call-saul-giancarlo-esposito-director-1235268526/

 

1 hour ago, Anthony said:

Has every season been this deep and given us so much to think about? This is the first time I've been on the message boards talking about this, so perhaps I'm just getting more from it than I would have if I just binged it solo like the previous seasons.

 

Yes, I'd say they've all been like this, which is why it's the best show on TV! 

 

34 minutes ago, Dr. Rick said:

I thought the whole shoplifting scene was a planned out deal with her mom using young Kim as the decoy?  

 

That was kind of what I thought when I was first watching it too, but if you watch it again, especially after having read my post, I think you'll come away with a different view on it. Just watch Young Kim's face and mannerisms after her mom comes outside all the way until they drive away, it says everything

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Anybody else get themselves a nice beverage when watching this show?

I'll be watching tonight's episode with some nice scotch

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HOLY FUCK!  That’s how you do a cliffhanger!

8 hours ago, Jay said:

Anybody else get themselves a nice beverage when watching this show?

I'll be watching tonight's episode with some nice scotch

 I had a Diet Coke from Whataburger 😂 

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That was a great misdirect, perfectly - ahem - executed

 

 

The only I don't like is the reveal that the Lalo scenes have been on a different timeline than everyone else

 

Last episode we had Lalo in Germany just tracking down Casper as D-Day began, this entire episode its still D-Day and Lalo says he's been watching the laundromat for 4 days

 

Instead of having Lalo sit out episodes 2,3,4 and then showing him in Germany in 5 and 6, they should have shown him in Germany in eps 3 and 4 and had him sit out 5 and 6

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Well Chris Hardwick on Talking Saul pronounced Giancarlo Esposito's last name the usual way so maybe Chris McCaleb was wrong after all!

 

 

6h9v0c.jpg

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I really loved the shots of the candle.

 

Loads of fan theories expected Howard to die on this episode but I can't think I've ever seen a theory that he'd be shot by Lalo. Great misdirection. The D-Day plan actually worked perfectly which was also unexpected. 

 

For a second, I thought Howard was secretly recording Kim and Jimmy to prove they were behind the day's events, but that would be too similar to a Chuck storyline a few seasons ago.

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Holy... shit.

 

Just, wow. A lot to process after that episode.

 

Horrifically cruel ending for Howard's character. Safe to say it's only downhill from here :(

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Better Call Saul 6x07 Plan and Execution

 

Cold open - I like these cold opens that are on the more artsy side and have no dialogue, but think I prefer these ones that feature the main cast over the truly artsy ones like the flower in the desert or whatever.  At the end when its revealed he's on to the laundromat, I foolishly thought that was all we'd see of Lalo this episode...

 

The scam - I was kind of surprised that it went off effectively, and that it went down exactly as we had figured out.  I somehow thought Hamlin might be one step ahead of them, but he never was!  I liked that he figured out every part of their scam exactly, but that it was too late.  And I like his final conversation with Cliff about it all, too.  Cliff doesn't specifically say if he believes Hamlin or not, and it doesn't matter like he said, the case is going to be settled no matter what now.

 

I really liked the whole sequence of Jimmy, Kim, and the film students having to restage the pictures.  The music was super fun, the way the camera swirled around was fun, and Kim was super hot taking charge of things and getting it done.  I also like that the PI having worked for them the entire time explains everything neatly.

 

Lalo - I guess we just have to make our own leap of logic on what knowledge Casper had that led him to the laundry - I really thought Gus & Mike were careful and took them to the dig site via bus, blindfolded, so they wouldn't have a clue where they were.  Oh well.  When Lalo made his video recording for Eladio, I got a bit of unavoidable prequel knowledge.  It was like in episode 3, where Nacho ends up in the desert with 8 other characters who are all alive at the start of Breaking Bad, so I knew going into the scene that Nacho had to be the one to die.  This time, we know Eladio was never going to get that message, because we know the cartel never learn about Gus's meth lab.  Though luckily this time the writers completely subverted my expectations because I thought we were being set up for him going down into the lab and having a showdown with Gus in the dark like had been set up a few episodes prior - boy was I happy to be wrong about that assumption!

 

I like that he figured out the nursing home's line was tapped, and that he got frustrated in the sewers and called Gus a Clever Chicken Man.  Obviously him calling back and pretending he's going to do Plan A accomplishes two things: getting a bunch of Mike's guys off the laundromat, and also getting a bunch of Mike's guys off other "low priority" locations (like Kim and Jimmy's condo, presumably).  But I wonder if his immediate plan was to go into the laundromat and kill everyone like he said in the message, or if he was thinking he wanted to go talk to Jimmy then? I know he only saw the cockroach after the second phone call, but is the cockroach what gave him the idea to go to Jimmy instead of attacking the laundromat, or was he already thinking of that and the cockroach was just a signal to the audience?

 

The ending - holy hell, what an unforgettable ending! I loved the entire scene of Hamlin confronting Kim and Jimmy.  All the dialogue was perfect, and you can tell the three actors rehearsed the hell out of it, and the blocking and staging was all on point.  Everything Howard says is so insightful and exactly what he should be saying.  I wonder if we'll get to see how Jimmy and Kim process what he said to them or if that will never happen now as a result of Lalo.

 

As for Lalo showing up, the idea to use a candle to signal it was amazing.  The dread you felt when Lalo showed up was so palpable!  For a character that can be so charming and have so many funny moments in his scenes, he can really bring dread to a scene like no other character can I think.  I can't even figure out what it is he wants to talk to Jimmy about, or why he thought killing the random guy in their condo was better than just letting him go, but I can't wait to see the immediate aftermath of all this in July!

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I love that Jimmy is protecting Kim in a sense, yet is still behind her rather than putting himself directly in front of her for maximum protection.  I guarantee that was something discussed in the writers room, as well as with both actors on the set during rehearsals

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Very similar to Hank’s “You’re the smartest I ever met” when Howard said to Kim “But you? One of the smartest and promising human beings I have ever known”.

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Hmm, the words may have some similarities, but the tone and intention of those sentiments are very different!

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The regulars are dropping like flies now. What a cliffhanger/episode finale! I've accumulated a great deal of respect and sympathy for Howard over the last couple of seasons, so I was sad to see him go. But he is that ultimate, tragic character on Shakespearean level, so it makes sense.

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Yea I listened to the start of the Insider podcast and they gave good insight into why Howard had to die.

 

Basically that Jimmy and Kim had to pay the price for their scam, that they couldn't just get away with it, there had to be a consequence.  They can't just be the arbiter who decides who is good and who is bad and who gets punished and go about their lives.  I think the death of Howard will be an absolutely massive impact on both their lives on a scale the show hasn't really delved into yet, and the final six episodes are going to hard to watch at times.  I can't imagine their marriage will ever recover from this, really.  The only hope for reconciliation is in the Gene timeline I think, if they can find a new common ground 8 years after this all goes down.

 

And they also talked about how the cartel world and the law world had to collide again and this made sense as how they would.

 

Man, it was all so brilliantly done...

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I am not sure what Kelley Dixon brings to the Insider podcast anymore, other than just to chip in every few minutes to say how she is watching these episodes for the first time.

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