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BETTER CALL SAUL


Jay

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Watched the pilot and the VHS player in the b&w intro really threw me. I couldn't get my head around why he'd have one and it made me wonder if all that was supposed to be in the distant past - before he became a lawyer.

Was extremely jarring.

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I thought the VHS player was strange at first too. I'd guess he only had his old lawyer commercials on VHS - had never converted them to DVD. Dunno why, since he probably makes those commercials in 2003ish.

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The direction is great, as is the writing of each individual scene. Acting is really good, too.

But I don't get this show as a whole.

Still waiting for something to actually happen.

Karol

I recall you saying pretty much exactly the same thing about True Detective.

By contrast the slow burn style of this is digging its claws into me big time and this sort of storytelling is pretty much my ideal. I'm riveted by it.

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Better Call Saul 1x06 Five-O

Wow! The first episode of the show without Chuck, and without Kim (It's the 3rd without Nacho and the 2nd without Howard). So out of the 6 leads, only Jimmy and Mike appear - and even then, Jimmy only in one act!

 

The first 5 episodes in a constant and steady manor developed the character of Jimmy McGill. Flashbacks showed how he went from Slippin' Jimmy to a in debt, barely getting by public defense lawyer, while the main storyline shows us how he went from that to an elder law focused lawyer with clients. But this episode does not advance Jimmy's story at all to instead show us the story of one Mike Ehrmantraut.

 

Flashbacks reveal that his son was a cop who died under mysterious circumstances, and that he relocated from Philadelphia to Albuquerque the day after the two cops who were with him when he died were also murdered. While the main storyline shows us why a call from the woman he was shown observing at the end of the last episode led to Philadelphia police knocking on the door: She called them because she had not known where Mike was previously, knew the cops were looking for him (because the cops think Mike killed the other two cops).

 

The way this all unfolded was interesting and compelling. When Mike kills the two cops, its a turning point for the show: Up until now, the show had been Breaking Bad's much lighter cousin. There had been no murders or violence at all really. The biggest case on the show has been about embezzlement and a faked kidnapping. But this week we watch Mike murder two officers of the law. The show goes out of its way to get you to sympathize with him before this happens - they murdered his son, he loved his son, his son was not a dirty cop, Mike knows these guys did it, and they were going to kill him if he didn't. But still, it's a turning point, that is likely a foreshadowing of the darker path the show will (at some point) take.

 

So a well done episode, not the outstanding one some people here (and the internet in general) thinks, for me. Though the monologue Mike has at the end does indeed elevate things almost to that level.

 

Curious to see now if the final 4 episodes of the season will start to be the Jimmy and Mike show, or return to the story of Jimmy, Chuck, Kim, and Hamlin primarily. Can't wait!

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It was an excellent episode. Only lacking in any surprise in its plot. Mike's plan to take revenge was very clever, but because we saw him breaking into the car earlier we know he probably stashed a gun there. Maybe they should have moved that scene up later. Give the viewer a chance to think Mike really is drunk and being taken for a ride.

But the monologue is breathtaking.

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Moving that scene wouldn't have changed much. It was clear as the story unfolded that Mike had killed the other two cops. Still made the scene where he does it compelling. You assume it's his first murder, his first kill outside of the line of duty. Something that would become habit for him just 6 years in the future.

I forgot about the coffee / notebook thing. I really loved the Jimmy had the thought to ask Mike how he knew he would do it. It shows that while Jimmy may think he's left Slippin' Jimmy behind him, the viewers - and Mike - know otherwise. I don't know if getting that notebook in the end even helped Mike much. Maybe it will come into play in a future episode? I would think the fallout would be worse - that the police would come looking for it, and maybe even arrest Mike for theft. I dunno.

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Another thing I don't understand. Both him and the daughter in law coincidentally moved to Albuquerque?

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Why a coincidence?

After her husbands death she moved there. And Mike did the same because he wants to be there for his granddaughter.

This episode actually fits very well with what we know about Mike from BB. He feels responsible for his sons death, which will probably lead him to start saving money for his granddaughter.

It also lends texture to the bond he had with Jesse.

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OK, I missed that she had already moved out there before he decided to. I though we hadn't seen yet when/why she moved out there.

So the idea is that he murdered the cops, flew to ABQ, then didn't let the daughter in law know he was there with her until 3 months later?

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What?

Jason. In the opening scene Mike is picked up by her. He told the bartender he was moving to ABQ the next day. He had a fresh gunshot wound that he was hiding.

Obviously the opening scene takes place very shortly after the shooting. Probably the next day, or the day after that.

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You're right. When he gets stitched up by the vet, he's in ABQ.

Sooooo.... If she already know he's there, why do the cops show up after that time he parks in her Street?

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If the cops already knew he was in Albuquerque, what was the point of the scene where she drives by him on her street?

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Right. It was like he purposely said it to the bartender for like an alibi. Maybe they knew the city but not his address until she told them.

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I think they did a disservice to Mike's story by having the episode jump around in the timeline. It was more than a little confusing.

Instead, I think it would have made more sense to do it like this:

OK, so the previous episode ended with the cops coming to Mike's door in the present timeline, right? So start this episode with him in the interrogation room with the cops, just saying "lawyer" over and over again. They ask him which lawyer, he slides forward the "Need a will? Call McGill!" card, and we cut to the "Better Call Saul" titles.

Then act one is the entire Mike/Jimmy/cops sequence, ending with Mike flipping through the notebook they got. NOW we finally show the entire extended flashback of Mike's backstory.

Then end the episode back in the present timeline with his monologue to his daughter in law.

It is Jimmy's show after all, and it was kind of odd to only stuff him into the middle of the show. My way, he's still featured like the main character, who just disappears for the long flashback and final scene.

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I've liked plenty of TV that has jumped around in a timeline, but for the Mike episode of BCS I didn't think it was the best plan.

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I dont really have any problem with it. And everything was more clear to me then it seems to have been for you.


Btw, i've been wondering. Maybe the reason why they put the scene of Mike hiding the gun in the cop car wasnt put as a flash back because there is really no need. Better Call Saul is a prequel. We know Mike isnt going to be killed by those two cops.

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Erm, we know Mike isn't going to be killed because that scene is a flashback within the episode, not because the show is a prequel to another show

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It was a perfectly structured episode. His daughter served as the audience's eyes and ears in the episode. We learned the back story when we can assume she learned most of it.

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Dude...what?

It's a TV show about crime. Ofcourse somebody will die at some point.

Doesn't have to be in the first season, though.

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That's a good possibility. That will mean he will be in a position to take on Hamlin.

I've heard some people somplanining about that they still dont understand what the show is about. I can kinda see their point.

Breaking Bad was sold on it's pilot, which made it very clear what the central idea of that show was. With BCS they knew that had at least a full season, (or two) so they are really slowly shaping the direction they are taking.

It's quite riviting too watch.

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I really have no complaints about the show. I've been interested in all the characters since the beginning.

The slow burn is cool. Kim didn't even get a line until Episode 3. Mike wasn't shown outside the booth until episode 3. Nacho has only been in 3 of the 6 episodes.

Part of the reason for this is of course AMC's faith in Gilligan. They didn't even shoot a pilot, then get approved for a series based on it. AMC ordered the show directly to a full season without a pilot. So they weren't compelled to make a first episode that would "sell" the network on the show. They knew they had a first season already. It's lead to interesting storytelling.

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Gonna watch ep 7 while having dinner. Potatoes and Guinness!


Bingo!

Another good one.

Starts with the resolution to Mike stealing the notebook. I liked how Mike wasnt sure how things would go with his daughter in law, but he decides to just wait and see. Nice scene of him and his former collegue under a picture board full of criminals.

The rest of the episode returns to the Kettlemans. Obviously they stole the money, but especially Mrs. Kettleman is unwilling to admit to that and they fire Kim and blackmail Jimmy into hiring them.

Jimmy, faced with a case he cannmot possibly win, and trouble when he does lose it takes matters into his own hands. He actually has Mike steal the money, adds the bribe he took and has it dewlivered to the DA. then reverse blackmails the Kettleman's into hiring Kim again and take the guilty verdict she suggested.

Some fine dramatic work from Odenkirk, who will never have Cranston's gravitas, but is very effecrtive here in portraying a Jimmy who is flawed, bordering on curruption, but still very human. He's genuinly pleased when Chuck manages 2 minutes outside. And he basically gives up the bribe he took, and possibly the fancy office he was planning to hire so that Kim could het into Hamlin's good book again.

The scene at the end where he creies is just right. Odenkirk really shines here.

Love the Kettlemans'. Especially the deluded wife who insists that they are innocent and don't ahve the money, even to Jimmy who actually saw that money and took part of it. (they kinda remind me of Walter and Skyler in the early days. The overbearing wife and the hen pecked husband.)

With the Kettleman plot seemingly over I wonder what is next. More between Mike and Jimmy, surely. I wonder what the daughter in law will do? There is also Nacho still....

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OK, so the previous episode ended with the cops coming to Mike's door in the present timeline, right? So start this episode with him in the interrogation room with the cops, just saying "lawyer" over and over again. They ask him which lawyer, he slides forward the "Need a will? Call McGill!" card, and we cut to the "Better Call Saul" titles.

Then act one is the entire Mike/Jimmy/cops sequence, ending with Mike flipping through the notebook they got. NOW we finally show the entire extended flashback of Mike's backstory.

Then end the episode back in the present timeline with his monologue to his daughter in law.

This sounds terribly cliche (especially with getting the flashback after the opening). I much prefer how it played out on screen.

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I also disagree. Also we don't know how that part of the story will end.

It fills in the blanks about Mike very nicely without robbing the character of it's appeal.

I also don't agree that Jimmy and Saul ate drawn as two totally different characters. They are very similar to me. But Jimmy hasnt crossed over yet. He still has his morality, and the guidence of Chuck and Kim.

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Yea, it's pretty silly to view Jimmy as a completely different character as Saul, IMO


Frankly, BCS Mike is more different from BB Mike than Jimmy is from Saul.
You get the impression from "Five-O" that those 2 cops are the first people Mike ever murdered. By BB, he murders people in his sleep.
Meanwhile, BCS shows that Saul was basically always crooked. He just more elaborate about it by the era of BB.
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