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March 28, 2024, 12:12:47 PM

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Better Call Saul - Season 3

Started by NoSleep, November 22, 2016, 01:15:12 PM

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NoSleep

Hmmm, that could explain Ernesto's anxiety whilst Chuck is reminding him of confidentiality... he's realising that Chuck's onto him.

Squink

Quote from: Puce Moment on April 12, 2017, 01:51:26 AMThe glacial pacing is part of its appeal, but accumulatively this is starting to feel somewhat drawn out, although I get the feeling things will escalate quickly by the end of next week.

Hopefully you're right. I'm verging on not watching at this point. I dunno, I think there is a certain artschool groupthink that slow = good, and I've often subscribed to that myself. But I feel like I'm watching something here where the creators have tapped into that notion, but are simultaneously so convinced of their own genius that they think they can do just about anything and get away with it. And it's not creating telly that's very absorbing. Breaking Bad at least moved things on at a reasonable pace on a regular basis. The wheel isn't turning here and it feels like ideas on how to progress from this point might be remarkably thin on the ground.

mothman

What exactly was Mike doing to the original bug with the radio? Wiping its memory somehow?

Serge

Wasn't he just running the battery down so they'd have to come and replace it? I assume they can tell when the battery is low from a remote location.

Pseudopath

Quote from: mothman on April 12, 2017, 10:14:20 PM
What exactly was Mike doing to the original bug with the radio? Wiping its memory somehow?

Draining its battery. He'd already tested (with the set he bought) that removing the battery caused a Low Battery alert to appear on the tracker followed by a complete signal dropout, so he swapped the bug in his petrol cap with the new one that he'd bought, then purposefully ran down the battery on the bug which had been planted (before lobbing it in the bin). He then just had to wait for a henchman to come around to replace the bug and Mike could follow him using his own tracker.

Pseudopath

#65
Someone's put together a full explanation here: https://imgur.com/a/njg5C#qDJwWqd

Although ignore the last bit about Mike "throwing the tracker in a ditch". He obviously puts it behind the wall of his house so that his adversaries think the car is still stationary.

Dr Syntax Head

I really love the time lapse stuff between scenes. It was an aspect of Breaking Bad I really loved. I'm still surprised at how good this has turned out to be

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Vince Gilligan is obsessed with methodical plans involving store-bought technical components; Mike's slow, silent business in episode one must be the apotheosis of this nerdy mania.

I enjoyed watching Mike's plan unfolding, even though, as others have said, I didn't quite get what he was doing at the time. So, thank you, CaB, for the explanation. It seems so obvious and straightforward now.

Twit 2

Blimey. Making buns in real time; removing duct tape in real time; editing punctuation on a document in real time...when Jimmy was painting their office I half expected them to both sit and watch the paint dry in real time. That said, I still love it. I agree that the slowly does it approach works so much better with Mike, though.

One flaw in his plan was that it relied on the goon taking back the old tracker so mike could follow him. What if he'd just lobbed it, or crushed it under his boot, or simply replaced the battery rather than replacing the whole device?

selectivememory

Quote from: Twit 2 on April 13, 2017, 12:07:46 PM
One flaw in his plan was that it relied on the goon taking back the old tracker so mike could follow him. What if he'd just lobbed it, or crushed it under his boot, or simply replaced the battery rather than replacing the whole device?

Doubt he'd have thrown it away. Wouldn't have made sense - probably quite an expensive bit of equipment. Definitely a justified assumption on Mike's part. And as far as changing the battery goes, I guess they wanted to switch it as quickly as possible to minimise the risk of being seen. Seems like quite a fiddly operation - prying the cap open, taking the tracker out, replacing the battery, putting the cap back together and then replacing it - so even without the additional worry of being seen, it would probably take a minute or two to do all that.

buttgammon

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on April 12, 2017, 11:57:52 PM
Vince Gilligan is obsessed with methodical plans involving store-bought technical components; Mike's slow, silent business in episode one must be the apotheosis of this nerdy mania.

I enjoyed watching Mike's plan unfolding, even though, as others have said, I didn't quite get what he was doing at the time. So, thank you, CaB, for the explanation. It seems so obvious and straightforward now.

Yes, I enjoyed the Mike scenes but I was confused too; I'm much less confused now, though.

mothman

Ah, now I understand. Thank you, CaB hive mind.

Chairman Bodog

^ They all just read the Reddit threads anyway.

mothman

They read them, so I don't have to.

After rewatching Breaking Bad, I realized they still have a ways to go to make Jimmy the callous prick Saul is.

DrGreggles


Old Thrashbarg

He literally punched the air afterwards. I think that removed any doubt as to whether or not it was planned.

NoSleep

Didn't somebody try to emulate the acid vat concealment of a corpse recently (in real life) and stunk their neighbourhood out (getting them arrested)? Has anyone called Vince Gilligan out on this?

Stonefish

The Mike/Tracker stuff in this episode was great. He's the kind of character that can seem to have an almost magical ability to show up at the right place, or have a perfect plan at the drop of a hat. So it was nice to see him "showing his work" in this episode.

Pijlstaart

Not been talking about this show before, but I've been watching. chug is nasty, that's what I think. What better cal saul needs to do is take him apart, leave him to rot in the metal lunchbox he calls a home. So angry, Chug. Went after his black friend, Ruff Ruff Ruff, very angry, threats. Wanted him to change the batts and then got mad when it turned on. Bald guy changes batts on his recorder too, symbolism, a trap is set, that's what it is. I think the implication is chug was the one recording his cars, that's how he found out the bald guy was going to kill the mexican man on the hill, that's why they haven't killed chug off, it all links in. They all liked
Spoiler alert
the chicken cook
[close]
in breaking bad, he was an upstanding member of the community, just like chug, so maybe chug is his friend, maybe they buy each other presents. Certainly not above crimes, I reckon, very nasty.

I liked the grey bit at the beginning too, maybe he pretends to die in the cinnamon bun restaurant, maybe it's to sue someone, maybe the wipe-down surfaces of the cinnamon bun restaurant kitchen are slippy, no friction, and he's suing them for that, get some retirement money and a nice soft carpet to work on. Slippin' Jimey.


Dex Sawash

The reveal of the
Spoiler alert
Los Pollos Hermanos
[close]
sign was laughable.

selectivememory

Quote from: Dex Sawash on April 18, 2017, 03:57:05 AM
The reveal of the
Spoiler alert
Los Pollos Hermanos
[close]
sign was laughable.

Yeah, although I loved everything else in this episode, in both Mike and Jimmy's stories. Finally seems like some things are going to happen[nb]should point out that while I've enjoyed the meandering pace for the most part, I really do think they need to make Jimmy's story go somewhere a lot quicker now. Still, the signs are good after the first couple of episodes.[/nb].

NoSleep

I thought the
Spoiler alert
symbolic ripping of the masking tape
[close]
was a bit heavy handed.

Spoiler alert
Victor!
[close]
[nb]
Spoiler alert
I would guess we've had all the Gus there is for this season, at least.
[close]
[/nb]

phes

Here we see the greater spotted Better Call Saul addict, who, much like the stupified slot-machine freak, is perennially convinced that it...


Quote from: selectivememory on April 18, 2017, 11:10:36 AM...Finally seems like some things are going to happen


Serge

That was another great episode. Nice to see a perky, optimistic Francesca, before Saul turns her into a miserable misanthropist. The long drawn-out reveal of Gus was fun. And again, I could watch Mike methodically doing anything for hours.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

They're really emphasising the Tortoise and the Hare aspect so far this season, with Mike's infinite patience contrasting Jimmy's impulsive need to cut corners.

NoSleep

Quote from: Serge on April 18, 2017, 08:17:48 PM
Nice to see a perky, optimistic Francesca, before Saul turns her into a miserable misanthropist.

I had completely forgotten she was Saul's receptionist! Perhaps she has some skeletons in the closet that will be revealed as the season unfolds. After all, it was pointed out by Kim that they should look at some other candidates and check Francesca's references. She seemed too quick into Jimmy mode on the telephone to be for real, so perhaps she's a bit of a con artist herself.

mothman

I was assuming Jimmy would get Mike to retrieve the tape, and things might get shooty as a result. I'm wondering where this is going to go next.
Spoiler alert
while they would appear to have Jimmy bang to rights, it's not cut and dried especially if that was the only copy. Jimmy can claim he was upset at the betrayal, regardless of what it was about, becAuse his supposedly electrophobic brother is playing with tape recorders. I presume Howard especially is going to want to keep things quiet, as HHM would only suffer from the bad publicity. So it's going to be some sort of blackmail. But what does Chuck want? Perhaps this is where Saul emerges - Chuck demands that "Jimmy McGill has to stop practicing law" and, well, SAUL would be sticking to the letter of the agreement...
[close]

NoSleep

I think this episode broached the possibility that Jimmy could claim he was humouring his crazy brother to alleviate his unstable condition.

Not sure of the point of Ernesto's little oversight (using his phone to call inside to Kim) being given camera time unless it is a plot point. But it seems that we have gone beyond that now.

hewantstolurkatad

Quote from: NoSleep on April 18, 2017, 09:41:11 PM
I think this episode broached the possibility that Jimmy could claim he was humouring his crazy brother to alleviate his unstable condition.
The tape has no legal standing surely? I assume the plan was to have him be caught committing burglary, but he completely failed to account for the possibility that his brother might care enough to want to respond emotionally.

The whole plan seems really fucking dumb wherever it's going anyway.