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March 28, 2024, 08:32:35 AM

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Better Call Saul - Season 5

Started by lankyguy95, November 20, 2019, 04:27:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Blue Jam

Quote from: Sexton Brackets Drugbust on March 14, 2020, 05:24:07 PM
Yeah, my reading of Howard isn't someone who's wilfully cruel - for the most part, but with some obvious exceptions - but rather he's someone who has lived a life of privilege (with a clear emphasis on image and controlling perception,) that prevents him from being able to empathise or consider how hurtful many of his comments or 'kindly' gestures can be.

Isn't Howard's life of privilege also something of a gilded cage? I vaguely remember that the nepotism he's benefited from was basically him drifting into the family line and not having had any choice of career other than the law. Also "you're a shitty lawyer but a great salesman" is possibly just Jimmy's opinion, but if I remember correctly Howard really isn't known to be a good lawyer and is more the "face" of the firm, someone who spends more time dressing up smartly and charming potential new clients over lunch than he does in court.

By contrast Jimmy is free to make his own rules. Howard has strived to be like his father while Jimmy has strived to be unlike his- it's another foil situation.

Ant Farm Keyboard

Quote from: Blue Jam on March 14, 2020, 10:44:15 AM
Season 2 of Better Call Saul ;)

Serious answer: Undone. Get it NOW.

Undone is an Amazon Prime exclusive. I don't think you can buy the shows from there, you can just subscribe and watch them on streaming. The voucher would only apply to shows that are not exclusive to Amazon Prime, Netflix (they own international streaming rights on BCS, but the seasons are still released on DVD and Blu-ray by Sony), etc.

Blue Jam


Blue Jam

Quote from: poo on March 11, 2020, 11:02:41 AM
yeah, I'm gonna wait and binge the rest. Something to do in the Great Fuckdown.

In between the new episodes of BCS I'm binge-watching episodes of Suits and wondering who would win a sleaze-off between Saul Goodman and Louis Litt.

H-O-W-L

Spoiler alert
The latest episode was pretty good. Mike seems to be getting back to an actual plot as opposed to just slowly walking around getting older.
[close]

Blue Jam

Spoiler alert
OMG, it's Bender!
[close]

Blue Jam

Really enjoyed that one. Less of the cartel and a bit more comic relief, which felt right at this almost-halfway point.

Thoughts:

BENDER!

Liked the way Saul was wearing an orange shirt while standing among the workers in hi-vis orange and yellow tabards, almost like he was trying to blend in. Colour of criminality there again.

I enjoyed Saul's creative assholery. I can't believe I assumed he'd be on Mesa Verde's side here and throwing the case so Kim would win- of course Kim would side with the little guy rather than the suits.

I'm kind of loving Saul's outfits in this season. It looks like when Jimmy tries to wear a more sober suit he gets it wrong and the suit looks like it's wearing him, while he looks much more comfortable and relaxed in the lairy suits. Howard by contrast always looks a bit stiff and overdressed, like he doesn't really know what's good or bad and like his suits are wearing him. Opposites again.

Jimmy seems the most relaxed and happy and energised he has been so far. That can't possibly last.

That twinkle in his eye when he got Kim impersonating Kevin... awwww, he knows what makes her tick. Again, it's sad that they're not good for each other and their relationship won't last.

Good to see The Goldfish Of Criminality is alive and well, along with "Giselle" and "Viktor".

Mike tinkering with things! Yaaaaay! Also liked Jimmy cooking and Jimmy having a bit of a Walter White moment with the smoke alarms, though I did wince at the sight of a man putting a bag of americium dust down his trousers. Could that sequence have been a nod to the Radioactive Boy Scout?

Poor, poor Kim. More great eye acting from Rhea Seehorn.

BENDER!

Dex Sawash


The dungaree dirt dump was straight out of The Great Escape or maybe Hogan's Heroes.

Blue Jam

Ah yes, thanks. I had forgotten about The Great Escape when I was trying to think which film has a similar scene.

Weirdly the first thing I thought of was the ball-tampering scandal in cricket. Possibly because I was thinking of radioactive balls.

lankyguy95

I thought of Andy Dufresne getting rid of his wall in Shawshank Redemption.

Didn't enjoy that episode as much. Felt a little too laboured and predictable. Gus has lost a bit of his intrigue and menace as a character to me in recent episodes. I find it more interesting when his feelings are hinted at, and you see more of the machinations of his work (and Mike's actually). I think there's too much stale character work being done with both Mike and Gus. Hopefully that ending means an end to that.

Hope the Mesa Verde stuff kicks on a bit too. The creative ways Saul came up with to delay the eviction felt to me like the episode in microcosm - some advancement but too much padding and not funny enough to work as comic relief.

Kim is fucked though, isn't she? She's in way too deep. Poor woman is digging her own grave and it's just a matter of when and how she falls into it. Nothing new but Rhea Seehorn really is a fantastic actor. The star of the season so far.

Blue Jam

#280
Poor Kim just really isn't cut out for corporate law is she? She does public defender work because she just wants to help the little guy, but in her "bread and butter" work she has to screw over the little guy. Is there any way she can find a compromise? Surely if she doesn't end up in jail she'll end up quitting the law? Or getting disbarred?

Also she clearly finds the Mesa Verde work boring and unfulfilling, perhaps it's driving her towards this self-destructive behaviour and she'll realise and decide she needs too quit. My guess is that she'll continue to self-sabotage though- she's more like Jimmy than she'd care to admit.

In one of the BCS Insider podcasts (I think it was the very first one) Gilligan and Gould talk about how Saul Goodman is the only character who is totally comfortable in his own skin. I can see that coming together now- he's the one who manages to carve out a niche where he doesn't have to compromise or play by anyone else's rules. I also remember what they said about him being "like a cockroach", and that if anyone was to survive BrBa it would be him- which doesn't bode well for Kim, now I think about it.

Still think Rhea Seehorn has been the best thing about this season, she's been fantastic.

Blue Jam

Also Jimmy's ain't gettin' no coronavirus:


Blue Jam

Oh gawd, I've just remembered Howard, reclining on a Barcelona chair, barefoot in front of his expensive abstract painting of the Buddha, calm and smiling as he called up Jimmy to let him know the job offer was still on the table. What an utter bastard.

Is that the end of it or will Jimmy vow to make him blow up and do something really un-Zen-like?

NoSleep

Kim was telling Mesa Verde that the property guy could be bad for their profile. Now that's she's set Jimmy onto it she could end up in court versus Jimmy and become Mesa Verde's scapegoat in the process. Some interesting angles I can see down the line, like Jimmy going for it and driving a wedge between the two of them, Mesa Verde rumbling Kim and Jimmy's connection, masses of unwanted publicity (courtesy Jimmy), etc, etc.

Or not (just guessing).

Pseudopath

Felt a bit too on the nose at the end there. if I'm honest. Rest of the episode was cool though.

Mobius

Kim is so good. Such a good actor, never overacts..just so natural.

I agree about Gus - he's a bit boring and the more you see of him in BCS, the less menacing he seems. Although I suppose the episode featured none of his adversaries.

lankyguy95

Quote from: Mobius on March 17, 2020, 09:24:16 PM
Kim is so good. Such a good actor, never overacts..just so natural.
I say this having no idea of what it's like but that really must be the hardest thing to do as an actor. Even the moments when Kim lets her emotions come to the surface, like her speech to Howard last season, Rhea Seehorn plays them so well that there's no question that it feels absolutely natural and true to her character. And as Blue Jam points out, her eye acting is so good.

Twit 2

Ah c'mon that was another belter. Fucking loving this shit. As always, there was tons going on. Might write some more thoughts up later but this was another case of different still equalling good. There's not been a dud yet, it's all layered brushstrokes. The only thing I'll concede is that Gus may be losing some mystique. And of course Mike looks like Nosferatu dragged through some nettles and has a combined age, with Gus, of 364,000 years old. Other than that, get tae fuck.

gib


non capisco

Quote from: Twit 2 on March 17, 2020, 11:22:06 PM
And of course Mike looks like Nosferatu dragged through some nettles and has a combined age, with Gus, of 364,000 years old. Other than that, get tae fuck.

I recommend watching Better Call Saul straight after the latest episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, they both look like members of Little Mix compared to Richard Lewis.

maett

#290
Fantastic episode as always. Just so well written and acted. For me a highlight was Saul replacement for Mike.  5 minutes of comedy genius. From the moment he was introduced to 'Giselle' as Mr. X and him  stating ' my work name' to his eagerness in rolling up in an unmarked van and taking the subject to the desert.  Just 5 minutes with the character but it's written so well you get a real sense of the person. I await the Mr X spin off.

Harpo Speaks

Quote from: maett on March 18, 2020, 07:28:53 AMFor me a highlight was Saul replacement for Mike.

That character has appeared previously in BCS, though I think it might be as far back as the first season.

Blue Jam

Quote from: Harpo Speaks on March 18, 2020, 08:04:47 AM
That character has appeared previously in BCS, though I think it might be as far back as the first season.

Pimento. He's the one who turned up as one of Daniel Wormald's prospective bodyguards, the one who brought guns and couldn't understand why Mike had turned up to a job unarmed.

A cameo-wearing gun-nut named Sobchak- another Big Lebowski reference!

Puce Moment

Quote from: gib on March 17, 2020, 11:50:04 PMGus steps out of the shadows.

Yes, after manu hours of BB and BCS, Gus finally states what motivates him. It is quite shocking hearing him say that word, which is testament to the writers for being so restrained for so many years.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

It was good timing having Steven Ogg return, because a friend of mine was convinced he'd been playing Lalo.

Petey Pate

Kim definitely went a bit Walter White in that episode. Also interesting how both her and Jimmy have been offered exit routes from their down spirals but refused to take them.

maett

Ahhh was that Steven Ogg, I thought it was him at first but the more I saw I was less convinced. Seemed to have too much hair on his head. That first appearance was another stand out scene.

gib

Thought we were going to get some Mike fanservice when he looked like he was going to build a clever gadget. Quite like how they subverted that.

hamfist

Quote from: NoSleep on March 17, 2020, 07:35:28 PM
Now that's she's set Jimmy onto it she could end up in court versus Jimmy and become Mesa Verde's scapegoat in the process.

I think there is an ep title coming up which suggests this may be the case. I thought Kim's tale of "packing up and running in the middle of the night" when she went back to the old duffer occupying the plot may have been a foreshadowing of her doing a runner, having disgraced herself professionally in some way.

Dex Sawash


I've decided that Kim ends up a stay at home yogapantsmom with 3-4 of Jimmy's kids 18 months apart. We just don't see her in BB.