Author Topic: Better Call Saul  (Read 10262 times)

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Offline Khushrenada

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Better Call Saul
« on: March 01, 2020, 02:30:55 AM »
I'd always hoped this new subforum would see more subcategories of shows and movies but all too often users are still sticking to the old megathreads to post in which is a shame because they get to be so hard to navigate through to find thoughts on a certain show or movie. At the same time, I've had other ideas and topics I've meant to post and create here but it seems so hard to find the time to do so when there are always so many interests in life that I also want to engage in.

It's an odd way to open a thread about a TV show but one can't always wait for the perfect time to start something. Thus, I might as well just do what I can when I can and start creating that change now. With what I feel is one of the top TV shows still currently in production and now returning to air a new season, I'd like to start a thread on it rather than hoping someone posts something here or there in the Rate the Last TV Show thread. (I talked about pulling apart some of those megathreads to divide them into the categories of shows being discussed but never did. One of the reasons I wanted to do that was to gather the Better Call Saul posts into one cohesive like this. Maybe I'll get ambitious and do it yet.)

I'm also going to see if I can dig up my posts at The AV Club that I'd made last season and add them here. When the show came back to air for Season 4, people were talking about what might happen and where it might lead and how long it would run. I made a prediction that I could see it running for a season 5 and 6. I thought Season 4 would see Jimmy take on the Saul moniker near the end with Season 5 being him getting into Saul Goodman antics leading up to his meeting with Walt and Jesse near the end. Season 6 might then shed a bit of perspective on the Breaking Bad story from Jimmy/Saul's side at the start but finishing up in the future / now present of the timeline. While it basically took the last moments of Season 4 for Jimmy to take on the Saul Goodman name for law and delayed when I thought he'd start doing that, it still seems like my prediction is a falling in line with how things may unfold with AMC announcing that there will be a Season 6 and it will be the last season for the show.

I was surprised to find that the names for all the episodes in Season 5 have been released already. Looking over them, there are a couple that stand out. I won't spoil any of them for now but the titles for episode 6 and 10 seem to suggest some big developments on the horizon. After seeing the 1st episode of Season 5, I know what the title for episode 7 is in reference to but no idea why that might be a title. 

Anyone else watching this show and a big fan?
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Offline Adrock

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Re: Better Call Saul
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2020, 11:33:32 AM »
Better Call Saul is excellent. At this point, it may be slightly better than Breaking Bad due to the extra time it gives to other well rounded characters like Mike, Gus, and Ignacio (Nacho) while Breaking Bad was primarily Walt’s story. At the same time, Better Call Saul feels more like an extension of Breaking Bad rather than a spin-off. I suppose it depends on how you look at the shows and which one you watch first. Breaking Bad does a lot of the heavy world building for Better Call Saul (if you watched it in release order rather than chronological order).

Walter White’s arc in Breaking Bad is a slow build through the first three seasons. He doesn’t go full Heisenberg until what, the end of Season Three. While it takes Jimmy McGill four seasons to go full Saul Goodman, Slippin’ Jimmy always felt like a pre-cursor to Saul Goodman. Since Saul’s transformation isn’t as stark a change as Walt’s as well as the more ensemble nature of Better Call Saul, it feels like the Better Caul Saul reaches its full potential sooner. That isn’t praise or criticism of either show. I’m just trying to talk my way through how I feel about them.

Neither show has had a bad episode so far too which is amazing to me.

Offline azeke

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Re: Better Call Saul
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2020, 11:06:21 PM »
Really like this show.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Better Call Saul
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2022, 02:19:09 PM »
It's finally back. So pumped!
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Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Better Call Saul
« Reply #4 on: April 20, 2022, 05:44:51 PM »
I was a little bit behind and just started up again. I finished season 4 last week. I prefer this show to breaking bad. It has all my favorite characters from BB and is not so bleak.

Offline ThePerm

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Re: Better Call Saul
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2022, 12:44:24 AM »
I re-watched season 4 just so I could remember what was happening. My DVR self deleted the season, and they only now put it up for streaming. I'm almost caught up to where I was.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Better Call Saul
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2022, 01:41:27 AM »
Damn.  :o
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Offline Adrock

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Re: Better Call Saul
« Reply #7 on: May 28, 2022, 12:34:09 AM »
Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences to my own actions.


***Unmarked Spoilers***

That was one hell of a mid-season finale. I did manage to rewatch Breaking Bad, El Camino, and the first five seasons Better Call Saul before diving into Season 6.

Unfortunately, the two majors deaths were spoiled for me due to video titles I wasn’t able to avoid. I kind of figured Nacho wasn’t going to make it. Thematically, it works. Nacho escaping ABQ would be retreading ground. Instead, his death provides an extra dimension to Mike taking Jesse under his wing. Even though Mike didn’t live to see it, Jesse got away (eventually).

Nacho’s final monologue was so good. Did it remind anyone else of the scene in Ozymandias when Walt tells Jesse that he let Jane die? Seemed intentional to me. Also, every single character in that scene ends up dead. My only criticism is the gunshot felt off. Nacho’s head doesn’t whip back so it lacked force which is odd considering…

The headshot to Howard was especially brutal with his head slamming into the coffee table as he fell, a clear throwback to Chuck hitting his head on the print store counter. Howard’s murder was weirdly surprising. I kept waiting for it yet I still didn’t see it coming because it happened so fast.

Anyway, Lalo is a much better final villain, brilliantly played by Tony Dalton as he shifts between charming and sociopathic with such ease. After rewatching Breaking Bad, Season 5 is definitely the weakest season (largely carried by the final three episodes) mostly due to how cartoonish and one-dimensional Uncle Jack and the generic Neo Nazi gang are, introduced and killed off in the same season. Alternatively, Lalo was given far more time to develop. He’s arguably as good a villain as Fring (dare I say, better).

We’ll see how the final six episodes shake out. I’m particularly interested in how the Gene thread wraps up. Unless they whiff the ending, Better Call Saul is a better show than Breaking Bad (which stalled a lot more than I remembered) though they’re both essential viewing.

Offline UncleBob

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Re: Better Call Saul
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2022, 08:15:10 AM »
BCS>>>BB
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