Better Call Saul! - Breaking Bad Spinoff A Go At AMC

[Man in the Suit]

"In episode two, in that montage there’s a character in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment — a guy who will be very easy to miss, but he will be very important in episode four. If you look very closely you will find him very integral to episode four." – Vince Gilligan

 

[BestGirl]

Loved that Slippin' Jimmy scheme at the beginning of the episode. Almost makes me ashamed that I didn't see the billboard thing for what it was right away.

I was completely fooled as well. When the worker fell I was really annoyed at what I thought was a massive plot contrivance but had to smile when I realized it was all part of the plan.

Yeah, I get that. I like the variety.

On another note, I'm guessing the crux of this season if not this entire series will revolve around the choice that Jimmy has to make regarding whether to put himself or his brother first. Based on where he ends up I think he chooses himself and loses his soul and eventually becomes Saul Goodman. I'll bet it costs his brother his life in the end. We'll see.

Yeah, I suspect Chuck will die or he and Jimmy will become majorly estranged from one another because based on their present relationship I can't see Jimmy running off to Omaha and leaving Chuck behind.

Really? Kim to me is kind of boring right now. I want to like her more and I'm sure what they have planned for her will make her more interesting but for now she has this dull way about her.

Same here. I respect her for being smart and well put together but she's rather cold. It's hard for me to understand what she and Jimmy see in one another. I expect we'll see their relationship develop in future episodes.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I think cold's a good word to describe her as well. Skyler as unlikable as she was in season one was at least interesting and played very well by Anna Gunn. But I do see the potential in where she can go. I could see her as an x factor or a crazed druggie if HHM goes down the tube.

 

[James]

I don't know if I'd say cold, more like restrained. She's torn between her friendship with Jimmy and her career with HHM. In both instances when she's with one, it's hard to talk about the other honestly, and that leaves her not saying much of anything -which might be why she comes off as dull or cold.

 

[BestGirl]

I think cold's a good word to describe her as well. Skyler as unlikable as she was in season one was at least interesting and played very well by Anna Gunn. But I do see the potential in where she can go. I could see her as an x factor or a crazed druggie if HHM goes down the tube.

I don't know how anyone couldn't love Skyler. She was such a hot mess at times. How could anyone forget her servicing her husband while using the computer or faking labor so she could get out of being arrested or "intimidating" Jesse into not selling Walter weed anymore? Kim has yet to be one tenth as interesting.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Loving the show so far. Looks like Vince has another hit on his hands

 

[Brother Jack]

Spoiler

"In episode two, in that montage there’s a character in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment — a guy who will be very easy to miss, but he will be very important in episode four. If you look very closely you will find him very integral to episode four." – Vince Gilligan

Vince Gilligan is more than a man, less than a god.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

The lady lawyer isn't cold, she's cautious which makes her easy to root for.

Skylar was cautious but she also contradicted the protagonist (Walt) so she was easy to hate.

I have a good feeling about the show. This was the best episode yet. Lots of character study, juicy bits.

 

[I'm Venom]

Jimmy spinning the bogus story, getting Nacho off then proceeding to buy the designer suit and putting up the billboard that he can't, but then spinning that into a bogus stunt for publicity was great.

This is such a great show. I hope Hamlin ends up buried in the desert.

 

[Six]

This is such a great show. I hope Hamlin ends up buried in the desert.

At the very least he needs to be punched in the face. If he gets worse which he probably will, then yeah, desert.

 

[GamerSlyRatchet]

Spoiler

"In episode two, in that montage there’s a character in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment — a guy who will be very easy to miss, but he will be very important in episode four. If you look very closely you will find him very integral to episode four." – Vince Gilligan

Yeah, pointed it out in my review.

Makes me wonder if we'll see other clients from that montage.

 

[TheBat812]

This is such a great show. I hope Hamlin ends up buried in the desert.

Why? The guy has been in the right all season long. Ya it was a dick move to ask for him not to use his own name, but it was more a request than an order and jimmy took it super personally and has acted like a child about it.

This show is great, just as well made as bb, similar great tone, great performances all around. Can't wait to see how the season progresses.

 

[James]

Why? The guy has been in the right all season long. Ya it was a dick move to ask for him not to use his own name, but it was more a request than an order and jimmy took it super personally and has acted like a child about it.

This is why:

Skylar was cautious but she also contradicted the protagonist (Walt) so she was easy to hate.

We're told the story from Jimmy's perspective, or Walt's, or whoever. Anyone who comes up against the protagonist is going to rub a good portion of the audience the wrong way. It doesn't matter that Jimmy's being a dick or Skyler wasn't actually doing anything wrong.

There are great examples of this in most stories where it follows a less than reputable character. The Shield, the Sopranos, on and on it goes. Vic Mackey was a bad guy, Tony Soprano more blatantly so. But any time someone descent tried to take these characters down, we as the audience by and large would boo and hiss and celebrate our hero's eventual triumph over the forces of good.

If we were told Hamlin's story, we'd see Jimmy as a slimy jerk who's trying to screw over our hero Hamlin. Same as Breaking Bad had been about Skyler, and not Walt. Walt would have been the jerk husband, lying and doing who-knows-what while he continually put his wife and kid(s) in ever escalating danger.

It's really interesting how just a shift in perspective can shift the audience's opinion. Heck, there are even characters who start off as jerks and then get turned around into heroes, and we're very quick to forget the terrible stuff they've done beforehand. Game of Thrones has one particularly great example, although I'll wrap it in black so as not to spoil it for anyone, (it's [BLACKOUT]Jamie Lannister[/BLACKOUT])

 

[BestGirl]

^That is an excellent observation. To that I would add that Hamelin appears to be the slimy corporate type that's easy to loathe.

 

[Ken-Kaniff]

Awesome show and to be honest, I didn't had such high expectations, we all know how great Vince & Co. were in regards to BrBa, however, I expected only something decent here, but I was surprised of how good this show turned out to be! I love Jimmy, Kim, Mike, really solid characters as it progressed, the show became even better!

 

[Kane52630]

 

[James]

^That is an excellent observation. To that I would add that Hamelin appears to be the slimy corporate type that's easy to loathe.

Thanks!

You're absolutely right. Saul's the underdog by default, and if an audience loves anything, it's an underdog story -whether he's right or wrong.

 

[flickchick85]

Also, Hamlin DOES appear to be taking advantage of Chuck's condition in order to screw him out of the millions he deserves. He's definitely no saint.

 

[James]

Also, Hamlin DOES appear to be taking advantage of Chuck's condition in order to screw him out of the millions he deserves. He's definitely no saint.

I more got the impression Hamlin was respecting Chuck's wishes, but even if that's the case I guess Hamlin wouldn't fight too hard to convince Chuck of a better alternative. Chuck seems convinced he'll be back at the firm one day, so won't go after a buy-out, which works great for Hamlin, who I'm sure is more than happy to keep Chuck's hopes up.

I guess at this point Hamlin isn't so much wrong, as he is just darn sneaky.

 

[Brother Jack]

Hamlin's been portrayed as a pompous *****e, but other than questionable motivations and apparent disdain of Jimmy he has never done anything especially wrong. The show is setup as an underdog story and Jimmy has been very empathetic and likable so far, moreso than he ever was in Breaking Bad, but it's not actually that simple.

 

[flickchick85]

I more got the impression Hamlin was respecting Chuck's wishes, but even if that's the case I guess Hamlin wouldn't fight too hard to convince Chuck of a better alternative. Chuck seems convinced he'll be back at the firm one day, so won't go after a buy-out, which works great for Hamlin, who I'm sure is more than happy to keep Chuck's hopes up.

I guess at this point Hamlin isn't so much wrong, as he is just darn sneaky.

See, I got the impression that he was enabling Chuck's delusions so that he wouldn't have to do the payout. But I guess it hasn't been made explicitly clear (since we never see his actual conversations with Chuck, just hear about them), so it could still go either way.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

It looked like they used one of Gus Fring's shirt and tie combos as a prop when Jimmy was at the tailor's. Look above the clothes rack and you'll see that Los Pollos yellow and brown.

 

[Sawyer]

I'm really curious to see whether any of the Better Call Saul characters will be in play during the BrBa era of Saul's career, assuming the story moves forward to that point at all. We only ever saw him in the context of his work for Walt and Jesse, so there's really no knowing who might have still been in play outside of that association.

 

[Rasalom]

Are you folks ready for tonight's episode?

 

[Great Mind(s)]

I'm really curious to see whether any of the Better Call Saul characters will be in play during the BrBa era of Saul's career, assuming the story moves forward to that point at all. We only ever saw him in the context of his work for Walt and Jesse, so there's really no knowing who might have still been in play outside of that association.

That's something I've been thinking about too. It would be cool to have an episode that intersects with a Breaking Bad episode. The first episode Saul appears is called "Better call Saul" , they could use archive footage from that episode but show the whole thing from Saul's perspective.