Better Call Saul (Spoilers here!)

[NashvilleDevil]

Loved the season finale, and both stories ended in major cliffhangers where the audience has more knowledge than the main characters Jimmy and Mike. With Mike, because we know Mike's future, we have a pretty good guess as to who left that shocking note on his windshield. (And, as it turns out, we would be correct in that guess.)

With Jimmy, we knew he was walking into a trap, a Faraday cage trap, at the end of the episode. It's not just because it was the final 5 minutes of the season finale and therefore something major/shocking was about to happen. I feel like the writers have done a great job over the course of the season showing us that Chuck is capable of this moment, of pulling off a Jimmy-like con to get his brother to confess on tape. From Chuck's ability to instantly recognize that his brother was behind the "1261 to 1216" con (i.e. he sees all the same angles as Jimmy), to his smooth-talking of Mesa Verde to get them to dump Kim and come back to HHM, Chuck is someone who can scheme and talk and grift just as eloquently as Jimmy but, until this Faraday cage scheme, has chosen to play it straight. It's similar to how Season 1 showed us that Jimmy could be as great a straight-playing lawyer as Chuck if he wanted to be. These two are both brilliant and are brothers for sure, and it'll be quite interesting to see what happens as their war continues to escalate in Season 3.

Oh, and Mike's watcher / windshield-note-leaver will finally appear in Season 3. Can't wait!

Agree it was a great close to the season. I watched the Chris Hawrdwick post show and Gould and Gilligan confirmed that the Reddit thread was correct about who will be showing up in season 3. I need a show to sustain me until next season, guess now is a good time to begin watching The Americans.

[bjornolf]

I love BCS too, but I've never seen BB. I'd been meaning to, but decided to wait until after BCS to watch BB, to see it in chronological order. Am I making a mistake?

[BeachBlueDevil]

Good season finale, but let me be the first to say I'm a little disappointed that Chuck is still around. I was concocting scenarios in my head that if he died that we'd start the ball rolling to have Jimmy be Saul at the start of season 3. Now that I've had time to digest last nights show, I do like the direction and I love how Gilligan and Co. can turn someone like Jimmy (Walter White & Jesse) into characters that people can root for, even though they are flawed people. In return it makes someone like Chuck who is pretty straight someone you wanted to see die (in my case).

Anyway, I can't wait till next year. Bummed that we have to wait 10 or so months to get season 3 but I still like where this is going and the slow burn of Jimmy becoming Saul is really great writing and I'm glad that the writers haven't rushed anything as much as I want to see the transformation.

[Rich]

I love BCS too, but I've never seen BB. I'd been meaning to, but decided to wait until after BCS to watch BB, to see it in chronological order. Am I making a mistake?

I watched Season 1 of BCS, then binge watched all of BB, and now season 2 of BCS. I strongly recommend you take the "off season" to watch BB. Well worth the time and will make your BCS experience much more enlightened and entertaining.

[Troublemaker]

Agree it was a great close to the season. I watched the Chris Hawrdwick post show and Gould and Gilligan confirmed that the Reddit thread was correct about who will be showing up in season 3. I need a show to sustain me until next season, guess now is a good time to begin watching The Americans.

I would highly recommend it. Warning: seasons 2 and 3 are a slow burn similar to the first half of BCS season 2, and I know people who stopped watching because of that. But I don't know anyone who continued to power through who regret it and aren't completely satisfied with the show. Many people think it's the best on TV. (Plus, I'm not even sure pace matters when shows are binge-watched).

I love BCS too, but I've never seen BB. I'd been meaning to, but decided to wait until after BCS to watch BB, to see it in chronological order. Am I making a mistake?

I watched Season 1 of BCS, then binge watched all of BB, and now season 2 of BCS. I strongly recommend you take the "off season" to watch BB. Well worth the time and will make your BCS experience much more enlightened and entertaining.

I second this recommendation. There are just so many Easter Eggs / references to BB that, despite BCS being perfectly coherent and a very good show as a standalone, the experience of watching BCS is further enriched by having seen BB. When Jimmy and Kim prank that annoying guy at the bar, we're supposed to recognize him as someone that was also "pranked" by the main character on BB. When Tuco and Nacho are counting the underling's money in the Mexican restaurant while Tuco delivers his "lie detector" stare, we're supposed to recognize the underling as someone who plays a huge role in season one of BB. Mike is surprised by the professionalism of that gun dealer, but we're not. Etc, etc.

[bjornolf]

I would highly recommend it. Warning: seasons 2 and 3 are a slow burn similar to the first half of BCS season 2, and I know people who stopped watching because of that. But I don't know anyone who continued to power through who regret it and aren't completely satisfied with the show. Many people think it's the best on TV. (Plus, I'm not even sure pace matters when shows are binge-watched).





I second this recommendation. There are just so many Easter Eggs / references to BB that, despite BCS being perfectly coherent and a very good show as a standalone, the experience of watching BCS is further enriched by having seen BB. When Jimmy and Kim prank that annoying guy at the bar, we're supposed to recognize him as someone that was also "pranked" by the main character on BB. When Tuco and Nacho are counting the underling's money in the Mexican restaurant while Tuco delivers his "lie detector" stare, we're supposed to recognize the underling as someone who plays a huge role in season one of BB. Mike is surprised by the professionalism of that gun dealer, but we're not. Etc, etc.

Then I'd see him as the guy that got pranked in BCS.

[swood1000]

Loved the season finale, and both stories ended in major cliffhangers where the audience has more knowledge than the main characters Jimmy and Mike. With Mike, because we know Mike's future, we have a pretty good guess as to who left that shocking note on his windshield. (And, as it turns out, we would be correct in that guess.)

With Jimmy, we knew he was walking into a trap, a Faraday cage trap, at the end of the episode. It's not just because it was the final 5 minutes of the season finale and therefore something major/shocking was about to happen. I feel like the writers have done a great job over the course of the season showing us that Chuck is capable of this moment, of pulling off a Jimmy-like con to get his brother to confess on tape. From Chuck's ability to instantly recognize that his brother was behind the "1261 to 1216" con (i.e. he sees all the same angles as Jimmy), to his smooth-talking of Mesa Verde to get them to dump Kim and come back to HHM, Chuck is someone who can scheme and talk and grift just as eloquently as Jimmy but, until this Faraday cage scheme, has chosen to play it straight. It's similar to how Season 1 showed us that Jimmy could be as great a straight-playing lawyer as Chuck if he wanted to be. These two are both brilliant and are brothers for sure, and it'll be quite interesting to see what happens as their war continues to escalate in Season 3.

Oh, and Mike's watcher / windshield-note-leaver will finally appear in Season 3. Can't wait!

The problem with the taped confession is that Jimmy will just say that he was humoring Chuck, someone Jimmy had been advised to have committed, by simply admitting to all the charges that Chuck had made in order to get Chuck out of his depression. I don't think he said anything that he would only know if he were in fact guilty. It is, however, something he will be able to hold over Jimmy, at least until Jimmy outfoxes him somehow.

[Troublemaker]

The problem with the taped confession is that Jimmy will just say that he was humoring Chuck, someone Jimmy had been advised to have committed, by simply admitting to all the charges that Chuck had made in order to get Chuck out of his depression. I don't think he said anything that he would only know if he were in fact guilty. It is, however, something he will be able to hold over Jimmy, at least until Jimmy outfoxes him somehow.

Okay, but the fraud Jimmy committed is a felony, which he acknowledged to Chuck on tape. The tape could get police involved, and if police sniffs around the copy shop clerk, I would expect the copy shop clerk to break.

That said, of course Jimmy will end up getting out of it somehow. Can't wait to see how.

[swood1000]

Okay, but the fraud Jimmy committed is a felony, which he acknowledged to Chuck on tape. The tape could get police involved, and if police sniffs around the copy shop clerk, I would expect the copy shop clerk to break.

That said, of course Jimmy will end up getting out of it somehow. Can't wait to see how.

Good point. They'll probably have a scene with the clerk telling Jimmy that he didn't sign up for police involvement and if they come by he'll tell the truth. Sounds like grist for a good cliffhanger. Jimmy will struggle with having Chuck committed in order to shut him up, though that would involve a hearing at which Chuck could spill the beans (unless Jimmy brought into the hearing room a device that Chuck knows generates electromagnetic waves). So Jimmy could present Chuck with the "mutually assured destruction" defense.

[Mike Corey]

That said, of course Jimmy will end up getting out of it somehow. Can't wait to see how.

We know he has to if for no other reason than that he's still practicing law in BB. The fun part, as with much of this show, is the how. I.e., we know Mike isn't going to get killed by the cartel as he's walking back to his car horn...

But the suspense the show and the writers and the actors have built despite our knowledge is pretty darn satisfying.

[bjornolf]

It's weird. Jimmy is the con man with the heart of gold, while Chuck is always following the rules, but comes off as evil and backstabbing. I love it.

[swood1000]

We know he has to if for no other reason than that he's still practicing law in BB. The fun part, as with much of this show, is the how. I.e., we know Mike isn't going to get killed by the cartel as he's walking back to his car horn...

But the suspense the show and the writers and the actors have built despite our knowledge is pretty darn satisfying.

But we don't know that Jimmy didn't get disbarred and sent to prison, then got out and successfully petitioned to get his law license back. Or he could just get his license suspended for a period of time.

[Mike Corey]

But we don't know that Jimmy didn't get disbarred and sent to prison, then got out and successfully petitioned to get his law license back. Or he could just get his license suspended for a period of time.

Hm.

This requires a timeline question: Is there enough time between the possibility you've laid out above, and when he appears in BB, for this to be possible?

[swood1000]

Hm.

This requires a timeline question: Is there enough time between the possibility you've laid out above, and when he appears in BB, for this to be possible?

I guess that's part of what we don't know. A person can get his license suspended for six months, or he can be disbarred and send to prison and then come back the next week with new evidence and have all that reversed. I can't see this show turning into a prison drama, but we could have him going into prison and then the next scene begins "Three years later." But the image of Hector "Tio" Salamanca from BB looks quite a bit older than he looks in this show.

salamanca.jpg

Just keeping the tension alive! We can't disregard that possibility the same way we can the possibility that Mike will be killed (though that doesn't keep Mike from being massively injured).

[Troublemaker]

Bummed that we have to wait 10 or so months to get season 3 but I still like where this is going and the slow burn of Jimmy becoming Saul is really great writing and I'm glad that the writers haven't rushed anything as much as I want to see the transformation.

It's been too long without the BCS / BB universe in my life. It's been almost 14 months since the start of season 2 and almost 12 months since the end of season 2.

Can't wait for the season 3 premiere tomorrow!

[left_hook_lacey]

Me too! My wife and I even had mexican tonight for dinner to get into that southwestern, New Mexico, land of enchantment vibe. BB and BCS have made us insane over something I thought I never could be. A TV franchise.

[swood1000]

I'm having a little trouble remembering exactly what the plot elements were. They seem to have thrown us back into it as if everything should still be fresh in our minds. But it'll come back.

What's with that Cinnabon stuff at the beginning? Is that just some random part of the plot, the purpose of which will become apparent in a few seasons?

[Troublemaker]

I'm having a little trouble remembering exactly what the plot elements were. They seem to have thrown us back into it as if everything should still be fresh in our minds. But it'll come back.

What's with that Cinnabon stuff at the beginning? Is that just some random part of the plot, the purpose of which will become apparent in a few seasons?

The Cinnabon scene is something they did at the start of each of the past two seasons as well. A Cinnabon in Omaha is where Saul Goodman ends up (under a different identity, "Gene") following the events of Breaking Bad as the result of Goodman's role in assisting Walter White's drug empire.

[Troublemaker]

Wow, what a great second episode of the season! After a lot of complaints about the relative lack of plot in the first episode, boy did things move tonight.

So many familiar faces from BB -- Francesca (LOVED the scene where Jimmy hired her and coached her through sounding folksy), Victor (meh), and of course the return of Gus Fring, finally, in the flesh!

Loved that Saul had learned the "give me a dollar" maneuver from Kim.

[swood1000]

The focus now shifts to the copy shop clerk, who is the weak link in Jimmy's story that he was just humoring Chuck on the tape. Somehow Jimmy has to get rid of him without becoming evil in the eyes of the viewers. Maybe he'll "remember" the time the Chuck did something underhanded and about which Jimmy has proof. But once Chuck makes the charges public the DA can run with them if he gets the admission of the copy clerk. My money is on Mike saving the day through some flimflammery.