[S02.E10: Klick]

I am amused that Mike has a seemingly endless supply of different colored nondescript cars available to him.

I'd say a quarter mill of cartel money comes in handy.  

I think we saw Nacho through Mike's eyes just before the horn started sounding.  He might have gotten somebody else to do it, but that would probably be too dangerous, he wanted no one to know of his connection to Mike.

This is why I'm quite sure it wasn't Nacho.  I could see him warning off Mike if there was some way to do that without compromising himself, but warning anyone else about Mike would mean Nacho'd end up in a hole in the desert too.  Had to be somebody else, and I'm hoping I know who.

[S02.E10: Klick]

I've always felt that a big part of Jimmy wants to be slippin' Jimmy, but there is another....smaller part that feels he doesn't deserve to be anyone but slippin' Jimmy.

I see it differently.  I refer you to Acts 9:18: "Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized."  I think Jimmy's just had a graduate course in the 'nobility' of legal profession, and the real pros like Chuck are just as bad as everybody else, in their way.  Kim sees it now too, that the much of 'respectable' nature of HHM is just posturing and pretense.  In the end there's not much to choose from between them and Slippin' Jimmy, except better suits and more savory clients.  Who's to say that Slippin' Jimmy is less worthy?

 

Edit: if 'Acts 9:18' shows up as an episode title, Mr. Gilligan, I'm gonna have to ask for a 'Previously TV' shout-out. 

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

I'm not super against the HIIs as a whole, but I don't particularly like them and I do really wish they'd do a season without them again. It might be very interesting.

Maybe, but neeeeever gonna happen.  For one thing they'd have to figure out a way to edit pagongings to they're not so obvious.  For another, it'd reduce the surprises in voting so greatly that even Jeffy would blush to slap '#blindside' up there.  I don't hate the HIIs in general but I will say this for them: at least they require some strategy to use effectively.  To use the Super HII, you just have to be awake.  

Win a leg on TAR and get an Express Pass.  I'd rather they give the laggards a leg-up than the winners.

I think the worse TAR has to offer is the 'reverse' thing, where one team can force another team to go back and do an extra challenge before they can move on.  The effect is usually to punish the shit out of teams already struggling, so it often just calls the race for them.  I think the Super HII is like that, and they might as well just pass out a production note that says 'Tai and the idiot twins are the final 3, everybody else take a breather'. 

I think that's really the only play they have: try to make Tai feel bad about helping dicks. It might work because Tai is very gullible/weak-minded. But he also has a cutthroat-ish side so it may not work.

If Tai has a brain in his head, it won't work.  People may think badly of Tai for his actions but I'll bet they fucking hate the idiot twins.  Much as I dislike the Super HII, Tai'd be fool not to take advantage of it, and win.

[S02.E10: Klick]

"Did your brother say he did it or did he just agree with what you said happened?" "He just agreed that what I said was true." "So your brother agreed with a man who was mentally ill and possibly suicidal?" "Well, yes."

That's my problem with this whole tape recorder thing.  Beyond the fact that it'd be way too easy for Jimmy to just say 'I was humoring him', there's the issue of why Chuck would do so much for 'evidence' that'd mean so little.  Even if Chuck uncovers the other clues, they too can be easily explained.  Jimmy bribed the copy guy because Jimmy was there that night, but didn't want Chuck getting all worked up about this 'innocent coincidence' and hurt himself (which actually happened so it's a credible concern).  Even if he finds out that Ernesto lied and never called Jimmy, again this can easily be explained away (Jimmy was following Chuck because he was worried about him, that's why he got in there so fast).  Chuck's basically got nothing but I think we're supposed to believe he's finally got Jimmy by the balls.

 

The Mike but stuff was pretty good and it's always great to see Jim Beaver, but I'm not sure what Mike's plan was.  I take it he was gonna snipe Hector but what then? He would totally give away his position and I'm pretty sure he planned to leg it out of there, but he isn't exactly a spring chicken.  There were at least 4 more guys, and Mike only bought one box of ammo.  Just sayin'.  

 

Please please please let the note be the handwriting of one Gustavo Fring. 

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

I just think it's way too strong.  It's sort of lucky, in fact, that it's in the hands of beatable goats, because if it's someone likeable like Yul who has it, he's almost guaranteed to win.  He can even go down in history as a Survivor genius for it.  Blech, I hate this idol.

Agreed.  It's so strong that it pretty much changes everything, and 'strategy' becomes A) get this idol, or failing that, B) scramble to appease the person(s) who did get this idol.  You can flash up '#blindside' all you want, but you're not seeing a blindside so much as a straight-up pagonging of the group B guys.  Pretty sure they introduced the HII in order to break up pagongings, cuz it's a bit boring to watch for weeks on end when you know who's going home next.  The Super HII puts us right back to it.

 

And in this case, it's kinda 'christmas for assholes', cuz the guys who got it are being dicks about it.  No fun watching dicks succeed by being dicks, nor a winner crowned because they're slightly less of a dick than others at FTC.  

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

Societies make decisions for the group good all the time.  There is not trash all over the US or a major pollution problem because there are emissions requirements, industrial requirements, littering laws, etc. We all pay extra for everything to cover the costs of environmental protection.

Yeah, but Winston, you're just describing the one solution we've found for collective action problems: cops.  If you set up guidelines and pay a guild of professionals to make sure people stick to them (and fine those who don't) you can ameliorate collective action problems.  It can actually be made more expensive to pollute, so people will forgo polluting.  

 

The problem is that we have no such thing in this game.  I mean we have Jeff who enforces the rules of the game (to the extent they do, but that's another story) but he doesn't make people stick to their alliances.  Far from it, he lionizes people who screw over their own friends (sometimes) as 'big move' types.  

 

Without cops, you have to police yourselves.  That doesn't work here, not really.  I mean people get pissed when they're on the jury and refuse to vote for someone who screwed them over, but that's after.  The guy on the jury is already out, and the threat of retaliation didn't stop the guy who's still in and is trying to get votes for the million.  

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

Assuming they know how the super idol works, the best choice is to flush it now, even though it costs them someone today.

This is the essence of the classic collective action problem - everyone agrees what should be done, but nobody wants to be the one to do it.  It's why, for instance, we have pollution even though nobody wants to live in a polluted world.  We all agree what needs to be done and it's pretty simple to fix, but I think you should pay to clean it up and you think I should.  So nobody cleans it up and we all live in a polluted world, even though we all agree that it's terrible that there's trash everywhere.

 

In this case it's worse because the penalty for being the one who 'pays' is you go home.  If there's five in the 'no SI alliance', your chances of getting voted out are 1 in 5, right?  Nobody wants to risk that so instead, you make a deal to vote with the SI alliance.  Now your chances are 100% that you'll survive tonight's vote.  I'd take that deal, I mean who knows, maybe next round you'll win immunity outright and you'll be safe anyway.

 

So 'the group' (the alliance without the SI idol) might be better off if they all stick together and flush out the Super-Immunity Idol, but it's never gonna actually happen.  In truth there's no such thing as 'the group' interest, only a bunch of individual interests that are in 'a group' for the moment.  The first people to do the math jump ship and live, the one's who stay with the fiction that 'the group' matters get picked off.  Individual interest trumps 'group interest' every time. 

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

To counteract the Super Idol, you either have to be willing to sacrifice one of your own stronger players or you have to lure Tai away from the men, either which could make for some interesting game play.

I'm gonna have to disagree here - I'm not sure it's 'game play' at all in the conventional sense.  I mean it's part of the game now cuz the producers made it so, but it changes everything about we think playing the game really amounts to.  If you're right that the SI can be played for anyone, then any alliance with it is pretty much invulnerable, if they stick together.  This sets up huge collective action problem for anyone not in the SI group - they all want it flushed, but nobody wants to sacrifice themselves to do it.  The only real move is to try and break up the SI alliance, which could be difficult if you can't convince whomever is actually holding the SI that they'd be better off at FTC sitting next to you.  Absent that, you're all fucked.

 

At the same time, the SI Alliance has a huge advantage for busting the other alliances.  All they have to do is say 'first one (or ones) to join the SI Alliance get to live', and some will, because it's the smart move.  Folks'd be fools not to take that offer, and when the SI alliance has a majority, the pagonging begins.  

 

Worth noting that, contrary to idea of keeping it a secret, this only works if everybody knows about the SI, and that your group has it.  Keeping it secret may give your group a single crushing victory (a cheap-ass blindside since it magically undoes proper gameplay), but playing it smart pretty much guarantees someone in your group wins.

 

This is the problem with an SI that can be used after the votes are read - played properly, it's unassailable.  If you're not in that alliance you have to hope one of the folks in it does something stupid.  It's just too big an advantage.  You don't even have to figure out who the non-SI alliance is planning to vote out, just promise to undo any vote that they make.  

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

In all her exit interviews, she said she knew she was being targeted, but in her Ponderosa immediately after being voted off, she said she was blindsided.

 

#Blindside!  Despite what you think you just saw, it was super-exciting and unexpected!  Seriously, could we use that hashtag if it wasn't?  Proof right there.

 

In truth, I didn't see that vote coming last night but that's more a function of editing than masterful gameplay.  I mean I'm fine with a editing a boring story into an interesting one but an edit isn't a 'blindside' since the joke's on us rather than on the player eliminated.  Nice of them to suggest phrases to use when discussing the episode, though.  

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

Who on the many seasons of Survivor have benefited from air time?

I'm gonna take it that you're serious so I'll give you a serious answer: every single person who's ever been invited back.  Rob Mariano's made a career out of this game, despite not winning over and over and over, and then (debatably) only winning because he got more than a little help.  No one named Hantz ever won, but how many seasons did they appear in?  I presume they didn't do this for free.  Rupert got a million just for being Rupert.  I know the million is nice, but even a career as a D-list celeb could be worth a lot, quite possibly much more given the mactors and washed-up celebs they cast.

 

I'm only half sure you're not winding me up so forgive me for belaboring the obvious.

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

Oh yes I agree with you there. I wondered about that, too. I would have thought it against the rules to take communal property like that so I imagine they did get permission from Production.

Once we get to the point where we're asking production about 'moves', I kinda feel like we're well towards playing Survivor the Show and not Survivor the Game.  If that's true, is it too much of a leap to suggest that the players are now doing things they know'll get them airtime rather than votes?  I have to admit, this tends to be 'gameplay' I do not enjoy.

 

Agree with all about the domino challenge - that was damn clever.  Hard to make such a task both simple and visually appealing, but they sure did.  Bravo challenge designers.

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

There isn't any logic to it from them, but I don't think that necessarily means Production told them to do it. They're just assholes and idiots.

I don't think it does either, but I do wonder if they have to get permission before doing things like hiding communal property.  My understanding is that they do before stealing from each other but communal property is a bit of a gray zone.  I mean it's everybody's, right?  I'm within my rights to use it, possibly this means I'm within my rights to toss it in the sea. 

 

Agreed though - it was just pointless bullshit, a poor man's 'big move'.  Can't say I'm happy that any of these asshats are gonna win anything.

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

The fact that it was scrapped for Second Chances, TPTB probably thought it was a dud, much like the Medallion of Power was.

Or it was a dud because it'll never actually get played, not because it'll make no difference.  The Medallion of Power got used at least but it didn't have a large impact.  Tony the Cop used his super-HII as a ticket to the final 3 by not playing it.  Tai's idol has the same power and is similar unassailable, unless you can get everyone in your group to potentially sacrifice themselves in order to flush it out.  Here's my prediction: Tai just got handed a million dollars. 

[S32.E09: It's Psychological Warfare]

Well, they've never stopped people from sabotaging camp and other things before...see Hantz, Russell and Hantz, Brandon for prime examples of this.

 

In those instances (if memory serves) we found out later that production specifically green-lit people to do things that had hitherto been verboten, on pain of expulsion. 

 

This whole episode, with the hiding shit and putting out the fire repeatedly, this is the kinda shit that inclines me to believe that production is 'having a quiet word' with folks to get them to do stupid, but film-worthy, nonsense.  I know this is an unpopular opinion but this kinda shit makes no sense to me other than an attempt to 'mix things up'.  If any of these yahoos makes it to FTC, they're gonna get eaten alive for this.  Somebody please explain the 'logic' behind their assholery.  

 

Oh, and they just gave Tai a pass to the finals.  A less suspicious man than myself might be inclined to think production really, really want the super-duper idol in play.  

[S02.E09: Nailed]

If everyone was so permanently convinced that Chuck's supposed transposition error caused the Mesa Verde disaster, and Chuck was so powerless to convince anyone otherwise, there would have been no need for Jimmy to go down to the print shop, at Kim's opaque suggestion.

I don't think Jimmy paying off a copy guy = Jimmy is in danger of getting caught.  If Chuck catches even a whiff of something, he can proceed with litigation, and who knows what that might turn up?  Better to be safe than sorry, and even Jimmy paying off the copy guy can be explained away, if necessary.  Best not to make it necessary.  It would cost Jimmy time and money to defend and it might embarrass Chuck even further.  

 

I know, fuck Chuck, but I think as far as Jimmy's concerned, everything worked out smashingly.  Mesa Verde's back with Kim and Jimmy got away with it (as far as he knows), so the score is even.  I honestly don't think he wants Chuck humiliated further, which he certainly would be if he tried to push this along with no evidence.  I mean Jimmy certainly didn't want to see Chuck hurt - he looks like he's on the verge of running over to make sure somebody calls 911.  This might cause further awkwardness that'd have to be explained away ('I was on my way to see Chuck to straighten things out, I saw him leave and followed him, and that's how I came to be at the copy place') but I'm pretty sure Jimmy's gonna do this if somebody doesn't step up quickly.  

[S02.E09: Nailed]

Wonder how long Kim has wanted to go off on Chuck, but couldn't because she would lose her job.

I was surprised at how measured Kim was.  She saw the truth of what Chuck was saying but absorbed that news while deflecting into this being Chuck vs. Jimmy.  And Kim didn't make it personal until Chuck made it personal, then levelly spoke some truth herself.  

 

All in all, a very powerful scene, well written and acted all around, particularly Michael McKean.   I mean I appreciate Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn's work here but I really, really want to punch Chuck in the face.  He sees so much of the truth about Jimmy but ignores the fact that he could help his brother rather than just try ensure that he pays for his past transgressions.  I can even appreciate Chuck's side of things without losing sight of his essential assholishness.  Bravo, Mr. McKean, kinda hope Chuck's not dead.  That said, don't think I won't punch a dead guy at his own funeral.  

[S02.E09: Nailed]

I could see the copy center wanting to have video evidence that their employee did nothing wrong and that they have no liability for Chucks injury.  And this is all assuming that Lance doesn't immediately hustle back there to mess with the tape to cover his own butt.

I'm not sure anyone has done anything really actionable here.  Lawyer-types correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not illegal for Jimmy to pay a guy money to keep quiet about something that isn't a police matter.  Even if the copy guy comes completely clean, Jimmy's story kinda makes sense, or enough to explain away what Jimmy was up to.  Chuck was saying crazy things, Jimmy had been making copies that night (an unrelated matter), and Jimmy thought this coincidence would upset Chuck enough that he might hurt himself.  So he 'tried to prevent' what actually did happen, Chuck losing it and hurting himself.

 

It's a BS story but good luck making anything of it, given the lack of evidence that anything at all happened in the first place.  I think Jimmy's in the clear here.  Except with Kim, of course.  And possibly his own conscience.  

[S02.E09: Nailed]

Except for Chuck's insistence that he didn't make a mistake.

Chuck's insistence that he isn't capable of making such a mistake.  Which he'll testify to while wearing a tinfoil hat.  Yeah, I don't see that suit going forward, and I do see Howard's soul struggling to leave his body as Chuck gives that deposition.

 

If Saul really wants to stick it to Chuck, he should go tell Howard about Chuck's ridiculous, baseless (and possibly slanderous) accusations.  Chuck dropped the ball and he's trying to make Kim pay for it.  That'll get Howard's attention. 

[S02.E09: Nailed]

I predict that the final (or penultimate) scene of the season will feature Jimmy sitting at Chuck's hospital bedside as the first Saul-esque commercial plays on the telly.

My hopes for the final scene: Mike sits down in his favorite diner, having found a way to spike Hector Salamanca's blood pressure and leave him communicating with a bell.  Flirty waitress walks away and a slim, bespectacled man sits down uninvited.

 

"Please do not be alarmed, Mr. Ehrmantraut, I am, in fact, in your debt.  My name is Gustavo Fring, and I may have a job for you."

 

Make this happen, Gilligan.

[S02.E09: Nailed]

People often don't appreciate that once a process starts where people give depositions (and there are many ways such a process might start here),  things can begin to snowball.

I could see a big mess starting to snowball, but not for Jimmy.  Chuck has no evidence that any documents were ever doctored in the first place.  Anything Chuck might find can be explained away innocently.  If he finds an actual document with transposed numbers, it's a clerical error by someone, who knows who.  Jimmy's finger prints on the filed documents?  They were kept in a place Jimmy goes, and who's to say Jimmy didn't help re-file some stuff when Chuck had one of his many fits.  Even if it comes out that Jimmy bribed a copy guy, 'My brother was making some crazy accusations and I had been making some copies, so I figured if the copy guy said he didn't remember me, Chuck would go home sooner and not crack his head on something'.  

 

I don't know the standards of evidence for such matters but it seems to me that Chuck has absolutely no cards here.  And any attempt to officially implicate Jimmy in anything would blow up in his own face.  I'm kinda wondering why Chuck was pursuing this matter at all, but I can't believe it was with further legal action in mind.  Maybe it was to convince Kim to run and hide, but if so, pretty sure he'd sewn the seeds of doubt already.

[S02.E09: Nailed]

I didn't buy that Jimmy wouldn't have known to cover his tracks at the copy centre in the first place, or at least as soon as Chuck basically had his plot down step by step.

Why bother?  So Jimmy was making copies, you really think the copy guy's gonna know what Jimmy was actually up to?  It doesn't matter what Chuck 'knows', it matters what Chuck can prove.  

[S02.E09: Nailed]

I wonder if that will be a reason for Mike to continue some feud with Hector.  He said he was "done" before he found out about the good Samaritan, right?

I think this is absolutely the thing that keeps Mike in the game.  And Hector has to end up in that chair somehow, so ...

 

I wonder about where Chuck was going with his plan. It was brilliant that he figured out it was totally Jimmy behind all this, but what's he gonna do even if he finds some proof that Jimmy was indeed in a copy place that night.  Chuck's already sure Jimmy did it, but without proof, Chuck of all people knows it ends there.  What is he realistically hoping to find, old cut-up legal briefs?  Super-sharp focus surveillance tape so they can read over Jimmy's shoulder?  If I understood what Jimmy did, he planted the doctored documents, got Chuck to use the bogus address, then removed all the bogus documents and replaced the real ones.  Sounds like the perfect crime.

 

It's a bit of a stretch to say that Jimmy anticipated the outcome of his little prank.  Not a paperwork-filing dude, me, but I was wondering if clerical errors happen all the time IRL.  Embarrassing, sure, but who'd have guessed it would derail everything?  I mean it was Chuck coming off the rails that made the situation worse, but who'd have guessed that Chuck'd be there to do that?

[S01.E10: Progeny]

Barry Allen's step dad? Oh his adopted dad?

Oops - fixed.  Seriously, I'd watch a show just of Joe giving Barry dating advice or even working crime scenes.  I don't doubt for a second that they've known each other forever and genuinely love each other.  Which is odd because I kinda can't say the same for Barry and Iris, who are supposed to be MFEO and all that.  

Kendra is basically the one that is not working for me.

Agreed.  Problem is she pulls down pretty much everyone she appears with.  Ray is borderline for me but them together is snooze-worthy.  I really want to like these characters more but they are not making it easy.  

[S01.E10: Progeny]

Great character interaction can keep me tuning in forever no matter how dumb the plot gets.

Let me know when you see some - zing!  But seriously, the only great interactions I've seen on this show are A) Hot and Cold, and B) whomever Victor Garber is talking to.  Not an Arrow guy so I have nothing there to compare with, but there's nothing here approaching Barry Allen's relationship with his step-dad (sorry - adopted dad).  I agree that strong character relationships can carry the day when all else fails but that's a big part of my problem with this show - all else is failing.  

[Finding Bigfoot - General Discussion]

Finally watched this on my DVR.  Ugh.  Well Boboes, at least now you know how we see you.  

 

My 3-year-old had become fascinated with this show, even though her decision on this is that 'bigfoot is a pretend gorilla'. I think she means the howling shot we get going into and out of commercial, but you're not wrong, kid.