SlackerInc

Not a great episode. The show has definitely been on a downward trajectory lately. But it's weird: I feel like it's probably got me hooked for the duration--and I'm notorious for being willing to cut bait on shows, especially comedies (among those I've watched 30-50 episodes of before getting tired of them and dumping them: Veep, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and Curb Your Enthusiasm). This one, I just have too much of a curiosity about somehow, and it's only about four hours of content a year, so...yeah. (What a rave review, eh? But they got my eyeballs regardless.)

Until you keel over in front of everyone. (Look at how I brought it back to the episode!)

I get that, but being behind the counter at a mall Cinnabon is a bad way to avoid being recognized, is my point. Other than being a TV anchor, there aren't many jobs with more visibility.

Yeah, the way he furtively holes up in his apartment would make a lot more sense for a guy who works in a role that doesn't involve much contact with the public, at least in terms of seeing his face: a nighttime cleaner, a telemarketer or CSR for something involving the elderly would be great for him. But they felt hemmed in by the "best case" comment in Breaking Bad. When actually, having him actually be a manager of a Cinnabon in Omaha doesn't make a lot of sense. It was clearly meant as a sarcastic line, and there's no way he was going to tell Walt where exactly to find him! That was just pure fanservice, and I kind of wish they had resisted the temptation, honestly. Wasn't it the tongs he tossed, rather than the battery? You're right--but as I said upthread, they felt they had to fanservice the flippant "Cinnabon in Omaha" comment. They could have still included a different kind of fanservice and sent him to Belize.

Yes! I loved that moment, including watching Culpepper and the others increasingly notice "I think she's right..." and then pump their fists as they saw they were completing the comeback.

I liked Ozzy fine on his first season, but he was a jerk and a social bully to Cochran on Cochran's first season, and I'm a big Cochran fan, so...

Ohhhh...okay, gotcha.

I love that Mischa got all the way to the U.S. and then ended up all the way back in the USSR without Philip ever knowing. I don't think any of us predicted that! But I was kind of hoping for it. Now if Renee just turns out to be a regular American woman... [crossing fingers] I was confused by Elizabeth thinking back to her friendship with Young-Hee, but then doing surveillance on some other seemingly white family. Or did my penny-pinching by purchasing the SD season pass from iTunes instead of springing for the HD version undermine me? I rewound a few times and they did not look Korean to me. Overall I thought this was a somewhat below average episode, until the end which was well done and makes me look forward to the next.

Interesting. Do you have a cite? Not that I don't believe you: I'd just like to read more about it. I remember Probst standing with Brandon, massaging his shoulders (basically keeping him away from the others). But I thought he was kicked out. No? If it was a vote, then that's bogus as he needed to be kicked out. If someone is not getting kicked out, they should have the opportunity to present an idol. But the people voting him or her out also need the opportunity to try to blindside them and send them home without playing their idol. So Jeff just pretended to sort of have a vote? Why not just declare that he was disqualified?

This is true! And that I think is my main point: his primary reaction was not, I think, "Damn that Jimmy for sabotaging us" but rather that this is, as you say, a "hot mess of crazy" and he's just trying to think of the most diplomatic thing to say, regardless of what the truth may or may not be. Sure, I think we all understand this. But there are plenty of ways to have fun, without attracting the police's attention but also not turning into a pathetic milquetoast. It's already been made clear that he didn't have to do like Walt in "Granite State" and hole up in a cabin. He has to see members of the public all day in his job, so there's no reason he can't go out on the town in his off hours (as long as he stays away from bars that attract lowlifes and 911 calls). Or at least go eat at nice restaurants.

I really appreciated this recap because it did go into a full discussion of the episode (my favorite recapper refused to do a recap this week and just talked about the outing). I kind of wish we had two episode threads this week, with one being reserved for the stuff that happened up to and including the immunity challenge. I just have no interest whatever in discussing, or reading about, the "trans" stuff. (I liked Zeke before this episode, FTR, and still like him.) Anyway, the comment I wanted to make about this enjoyable and amusing recap is about the pizza. I will fully admit to thinking it looked good (well, not the Hawaiian slices--an abomination I will never understand). But you know how some people like "cold pizza" out of the fridge? Others want it warm out of the oven. Those are both okay, but my favorite is between the extremes: pizza that's been sitting out on the counter for 30-45 minutes or so: kinda congealed, but not yet hardened. (Does that make me a monster? LOL) ETA: Do the rules allow Probst to just call it the way he did? What if Varner had an idol? I don't understand why he didn't still hold a vote.

Interesting idea, but it doesn't quite map over to me. "The Fly" is the only Breaking Bad episode I don't like (except for Walt's monologue), whereas I liked this episode of Better Call Saul quite a bit. His firm lost a huge client because of Jimmy, so I'd think however complicated Howard's reaction has been to Jimmy, it's safe to say he'd think Jimmy's an asshole at this point. Ugh, I don't know how I managed to get those two quotes nested inside each other, and I can't seem to split them up. @JudyObscure, I expected the same thing: that he would just say he had been reading and not paying attention. I don't think he really wanted to "do the right thing", but he was feeling the heat and was torn between doing nothing and dropping the dime, so he slowly and reluctantly just barely summoned the will to do what the cops wanted him to. @Clanstarling, you may be right...but Howard's reaction ("I don't even know where to begin...") suggested to me that he's not even sure whether he believes the tape. I'm sure he doesn't think it's doctored or anything, but he may think Jimmy was just humoring his brother to bring him back from total psychological breakdown.

Sigh. I'm only a couple minutes into the first podcast of the third season, and Kelley is already wearing thin. She just keeps hounding them about how they planned somethingorother about the episode (or season, maybe?) and won't let it go. Vince is an amazingly patient man!

I'm with those critics. Like ghoulina, I was sleepy when I started the episode--but I found it riveting, and it woke me right up. Two of my very favorite shows of all time (this and The Americans) have now started their seasons this spring with long, wordless sequences of drudgery (on The Americans, it was a ten minute depiction of digging a hole) that go against every rule in the book for how to make TV. And I did, indeed, find them both "brilliant". Right, but: That was my question too. But I guess he had to go get the extra car at some point, and maybe when he first bought it or whatever, they tracked him with his main car and switched the gas cap after he left it to be used later? Definitely a little confusing, but I have a vague sense of "story checks out".

That's cool. I wonder how those "forks" got spread so far and wide, yet scattered? Because I grew up going to this ice cream stand in Maine, which also serves hot food including the best (super bright red) hot dogs I've ever had...and french fries in a basket with those very wooden two-pronged forks. But I've never seen them anywhere else.