Bryce Lynch

Regarding the ice cream cone, in addition to being a really cool shot, I thought it symbolized the good, sweet, wholesome part of Jimmy McGill, first being contaminated, then infested and then totally consumed by all his moral and ethical compromises, lies, scams and crimes, and the consequences of them that he can no longer control. I think Jimmy has just reached Walter White territory, where his past bad decisions and immoral choices have put him in a position where he needs to make more of them and even worse ones in order to survive.

I could be wrong, but I took it that Saul was trying to get out of the job by quoting a price that was way too high. He couldn't have been more wrong. I don't get the Hank hate. Yes, he was bit full of himself and sometimes obnoxious in the beginning. But, he was a brave, loyal and honest and he died like a man.

I didn't see any villainy either. But, when someone is trying to kick a person out of their home of 30 years, however legally and justifiably, that person is going to tend to see them as villains. $18 was pretty close to the $5K adjusted for inflation from 1974 to 2004, so it was a pretty fair offer and clearly went well beyond MV's legal obligation of $5,000. I guess if you want to see villainy, you could argue that the bank could have built its call center on an undeveloped piece of land, or one that already had an industrial property that had closed. But, nevertheless, they did nothing illegal and the homeowners' were made whole, and all but one took the deals and left. I am part of your minority, though I thought episode 3 was a big improvement over 1 and 2.

I am kind of in between on him. I felt bad for the guy losing his house and could understand him not wanting to give in. Also, we don't know how much of a discount he got because of the buyback clause, and how clearly it was disclosed to him when he signed the deal 30 something years earlier. In addition, as Kim mentioned, the $5,000 wouldn't go nearly as far as when he bought the house. On the other hand, a contract is a contract and he had his day in court and lost. MV was trying to be somewhat reasonable, offering him $18,000. I agree with Bannon that he should have counter offered, and gotten a bit more. Still, I get his stubbornness. In some ways, he is a bit like Nacho's Dad. He is stubbornly refusing to accept the reality of the situation he is in, and just make the best of it.

Blanca's name was mentioned at least once on BB. I think when Hank was going through his PTSD and still obsessed with the Heisenberg case and refused the El Paso assignment, Marie told Hank that Blanca had told her that Steve was going in his place.

I enjoyed this episode more than the first 2 of the season. The Kim story was interesting, though kind of low stakes. When Maurice from Northern Exposure told her she would say anything to get what she wants I thought he was right about her, in a general sense, but that everything she told him about her past and her intentions to help him was true. I loved seeing Mike break the arm of the thug who liked to prey on the elderly. I wonder if the guy calling him "Gramps" set him off. ("It's Pop Pop, scumbag!"). Seriously, though, I think if they called him "old man" it might not have set him off as much. Gramps reminded him of his blow-up at Kaylee, which was part of what he was drinking to forget. It seems like they have toned down Lalo's schtick over the past 2 episodes and he is more watchable and less cartoonish. I loved seeing Hank and Gomey, but it sort of felt like seeing a couple of ghosts. I know we see most of the drug business characters killed in BB, but seeing them alive again didn't have the same impact. I'm not sure the whole Lalo, Domingo and the DEA plot makes a lot of sense. Wouldn't the DEA stake out the dead drops to catch those making the pick-ups? When nobody shows, they would know they were double crossed. Also, how would Domingo know about 3 dead drops with $500K without knowing who his bosses were? I could see him knowing one drop, if he was a lower level guy making a regular drop. But, knowing 3 would mean he did pick-ups and passed the money on to someone higher up the chain. The scene with Nacho's father was sad. Again, I felt like I was looking at a ghost because he appears to be a dead man. I can see him not taking Nacho's drug money, but either the Salamancas or Fring are probably going to kill him if he doesn't run. He doesn't realize how trapped Nacho is. He is probably too good and brave a man to survive this situation. Add me to the list of people who were more offended by Kim and Saul tossing the beer bottles off the terrace than all the scams, drug dealing and murders we've seen.

I don't think single mothers are saints. Some are awful and are single mothers because they are awful. But, parenting is a two person job and whenever only one parent (father or mother) is doing it, they have a big, extra burden. I believe mothers and fathers are equally important, and when one isn't willing, able, or alive to do their part, the other parent has a lot more work to do. Stacey is not a single mother by choice or through driving her child's father away. Her husband and father of her child was murdered.

I don't get that Mike generally resents Stacey. But, I did sense that this particular time was a bad time for him, but he felt he couldn't say no, and also wanted to see Kaylee. He probably figured if he dragged himself out of bed and went over there, it would cheer him up. He was guilt ridden, depressed and exhausted over the Werner situation. When her call woke him up, he looked a lot like a forlorn Walter White often did when he woke up after a rough night (sometimes after being beaten up by Mike).

I never saw Stacey as "entitled", I saw her more as a woman who suffered a horrible tragedy who was blessed by the generosity of her father in law. Of course, Mike was also partly responsible for Matty getting killed, so there's that. I think the house situation was left a bit ambiguous. But, I took it that Stacey was a bit paranoid, probably from PTSD, and really thought she heard gunshots. I think it was implied that she mistook the newspapers hitting the sidewalk, in the wee hours of the morning, for gunshots. She didn't ask for Mike to find her a new house. She just told him how distressed she was by the "gunshots" and he offered. I don't know if she even knew Mike could afford to get her and Kaylee into a new home. I guess you could argue that she was angling for that, but there was no clear evidence of this. Someone upthread suggested that maybe Mike was never getting invited to dinner and only getting called when Stacey needed something. But, I recall that after Mike had his "car accident" (actually assaulted by Tuco), Stacey said that Kaylee wanted to know when Pop Pop would be coming to dinner again, He replied that he didn't want her to see him in his condition. That suggests that Mike was a regular dinner guest, when he wasn't hiding injuries from Kaylee.

Huh? Most husbands do some cleaning and other chores around the house. Plus, childcare is a big issue. With her being a nurse and Matty being a cop, they were probably usually able to schedule things so one of them could always be home with Kaylee. If not, and nobody could watch her, one of them could take a personal/vacation/sick day. When those days are spread over 2 people, they are much less likely to threaten one's job. I'm sorry that you had a lazy, useless husband. But, most men (and women) earn their keep, share the financial burden of the household, and help with chores, errands and child rearing. There is zero indication that Matty Ehrmantraut was a bum like your ex-husband. All indications were that he was a good man, an honest cop and dedicated husband and father. Parenting is a 2 person job.

Addicts will certainly commit crimes to feed their habits. But, they are not going to factor in the 50% discount on legal fees for non-violent felonies in the their decision making. They are going to try to commit crimes they think they can get away with to feed their habit. Even at 50% off, the legal fees would probably eat up all their profits from their little petty theft spree, and then some. When Badger got busted on BB, Saul's retainer was $4,650. Since there were two idiot skells this time,, at 50% off, it would still cost them about $4,650 total, to start. Besides that ,they know they can always get 100% off on legal fees by using the public defender. At this point, I don't think any of the criminals have much reason to believe the drop phone guy can provide any better service than a free public defender. Once Saul builds his reputation it would be a different story, but he is just getting started again.

They should have had Marie come to the open house, give a fake name and backstory.

It is much harder for single parents. They are doing the job of 2 people. Stacey does not take Mike for granted. He has made it clear that he is anxious to help in any way he can. In this episode, she said "I'm sorry to bother you." He replied that it was no bother and he is happy to help. She then asked "Are you sure?" and Mike replied "Positive." Mike's greatest (only?) joy in life is providing for and spending time with Kaylee. Other than Pabst Blue Ribbon and pimento cheese, there is nothing else good in his life. Helping out is not a burden to him, it is a joy and it gives his life purpose and helps him deal with his guilt over Matty. Just because Mike's love and dedication for Kaylee is beneficial to Stacey, it doesn't mean she is taking advantage of him. If Mike found out that Stacey missed a day of work because she didn't want to "bother" him to watch Kaylee, he would br pissed.

I am not there yet, but I feel sort of like Kim feels about Jimmy. BCS, like Jimmy, has changed and it seems like my relationship with it might be doomed. But, I am still foolishly holding onto hope that it might come around. :)

I don't really have a problem with Stacey. She doesn't usually push Mike for the help. He usually insists. Working single parents are under a tremendous amount of stress, and having a grandparent or other family member or friend to help out is a tremendous resource. Plus, Kaylee and Pop Pop are (were?) extremely close. Kaylee is by far the best thing in Mike's life and his main reason for living.

I would expect them to behave like people who want to be able to use meth. If they get arrested for numerous, non-meth related charges, they will go to jail for at least some period of time, where they won't be able to use meth. Even at a 50% discount, they would br forced to spend a large sum of money, that could otherwise be used on meth, on legal fees. I don't expect them to behave "rationally" in the way that normal people do. But, I would expect them to not make intentional choices that would mean less access to meth.

I don't think Mike was trying to discourage Kaylee from becoming a cop. I thought he just couldn't handle all the talk about him and his son being good cops. It wasn't true of Mike and being a good cop got Matt killed by other bad cops. I think Mike also realizes he is no longer a good man (if he ever really was). It makes me think of his talk with Pryce about some criminals being good people and some bad people not being criminals. I think killing Werner crossed a line for Mike and also made him realize how many other lines he had already crossed.

I think the problem with the drug trade stuff is that I'm not sure who we are supposed to care about. Nobody is really that sympathetic. On BB, even if we were disgusted by some of their behavior, most people cared about Walt and Jesse and wanted them to survive. In the Fring vs. the cartel conflict it was easy to root for Fring. Earlier in BCS, I was definitely rooting for Fring against the Salamancas, but now I don't care as much. I guess I want Nacho to survive, but I don't care about him like I did about Walt and Jesse. Now, Jimmy is almost totally unsympathetic as well.

But, 50% of a criminal lawyer's fees is still more than most meth heads have lying around. Plus, having a lawyer is not a get out of jail free card. There is no way a 50% discount from a lawyer would affect anyone's behavior. The show has started to get a bit silly.

I was thinking that maybe some of Kim's associates would come for movie night. As for Saul, it would probably just be Huell and maybe Ernesto. Maybe he could invite the ADA and some of his clients, too. :)

I thought it was simply that Nacho gave him a "You're not bringing that ice cream cone into my car." look. I was thinking, what's the big deal? If Saul got ice cream on the upholstery, he could get it replaced at his Dad's shop. Totally off topic, but it reminded me of The Office ("Dinner Party"), when Andy took a lick from Angela's ice cream cone and she rolled down the window and slammed it against his car door.

I thought that whole plan to put out the bad drugs was convoluted. As for revealing that Werner was there for a construction project, Mike overheard Werner on the phone, telling Lalo that they were about to pour the concrete for the south wall. After Mike took the phone from Werner, and didn't respond to Lalo's questions, Lalo said, "Michael, is that you?". So, Mike and Gus knew that Lalo knew that Werner was there for a construction project and that someone named Michael was involved.

Um, the house was made out of wood and wood comes from trees. Therefore, it was a treehouse! :)

I was just wrapping up a phone conversation to watch, and I thought that opening scene was an extended promo for some new, crappy AMC show. It felt nothing like BB or BCS and was awful. I thought the house hunting scene was a total waste of time. They could have at least given us a nice callback by having the realtor be the one who got Marie arrested. I thought the Mike and Kaylee scene was a good idea, but poorly executed. I didn't buy MIke going off on her that hard and that fast. I would have bought it more if he tried to get her to change the subject, but she kept insisting on asking about her father. The poker scene was OK. Now we know how Crazy-8 got his nickname. I took it that he was losing on purpose to kiss up the scary boss. Lalo was less cartoonish in this episode. I liked Saul's plea bargaining on the bluetooth and asking Ericsen for a "lightning round". But, the stuck elevator scam was obvious and cliched and not worthy of this show. The idea that criminals would commit extra crimes and get caught because they have a 50% discount on legal fees was absurd. If you had a 50% off coupon from a doctor, would you intentionally break your leg to get the discount? Nacho going back to get the drugs, while the SWAT team was about to break down the door was cartoonish. I like Mike's ugly wakeup scene. It seemed like a callback to Walt waking up that way a few times, usually with broken glasses and a cut over his eye. I liked seeing Howard, but wanted more of him. This one was a little better than the premier, but still not very good.

I don't know. I think the German police would take a report that a man named Werner Ziegler was murdered by a drug lord building a meth lab under a commercial laundry in ABQ, whose enforcer was 60ish bald guy name Michael Ehrmantraut, than a vague one about 10 men going missing on an unknown job, in an unknown location somewhere in the US. I'm sure a detective who was concerned about his clearance rate would take the former case over the latter. A quick inquiry on Mike would tell them that he was a suspect in the murder of 2 cops in Philly, and suddenly decided to take a gun rap for a known member of a vicious drug cartel operating in ABQ, who had assaulted him. They would then find that he was getting paid a large sum as a "security consultant" by Madrigal Electromotive, which happened to own LPH along with Gustavo Fring, who also happened to own a large, commercial laundry in ABQ. Leaving them alive leaves far more loose ends, IMO. Of course, you could use Mike's argument to Lydia that here in the real world, we don't kill 11 people as some kind of prophylactic measure. I think that would have made sense before they killed Werner. But, once Werner was killed, I'd be worried about someone informing to get justice for Werner.