S06.E11: Breaking Bad

[gallimaufry]

I think it's a really interesting dichotomy whether there was any turning Jimmy away from his path and it kind of gets to the very core message of the show.

Howard demonstrated that it is possible to fight back against your fundamental nature and get better - he went to therapy, he made peace with what happened to Chuck, he became more humble towards Jimmy going from calling him Gollum to offering him a job and listening to his views on giving people another chance.  Had he fundamentally changed?  Putting a vanity plate on a Jaguar isn't a million miles from the man who said in 101, "Sometimes you get so caught up in the idea of winning that you forget to listen to your heart."  But for all that, he definitely spent S5 and S6 in a positive place.

I think we definitely can agree that Nacho had redeemed himself.  He protected the innocent as far as he could and sacrificed himself for his father.

On the other hand, Mike's fatalistic view is that once you're on the bad choice road, sooner or later you go back on it again.  Because of this, he ducked every opportunity to turn away -- and he had several.

So where does Jimmy fit on this continuum?

We've seen that Jimmy can subsist in a "good place".  Almost always, Jimmy's scams are displacement activities for dealing with rejection - rejection by his ex-wife, by Chuck, by Howard, by Kim. 

Even in episode 1, Jimmy's quick-cash schemes were at least ostensibly to help Chuck.  It's not that Chuck wanted Jimmy to commit crimes and it's certainly not that criminality wasn't Jimmy's go-to but if you leave an alcoholic thirsty in a bar there's only going to be one outcome.  Jimmy did stop himself in S1, handing over the big bag of cash.

Now it's fair to say - and S2 proved - that Jimmy could slot into someone else's view of a decent life.  He was wrong for Davis & Main and behaved abysmally.  His motivation to do good needed to come from himself.

But in S3, we saw him doing brilliantly with his law practice - he was clearly well suited to elder law.  Was this really an example of how he could make an honest living?

On the one hand, he still cut corners - charming his way onto the airbase and in front of the flag.  Hardly ethical but arguably displays of "moxie" rather than full-blown criminality.

He also behaved appallingly in his escalating war with Chuck but that was the nature of his feud.

The worst aspect of his elder law career was trying to expedite the Sandpiper settlement by victimising poor Irene.  The thing is, this was really a deficit of love - he was too insecure in his relationship with Kim and so he saw the office as a symbol of their relationship.  He would do anything to protect their relationship.

I think if there's a lesson from these characters it's that being a "good man" (or woman) is really hard and requires lots of battles against the core of your nature - battles you will often lose.

Loved ones can respond with judgment (Chuck, Matty, Manuel) or with licence (Kim, Stacey), others can be offered respect (Davis & Main with Jimmy, Eladio with Nacho) or sympathy (Howard with Kim, the grief group with Mike) but only you can choose your path.

You can resign yourself to who you are and go forward with an uncomplicated heart down whichever path (Gus' "I am what I am" in 505; Nacho's willingness to die in 603; Mike's realisation that he's not a "good criminal" but a gangster like the rest of them in 609) -- and this is the path Chuck advocates in 310 before the fear of what he's unleashed bubbles up and kills him.  Or you can rail against it, lying to yourself and rationalising like Chuck (with his "disease" hiding his guilt and horror at Jimmy) or Kim (persuading herself that she can control everything).

I think Jimmy fundamentally does think of himself as "wicked" and has done for several seasons now.  I guess the question is, can anyone left see the good in him - and could it possibly make a difference if they did?

[Chaos Theory]

23 minutes ago, scenario said:

I can't get that mad at a mentally ill person striking out at the people trying to help them. It happens all the time. The problem is that this time it indirectly led to so much destruction because it helped push Jimmy into becoming Saul. 

But Chuck never liked Jimmy.  Even when they were kids.   He hated that people (even his wife) liked Jimmy more then him.   I think that was the central issue between them and what exasperated Chuck’s mental illness and Jimmy’s perpencity for corner cutting.    

[carrps]

17 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Kevin Sussman.  I remember him from Ugly Betty but he's better known as Stuart from The Big Bang Theory.

I lied. I did go back.  His name is Devin Ratray.  I looked over his IMDb and I'm guessing I know him from Law & Order.

I always think of Kevin Sussman from Burn After Reading. Tuckman Marsh!

Also, ick about Devin Ratray. But I recognized him as one of the guys who played one of Will Forte and Bob Odenkirk's cousins in Nebraska.

Edited August 2, 2022 by carrps
provided names for the pronoun

[JudyObscure]

10 hours ago, gallimaufry said:

I loved seeing Francesca.  The call was a good pay-off although it was a bit low-key than perhaps we'd been expecting.  Great character.

I think Francesca's a great character, too,  She reminds us that people like Saul don't just enable drug dealers and criminals, they can quietly ruin good people.  Con men always say that they couldn't succeed if their marks weren't greedy and that's true but it doesn't have to be  "make millions through chain letters," sort of greed it can just be someone like Francesca who wanted to be able to pay her bills.  

She was such a nice cheery person when we first met her, loved old people, worshiped Kim, worked hard at her job, but soon she was disgusted with Jimmy's dishonesty and only liked Kim.  When Saul wanted to hire her at his new office, and she knew Kim wouldn't be part of it, she said 'No," and out came the offer of big pay, probably three times what she could make anywhere else and the next time we see her she's making lying phone calls while saying she wont ever do it again, and we know she will.  By the Walter White days she hated herself, her life and Saul.

Now when she calls Gene, we know she's had the fear of prison hanging over her head because Saul used her name to hide money.  A life ruined.

After being reminded of that I was so delighted to see "Jeff's friend" with the dog walk away from it all.  I wanted to stand up and cheer for him.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, scenario said:

That's the thing I like about BCS. It's not a black and white world. Chuck didn't cause Jimmy to be a con man. That was all part of Jimmy's nature. But Chuck could have helped him by being a supportive brother. But how could you really blame Chuck? He had serious mental health issues and wasn't able to help himself, never mind helping his brother. 

Jimmy made terrible decisions. But every person in his life he wanted to lean on for support couldn't help him because they had too many issues of their own. 

None of this said that Jimmy was a good person. He was a person who could have gone either way and would have gone good if the people around him were capable of helping him. 

Jimmy is like that parable to me...the one that has a man falling in a hole and he pleads with God to save him. And all these people pass by him offering some sort of assistance but he rejects them all because he's waiting for God to save him.

So he finally dies or sees God (very loose interpretation here) and questions why God didn't save him.  And God's like "I sent you many people to help but you turned them all away. " 

Jimmy, to me, is the guy in the hole. Chuck wasn't around for his formative years.   He was much older.  And Davis and Main would have been HHM for Jimmy but since Jimmy was obsessed with wanting things a certain way, he sabotaged it.  Howard talked to Jimmy about the benefits of therapy and offered him a job, Jimmy walked away from both options.

He had paths but not the way he felt they should be.

[ShadowFacts]

1 hour ago, Chaos Theory said:

But that is the nature of a tragedy.  It is also ultimately why I like BCS more then BB.   BB was the story of a psychopath showing his true nature.  Yes it was an incredibly well told story but ultimately I think the idea that Jimmy is the guy who could have gone either way but kept chosing the bad way because the people who could have helped him on the right path couldn’t,  wouldn’t,  or just didn’t.     Tragedies have been around forever for a reason.  

I think he chose the bad way because he liked it, not much different from Walt. He had plenty of support from Kim when he was doing legitimate legal work. The trouble was she didn't strongly call him out on shady unethical things and ultimately joined in on same. But that is only unfortunate, it didn't determine his choices, he did that. He liked getting it over on people from the jump, and he could override that, did for years, but reverted back of his own free will. His formative experiences count, but as an adult he charts his own course.

[Penman61]

I know I've seen the name "Buddy" on the subtitles when [Jeff's friend] is on screen, but now I'm realizing that since [Jeff's friend] is nearly always onscreen with his suspensefully well-behaved dog, "Buddy" could also be the dog's name. #TellBuddysStory

[SoMuchTV]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Have we heard the name of Jeff's friend? I just read the interview with Tom Schnauz at The Hollywood Reporter, and there's this quote:

What caught my eye is that "Jeff's friend" is in brackets. That's done when a word or phrase has been replaced editorially. It made me wonder if Schnauz used the character's name by accident, that it will be revealed in a later ep. Sounds weird, so I'm probably wrong. Maybe it was just that he said "him" in the interview, and the editor replaced it with "Jeff's friend" to clarify who he was referring to.

1 hour ago, Cinnabon said:

I think I read somewhere that the friend’s name is Buddy. Don’t quote me on that.

I thought I remembered that he was referred to as Buddy in this episode.  Then I started wondering if maybe Buddy was the dog.  But IMDB (for what that's worth) has him listed as Buddy.  That does seem odd about the interview, though.

[scenario]

21 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Jimmy is like that parable to me...the one that has a man falling in a hole and he pleads with God to save him. And all these people pass by him offering some sort of assistance but he rejects them all because he's waiting for God to save him.

So he finally dies or sees God (very loose interpretation here) and questions why God didn't save him.  And God's like "I sent you many people to help but you turned them all away. " 

Jimmy, to me, is the guy in the hole. Chuck wasn't around for his formative years.   He was much older.  And Davis and Main would have been HHM for Jimmy but since Jimmy was obsessed with wanting things a certain way, he sabotaged it.  Howard talked to Jimmy about the benefits of therapy and offered him a job, Jimmy walked away from both options.

He had paths but not the way he felt they should be.

I agree up to a point. The difference that I make is that the two people he trusted and cared about in the whole world were encouraging and pushing him into staying in the hole. 

[peeayebee]

36 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

After being reminded of that I was so delighted to see "Jeff's friend" with the dog walk away from it all.  I wanted to stand up and cheer for him.

What a surprise when Jeff's friend turned out to have a conscience. We know he played a part in the mall scam and the identity theft scams, but once he sees someone's humanity -- that the man had cancer -- he has a change of heart. Such a contrast with Gene's stone of a heart.

29 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I thought I remembered that he was referred to as Buddy in this episode.  Then I started wondering if maybe Buddy was the dog.  But IMDB (for what that's worth) has him listed as Buddy.  That does seem odd about the interview, though.

I obviously don't remember anyone calling him Buddy, but CC and IMDB could be using it as another word for 'friend,' i.e., Jeff's buddy.

[Cinnabon]

1 hour ago, gallimaufry said:

think we definitely can agree that Nacho had redeemed himself.  He protected the innocent as far as he could and sacrificed himself for his father.

I don’t think Nacho redeemed himself. If he hadn’t been worried about his dad, would he have run or turned himself in to the authorities to face the consequences of his actions? There is no redemption for those who run from their crimes.

[Starchild]

<arnold>Ooh ooh ooh</arnold>

So, Marion has this laptop she never uses hanging around, and Gene decides that, for kicks, he'll show her how to use it. It works just as well for news stories as it does for cat videos.

While digging around at the site of Gus' destroyed superlab, Howard's body is unearthed. It becomes a big story in Albuquerque because, as it turns out, he didn't commit suicide after all. Instead, he was shot in the head and buried under a business associated with cartel guy Gus and meth guy Heisenberg. And who else is associated with all of them? Saul Goodman.

For kicks, Marion decides to type "Albuquerque" in the search to see what comes up. And she sees a story with a picture of Saul Goodman, who disappeared after all that nasty business that killed so many people.

I just think it would be cool for Howard to bring Gene down, even indirectly.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Starchild
Forgot my main point

[ItsHelloPattiagain]

6 hours ago, scenario said:

Maybe she’s lived in Florida for a while and that’s where he sent his divorce papers? I’m assuming they’re now divorced but who knows?

Florida has the Sunshine Law which means there are open records (for many things, not all). Maybe she moved to Florida and sent him divorce papers from there. 

I was disturbed more by Jesse's voice than his looks.  He of course looked older, but his voice sounded like a formal "man" rather than a punk.  The edginess was gone.  

I quite enjoyed the phone call with Francesca.  I loved listening to the gossip of the fallout after Saul left. 

[SimplexFish]

47 minutes ago, Starchild said:

So, Marion has this laptop she never uses hanging around, and Gene decides that, for kicks, he'll show her how to use it. It works just as well for news stories as it does for cat videos.

Jeff just bought her the laptop as a gift with some of his ill gotten money from the mall theft.  

Edited August 2, 2022 by SimplexFish

[Conan Troutman]

18 hours ago, chick binewski said:

I think the implication that Walt turned Saul's life sour bugged me. Chuck, Howard, the demise of HHM and his marriage all happened well before Walt. Idk, maybe Saul is resentful that Walt caused his anonymity.

I think Gene is just mad that Walt blew everything up with his recklessness and megalomania. Saul had a good thing going, playing by his own rules,  having the time of his life and apparently immune to legal consequences. Or at least that's the way Gene sees it.

17 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Still not sure of this potential spin-off though.  They really think the creepy dentist from Seinfeld can headline a gritty crime drama?!

Even if he can, I couldn't care less about that character. If it's good, I might still check it out, but because of the talent involved, not the BB/BCS connections.

17 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

I'm still disappointed that Mike's storyline, that Jonathan Banks has so profoundly, empathically captured these past few seasons, seems to be just getting shuffled to the sidelines for the finale (I suppose the writers felt that his coda was adequately captured in Breaking Bad's final seasons? I disagree, and I still think JB should have gotten an Emmy for his S2 performance).

Agree about the Emmy part, but as much as I love watching Mike being Mike, his story has been told.  There just aren't any unanswered questions left,  at least for me.

Overall, I quite liked the last pair of episodes. But the show has imo peaked in the last season with Chuck. After that, it's been mostly moving the pieces along to where they need to be. Sometimes in absolutely brilliant fashion and always way better than most of TV, but the big climax of the story of Jimmy McGill was two seasons ago and while there was (and still is) plenty left to tell, it's pretty much all epilog.

It's unfair to compare this episode to BBs third to last episode, because that was the climax of Walt's story, but, like Gene, we just can't help ourselves.

Anyway, looking forward to the last pair. Especially because we're now finally post BB, so we don't know jack. All we know it's not going to be a happy ending, the last minutes of this episode have made this abundantly clear.

[Simon Boccanegra]

6 hours ago, Penman61 said:

What's the timespan between Kim & Jimmy breaking up and this ep's phone call?We know we're in November 2010 when this call happens. Did we establish that the break-up was in 2005 or...?

Still 2004. Flashbacks and flash-forwards to the side, everything we saw in the main part of Better Call Saul was between May 2002 and June 2004.

The Sandpiper mediation, at which Howard erupted because he thought he had seen the judge with Jimmy in the photographs, was scheduled for June 24, 2004, a Thursday. A great deal happened that night into the next morning: Howard's visit to Jimmy and Kim's, his murder by Lalo, Kim's journey to Gus's house, the Gus/Lalo showdown at the lab, etc.

Everything prior to the jump to 2007 was within the next several days, but still in June 2004.

[Penman61]

25 minutes ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

Still 2004. Flashbacks and flash-forwards to the side, everything we saw in the main part of Better Call Saul was between May 2002 and June 2004.

The Sandpiper mediation, at which Howard erupted because he thought he had seen the judge with Jimmy in the photographs, was scheduled for June 24, 2004, a Thursday. A great deal happened that night into the next morning: Howard's visit to Jimmy and Kim's, his murder by Lalo, Kim's journey to Gus's house, the Gus/Lalo showdown at the lab, etc.

Everything prior to the jump to 2007 was within the next several days, but still in June 2004.

Thanks so much for this. So 6 years have passed between Kim breaking up with/leaving Jimmy and Gene's phone call to Kim in this episode. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Penman61

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, SimplexFish said:

Jeff just bought her the laptop as a gift with some of his ill gotten money from the mall theft.  

It was on sale!

I was watching some of BB "Better Call Saul" and had forgotten how funny it was. 

I was wondering: At what point in BB timeline does Mike come to Saul's office with info about Walt?

[PeterPirate]

Frankly, I don't consider Tom Schnauz to be an authority on the canonical details that are not specifically included in the show.  

In fact, I am going to take the part about Schnauz cheese to be a subtle dig at him.  "You think your product is all that sharp?  Think again, pal."

[Constantinople]

11 minutes ago, PeterPirate said:

Frankly, I don't consider Tom Schnauz to be an authority on the canonical details that are not specifically included in the show.  

In fact, I am going to take the part about Schnauz cheese to be a subtle dig at him.  "You think your product is all that sharp?  Think again, pal."

More Catholic than the pope huh?

[Cinnabon]

10 minutes ago, PeterPirate said:

Frankly, I don't consider Tom Schnauz to be an authority on the canonical details that are not specifically included in the show.  

In fact, I am going to take the part about Schnauz cheese to be a subtle dig at him.  "You think your product is all that sharp?  Think again, pal."

He started as a writer during season 2 or 3 of BB, so he should be quite familiar with the universe.

[PeterPirate]

10 minutes ago, Constantinople said:

More Catholic than the pope huh?

In this metaphor, who is the Pope?

[Joimiaroxeu]

Arriving late to the party...

I should think there'd be relatively few humans who would know what a skunk's butthole smells like. Cute turn of phrase though.

When were phone booths ever made of glass? That seemed unnecessarily unsafe.

People don't know not to drink from water bottles which have already been opened? Ew. (Or did I miss how Gene and his crew were able to reseal them after the knockout drug was put into them?)

Mike seriously underestimated Heisenberg, lol. Betamax may have been a misstep for Sony but they soon ruled the consumer electronics world. It was a relatively minor hiccup.

[SoMuchTV]

8 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I should think there'd be relatively few humans who would know what a skunk's butthole smells like. Cute turn of phrase though.

When were phone booths ever made of glass? That seemed unnecessarily unsafe.

People don't know not to drink from water bottles which have already been opened? Ew. (Or did I miss how Gene and his crew were able to reseal them after the knockout drug was put into them?)

I don’t think I’d have to have smelled an actual skunk’s butthole to grasp what she was going for there. 

Regarding phone booths, I know they at least looked like glass, but I’m surprised there were still so many around in, what was it? Early 2010’s?

And I’m thinking the guys drinking the water weren’t in any state to realize the caps weren’t sealed. 

[Ed-]

FWIW, to me, the bottle cap sounded like it had been resealed.

[Simon Boccanegra]

43 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

People don't know not to drink from water bottles which have already been opened? Ew. (Or did I miss how Gene and his crew were able to reseal them after the knockout drug was put into them?)

I thought about that. Anyone who opens water bottles regularly knows the difference in feel between one that's been opened already and one that has an intact plastic seal ring. I fanwanked it that these cab passengers were all pretty drunk, but still. 

Water bottles are to Better Call Saul as Stevia packets were to Breaking Bad. Heh. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Simon Boccanegra

[scenario]

31 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I don’t think I’d have to have smelled an actual skunk’s butthole to grasp what she was going for there. 

Regarding phone booths, I know they at least looked like glass, but I’m surprised there were still so many around in, what was it? Early 2010’s?

And I’m thinking the guys drinking the water weren’t in any state to realize the caps weren’t sealed. 

They were out in the middle of nowhere in an area with bad cell phone reception. They were probably put in 20 or 30 years ago and had enough use to keep them going. The owner of the gas station probably had the key to empty the change. 

Pay phones still exist here and there. Last time I checked there were a few in the college I used to go to for kids whose cell phone battery had died and needed to make a call. 

11 minutes ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

I thought about that. Anyone who opens water bottles regularly knows the difference in feel between one that's been opened already and one that has an intact plastic seal ring. I fanwanked it that these cab passenger were all pretty drunk, but still. 

Water bottles are to Better Call Saul as Stevia packets were to Breaking Bad. Heh. 

There's probably a way to reseal them and if there is Saul would know it. Maybe cut the bottom enough to be able to slide it off and then glue it back together.

I just googled it. Heat the cap in very hot water and you can take them off seal and all. Then these caps can be screwed onto your new bottle. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by scenario
new info

[sistermagpie]

13 minutes ago, Ed- said:

FWIW, to me, the bottle cap sounded like it had been resealed.

8 minutes ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

I thought about that. Anyone who opens water bottles regularly knows the difference in feel between one that's been opened already and one that has an intact plastic seal ring. I fanwanked it that these cab passenger were all pretty drunk, but still. 

I thought the scene that showed Saul making up those bottles showed him doing something to make it seem like they'd been resealed

[Ellaria]

17 hours ago, OutOfTheQuestion said:

I doubt that the first (?) contact between Jimmy and Kim in years would be reduced to an unheard conversation.  It seems more likely that Jimmy was yelling at...

* an employee at the sprinkler company who told him Kim doesn't work there, and her new contact information isn't known
* an employee at the sprinkler company who told him Kim NEVER worked there, so whatever she might've told him about her whereabouts was a lie
* maybe speaking to a new husband or boyfriend of Kim, who is telling Jimmy to never get in contact again, and Jimmy then loses it.

Given the unpredictability of these last two episodes, I half-expect the next one to be entirely about Kim, catching up on her life since she broke it off with Jimmy.

Agree. My first question is - and apologies if I missed this point - how did Gene acquire the information that Kim worked at the sprinkler company?

Perhaps that’s why we didn’t hear the conversation…it’s a conversation that amounted to nothing. The likely take-away is that Gene never made contact with her. The result is anger and frustration.

It would be interesting to know if this was his first attempt to contact her.

I don’t know if there will an entire episode devoted to Kim. I wouldn’t object but the focus seems to be on Gene and his eventual downfall.

[sistermagpie]

5 minutes ago, Ellaria Sand said:

Agree. My first question is - and apologies if I missed this point - how did Gene acquire the information that Kim worked at the sprinkler company?

Perhaps that’s why we didn’t hear the conversation…it’s a conversation that amounted to nothing. The likely take-away is that Gene never made contact with her. The result is anger and frustration.

It would be interesting to know if this was his first attempt to contact her.

I don’t know if there will an entire episode devoted to Kim. I wouldn’t object but the focus seems to be on Gene and his eventual downfall.

Saul could have known where Kim was working for years before he became Gene.

[millennium]

11 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

To whoever said this is a bit of a coda like El Camino. I agree.  Except it's a deliberate miniseries.

For me, what these episodes share in common with El Camino is that you're hoping for  exciting plot developments or more details about what happened in BB-world after Walt's demise, but instead the show squanders a luxurious amount of time on Jesse rummaging through Tod's apartment.

[MrWhyt]

25 minutes ago, Ellaria Sand said:

Agree. My first question is - and apologies if I missed this point - how did Gene acquire the information that Kim worked at the sprinkler company?

I suspect he got the info from Mike. I have little doubt that Mike has been keeping tabs on her just in case she decides to flip.

[SunnyBeBe]

23 hours ago, CynicalGirl said:

Tapioca Tundra!

I knew the words and it took a few minutes to realize who recorded that….The Monkees!  Love those guys.  
 

Jesse’s voice was so low in this episode that it was jarring!  Omg……something should hate been done about that.  When was it filmed?  Never mind.  I guess that’s for spoilers thread.  

Edited August 3, 2022 by SunnyBeBe

[ahmerali]

5 hours ago, Starchild said:

<arnold>Ooh ooh ooh</arnold>

So, Marion has this laptop she never uses hanging around, and Gene decides that, for kicks, he'll show her how to use it. It works just as well for news stories as it does for cat videos.

While digging around at the site of Gus' destroyed superlab, Howard's body is unearthed. It becomes a big story in Albuquerque because, as it turns out, he didn't commit suicide after all. Instead, he was shot in the head and buried under a business associated with cartel guy Gus and meth guy Heisenberg. And who else is associated with all of them? Saul Goodman.

For kicks, Marion decides to type "Albuquerque" in the search to see what comes up. And she sees a story with a picture of Saul Goodman, who disappeared after all that nasty business that killed so many people.

I just think it would be cool for Howard to bring Gene down, even indirectly.

Something like this might make the whole thing worthwhile.
 

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, sistermagpie said:

I thought the scene that showed Saul making up those bottles showed him doing something to make it seem like they'd been resealed

I know when he replaced the cap, it made a click sound. I have no idea if that meant he was doing anything special.

I just rewatched the ep...

When Jeff is talking to Gene about the computer, he says, "Nobody said nothing to nobody. Not me, not Buddy." So there's my answer. His friend is indeed named Buddy.

I noticed that the piece of concrete Francesca had to move to get to the line really did look like NJ.

The money that she got from Saul was all $100's.

I didn't realize the first time, but there was a point to Gene asking the bartender for more nuts. He wanted his marks to be thirsty enuf so they'd want the water Jeff offers them.

Buddy's dog is so cute!!! I love those big ears.

From Bill Oakley's bus bench: https://www.oakley4defenselaw.com

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, millennium said:

For me, what these episodes share in common with El Camino is that you're hoping for  exciting plot developments or more details about what happened in BB-world after Walt's demise, but instead the show squanders a luxurious amount of time on Jesse rummaging through Tod's apartment.

Yes, that's one of the signature things about BB and BCS in general. These shows love process. It didn't start with El Camino.

[scenario]

15 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I know when he replaced the cap, it made a click sound. I have no idea if that meant he was doing anything special.

I just rewatched the ep...

When Jeff is talking to Gene about the computer, he says, "Nobody said nothing to nobody. Not me, not Buddy." So there's my answer. His friend is indeed named Buddy.

I noticed that the piece of concrete Francesca had to move to get to the line really did look like NJ.

The money that she got from Saul was all $100's.

I didn't realize the first time, but there was a point to Gene asking the bartender for more nuts. He wanted his marks to be thirsty enuf so they'd want the water Jeff offers them.

Buddy's dog is so cute!!! I love those big ears.

From Bill Oakley's bus bench: https://www.oakley4defenselaw.com

I love that the number on the site really works. I think that more shows should do stuff like this. Maybe have a testimonial from a list of clients on the site and include some minor BCS and BB client with information on what happened to them after the show ended. 

You can't answer every question people have about the show but you can do things like this and maybe even some short 5 or 10 minute episodes. A domestic scene 5 years later with a minor character and their new spouse enjoying life and shooting the breeze talking about the old days with another minor character. 

BCS has done a few of these but I think there should be more and they should be official canon. 

[Dev F]

1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I knew the words and it took a few minutes to realize who recorded that….The Monkees!  Love those guys.

I thought it was a really interesting song choice: "It cannot be a part of me, for now it's part of you."

Aside from the smartass irony of putting those lyrics over a montage about identity theft, I think it resonates with the themes I was talking about earlier, how I sort of saw the episode as being about Gene coldly throwing other people into the abyss to avoid being swallowed by it himself. If his marks and partners are just as lost and pathetic and corrupt as he is, if they all want to break bad and deserve to be punished for it, there's nothing especially awful about being Gene Takovic. It cannot be a part of him, because it's part of everyone.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Dev F

[Simon Boccanegra]

49 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

Yes, that's one of the signature things about BB and BCS in general. These shows love process. It didn't start with El Camino.

I remember a lot of complaints about the season 3 BCS premiere, when so much time was spent on Mike searching for a tracking device (that long, French Connection-like scene with him taking the car apart in the junkyard), finally locating it in the gas cap, getting one like it, testing it out at the kitchen table.

I don't genuflect at every decision Gould and Gilligan make (nor did I with David Simon, Matthew Weiner, David Chase, Aaron Sorkin, et cetera), but I often like those scenes of detail work.

[SunnyBeBe]

24 minutes ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

I remember a lot of complaints about the season 3 BCS premiere, when so much time was spent on Mike searching for a tracking device (that long, French Connection-like scene with him taking the car apart in the junkyard), finally locating it in the gas cap, getting one like it, testing it out at the kitchen table.

I don't genuflect at every decision Gould and Gilligan make (nor did I with David Simon, Matthew Weiner, David Chase, Aaron Sorkin, et cetera), but I often like those scenes of detail work.

I just watched the episode of Mike taking the car apart today.  

[Tuggy]

Disclaimer: I did not read all the comments above, sorry... Also, when did this forum became a place to live-tweet about the episode?

The shot that stayed with me was Gene at a literal crossroad after his call with Francesca. He was ready to go back to his Cinnabon life, I think, but could not resist trying to connect back to his Albuquerque one. Also, that was the shot that appeared in the "re-recording" of the opening title.

And I join the commenters who do not think he got to speak with Kim in that phone booth, as his attitude did not match at all what I would expect from him speaking with her and matched perfectly him getting annoyed at someone for not putting him through.

On the other hand, I might be in the minority but I did not care at all for the Jesse and Walt cameo. In addition to Aaron Paul not looking and sounding like Jesse in Breaking Bad, which was distracting, this scene did not bring much to the story.

On the other other hand, the montage between Saul going to Walt's school and Gene breaking into the marks's house felt way more momentous, even if maybe a bit too on the nose. In both cases, he could have backed up, as someone was urging him too, but he chose to pursue it no matter what. I think the take-away message is that in both cases, this will ultimately mean his downfall.

[Tuggy]

Also, how great was it to have the Jackie Chan Adventures playing on the TV where Francesca was plunging the sink?! It brought back so many memories from my childhood 😅

[qtpye]

14 hours ago, scenario said:

He just found out that the money he had been pinning all his hopes on was gone. His call to Kim was out of desperation. His dreams of getting out of his dreary life were shattered. It wouldn't have taken much to drive him into a rage. 

11 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

When Jimmy called Francesca he found out from her nothing was left of “Saul Goodman - Criminal Lawyer”.  Everyone who wasn’t already dead had made their deals with the law and gone  off to the four corners of the earth.    All his businesses which he was proud of were gone.   All his money was gone.   Even Francesca would only help him if he told her where one of his last stashes was.    There was nothing left of Saul Goodman. So he went looking for Kim and (there is likely a reason we will find out later) but he also likely found out there is nothing left of Jimmy McGill either.   he was grasping at straws when he called looking for Kim and she likely didn’t give him what he needed.     All that is left is Gene. 

What about the diamonds?

[PeterPirate]

6 hours ago, peeayebee said:

From Bill Oakley's bus bench: https://www.oakley4defenselaw.com

That is awesome.  In the fake American Greed story his attitude was somewhat unprofessional for a district attorney.  

[Lalo Lives]

4 hours ago, qtpye said:

What about the diamonds?

I am guessing those are his last ditch money supply. Small, portable, etc. just a guess on my part.

[Lalo Lives]

4 hours ago, qtpye said:

What about the diamonds?

Also, wasn’t Francesca supposed to meet with a specific attorney when the SHTF. Saul told her about it when he talked about the Nov 12 call at 3:00. He gave her a card or something. 
This was all in the flashback about the day of wall cutting, spoliation, panic, shoeboxes full of cash, Saul’s nose all bandaged up.

[Conan Troutman]

17 hours ago, LiterateDog said:

And we'd not have a marvelous show to watch, but that's neither here nor there. Because nobody's watching "Breaking Good" or "Better Call Jimmy". ;)

If "Breaking Good" is about Badger and Skinny Pete doing their Star Trek stand up, I'd 100 percent watch the hell out of that.

[Lalo Lives]

I may be late to the party or dead wrong, but is Gene’s seeming willingness to do something rash and stupid a scheme of a different color?

Is he martyring himself in the hope that this is the only way he can think of to get Kim to acknowledge him, to notice him, to speak with him?

Will she reinstate herself as an attorney?

Will she take that oath (a la the bloody candle teaser) to come defend Jimmy?

[peeayebee]

7 hours ago, Tuggy said:

Disclaimer: I did not read all the comments above, sorry... Also, when did this forum became a place to live-tweet about the episode?

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that. I don't know if this site has any rule against it.

Quote

On the other hand, I might be in the minority but I did not care at all for the Jesse and Walt cameo. In addition to Aaron Paul not looking and sounding like Jesse in Breaking Bad, which was distracting, this scene did not bring much to the story.

It was hard to ignore Jesse's aging, but I think I was able to put it aside because what can you do? I mean, there's the digital manipulation option, but I really didn't think it was a big deal.

As far as Walt & Jesse's reappearances, at first I thought it was just fan-service, but then I came to appreciate seeing Saul's POV of the same events. He sees their cooking setup, figures out who they are and that they're the creators of the blue stuff, sees the dollar signs, then has Mike find out about this Heisenberg guy, then he ignores Mike's advice to leave it alone. It's just kinda cool seeing it all dovetail. And of course we get the parallels with Walt's cancer and the other guy's cancer. I'm not sure how he felt about Walt's cancer. In the RV he looked concerned as Walt was coughing, but he also looked concerned with the other guy, and we know how that turned out. 

[anoninrva]

12 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

When were phone booths ever made of glass? That seemed unnecessarily unsafe.

In the 80s?  I haven't seen a phone booth in decades.  Maybe NM is different, but I doubt it.