Man, it is painful to watch Jimmy make bad decisions on emotion that will ruin him. But it is sooo necessary to make it excruciating, so we can fully appreciate why Jimmy breaks bad with Mike....he has no other resource, and learns he must stop with acting on emotions....like how Mike doesn't. The slow burn of Jimmy breaking bad (and becoming more careful and smart about it) is what Breaking Bad was all about in transforming Walter White into Heisenberg. Sure BB has a lot more story arcs and action in between, but the transformation was slow like Jimmy's. It had to be to make it believable and to fully appreciate it.
As said before I am not sure Jimmy is breaking bad really. He was always Slipping Jimmy, he just does things for Kim. For a time he did things the lawful way but is now going back to how things were. He will do things more freely now that nobody is holding him back. I do not think Saul was ever close to the level of Walter White. Or Jesse Pinkman who was just an accomplice. That is why the show is simply interesting but will likely never reach Walter White's transformation. That was the peak. Nearly impossible to top. Oscar Robertson and Westbrook triple double like.
Yes, but Heisenberg wasn't even fully broken bad until (can I say) the last season. He was still fading in and out of Walter White wanting to ultimately do good for loonng time.
What I will say is pure speculation and no spoiler needed. I am guessing something will happen to Kim or she leaves for good. And Saul can do whatever he likes and go screw y'all. At the end of the day he was just making buck. And going flashy while doing so. He aint killing guys. He will leave that to other guys. In BB you can see in his expressions that whenever he heard of a killing he was visibly uncomfortable with it. Jim never had a family, he had an on and off relationship with Kim but I do not think it is either relevant enough or a stable factor, the good that you mentioned to hold onto in the long run. And I cannot wait another day until they make Chuck a guest role instead of a recurring role.
If we compared every movie to The Godfather or Shawshank Redemption or Caddyshack and say that they are boring b/c they don't reach those movies' peaks, I think it's a bit unfair. Better Call Saul is a richly detailed, beautifully filmed and extremely well-acted television show. It reminds me of the movie Taxi Driver. If you recall that movie, there's really not that much action in it. But man, it is a terrific character study and one of the best-looking films ever made. Or The Conversation with Gene Hackman. It's not meant to be a murder-of-the-week show as Breaking Bad could sometimes be. That show had all the attributes I mentioned above, plus it had a very fast-paced plot. Walter White was a character who was good and descended into bad. Saul Goodman, in BCS, is a character who tries to be good but can't escape his true character. Breaking Bad was the perfect title for that show. Maybe they should have called this one Faking Good.
Saul has always been slipping Jimmy. I think his brother really did save his ass that one time and Jimmy has been trying to change but as he said before he is a square peg trying to fit in or on the good side of the law. after this episode I am sure everything will change but I agree with you he really seemed to enjoy going out on the stake out with Mike and even cleared out his entire morning for it. he is bored with what he does, he wants to be a Wolf not a sheep
In a nutshell, I agree wholeheartedly. Meanwhile I think I do not want to paint this into black and white again. Every human character has a "decent, law abiding" side and a deeper "darker side". I do not think Walter had explored his darker side before BB. Saul Goodman or Slipping Jimmy had lived through it during childhood or teenage years. I mean his early days as an imposter/con artist. Mike is just an animal of his evironment, he does it to numb the pain in his life and he is too old to change. BTW an interesting tidbit one friend came up with: Spoiler We all hope that Jonathan Banks can outlive the BB franchise. He did BB when he was 60 something and now he is 70 and doing BCS....a toast to that!
He probably sensed that Jimmy McGill was trying to find out information by being in the restaurant. And he probably noticed Mike's car parked down the street. So, he knew that the person he was having followed was now following him. And Gus likes to "hide in plain sight" as opposed to being found out.
I would give BCS about 2 more seasons. Very heartless comment to follow, but if something were to happen to Mr. Banks, writers can write around that. Or maybe they just end it as is. They used to say that they tried to end each season of Breaking Bad as if it might be the last one. Certainly, Seasons 2 and 4 fell into that category. If BCS ends on this season, that's fine. It's better that they created this show than not having created it at all. I've watched each season a few times, and it gets better after each viewing, like classic movies such as The French Connection and The Shining (the Shining was panned by a LOT of critics at the time it came out; and the first time I saw The French Connection, I thought the long sequences of Popeye Doyle tailing Frog One were kinda boring. I was 16 at the time).
any chance that gus wanted mike to find him after he found out he was the one who ripped off the cartel? I think he first noticed Jimmy was staring at the guy with the green bag. I mean Jimmy could not have made it more obvious. mike uses his eyes while saul was using his body/head. he is new to this. And Gus is very skiddish like a deer, so as he made his rounds through the restaurant he picked up on Saul staring at him so he didn't take the bag bc he was being followed. Then he watched Jimmy leave and he noticed Mike's car.
BCS reminds me of a movie like The Deer Hunter. On the surface, the entire first hour is just a wedding and a hunting trip. If you just want to fast forward so you can go right to the russian roulette scene, you totally miss the deeper meaning of everything that happens in that first hour. Because none if it is random. Even spilling wine on the wedding dress is hugely symbolic.
what an episode. Jimmie screwed up. Chuck is an ass. I'm thinking the show is about to get real good.
Yeah that really started moving things......It was such a well done but painful scene to watch.....Looking forward to the next episode to see what happens with Mike and Jimmy, seems like the game is afoot.....
Jimmy was driving away from his meet in Mike's car within viewing distance. That was to show us Gus knew he was being watched, hence why he "told" Mike as much at the end. I'm convinced in the restaurant scene Gus was looking at security cameras and saw a man change tables to sit closer to his bag man. Then there was some signal to the bag man as Gus swept past him, so bag man is supposed to leave in the event of the call-off signal. Then obviously Gus watches where Jimmy goes and Mike isn't hidden enough. Easy to piece together that Jimmy was lookout for someone else. I think Mike would have figured out Jimmy was made had Jimmy told him he moved to a closer table. I also think Gus and Mike are developing a respect for each other in their mutual ability to be pros , perfect match for Director of Security and Boss man
if Chuck weren't Jimmy's brother, his actions would seem reasonable Jimmy destroyed his professional reputation
we all know saul is gomna win. i think part of the reason howard wants to stop all of this is because he knows in a court room jimmy is more liked than his brother. its obvious whats next. jimmy is going to kick chucks ass in court, prove he is crazy, and have him committed. he will just say he said all of that because he went crazy. he even has a doctor who has been figting him every step of the way to have chuck committed and she will say all the right things to win over a jury. chuck deserves it. all because of a client his girl deserves.
Certainly better than episode 1. Still don't really care much for the Jimmy/Chuck/Kim storyline. I think the difference is that those were movies, so even though they were "slower" by default they moved a plot along at the appropriate speed given time constraints. This is a multi-episode, multi-season show. Definitely richly detailed, beautifully filmed, well-acted. Just needs a bit more pace. To compare it to the NBA, you need to match your personnel with your system. Harden/Rockets do that. Russell/Thunder do not. BCS is more Russell/Thunder than Harden/Rockets. Or maybe the better comparison is Curry+Co/GSW. BCS is more Russell/Thunder whereas BB was the Curry+/GSW
Chuck overplayed his hand with Jimmy, and now he's going to get ****ed. No doubt he gets committed once he pursues this in court, and Jimmy walks away unscathed. We're also seeing Gus's respect for Mike grow. It will be interesting to see how that relationship develops, and if there's any violence that takes place between them first. And, we're obviously not done with Nacho and Salamanca yet either, as we still don't know how Salamanca ends up paralyzed (or do we, and I just forgot??).
