a couple of the scenes seemed to drag in that finale. The bingo scene specifically. Also, I don't need the half dollar scam scene to take up 15 minutes of a 45 minute show. We know where its going the moment we see the guy in the suit. the writers/directors should find a clever way to move that scene along faster.
Agreed. I think they'll take a look at that, realize that, although the pacing was slow this season for a reason, they probably have to step it up a bit. And now that Saul's going into the criminal world, I imagine we'll see more of that. No more elder law for him. And there's no reason not to speed it up- if he's going to be a "criminal" lawyer, there are plenty of opportunities for him to be involved in committing crimes- including ones that go horribly wrong. I think that the tone of Season 2 is going to reflect most closely that of the first 2 episodes of S1.
The Kettleman's stolen money. The highlight of the season was Mike's backstory. Like I mentioned last week, and goes along with tallanvor's sentiments, so much time is wasted on unnecessary scenes. In Breaking Bad, every scene mattered. Mike's deal last week spent too much time just to get the point that Mike is a badass that does his research and philosophize about morality vs. criminality. This week, Saul and Marco's antics spent too much time wasted for things we could see. We all know Saul is a gamer and conman, who ends up slippin' again as Chuck foreshadowed and blurs the line between legal and illegal. We didn't need a whole episode force it down our throats that he was Slippin' Jimmy and will end up Slippin' Jimmy, JD. Just a very underwhelming finale when it's been such a great buildup. Was hoping for more fallout from last episode, but all we got was 5 minutes of Jimmy apologizing to Hamlin, realizing they've been buds, and Jimmy getting the deal as proposed. Instead, Jimmy rides off into the sunset leaving the straight and narrow behind him. They could have left it with some suspense and excitement by showing Jimmy's transition to Saul or seeing his first client, preferably calling back Michael Mando again.
The $1.6 million that Mike stole from the Kettlemans. Remember what Nacho said about his reason for wanting to rob criminals? "They have no recourse." Jimmy and Mike could have split that money, and there's nothing the Kettlemans could have done about it. $800,000. Could have solved a lot of his problems. He was still trying to do the right thing at that point. Jimmy is just like Walt. It's uncanny the parallel. They both chose to be criminals. Walt could have joined Grey Matter and made a LOT of money, as well as getting outstanding health insurance. Jimmy could have joined the Santa Fe firm, gotten, what, at least a 6-figure salary as a partner, and also proved his brother wrong. These are people that like the thrill of the criminal life, even though they'll cry about it at times considerably (cue Walt to Jesse: "Our paths will never cross..." to "Wanna cook?"). And this is a credit to these writers- we really shouldn't like Walter White and Jimmy McGill/Saul. In real life, we'd avoid them like the plague. Yet, the writers add just enough to make us connect with them. I say, in S2, let the fun begin.
You are right about much of this, except for BB. Every scene certainly did not matter or was compelling. There were many, many very average scenes- need I bring up half a dozen breakfast scenes? What about Walt in the classroom? Or Jesse returning home? Or Jesse going on all those long trips with Mike? Or Walt's hospital scenes? Or Walt's intervention scene- very drawn out, actually, if you remember? Or chasing a fly for an entire episode? Or Hank and his minerals? Or the Grey Matter episode? Or the scenes with Skyler and Ted? I think you're letting your selective memory fool you here. Mike's deal was the last one I would choose as inessential- not only did most of us LOL at the beginning part, but it really didn't stretch out that long at all. Compared to some of the Chuck & Jimmy scenes, which were unnecessary.
Grey Matter was the product of Walt, his ex GF and her husband. I think there more personal feelings involved. Walt got really into the meth business after he was diagnosed with cancer TBH. The difference: At the end of this season's finale it just clicked in Jim all of a sudden and he made his U-turn. That is when he decided to go 'rogue'. Walt just handed in the towel and wanted more money for family. I think Walt had good intentions at the beginning. It just went south. And as a criminal lawyer Saul is still a very 'small fish' in comparison to what Heisenberg had become. I doubt he had even killed one single guy himself. (Probably up to debate in the future)
As Mike said... there are good cops and diabolic cops And Goodman was kind of a 'sympathetic', fun criminal lawyer who is going to take legal and illegal money
I did stretch it a bit, especially with the earlier seasons. But season five was exemplary for how focused it was on the endgame now that the writers knew they were finalizing the plot. Looking back through all of BB, yeah there were a lot of pointless things. The biggest being Marie's kleptomania - seriously, what was the point and why was she so focused on purple? Slow parts do allow us to build up and appreciate the plot, but not for a finale. My impatience on seeing these drawn out scenes is probably because I know that Jimmy becomes Saul and I'm waiting for it to happen. I think a lot of the drawn out scenes were just too drawn out. The bingo gave us insight on Jimmy's personal life and more serious personal history, but they didn't need to call out 5 'B's for it. They didn't need to show the coin con, montage, Kevin Costner bit, and watch scam in their entireties. Keep the substance, trim down the fat. Shorten the con and montage, nix the hoes, watch scam with funeral were fine. I think the writers easily could've given us five more minutes of real plot while cutting five minutes of junk out. That's a +10 minute swing and would have made a much better season finale.
Personally? I think Walt would have gotten involved in the meth business even without the cancer. It would have been something else- the bills are stacking up, the side jobs are frustrating him, and then he says, "well, maybe I'll just do one batch- just one." It just wouldn't have been as dramatic. The reason I say this is because I used to be a teacher. And I got paid poorly. In the summer, I actually worked in the mailroom at an accounting firm to earn extra money- so, a combo of WW and Jimmy, in a way- this was the summer in the 1990s (worked for several schools in the 90s, so confidentiality protected). Did I ever think of selling meth? No, but I'll admit what I did do one time - we had some extra copies of these novels in one of the schools I taught at- you know, the ones they assign, like Great Expectations, Of Mice and Men, etc. One time, when I was desperate for money, I filled up a box of them and sold them at one of those used book places. I honestly did buy the books back and replaced every one of them- 2 years later. But the fact is I stole them from the school out of desperation. I was a criminal, and being a teacher didn't excuse that one bit. Now, the school never missed the books, and I replaced them without them even knowing. But I stole, period. And I never told anyone at the school, and the school never knew. And it wasn't that many- maybe 20. But theft is theft. But, you see, I used the excuse of "well, I don't get paid what I deserve." And my response to myself later was, "well, no one forced you to be a teacher!" But you see how a couple like the Kettlemans, or an individual like WW, can justify crime. That's where I disagree with Mike- there are no good criminals.
Finale was ok, I suppose after a string of really strong episodes it was going to be hard to cap the season off with a big bang, even though I kept expecting Gus to pop up in a some form. They did set up quite a few things for next season plus the showrunner's have mentioned that they could time jump to Omaha next season in addition to the prequel stuff we've seen in season 1. All in all a very solid start to the series, much better than expected.
I was a bit underwhelmed with the finale. I think there were 2 ways it could have gone. Either Chuck's betrayal was so devastating that James/Saul almost has no choice but to become Slipping Jimmy again or he was always Slipping Jimmy and was always going to be Slipping Jimmy. It seemed like it was a mixture of both. What Chuck did sends him to Chicago, but even when he didn't have the prospect of a partner track at a huge law firm, he was still going back to practicing elder law. Plus, I can't think of a bigger FU to Chuck than to get a job at a larger firm where he would make a lot of money on top of the at least $400K coming his way from the lawsuit. I guess what was missing is a similar scene for him like with Marco where he seems like an addict about pulling the watch scam again "It's not about the money...I need THIS."
I think Jimmy's perception was that if he took the job at the larger firm, he was still trying to prove to his brother he'd changed. Instead he just decided he was done with all that and was going to do law his way with lots of grey and not care about what Chuck thinks of him.
i was fine with the season finale. perfectly sets up his turn into saul goodman next season. i thought they put together his past, present and future very well into this episode. And the reference he made about never being able to goto a certain place for vacation. Lol soon enough Jimmy!
Mediocre finale, sure, but that doesn't really matter does it? This show isn't about that. At least not yet.
During Jimmy's bingo rant did he mention that the guy with the BMW slept with his ex-wife? Meaning Jimmy was married at some point?
Yep... guarantee this opens a possibility of having flashback scenes of "Married" Jimmy... maybe before he became Slippin Jimmy.
