Better Call Saul

[Drenk]

It's been a great season so far. Unlike season 3, I like all storylines. I don't really have any criticism...I feel lucky when I watch the show. I'm happy it exists.

[Sleepless]

I never know how to talk about this show. It's so slow burning, with big things happening through often quiet moments. It's because so much of what happens - so much of the greatness that happens - is intangible, it makes it difficult to happen. At times it seems ridiculous that we're in S4 already, but then so much has already happened. This is a great show.

Although, criticisms... I think I've voiced before how I'm not a Shiban fan. He directed episode 4 and it shows.

[Jeremy Blackman]

This is a fun show and I wouldn't miss it. But it's hard not to compare it unfavorably to Breaking Bad. Better Call Saul has about half the intensity. On paper it shouldn't necessarily, but it's a ensemble story, and its powers are diffuse. On top of that, when the Jimmy/Chuck pairing disappeared, most of the show's tension disappeared with it. Whole thing kind of feels uncentered now.

And yeah, Episode 4 felt noticeably off due to Jon Shiban's reliably poor directing work. There were some unusually dumb moments. And the final scene was actually pretty bad.

[Sleepless]

JB, not sure if you've seen episode 5 yet, but it's great. A really good contrast to last week. The BB crossovers are starting to happen big time and it feels like we have some momentum now. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we're a whole lot closer to Jimmy fully becoming Saul than we ever suspected.

I've always have ambivalent feelings about the extent of the cartel aspects of this show as they often have nothing directly to do with Jimmy's story, and the morning after, I feel the same about those scenes in this episode. But I'd by lying if I said I didn't have a huge goofy grin throughout when I was watching.

Also, Marlon Young.

[©brad]

Man this show is in no hurry at all is it. There are some lovely performances and inventive filmmaking you expect from a Gilligan production, but overall I feel the show lacks urgency, and is outright boring at times. The Mexican cartel turf war stuff is not that interesting, and the more we learn about Gus the less mysterious and scary he is. Never mind the fact that as many have pointed out, it feels like two separate shows that have yet to converge in any surprising way, to the point where one wonders what the point of the series actually is beyond fan service to Breaking Bad fanatics.

It's entertaining and watchable for sure. But it doesn't feel essential. Maybe I just miss Breaking Bad too much.

[Jeremy Blackman]

(Light spoilers)

Pretty much fully agree. A lot of these scenes, while great, feel fan-fictiony and not that surprising. They're fun, but they play out essentially how one would expect. This show is not delivering many mic drop moments anymore.

And yeah. It can be flat-out boring. I question the need for a full montage of Jimmy unpacking a pallet of phone boxes.

[jonas]

*SPOILER*

The cold openings have been great this season, with the last one revealing a good chunk of what's going to make Jimmy turn into Saul: He didn't become a lawyer to impress Chuck, he did it to impress Kim.

Now that Jimmy sees the writing on the wall (Kim doesn't share the same dream of a Wexler-McGill Firm), he has nothing to keep him honest, so he should be shifted fully into Saul by the end of the season.

I agree with Jeremy on the pallet unpacking montage, it was a bit much.

[Jeremy Blackman]

There's been a voice in the back of my head that the Jimmy & Kim stuff is by far the deepest content of the series, and I think that's probably right.

Didn't quite sink in until I heard the fantastic analysis on this podcast episode:

http://baldmove.com/better-call-saul/406-pinata/

[wilberfan]

A bit slow, perhaps, but I tend to be very forgiving of and patient with both Vince Gilligan and David Simon.  And I think you're probably right about the dynamics between Jimmy & Kim.

[Kal]

This episode is the first one that felt boring to me this season. I also re-watched all of Breaking Bad earlier this year and it's amazing how much happened on that show on every single episode pretty much. There were very few filler episodes and most episodes had memorable moments that moved the plot forward in some way or another.

I almost wish this show made a sudden Lost-like shift and started showing us more about the future than the past. Perhaps that is what is coming to end this season, Jimmy's transformation into Saul, losing Kim, and next season is about trying to get his life together as Jimmy again and get Kim back post-BB? Maybe it's a long shot, and it would be tough for them to focus too much on the post-BB life given that Mike, Gus and so many other key characters are gone... but on the flip side it could re-introduce Jesse and other BB characters who are still alive...

[Kal]

The last episode did move things forward quite a bit... SPOILERS

First there was the time jump, which was considerable, and it was a nice montage that showed how Jimmy slowly becomes Saul and how he starts to drift apart from Kim. I find all this stuff interesting to watch and beautifully executed, but we are total geeks here, because otherwise I don't know how important is to watch them build the lab, and whatever fights they have while they are building it, cause ultimately it gets done and we know how it all turns out. Same with the Huell storyline. Or with Hector's recovery. We know what happens...

Doesn't make it less fun to watch, but I wish the stakes were a bit higher. As much as I enjoy the BB cameos and re-appearances, I'm curious about the characters we don't get to see in BB and what will happen to them. And of course what will happen to whomever is alive post-BB.

[Jeremy Blackman]

SPOILERS

Agreed. They made an enormous leap through time, and yet the episode somehow still felt slow. I think that's just what this show is. Which is fine, I guess. There are enough really strong character moments to hold my interest. Like this week, that moment when Kim slumped down on the couch absolutely killed me.

Here's a potential plot hole. Gus and Mike have gone to extreme measures to make sure Werner and his men don't know where they are and wouldn't be able to identify Albuquerque as the location. And yet, Werner knows Gus Fring's full name. Mr. Fring this and Mr. Fring that. Gus even introduced himself as "Gus Fring" when they first met. One quick search for that name would reveal that Gus Fring owns a bunch of fast food restaurants in Albuquerque. What the heck? This only makes sense if Gus plans to murder all the workers when they're done. And I very much doubt Mike would be okay with that. Gus could secretly kill the workers, but Mike should still be fully aware of the security loophole.

Also, apparently this excavation makes no sense from a structural engineering perspective. I can suspend my disbelief, but I would have liked them to explain how they removed all that soil. (In the middle of a working laundry place, no less.)

[Sleepless]

Didn't they also go for some R&R in a local bar too, this episode?

[Jeremy Blackman]

SPOILS

They were at the in-house bar. But from that conversation and a previous comment from a worker ("where are the girls?"), it's pretty clear that they want prostitutes.

[Drenk]

I love this season more than you do—I'm never bored!even at the Mike parts!—but I just wanted to say one thing:

The Kim/Jimmy relationship is endlessly fascinating to me and thus ultimately more precious than what's on Breaking Bad, which is why, not saying that one show is better than another one, I'll always look more fondly at Better Call Saul. (I'm worried about season 5, though. I wish it could end in four episodes or something...)