Better Call Saul

Started by Kal, September 11, 2013, 04:29:39 PM

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Drenk

The pacing of the last two episodes has been questionable. A lot of repetition of bits that were overlong last week. Don't get me wrong, they could craft a thrilling scene of a person cooking pasta or doing their laces, so I'm still entertained—but I can taste filler and wonder what's coming. More filler until a few episodes are left?
Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

That's the thing. I wouldn't call it filler. I think the teasing IS the narrative.

Drenk

That was definitely the excuse in the writing room.
Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

Right. We had at least one ostensible payoff this episode, but it didn't really feel that way. It just set up something new. And I'm still hooked.

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Referring to the Howard plot. Strangely, I can't even remember how their beef started. Was it something about Chuck? Or he mistreated Kim in some way, right? I don't know. It feels like a cat-and-mouse thing that's just there to synchronize with the cartel plot.

Drenk

My issue is that:

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I don't care about Gus. I don't. There was a five minutes scene of Gus being stressed out early in Ep 5 and I was thinking: Is that it? Nothing new, no nuance: just Gus being scared and us waiting with the characters for something to happen. But I'm not invested in Gus, and even if I didn't know about his fate in Breaking Bad, I wouldn't care about his safety. This is why the tension feels hollow to me.

I loved Nacho, and I realize how important he was for that show; it's when Nacho and Mike started to interact that I started to love the mob dimension of the series. What happened made narrative sense. But I wish they'd repeated Nacho avoiding the Salamancas for a little longer if they intended to stall.

I've also no idea why Jimmy is upset at Howard. I'm not sure I care either. Not a good sign if I have to watch a YouTube recap to understand what's going between them. Or why it even matters.
Ascension.

Drenk

Quote from: Drenk on May 11, 2022, 12:57:14 AMDon't get me wrong, they could craft a thrilling scene of a person cooking pasta or doing their laces, so I'm still entertained—but I can taste filler.

This week, fancy three minutes montage of somebody making coffee.
Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

The payoff does not disappoint. Would definitely like to talk spoilers when people have caught up.

I feel somewhat validated now that a consensus has apparently formed about this season being unreasonably slow. But I think I would've been fine with the pace with more episodes at my disposal, whether binged, 2 at a time, or something like that. There's nothing wrong with the episodes themselves. It's the week-to-week stringing along that annoyed me.

Drenk

The episode was very good. Could it have been episode 4? Yes, easily. There was no particular reason to stretch it that much, and I'm not sure binge watching the episodes would make it better—I have no interest in watching them again. Actually, I believe it would be worse. The filler would be even more obvious.

About the ending:

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I don't like the cliffhanger. It feels cheap to me. "Let's kill somebody we don't have use for in a shocking way at the last second of the mid-season finale." You don't even need to kill Howard for Lalo to be terrifying.
Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

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The episode title "Plan and Execution" spoiled me a bit. It was still shocking of course, but I wasn't too surprised. And I'm still not sure how I feel about it. For Howard to be offed by a cartel superspy seems odd and incongruous. The two opposite story ends of the show colliding in that way just kind of reminded me how bifurcated the show can be at its worst.

Some potential plot holes that are nagging at me:

Why didn't Lalo just wait one minute for Howard to leave? Maybe he enjoys causing collateral damage, but he doesn't seem like one to take totally unnecessary risks.

Sincere question – what was the purpose of Lalo's mission in Germany? Couldn't he have accomplished the same thing simply by following Mike? It wouldn't have taken him long to identify the laundry as the location of the mysterious project.

I suppose Werner's guys wouldn't know the location anyway, so perhaps Lalo was getting the engineering details from them. But what do they actually know that would be helpful? Isn't it just a hole in the ground?

Drenk

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Nothing makes sense about Lalo's story. They were only delaying this moment by keeping him absent or far away. There's no reason for him to visit Jimmy, other than meta reasons: Jimmy is the protagonist of Better Call Saul and Lalo its antagonist. Also, Mile would have kept men at Jimmy's place—I don't see why the phone call would change things at all. I don't usually care about plot holes, but they reveal the lack of motivation for everything the character have been doing for the last seven episodes.

The death of Howard is very cheap. And I suspect the show to become moral in an annoying way. « Look at what you've done! He's dead because you've been bad to him! » Let's remember that Breaking Bad ended with Walter's redemption and a hero trip.
Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

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To be fair, it's made clear that their resources are spread thin, so it kind of make sense that Mike pulls men from Jimmy's apartment. Although, I dunno, I would say as Lalo's lawyer he should always be a high priority. At least keep one person there. Does Gus really need an entire army at his house? Kind of a strange oversight by Mike.

I'm open to see what Lalo needs from Jimmy. No judgment on that yet.

If Howard needed to die, I'd rather it be a poisoning gone wrong or a car accident or something more related to the con. The way this unfolds, it relies on Howard and Lalo being at the same place in the same very small window of time.

Not to mention the salvaging of their plan relies on Jimmy running into the mediator at the liquor store. Lots of coincidences.

In terms of the show's morals, I think that's actually its strength right now. I was completely sold on the villainy of Jimmy and Kim as they smugly celebrated the destruction of someone's life. But as you say, we might be in for another sellout arc in the finale like Breaking Bad, where they preferred to deliver a compromised crowd-pleasing ending. That might actually work in BCS, though, if it's done in the Gene timeline.

Drenk

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Thinking about it, I realize why I dislike Howard's death. It's because, yes, Saul and Kim doing their scams for the simple pleasure of doing them—a pleasure rooted in destruction—is interesting and troubling. But they had to punish them by killing Howard. Technically, it isn't their fault. Bad place at the bad moment. (Even if you've noticed that Lalo would have waited for Howard to leave the apartment.) But this is a narrative, and what I get from this narrative is: "Jimmy and Kim were being mean and therefore were punished because this is what happens to people being mean".


Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

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I kinda disagree actually. This moreso demonstrates that the wrong people get punished; Howard in this case.

If anything, I think this might snap Kim out of her scamming phase and set her on the right path. I understand this should be a traumatic event for her, but considering that she does in fact have a piece missing, I'm not sure she's going to weep for Howard that much.

Also I take back what I said about Lalo. He has a history of needlessly killing bystanders just for fun. It's actually one of his signature things. And possibly why he won't survive.

WorldForgot

Quote from: Drenk on May 17, 2022, 03:28:18 PM
Quote from: Drenk on May 11, 2022, 12:57:14 AMDon't get me wrong, they could craft a thrilling scene of a person cooking pasta or doing their laces, so I'm still entertained—but I can taste filler.

This week, fancy three minutes montage of somebody making coffee.

I loved this moment though cuz Howard's espresso is very meticulous - and then a few minutes later Clifford Main has to drink instant brew at the courthouse. You can connotate that juxtaposition in thematic wayz or just find it a funny contrast to the nature of 'law'z environs.

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Mostly, I agree with y'all on the convenience of the Execution seeming facile. As a thematic beat, it definitely worked for me. Reminiscent of Hank's death but in a very different light of 'consequence' per the synethesis of Kim & Jimmy's vice and Lalo's penchant for revenge.


I just finished watching the episode so I don't have too much to opine other than the above, and that YOOO professor Nick Tanis got a shout-out. This front-half of the season is a perfect demonstration of suspense and character dimension. Tanis would be, and I'm sure is, proud of these two alumz.

Drenk

Unfortunately, I'm not enjoying the show anymore.

Really hollow spectacle and suspens, in my opinion.
Ascension.