Better Call Saul

[rico]

As I am sure many of y'all already know, a spinoff of "Breaking Bad" titled "Better Call Saul" will be airing in 2014. This is going to be a prequel to Breaking Bad and will be based on the character of Saul Goodman from "Breaking Bad."

I, for one, will be watching. I'm sure the majority of all of you other "Breaking Bad" fans will be as well. Might as well get the discussion going sooner rather than later.

So... what are your hopes, expectations and/or concerns with the show? Here are some of mine:

Hopes: I hope to see Saul do his thing in the courtroom. I hope to see strong, unique supporting characters. I hope to see Breaking Bad foreshadowing. I hope he has an intriguing paralegal and/or assistant. I hope to see Breaking Bad characters such as Fring, Mike, etc...whoever. I hope the show kicks ass.

Expectations: I don't expect it to be as good as "Breaking Bad" (because nothing else is, really), but I expect it to be good since Vince Gilligan is writing. I somewhat expect it to have an even balance of comedy and drama...since Saul undeniably provides a substantial amount of comedic relief in "Breaking Bad." I expect to see "courtroom Saul." I expect the "Breaking Bad" references and character cameos to be less than what I hope. If it isn't even a fraction as good as "Breaking Bad," I expect it to be better than 95% of everything else on TV, since there is some shitty shit on TV these days.

Concerns: I'd be a liar if I were to say that I didn't think this show has potential of flopping and certainly failing to meet the presumed high expectations of the audience. Don't get me wrong, I think it will be good... but I think it COULD suck if not executed properly. My main concern is Saul ultimately proving himself to be a "little dab will do ya" type of character, which would lead to a show centered around his character not working out. I am hoping that the character of Saul will not be so over-used and constantly over the top, that he becomes annoying to me, thus ruining his character for me altogether... Not saying I think this will be how it goes down...just saying I think there is a CHANCE of this being the case, which prompts me to believe that a strong supporting cast is VITAL in terms of the amount of success/quality this show will accumulate. All in all, I don't think VG will steer us in an unfortunate direction though...I think they'll pull it off.

Thoughts?

DISCUS!!!!

[mdchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by Jamie

I think something will come up that draws him back to Albuquerque in the post-Breaking Bad time frame. Like something he does over the course of this series comes back to haunt him, and he has to go back to deal with it.

I mean, it'd be pretty anticlimactic if the end of the show was like "then Breaking Bad happened, and Saul spent the rest of his life managing a Cinnabon. The End."

Agreed, but we know it will at least go that far.

[notorious]

Breaking Bad showed future scenes at the beginning of season and filled in the blanks as the show went on often.

Stuffed animal scene, skateboard scene in the pool, etc.

It creates a lot of mystery.


The Cinnabon scene is similar.

[Chiefspants]

Originally Posted by Jamie

I think something will come up that draws him back to Albuquerque in the post-Breaking Bad time frame. Like something he does over the course of this series comes back to haunt him, and he has to go back to deal with it.

I mean, it'd be pretty anticlimactic if the end of the show was like "then Breaking Bad happened, and Saul spent the rest of his life managing a Cinnabon. The End."

I would actually prefer if something drew him to Chicago or elsewhere to avoid the similarities with Walt's arc back to ABQ in BB's finale.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

She had to get the caselaw from Westlaw - in those days, Westlaw charged you through your account per page printed.

So without his own private Westlaw account (which Jimmy wouldn't have had), he had no way to get simple access to those documents, let alone print them off. This pre-dates the ability to just google search and pull up any case you need.

Now, what doesn't make any sense is that he's in Albuquerque. UNM has a law school there and the law library will have a public access westlaw account he could have used and paid per page.

Moreover, they'll have every Southwest Reporter he could have ever wanted in hard copy - he could've just pulled the cases from the hard copy off the shelf and photocopied them. Those reporter sets come with full shepardizers that will link to other related cases as well. He's not that far out of law school; he'll still remember how to do that manually - especially since the books were still in common use back then.

Nothing about what he did made sense there. It was a bit of a deus ex machina from the writers and a little bit lazy, IMO. Jimmy's not dumb - he knew enough about Chuck's partnership agreement to know that he was walking a thin line there.

He'd have just waited a night, gone to the UNM Law Library and gotten all the cases/statutes he was after without risking getting sideways with HHM.

EDIT: Looks like Baby Lee got to some of that already. Still, he had a far better option available to him.

well, not totally. He managed to divide efforts by making Kim his paralegal while he and Chuck worked on other things.

[mr. tegu]

Great episode.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

1) TREVOR MOTHER****IN' PHILLIPS.

Greatest. Cameo. Ever.

2) What a shit-sucking scumbag of a **** Chuck turned out to be. He certainly spoons well with Howard. And to be too big of a coward to tell Jimmy, making Howard play the heavy...gat damn.

Here's the thing: in the end Jimmy may have turned back into Slippin' Jimmy, but I don't think it's due to his nature. Rather, he's like an abused child or spouse, who, because they've always been told they're shit and will never amount to anything, make choices that reinforce their own lowly self-worth.

What a bastardicious shit****. Jimmy should rent out enough generators to power Woodstock and surround Chuck's house with Van De Graaf machines

[mr. tegu]

I loved how they kept teasing us in Mike's scenes by starting out with the characters approaching with views of their feet. I kept getting excited and nervous that it was Gus coming.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Outstanding turning Chuck heel. Hamlin portrayed as the Big bad asshole then BAM the reveal of Chuck holding those cards. Very well done.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

Outstanding turning Chuck heel. Hamlin portrayed as the Big bad asshole then BAM the reveal of Chuck holding those cards. Very well done.

PGM, the first thing you gotta do, is tell these posters to shut up if you wanna hear what Chuck McGill has gotta say.

You can call this the H-H-M.

Everyone was wondering who the other partner was? Well, who knows more about that organization than me, brother?… Let me tell you something. I made that law firm a monster. I made people rich up there. I made the people that ran that firm rich up there. And when it all came to pass, the name Chuck McGill, the man Chuck McGill, got bigger than the whole law firm.

If it wasn't for Chuck McGill, Howard Hamlin would be selling meat out of a truck in Minneapolis.

If it wasn't for Chuck McGill, slippin' Jimmy would be doing 3-5 upstate in Illinois.

I was litigating class action lawsuits when they were pumping gas into their cars to get to high school.

So the way it is now, brother, with Chuck McGill and Hamlin Hamlin McGill, me and the new blood by my side, whatcha gonna do when HHM runs wild on you?

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

PGM, the first thing you gotta do, is tell these posters to shut up if you wanna hear what Chuck McGill has gotta say.

You can call this the H-H-M.

Everyone was wondering who the other partner was? Well, who knows more about that organization than me, brother?… Let me tell you something. I made that law firm a monster. I made people rich up there. I made the people that ran that firm rich up there. And when it all came to pass, the name Chuck McGill, the man Chuck McGill, got bigger than the whole law firm.

If it wasn't for Chuck McGill, Howard Hamlin would be selling meat out of a truck in Minneapolis.

If it wasn't for Chuck McGill, slippin' Jimmy would be doing 3-5 upstate in Illinois.

I was litigating class action lawsuits when they were pumping gas into their cars to get to high school.

So the way it is now, brother, with Chuck McGill and Hamlin Hamlin McGill, me and the new blood by my side, whatcha gonna do when HHM runs wild on you?

A mark is each and every one of you Slippin Jimmy lovin sumbitches

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

A mark is each and every one of you Slippin Jimmy lovin sumbitches

Rolled up into one giant piece of shit.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

PGM, the first thing you gotta do, is tell these posters to shut up if you wanna hear what Chuck McGill has gotta say.

You can call this the H-H-M.

Everyone was wondering who the other partner was? Well, who knows more about that organization than me, brother?… Let me tell you something. I made that law firm a monster. I made people rich up there. I made the people that ran that firm rich up there. And when it all came to pass, the name Chuck McGill, the man Chuck McGill, got bigger than the whole law firm.

If it wasn't for Chuck McGill, Howard Hamlin would be selling meat out of a truck in Minneapolis.

If it wasn't for Chuck McGill, slippin' Jimmy would be doing 3-5 upstate in Illinois.

I was litigating class action lawsuits when they were pumping gas into their cars to get to high school.

So the way it is now, brother, with Chuck McGill and Hamlin Hamlin McGill, me and the new blood by my side, whatcha gonna do when HHM runs wild on you?

Windtalkers will carry your saga forward for generations to come.

[Baby Lee]

[RobBlake]

Jimmy was such a loving brother towards Chuck.. despite his vices.. he has a good heart.. better heart than chuck. Jimmy showed he was more than capable as an investigating lawyer and showing a keen eye to injustice that could be very rewarding. Jimmy took care of his jack ass of a brother meanwhile living in a shit hole, running around in the day to make a name for himself and he gets ousted by his own brother!

Damnit, I love this series.

[KC_Connection]

So it was Chuck's betrayal that was the catalyst behind Jimmy's transformation into Saul. Heartbreaking. All because Chuck couldn't accept his own brother as any kind of an equal. It's a shame, because unlike the despicable Walt who enjoyed his own fall in BB, Jimmy clearly never wanted to be that person.