Better Call Saul (spoilers ahoy)

[dr lopez]

both of these shows are super overhyped and excel at nothing other that pure plot which for some insane reason is all that matters these days, most likely due to people creating review aggregate sites where other people repeatedly vote for retarded plot-driven television shows. The "creative team" of such shows generally take the actually interesting parts of film-making like editing, visual arrangement (cinematography) and sight and sound synthesis (music, foley, dialogue) and relegate them to the second thought who cares arena. acting too is also often forced in there, because making "interconnected moments of an expanded universe" takes full priority. so someone like rubin farr can post about "how they referenced this" or "sooooooo i guess so and so knew so and so BEFORE THE FIRST SEASON" or shit like that. my point is that even while shows like breaking bad and better call saul are operating at the highest level of television production, they are still not free from what i just described, partly because of vince gilligan's own limits as a television writer, but mostly because of the horrible disaster spectrum people have made of 21st century televisual programming. amazingly there was a time when television was about the content you viewed every episode and NOT about incredibly easy "dots" to "connect" about "various plot and character elements" that "exist in the expanded universe"

 

 

--barf--

Edited April 11, 2017 by dr lopez

[chenGOD]

both of these shows are super overhyped and excel at nothing other that pure plot which for some insane reason is all that matters these days, most likely due to autistic people creating review aggregate sites where other autistic people repeatedly vote for retarded plot-driven television shows. The "creative team" of such shows generally take the actually interesting parts of film-making like editing, visual arrangement (cinematography) and sight and sound synthesis (music, foley, dialogue) and relegate them to the second thought who cares arena. acting too is also often forced in there, because making "interconnected moments of an expanded universe" takes full priority. so someone like rubin farr can post about "how they referenced this" or "sooooooo i guess so and so knew so and so BEFORE THE FIRST SEASON" or some completely gay shit like that. my point is that even while shows like breaking bad and better call saul are operating at the highest level of television production, they are still not free from what i just described, partly because of vince gilligan's own limits as a television writer, but mostly because of the horrible disaster spectrum people have made of 21st century televisual programming. amazingly there was a time when television was about the content you viewed every episode and NOT about incredibly easy "dots" to "connect" about "various plot and character elements" that "exist in the expanded universe"

 

 

--barf--

 

I thought the foley was excellent in this - the scene when Ernesto is opening the batteries? Or Mike popping open shit on his car?

Some of the music in this episode was a bit hit or miss (Mike driving sounded like some early NIN cast-off) but overall the music in the series has been pretty good.

 

I dunno, I guess I'm just not enough of an auteur.

 

I gotta admit though, I was lost on Mikes story for the first couple of minutes. Couldn't remember shit.

[fumi]

I think Better Call Saul is the best TV series that has been on TV these last three years. I don't tend to watch shows after more than two or three episodes if I don't think they've got the legs - therefore my list is pretty small.

 

I also follow House of Cards, The Man in the High Tower, Westworld and Game of Thrones but Better Call Saul is easily the best. The acting and writing are just superb.

 

Agree that the music throughout the series is absolutely hopeless.

[chim]

What an immense pleasure to see this fantastic show back on the air. It effortlessly glides into the old plots points and builds on the quiet madness. Dave Porter is great, very playful composer. There's a lot of fun panning going on so his work sounds better on headphones.

[pcock]

im gonna wait till the whole thing has aired, but this is one of the most enjoyable dramas ive ever watched. very much looking forward to it. 

[Rubin Farr]

Chuck was trying to get his lackey's fingerprints on the tape recorder, right?  I'm not sure what for, as Hamlin told him it would be useless in court.  Unless he's trying to get Jimmy disbarred with some fabricated scheme?

 

this ep seemed to go a long way to travel a short distance, still love the Cinnabon stuff.

[Herr Jan]

Chuck was trying to get his lackey's fingerprints on the tape recorder, right?  I'm not sure what for, as Hamlin told him it would be useless in court.  Unless he's trying to get Jimmy disbarred with some fabricated scheme?

 

this ep seemed to go a long way to travel a short distance, still love the Cinnabon stuff.

I wasn't paying attention much during this episode, also I was quite out of the loop on basically every plot from season 2 so I might be wrong, but I think he intentionally got Ernesto to listen to that specific bit with the knowledge that Ernesto will spread the word and take action, so that this evidence is more believable in court (as opposed to just bringing out this evidence out of the blue). Hence the way Chuck overreacted about it? I dunno. 

[olo]

 

this ep seemed to go a long way to travel a short distance, still love the Cinnabon stuff.

 

I enjoy the making of cinnabons tribute to the making meth montages. 

 

What relevance does "The moon is a balloon" David Nevin autobiography have. Some easter egg I'm not picking up on?

Edited April 12, 2017 by olo

[Brisbot]

What an immense pleasure to see this fantastic show back on the air. It effortlessly glides into the old plots points and builds on the quiet madness. Dave Porter is great, very playful composer. There's a lot of fun panning going on so his work sounds better on headphones.

Yep! I was gonna wait for a few episodes to air but I went and watched the first episode after reading your comment and it was a fun episode definitely. Not as good as Breaking Bad, but the show stands on it's own two feet.

 

 

 

 

im gonna wait till the whole thing has aired, but this is one of the most enjoyable dramas ive ever watched. very much looking forward to it. 

Yeah, that's a good idea. I usually do this with shows since I'd rather binge a show over a week or 2 than keep up with it for 10+ weeks. It's also easier to remember plot points if you watch it over a short period of time.

 

I'm probably gonna let a few episodes accumulate then go back and watch them.

[Rubin Farr]

I'm curious to see who meets Gus first, Mike or Jimmy. money is on Mike, then how does Jimmy become involved? Going back to another 80s cartel flashback ala BB would be sweet.

[spptrl alt del]

I think they've succeeded in making a better show than Breaking Bad, with everything they've learned so far. I couldn't give a shit about fan service "easter egg" bullshit.. the characters are great, plot is interesting, the atmosphere is palpable, and the way they've been executing the exposition has been masterful. Thinking back about Breaking Bad, there's so much nerve-wracking, even grating action, BCS is delightful in comparison.

I'm curious to see who meets Gus first, Mike or Jimmy. money is on Mike, then how does Jimmy become involved? Going back to another 80s cartel flashback ala BB would be sweet.

The rumour is that some "dark" shit is going to go down this season.. it'll be interesting, at least.

[WeAreOceans]

The soundtrack in the first episode was fantastic. My memory is bad, were the previous two seasons' OSTs as good? I'll have to revisit at some point.

[melancholera]

The theory I've seen regarding Chuck is that he's trying to get Jimmy to break into his house again (like he did to get the Mesa Verde documents) and get him in legal trouble that way.

[Rubin Farr]

Article on BB / Saul easter eggs:

 

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/better-call-saul-best-breaking-slideshow-wp-130019506.html

[DavieAddison]

The soundtrack in the first episode was fantastic. My memory is bad, were the previous two seasons' OSTs as good? I'll have to revisit at some point.

 

Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad have always had top notch scores. This was the track from one of the Mike scenes

 

[sisforawesome]

The soundtrack in the first episode was fantastic. My memory is bad, were the previous two seasons' OSTs as good? I'll have to revisit at some point.

yup

 

[mcbpete]

I'm curious to see who meets Gus first, Mike or Jimmy. money is on Mike

Yeah it's definitely Mike, I mean technically they've probably 'met' with the "Don't" note during the end of series 2 / start of series 3. Plus I think the set up to Jimmy introducing Walter to Gus in Breaking Bad is "I know a guy [Mike] who knows a guy [Gus]", so maybe they never meet in this series ...

[Rubin Farr]

so they're doing extended episodes this season?

[olo]

^ As of now.

 

2 things learned:

 

Poor Jimmy just can't get out of his own way. 

 

Don't fuck with Gus.

 

crackerbarrel/10

[keanu reeves]

both of these shows are super overhyped and excel at nothing other that pure plot which for some insane reason is all that matters these days, most likely due to people creating review aggregate sites where other people repeatedly vote for retarded plot-driven television shows. The "creative team" of such shows generally take the actually interesting parts of film-making like editing, visual arrangement (cinematography) and sight and sound synthesis (music, foley, dialogue) and relegate them to the second thought who cares arena. acting too is also often forced in there, because making "interconnected moments of an expanded universe" takes full priority. so someone like rubin farr can post about "how they referenced this" or "sooooooo i guess so and so knew so and so BEFORE THE FIRST SEASON" or shit like that. my point is that even while shows like breaking bad and better call saul are operating at the highest level of television production, they are still not free from what i just described, partly because of vince gilligan's own limits as a television writer, but mostly because of the horrible disaster spectrum people have made of 21st century televisual programming. amazingly there was a time when television was about the content you viewed every episode and NOT about incredibly easy "dots" to "connect" about "various plot and character elements" that "exist in the expanded universe"

 

 

--barf--

Stop stealing my bit

[Rubin Farr]

Jimmy is slippin.  But dropping his watch to cover his ass was genius.

[dr lopez]

wow i have no memory of writing that must have been fucking trashed lol dang

 

anyway let's be friends not enemies

[WeAreOceans]

 

The soundtrack in the first episode was fantastic. My memory is bad, were the previous two seasons' OSTs as good? I'll have to revisit at some point.

 

Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad have always had top notch scores. This was the track from one of the Mike scenes

 

 

 

Yes! Loved this tune in particular. Gonna have to check out more of this lot, cheers!

[joshuatxuk]

 

Agree that the music throughout the series is absolutely hopeless.

 

 

What an immense pleasure to see this fantastic show back on the air. It effortlessly glides into the old plots points and builds on the quiet madness. Dave Porter is great, very playful composer. There's a lot of fun panning going on so his work sounds better on headphones.

 

I like how background-y the music is. The show is so much more about visuals, restrained pacing, subtle acting. The music is not memorable most of the time but it's a better alternative to the trend of saturating the show with cheap emotional reactions to a wealth of well-know music, or with some overwrought indie rock song blasting over the end credits as they do with so many HBO shows. Stranger Things and Mr. Robot are prime examples of the opposite approach to sound tracking than Breaking Bad.

[DavieAddison]

 

 

The soundtrack in the first episode was fantastic. My memory is bad, were the previous two seasons' OSTs as good? I'll have to revisit at some point.

 

Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad have always had top notch scores. This was the track from one of the Mike scenes

 

 

 

Yes! Loved this tune in particular. Gonna have to check out more of this lot, cheers!

 

 

They're definitely worth checking out. Got into them after I heard this track on the show. Their album with Ghostface Killah is pretty great.