Better Call Saul

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

Marie and her magic hands will revive Hank once they dig him up. She might even jerk off Gomez’s corpse, I’m sure Hank would be fine with being Eskimo brothers.

The question is only if Walt was correct and the barrel + the desert kept the bodies dried out. Marie’s gonna have carpal tunnel after she’s done.

 

[AnOminous]

I suppose it makes sense for him to get away with everything, but the whole-ass superhero route they went for at the last second REALLY left a bad taste in my mouth with him getting off scott-free, the reveal that he's actually well respected in the prison with them chanting "better call saul" right after he made a big show in the courtroom about calling himself Jimmy again, and Kim liking him again, meanwhile fuck Marie and the countless people he's screwed over by hard-carrying Walt's operations.

I honestly wish they'd ended it any other way.

The two ways I think would have been best is the "good" ending, where what happened to Howard was his "come to Jesus" moment and he finally decided to take responsibility for his crimes, and he gets prison.

In the "bad" ending, he just gets caught, maybe shot, or maybe just goes to prison, but nobody gives a fuck and maybe he even gets shivved by some rival cartel member who hates him for being a lawyer for the Salamancas.

Most of the whole "Gene" timeline was a waste of airtime and it didn't even come to a satisfying conclusion. This is too bad since they teased it for literally years. Probably the best moment in that whole series of episodes was the flashback to hiding out with Walt, and that didn't even have "Gene" in it.

As is, the show should have ended very shortly after Howard got killed. There was just no real pathway to redemption after that.

 

[TheHarbinger]

As is, the show should have ended very shortly after Howard got killed. There was just no real pathway to redemption after that.

The fact that Howard got killed by mere coincidence. He just happens to visit Jimmy when a serial killer cartel member is also visiting. Was proof that the writers were setting up for another big redemption arc for a main character. If Jimmy had gone nuts and had Howard killed it would have been a real turn from Jimmy into Saul. Or even something darker like having Kim killed because she is seen talking to police or FBI and Jimmy knows that she is turning informant.

Mike killing Werner showed he was committed to the cartel life. We never get that moment with Jimmy.

 

[AnOminous]

He just happens to visit Jimmy when a serial killer cartel member is also visiting. Was proof that the writers were setting up for another big redemption arc for a main character.

He hardly just happened to visit. Jimmy is not the sort of person he'd make a social call for. Jimmy and Kim were actively fucking with his life in horrific ways and he wanted to confront them about it.

Mike killing Werner showed he was committed to the cartel life. We never get that moment with Jimmy.

Mike was a lost soul before the show even started.

 

[BetterFuckChuck]

I suppose it makes sense for him to get away with everything, but the whole-ass superhero route they went for at the last second REALLY left a bad taste in my mouth with him getting off scott-free, the reveal that he's actually well respected in the prison with them chanting "better call saul" right after he made a big show in the courtroom about calling himself Jimmy again, and Kim liking him again, meanwhile fuck Marie and the countless people he's screwed over by hard-carrying Walt's operations.
While you COULD could argue Walter and Jesse got happy endings too, Walt died alone from a bullet wound in a drug lab after losing everything and everybody he's ever met fucking hating his guts because he's destroyed so many of their lives, plus he only really got what only he'd himself consider a happy ending after going back to kill Jack and take Blue Sky off the market. Jesse also went through an absolute ton of shit before he finally made it to Alaska, and even then, there's no guarantee he stayed 100% clean and out of jail for the rest of his life. Jimmy's ending on the other hand, is just framed wayyy too happily and optimistic for me for a character who's biggest hardship he got from the drug game was being kinda depressed while working in the Cinnabon.

Exactly, that's 1:1 my thoughts on it. I can excuse Walt's happy ending, because he's so deranged at that point anything that makes him seem a better criminal would be something he's happy with and you can look at the rest of what happened and go "this guy is happy with a pretty shitty life, just because he looked badass." With Jimmy, what matters to him is his personal relationships and despite being responsible for murdering countless people he gets to go and fuck Kim's feet for the next 80 years? Fuck that

 

[The handsome tard]

He gets to torment Gretchen and Elliot one last time and extort millions from them out of personal revenge.

Actually he didnt extort a dime from them, all he did was hand over his remaining nest egg ( around 9 millions) and tell them to "donate it" to Flynn in his 18th birthday so that the whole family can be millionaires and not worry about money for the rest of their days (unless Flynn donate it all to a streamer, which, wow, wouldnt that be a kick to Walt's dead nuts).

Anything related to the process of getting the money to Flynn were to come from the nest egg, not a cent from them two. Oh yeah and if they didnt do what he told them, there were going to get killed by top hitmen (which realistically Gretchen and Elliot should be able to hire the finest private security to investigate and confirm that shit was bogus but hey, why deconstruct one of the rare finales that doesnt fuck everything up?)

Walt got the happiest ending by far. He gets to leave his family millions of dollars in clean money. Visit his wife one last time who seems relieved to see him and even covers him against the DEA and police. He gets to torment Gretchen and Elliot one last time and extort millions from them out of personal revenge. He gets one final rampage against people whom he hates which also secures his blue meth formula from ever being recreated. He even gets to kill Lydia and taunt her over the phone for more personal revenge. He gets to make amends with Jesse by freeing him. He knows that he will become an even further public legend by dying fighting a Nazi gang by himself.

And finally he's going to be dead of cancer within the month if not week so him going out in a blaze of glory is no sweat. Walt's ending is him going out on his own terms. Cancer doesn't even get to kill him. Walt probably felt the best in his life as he lay dying in a lab thinking about how Jesse was happy to see him and his family will be wealthy for generations.

Yeah, people need to understand Walt...didnt give a shit about nearly anyone outside of family (Jesse was sort of like family after a point). Sure, he will be remembered as a monster by everyone but he legit doesnt care as he much rather be remembered at all than being forgotten after enough time passes. He also made it clear he doesnt care that he will go to Hell if there is one, simply he wont go there "laying down".

Felina was literally the best case scenario for him.

There was a reason he died with a soft smile while a cheerful music plays.



Because in the end, he did "won" in his battle against the world. Even the script says so.

I just think at that point they had to do superhero-level writing for Walt in order to justify his talent, Jesse figured it out why couldnt one of Gus' 50 scientists?

Walt has the recipe though, and it's apperantly easy enough to cook in a trailer. So you can make high quality meth but the cost to price ratio wouldn't cover it and the amount of heat it will generate will be immense.

It's an acceptable justification why no one else could do it, and why Walt needs to be kept alive until someone else knows his recipe.

The show establishes, not sure how accurate it is to real life but still, but it does establishes that percentages matter when it comes to purity. Gale told his 96% may seem fine as is but that the gap between 96 and 99 is "significant" (ironically this talk would eventually get him killed).

And even people that "know" Walt's recipe cant seem to reach the 99.1% somehow, maybe implying that Walt had a style or technique that only he could pull it off. It gives Walt value to the narrative and the characters as killing Walt will also kill the 99.1 purity meth.

Mike was a lost soul before the show even started.

I always got the vibe Mike knows he is damned already if there is a Hell so he might as well go the extra step on providing for his son's daughter before he leaves this world. This is why Mike comes off as pretty emotionally dead most scenes, only really softening up around characters like Nacho and Jesse (since he sees them as young men that made several wrong choices but arent too far gone that they cant wisely step away from this life).

He not only disappointed a noble son that idolized him (in a way, just like Walt with Flynn) but "breaking" him still got him killed. After the "half measure" with the wife beater and this, Mike probably concluded the world is a wretched wicked place (and he is no better) so he might as well go all the way for the closest thing that remains of Matty, his daughter.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

The show establishes, not sure how accurate it is to real life but still, but it does establishes that percentages matter when it comes to purity. Gale told his 96% may seem fine as is but that the gap between 96 and 99 is "significant" (ironically this talk would eventually get him killed).

And even people that "know" Walt's recipe cant seem to reach the 99.1% somehow, maybe implying that Walt had a style or technique that only he could pull it off. It gives Walt value to the narrative and the characters as killing Walt will also kill the 99.1 purity meth.

Maybe it's something exponential? Like you'd be able to get 4 times the product from 99% compared to 96%?

 

[The handsome tard]

Maybe it's something exponential? Like you'd be able to get 4 times the product from 99% compared to 96%?

It could be, they never go into details beyond that its " a better high" and customers could be willing to spend more (but then again, they talk about meth like its a high value product). I think Vance knew that they were kind of overvaluing meth when Don Eladio describes it as "poor man's cocaine" and a lot about bluesky is already rather fantasious so might as well just say its "better" and thats it.

 

[Chilson]

Maybe it's something exponential? Like you'd be able to get 4 times the product from 99% compared to 96%?

Its not only about the "better" high, but also about safety. Meth kills people quite regularly because of the impurities found so commonly in it. Having 99.1% meth is ironically as safe to smoke Meth as you could ever get and has very little chance of ODing its smokers.

It means that, as a drug dealer, the clients live longer and come back more often for repeat business.

Edit: Just to add on to this, just like regular commercial markets the drug market has multiple market sectors graded by economic thresholds. Despite what BB shows us, Walt's meth would have very likely not been consumed by Meth heads who wouldn't have the purchasing power to buy such a high quality product. It most likely would have been used by extremely rich and affluent "functional" Meth addicts who have far more purchasing power and connections with dealers for this higher quality product with lower risks.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Its not only about the "better" high, but also about safety. Meth kills people quite regularly because of the impurities found so commonly in it. Having 99.1% meth is ironically as safe to smoke Meth as you could ever get and has very little chance of ODing its smokers.

It means that, as a drug dealer, the clients live longer and come back more often for repeat business.

Edit: Just to add on to this, just like regular commercial markets the drug market has multiple market sectors graded by economic thresholds. Despite what BB shows us, Walt's meth would have very likely not been consumed by Meth heads who wouldn't have the purchasing power to buy such a high quality product. It most likely would have been used by extremely rich and affluent "functional" Meth addicts who have far more purchasing power and connections with dealers for this higher quality product with lower risks.

Pretty ironic considering Jesse's character development stems from growing up and realising how horrific drug consumption is, but he puts a drug that the regular meth heads won't consume anyways.

...That fucking methhouse episode is more disturbing than any creepypasta.

 

[Patrick Not-Star]

He wasn't free though, he was completely retarded. His new cover is to dress and look exactly like himself and work in the largest shopping mall one state over from where he was just an FBI's Most Wanted fugitive. And show his face to tens of thousands of people every single week many of whom might be from his hometown. Instead of just taking a night shift job literally doing anything low profile where no one would see him or suspect he was anyone important.

Where should a fugitive like that go? My first thought is Thailand or some place in South America. For a criminal with that much heat, it would only be a good idea to stay in the U.S. if you plan on living in the wilderness. Personally, I don't want to live in the wild, but I also want to live in a place where there are other white people.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

And even people that "know" Walt's recipe cant seem to reach the 99.1% somehow, maybe implying that Walt had a style or technique that only he could pull it off. It gives Walt value to the narrative and the characters as killing Walt will also kill the 99.1 purity meth.

I think it was because of Walt's commitment to making the best product possible, while Jesse would forget steps or do them incorrectly without Walt there. It was implied at the end of season 3 that Gale could now make the almost pure meth. Jesse, however, was not a chemist, he was just a guy who knew how to cook so he could make money and smoke it. At the start of season four, Walt points out to Gus that only he knows how to account for seasonal change and other small factors, which Jesse wouldn't know. He can only replicate what he did with Walt for several months of cooks.

 

[The handsome tard]

Edit: Just to add on to this, just like regular commercial markets the drug market has multiple market sectors graded by economic thresholds. Despite what BB shows us, Walt's meth would have very likely not been consumed by Meth heads who wouldn't have the purchasing power to buy such a high quality product. It most likely would have been used by extremely rich and affluent "functional" Meth addicts who have far more purchasing power and connections with dealers for this higher quality product with lower risks.

I assume thats where the meth was going to South America (cant remember the nation) that Lydia made some trading ties with, to high end clients who can pay for the quality (which would explain the car sized pile of money that got Huel-ed)

He wasn't free though, he was completely retarded. His new cover is to dress and look exactly like himself and work in the largest shopping mall one state over from where he was just an FBI's Most Wanted fugitive. And show his face to tens of thousands of people every single week many of whom might be from his hometown. Instead of just taking a night shift job literally doing anything low profile where no one would see him or suspect he was anyone important.

El Camino takes place in September of 2010. Saul is working as the manager in the mall in October of 2010. So one month after a huge manhunt for Jesse and knowing Walt is dead he's working at a job where hundreds of people see his face daily. And by December of 2010 he is breaking into random houses and now caught once again and forced to flee until being caught.

It was just bad writing. He never should have been working in a public building that has tons of foot traffic. And he should have been relocated to somewhere further away. His character is as idiotic as the writing. He's the most wanted fugitive but spends nights robbing homes instead of just figuring out a way to remove the cab driver from his life that doesn't involve constant risk of being caught. He and Walt flee with millions but then both end up right back home like morons

I think it all came down to the throw away line from Saul where he will manage a cinnabum stand. It really wasnt meant to have any significance, hell, we werent even sure if he truly meant it or if he was just using another analogy (he is full of those). BCS pay tribute to that line by showing him actually in that stand (and iirc, Saul said that was the "best case scenario").

Iirc, it wasnt even Saul's idea, it was Ed's so I guess you can pin that on the latter for providing a poor choice of location to put a man that has his face everyone on Albuquerque. We know that Ed tries to consider your choice of location to be relocated (he makes no promises tho) so Im surprised Saul didnt ask him to place him somewhere further away from Albuq.

And Im sure the whole point of the robbing homes was to prove Chuck's point about Jimmy, he cant change, he can never keep his hand away from the cash drawer. The same way that Walt "liked it" and was "good at it" in being Heisenberg, so is Jimmy in being Sault, these two men couldnt help themselves, just in different ways.

Jesse lacks that NEED that Jimmy and Walt had so he is bound to have a better chance at a proper new chance.

I think it was because of Walt's commitment to making the best product possible, while Jesse would forget steps or do them incorrectly without Walt there. It was implied at the end of season 3 that Gale could now make the almost pure meth. Jesse, however, was not a chemist, he was just a guy who knew how to cook so he could make money and smoke it. At the start of season four, Walt points out to Gus that only he knows how to account for seasonal change and other small factors, which Jesse wouldn't know. He can only replicate what he did with Walt for several months of cooks.

Jesse's knowledge comes from repetition, muscle memory even, rather than actually knowing what does what. He knows the chemicals and what they do in theory but he obviously lacks the "integral" connection Walt has with the chemistry where its a relationship that almost resembles that of an art with the artist. Walt knows how to adapt to the situation to achieve the best results, while Jesse probably wouldnt be able to do so as much.

With that said, Jesse does show that the regular system of teaching failed to really engaging and you get the feel he needed a proper mentor to specifically show him the ropes rather than just being boxed in a classroom. He is an example of "failures" that are only so because their minds dont learn the same way others do.

His talk about making a wonderful little wood box and trading for weed goes to show how much potential he had that was just being squandered away.

 

[AnOminous]

I assume thats where the meth was going to South America (cant remember the nation) that Lydia made some trading ties with, to high end clients who can pay for the quality (which would explain the car sized pile of money that got Huel-ed)

I believe her major tie was to the Czech Republic. South American countries EXPORT meth (and for that matter have their own superlabs).

 

[Xerxes IX]

I honestly don't think he cared about Hank so much as his total loss of power and grandiosity. After all, he was going to let killing Hank and stealing his money slide and just die of cancer until he found out Jack was cooking his meth and decided it meant Jesse was alive.

He even used Hank's death to try to save Skyler while Maria was listening in. "He crossed me." To make Skyler look like a victim who had been coerced into going along with his crimes, instead of someone who was almost or even as guilty as he was.

I think he was horrified by Hank's death when it happened but immediately goes through mental gymnastics as to why it wasn't his fault. He's come to terms with it because it's not his fault and therefore doesn't matter just like the plane collision. Look at how his immediate reaction when he composed himself was to be an evil POS and rat Jesse out to Jack's gang as if unloading all his anger and blame for the death onto him. Hank couldn't have died due to his actions, it was all because of Jesse crossing him. And he's a narcissist who might "like" his friends and family, but not as people as extensions of himself like his drug empire and legacy. His family is a "thing" he lost like the other things he was ego tripping over. And hence he only wanted to go back to Albuquerque and do something besides die of cancer when Gretchen and Elliott hurt his pride by calling him a nobody.

 

[Calandrino]

Thread search for "porter"; 0 results. For shame. All this dickriding of the song choices, no credit at all to Dave Porter's OST.

I wonder if Saul waking up to Journey in the pseudo-finale was any kind of nod to the last scene of The Sopranos.

Jesse also went through an absolute ton of shit before he finally made it to Alaska, and even then, there's no guarantee he stayed 100% clean and out of jail for the rest of his life. Jimmy's ending on the other hand, is just framed wayyy too happily and optimistic for me for a character who's biggest hardship he got from the drug game was being kinda depressed while working in the Cinnabon.

Apparently I'm the only guy who thought El Camino was actually necessary. Jesse never managed to take control of himself or his life in BB and I liked seeing him handle things himself and having been changed by his experiences. Maybe it was fan service-y, but he suffered enough for my taste, as opposed to Walt, who imo got off pretty easy. I know Jesse's ending in BB was meant to be a positive one, but it looked to me like he was broken for life and liable to to be picked up by the cops seconds after we last see him.

I have similar feelings about the ending of BCS. I keep thinking that Jimmy's going to wish he had a time machine after a few years of prison, after the momentary glory of his grandstanding wears off. He's in for a miserable life.

 

[#lurker]

The ending felt like the writers own moral flailings rather than a genuine conclusion. They were afraid to see Jimmy get away with it, and came up with a convoluted solution, even if other options made more sense.

But despite the mediocre end, I still think it was the best show on television, right next to Fargo Season 1 and Twin Peaks Season 3.

 

[Calandrino]

Well this is a Breaking Bad thing actually

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Apparently I'm the only guy who thought El Camino was actually necessary. Jesse never managed to take control of himself or his life in BB and I liked seeing him handle things himself and having been changed by his experiences. Maybe it was fan service-y, but he suffered enough for my taste, as opposed to Walt, who imo got off pretty easy. I know Jesse's ending in BB was meant to be a positive one, but it looked to me like he was broken for life and liable to to be picked up by the cops seconds after we last see him.

I have similar feelings about the ending of BCS. I keep thinking that Jimmy's going to wish he had a time machine after a few years of prison, after the momentary glory of his grandstanding wears off. He's in for a miserable life.

I don't know about necessary, but it did work. When I first watched it I was annoyed because I wanted to know what happened to Jesse after he got out of Albuquerque and El Camino basically ends in the same place BB ended, with Jesse escaping. But it shows him growing and leaving behind his pain. The end of BB, with him not giving in to Walt and just leaving after breaking out of the compound, cheering and crying, also implies he's going to be okay, and that's really all we needed to see. But as I said, seeing him actually work through the trauma and escape in a way where he'll be fine now did work.

As for BCS, Jimmy wasn't upset he was now stuck in Nebraska, he was upset that he was no longer Saul. He had money he could have invested and lived off of for years, and instead he stuck with the Saul persona because he loves the fame and attention he got for it. Now he's in a place where everyone knows who he is, he can use his legal knowledge to help other prisoners out in exchange for protection, and he can get a few creature comforts if he makes the right connections. He'll be fine.

 

[AnOminous]

But as I said, seeing him actually work through the trauma and escape in a way where he'll be fine now did work.

To be fair, it wasn't particularly fantastic, but I was willing to let a lot of shit (like Fat Todd) slide to see what happened with Jesse. It was pretty good, which is what I was expecting it to be.

Other bonuses included getting to see Robert Forster in his role one last time, and to give a little development to Skinny Pete and Badger, who had been mostly comic relief characters. I think probably the best moment feels-wise is realizing they had both idolized him as some kind of hero, and then got to see him as the broken shell he was at the end of the show.

As for BCS, Jimmy wasn't upset he was now stuck in Nebraska, he was upset that he was no longer Saul. He had money he could have invested and lived off of for years, and instead he stuck with the Saul persona because he loves the fame and attention he got for it. Now he's in a place where everyone knows who he is, he can use his legal knowledge to help other prisoners out in exchange for protection, and he can get a few creature comforts if he makes the right connections. He'll be fine.

The idea wasn't bad. The execution blew, though.