Better Call Saul 4x2 Watch Along
Added 2024-12-10 23:41:24 +0000 UTC
Comments
Exactly. potential spoilers here, I wouldn't read further. Not only is he rewarded for being awful, whenever he overcomes this instinct he is punished for it. Every time he chose to get off this road someone else puts a roadblock on the exit while he's buying a lottery ticket for the next service station.
Cold Binterp
2024-12-12 04:24:12 +0000 UTCWell… there’s room to disagree too. With Jimmy especially I think there’s room to argue that most of his animosity throughout the beginning of the series has been displaced frustration too; that nothing is really beginning here that wasn’t precedented. But it does seem easier to see now that the true bone of contention (Chuck) is gone as a driving influence.
Eric Wall
2024-12-12 01:59:32 +0000 UTCI agree but saying something "begins a pattern" is kind of a spoiler, the girls read these comments sometimes!
Kara
2024-12-12 01:07:24 +0000 UTCThis and the final scene of the last episode really does begin a pattern of Jimmy and Kim displacing/projecting emotions onto Howard that they real should be dealing with either internally or with each other. Before now, you could argue Howard was pretty complicit in the troubles they were having. But now, he’s sorta just getting blamed out of habit. It sorta makes sense, but the reality undermines the justification. Jimmy isn’t acting weird because of what Howard did. He’s acting weird because he accidentally killed his own brother. Kim’s perspective is understandable. But it’s also pretty plainly incorrect.
Eric Wall
2024-12-12 00:58:57 +0000 UTCI think this scene also reveals the suppressed disgust he has for himself in the wake of Chuck’s death. “I could be a murderer. I could be a guy who pees in your coffee pot”. He’s basically admitting to being awful and how frustrated he is at getting away with it. Conceptually, Jimmy has absorbed Chuck’s worst beliefs about him now. But internally, he still doesn’t *feel* okay with any of it, and basically trying to warn the people around him the same way Chuck would’ve by saying, “You’re stupid to trust me.”
Eric Wall
2024-12-12 00:51:12 +0000 UTCAgain, Rhea Seehorn bringing the heat. This scene with Howard was probably one of the best single scene performances I've ever seen. From the very first moment, you could feel the tension coming from her. She was being very polite, so initially, there wasn't much reaction from the people in the office. But still, she was being reserved which we as the viewers immediately picked up on. And very quickly, with Howard and Kim and Rebecca standing together, you could see that Kim's tension and curtness was getting to them and creating an awkward tension in the air between them. And after Rebecca leaves, obviously that's where it really starts but so much groundwork has been made already by Seehorn that it doesn't feel like it's coming out of nowhere, we already felt something was troubling Kim before that. She just shakes her head slightly in disappointment looking at the paperwork from Chuck before laying into Howard; in typical Kim fashion, throwing Howard off his usual hyper-polite and formal way by being super direct, all without being rude. And then of course, when Howard says "I don't think that's fair", that's when you can see something exploding out of her. And Seehorn does this so well, showing all this tension bubbling and growing and growing until Kim just can't contain herself anymore. Even when she burts out, you can still feel her trying to contain herself but just not being able to. She's almost shaking, not really with rage, but by the effort to try and contain her rage. And all of her frustration is laid out so plainly and clearly. And all of this combined with Kim's usual effortless eloquence. It's so brilliant and powerful. And obviously, beside being a tour de force for Seehorn, it shows Kim's pent-up emotions so well. She has been so careful and tender and sweet with Jimmy and probably feels like she can't lay out her feelings properly with him because that wouldn't be fair to him or his emotional state. So she has all that pent-up frustration with nowhere to go, so she lays it all unto Howard. Pretty unfairly, you might add. You can question whether Howard's post-funeral confession was the most sensitive thing to do but it seems clear that it wasn't malicious or driven by intentional ego-centrism; he just genuinely felt like he owed Jimmy these what he felt were truths. And Kim is probably frustrated with Jimmy as well, the fact that he just tries to sweep all of his emotions under the rug and Kim feels like she can't address any of that "because everyone grives differently" and she just has to be his rock in this instance. Mixed of course with everything that Kim is dealing with herself, all of her work stress combined with her physical trauma, all of which hasn't subsided just because Chuck died. But she feels like she can't be the one that can be the emotional focus right now (if she even ever feels like she deserves that). Man, I just love Rhea Seehorn in this role, she's incredible.
Christophe
2024-12-12 00:13:20 +0000 UTCThe photocopier interview scene is one that initially puzzled me, but I've come to think shows a really important part of Jimmy. It is absolutely an expression of his grief and tendency for self-sabotage, but I think it goes deeper than that. He wants to want to do things the right way, but looming over him is the knowledge that he can just say the magic words and take a shortcut. Whether it be a half-true complement or outright fraud, Jimmy is continuously tempted to massage the truth to achieve his goals. It's a temptation most of us are familiar with, but requires far more willpower to resist when you know you have the skill to pull it off. When that temptation is removed or overcome Jimmy has the ability to do the right thing (passing the bar/returning the Kettleman's money), usually at a much greater effort for far less reward. And so he blames the people tempting him, the suckers. If only they would stop being so weak and naive, so like his father, then he would be able to get ahead the right way. He refuses to be a sheep, so thinks he has to be a wolf.
Cold Binterp
2024-12-11 22:45:17 +0000 UTCGreat reaction! Gus is evil but you gotta respect a boss who cellophane bags a guy to death. Hands-on CEO 😍. I'm joking but Gus' guys know he's willing to get his hands dirty, he's not some distant general ordering them to do things he wouldn't do himself. This has value. Rhea Seehorn the goat. I don't actually agree with everything she said - she's sort of angrily grieving on Jimmy's behalf and Howard is the appropriate punching bag. She also doesn't know about Jimmy telling the insurance about Chuck so from her perspective it's all Howard / HHM / dead Chuck's fault that Jimmy is acting this way. Kim my beloved you and your ponytail deserve everything
Kara
2024-12-11 18:09:18 +0000 UTCOther guy gave Mac and Charlie that mailroom job. And he was a waiter at that fancy restaurant.
Joe Blankenship
2024-12-11 11:10:09 +0000 UTCDefinitely recognize one of them as uncle Jack, but the other guy is completely unfamiliar and probably doesn't exist.
hobocamp
2024-12-11 08:21:17 +0000 UTCYeah i was stoked the writers really let her have an Emmy moment. she hasn't gotten many of those.
Chad Gloria
2024-12-11 06:34:43 +0000 UTCGod that Howard and Kim scene is just one of the best moments in the entire show. Rhea Seahorn is fucking perfection in this role.
John Cedar
2024-12-11 05:58:57 +0000 UTCAlways Sunny in Philadelphia fans will recognize those guys at the copier place.
Joe Blankenship
2024-12-11 03:54:40 +0000 UTCSaul is such a charmer! as my Dad used to say "he could sell sand at the beach" :)
Chris Bruneau
2024-12-11 03:04:37 +0000 UTCAlso in case you haven't read it before, the doctor is the voice actor for Vander. and a deep cut is the copy place guy (michael naughton) was in some David Blaine parody skits on youtube back in the day. pretty hilarious if any of you remember that
Joshua Luzania
2024-12-11 01:13:03 +0000 UTCSoo.. no early access?
Tom Stretton
2024-12-11 01:05:28 +0000 UTC
