# Better Call Saul 1.08 "Rico" 3/23/15 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799 "2015-03-23T17:40:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/81 "2015-03-25T14:12:01Z")
> [@SJL4041](#): > > I theorized that Alpine Shepherd Boy (which was given as a gift to Jimmy by one of his first wills client) I thought she was leaving it to someone in her will. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/82 "2015-03-25T14:29:26Z")
Huh, I thought everyone old enough to remember _Laverne & Shirley_ knew it was the same actor. He was good recently BTW in the relatively little-seen HBO show [Family Tree](http://www.hbo.com/family-tree#/family-tree/cast-and-crew.html), in which he played a Brit–pretty effectively to these American ears. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/83 "2015-03-25T14:48:38Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Huh, I thought everyone old enough to remember _Laverne & Shirley_ knew it was the same actor. He was good recently BTW in the relatively little-seen HBO show [Family Tree](http://www.hbo.com/family-tree#/family-tree/cast-and-crew.html), in which he played a Brit–pretty effectively to these American ears. He’s had lots of practice, y’know with Spinal Tap and HBO’s Dream On (wait… he might have been playing Australian on that one) Michael McKean even did a short stint on SNL in the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/84 "2015-03-25T14:51:02Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Huh, I thought everyone old enough to remember _Laverne & Shirley_ knew it was the same actor. Mrs. Plant (v.3.0) caught it and showed me pictures on the web. I never have watched comedy TV programs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/85 "2015-03-25T15:00:48Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Also, count me in as one who doesn’t remember Saul being a bad guy on BB. He was involved in crime, but only peripherally, and he seemed to talk sense into people rather than egging them on. He was a criminal, but not evil the way Walt, Gus, Tuco and other criminals on the show were. This show is about Jimmy becoming Saul, but it isn’t going to be a downhill slide from good to evil the way Breaking Bad was. More of a gradual, meandering, wrestling with tough choices type of show with Jimmy realizing one day that he’s a pretty far down a road he didn’t intend to be on and learning to deal with it. Yes, I don’t think people should keep expecting him to “break bad” since that’s not how he was portrayed in Breaking Bad. He was just a criminal defense lawyer who stumbled into his most lucrative clients and wasn’t actively trying to become a criminal himself. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/86 "2015-03-25T15:35:33Z")
Yeah I never saw him as Evil. Pragmatic and selfish. But not Evil. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/87 "2015-03-25T15:44:36Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > If you’re a fan of 70s television, or even acquainted with it, prepare to have your mind blown: Chuck (Michael McKean) was Lenny on _Laverne and Shirley_. Oh my god. I can’t believe I missed that. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/88 "2015-03-25T15:47:11Z")
How much older is Chuck supposed to be? I would have thought they had different mothers, but the one with the prison flashback suggest that they have the same mother. ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/89 "2015-03-25T15:54:24Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Huh, I thought everyone old enough to remember _Laverne & Shirley_ knew it was the same actor. He was good recently BTW in the relatively little-seen HBO show [Family Tree](http://www.hbo.com/family-tree#/family-tree/cast-and-crew.html), in which he played a Brit–pretty effectively to these American ears. Jumping in to say that I also very much enjoyed McKean’s recurring role on the X-Files as the ironically skeptical official at Area 51. I wonder if he’ll get a chance to reprise that role in the upcoming series? I love his character on BCS. I noticed in this episode I was getting more and more anxious the more it looked like things were looking up for Chuck and Jimmy. That other shoe is gonna drop hard, methinks. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/90 "2015-03-25T16:03:39Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > How much older is Chuck supposed to be? I would have thought they had different mothers, but the one with the prison flashback suggest that they have the same mother. My eldest brother was 15 years older than me. He was born in 1950, me in 1965. Same mother and father. It’s really not that unusual. ---
**Author:** ![soonerblue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soonerblue/32/3302_2.png) [@soonerblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soonerblue)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/91 "2015-03-25T16:23:13Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Yeah I never saw him as Evil. Pragmatic and selfish. But not Evil. The first time we see Saul in Breaking Bad - S2, E8 - was when Walt and Jesse went to the strip mall office to hire a “criminal” lawyer for Badger. Saul kicked Walt out for offering a $10,000 bribe. That night Jesse and Walt kidnapped Saul and drove him out into the desert next to a fresh grave. Jesse told Saul he shoulda taken the $10,000, and Saul said he didn’t take bribes from strangers. As Jesse holds a gun to his head, Saul tells them both to put a dollar in his pocket - so they’d be protected by attorney-client privilege. Okay, there’s legal and aboveboard Saul. Jesse threatens that anyone who snitches to the DEA will end up dead. Saul asked why didn’t they just kill Badger. Jesse said that’s not an option. Kind of evil in a way … ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/92 "2015-03-25T16:26:52Z")
I don’t get the RICO part. So what if the company orders stuff from out of state? It would be pretty hard to for any non-trivial business not to. That doesn’t make every fraud case a federal RICO matter. At the very least, the company they are ordering from would have to be in on the conspiracy. The other lawyers would laugh themselves silly at the suggestion of RICO based on an ordinary billing slip. People don’t recognize and know [Micheal McKean](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0571106/?ref_=tt_cl_t5)? Amazing. So many, many roles. One early favorite: the evil boss in _Dream On_. He and David “Squiggy” Lander did stand up together, complete with “Lenny and The Squigtones” musical bits. They also appeared together in other things such as _Used Cars_. Alas, David has MS and is not as active as he used to be. But he is a scout for the Angels. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/93 "2015-03-25T16:28:11Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > Is it known why of 10 episode titles, 9 are a single word ending with o? They probably meant “Alpine Shepherd Boy-o” and it was a typo somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_of\_Words](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@Jack\_of\_Words](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_of_Words)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/94 "2015-03-25T16:28:50Z")
There was me quite pleased with myself for spotting instantly that Chuck had been in Spinal Tap, but I’ve never made the extra connection to Laverne & Shirley - and I had enjoyed that show, way back when. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/95 "2015-03-25T16:32:32Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I don’t get the RICO part. So what if the company orders stuff from out of state? It would be pretty hard to for any non-trivial business not to. That doesn’t make every fraud case a federal RICO matter. At the very least, the company they are ordering from would have to be in on the conspiracy. The other lawyers would laugh themselves silly at the suggestion of RICO based on an ordinary billing slip. > > People don’t recognize and know [Micheal McKean](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0571106/?ref_=tt_cl_t5)? Amazing. So many, many roles. One early favorite: the evil boss in _Dream On_. > > He and David “Squiggy” Lander did stand up together, complete with “Lenny and The Squigtones” musical bits. They also appeared together in other things such as _Used Cars_. Alas, David has MS and is not as active as he used to be. But he is a scout for the Angels. I didn’t know the Hells Angels used scouts. Amazing! I think the RICO thing was just about the fact that certain kinds of fraud cases are open to much bigger damages. But it depends on several other things and so it is not as big a deal. Specifically, the company has to be making enough money to make the law suit feasible and attractive. P.S. I was just kidding about the Hells Angels. I’m guessing you meant the California Angels. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/96 "2015-03-25T16:38:32Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > They probably meant “Alpine Shepherd Boy-o” and it was a typo somehow. I think they should have called the ep “Gelatin-based Dessert” or something of the like. > [@soonerblue](#): > > Jesse threatens that anyone who snitches to the DEA will end up dead. Saul asked why didn’t they just kill Badger. Jesse said that’s not an option. > > Kind of evil in a way … I also remember a few suggested “trips to Belize” ---
**Author:** ![Nuveena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@Nuveena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nuveena)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/97 "2015-03-25T17:03:34Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I think it was money that her husband/Mike’s son stashed from his shady police practices. She found it after his death. She thought that’s where it came from, but Mike told her his son was clean. The money actually came from Mike himself. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/98 "2015-03-25T17:11:22Z")
> [@Nuveena](#): > > She thought that’s where it came from, but Mike told her his son was clean. The money actually came from Mike himself. No, it didn’t. Mike convinced his son to take the money. The kid was clean… until Mike flipped him to the dark side. And they killed him anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/99 "2015-03-25T19:20:25Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > No, it didn’t. Mike convinced his son to take the money. The kid was clean… until Mike flipped him to the dark side. > > And they killed him anyway. I’m unsure about that. She found the money after Mike left, not when Matt died. And Mike’s whole story line, ended in Breaking Bad, beginning here, is that he works for criminals in order to give money to his granddaughter. So I can see that being his first attempt. But I don’t think we’ve been explicitly told whose money that was yet. It could have been Matty’s. It could have belonged to the two crooked cops Mike killed. Or it could have been Mike’s crooked savings from the force. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799/100 "2015-03-25T19:25:14Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I’m unsure about that. She found the money after Mike left, not when Matt died. And Mike’s whole story line, ended in Breaking Bad, beginning here, is that he works for criminals in order to give money to his granddaughter. So I can see that being his first attempt. But I don’t think we’ve been explicitly told whose money that was yet. It could have been Matty’s. It could have belonged to the two crooked cops Mike killed. Or it could have been Mike’s crooked savings from the force. Mike told her his son took the money. Why would he say that if it wasn’t true? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-1-08-rico-3-23-15/715799.md?page=6)