Better Call Saul season 6

Cafe Society
#650

I watched the little Marathon the other day, and got caught up. Mildly entertaining, fully frustrating and thoroughly ridiculous. I really get the feeling the writers have zero respect for the audience. How do they do write this shit and expect anybody to buy into it? Oh, that’s right. It worked the first time.

The whole “Set Howard Up To Fail” was so silly they should have done all those parts with animated cats and dog or coyotes, complete with falling anvils and painted tunnels. Lots of Acme Product placement. Give it the treatment it deserved.

Whatever. Only watching out of boredom and desperation. You can only play so many games of Risk against the computer before starting to talk to the dishwasher.

#651

I think spoilering a pure speculation, that’s based on something that all of us could have seen in the show, smacks of intellectual elitism. Like your guesses are so earth shattering that the rest of us have to be protected from them. It’s the kind of thing that Chuck would do. Don’t be a Chuck.

#652

After years of telling us that Breaking Bad was actually the dumbest show ever and then telling us that Better Call Saul continued the tradition, and how dumb we all were for falling for such stupid shows, I thought you’d become smart enough to stop watching them over the last few years. We seemed to get a break from your standard “BB/BCS are so dumb, I can’t believe anyone thinks they’re not dumb! They must be dumb!” posts. Alas, you still seem to be heroically watching dumb shows you hate for the last 15 years so you could keep us apprised that, indeed, we are dumb for liking it. Thank you for your service.

#653

I’m sad and lonely, Man. Sad and lonely. Now everybody knows! I gotta do something to keep me from doing crime. I didn’t know this was the “Let’s Suck Vince Gilligan’s Dick” thread. Everybody seems to have their own opinion (quite a few similar to mine, by what I’ve read). But I’m not allowed? Feel free to ignore me. Most everybody else does. :dotted_line_face:

Thank you for your service.

Chronos, I'm sorry
#654

As far as wild speculation goes, I think Kim goes straight. And gets far, far away. Why? Her little monologue in the tailers with the Howard-blood-spattered candle about blah, blah, blah. Unless that is all a ruse…

Shit got real for her when she had to clean up his brains outta her house. Was all fun and game up till then.

#655

[Moderating]
@Gatopescado , surely in this era of eleventy bazillion streaming shows, you can find something you can enjoy watching and discussing? That’s my official recommendation.

Absent that… I’m not going to ban you from this thread, and I’m not going to ban you from criticizing the show, but I will say, at least, stop trying to turn this into a pity party for yourself.

Chronos, I'm sorry
#656

Got it.

#657

Not sure about that. I got instructed not to threadshit back on May 25th, and I was a LOT more fanboyish than Mr. Let’s-All-Suck-Vince-Gillegan’s-Dick here, which discouraged me, as was intended. I mean, I was claiming to have enjoyed the show overall, but critical of all the suspense that led to so many dead ends that I wondered if the writers were spewing them about recklessly with no goal other than generating controversies for controversy’s sake. But I was made to feel that if I didn’t have good things to say about the show, then why don’t I be a good fellow and fuck off? Which is NOT what I think this forum should be for, and I do NOT agree if you’re saying Cafe Society is only for positive comments. Some shows go through dead spots, some sharks are jumped, and if not here, then where would you suggest we post critical comments about TV shows?

#658

I very explicitly did not say that.

#659

No, you didn’t. But you and puzzlegal were very quick to rebuke posters who offered critical comments. I didn’t want to get into an argument about it, still don’t, but I felt that my critical views of the last few episodes were deemed to be threadshitting, which is not in line with an exchange of positive and negative comments.

#660

Ah. I just re-read, and realized I was NOT banned from the thread (I thought I was)

I agree with Roger on this

And as a serious response to Mr. Beef (I thought mine was suffieiently Tounge-in-Cheek, but it didn’t come out like that) as to why I watch a “show I hate”…

I’m a big Odenkirk fan, and to a lesser degree Banks. I remember Banks for the old Wiseguy show where he played a prototype ‘Mike’ character. In charge, calm, competent. I like the way he played it, and although I hate the character of ‘Mike’ as an Uber-Efficient Ultra-Competent Mega-Badass with near Invincibility (with a heart of gold), I like to watch Banks play it. Hell, his voice is just soothing. “Not my call”

But really, I watch Saul for Odenkirk. Been a fan of him since Mr. Show and nearly all he’s done since (with the exception of his involvement in getting Tim and Eric famous, God I hate those guys!)

Watching him weave comedy and drama, twist them back and forth is really worth the rest of the nonsense. That scene where he tries to get the shit-hook Waxmens, or whoever to sign the papers after hood-winking them, and they refuse. As he walks to back to his car, that grin comes over his face, and he pulls out his pen and clicks it… Brilliant! All on Bob. The story was shit, but the acting was fantastic! Just a case of the parts being greater than the product.

So, I watch 'cause I’m an Odenkirk fan. McKean was good, too. Never liked L&S, but Spinal Tap was all that! That dude was a true talent.

So, I guess I hate the play, but not the players.

#661

To make it perfectly clear: In a thread about a TV show, movie, book, or any other work of art, it is permissible to post praising it, and it is also permissible to post criticizing it, or any combination thereof. Criticizing a work of art in a thread started to praise it, or vice versa, is not threadshitting, and that was not the problem with @Gatopescado 's posts. @Gatopescado 's posts became a problem only when he started turning them into a personal pity party, and so that was what I moderated.

#662

I think this quotation suggests otherwise. You were “officially” recommending what, exactly? I read it as recommending (officially) that he post on different topics.

As I also read puzzlegal’s remark to me, which I just quoted. The “official” stance of Mods in this thread seems to me clearly “Don’t post about this show unless you’ve got positive things to say.”

#663

I think the key there is “enjoy discussing”. You can discuss the pros and cons of a show without hating on it and sucking the fun out of the discussion.

You can be critical of a show without crapping all over it and you can be complimentary without shouting down all criticisms. Finding that balance in a thread is something mods try to do.

#664

I totally agree. If all someone does is post negative and hostile posts every week about nearly every aspect of the show, it ruins the thread for everyone else. This is different from not liking a particular episode or storyline.

#665

Yes, @IvoryTowerDenizen hit the nail on the head, and @hajario explains why we do it. If you hate a show and want to trash it, start a thread for that, don’t dump on the people who are enjoying the show, or some aspects of the show. If you mostly like the show, but are really pissed that xyz happened in this episode, or you noticed a funny discontinuity, or have some other negative comment that would be of interest to the other people discussing the show, by all means, put it in the main discussion thread about the show.

If you want to like the show, but xyz prevents you from doing so, you can bring that up. But harping on it, especially if no one else joins you, is a detriment to the conversation.

#666

First place, some people said they agreed with the points I was making, so spare me the “no one else joins you” overstatement, and “harping on it” was 'responding to people’s defenses of the show’s flaws" (pretty ineptly, for the most part, at least to my perspective.) I’m glad to be persuaded I misread a scene or misunderstood a plot line–in fact, that’s why I post as I do. I want to be persuaded, because I LIKE THE FRIGGEN SHOW, as stated several times. I like the actors, I like the characters, I like the cinematography, I like the writing, I like the direction, but I’m disappointed by the story arc so far this season–too slow for my taste, and way too many over-orchestrated details spun with too little resolution. Do you suppose I’ve watched this for six seasons because I don’t enjoy the show?

If people don’t enjoy reading my posts here, they can roll their eyes and scroll on instead of engaging me in discussion, or accusing me of threadshitting. But if they DO engage me in discussion, then I think I have every right to clarify, to elaborate, to respond,

#667

There’s also the matter that a TV show is an ongoing thing. If you’ve watched enough episodes to make a judgement, and decided that it’s not your thing, you can just stop watching. Nothing’s forcing you to continue watching a show you don’t enjoy. That’s why I recommended that @Gatopescado find a different show, because it sounded like he wasn’t getting any enjoyment out of this one.

Based on his latest post, it sounds more like he likes some aspects of the show and dislikes others. So maybe, overall, he does consider it watching. Whatever, that’s fine, too.

#668

So for more context, there are a few posts here.

I’m not going to go digging up examples, but during Breaking Bad threads @Gatopescado would make a lot of posts, regularly, that went something like “wow, this show is so dumb. Everyone keeps saying how great this show is, so everyone must be stupid and must’ve been somehow fooled by such a dumb show. I can’t believe I’m watching this garbage.” Regularly, for years. It wasn’t just bashing the show, it was saying anyone who liked it was dumb. As per my link above, once Better Call Saul started, it was clear we were in for years more of the same thing.

In that thread, Idle Thoughts, who was a moderator but not acting officially as a moderator, posted

So I can understand why people would think that the moderation in response to just his posts in the thread might be a bit much, but it makes a lot more sense when you realize he’s been doing the same thing for literally over a decade, and he can’t just criticize the show, he has to insult the people who watch the show, too. In my view, the latter is more where it clearly crosses the lines and violates the rules, but even the former is a little bizarre when you consider that he’s basically acting like watching the show is painful for him, and yet he watched 6 years of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. That’s why I was surprised to see him pop up with his schtick again after a few years - I thought perhaps he finally watching a show he hated so very much.

  • I’m not trying to junior mod here, I’m just trying to help explain what history there is on this one that the moderators here are aware of that makes the behavior more problematic.
#669

Maybe these ten years of negative commentary tell you more about Gatopescado himself than the shows he’s commenting on. Maybe he really just needs a hug.