That’s where I remember him from! I couldn’t place him but he def looked familiar.
Yeah, hence the quote that I referenced from when Walter first met with Saul on BB. I love how he clarified that it was just Spooge, no last name.
Next door, I would say. The problem with crossing the street is that you would have to go deep to get below buried utilities. Sewer lines can go pretty deep, and it looked like the secret doors to the tunnel were only at a normal basement level. Plus, there is the remote but real risk that the city could discover it if they ever had to dig up the utilities, say due to a broken water main. Utilities are out in the street, not in between two adjacent properties. But for narrative purposes, across the street is fine if it makes sense in the story.
Thing I don’t get is, how would these tunnels have been dug without someone noticing? They’d notice if it were done in the initial stages of building the neighborhood. You’d think someone would notice if it were done post construction of the houses, with all the dirt being hauled out or the sounds of construction. Maybe this is supposed some kind of parallel to the meth superlab, or a symbol of Gus himself, who seems to have a lot going on below the surface that we can’t see. I don’t know, but it’s an interesting part of the story.
Unless Gus hired the construction crew (at least for those two houses) himself. If two houses were built next to each other, it’s doubtful anyone (not on the construction crew) would notice a tunnel between them. Even the municipal inspectors probably wouldn’t notice it if they did something as simple as putting a sheet of plywood over the opening when someone was poking around.
I think if hand tools were used, the noise wouldn’t be an issue. Removing the dirt could be a bit trickier. If the “resident” drove a large pick up, they could haul some away at least once a day without drawing attention. But pretending to have some type of construction project going on , say, adding a patio, would give them a perfectly plausible excuse to have a dumpster on the property, as well as lots of large trucks (like box trucks) coming and going to a week or two.
Also, keeping in mind the nature of the show, it’s also possible they own enough houses in the immediate area to create a buffer zone specifically to keep prying eyes at a minimum.
If the houses are back to back it would be about like putting in a pool. Dig a big hole and haul off a lot of dirt.
Don’t forget we had a whole arc all about them building the lab basement in secret. Gus knows a thing or two.
A reasonable response. Still, I would think hand tools would take interminably long, as would taking out one trunkful of dirt at a time. I could never figure out Andy Dufresne’s escape either in The Shawshank Redemption. And how did he get the poster back up on the wall anyway?
In fact building a pool would be the perfect cover story for the excavation.
I assume Andy left the poster attached at the top. To dig, he lifted the lower part and crawled under it.
That’s what I thought as I was watching: it’s a secret bunker that’s just practice for bigger - and deeper - things.
Arrrgghhh, that’s always been my question - how indeed from inside the wall!!
“The wicked flee where no man pursueth”
“You think we’re wicked?”
Yes, Kim, yes I do. Amusing as all these capers with Howard are, let’s not forget exactly what they’re aimed at: utterly destroying his career and reputation so that he gets struck off and loses his (entirely legitimate and rightfully earned) claim on the Sandpiper settlement. They are not “just” scamming money from him - they are utterly ruining him and his law firm out of greed and malice.
It’s interesting to watch the power balance shift: we end with Jimmy basically asking Kim’s permission to open his new offices. In earlier seasons he went ahead and signed leases and painted walls without even giving a heads-up. In other relationships this change might look like personal growth but it’s nothing of the kind, just a shift in the pecking order.
Jimmy is cowed: by Kim’s ruthlessness against Howard and by his experience of what the cartel truly is. Worth remembering that in BB Saul did not start out as a very connected guy - he was a sleazy criminal lawyer who knew Mike as a guy who do some clean up work, not as right hand man to Gus. I can’t recall if he even knew Gus’s identity but I think not. Jimmy had a big speech in season 5 ranting to Howard about how he was now a magnificent big shot playing a game others couldn’t even understand but that’s not really where he is or where he’s going. He’s taking on low-rent crims as clients, he’s lost the respect of his peers and it’s all going to be pretty grim and sleazy from now on. Especially once Kim goes whereever she’s going.
I found Gus’s tunnel and compliant neighbours scenario to be a bit too much in all honesty. Yes, he’s a cautious mastermind with a flair for complex long-term planning but also: come on now, be serious.
The poster was like a curtain, it’s only hung at the top.
Saul is the one who introduces Walt and Jesse to Gus after Combo gets murdered and they can’t find any of Jesse’s friends willing to sell the blue meth.
Are you sure? I seem to remember it being fastened at the bottom and the top.
You’re forgetting that BCS is a prequel to BB and all the activity we’re seeing right now is leading up to the introduction of Walt and Jesse and that whole mess. Saul is in the position of getting connected right now, by the time BB comes along he’s accepted his lot, become fully the shady lawyer he is (remember Jesse telling Walt, “You need a CRIMINAL lawyer”?) and is fully conversant with money laundering, dealing with murderious cartel shitbags and getting 100% guilty AF clients out of trouble. Saul has always known who Mike is, knows (although by sideways means) who Mike works for and who Gus is–the only one who didn’t know all this is Walt. Saul does know about Gus but he also knows that’s someone you don’t tap on the shoulder lightly, it’s like jostling a bottle of nitroglycerine. He’ll bring Gus something he thinks Gus would want but is probably very careful about any favors he asks for.
“The internet” says it’s only attached at the top, but if you watch the scene it certainly seems to me that it’s attached at all 4 corners. Especially since after he throws the rock through it, he puts his arm through it and none of the corners move in with his hand as you’d expect them too if they were just hanging there.
When he wanted to enter the tunnel, he could remove the lower fasteners (tape, tack, whatever) and lift the poster. He would replace the fasteners after exiting the tunnel.
There’s a scene in the movie showing Andy working on the start of the tunnel, and he has the poster draped over himself, only fastened at the top.
Regarding Gus’s secret tunnel and surveillance house, I had something of a similar reaction to some others here. It’s cool, and the scene of him going through the tunnel was great, but the whole setup doesn’t make much sense. It’s not unlike the whole plot of them constructing the laundry meth lab, really.