Or to answering some of the issues I’ve found in the writing? I’ve learned a few things i got wrong by people engaging me in conversation and maybe I’ve been able to show some folks where the parts they thought were so terrific didn’t make much sense. I don’t see where it’s my responsibility to accept sloppy writing in a show especially after being told by that show’s fan boys that it’s brilliantly plotted and everything will work out in the end
Forget it- that level nitpickiness is not one I’m going to delve into. Basically, I don’t think there is any argument that would satisfy you that I haven’t been hoodwinked.
Some last thoughts, I guess I’m a glutton for punishment- Clift actually said he saw Howard in the car with hooker to Howard, so it worked. Jimmy went on and on about people not respecting cones, so yeah, he was a bit naive there. The photo had to be right in case Howard (a sophisticated lawyer) realized that it was missing the broken arm when he met the judge.
Part of the point is that while it’s an elaborate set up, it’s also not foolproof or perfect. This isn’t Ocean’s 11. They’re smart, but not infallible. He’s not supposed to be perfect- his mistakes are part of the complexity of the character.
Let’s not suck all the fun out of the show, for goodness sakes.
I came in here to read about a show I like, and sure, that can absolutely mean discussing plot holes and whatnot. But I’m not sure how you threadshitting insults on those of us who actually like the show by calling us hoodwinked fan boys makes for an honest discussion.
Your dislike of the show seems greater then my desire to continue reading condescending posts from a person who doesn’t like the show, so I guess I’m done reading this thread.
That ship has sailed long and long ago. I’m almost happy one of my all time favorite shows is ending so I don’t have to skip past yet another shrill carping whine about plot holes and unbelievable schemes. In the meantime, I’ll do my posting on Reddit so’s not to have to deal with people who obviously have too much time on their hands and are probably ever so fun at parties.
FTR, I really liked that. It saved me at least once. I usually don’t watch BCS until a little later in the week and because I have no intention to actually watch it on Sunday, I usually forget that it’s on. So when I see that there’s been activity in this thread I’ll start reading and it usually takes at least a few posts before I realize I have no idea what anyone is talking about because the new episode was just on.
Did I misread that (or misread what you wrote)? I thought they made it pretty clear his marriage was falling apart because of the stress Jimmy and Kim were putting him. His wife probably thinks he’s losing his mind for the same reason that Cliff does. Howard even told them in that last scene that his marriage falling apart was directly due to them.
Since they specifically mentioned it wouldn’t show up in a drug test AND they specifically mentioned that it wouldn’t show up on normal drug tests (like the one you’d take for a job/sports), I’m wondering if it’ll actually end up showing up in the autopsy report since they might be testing for a lot more than the common recreational drugs.
And if they do find it, will they somehow follow it back to them?
Possibly because with something like that, he could get actual, concrete proof that it was Jimmy. If he noticed his car had been moved, it’s entirely possible that there’s a camera that would have seen Jimmy take the car and then return with it later. If Howard could show that tape to Cliff, Cliff would have a hard time denying Howard’s claims.
That bugged me. Why didn’t they have the car coming from the other direction. As it was Cliff had to completely turn around to see them, which he may not have done, but he could’ve spotted Howard’s car the entire time it was approaching. If they went the other way, he wouldn’t have had any chance to spot the car and see it wasn’t Howard, but the confrontation in the road would have been right in his eye line (like it was for Kim). He could have been the one to notice it instead of later realizing Kim was pretty insistent that he turn around and look.
Also, did anything ever become of the recording she made of them?
Something I noticed that was never brought up again was that it seemed like they were trying to imply that Howard has inadvertently been passing that drug around the office. As he’s dealing with the wheelchair, they specifically show him noticing that there’s still something on his fingers, then they show him touching other objects and people around the office. At one point Howard even told Cliff that the pictures were still wet*. I was expecting a bunch of other people to start acting like Howard, and Cliff starting to believe him.
*wait, does that mean they re-shot the second set of pictures as well? Why? IIRC the guy in those pictures didn’t even have a broken arm, they could have just used whatever they had to begin with.
And why are they using film cameras? Just so they’d have a reason to be wet? I think it’d be more plausible to just give this drug the ability to transfer from paper to skin even if it’s dry, or find a more plausible way for Jim/Kimmy to get something wet (like, maybe a cold drink or a wet handshake) into his hand just before the meeting started.
So this is what’s making you hard to talk to. I have no problem with criticism of a show, that’s fine. But you imagined these legions of BCS fanboys that blindly praise everything the show does, because that is certainly not something that happened in this thread or on this board. And once you’ve justified that you are the counterpoint or “solution” to those blindly adoring fanboys, you’re just trying to insult everyone that doesn’t dislike the show.
Hmmm…no, I don’t think so. If so I would have expected Howard to throw that in their faces when he was having his final rant. When he warns his wife about future bullshit she might hear about him, she mentions like the bowling balls through the windshield, which is hardly anything she would have blamed him for. No, I think it is just an unrelated stressor on Howard and was designed to further humanize him and increase sympathy for his put-upon character. It is just one more thing he is dealing with.
If so there would be serious repercussions and disbarment. We know that Saul is very successfully practicing law in a few years from those events so probably not. I suspect that this whole plot line is over, unless maybe Kim takes the fall.
Moderating:
This is a thread primarily for people who enjoy the show. Please don’t thread shit.
This one post isn’t a huge deal, but reading back a bit, i see a persistent sense that your posts are making it harder for fans to enjoy chatting with each other. That’s a good sign for you to back off.
I keep feeling like the ending was kind of a let down. We spent this entire time trying to figure out exactly what Jimmy was planning. That was a long and intricate plot line to keep track of and probably even harder to write. All, presumably, leading up to some big payoff at the end. Something along the lines of one of them completely ruined and the other on top of the word. It even looked like it was playing out that way. Howard’s life is falling apart and he told Jimmy he won and Jimmy is about to get a big payout that will kickstart the next part of his life. But instead of that, Howard gets killed by a chance encounter with Lalo, someone he never even knew existed up until that moment. If they need Howard dead, they could have found something more plausible, like the drug causing hallucinations (causing him to do something stupid and fatal) or a heart attack. If they needed Lalo to kill someone in their living room, a neighbor or the pizza delivery guy would have worked just fine. I can’t think of any reason why Lalo would need to kill Howard.
The original set of pictures showed the exchange of the package near the entrance of a building. I don’t believe we saw the alternates for those. The do-over set was taken in the park so they needed the alternate frisbee pictures to match.
I disagree. It was important that they get the shots right so it would seem like the exchange just happened, not several months in the past. The devil is in the details, as they say.
Gaslighting only works if the person isn’t sure if they’re remembering things right or if they made a mistake. Jimmy gaslighted Chuck with the transposition error, and Jimmy gaslighted Howard about many things, including his parking place. He wanted Howard to figure it out eventually, but not yet. Very clever writing in my opinion.
I got the impression that they’d been split for nearly a year, so it wasn’t that. I can’t remember if he stated that at the end, or it came out in the shrinks office, but the interactions with the wife also looked as if that was that had been like that for a long time.
For some reason, I loved how the fake judge actor got so so so into character and all he did was walk by Saul making a handoff. And it was just stills.
Well, that’s more of a frequent mafia expression than a Sopranos-specific expression.
But both series have now shown lead characters watching the movie Born Yesterday.
That makes sense, I’m assuming they simply couldn’t get to the other location then, since it seems like a lot of extra time they’d be wasting reshooting extra pictures, doing his makeup in the field etc.
But again, the problem with the parking spot, and why Jimmy was making such a big deal out of it is because it’s something he could (potentially) acquire concrete evidence, not only that it happened but who did it. That would prove to and Cliff that this isn’t all in his head. Remember, the cocaine in his locker was circumstantial. Cliff saw “Howard” and the hooker from a distance, but in this case, Howard could (potentially show) that someone moved took his car and returned it later and he’d have an alibi for the entire time the car was gone.
I knew he mentioned it in that final monologue, but I just rewatched it. He mentioned it as one of the examples after saying “I’ve worked my way through worse”, inferring that his marriage falling apart was independent of their prank. In my head, everything about Howard’s life crumbling was due to their meddling.
So why would they tell us about all these unrelated things in Howard’s life? Why show us (not to mention the time to film) that elaborate, but unrelated kitchen scene? Especially since they could have just had Howard blame his home problems on Jimmy/Kim. It would have made more sense, at least to me.
Were they supposed to be setting us up to expect a suicide?
OTOH, as I think about it a bit more, it does fit with my earlier theory that the writers were trying to make it appear as though they were building up to someone (Jimmy) being on top of the world and the other one (Howard) seeing his life collapse around him.
I suppose, besides, it was just a thought. It would take a number of pieces (as many other things in this show) falling into place for it to even happen. They’d have to look for, and find, the drug in his system. They’d have to somehow make the connection to the vet (even if it was a common vet med, they’d have to find that vet), the vet would have to not only admit it, but give them Jimmy or Kim’s name etc etc).
That fact that he said it in English makes me wonder if A)they wanted it to stand out and B)they wanted it to sound like an established expression (like calling someone “loca en la cabeza” instead of just saying ‘that guy’s nuts’) makes it entirely possible that Lalo picked it up from watching The Sopranos. The Sopranos would have been a few seasons into it’s run at the beginning of BCS and wrapping up or already done airing by now.
I’m not saying that’s what they had in mind, just that if the writers intended it to sound like something from The Sopranos, the timeline would work to make it seem appear that Lalo was making the reference, not the writers.
I think that the fact Howard has been sleeping in the guest house is going to play into the cover-up. Either his body is found there or drugs are planted. The kitchen scene made us feel even sorrier for Howard and set up his confession about his marriage to Jimmy and Kim so it didn’t come out of nowhere.
I think it’s simpler than that. You show Howard making an even-keeled, honest attempt at working on his marriage so that you can contrast that with how deeply Jimmy and Kim got under Howard’s skin. “I can live in the guest house until the end of time and not bat an eye, but this elaborate gaslighting is driving me into the depths of insanity.”
I’ll never understand the need some people have to spend so much time in a thread for a show they don’t like trying to convince everyone else that they shouldn’t like the show while also insulting them? What is the point? If they don’t enjoy the show then they are going to make damn sure nobody else can enjoy talking about it?