# Better Call Saul: Season IV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792 "2018-07-30T04:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/141 "2018-08-15T16:26:35Z")
The saddest part about it is that I’m pretty sure that if Chuck had kept out of Jimmy’s private practice he’d have settled down and made it work being legit–he only came out of persona when Kim’s livelihood was being threatened. He was willing to settle down, make a life of elder law and give up being a conman all for Kim but Chuck had to come in and threaten that life and now he’s in a spiral again–and this one’s probably going to be the spiral that causes Kim to give up on him and turn him full Saul. But no, Chuck’s inflexibility and snotty idealization of THE LAW uber alles were too strong and the fucking dick just had to keep pushing–I mean, granted, his own assholishness ended up losing everything he valued and then his life as well but did he have to take his brother down with him? What an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/142 "2018-08-15T17:14:24Z")
Mike would never go for a petty theft of knick-knacks. So, there is something else going on with this. Or maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/143 "2018-08-15T17:43:38Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Mike would never go for a petty theft of knick-knacks. So, there is something else going on with this. Or maybe not. I hope it’s something else. He’s getting $10,000 “paychecks”, why would he risk jail or whatever for a one-time $4000? ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/144 "2018-08-15T17:55:36Z")
Yeah, Jimmy might float that idea past him but no way Mike would go for it. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/145 "2018-08-15T17:56:22Z")
I think the Hummel that Jimmy was looking at online had a price over $8,000, and there was more than one. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/146 "2018-08-15T17:58:31Z")
Didn’t Jimmy say something about “$4,000 for each of us” to Mike during the quick preview of next week’s show? The one Hummel he looked up was advertised for around $8,000 . I understand the Hummel market has crashed and they aren’t worth much any more, except for possible a few rarities. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/147 "2018-08-15T18:42:13Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Didn’t Jimmy say something about “$4,000 for each of us” to Mike during the quick preview of next week’s show? The one Hummel he looked up was advertised for around $8,000 . > > I understand the Hummel market has crashed and they aren’t worth much any more, except for possible a few rarities. I keep remembering something was significant about “Alpine Shepherd Boy.” ---
**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:** [August 15, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/148 "2018-08-15T20:00:55Z")
Something that went totally over my head about that scene where Kim confronts Howard: their attention to detail extends even to hairstyling. > **[Kim Wexler’s Ponytail on Better Call Saul Is a Follicular Force of Nature](https://www.vulture.com/2018/08/better-call-saul-a-tribute-to-kim-wexlers-ponytail.html)** > > It’s more than a hairstyle. It’s a reflection of who Kim is and who she wants to be. > [@](#): > > When Kim wears that ponytail in a courtroom or other work-oriented setting — and that’s usually where she wears it — it is a reflection of her strength and sense of order. No strand is out of place. The coil is curled perfectly, as if it were sculpted with plans to put this ponytail on display in a museum. It is a ponytail that could only spring from the scalp of a grown woman who is formidable and unflappable. It’s a total power pony. > > But the ponytail, by nature, also has a whiff of girlish energy about it. A high and tight one like Kim’s is associated with cheerleaders and elementary-schoolers whose mothers insist that they look their best on class picture day. The way it swirls is reminiscent of the pigtails once worn by Cindy Brady, the baby of The Brady Bunch who swore she didn’t sound like a baby, even though she totally did. Kim Wexler is smart enough to grasp all this, and that’s probably why she chose the ponytail, too, aside from the practicality that comes with just putting up her hair and forgetting about it. Kim wants her colleagues to take her seriously, but in a male-dominated profession — and also in a firm like her former one, Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill — she realizes that it doesn’t hurt to subtly project a bit of youthful femininity.[…] > > After her car accident, an event brought on by work-related fatigue, Kim’s ponytail went on sabbatical, partly because she hasn’t been working and also, perhaps, because trying to tie a ponytail that sublime is next to impossible with a broken arm. > But Kim managed to pull it off in last week’s episode at the funeral for Chuck McGill (Michael McKean), brother of Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk), an event that she knew would be attended by plenty of her former colleagues. On an occasion that required her to pay her respects and also look like her usual professional self, she got her ponytail on. Which is why it’s extra-notable that for her confrontation with Howard (Patrick Fabian) — the big, gangbusters scene in “Breathe” — she didn’t.[…] > > Stay away,” Kim tells Howard when he asks what he can do to make things right. You get the sense that she’s drawing a similar line between herself and her past life, too. If the shouting and well-earned rage don’t already give that away, all you have to do is take one look at her hair in this scene to see it. > > It’s in a ponytail, as it usually is when she sees Howard. But that ponytail is gathered at the nape of her neck, and it’s messy — not organized neatly into its usual twist. Her hair is basically half-down and half-up, a reflection of the career and moral limbo Kim is about to face. Most significantly, that ponytail isn’t fastened with the typical rubber band that blends in perfectly with Kim’s soft blonde hair. In a final screw you to Howard Hamlin, one that Howard would never notice in a million years, she shoves her hair into a barette. A barette. No other hair accessory says quite as loudly and clearly: “I have stopped giving a shit what you think.” Well, maybe a scrunchie, but that also says, “I have stopped giving a shit how I look,” and Kim is definitely not there yet. I’m not sure if the interpretation here is correct, but it’s still impressive attention to detail. Once I went back to look at the scene and compared it with the funeral, I totally saw what they were talking about. But I think the implication is more likely that Jimmy would have helped her with the ponytail for the funeral, but for her secret trip to Howard’s office they used a look she could plausibly create with just one working arm. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > Mike would never go for a petty theft of knick-knacks. So, there is something else going on with this. Or maybe not. I feel the same. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/149 "2018-08-15T20:20:42Z")
Did anyone else find the plastic bag scene physically difficult to watch? Not how I wanna go. And no, you cannot chew your way out of a plastic bag when hog-tied. Think of the physics of it. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/150 "2018-08-15T21:50:45Z")
The post-opening credits scene with Nacho and his father was absolutely heartbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/151 "2018-08-15T22:36:38Z")
I am a really big fan of this show and often watch an episode a couple of times to catch as much nuance as I can. This thread is such an enhancement to the watching experience, because you all make connections I never do. So thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/152 "2018-08-15T23:28:10Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > The post-opening credits scene with Nacho and his father was absolutely heartbreaking. Was there any meaning in his dad separating the money into 3 stacks? ---
**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:** [August 15, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/153 "2018-08-15T23:37:52Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Was there any meaning in his dad separating the money into 3 stacks? I was wondering the same. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/154 "2018-08-16T00:06:52Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > The post-opening credits scene with Nacho and his father was absolutely heartbreaking. Yes, it was. Michael Mando is doing amazing work in a role that is beautifully written; there seems little doubt that tragedy lies ahead for a character who is trying to do the right thing, in so far as that’s possible in the life he’s fallen into. ETA: on the three stacks: Hector laid out the money that way when telling Nacho’s father what the new ‘deal’ was he’d have to accept. ---
**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:** [August 16, 2018, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/155 "2018-08-16T00:37:50Z")
So the father had semi-accepted the deal? I’m fuzzy about it, but I thought he was adamant in his refusal, hence necessitating that Nacho move quickly against Hector. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/156 "2018-08-16T00:41:04Z")
The Mrs. and I love the tension inherent in the episodes. It’s just marvelous to watch. And seeing Gus’ darker side was great. That was heavy-duty plastic around that guy’s head. No way he was chewing through that. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/157 "2018-08-16T01:00:36Z")
Nacho’s papi was very against it, but had no real choice and knew it so he complied. Nacho was doing his best to get dad out of the mess Nacho put him into but there’s no way to force a stroke, all he could do was change the pills and wait, knowing he could let dad out of the deal once Hector was out of the picture. Dad is not letting Nacho off the hook though–that was a pure dee “You started this, now you lay in it” fuck you move with the money. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better “You are no son of mine” moment, especially one without words. Brutal! ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/158 "2018-08-16T01:03:47Z")
I think Nacho was stupid in picking up the evidence right then. And stupid for throwing it off the bridge. He could have just melted the container in his house or something. ---
**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:** [August 16, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/159 "2018-08-16T01:44:14Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Nacho’s papi was very against it, but had no real choice and knew it so he complied. Nacho was doing his best to get dad out of the mess Nacho put him into but there’s no way to force a stroke, all he could do was change the pills and wait, knowing he could let dad out of the deal once Hector was out of the picture. Dad is not letting Nacho off the hook though–that was a pure dee “You started this, now you lay in it” fuck you move with the money. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better “You are no son of mine” moment, especially one without words. Brutal! I took it as such also—until I heard “Mijo”. I still thought there was some reason Nacho felt there was imminent danger of his dad being killed. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792/160 "2018-08-16T01:57:21Z")
I didn’t think Nacho specifically feared for his dad’s life–he just felt ashamed for getting his law abiding, honorable father involved in the nasty shit he does for the Salamanca’s. Nacho has way more of a conscience than he’d be comfortable admitting to. And dad is pissed and giving him one hell of a spanking, but there’s a lot of love there on both sides. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-season-iv/818792.md?page=9)