Better Call Saul: Season IV

Cafe Society
101

I keep reading opinions in these threads that the show is “slow.” Or that a particular episode was slow. Enough so that some folks are contemplating bailing on the show.

Slow compared to what?

I don’t watch hardly any TV in real time. But I have caught a few episodes of Quantico, where it’s like:

“I’m working for the FBI!”

“I’m working for the CIA, infiltrating the FBI!”

“Oh, yeah? I’m pretending to work for the CIA, infiltrating the FBI, but actually I’m an FBI agent reporting on the CIA’s double secret black-ops infiltrating the FBI!”

“Well, we have to work together to hack the secret terrorist group’s computer system, which can’t be done remotely. It can only be done if someone infiltrates the group and gains physical access to the computer!”

“Well, I’ve been undercover in that group for 2 years and they are just now beginning to trust me.”

“Ok, good. But now you answer to this other agent who knows nothing. He’ll infiltrate the group in 2 days and get that trusted access!”

MEANWHILE:

“We’re all exposed to the deadly mutating virus pathogen and will be dead in 2 hours! Researchers at CDC have been working for decades on how to combat a shifting antigen virus, with no cure in sight!”

“But we have a green recruit who went to Johns Hopkins! Oh, good! He developed the serum in 11 hours and we’re all saved!”

And this all before the first commercial break.

Is THAT what people have come to expect for a TV show in today’s no-attention-span environment? What’s wrong with letting characters develop and plots develop? BB and BCS are like novels. At times, you just have to leave some characters and arcs to develop others.

I love novels. If BCS eventually fails for me, it won’t be because it is too slow. As long as it doesn’t turn into “making it up as you go, with extra stupid,” I’m in.

102

Divemaster, I love it. And BCS is nowhere near as slow as “Rectify”, which is also a critical darling that I enjoy, but I could at least understand how it might make some people impatient.

103

Makes sense to me, especially the ‘Jimmy does under-the-table work for criminals’ bit, which might help tie the Jimmy and Mike storylines together a bit more overtly than has been the case so far.

And of course it won’t just be ‘Kim becomes disillusioned about Jimmy and leaves him’…there will be some stuff that happens.

divemaster, you’re quite right about shows like Quantico. There are TV offerings for people with short attention spans (NCIS, Criminal Minds, Quantico, etc.) and TV offerings for people who like nuance and careful character development. As it should be.

104

Someone floated the idea on another board that maybe his work with the copier sales guys leads him into helping someone criminal make fake IDs, possibly it’s how he meets the ‘vacuum salesman’. They show enough of the copier interview in the previews that I expect that to be a running plot development.

It could be a blowup over how Chuck’s will gets handled. Howard is likely named as executor for the estate, and Jimmy will probably try to claim some of Chuck’s money. That could turn into a really nasty fight that involves too many shenanigans for Kim to stomach. Also whenever she finds out that Jimmy’s acting is what led to Chuck’s insurance rise there may be a problem, especially if Jimmy is really being nasty to Howard over it.

I’m really surprised that anyone who thinks the first episode this season was slow made it past the older episodes like “Mike takes a car apart, then puts it back together.”

105

So Chuck’s ex-wife ‘inherited the house’? What house? The insurance company is going to give her a check? Does insurance company think the fire was an accident, or arson? And what about the money Chuck had? Who is going to get that?

106

'kk, this was driving me a little crazy. The music wasn’t written by Rebecca. It’s a piece called Sicilienne, by Gabriel Fauré. You almost had me convinced, though, F. U. Shakespeare! :slight_smile:

107

Rhea Seehorn’s performance in last night’s episode was spectacular.

108

So Jimmy got a job offer for a job he’d probably be good at and he turned it down. Why? Was he really disgusted that they would hire him so quickly? That seems unlikely.

Was it so he could have Mike steal some hummels? Has he decided he’s not going to do honest work anymore, and just be a straight up criminal? If so, then why go on the job interview, and why go back in and try the hard sell?

109

Definitely.

110

My “take” was that he is very hurt/upset over his brother’s death, and treated the guys at the copier place much like Chuck treated him. I think the “scheme” to steak the hummels came to him later. Otherwise, why go back in for the second attempt at the job, given that he had already seen the trophy case?

111

I interpreted it that Jimmy realized on the spot (or confirmed what he already knew) that he could sell anything to anyone. He doesn’t need to be a salaryman or work commissions for someone else.

I don’t think he went into the interview to try to play them, but it dawned on him (and he probably felt disgusted with himself for slumming; Copier sales? Really?), that all he needs is his charm and fast talking. Add to that tossing away any morals and scruples, and the world is his.

I think the Hummel theft is just opportunity knocking.

112

One thing I really like about this show is that they pull plot twists that aren’t cheap. It’s easy to ‘surprise’ people by just having someone randomly die, or having established characters reverse their usual behavior for no reason, but it’s not entertaining to me. I didn’t expect Kim to be angry at Howard for coming to Jimmy with the Chuck suicide theory, but it makes perfect sense from all of the characters’ perspectives. Kim ripping Howard a new one was a great scene, even though I don’t think Howard is actually being a bad guy from an outsider’s perspective. His helpless question of how to make things right shows how out of his element he is, he’s used to knowing and doing the ‘correct’ thing at every turn and it’s not working here. I wonder if he’s like Jimmy and doesn’t actually have a lot of close connections with people; he’s married, but his wife may be just there because he’s supposed to have one. If that’s so, him confiding in Jimmy makes even more sense.

Jimmy not contesting the will makes sense, I thought he would but realistically there’s not much chance of him doing anything to it, since Chuck would be sure to make it airtight. I like Chuck’s little dig by making the ‘to be clear you’re excluded’ payout $4000 instead of the $5000 that Kim expected, that kind of pettiness fits him. I think the letter is going to be an important plot point - Kim hasn’t shown it to Jimmy, if she doesn’t soon then he might be angry that she kept it secret. And what’s in the letter? It could be Chuck being an ass, but that wouldn’t be all that interesting - what if Chuck left some kind of apology or confession; the letter could even be from before the events of the show?

Gus showing his brutal side for (IIRC) the first time in BCS was great. Ponytail chuckling at how Gus’s guys were pissing themselves while shadows moved between the trucks in the parking lot was a great visual. Nacho is pretty well screwed, but at least Gus will probably be willing to leave his father out of anything. Also Gus’s annoyed “Then I suggest you get him a badge” to Lydia was such a great line. I think Gus is actually glad to have Mike actively poking around at Madrigal, since he figures Mike will soon be a set of eyes for him.

I think their easily suckered nature reminds him of his father falling for con artist after con artist, and that he doesn’t really respect people that he can con, even though he’s good at it. Also I think he feels like he tried to go at it honestly and failed, but then went into full on “Slippin Jimmy” con man and got the job on the spot without really doing much, and he’s conflicted about that. Also the guy being so contemptuous of the figurines seemed to either bother him or give him the idea for a scam (or both).

The only one who thought it was suicide is Howard, it looks like everyone else thinks it was a sick old man who had an accident. The papers she signed would give her rights to the house, so she’d own the property and the insurance payout. The rest of Chuck’s money is going partly to the scholarship, and the rest to other non-Jimmy places that will probably never be detailed.

113

Lydia was always out of her depth as a bad guy and it showed. Mike the Cop pointed out how having him on the books and never showing up could cause problems and she doesn’t get it. Gus, the probable former Chilean Intelligence officer also comprehends quickly and is clearly annoyed at Lydia.

Of course, Mike has ensured that even if he is forced to stay away he has a plausible excuse ("I went, but the ladyboss was unhappy that I was doing my job, got into a stink and she told me to stop, between you and me, I think she only hired me for to fulfil some technical requirement, they are Germans and are anal on following procedures.

As for the “bag over the head”, won’t it be easy to simply chew through the plastic to make an airhole(s) and then use your tongue to make it bigger?

114

I think that the whole Hummel figurine thing was handled all wrong. A simple “Hey, my aunt collects those things. What do you want for the whole batch.” might have done the trick. Especially since the guys at the copier place had already said they pretty much regarded the stuff as so much junk. They might named some absurdly low figure, given that they have no idea of what these things are worth, and felt like they were ripping Jimmy off. Now, when they turn up stolen, they’ll remember that asshole they interviewed and that he took notice of them.

115

Regarding Chuck’s suicide, I see Chuck, at the end of his life, as being disgusted at his relapse. His last round of ripping wires out of the walls and generally destroying his own house in a manic state was enough that he could see the cycle starting all over again. He would likely be institutionalized, banished from the only thing that still gave him joy (his work), and forced to have Jimmy in his life. Chuck probably wondered how much of his paranoia about his brother was justified and how much of it was part of his mental illness.

Chuck wanted to strike out at his enemies and he chose the fire as his weapon.

116

During Jimmy’s job interview, when copier guy mentioned the one “Blasto 5000” model was popular in Chicago for counterfeiting $5 bills, did anyone think Jimmy was involved in that back then?

117

So easy, you should try it! Don’t forget that to be a fair test you have to be hog tied by a couple guys after they zip tie the bag around your face as you’re panicking and being thrown to the ground. My goodness, what a wimp that guy was to just die like that, tsk tsk.

Jimmy’s in the middle of an existential crisis. He gave up his “Slippin’ Jimmy” persona to follow his idealized older brother into the law then got royally fucked by that brother who then offed himself spectacularly in a final “fuck you” to Jimmy. So now he’s not a lawyer for the next year, that persona is tainted anyway but he’s outgrown his conman persona and really can’t quite settle into just being Joe Lunchbag. He needs the risks to keep his brain occupied so he doesn’t go crazy with all the stress in his brain going on. He was perfectly okay with being an elder law practitioner, helping out the old folks and cutting a few corners to get it done but still basically an okay guy. Now all that’s been stripped away and he’s seething with emotional pain. He feels he has to do something to settle that down and the discipline of setting up some criminal jobs sounds like just the ticket. Poor bastard.

118

Yes, that seems obvious—and it would be obvious to Jimmy, too.

So I was wondering if he sees some angle in setting up Mike, or in having something on Mike (assuming Mike agrees to do the job).

But it’s probably just that Jimmy is making bad, even masochistic decisions, in the aftermath of Chuck’s ‘fuck you, Jimmy’ death.

119

Self-correction: it’s Sicilienne, by French composer Gabriel Fauré.

*I had remembered Rebecca’s name being on the sheet music.

120

So it’s still the same piece being played at Chuck’s funeral that he was attempting to play with the metronome?