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Better Call Saul S3 |OT| Gus Who's Back - Mondays 10/9c on AMC

A

Altazor

Member
I'm so glad this is back. Amazing show.

I'm just dreading the inevitable moment in which Kim's heart is irreparably broken by Jimmy and she leaves his life never to come back :(
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- We Got This Covered review (contains a few spoilers about the first two episodes, please tag discussion as appropriate)
Fantastic - Better Call Saul remains as singularly distinctive as ever, even as it moves closer to the world of its parent show Breaking Bad. 4.5 out of 5 stars
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They also discuss the opening sequence in detail, which takes place where you expect.
 
S

Swimmer9800

Member
HotHamBoy said:
That's because you want this show to be Breaking Bad and isn't trying to be.
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I acctually dont. I feel like the stories or both saul and Mike are very incongruent. The both exist but don't exist together in harmony. Tonally they couldn't be any faether from eachother. I'm really hoping that in season 3 they begin to innerlock harmoniously.
 
?

____

Member
Damn. Just rewatched season 1 episode 1.

Felt like I didn't remember anything despite remembering I enjoyed it, so t feels like watching it for the first time. So so much I missed. Gonna try to marathon thru both seasons again before season 3 premieres.

Feels like without the commercials it's 2x as good.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- Collider review
Better Call Saul has always been Odenkirk’s showcase, even though the rest of the cast is fantastic. But there’s something about Jimmy that is so specifically spellbinding, both in his calculated charm and his vulnerability. Even with Breaking Bad encroaching, one shouldn’t be so quick want to leave Slippin’ Jimmy behind.

Rating: 4 stars - Still one of TV’s best slow-cookers
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- TV Guide
Gould promised that the season "starts with a bang," which isn't exactly true. He also promised "so much rip-roaring conflict" that "goes to a new level." That remains to be seen, but after two seasons of Better Call Saul and five of Breaking Bad, most viewers are probably already in or out. And if they're in, they trust that Gilligan and Gould know how to deliver "rip-roaring conflict" of both the action and emotional variety. It may take awhile to get there, but it'll be worth it when it arrives, and the journey there sure was pretty, wasn't it?
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Saganator

Member
For some reason I thought this was on last night. I was super pumped for it all weekend and was greatly disappointed last night when I realized it wasn't.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- ScreenerTV: Rhea Seehorn on the return of ‘Better Call Saul,’ ‘Breaking Bad’ theories & Kim’s power of stillness

- Village Voice review
This quality time with Mike allows us to understand the full depth of his skill set. He is so thorough, detail-oriented, and sharp that his eventual promotion to his Breaking Bad role as the right-hand man of Gus Fring, the infamous cartel boss and purveyor of delicious curly fries, seems almost a foregone conclusion. These scenes also continue to suggest that one function of Saul is a character study, allowing us to see not only how these criminals evolved but why their stories couldn't have ended any other way than they did in Breaking Bad.
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dLMN8R

Member
What's the best (legitimate) way to watch Better Call Saul if I don't have cable?

Do any of the streaming services like Hulu get AMC shows within 24 hours? Just buy it separately on Amazon? Just curious of my options.
 
G

-griffy-

Banned
dLMN8R said:
What's the best (legitimate) way to watch Better Call Saul if I don't have cable?

Do any of the streaming services like Hulu get AMC shows within 24 hours? Just buy it separately on Amazon? Just curious of my options.
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Probably iTunes/Amazon season pass? I think outside of the US episodes go up on Netflix next day too.
 
L

Lightningboalt

Neo Member
HP_Wuvcraft said:
But this time for actual reasons.

I have no issue with people liking Chuck, even though I think he's a shit. But you cannot tell me that the Skylar Hate is warranted.
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Yeah, this. Chuck's a nuanced case where I can understand siding with or against him - he's a petty, vindictive asshole who pushes Jimmy to give in to his baser instincts when he was genuinely trying to be a better person, but you can sympathize with his jealousy and frustration regarding Jimmy's character flaws too. His admission of what he did in s2 made me hate him and I felt was an incredible villain moment, but I appreciate the depth he's given where siding with him is just as viable. He's supposed to be divisive, he's supposed to be one of the antagonists, and it's very effective.

Skylar hate was just uncomfortable and largely felt like people saying "that bitch is stopping our cool hero from doing cool things", ignoring the very key point that Walt was not a good guy. I could maybe stretch and say I could understand very very early s1 dislike of Skylar where she's domineering over Walt and suspects him of wrong-doing perhaps before she should, BUT the fact of the matter is he was legitimately breaking the law and he quickly proved to her that he is in fact doing something shady. The man made his wife look awful towards the rest of the family, at points making their son resent her, but somehow she was the bad guy to people and it boggles the mind. She's not divisive, she's not an antagonist, she's just a flat out victim.
 
?

____

Member
HP_Wuvcraft said:
But this time for actual reasons.

I have no issue with people liking Chuck, even though I think he's a shit. But you cannot tell me that the Skylar Hate is warranted.
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Warranted or not, I hated her character. And the actor who played her character. Can't put my finger on it, but she was not a likable person in any way to me.
 
W

wordballoons

Member
Robdraggoo said:
I kinda like Saul more than bb.

We're I felt that bb was a show of a decent man gone bad. But you ultimately find out he was an asshole all along. Saul is a guy who is struggling to do good but his nature won't let him. He's constantly at war with himself. Which is why I find him a more interesting.
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I can't be the only one who figured Walt always had it in him to be as petty/malicious as he ended up?
 
M

MightyHedgehog

Member
Given the pace of the show so far, it feels like we're going into the last turn where Jimmy fades more or less completely into Saul, linked to the outcome of Nacho's cartel conflict. If Gilligan's and Gould's early spitballing was right in thinking five seasons for BCS, then we might see a season on the flip side of BB and spend a lot more time with Gene and how that build up will play out. S4 could be partly pre-BB S2 and partly concurrent with that Walter White space of time, ala BTTF2. I'm hoping for a really ambitious episode or two that way, anyway. Excite.
 
B

BunnyBear

Member
____ said:
Warranted or not, I hated her character. And the actor who played her character. Can't put my finger on it, but she was not a likable person in any way to me.
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Anna Gunn nailed it. Fuck off with that shit. And that's all I'll say on that topic.

This really is the best television show around. I've been awaiting S3 more than any television event since I can remember! Bring it on.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Lengthy behind the scenes piece in Variety:

- ‘Better Call Saul’s’ ‘Breaking’ Point: How It’s Gearing Up for Gus Fring
Gould took on the mantle of sole showrunner this season, after Gilligan stepped back mid-run to focus on his HBO limited series about cult leader Jim Jones. But the season still bears Gilligan’s handiwork; he co-wrote the first episode with Gould, and he directed the first two hours.

“Obviously he’s still very much part of the show, but it’s a different experience after having worked together side-by-side for 10 years,” says Gould.

Though this transition was planned since the show’s debut, Gilligan admits he misses being part of the day-to-day. “Stepping away has been kind of tough on me,” he says. “The plan is for me to come back as soon as I’m done [with the HBO series], at least for the final season.”

No one is yet setting a date for that final season; the show is an important one for both the studio and the network. And talks have yet to be settled even for a fourth-season renewal (season three’s greenlight came halfway through season two). “But with every step, every episode, every actor, we move toward an end game,” Gilligan says.

Charlie Collier isn’t concerned: The president of AMC, who also oversaw the series finale of “Breaking Bad,” believes the creative crossover won’t negatively impact “Saul.”

“The show already stands on its own two feet in so many different ways,” says Collier. “And yet what makes it such an impressive needle to be threading is that we all know right down to the very last stitch how exactly it’s going to end. So to not have this incredible new world crossover with the familiar old world wouldn’t be authentic.”

Time is indeed elastic in the hands of these creatives; the events of “Breaking Bad” spanned less than a year, but unspooled over the course of five seasons.
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Much more via the link.
 
M

MetalGearZed

Member
From the trailer it sounds like Chuck is going to a full blown antagonist finally. I have a feeling S3 is going to be calamity similar to how S3 of BB was.

can't wait. Love all these characters. Bob and Rhea's chemistry is a sight to behold.
Cinematography in this show also surpasses BB. Its beautiful. The crew gets better and better.
I can go on and on. Best show on TV at the moment i'd say.
 
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____

Member
BunnyBear said:
Anna Gunn nailed it. Fuck off with that shit. And that's all I'll say on that topic.

This really is the best television show around. I've been awaiting S3 more than any television event since I can remember! Bring it on.
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Meh. Hated her. Her personality type is the kind that makes my skin crawl in real life so there's that.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
- The Atlantic: The Karmic Universe of Better Call Saul
Ahead of their show’s third season, co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould talk ethics, pacing, and politics.
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Spencer Kornhaber: More than ever, this is a show about ethics and psychology. Do you have any ethical schools of thoughts you turn to when thinking about the choices these characters have to make?

Peter Gould: A lot of what we do is testing, “Where is this character’s head at right now? What’s he willing to do? What are the stakes for him?” For instance, in Season 1 Jimmy had that moment where he had that giant pile of money from the Kettlemans and it was illegally gotten, and of course Saul Goodman would’ve taken that money, and Jimmy couldn’t do that. There were big ethical reasons why he wouldn’t, but more than that, he saw an opportunity to help Kim. So it was ethically complicated.

From the beginning of the show, we were always thinking, “How is this guy different from Saul Goodman? How can we show that?” That’s one of the ways we came up with the idea of Tuco getting ready to kill those skate rats way back in episode two of the show. We thought, Jimmy’s gonna defend them, while Saul wouldn’t—he’d be too worried about his own skin. Ultimately the descent of the character, the change that he makes to become Saul Goodman, is an ethical, moral one.

Vince Gilligan: All of us feel a universal human desire that the universe be a just one. It’s important on this show that actions have consequences, and it was just as important on Breaking Bad. Every now and then it seems like we have no control of the world we live in—but we get to control the characters for whom we write. It’s pleasing for me to have there be karma that kicks in, an ultimate justice, because I don’t know if we have that in real life.

Gould: In reality people are often victims of circumstances. On this show and on Breaking Bad, the fault is not in the circumstances but in the characters, and that’s something that didn't become clear to me on Breaking Bad until midway through the first season. When we started working on the show, I thought it was about a character who was a victim, a school teacher who got cancer and as a result went to these great lengths to take care of his family.

Then in one of the relatively early episodes, he has the opportunity to take money from his friends for treatment that would’ve eventually saved his life and family. I remember arguing, “We can’t do this! We’re giving this character a trapdoor! How can he not take it?” But he didn't take it. That was when I realized the story we were telling was about a man’s ego.

And in Better Call Saul, the question is, is Chuck right that Jimmy shouldn’t become a lawyer—is Jimmy with the law like a chimp with a machine gun? Or is it a self-fulfilling prophecy—is Chuck putting his thumb on the scale with the way he’s treated Jimmy?

Gilligan: Maybe Chuck himself shouldn’t be a lawyer, or maybe Jimmy would be a great lawyer had Chuck not steered him with his negativity into Jimmy’s own baser instincts.
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More via the link. Good interview.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
____ said:
Meh. Hated her. Her personality type is the kind that makes my skin crawl in real life so there's that.
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Women who are 100% right in what they do, how they act, but sound "bossy" because they're strong enough to take on toxic masculinity directly?
 
M

Mr. Blonde

Member
Altazor said:
I'm so glad this is back. Amazing show.

I'm just dreading the inevitable moment in which Kim's heart is irreparably broken by Jimmy and she leaves his life never to come back :(
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or:kim was with saul during the entire BB timeline of events, just offscreen!

I wish lol.
 
M

Mr. Blonde

Member
HP_Wuvcraft said:
But this time for actual reasons.

I have no issue with people liking Chuck, even though I think he's a shit. But you cannot tell me that the Skylar Hate is warranted.
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i disagree, i think theres plenty of reasons to hate skylar and justify it, not the least of it being "im just waiting for the cancer to come back"
 
?

____

Member
dLMN8R said:
Women who are 100% right in what they do, how they act, but sound "bossy" because they're strong enough to take on toxic masculinity directly?
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If that's what you'd like to believe, sure. People interpret and view things in different ways, it doesn't mean one person is wrong and the other is right. Her personality was grating (not bossy, imo) and off-putting to me, and I feel the writers/producers/directors intentionally set her up that way. Maybe for a purpose, but personally I never 'felt' the switch to her eventual "redemption" that a lot of others did.

Hated her character -slightly- less by the end of the series, but still hated it nonetheless. My opinion, is all. Like I said, maybe I just didn't like the actor.

EDIT: On topic so I don't get a warning/ban, I think after re-watching the first few episodes that I kinda do like the pace of this show more than BB. It's slow and calculated like BB in parts, but I feel each scene is important in a way that BB didn't lack, but didn't really...put -emphasis- on 100% of the time.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Hey folks, before we get even more off track, let's knock off the Skyler White debate. It inevitably will result in a derail, hot tempers, and name calling. Please keep the focus on the upcoming season of BCS. Thanks.
 
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