"Better Call Saul" (2015-), Prequel to AMC's "Breaking Bad" - Created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould

[DonRocks]

On 5/11/2017 at 2:54 PM, dracisk said:

Once you're done with "Breaking Bad," which I agree is worth it, you can watch "Better Call Saul," which is spun off from "Breaking Bad" and also great!

On 5/11/2017 at 3:43 PM, saxdrop said:

The team behind "Better Call Saul" has fairly earned the benefit of the doubt, for both this and BB, but this season seems to be losing momentum: Saul's story line is becoming increasingly tedious and overall the show more dependent Mike's arc (which I guess is ok). 

On 5/11/2017 at 3:48 PM, dracisk said:

Oh, shoot! I haven't watched the current season of "Better Call Saul" yet. I'm sorry to hear it may be going downhill.

I power-watched all of "Breaking Bad," and think it just may be the best TV series I've ever seen.

I'm now watching "Better Call Saul," based exclusively on my adoration of "Breaking Bad," coupled with the comments on this website. I've made it through Season 2, Episode 8 ("Fifi"), and unfortunately, I don't think it's even in the same stratosphere, quality-wise. We can certainly discuss this.

*** SPOILERS FOLLOW *** (I'm Going To Give Away Some of the Overall Story Arc Below)

Truthfully, there are two - and only two - characters I care about in "Better Call Saul": Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Mike Ermahntraut (Jonathan Banks), and that's only because it lends some background to their *tremendous* characters on "Breaking Bad." In particular, the way Mike parted from the Philadelphia Police Department (and his corresponding love for his granddaughter, Kaylee (Faith Healey and Abigail Zoe Lewis in "Better Call Saul," Kaija Bailes in "Breaking Bad") - which I find both adorable and heartbreaking).

I'm almost finished with Season Two, and not one single mention has been made of Saul Goodman, which just doesn't seem right to me. More importantly, I find literally every other story arc interminably dull: There is nothing at all I find interesting about Kim Wexler (Rhea Seahorn), Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian), or Chuck McGill (Michael McKean, despite my unabashed love for McKean in "This is Spinal Tap"). All three of them bore me to tears, and their story lines - especially the annoyingly overplayed electromagnetic hypersensitivity subplot with Chuck - have me pining away for a return to Jimmy, Mike, or even *any* member of the cartel.

That saxdrop says there's a loss of momentum in Season Three almost guarantees that "Better Call Saul" will be a wrap for me after Season Two - I can't imagine it getting much worse.

As an unwanted side issue, Mike has clearly aged since the filming of "Breaking Bad," and thinking back to the near-superhuman things he did in that series (remember him walking through the desert after being shot?) makes them seem absolutely impossible. Mike Ermahntraut just may be my favorite character in either series - his stoic toughness reminds me of Anton Chigurh in the great "No Country for Old Men," but Ermahntraut also has the ridiculously high-level mental acuity of any action hero you could think of - the whole package wrapped in a laconic series of silence, accentuated with the occasional grunt.

This series has (I think) made me like Saul Goodman less overall - it was better not knowing where he came from, or how he got to be such a bad-ass attorney.

Am I the only person who loved "Breaking Bad," but isn't loving "Better Call Saul?" Why is this series boring me to tears? Not to propose the obvious, but I really feel like they made it just to wring out as much money as possible from their product, and not because they had any story to tell.

[dracisk]

47 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

That saxdrop says there's a loss of momentum in Season Three almost guarantees that "Better Call Saul" will be a wrap for me after Season Two - I can't imagine it getting much worse.

I started watching Season Three of "Better Call Saul" and lost interest pretty quickly, so I'd say saxdrop was right. I think I watched two episodes. I liked Seasons One and Two, though (not that I remember many details about them at this point).

[DonRocks]

SE3 EP3 - "Sunk Costs"

 

"Want one?"

On 9/27/2017 at 3:38 PM, dracisk said:

I started watching Season Three of "Better Call Saul" and lost interest pretty quickly, so I'd say saxdrop was right. I think I watched two episodes. I liked Seasons One and Two, though (not that I remember many details about them at this point).

This is interesting: I detested seasons one and two; I began watching season three on a whim, and it's by far my favorite season. Different strokes?

[Pool Boy]

Meh, I am enjoying the ride.

[DonRocks]

Rhea Seehorn is a 1994 graduate of George Mason University.

Jonathan Banks is a 1966 graduate of Northwood High School (!)

PS - Here's "Linda's Film on Menstruation."