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

When Chuck was looking for the source of electricity, was that music composed by the show or licensed? It was absolutely perfect for that scene.
 

BunnyBear

Member
I text a friend after watching the finale and I said "damn at that ending" which my friend responded "damn at those PJs." Lol I didn't even notice them.

Hahahaha! How could you not though. The sound of 1000 Redditors mashing the keyboard all at once was almost audible worldwide.
 
Incredible episode.
So does this mean that because chuck has no children that jimmy inherits all the money from HHM that was agreed or will it go to his ex-wife, i can't remember if they were divorced or not?
 

duckroll

Member
I'm not sure I think this judgement is reasonable. Chuck is clearly nuts, but then we knew Chuck was nuts from the first time he appeared on the show.

Jimmy will still get his payout eventually, and he gets to do the right thing. If you've already decided Jimmy is basically amoral then this seems false to you, but I don't think that's right. The takeaway from this episode is that he genuinely didn't realize he would permanently hurt Irene, and was willing to throw away his (admittedly moribund) practice to take it back. He just also learned that being hated is just as easy as being loved, and sometimes more effective.

Kim just got in a pretty major car accident and has a serious injury. Frankly, the idea of going right back to work is clearly bad. I think you have this exactly backwards -- Kim thinks about jumping right back in, then realizes she needs to make better life decisions and refrains, because she actually is quite mentally stable and reasonable. She's not going to lose the bank, and she really isn't equipped to take on any other clients, so her career is right where it was.

Other than Chuck killing himself, I wasn't phrasing any of those in a negative way. It's good that Jimmy was will to destroy his payout now to make himself feel better because it shows that he realized he went too far and Irene's misery was affecting him. Kim terminating her short term goals of potentially expanding beyond Mesa Verde just to stretch her legs after an accident is also a good thing. What I was suggesting is that there is a cost to all their acceptance of themselves and their limits. The cost comes in a destructive way. Being destructive is not always bad, sometimes you need to shake things up. But the running theme in the finale was tearing things down by accepting who you are.

Chuck accepting who he is and that in the end he might have "won" in pushing everyone away by trying to prove that he was right all the time, led to him deciding that the only way this ends is with him killing himself. That is a terrible yikes moment. I didn't think they would go there.

But I wouldn't agree that Kim's direction right now is entirely a healthy one? Yes, it's good for her to relax a bit after the accident, but I think she's overcompensating for everything, and the way she just lets it all go with Jimmy makes it clear that she's also tired of pretending that everything being legal and above board is soooo important to her. With her there's no middle ground, there's no compromise. She either commits completely into something and overworks, or she thrashes it all and says fuck it. She either says "this has to be 100% straight and proper!!!!!!!" or she just shrugs at anything and just accepts it as it is.

And no, I still don't think Jimmy is a good person. I mean, I wouldn't say he's amoral. That's a simplistic reading. But I think that what Chuck said about him is 100% right. He will hurt people around him, he will keep doing it, and he will not think he is the bad guy. He sees this as a big misunderstanding that spiraled out of control, something he didn't intend to happen, so he got upset and fixed it. But he hasn't learned the lesson that this isn't how you go about doing things at all or how you treat other people. He will never learn that, because he is Jimmy. To put it another way, I feel that the only reason Jimmy gave up on this con was because the con didn't turn out the way HE wanted it. His vision was that after they settle, everyone gets back together and is happy. If that happened, he wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with it at all. He has no problem with the manipulation. He has a problem with the manipulation not being what he envisioned in his head. It's about him. Irene is just a piece of his plan. If he really thought of these people as human beings who should be respected, he wouldn't do this in the first place.

/rant
 

pigeon

Banned
Incredible episode.
So does this mean that because chuck has no children that jimmy inherits all the money from HHM that was agreed or will it go to his ex-wife, i can't remember if they were divorced or not?

I was thinking this too. It depends on whether Chuck has a will (lawyers usually do, but Chuck is the kind of guy who doesn't), and if he does, whether it was kept in his house. If he does have one, I doubt he lets everything go to Jimmy. But I think the odds are pretty good that he doesn't.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Incredible episode.
So does this mean that because chuck has no children that jimmy inherits all the money from HHM that was agreed or will it go to his ex-wife, i can't remember if they were divorced or not?

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Jimmy wasn't in Chuck's will. OR even more likely, Chuck updated his will to remove Jimmy after all that trial unpleasantness. With how Chuck still seemed to be caught up on his ex, it wouldn't surprise me if he still left the money to her.
 

caliph95

Member
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Jimmy wasn't in Chuck's will. OR even more likely, Chuck updated his will to remove Jimmy after all that trial unpleasantness. With how Chuck still seemed to be caught up on his ex, it wouldn't surprise me if he still left the money to her.
Which is a way to bring the wife back especially since they set up her disappointment with Jimmy
 

Kadin

Member
What a great episode and such a great overall season! I wasn't sure about the ending and then I saw the
suicide hotline phone number
before Talking Saul.... crazy.

I assume Hector's heart attack is what will lead to his condition in BB? I don't know how much time has passed but I assumed the drugs that Nacho swapped would have kicked in earlier than they did.
 

Hanmik

Member
Other than Chuck killing himself, I wasn't phrasing any of those in a negative way. It's good that Jimmy was will to destroy his payout now to make himself feel better because it shows that he realized he went too far and Irene's misery was affecting him. Kim terminating her short term goals of potentially expanding beyond Mesa Verde just to stretch her legs after an accident is also a good thing. What I was suggesting is that there is a cost to all their acceptance of themselves and their limits. The cost comes in a destructive way. Being destructive is not always bad, sometimes you need to shake things up. But the running theme in the finale was tearing things down by accepting who you are.

Exactly... tearing everything down...

Chuck accepting who he is and that in the end he might have "won" in pushing everyone away by trying to prove that he was right all the time, led to him deciding that the only way this ends is with him killing himself. That is a terrible yikes moment. I didn't think they would go there.

I loved how the episode started with Jimmy and Chuck sitting in a tent, by a lantern, and Chuck is reading "The Adventures of Mabel".. a book by an author who was an alleged liar and wrote false reviews for his own book.. it caught up to him in the end, and he killed himself.. there is so much more to the series, than what we just see on screen.

But I wouldn't agree that Kim's direction right now is entirely a healthy one? Yes, it's good for her to relax a bit after the accident, but I think she's overcompensating for everything, and the way she just lets it all go with Jimmy makes it clear that she's also tired of pretending that everything being legal and above board is soooo important to her. With her there's no middle ground, there's no compromise. She either commits completely into something and overworks, or she thrashes it all and says fuck it. She either says "this has to be 100% straight and proper!!!!!!!" or she just shrugs at anything and just accepts it as it is.

She said it in the episode "Always the Good stuff".. ;o)

And no, I still don't think Jimmy is a good person. I mean, I wouldn't say he's amoral. That's a simplistic reading. But I think that what Chuck said about him is 100% right. He will hurt people around him, he will keep doing it, and he will not think he is the bad guy. He sees this as a big misunderstanding that spiraled out of control, something he didn't intend to happen, so he got upset and fixed it. But he hasn't learned the lesson that this isn't how you go about doing things at all or how you treat other people. He will never learn that, because he is Jimmy. To put it another way, I feel that the only reason Jimmy gave up on this con was because the con didn't turn out the way HE wanted it. His vision was that after they settle, everyone gets back together and is happy. If that happened, he wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with it at all. He has no problem with the manipulation. He has a problem with the manipulation not being what he envisioned in his head. It's about him. Irene is just a piece of his plan. If he really thought of these people as human beings who should be respected, he wouldn't do this in the first place.

/rant

it is always about him... everything he does is for him.. he is just trying to "wash his hands" and move on...
 

Jofamo

Member
I assume Hector's heart attack is what will lead to his condition in BB? I don't know how much time has passed but I assumed the drugs that Nacho swapped would have kicked in earlier than they did.

I don't think Nacho's plan with the swap was about poisoning Hector, so much as denying him his heart medication. He swapped out his pills for standard Ibuprofen or something, right?

It'll be very interesting to see where it goes from there. Hectors heart stopped, which means he stopped breathing and lack of oxygen to the brain. That could lead to the symptoms and condition we see Hector live with in BB.

In any case, Gus saw Nacho swap the pills back, so he knows exactly what's gone down. Gus always knows.
 

Hanmik

Member
I don't think Nacho's plan with the swap was about poisoning Hector, so much as denying him his heart medication. He swapped out his pills for standard Ibuprofen or something, right?

It'll be very interesting to see where it goes from there. Hectors heart stopped, which means he stopped breathing and lack of oxygen to the brain. That could lead to the symptoms and condition we see Hector live with in BB.

In any case, Gus saw Nacho swap the pills back, so he knows exactly what's gone down. Gus always knows.

yes... that is why he went to his father after the first time Hector took the pills. He thought the pills were just a Placebo, after he didn't die the first time he didn't get the right pills..
 
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Jimmy wasn't in Chuck's will. OR even more likely, Chuck updated his will to remove Jimmy after all that trial unpleasantness. With how Chuck still seemed to be caught up on his ex, it wouldn't surprise me if he still left the money to her.

My guess is Howard. Having Howard buy him out from his personal wealth (and probably ruining him financially) was the final straw IMO.
 

stenbumling

Unconfirmed Member
I guess we won't really see Howard again either, right? With Chuck gone he is pretty much disconnected from everything else going on. I mean, they could create a story for him going forward, but that could easily feel contrived and unnecessary to the main story. Though I am sure he will pop up for Chuck's funeral at least (and if they have no funeral scene, which I am not so sure they will, maybe he will just offer his condolences to Jimmy in some other way).
 

caliph95

Member
I guess we won't really see Howard again either, right? With Chuck gone he is pretty much disconnected from everything else going on. I mean, they could create a story for him going forward, but that could easily feel contrived and unnecessary to the main story. Though I am sure he will pop up for Chuck's funeral at least (and if they have no funeral scene, which I am not so sure they will, maybe he will just offer his condolences to Jimmy in some other way).
He is arguably (or at it would be in story)partially responsible for chucks suicide and was his only "friend" and he still respects Chuck ro did so i imagine we would a bit of him in the next season.
 
I don't know how much time has passed but I assumed the drugs that Nacho swapped would have kicked in earlier than they did.

A lot of people seem to make this same mistaken assumption. The pills Nacho swapped weren't poison. They were just placebos. If Nacho's aim was to poison Hector, he could have done it far more easily than by swapping out the pills. After all, in the very same episode he made the switch, he offered to make Hector an espresso, and Hector accepted.

Nacho's goal is for Hector to die of a heart attack. That would look natural, and wouldn't arouse suspicions from the cartel. If Hector died due to poisoning, an autopsy would easily discover that, and Nacho would then be in danger. Obviously Hector doesn't die, but it's looking likely this heart attack and lack of his medication is what puts him in the state we see him in Breaking Bad.
 
I guess we won't really see Howard again either, right? With Chuck gone he is pretty much disconnected from everything else going on. I mean, they could create a story for him going forward, but that could easily feel contrived and unnecessary to the main story. Though I am sure he will pop up for Chuck's funeral at least (and if they have no funeral scene, which I am not so sure they will, maybe he will just offer his condolences to Jimmy in some other way).

Nah. HHS will be the main beneficiary in his will (NOT Howard) and that will solve their money problems and make them a primary foul against Kim...

AND SAUL.
 

JS3DX

Member
Yeah you just have to accept it (native speaker here also). Here's my order from worst to best:

1. Tio Salamanca - just terrible - and his fake Spanish accent is also bad
2. Gus - Some minor moments where it doesn't sound terrible, and overall better than Tio, but not convincing at all
3. Nacho - Just some minor weird moments that betray he's not a native speaker. Could be believable as perhaps the son of a native speaker who didn't quite pick up the language

And as far as I'm aware, here are the native speakers:

1. Nachos dad
2. Don Eladio
3. Juan Bolsa

Is that it? Any others?

It's also fault of the script: You can tell the team in charge isn't fluent in spanish,even so that should be one of their priorities given the location and direct relation of the plot with Mexico.

The scene in Don Eladio's house is particularly cringeworthy for a native speaker.
 
I guess we won't really see Howard again either, right? With Chuck gone he is pretty much disconnected from everything else going on. I mean, they could create a story for him going forward, but that could easily feel contrived and unnecessary to the main story. Though I am sure he will pop up for Chuck's funeral at least (and if they have no funeral scene, which I am not so sure they will, maybe he will just offer his condolences to Jimmy in some other way).

Chuck won't have a funeral

he was cremated

I'm sorry
 

Rymuth

Member
because he has a huge ego and he can't get over the fact that he lost his distribution to a man he views as vastly inferior. He still thinks he's the big boss in the Cartel.
I get that but he usually lashes out even when things are going his way. He kills Gus' partner when they came to him with an opportunity, he almost drowns his grand-nephews over a kid's fight.

In a world of nasty criminals, he's an extremely nasty breed.
 
BCS is in the top three cable shows of the week when DVR numbers are factored in. Sometimes its number one. It is not going anywhere until the creative team says so.

If AMC came even close to canceling it I'm sure Netflix would scoop it up in seconds. They have day 1 distribution in a lot of countries and I would be surprised if it weren't among their top shows.
 
Man I don't know what it was about that scene but seeing Chuck quickly descend into madness was really rough to watch. Usually things like that in other movies or shows are just like "Yea Yea they go crazy sure whatever". I don't know if it was the music they used combined with the way they shot it and really took their time to show it. Whatever it was they nailed it. Phenomenal.

I'm still catching up on this thread (I mostly avoid it during the season) but is it the consensus that him telling Jimmy he doesn't really care about him actually affected him greatly and started the house rip up?
 

ColdPizza

Banned
Just coming back to say that extended scene with Chuck losing his battle to madness, ripping up the walls with the brass instruments was something special.
 

SpaceWolf

Banned
It amuses me that we're about to get to Season 4 of a show called Better Call Saul and we haven't even got to Saul Goodman practicing law yet in a show that'll probably only run for about five seasons.
 
It's also fault of the script: You can tell the team in charge isn't fluent in spanish,even so that should be one of their priorities given the location and direct relation of the plot with Mexico.

The scene in Don Eladio's house is particularly cringeworthy for a native speaker.
I wonder if the native-speaking actors just shrug and go along with it... or alternatively, maybe it's even worse and what we get on screen is after the actors make some minor tweaks. :)

I thought the scenes between Nacho and his dad were convincing enough...
 
Did Gus know that Nacho was at it with the pills? He certainly gave a lingering look.

Really enjoy reading everyone's hypothesis on this show, its great that so many people take the characters and plot arcs in different ways.
 
It amuses me that we're about to get to Season 4 of a show called Better Call Saul and we haven't even got to Saul Goodman practicing law yet in a show that'll probably only run for about five seasons.
And what's more, of all the different kinds of story that it could have become, it ends up being a tragedy that likely will leave us disliking Saul.
 
Did Gus know that Nacho was at it with the pills? He certainly gave a lingering look.

Really enjoy reading everyone's hypothesis on this show, its great that so many people take the characters and plot arcs in different ways.
It's also a credit to the writing that it can strike people differently.
 

Veelk

Banned
Did Nacho change the pills? And if not, would the doctors even think to check if the pills are what they say on the box?

And no, I still don't think Jimmy is a good person. I mean, I wouldn't say he's amoral. That's a simplistic reading. But I think that what Chuck said about him is 100% right. He will hurt people around him, he will keep doing it, and he will not think he is the bad guy. He sees this as a big misunderstanding that spiraled out of control, something he didn't intend to happen, so he got upset and fixed it. But he hasn't learned the lesson that this isn't how you go about doing things at all or how you treat other people. He will never learn that, because he is Jimmy. To put it another way, I feel that the only reason Jimmy gave up on this con was because the con didn't turn out the way HE wanted it. His vision was that after they settle, everyone gets back together and is happy. If that happened, he wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with it at all. He has no problem with the manipulation. He has a problem with the manipulation not being what he envisioned in his head. It's about him. Irene is just a piece of his plan. If he really thought of these people as human beings who should be respected, he wouldn't do this in the first place.

I don't know.

I take it that Jimmy does feel a measure of empathy and regret for what he did, not just because it wasn't the way he wanted it to happen for himself. If nothing else, it feels like it'd take an incredible amount of integrity to give up a million dollars because you don't feel you personally did a job right.

I feel it's more that the characters these particular showrunners write go through a series of micro arcs rather than one big arc from A to B. By the end of BB, we could conclude that Walter White was firmly a monster (and even then, there are debates about how pure he was in that regard), but over the course of the show he'd just constantly swing back and forth. Here he is doing something for his family, here he is escalating things needlessly, here he is being selfless, here he is being selfish.

I think it's something like that. This arc had Jimmy come closer to Saul than any other previously, but it ended with his most unselfish act thus far. And it will go on like that. From here, something will prompt him to act selfishly again, then decently, then selfishly again and so on until we end up at Saul Goodman.

And I feel like that's something that would be a detriment to most other shows. But here, it just makes it feel real. All these random real life events that pull the characters this way and that, changing people but not really changing, conflating motivations, etc. It makes it really compelling.
 

____

Member
Did Nacho change the pills? And if not, would the doctors even think to check if the pills are what they say on the box?

I feel like I remember him switching them back to his normal meds. Not sure if doctors would check what's in his system though.
 

LordRaptor

Member
Did Gus know that Nacho was at it with the pills? He certainly gave a lingering look.

Mike figured it out based on just asking for pill casings, I took it as Gus figuring it out based on Nachos behaviour collecting the dropped pills and lack of giving-a-shit about his bosses collapse
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Did Nacho change the pills? And if not, would the doctors even think to check if the pills are what they say on the box?
He was shown collecting the spilled pills, he probably switched the original ones within that pill container.

Mike's advice seemed more general to me. Not necessarily meaning a doctor, but that anyone from the gang suspecting that there was foul play could eventually think about the pills.
 
A great finale, I really hope Season 4 happens.. this show needs to go on.

I turned on the Food Network channel, and fucking Chuck's actor is on an ad for a food show, something about about chocolate and wine.
Everytime I see it I'm just like, fuck you Chuck.

Also, why does everything think he's dead ? they didn't show it.
 

LordRaptor

Member
Mike's advice seemed more general to me. Not necessarily meaning a doctor, but that anyone from the gang suspecting that there was foul play could eventually think about the pills.

Yeah, given the line of work they're in I'd imagine anyones death of any 'high rank' is going to be heavily scutinised
 

-griffy-

Banned
It's interesting that in some ways Chuck was doing exactly what he criticized Jimmy for doing. Chuck wasn't accepting who he really was. He tried to play at getting better for a bit, just like Jimmy has tried to play things straight, but he eventually slips back into what he feels comfortable with.

He says Jimmy is putting on a show by coming over and feeling bad about what he did, but what is Chuck doing for Jimmy with all the lights on and record playing?He's putting on his own damn show. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason it took him awhile to answer the door when Jimmy showed up is because he was running around the house turning all that crap on. Did the same thing for Howard at the office and when he was at home cooking.

It's sad because I'm certain he doesn't even realize it. Makes his story even more tragic.
 
Mike figured it out based on just asking for pill casings, I took it as Gus figuring it out based on Nachos behaviour collecting the dropped pills and lack of giving-a-shit about his bosses collapse

You also saw nacho put the pills he picked up in his coat pocket. Off camera he clear put the original pills back in. Gus figured it out easily enough. It makes sense nacho would have the actual pills on him at all times. He would never know when he might need to switch back again.

Loved Jimmy "fixing" the situation with Irene and Co. It fits perfectly with his character. He can justify what he does so long as it turns OK as he hopes for those he cons. If they are dicks he don't care and feels they deserved it. If they are innocent, like the old ladies, then its fine as long as the are happy again afterwards. In this case he had to undo it bacause he could not get the result he needed. He has morals. They are just a rather broken in places. He doesn't really think what he did was wrong but the outcome was so he undid it, actually to the point he is worse off than before hand because he lost his rep with the elderly.

A really well written character.

Shame there was no mike stuff but Kim and those PJs was pretty great lol. Kim also accepted Jimmy for what he is a while back. She has her own code as well. She can't act like Jimmy herself but almost respects that Jimmy can. I think she can only feel this way because Jimmy does show he cares and isn't heartless about it, even if his moralomiter is somewhat off balance.
 
It's interesting that in some ways Chuck was doing exactly what he criticized Jimmy for doing. Chuck wasn't accepting who he really was. He tried to play at getting better for a bit, just like Jimmy has tried to play things straight, but he eventually slips back into what he feels comfortable with.

He says Jimmy is putting on a show by coming over and feeling bad about what he did, but what is Chuck doing for Jimmy with all the lights on and record playing?He's putting on his own damn show. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason it took him awhile to answer the door when Jimmy showed up is because he was running around the house turning all that crap on. Did the same thing for Howard at the office and when he was at home cooking.

It's sad because I'm certain he doesn't even realize it. Makes his story even more tragic.

i agree with all this, but i think
his suicide
was his tepid acceptance sorta, like an acknowledgement maybe?
 
it's kinda tough for me, at this point, to see how the writers are going to effectively turn jimmy into saul. they've made him such a three dimensional character on this show in comparison to who saul goodman is that it's almost as if they've really painted themselves into a corner to get him to be the shmuck that saul is in brba.

these guys do have a track record of expertly getting out of said corners and obviously have some time left, i just think as it stands now it's tough for me to reconcile the two depictions of the character.
 
also thought it was kinda strange that gus would allow himself to be there when the paramedics arrived, associating with a known drug cartel in the middle of the night.
 

LordAmused

Member
What did Nacho mean when he talked about his aunt and both cousins? Was it the Salamancas cousins we saw in BB? Does he have some kind of family connection I missed?
 

Dosia

Member
What did Nacho mean when he talked about his aunt and both cousins? Was it the Salamancas cousins we saw in BB? Does he have some kind of family connection I missed?

I took it as him telling his dad to think of his family and dont do anything stupid to get killed.
 

SpaceWolf

Banned
Was anyone else startled and a little confused when Kim passingly demonstrated an understanding of the Irene situation? It was never even hinted at that Jimmy had told her...and if he did, you would have thought that would have been an extremely dramatic moment in their relationship if Kim had learned that Jimmy had done something so utterly heinous.
 
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