• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Aureon

Please do not let me serve on a jury. I am actually a crazy person.
I find it strange that HHM is this big legal law firm employing hundreds of people yet they can't afford to buy Chuck out for 8 million?

8 million is pocket change for some big name law firms.

8m cash RIGHT NOW is hard, though, even if they're a 100m+/yr firm.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
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?

Nacho failing hard at rolling the rrrrrrrrr....
 

Orcastar

Member
He should also still be getting that Sandpiper money? Whether everyone hates him or not, he's still legally bound to get the +1 million in settlement money.

Yeah, this is the part that I didn't get.

The reason why Jimmy wanted them to settle now was because he needed money to pay the rent on the office. Yes, he's still going to get the settlement money, but it could take years. Then again the office is no longer an issue either.
 
Amazing season, seriously as good as Breaking Bad.

I suppose Jimmy gets the funds to build 'Better Call Saul' role and office from either Sandpiper money or
Chuck's money
 
A few things.

1. Gus knows.
2. Did Chuck mean his final comments to Jimmy?
3. Why did Chuck do it?

My thoughts below.

1. Clear that Gus knew. Nacho didn't rush in to help Hector, he focuses on picking up the tablets and medication. Showed no signs of fear, emotion, nothing.

Where it gets really interesting is this: Does Gus 'appreciate' what Nacho did? Or, will Gus find it disrespectful? It would not surprise me if it is the latter.

2. I am torn on this. I think 99% of what Chuck said was real. The truth, his truth. And in some ways, he is 'right'. Jimmy is a danger to others, or at least some of his personas are. Jimmy was right also, Chuck was not innocent in all this. And while Chuck didn't acknowledge it directly, I think he did inside.

The final comments 'you never meant anything to me anyway' was heartbreaking for Jimmy. He walked away, the classic 'should' I turn around and go back'. He chose not to.

And just as Jimmy went out of sight Chuck looked up. I think, because he knows both are in the right and in the wrong. And a part of him deep inside did and still does care for his brother.

3. So why? The answer is, we will never know. Or likely never know. We can speculate atleast.

His journal/diary, when he woke up in the middle of the night, had a series of feelings at different times of the day. As he wrote something in, he did not write a feeling. He felt nothing.

So why end it all? If I really simplify it, there are two scenarios running through my head.

a) What have I got to live for? Chuck lost. He thought he beat his condition, it came back. He thought he could win back HHM, he didn't. He thought he could help his brother, he couldn't.

So what is there for Chuck to live for? Nothing in his eyes. It has all gone. Time to end it all.

b) Do I deserve to live? Chuck realised, deep down, what he had done. His condition, which is a genuine mental illness remember, caused so much harm to him, his career, his loved ones.

In some ways a parallel with what he accused Jimmy of. His condition brought sadness and harm to all around, including himself. Maybe his final words to Jimmy were resonated with him?


--

Anyway, an outstanding finale to yet another great series. It was a slow burn at the start, yet it then delivers.

The whole final few scenes were perfect and poignant, exactly what Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is good at.

Roll on next year and Season 4.
 

riotous

Banned
The other ladies didn't realize Irene was even in charge of the case; and seemed to want the money right away.

I really think the entire plot line was sloppy; so we are supposed to assume they now don't want the money right away? Why? Why did none of them known Irene represented the case?
 

Kyzer

Banned
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?

Where was nacho born?
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
2. Did Chuck mean his final comments to Jimmy?

"I don't want to hurt your feelings, but the truth is you never meant all that much to me.”

We know for sure that was a lie, be it for good or ill, Jimmy has been one of the most important person in his life. Howard even tells him how much his personal vendetta against Jimmy has affected him.

I think the Howard telling him that it was "bullshit" and Jimmy showing him that his illness was all in his head or "bullshit", really pushed him to seeing how he really wasn't a victim here, he was the villain in some aspects. What he told Jimmy about hurting people and not changing was really what he felt, but during that night, he came to realize what he told Jimmy could also be applied to himself.
 

big ander

Member
The other ladies didn't realize Irene was even in charge of the case; and seemed to want the money right away.

I really think the entire plot line was sloppy; so we are supposed to assume they now don't want the money right away? Why? Why did none of them known Irene represented the case?
I think we assume that Erin or somebody from Davis & Main will talk to Irene and the girls will be okay with following the lawyer's suggestion because they'll be convinced the increased payout will be worth it
 

Kadin

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.
oooh, I totally missed that. Makes sense now, thanks.
 

riotous

Banned
Gus specifically didn't want Tio harmed, yet. He probably is unhappy with what Nacho did at this point. Although him ending up wheelchair bound and unable to speak might turn out to be something Gus favors; he seems to want his revenge on Tio to be long and drawn out.

I think we assume that Erin or somebody from Davis & Main will talk to Irene and the girls will be okay with following the lawyer's suggestion because they'll be convinced the increased payout will be worth it

Sure, that's one of many possibilities. Everything about that plot line was a huge leap of logic for me; that these actions would have the results Jimmy predicted.
 

Dai101

Banned
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.

Also, Ibuprofen should not be taken for people with a heart condition, hell, even sane people can have serious side effects with thaty drug related to heart conditions:

Cardiovascular risk
Along with several other NSAIDs, chronic ibuprofen use has been found correlated with risk of hypertension[20] and myocardial infarction (heart attack),[21] particularly among those chronically using high doses. In older hypertensive patients treated with hydrochlorothiazide, ibuprofen at a high daily dose was found to significantly increase systolic blood pressure.[22] On 9 July 2015, the US FDA toughened warnings of increased heart attack and stroke risk associated with ibuprofen and related NSAIDs; the NSAID aspirin is not included in this warning.
 

SpaceWolf

Banned

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Oh, by the way...just wanted to say Cornballer, you've done a stand-up job maintaining this thread this season, especially when it's come to keeping the discussion up to date by supplying us with news and the like. I imagine it must take up a lot of energy, so thank you! You made this a great thread to discuss the show.

Seconded. That goes for all the TV content you post about.
 

Deku Tree

Member
BCS has good writing but they need to figure out how to make it more exciting. Right now it's just kinda like a fun show if you liked BB.
 

riotous

Banned
Oh, by the way...just wanted to say Cornballer, you've done a stand-up job maintaining this thread this season, especially when it's come to keeping the discussion up to date by supplying us with news and the like. I imagine it must take up a lot of energy, so thank you! You made this a great thread to discuss the show.

Thirded; excellent work, should be what being a moderator is all about on a forum like this..
 

BunnyBear

Member
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.

Yes, I was confused. It's perhaps one of the only times in the series so far that didn't make sense to me. It seemed a bit clunky for the viewer to have no context of how much Kim knew about Jimmy's scheme. If it was intentional, there was no payoff why.
 

Fury451

Banned
BCS has good writing but they need to figure out how to make it more exciting. Right now it's just kinda like a fun show if you liked BB.

There's a lot of long slow shots of things that occur. I don't necessarily mind it, but at times it seems like filler. This season has several that I can think of off the top of my head. Also the fact that they're such a long wait between seasons, for such a short amount of episodes, it feels like a lot of characters are sort of getting left behind in terms of having complete stories for one season.

I love the show, all the pieces are there, but the pace of that actually seems to hurt it a little bit to me. It's a very different vibe than BB was, which is good, but it also does make it harder to feel engaged for the length of an episode of times for me
 
BCS has good writing but they need to figure out how to make it more exciting. Right now it's just kinda like a fun show if you liked BB.

It's never going to be as explosive as Breaking Bad so they shouldn't try to force those elements in there. It's a prequel, the level of danger for many of the central and side characters (Jimmy, Mike, Gus, Hector, Tuco, Don Eladio, etc) isn't there because we know they survive the course of the show.

Plus, the central arc in Breaking Bad is the protagonist going from being a high school science teacher to a drug manufacturer to violent drug kingpin. In BCS, the protagonist is going from being a slightly sleazy lawyer to a sleazy lawyer.

But that's okay. BCS still manages to be as compelling as the heights of Breaking Bad.

There's a lot of long slow shots of things that occur. I don't necessarily mind it, but at times it seems like filler. This season has several that I can think of off the top of my head. Also the fact that they're such a long wait between seasons, for such a short amount of episodes, it feels like a lot of characters are sort of getting left behind in terms of having complete stories for one season.

I love the show, all the pieces are there, but the pace of that actually seems to hurt it a little bit to me. It's a very different vibe than BB was, which is good, but it also does make it harder to feel engaged for the length of an episode of times for me

I like the long shots and the languid pace, especially when it comes to Mike. About the only scene this season that kind of felt like filler that went nowhere was the Air Force guy storming into Jimmy's office and lecturing him in the premier.
 
I don't have time for a full response but want to chime in on what Chuck did... the thing to remember is that Chuck's action at the end of the episode came from mental instability/sickness. I think the montage of him tearing apart the house looking for energy sources was the directors' intent to show this.

Jimmy or Howard may be a reason/catalyst that complicates/exacerbates Chuck's mental illness, but it's ultimately the mental illness that leads to the lantern kicking.

Anywell... I just really hate the theories that Chuck sanely decided to take his life to spite Jimmy or HHM. Chuck was a broken man who made that decision. And even if suicide as an action of spite went through Chuck's (warped) brain, the determination to do that was of a person who was severely mentally ill.

My point... suicide as revenge is a juicy plot point, but the writers of BCS are smarter than to just throw that out as plot. The truth is Chuck did it when he wasn't mentally stable and a broken man and regular logic needs to be set aside in his motives.

And as a plot narrative, whatever Jimmy feels in regards to Chuck's suicide in the next season is totally valid. It's extremely difficult (especially if you were close to the deceased) to just accept it as mental illness and not further analyze it (what could I have done?).
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Was on Twitter and came across this exchange.
1SDcGAI.png


Man, are there actually people who have watched 3 seasons of this show and think "nothing has happened"? Or that we've gotten zero insight into Kim, Jimmy and Chuck!? Someone get me off this ride.
 
Anyone else actually slightly bummed/worried about next season(s)? For me, the Chuck/Jimmy dynamic was the most compelling part of the show, and one of the best relationships ever written for TV. And Michael McKean was just so brilliant in the role, I'm really gonna miss him.

Lol @ Bogost with the bad takes again. This is the "videogames would be better without stories" guy, no surprises here. Finding Kim more interesting than the McGills - my dude, what. I like Kim, but she has practically no backstory. She's not nearly as fully fleshed out as Chuck and Jimmy imo.
 

HoodWinked

Member
looking back on this season and all the events that occurred it does feel like this could serve as a series finale. and maybe they were thinking this because of how poor the ratings have been this season.
 
There are some people that think the Mcgill storyline is better than Walt and Jesse?

I definitely think so. That's a pretty simple surrogate father/son dynamic. There's so much more complexity in the relationship between Jimmy and Chuck imo. It's incredibly rich, to me.
 

BunnyBear

Member
Oh, by the way...just wanted to say Cornballer, you've done a stand-up job maintaining this thread this season, especially when it's come to keeping the discussion up to date by supplying us with lots of relevant articles and interviews and the like. I imagine it must take up a lot of energy, so thank you! You helped make this a really great thread for us to discuss the show.

Agreed. He does a bang-up job every week. I really appreciate the effort you put in all season long Cornballer!

BCS has good writing but they need to figure out how to make it more exciting. Right now it's just kinda like a fun show if you liked BB.

Huh? There were times this season when I literally couldn't sit down it was so intense/exciting/nerve-wracking. The show is a slow-burn, but the expert character arcs and careful plotting always pay off and lead to bloody intense scenes, like Chuck's breakdown in court, Nacho swapping the pills and then later the meeting between Tio and Nacho's dad, just to name a few.

It's not a show of instant gratification. There's plenty of shows out there that are.
 
looking back on this season and all the events that occurred it does feel like this could serve as a series finale. and maybe they were thinking this because of how poor the ratings have been this season.

The ratings have fallen a bit from season 2 but they're still decent for a cable drama and higher that Breaking Bad's season 3 ratings. Plus it's the only show on AMC still getting Emmy attention and AMC is desperately trying to maintain its perception as a prestige channel. Doesn't make any sense for them to cancel it.

That being said, AMC is notoriously bad at being a network and making sensible decisions, so...we'll see.
 
Top Bottom