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

G

gun_haver

Member
that call where he makes himself look as bad as possible was very reminiscent of the ozymandias call with skylar and the police listening in. i'm just saying, gilligan definitely has his bag of tricks.
 
P

Permanently A

Junior Member
I know, it was a joke about how he tried to do a good thing but its just gonna end up with him going down a very dark path. At least you tried Jimmy
 
BizzyBum

BizzyBum

Member
The entire time I thought Chuck was kicking the light to have it break and shut off. Do you think that was his original intent or do you think he premeditated the suicide?

Chuck was a piece of shit but you have to feel bad for him. You have to be in an incredibly dark mindset to want to burn yourself alive.
 
P

-Pyromaniac-

Member
BizzyBum said:
The entire time I thought Chuck was kicking the light to have it break and shut off. Do you think that was his original intent or do you think he premeditated the suicide?

Chuck was a piece of shit but you have to feel bad for him. You have to be in an incredibly dark mindset to want to burn yourself alive.
Click to expand...
I think he knew what type of lantern that was and what would happen. He couldn't find what he was looking for in the house so he's going to burn the whole thing down.
 
G

gun_haver

Member
BizzyBum said:
The entire time I thought Chuck was kicking the light to have it break and shut off. Do you think that was his original intent or do you think he premeditated the suicide?

Chuck was a piece of shit but you have to feel bad for him. You have to be in an incredibly dark mindset to want to burn yourself alive.
Click to expand...

if he intended on living, he could have escaped the house the second the fire started, but i think by that point when he was sitting there he thought 'y'know i've made this house extremely flammable...all it would take is a few kicks'. seemed fully intentional suicide to me.

i think some of it was frustration he didn't know what was draining power, but also mostly frustration he relapsed like this. that's a powerful thing for the mentally ill and addicts - to see the road out and feel like you're already there, and then have a stumbling block. some people take it very hard.
 
R

rekameohs

Banned
Redd said:
I hope since Hector had that stroke we get Tuco again as the boss next season.
Click to expand...

They say he knifed someone in prison so he's staying in a while longer. And he just barely got out of prison when Breaking Bad starts, so I think he's done in this show.
 
B

B.K.

Member
BizzyBum said:
The entire time I thought Chuck was kicking the light to have it break and shut off. Do you think that was his original intent or do you think he premeditated the suicide?
Click to expand...

It was obvious that he knew what he was doing. He never had any problems with those propane lanterns any other time in the series.
 
M

MegaManTrigger

Banned
BizzyBum said:
The entire time I thought Chuck was kicking the light to have it break and shut off. Do you think that was his original intent or do you think he premeditated the suicide?

Chuck was a piece of shit but you have to feel bad for him. You have to be in an incredibly dark mindset to want to burn yourself alive.
Click to expand...

Chuck's face was not the face of someone who wanted to make it out alive.
 
T

The Fronde

Member
Question - What was Mike doing in Chuck's place again? I totally forget. The whole time Chuck was looking for something running on electricity, I kept thinking Mike planted something in secret?
 
smokeymicpot

smokeymicpot

Beat EviLore at pool.
The Fronde said:
Question - What was Mike doing in Chuck's place again? I totally forget. The whole time Chuck was looking for something running on electricity, I kept thinking Mike planted something in secret?
Click to expand...

Taking photos to show Chucks living conditions. Nothing else.
 
I

IggyChooChoo

Member
The Fronde said:
Wonder if that becomes a plot point next season. Does Howard weasel / lie his way out of paying the rest? Who gets Chuck's money? Etc.
Click to expand...

Wasn't Jimmy named power of attorney over Chuck? Chuck might not be dead, just horribly injured. In which case, that money would be a plot point. But it seems kind of low-stakes, so I doubt they'll pursue that too much.
 
SDCowboy

SDCowboy

Member
So I assume chuck telling Jimmy he didn't mean much to him, that was obviously a lie and the grief from saying it pushed him completely back over the edge (that combined with having to resign from the firm). Am I wrong?
 
I

IggyChooChoo

Member
SDCowboy said:
So I assume chuck telling Jimmy he didn't mean much to him, that was obviously a lie and the grief from saying it pushed him completely back over the edge (that combined with having to resign from the firm). Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

I can see it either way. Either he does love Jimmy, and is grappling with the notion that everyone he ever loved is dead, rejected him, or betrayed him; or he's dealing with the fact that he doesn't love Jimmy, which means he has no real human connection left in the world now that Howard has cut ties. Both are pretty bleak.
 
G

gun_haver

Member
SDCowboy said:
So I assume chuck telling Jimmy he didn't mean much to him, that was obviously a lie and the grief from saying it pushed him completely back over the edge (that combined with having to resign from the firm). Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

You're in the right area but honestly I think Chuck was just so fucked up it would've taken a miracle to save him. The guy reacted to his uptick in mental health with his electrophobia by striking out and suing Howard. He was all twisted up as to exactly what was wrong in his life.
 
Z

zer0blivion

Member
IggyChooChoo said:
I can see it either way. Either he does love Jimmy, and is grappling with the notion that everyone he ever loved is dead, rejected him, or betrayed him; or he's dealing with the fact that he doesn't love Jimmy, which means he has no real human connection left in the world now that Howard has cut ties. Both are pretty bleak.
Click to expand...
I think it's the latter. He figuratively burned a bridge talking to Jimmy and then literally with the rest of the world.
 
E

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
The writer's really understood how effective the hit job they did on Jimmy's character last episode, this one was all about mending the audience's trust and respect for him again. While I feel like our Jimmy is back, it does make it seem like Saul is that much further away, though, which leaves me wondering how the hell he is coming back.

Chuck's final scene was done amazingly well. Something about him slowly kicking that desk for god knows how long really nails in it just how fucked up he felt

Odd that we didn't see any Mike.

[edit]

I guess Chuck dying could push Jimmy over...maybe? Kinda doubt it, though.
 
Link

Link

The Autumn Wind
Geg said:
I guess I didn't really understand what happened last week, did the pills that Nacho put in Hector's jacket just not work?
Click to expand...
Nacho wasn't poisoning him. He replaced the medication with a placebo. The point was for Hector's heart condition to go unchecked until he had a heart attack/stroke.
 
B

big ander

Member
lord was everything between kim and jimmy heartbreaking. After some of the darkest hours for each they seem on track to being healthier, happier, better people. And a stronger couple. Kim's wisely reevaluating her life and Jimmy's willing to do a hard thing and own up to his greed and manipulation in order to end the unhappiness of others. Yet we know they're a few slips away from everything burning down.

The parallels between Hector during the convo with Eladio and Chuck being boxed out by Howard are cool. Patrick Fabian was excellent.

Kinda weird not seeing Mike for the last two episodes.

Stellar finale on the whole
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
That final Chuck monologue summed up his character perfectly, and it was incredibly sad. Chuck finally realized that he's been a terrible person, and in his mind, his only line of action is to try to convince himself that there's nothing wrong with that. I think that is an incredibly risky storytelling device: that, at the end, Chuck has no redemption. That he's so mentally ill that he ends up killing himself as some sort of fucked up final say against the world. Because the final scene is ridiculously senseless and makes absolutely zero sense in the frame of a scripted drama.
 
R

rekameohs

Banned
big ander said:
lord was everything between kim and jimmy heartbreaking. After some of the darkest hours for each they seem on track to being healthier, happier, better people. And a stronger couple. Kim's wisely reevaluating her life and Jimmy's willing to do a hard thing and own up to his greed and manipulation in order to end the unhappiness of others. Yet we know they're a few slips away from everything burning down.

The parallels between Hector during the convo with Eladio and Chuck being boxed out by Howard are cool. Patrick Fabian was excellent.

Kinda weird not seeing Mike for the last two episodes.

Stellar finale on the whole
Click to expand...
Mike was in last week's episode. He met with Lydia to accept working for Gus.
 
G

gun_haver

Member
HP_Wuvcraft said:
That final Chuck monologue summed up his character perfectly, and it was incredibly sad. Chuck finally realized that he's been a terrible person, and in his mind, his only line of action is to try to convince himself that there's nothing wrong with that. I think that is an incredibly risky storytelling device: that, at the end, Chuck has no redemption. That he's so mentally ill that he ends up killing himself as some sort of fucked up final say against the world. Because the final scene is ridiculously senseless and makes absolutely zero sense in the frame of a scripted drama.
Click to expand...

that's a really sad take on his speech and i gotta say it sounds about right. yes fuck chuck as always, the guy was an asshole, but the poor man couldn't help himself. i'll miss him.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
That was excellent.

- Sepinwall's review
- Onion A|V Club review
- Indiewire review

- Deadline: ‘Better Call Saul’s Michael McKean & EP On Tonight’s Fiery Finale, What’s Next & ‘Spinal Tap’ Lawsuit
DEADLINE: Talking about steps off cliffs, the opening of the finale saw Howard buy Chuck out of the firm for millions out of his own pocket. The move ended what was really the anchor in Michael’s character’s life and certainly his main motivation in many ways. Why did you guys decide to use that as the trigger point for, what seems to be, a fatal finale?

GOULD: Well, I don’t know that it was the trigger point. I think there’s room for debate because just to look at it closely, when Jimmy comes to visit Chuck later in the episode, Chuck is fully dressed, he is listening to music, He has the energy and the wherewithal to pull himself together and say some pretty terrible things to Jimmy.

This problem that Michael talks about doesn’t really manifest itself until after he’s had the thing with Jimmy. So you can wonder what is the cause of his breakdown, but it’s absolutely true that this is a guy who, one step at a time, has lost everything that he really cared about and everyone he cared about. It’s so ironic to me because in so many ways he’s won every encounter he’s had. I love the moment when Howard says to Chuck, you won, because in some ways Chuck got what he asks for, and I think there’s something very sad about the idea that you can win every battle and still lose the war.

McKEAN: I think that’s absolutely right. I also think that his last interaction with Howard was really one of those things. It’s like we’re not only planning to legally have you off our backs, but I’m going into my own pocket to do so. That made it a personal thing. This isn’t about a law firm any more. This is about this kid that I tutored for the bar. This is about my law partner who is also, in essence, a surrogate son, and he’s the one who’s pulling the plug on me. And he’s doing so too, at his own loss, that means you don’t like me, you really don’t like me, to paraphrase Sally Field.

GOULD: Certainly, in the case of this show, the performances so frequently exceed anything that I could’ve imagined when we were writing this show.

To go back for a second to that first time I saw Michael and Bob together in a scene in the show, you know, and Michael brought, you know, this imposing aspect to Chuck, a pride to Chuck that really rocked me on my heels because I hadn’t thought of the character quite that way. When we got back to the writers’ room after shooting that first episode, one of the first things that we said was, well, we know what Chuck is to Jimmy, but what is Jimmy to Chuck? And that really is what lead us down the path that we took, frankly in the whole show to date, is once we realized that maybe Chuck wasn’t too happy about Jimmy being a lawyer in the first place, once we started understanding Chuck’s pride, a lot of things that have happened subsequently really grew out of those insights or decisions, and so many of those grew out of the moments that we saw between Bob and Michael.
Click to expand...
- NY Times: Michael McKean on Chuck’s Inflammatory Act
Are we sure Chuck is definitely a goner?

I am. I know they want to bring me in for some flashbacks this coming season, but that’s kind of beside the point. One of the things that made Jimmy Saul Goodman is the burden of, if not guilt, then that nagging feeling of having being somehow involved [in Chuck’s demise]. So that’s what he has to deal with, and it’s one of the things that made him wind up in a Cinnabon in Omaha.
Click to expand...
There were no screeners for critics tonight, so the reviews will be slowly rolling in tonight and tomorrow.
 
P

Permanently A

Junior Member
howard-hamlin-better-call-saul-style-menswear-grenadine-tie-club-collar-pin.jpg


So is he the best character on the show?
 
M

Mariolee

Member
That got a lot more dark than I thought. I am pretty sure Chuck straight up told Jimmy he didn't care about him to push Jimmy away so Jimmy wouldn't be affected by Chuck's destructive decisions anymore, for example his suicide.
 
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