The Kevin Costner part is an easter egg from Breaking Bad when Saul said "I once convinced a woman I was Kevin Costner and it worked because I believed it. "
That monologue about his son is such a powerful moment, what an outstanding performance by Jonathan Banks. Also the loud mouth is the voice actor for Trevor in GTA V, Steven Ogg.
Even tho this all takes place before BB, I actually like that they didn't try to physically or digitally de-age anyone. The story is so damn tight that the ages never took me out for a second. Each and every actor brought their A-game!!
i like that they also cast older actors for all the other characters too, so it doesnt stand out. Michael McKeen was in his late 60s/early 70s shooting this show, the same age as my grandfather, but Chuck is in his mid-late 50s. I really like it, it's almost like having an art style in real life, if that makes sense
That reminds me of how HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITECASTLE has an entire commentary track just for EXTREME SPORTS BULLY #3 "I wasn't in this scene" over and over lol
"he tries to do the right thing and loses out" - Yeah. That's the theme with both shows, I feel. The focus is on someone who lost out one too many times and says "f*ck it, now I'm gonna get what's mine"...
Yeah, no. Jimmy didn’t just break bad after life dealt him some hard knocks. He was trying to lie, cheat, steal and scam his way into more money since he was a kid. That’s as fundamental to Jimmy as pride and ego are to Walter. Sure, Jimmy later gets frustrated in his attempts to reform himself, but that wasn’t what caused him to be who he is since long before this show started.
I thinks it's more like: "most people are capable of doing bad things, they just need a little push". For Walt it was the cancer, for Jimmy it was a mix of his brother keeping him down and basically the world not paying back good deeds.
@@FrankyRZK How did Chuck hold him down? He doesn't owe Jimmy a job as a lawyer. Chuck has every right to use his own judgement on who works for his company. Also, what good deeds did Jimmy do aside from paying Chuck back for saving him or doing things for Kim because he's into her? Almost all of Jimmy's deeds in the show are wicked and/or motivated by self-interest.
I respectfully disagree. Walt's decision was built on regret. Walt had his shares of the company bought out and then became a teacher and working another part-time job to support his family. When he found out he had cancer, he initially opts not to treat it. Walt starts out good, turns bad. Jimmy, on the other hand, started out as a petty criminal, did some stupid shit, tried to turn it around and got nothing in the way of support. In fact, those closest to him tried to stop him from making that turn. In turn, he gets worse. It's kind of an apples to oranges comparison.
@@ravenwulfgar you're all wrong. Walt thought he did "the right thing" with his Grey Matter shares because of his thing with Gretchen. He obviously thought things would get messy if he stayed there so he chose a life dedicated to Skyler, a life that was well below his potential. That was "the right thing" he did, that ultimately saw him breaking bad. That realization was planted earlier in Jimmy because how his father always did the right thing and always got the boot for it. He then fought his good nature from that point forward, vowing not to end up like that. While Chuck was just a bad person motivated by envy, envy of his parents' love for Jimmy and basically everyone's love for Jimmy. That was the driving factor behind his success. Chuck was a dick through and through, Jimmy a good person compulsively fighting his own nature. The tragic bit is how the actions of those around him taught him again and again that he really should continue fighting everything that's good in him. Think of the scene with that girl that didn't get the scholarship. That was another nail in the coffin. One more lesson for Jimmy, that these are the structures he's fighting. He thinks he's "sticking it to the man" by fighting his own good nature and behaving like a crook.
Agreed, as the series went on and you really learned about Howard it was an eye opener. Few characters are shown to be so comepletely different from the start of a show to the end without actually CHANGING the character. Howard doesn't change his behaviour, you simply come to understand why it exists.
With all the bad relations, horrible people and awful things done in this show, the opening of episode 9 with Jimmy and Chuck on the bench is such a rare wonderful moment. Now everything will be great, right?
"I hope there's another show in the making called Mike Will Fix It, about him in his crime days." Dude, you're watching it! Haha. One of the great joys of this show is how much Mike we get, one of the best characters ever.
Personally I think it's because without the high stakes, You get to marinate in the personal stakes of the characters. It feels all the more personal because you get to sit right there in front with them as they go through the entire journey. And it's all the more emotionally gripping and heartbreaking because of it. Not to say BB didn't also have that or that high stakes are "wrong". Its just apples and oranges. Like to illustrate, I think BB is kind of the hitchcockian bomb under the guy's table with the audience knowing the bomb is gonna go off but not when. BCS is more like getting to know a good friend and slowly seeing him spiral into a bad path.
1:05:39 - cons for money are gross, cons for other things is gross too, sleeping with someone because you think they're famous and rich is also gross. So they're all equally in it.
Watching this show again with you guys is just reminding me what a masterpiece it is. I honestly believe is one of the best shows on tv, ever. The level of the writing, the acting, the sound design, THE CINEMATOGRAPHY.
The way the first season and the Sandpiper arc in particular positions Jimmy as an underdog makes it really easy and compelling to root for him, even more so than Walt
Ep 6 of the first season is freakin SUPERB. The setting, plot, the little clever moments, and of course the ACTING...one of the best episodes I've ever seen in anything ever
I've heard that when they made the 1st season, they didn't know if they would be making the rest of the series. So just in case, they finished with Jimmy deciding to no longer play by the rules, as this would explain his character in Breaking Bad.
Being surprised that there's a Santa Fe in New Mexico is like being surprised there's a New York City in New York. Santa Fe New Mexico IS THE Santa Fe. The Spanish settlement goes back over 400 years. When Santa Fe was on the tongues of royals around the world, there was no America, not a single English colony.
Matlock (1986-95) is famous for being a favorite of seniors. I'm sure it helped that it starred Andy Griffith, famous for playing the father of the director of Cocoon. This is not entirely inaccurate.
The Kettlemens actually did commentary for the show. You can find it online. These actors are such great improvisers. They were totally locked into those characters.
Hiya folks...may I say how much I really enjoy watching you both experience this series ...you seem to be loving it and we're applauding your brilliant insights as they emerge. I also wished to chime in with a supporting comment....George, somewhere around the 37:20 time mark or so you'd said something to the effect concerning the monumental task that Jimmy was about to tackle, the ridiculous overwhelming job of attempting to reconstruct what would appear to be 700 miles worth of shredded office paperwork, you'd said that you kind of liked the feeling and idea of getting into such a huge, repetitive task, that there's just something rewarding about it ...or something quite similar. I just wanted to say that YES, absolutely, I know exactly what you mean by that as in past times in my life I can look back and clearly recall at least a couple of experiences very very much like that. You feel helplessly overwhelmed at the start of such a nearly impossible job, you dig in and just go go go...your mind just gets set to 'just do it' mode....and then, quite a long time later as you sit back, take a breath and look at the progress that's been made, that tell-tale positive hopeful spark in your mind begins glowing bright, brings a little knowing smile to your face as you think to yourself "Yea, this looking good....I can do this..." Sure it can take a while for that revaluation to arrive , but damn it feels so good and as you'd said, rewarding when it does...🙂
That’s also the thing, in the beginning of the show he had to resort to slippin’ Jimmy because his back is to the cliffs and reality is pushing toward him. It’s break bad or starve. If he was in the protective walls of HHM with a steady paycheck then we would be able to pay to care for Chuck and not be so hungry that he needed to be unethical to get clients.
Hey guys just to answer couple of questions you had during the reaction: 1. Yes Saul/Jimmy wears Marco's ring in Breaking Bad and this was a backstory of the meaning of this ring. 2. The Kevin Conster joke is from Breaking Bad S3E11 where Saul told Walter that once he convinced a woman that he is Kevin Costner, which on the other side was a joke from the creators because after the introduction of Saul in S2 of BB, people online were commenting and joking that Bob Odenkirk looks like a "dollar store Kevin Costner". It was a great meta joke. Also other things you missed (or at least in the RUclips reaction version) but not related to the shows - the actor who plays Nacho Varga is the same actor who played Voss, the villain in Far Cry 3 game. Steven Ogg (the bodyguard Mike confronted) played Trevor in GTA 5.
The Bingo scene is so true... I just played bingo with elders in Tenerife (no I'm not elder) the atmosphere was intense the prizes were Euros! Loving how you are turning these around in chunks! Compulsive viewing 👏
I kind of adore the Kettlemans. Theyre so fucking stupid it's almost hilarious. Its ye olde Schadenfreude, I wanna see them fall all over themselves in their ill thought out plans. God this show is heartbreaking in rewatch. All the ingredients are there from the start and you get to see it start coming together a long time before youre completely aware its happened. But it does it feels like you got stabbed right in the heart. Thats what I felt with Chuck and Jimmy in Ep.9. You see hints of it early on but you also see they can be good brothers to each other. You can see Jimmy is capable of doing good. But you also see slipping Jimmy all the time like hes an addict. And while i think Chuck is right, I cant really feel he's actually tried to steer his brother away. Hes always assumed Jimmy could only ever be Slipping Jimmy, even when faced with the possibility of Jimmy actually doing good.
I like the "Tennis Ball" method. Cut one in half, place over car lock, punch the tennis ball. Air pressure unlocks the door. Doubt it works anymore but I thought that was pretty clever.
It's crazy how people watching see Jimmy get humanized now and then and it causes them to completely dismiss the fact that he's a conman and a scam artist.
In Breaking Bad Saul tells Walt he once convinced a woman he was Kevin Costner. Funny to see that throwaway line in Breaking Bad happen. Also Saul does indeed wear the pinky ring in Breaking Bad so its cool to see the origin story for the ring.
I always loved the juxtaposition of how Mike was introduced in both series. In Breaking Bad, he was already a deadly capable fixer but in Call Saul, he was introduced as an almost harmless nobody! Eventually, there WILL be people who watch BB and BCS in chronological storyline order who get to see Mike become Mike. I think that would be cool.
The Chuck reveal is also a cool perspective flip from how, back with Walter and Jesse, we (almost) always saw things from the manipulator's perspective. Now we get to see just what a bomb drop it is to all at once realize how much shit in your life was actually caused by someone stabbing you in the back.
Jon Banks' performance of that monologue in Five-o is one of my favourite pieces of acting ever. The delivery of "I broke my boy" is heartbreaking. I would call it my favourite Mike moment but I think the "Half Measures" monologue in Breaking Bad takes that spot (though he has so many good other moments too).
Chuck is one of the "best" villains ever. i mean comeon.. who of us is ever gonna meet or deal with a Tuco or other mob boss. But i am sure a lot of us came across a Chuck at some time in their live.
Mike's soft spot for Jesse makes a lot more sense after you learn of Matty. Jesse's good nature and kind hearted purposes to his actions despite being involved in crime probably struck the right chords with Mike and that is why Mike possibly wanted Jesse to have a better life than the one he's chosen to be a part of with Walter and why he would put up with Jesse standing in the way of him killing Walter and back down. I feel like Matty was a grounding force for Mike and Jesse unknowingly stepped into the empty position which mike had not been trying to, but desperately wanted to be filled.
Love how by the end of the first season of a show called Better Call Saul you not only don’t want him to be Saul but kind to trick yourself into thinking it might somehow be different and he will take the job
Wow you guys are sharp; most watchers don't seem to notice the subtext in the scene in which Jimmy tells Chuck about his law degree. They're usually blindsided by Chuck's vitriol in Ep 9.
Okay, so you didn't actually realize it was Chuck all the way through. But you did figure it out just before the reveal, which is still better than a lot of other reactors I think. That scene is so painful to watch, particularly after the first time, in which you can see Jimmy's pain and bitterness in his eyes throughout, even before he unloads on Chuck.
Matlock is to all old people what Murder She Wrote is to Grandmas. Craig Kettleman has a very funny minor role in Birdman which I will never stop trying to get y’all to watch lmao Also very funny to see what it would be like if Lady Macbeth was a former prom queen and Macbeth was a milquetoast accountant. SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER The shot of Jimmy and Chuck on the same side of the table shatters my heart.
I'm no sure if you noticed this between episodes and I just missed it, but fun fact: that guy who Mike punches in the throat at the "3 tough guys" trial in the 9th episode? He plays Trevor in GTAV. Yes, THAT Trevor.
Matlock was a long-running lawyer show starring Andy Griffith. It's essentially the same show as Perry Mason, where the client is always accused of a murder that they didn't commit. Then, through the course of the episode, the lawyer not only exonerates the defendant, but also figures out how the crime actually happened, proves who the "real killer" is in court, and even frequently gets them to confess on the stand. Where Perry Mason had more of a serious tone, Matlock had a lot more comedy based around Ben Matlock's folksy personality, lots of witty banter, and the extended cast of characters getting into silly situations. At some point it was observed that a lot of diehard Matlock fans were older folks, and it became a frequently used trope that old people love watching Matlock.
The idea of having a child that has so much integrity they'd only break it for you, how could you not feel like a failure at that? You're the only person he trusted enough to act against his own values, and it's what cost you both everything.
Thx guys for your fun reaction here. Mike is surely Jonathan Bank's Magnum Opus although my favorite role of his is when he played the radar guy in the tower in AIRPLANE, where he is seen playing a video game, checking the progress of a chicken cooking in the microwave and is in the forefront when his coworker puts in a load of laundry. Good stuff that. As much as I enjoyed Saul Goodman in BB, I was almost offended when I heard a prequel was planned. I feared it wouldn't be able to match Walter White's epic met(h)amorpheses as a character. You two have just entered the top of a long, twisty, downward, slide while fleshing out these characters and with many more yet to be introduced into this crazy world. Enjoy the wild ride of this, after the fact, reassessed, superior series, IMO, to BB! Yeah science and change and sh&t! I equate Mike's introduction scene in BB, the pro sent in to clean up Janes OD, with Pulp Fiction's "The Wolf", the ultra competent "cleaner" sent in to handle the mess after Vincent accidently shoots Marvin in the head while driving in Jules car. That storyline ended with the likeable bad guys car being crushed in q junkyard, the location and plot mover used often in BB. Mike's intimidating performance was so powerful they recognized they had a winner on their hands and a new star was born.
It's interesting though, because not only does Chuck keep Jimmy stuck feeling like Slippin-Jimmy, but Jimmy was enabling Chuck to continue being a hermit afraid of electricity - trying to get Chuck to force HHM to buy him out, which is totally predicated on Chuck being "disabled" by his "condition". They are just two brothers who had an unhealthy relationship. Yeah they could be friendly and brotherly to eachother face-to-face, but when it comes down to it, they see eachother in ways that are unhealthy for them.
Mark Proksch, the guy Mike is doing security for, is in a show called What We Do in the Shadows. I cannot recommend it enough. PLEASE consider reacting to it as the final season comes out tomorrow (Oct.21).
It's even worse: the best way to ensure Jimmy's proper use of the law would have been to have him inside the business and use him where his talents are. By punching down, ensuring he doesn't get a fair shot, Chuck actually ensured he would go down the path he did. All because the idea of him as an equal was just unacceptble for his own frail ego.
It’s much more than just Chuck’s ego. Beyond protecting his own ego as well as his financial and reputational stakes in HHM, Chuck has responsibilities to his partners and to all of the employees and clients of HHM. Chuck has very real and legitimate concerns about the damage that Jimmy will do as a lawyer, especially if he is a lawyer at HHM. He even faces significant potential liabilities if Jimmy causes mayhem at HHM while Chuck is withholding relevant information from HHM’s partners or clients about Jimmy’s history and character. There is much more in play than just Chuck’s ego.
@@markhamstra1083 Perhaps, but he could just explain that to him. Or cue the others in and make a true decision. The only reason not to, is because he thinks it would damage his own image - both towards his brother who admires him, and his coworkers.. This idea of a fragile ego is further strengthened by the fact he starts to 'suffer' from EHS from the moment he divorced Rebecca.
Chuck is an a-hole but I hate this whole attitude that he is Jimmy’s keeper and is responsible for how he turned out. Jimmy isn’t a child. He’s a grown man who is of perfectly sound mind and capable of make his own decisions. The truth is he never wanted to stop being Slipping Jimmy. Even before he found out Chuck was working against him, he tried to stage a car accident to secure a client. He then took a bribe from the Kettlemans and hired Mike to break into their house to cover it up. I know it’s easy to forget because the Kettlemans suck, but none of that was legally or ethically ok. Then when he eventually gets hired by another law firm where they believe in his talents, he acts like a jerk and sabotages himself. The fact that Chuck had no faith in Jimmy’s ability to change does not give Jimmy the go ahead to prove him right. Jimmy could have cut ties with Chuck and forged his own honest path forward if he really wanted to. HHM isn’t the only law firm on the planet.
@@artistfloor9 Interesting to see this is what you got from that response. Do I think Chuck is Jimmy's keeper? No, not at all. In factL it looks largely like the other way around. And yet, Chuck's big lie is perhaps the most manipulative and insidious of them all, ultimately destroying Jimmy's hope for approval, and showing him that even the person he thought he could trust the most is ultimately out to get him/use him.
@@larsickenroth7169 That’s exactly what you’re doing when you say he ensured Jimmy would go down the path he did and that he should’ve kept Jimmy close to ensure he was following the law. Jimmy was still a conman even before Chuck showed his true colors, and the fact that his brother didn’t believe in him and didn’t want him working at his law firm doesn’t excuse anything Jimmy did. Again, there are thousands of other law firms and he had multiple opportunities to leave that life behind but always chose to go back. And no this is not me defending Chuck’s elitist attitude or manipulative methods, but he is not responsible for how Jimmy turned out the same way Jimmy was not responsible for Chuck’s social shortcomings or mental illness. It wasn’t his job to make sure Jimmy didn’t backslide nor was it his obligation to allow Jimmy to work at this one specific law firm while being perfectly aware that he was still conning people and constantly breaking the rules. I just find the lack of nuance with the way the fandom views Chuck and the amount of blame placed on him for the charismatic main character’s choices to be eerily similar to how the fandom views Skyler White.
I appreciate this you doing by releasing seasons every 2 months, I am a binger, and I rented your Patreon services already. Is just that I spent so much time on it, I just wanted to say thanks for not making this exclusively Patreon-usered. My unexisting wallet and my free time bows at you. Also, "unwashed asshole" is so much better than just saying asshole. LOL!
Jimmy (Saul) actually says in Breaking Bad that he once "convinced a woman he was Kevin Costner". He also says in BB that maybe he’ll “retire and open a Cinnebun” So this show builds episodes and whole storylines out of single lines from BB. the fact that we know where Jimmy ends up but still root for him to make the right choices AND STILL be disappointed when he strays from being “good”. It’s such a great show and SO well written!!
I have a dark sympathy with Chuck. I have a brother of my own and it’s so easy to fixate on everything he does wrong when you think he’s favored by the parents. And when you’re so focused on that, you’re blind to everything he’s trying to do right.
If you like Julie Ann Emery as Betsy Kettleman, you guys should consider watching "Preacher" sometime. She plays one of Herr Starr's underlings, and she pretty much steals every scene she's in.
Michael McKean is so great as Chuck. Also I like how in BCS Vince Gilligan was like "okay D-Bags I know a lot of you hated Skylar for no reason so I'm gonna give you Betsy Kettleman to hate and she'll earn it"
As someone who had their apartment building burn down due to landlord negligence and had to find a new place to live (and had to replace all of my lifelong belongings) and is currently in a lawsuit with the company trying to screw us out of money and care at every stage, I pay way more attention to the lawyer scenes of this show now lol
The Kevin Costner part is an easter egg from Breaking Bad when Saul said "I once convinced a woman I was Kevin Costner and it worked because I believed it. "
Yes! When the episode first premiered, I immediately caught the reference!
Ich soll nett sein, gut gemacht :D
he kinda does look like him
That monologue about his son is such a powerful moment, what an outstanding performance by Jonathan Banks.
Also the loud mouth is the voice actor for Trevor in GTA V, Steven Ogg.
@@shinyagumon7015 Also Walking Dead
They also used Steven's likeness to model Trevor after - he wasn't just the voice :]
I think it's a tragedy that Banks didn't get an Emmy.
Jimmy hating Howard is like the longest running instance of "don't shoot the messenger" ever.
Kim Wexler is one of the best female character ever written in tv history and you will come to know why gradually.
I guess we now know Kim has plot armor!
Even tho this all takes place before BB, I actually like that they didn't try to physically or digitally de-age anyone. The story is so damn tight that the ages never took me out for a second. Each and every actor brought their A-game!!
Like a good stage play you just accept what they tell you
i like that they also cast older actors for all the other characters too, so it doesnt stand out. Michael McKeen was in his late 60s/early 70s shooting this show, the same age as my grandfather, but Chuck is in his mid-late 50s. I really like it, it's almost like having an art style in real life, if that makes sense
The wig they stick on Odenkirk for his really young scenes is hilarious, i non-ironically love it.
And geting away with fat Todd in El Camino. When actors and scenarists do they job great supressing disbelied is easy.
Makes me wish we got reverse with BCS gus since he looks more intense and mature in a way than BB gus who would fit in BCS
11:50 Just because Mike was a bad cop, doesn't mean he was a BAD cop.
Thanks Zangief!
I understand that reference
Mike was a BAD cop who turned his son into a bad cop.
On the Better Call Saul DVD/Blurays for season 1, there are commentaries on certain episodes by the Kettlemans, in character. They're hilarious.
Lol! Something I never knew I needed!
That reminds me of how HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITECASTLE has an entire commentary track just for EXTREME SPORTS BULLY #3
"I wasn't in this scene" over and over lol
Listening to Mike tell that story about his son, and start to crack, makes me emotional every time
He earned his Emmy with that scene.
"We know he's gonna become a criminal lawyer, it's just so sad how that comes about" is like the biggest motto of this show lol
Il love the, "I hope we get another show about Mike in his crime days". This is that show.
exactly, its not just saul's backstory, it mike's too.
They could probably eke out another whole Mike show set between (most of) BCS and BB 😆
@@jlilley73 I haven't yet watched the last couple of seasons, don't they cross over?
@@ClaireWW They do, but let's just say that there's still a time skip within the final season.
"he tries to do the right thing and loses out" - Yeah. That's the theme with both shows, I feel. The focus is on someone who lost out one too many times and says "f*ck it, now I'm gonna get what's mine"...
Yeah, no. Jimmy didn’t just break bad after life dealt him some hard knocks. He was trying to lie, cheat, steal and scam his way into more money since he was a kid. That’s as fundamental to Jimmy as pride and ego are to Walter. Sure, Jimmy later gets frustrated in his attempts to reform himself, but that wasn’t what caused him to be who he is since long before this show started.
I thinks it's more like: "most people are capable of doing bad things, they just need a little push". For Walt it was the cancer, for Jimmy it was a mix of his brother keeping him down and basically the world not paying back good deeds.
@@FrankyRZK How did Chuck hold him down? He doesn't owe Jimmy a job as a lawyer. Chuck has every right to use his own judgement on who works for his company.
Also, what good deeds did Jimmy do aside from paying Chuck back for saving him or doing things for Kim because he's into her? Almost all of Jimmy's deeds in the show are wicked and/or motivated by self-interest.
I respectfully disagree. Walt's decision was built on regret. Walt had his shares of the company bought out and then became a teacher and working another part-time job to support his family. When he found out he had cancer, he initially opts not to treat it. Walt starts out good, turns bad. Jimmy, on the other hand, started out as a petty criminal, did some stupid shit, tried to turn it around and got nothing in the way of support. In fact, those closest to him tried to stop him from making that turn. In turn, he gets worse. It's kind of an apples to oranges comparison.
@@ravenwulfgar you're all wrong.
Walt thought he did "the right thing" with his Grey Matter shares because of his thing with Gretchen. He obviously thought things would get messy if he stayed there so he chose a life dedicated to Skyler, a life that was well below his potential.
That was "the right thing" he did, that ultimately saw him breaking bad.
That realization was planted earlier in Jimmy because how his father always did the right thing and always got the boot for it.
He then fought his good nature from that point forward, vowing not to end up like that.
While Chuck was just a bad person motivated by envy, envy of his parents' love for Jimmy and basically everyone's love for Jimmy. That was the driving factor behind his success.
Chuck was a dick through and through, Jimmy a good person compulsively fighting his own nature.
The tragic bit is how the actions of those around him taught him again and again that he really should continue fighting everything that's good in him.
Think of the scene with that girl that didn't get the scholarship. That was another nail in the coffin. One more lesson for Jimmy, that these are the structures he's fighting.
He thinks he's "sticking it to the man" by fighting his own good nature and behaving like a crook.
Howard was honestly one of my favorite characters. Patrick Fabian played the role so well
I think I'm in the middle of something, there's really no need to..😂
@@anvil958 shhh
Who...Howard?...he's nobody
I think a lot of the lawyers in this show did a great job, Hamlin, Schweikart, Cokely, etc
Agreed, as the series went on and you really learned about Howard it was an eye opener. Few characters are shown to be so comepletely different from the start of a show to the end without actually CHANGING the character. Howard doesn't change his behaviour, you simply come to understand why it exists.
"I broke my boy" Such a great line, delivered perfectly
With all the bad relations, horrible people and awful things done in this show, the opening of episode 9 with Jimmy and Chuck on the bench is such a rare wonderful moment. Now everything will be great, right?
Right?.............
"I hope there's another show in the making called Mike Will Fix It, about him in his crime days." Dude, you're watching it! Haha. One of the great joys of this show is how much Mike we get, one of the best characters ever.
no, obviously show about Mike would've been called Kid Named Finger
Love that David St Hubbins found work as an actor after his years of playing pathetic rock and roll.
Hey, don't insult Smell The Glove!
Shit Sandwich!
Have they realised that Chuck is David St Hubbins?
Me, I'm just impressed that Lenny shaped up and became a lawyer after leaving Milwaukee. Wonder how Squiggy's doing!
I like Better call Saul more than Breaking Bad but I'm not sure why
Me personally, I like BCS more because I never felt over bearing dread after every episode. 😂 (still loved BB though)
Because you believe in justice for the little guy!
Same. I always thought to myself this show could of been called "better call mike".
More fleshed out world and interesting plots all coming together.
Personally I think it's because without the high stakes, You get to marinate in the personal stakes of the characters. It feels all the more personal because you get to sit right there in front with them as they go through the entire journey. And it's all the more emotionally gripping and heartbreaking because of it.
Not to say BB didn't also have that or that high stakes are "wrong". Its just apples and oranges. Like to illustrate, I think BB is kind of the hitchcockian bomb under the guy's table with the audience knowing the bomb is gonna go off but not when. BCS is more like getting to know a good friend and slowly seeing him spiral into a bad path.
I love Simones reaction to Georges jokes, like jim from the office staring at the camera 😂
Jeepers
1:05:39 - cons for money are gross, cons for other things is gross too, sleeping with someone because you think they're famous and rich is also gross. So they're all equally in it.
Watching this show again with you guys is just reminding me what a masterpiece it is. I honestly believe is one of the best shows on tv, ever. The level of the writing, the acting, the sound design, THE CINEMATOGRAPHY.
the actor who plays chuck is actually the lead singer of spinal tap.
🤯 also thank you!!
The way the first season and the Sandpiper arc in particular positions Jimmy as an underdog makes it really easy and compelling to root for him, even more so than Walt
Ep 6 of the first season is freakin SUPERB. The setting, plot, the little clever moments, and of course the ACTING...one of the best episodes I've ever seen in anything ever
I've heard that when they made the 1st season, they didn't know if they would be making the rest of the series. So just in case, they finished with Jimmy deciding to no longer play by the rules, as this would explain his character in Breaking Bad.
The Kevin Costner name drop is from Breaking Bad.
It was pretty much a throwaway in Breaking Bad so I'm never surprised when first time viewers miss the reference.
Being surprised that there's a Santa Fe in New Mexico is like being surprised there's a New York City in New York. Santa Fe New Mexico IS THE Santa Fe. The Spanish settlement goes back over 400 years. When Santa Fe was on the tongues of royals around the world, there was no America, not a single English colony.
This may not be an original thought, but I think Chuck's illness starts when he learns Jimmy has passed the bar. His whole world view is shattered.
Matlock (1986-95) is famous for being a favorite of seniors. I'm sure it helped that it starred Andy Griffith, famous for playing the father of the director of Cocoon.
This is not entirely inaccurate.
The Kettlemens actually did commentary for the show. You can find it online. These actors are such great improvisers. They were totally locked into those characters.
I once convinced a woman that I was Kevin Costner, and the reason it worked is because I believed I was Kevin Costner! I think was the line from BB
The movie on the TV in the old folks home is Bell, Book, And Candle (1958)
I love Better Call Saul even more than Breaking Bad. What a show!
Hiya folks...may I say how much I really enjoy watching you both experience this series ...you seem to be loving it and we're applauding your brilliant insights as they emerge. I also wished to chime in with a supporting comment....George, somewhere around the 37:20 time mark or so you'd said something to the effect concerning the monumental task that Jimmy was about to tackle, the ridiculous overwhelming job of attempting to reconstruct what would appear to be 700 miles worth of shredded office paperwork, you'd said that you kind of liked the feeling and idea of getting into such a huge, repetitive task, that there's just something rewarding about it ...or something quite similar. I just wanted to say that YES, absolutely, I know exactly what you mean by that as in past times in my life I can look back and clearly recall at least a couple of experiences very very much like that. You feel helplessly overwhelmed at the start of such a nearly impossible job, you dig in and just go go go...your mind just gets set to 'just do it' mode....and then, quite a long time later as you sit back, take a breath and look at the progress that's been made, that tell-tale positive hopeful spark in your mind begins glowing bright, brings a little knowing smile to your face as you think to yourself "Yea, this looking good....I can do this..."
Sure it can take a while for that revaluation to arrive , but damn it feels so good and as you'd said, rewarding when it does...🙂
That’s also the thing, in the beginning of the show he had to resort to slippin’ Jimmy because his back is to the cliffs and reality is pushing toward him. It’s break bad or starve. If he was in the protective walls of HHM with a steady paycheck then we would be able to pay to care for Chuck and not be so hungry that he needed to be unethical to get clients.
Hey guys just to answer couple of questions you had during the reaction:
1. Yes Saul/Jimmy wears Marco's ring in Breaking Bad and this was a backstory of the meaning of this ring.
2. The Kevin Conster joke is from Breaking Bad S3E11 where Saul told Walter that once he convinced a woman that he is Kevin Costner, which on the other side was a joke from the creators because after the introduction of Saul in S2 of BB, people online were commenting and joking that Bob Odenkirk looks like a "dollar store Kevin Costner". It was a great meta joke.
Also other things you missed (or at least in the RUclips reaction version) but not related to the shows - the actor who plays Nacho Varga is the same actor who played Voss, the villain in Far Cry 3 game. Steven Ogg (the bodyguard Mike confronted) played Trevor in GTA 5.
The Bingo scene is so true... I just played bingo with elders in Tenerife (no I'm not elder) the atmosphere was intense the prizes were Euros! Loving how you are turning these around in chunks! Compulsive viewing 👏
I kind of adore the Kettlemans. Theyre so fucking stupid it's almost hilarious. Its ye olde Schadenfreude, I wanna see them fall all over themselves in their ill thought out plans.
God this show is heartbreaking in rewatch. All the ingredients are there from the start and you get to see it start coming together a long time before youre completely aware its happened. But it does it feels like you got stabbed right in the heart. Thats what I felt with Chuck and Jimmy in Ep.9. You see hints of it early on but you also see they can be good brothers to each other. You can see Jimmy is capable of doing good. But you also see slipping Jimmy all the time like hes an addict. And while i think Chuck is right, I cant really feel he's actually tried to steer his brother away. Hes always assumed Jimmy could only ever be Slipping Jimmy, even when faced with the possibility of Jimmy actually doing good.
What a treat to be able to watch this awesome program with the 2 of you.
I like the "Tennis Ball" method. Cut one in half, place over car lock, punch the tennis ball. Air pressure unlocks the door.
Doubt it works anymore but I thought that was pretty clever.
You guys are so on the ball catching scenes, figuring it out in real time, no wonder we all love watching your channel!
idk, it makes it feel like they've already seen it.
@@zXSleeZy Wow, I would hate for that to be true. I think they are smarter than the average bear…
@@ronrago2696 Yea i like em also, but sometimes they're too spot on and makes me doubt.
Jimmy was trying, but if you rewatch, he was slipping since episode 1.
It's crazy how people watching see Jimmy get humanized now and then and it causes them to completely dismiss the fact that he's a conman and a scam artist.
In Breaking Bad Saul tells Walt he once convinced a woman he was Kevin Costner. Funny to see that throwaway line in Breaking Bad happen. Also Saul does indeed wear the pinky ring in Breaking Bad so its cool to see the origin story for the ring.
Craig Kettleman going to prison would basically be Beecher from Oz
I always loved the juxtaposition of how Mike was introduced in both series.
In Breaking Bad, he was already a deadly capable fixer but in Call Saul, he was introduced as an almost harmless nobody!
Eventually, there WILL be people who watch BB and BCS in chronological storyline order who get to see Mike become Mike.
I think that would be cool.
I'm still mad at Walter for killing Mike
I'm bet those people watching in chronological order will love having everything in BB spoiled for them by S6.
Five-O is one of my favourite episodes of not just Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul, but of TV in general.
The Chuck reveal is also a cool perspective flip from how, back with Walter and Jesse, we (almost) always saw things from the manipulator's perspective. Now we get to see just what a bomb drop it is to all at once realize how much shit in your life was actually caused by someone stabbing you in the back.
47:05 surprised you guys didn't recognise Steven Ogg Trevor Phillips himself but don't know if you've ever played GTA 5
Mel Rodriguez is such a fantastic character actor, I’ve never seen him give a bad performance
Knowing what happened to Mike's son completely recontexualizes Mike's relationship with Jesse.
In an episode of Breaking Bad, Saul told Walter "I once told a woman that I'm Kevin Costner, and she believed it."
Howard Hamlin is the best and my favorite character Vince Gilligan ever created.
Five-O is on of the best episodes of BCS and BB. That line "I've broke my son" breaks me every time. That is why I love recommending BCS to my friends
Jon Banks' performance of that monologue in Five-o is one of my favourite pieces of acting ever. The delivery of "I broke my boy" is heartbreaking. I would call it my favourite Mike moment but I think the "Half Measures" monologue in Breaking Bad takes that spot (though he has so many good other moments too).
Five-O is still one of my favorite episodes of either series 🙌
Chuck is one of the "best" villains ever. i mean comeon.. who of us is ever gonna meet or deal with a Tuco or other mob boss. But i am sure a lot of us came across a Chuck at some time in their live.
0:27 GREAT! Thanks George. Now I just picture Mike walking into the train station and someone saying "Happy 14th birthday, Michael!"
Mike's soft spot for Jesse makes a lot more sense after you learn of Matty. Jesse's good nature and kind hearted purposes to his actions despite being involved in crime probably struck the right chords with Mike and that is why Mike possibly wanted Jesse to have a better life than the one he's chosen to be a part of with Walter and why he would put up with Jesse standing in the way of him killing Walter and back down.
I feel like Matty was a grounding force for Mike and Jesse unknowingly stepped into the empty position which mike had not been trying to, but desperately wanted to be filled.
Love how by the end of the first season of a show called Better Call Saul you not only don’t want him to be Saul but kind to trick yourself into thinking it might somehow be different and he will take the job
Wow you guys are sharp; most watchers don't seem to notice the subtext in the scene in which Jimmy tells Chuck about his law degree. They're usually blindsided by Chuck's vitriol in Ep 9.
Okay, so you didn't actually realize it was Chuck all the way through. But you did figure it out just before the reveal, which is still better than a lot of other reactors I think. That scene is so painful to watch, particularly after the first time, in which you can see Jimmy's pain and bitterness in his eyes throughout, even before he unloads on Chuck.
Matlock is to all old people what Murder She Wrote is to Grandmas.
Craig Kettleman has a very funny minor role in Birdman which I will never stop trying to get y’all to watch lmao
Also very funny to see what it would be like if Lady Macbeth was a former prom queen and Macbeth was a milquetoast accountant.
SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER
The shot of Jimmy and Chuck on the same side of the table shatters my heart.
Oddly, when I was a kid I loved watching Matlock.
"We're back to calling it a bribe now, right?" Ice. Cold.
I'm no sure if you noticed this between episodes and I just missed it, but fun fact: that guy who Mike punches in the throat at the "3 tough guys" trial in the 9th episode? He plays Trevor in GTAV. Yes, THAT Trevor.
Welcome to the biggest moral debate in the last 10 years.
Who made Saul Goodman?
Hell of a show for Simone to watch baked af :D
Just remember that Chuck caught Jimmy in TWO different schemes before the big S1E9 reveal (broken legs, billboard). Slippin Jimmy never left.
Matlock was a long-running lawyer show starring Andy Griffith. It's essentially the same show as Perry Mason, where the client is always accused of a murder that they didn't commit. Then, through the course of the episode, the lawyer not only exonerates the defendant, but also figures out how the crime actually happened, proves who the "real killer" is in court, and even frequently gets them to confess on the stand.
Where Perry Mason had more of a serious tone, Matlock had a lot more comedy based around Ben Matlock's folksy personality, lots of witty banter, and the extended cast of characters getting into silly situations. At some point it was observed that a lot of diehard Matlock fans were older folks, and it became a frequently used trope that old people love watching Matlock.
The idea of having a child that has so much integrity they'd only break it for you, how could you not feel like a failure at that? You're the only person he trusted enough to act against his own values, and it's what cost you both everything.
All the lead actors of this show are amazing. The characters are very interesting, my favorite throughout the show is Kim tho.
Great to see the reactions to this so soon! BCS, like BB, just gets better and better with each season!
Thx guys for your fun reaction here.
Mike is surely Jonathan Bank's Magnum Opus although my favorite role of his is when he played the radar guy in the tower in AIRPLANE, where he is seen playing a video game, checking the progress of a chicken cooking in the microwave and is in the forefront when his coworker puts in a load of laundry. Good stuff that.
As much as I enjoyed Saul Goodman in BB, I was almost offended when I heard a prequel was planned. I feared it wouldn't be able to match Walter White's epic met(h)amorpheses as a character. You two have just entered the top of a long, twisty, downward, slide while fleshing out these characters and with many more yet to be introduced into this crazy world. Enjoy the wild ride of this, after the fact, reassessed, superior series, IMO, to BB! Yeah science and change and sh&t!
I equate Mike's introduction scene in BB, the pro sent in to clean up Janes OD, with Pulp Fiction's "The Wolf", the ultra competent "cleaner" sent in to handle the mess after Vincent accidently shoots Marvin in the head while driving in Jules car. That storyline ended with the likeable bad guys car being crushed in q junkyard, the location and plot mover used often in BB. Mike's intimidating performance was so powerful they recognized they had a winner on their hands and a new star was born.
I don't think Mike was a bad cop but knew he couldn't afford to be a good cop either.
I was thinking about Serpico.
It's interesting though, because not only does Chuck keep Jimmy stuck feeling like Slippin-Jimmy, but Jimmy was enabling Chuck to continue being a hermit afraid of electricity - trying to get Chuck to force HHM to buy him out, which is totally predicated on Chuck being "disabled" by his "condition". They are just two brothers who had an unhealthy relationship. Yeah they could be friendly and brotherly to eachother face-to-face, but when it comes down to it, they see eachother in ways that are unhealthy for them.
Holy Shit George! You caught on to the RICO Sandpiper hella quick! That was impressive!
This show is so amazing but it feels incredibly slept on compared to breaking bad. Love your reactions and can’t wait for you to finish the series!
Mark Proksch, the guy Mike is doing security for, is in a show called What We Do in the Shadows. I cannot recommend it enough. PLEASE consider reacting to it as the final season comes out tomorrow (Oct.21).
It's even worse: the best way to ensure Jimmy's proper use of the law would have been to have him inside the business and use him where his talents are.
By punching down, ensuring he doesn't get a fair shot, Chuck actually ensured he would go down the path he did.
All because the idea of him as an equal was just unacceptble for his own frail ego.
It’s much more than just Chuck’s ego. Beyond protecting his own ego as well as his financial and reputational stakes in HHM, Chuck has responsibilities to his partners and to all of the employees and clients of HHM. Chuck has very real and legitimate concerns about the damage that Jimmy will do as a lawyer, especially if he is a lawyer at HHM. He even faces significant potential liabilities if Jimmy causes mayhem at HHM while Chuck is withholding relevant information from HHM’s partners or clients about Jimmy’s history and character. There is much more in play than just Chuck’s ego.
@@markhamstra1083 Perhaps, but he could just explain that to him. Or cue the others in and make a true decision. The only reason not to, is because he thinks it would damage his own image - both towards his brother who admires him, and his coworkers.. This idea of a fragile ego is further strengthened by the fact he starts to 'suffer' from EHS from the moment he divorced Rebecca.
Chuck is an a-hole but I hate this whole attitude that he is Jimmy’s keeper and is responsible for how he turned out. Jimmy isn’t a child. He’s a grown man who is of perfectly sound mind and capable of make his own decisions. The truth is he never wanted to stop being Slipping Jimmy. Even before he found out Chuck was working against him, he tried to stage a car accident to secure a client. He then took a bribe from the Kettlemans and hired Mike to break into their house to cover it up. I know it’s easy to forget because the Kettlemans suck, but none of that was legally or ethically ok. Then when he eventually gets hired by another law firm where they believe in his talents, he acts like a jerk and sabotages himself. The fact that Chuck had no faith in Jimmy’s ability to change does not give Jimmy the go ahead to prove him right. Jimmy could have cut ties with Chuck and forged his own honest path forward if he really wanted to. HHM isn’t the only law firm on the planet.
@@artistfloor9 Interesting to see this is what you got from that response. Do I think Chuck is Jimmy's keeper? No, not at all. In factL it looks largely like the other way around. And yet, Chuck's big lie is perhaps the most manipulative and insidious of them all, ultimately destroying Jimmy's hope for approval, and showing him that even the person he thought he could trust the most is ultimately out to get him/use him.
@@larsickenroth7169 That’s exactly what you’re doing when you say he ensured Jimmy would go down the path he did and that he should’ve kept Jimmy close to ensure he was following the law. Jimmy was still a conman even before Chuck showed his true colors, and the fact that his brother didn’t believe in him and didn’t want him working at his law firm doesn’t excuse anything Jimmy did. Again, there are thousands of other law firms and he had multiple opportunities to leave that life behind but always chose to go back. And no this is not me defending Chuck’s elitist attitude or manipulative methods, but he is not responsible for how Jimmy turned out the same way Jimmy was not responsible for Chuck’s social shortcomings or mental illness. It wasn’t his job to make sure Jimmy didn’t backslide nor was it his obligation to allow Jimmy to work at this one specific law firm while being perfectly aware that he was still conning people and constantly breaking the rules. I just find the lack of nuance with the way the fandom views Chuck and the amount of blame placed on him for the charismatic main character’s choices to be eerily similar to how the fandom views Skyler White.
Honestly I love the Kettlemans. Betsy is insufferable, but it’s to a comical level, and Craig is just funny.
The scene with Trevor from GTA is still one of my fav all time scenes ever
Pimiento cheese, the caviar of the south
Wouldn’t that be “caiviar”?
"If I'm really what they're saying, I don't want to disappoint them." - The Big Game Is Every Night by Songs Ohia.
I appreciate this you doing by releasing seasons every 2 months, I am a binger, and I rented your Patreon services already. Is just that I spent so much time on it, I just wanted to say thanks for not making this exclusively Patreon-usered. My unexisting wallet and my free time bows at you.
Also, "unwashed asshole" is so much better than just saying asshole. LOL!
s1e06 is absolutely one of my favorites from the whole bb universe
2 of the best gaming characters of all time in one episode. Nacho = Vaas FC3 + We all know Trevor from GTA V XD
1:20 Dang, Simone is so quick on the uptake
1:07:55 Awe... Simone!! WE LOVE YOU!! 😢😢 Very cathartic...
Five-O is one of the best episodes of dramatic televeison, ever. Period. And the fact that Jonathan Banks didn't win an Emmy that year is an outrage.
Jimmy (Saul) actually says in Breaking Bad that he once "convinced a woman he was Kevin Costner".
He also says in BB that maybe he’ll “retire and open a Cinnebun”
So this show builds episodes and whole storylines out of single lines from BB.
the fact that we know where Jimmy ends up but still root for him to make the right choices AND STILL be disappointed when he strays from being “good”.
It’s such a great show and SO well written!!
Really was hoping George would notice Trevor from GTA V.
I love these characters so much 😢
I have a dark sympathy with Chuck. I have a brother of my own and it’s so easy to fixate on everything he does wrong when you think he’s favored by the parents. And when you’re so focused on that, you’re blind to everything he’s trying to do right.
Mike's story in Five-Oh makes me so sad.
If you like Julie Ann Emery as Betsy Kettleman, you guys should consider watching "Preacher" sometime. She plays one of Herr Starr's underlings, and she pretty much steals every scene she's in.
In one episode they carved an arc so deep that Durin would be jealous.
Michael McKean is so great as Chuck.
Also I like how in BCS Vince Gilligan was like "okay D-Bags I know a lot of you hated Skylar for no reason so I'm gonna give you Betsy Kettleman to hate and she'll earn it"
As someone who had their apartment building burn down due to landlord negligence and had to find a new place to live (and had to replace all of my lifelong belongings) and is currently in a lawsuit with the company trying to screw us out of money and care at every stage, I pay way more attention to the lawyer scenes of this show now lol
Vince just gets better and better as the show goes on.
Vince isn't alone. He even left the show for a while.
I'm surprised that George didn't recognize the big mouth with the guns as Trevor from GTA 5 or TWD.
I’ve watched the parking garage scene so many times I’ve lost track.
Forgot how quickly this show goes, damn.
Simone must have had a hard time working as an elevator, i hear the job has its ups and downs. 😢
I think you have to be a dad to make those jokes.
That joke works on many levels