Television Better Call Saul | Includes Breaking Bad Spoilers

Went back to this over the last few months after giving up at the end of season three originally. Definitely appreciate it more for what it is now than I did back then and enjoy it more. It’s an insanely slow burn that’s more of a character study than Breaking Bad was (with a few spaghetti western bits thrown in in the later seasons), and very funny at times.

BUT I still don’t get the insane praise. I’ve two episodes left to go and whilst parts of season 4, 5, and to a lesser extent 6 have been superb (mostly thanks to Lalo who is a stereotypical but brilliantly portrayed villain) it’s just so fecking slow and full of unnecessary fluff at times. It’s a good show but not a patch on BB. Jimmy, Kim, Chuck, Howard, all great characters in their own way though.

Episode 8 with THAT ending was a particular highlight but then episode 9 was really underwhelming after all I’d heard about it because it was so obvious none of the major players were ever in danger. Also not mad on the format of the final 4 episodes so far. Bit of a bore after the previous few.
 
Massive Spanner said:
Went back to this over the last few months after giving up at the end of season three originally. Definitely appreciate it more for what it is now than I did back then and enjoy it more. It’s an insanely slow burn that’s more of a character study than Breaking Bad was (with a few spaghetti western bits thrown in in the later seasons), and very funny at times.

BUT I still don’t get the insane praise. I’ve two episodes left to go and whilst parts of season 4, 5, and to a lesser extent 6 have been superb (mostly thanks to Lalo who is a stereotypical but brilliantly portrayed villain) it’s just so fecking slow and full of unnecessary fluff at times. It’s a good show but not a patch on BB. Jimmy, Kim, Chuck, Howard, all great characters in their own way though.

Episode 8 with THAT ending was a particular highlight but then episode 9 was really underwhelming after all I’d heard about it because it was so obvious none of the major players were ever in danger. Also not mad on the format of the final 4 episodes so far. Bit of a bore after the previous few.
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I’ve watched both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul through twice now and I actually prefer Better Call Saul.

I think BB had more of an impact on me first viewing and was more gripping but I just find BCS so indulgent.

That said I also think that without BB I wouldn’t appreciate BCS so they’re hard to separate.
 
Pexbo said:
I’ve watched both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul through twice now and I actually prefer Better Call Saul.

I think BB had more of an impact on me first viewing and was more gripping but I just find BCS so indulgent.

That said I also think that without BB I wouldn’t appreciate BCS so they’re hard to separate.
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The montages in BCS are wonderful. I could watch Jimmy buy vending machine coffees all day.

admittedly I haven’t seen BB in yeeeears so I need to rewatch it and see if it still holds up, but twenty something me loved it obviously. Parts of BCS were also a little lost on me cause I can remember shit all from BB and there were so many little nods and references.

still, I said it at the time but a 10 years older Jonathan banks playing a 10 years younger Mike was really hard to not laugh at a lot of the time :lol: kinda just get used to it. Even the twins looked like they’d aged around 20 years! odenkirk still looked immaculate throughout though.

I should say I really liked BCS. If Breaking Bad is like a top 5 or 10 show this is maybe in my top 20-25 and parts of the last few seasons were phenomenal telly.
 
Massive Spanner said:
Went back to this over the last few months after giving up at the end of season three originally. Definitely appreciate it more for what it is now than I did back then and enjoy it more. It’s an insanely slow burn that’s more of a character study than Breaking Bad was (with a few spaghetti western bits thrown in in the later seasons), and very funny at times.

BUT I still don’t get the insane praise. I’ve two episodes left to go and whilst parts of season 4, 5, and to a lesser extent 6 have been superb (mostly thanks to Lalo who is a stereotypical but brilliantly portrayed villain) it’s just so fecking slow and full of unnecessary fluff at times. It’s a good show but not a patch on BB. Jimmy, Kim, Chuck, Howard, all great characters in their own way though.

Episode 8 with THAT ending was a particular highlight but then episode 9 was really underwhelming after all I’d heard about it because it was so obvious none of the major players were ever in danger. Also not mad on the format of the final 4 episodes so far. Bit of a bore after the previous few.
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I sort of agree. When people say it's on par with or even better than Breaking Bad, I mostly put it down to recency bias, trying to be different, or, for lack of a better word, elitism (oh, I don't care about entertainment!). I think it's a great show but it's ridiculously slow at times. Would have loved to see the four season cut.
 
Massive Spanner said:
The montages in BCS are wonderful. I could watch Jimmy buy vending machine coffees all day.

admittedly I haven’t seen BB in yeeeears so I need to rewatch it and see if it still holds up, but twenty something me loved it obviously. Parts of BCS were also a little lost on me cause I can remember shit all from BB and there were so many little nods and references.

still, I said it at the time but a 10 years older Jonathan banks playing a 10 years younger Mike was really hard to not laugh at a lot of the time :lol: kinda just get used to it. Even the twins looked like they’d aged around 20 years! odenkirk still looked immaculate throughout though.
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Mike is probably my favourite character from any show ever.

The second watching of BB, something that you maybe don’t quite grasp when watching the first time is how relentlessly brutal it all is on Jesse. I think first watch you maybe hold some hope for him but second watch you know it just gets worse and worse.
 
Pexbo said:
Mike is probably my favourite character from any show ever.

The second watching of BB, something that you maybe don’t quite grasp when watching the first time is how relentlessly brutal it all is on Jesse. I think first watch you maybe hold some hope for him but second watch you know it just gets worse and worse.
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I don’t think many other tv scenes have shocked or stayed with me as when the Nazis shot his girlfriend at point blank with him watching. fecking brutal man.

Jev said:
I sort of agree. When people say it's on par with or even better than Breaking Bad, I mostly put it down to recency bias, trying to be different, or, for lack of a better word, elitism (oh, I don't care about entertainment!). I think it's a great show but it's ridiculously slow at times. Would have loved to see the four season cut.
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I can see why people love it. It’s incredibly self indulgent and very character driven, it’s a very different show to BB. For me it was just a little TOO slow and meandering at times.
 
Massive Spanner said:
I don’t think many other tv scenes have shocked or stayed with me as when the Nazis shot his girlfriend at point blank with him watching. fecking brutal man.


I can see why people love it. It’s incredibly self indulgent and very character driven, it’s a very different show to BB. For me it was just a little TOO slow and meandering at times.
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I thought the montage sequences became a self-parody at some point. It became a kind of trademark for the show and in the latter seasons it was overindulgent. There were also some plot points I could have lived without entirely. For instance the elaborate con on Howard in the final season was tedious and overly long and seemed so low-stakes for a final season (although it did have a great payoff and turned out to be surprisingly high-stakes). So again, I honestly think a four or five season cut could have been really great. Maybe five 10 episode seasons.
 
Massive Spanner said:
still, I said it at the time but a 10 years older Jonathan banks playing a 10 years younger Mike was really hard to not laugh at a lot of the time :lol: kinda just get used to it. Even the twins looked like they’d aged around 20 years! odenkirk still looked immaculate throughout though.
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I thought Odenkirk looked a lot better in BCS than in BB - he was a bit chubbier back then :p
 
Not gonna lie, I genuinely liked that they essentially just said "feck it" about the age thing and yeah, didn't bother me in the slightest. Unlike say, The Irishman trying to force the issue... though I guess there's bigger issues there, but still.
 
53 Emmy nominations and zero wins.

The next most amount of nominations without winning is 25.

A travesty.
 
Zebs said:
53 Emmy nominations and zero wins.

The next most amount of nominations without winning is 25.

A travesty.
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I think they got unlucky with the timing. By the time the series had become a certifiably good, Succession had already started racking up awards. That being said, Game of Thrones should probably not have won anything after season 6 and I haven't seen The Handmaid's Tale so I can't claim for certain that BCS is better.
 
Absolutely loved Breaking Bad - best TV show I have and likely will ever watch.

Never tried Better Call Saul as I never thought it could hold a candle to BB - spin-offs very rarely work.

Into season 2 now - fantastic. Vince Gilligan is a hell of a writer.
 
Hernandez - BFA said:
Absolutely loved Breaking Bad - best TV show I have and likely will ever watch.

Never tried Better Call Saul as I never thought it could hold a candle to BB - spin-offs very rarely work.

Into season 2 now - fantastic. Vince Gilligan is a hell of a writer.
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Any word on Vince Gilligan's next project?
 
My two favourite shows. and yes as mentioned previously i watched BCS before BB. shoot me.
 
Just finished it yesterday. Amazing show. I enjoyed it more than breaking bad. Jimmy is a truly fascinating character. So are the secondary characters like Kim, Gus, Mike and so on.
 
HTG said:
Just finished it yesterday. Amazing show. I enjoyed it more than breaking bad. Jimmy is a truly fascinating character. So are the secondary characters like Kim, Gus, Mike and so on.
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You have just been in for a treat! I wish I could watch it again with fresh eyes, and without the extraordinary long breaks between seasons.
 
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