Thanks. On occasion a station around here will interrupt a show and cut off a scene. Most recently during the season finale last spring of Brooklyn Nine Nine.
Yeah, I really liked that, too. You can see on his face that something inside him is breaking while Stacey talks. And we find out from the “you wanted me to talk line” that, oh, the opening scene of a young Matty drawing his name in the concrete! That’s what’s was going through his head! That’s what lead to the uncharacteristic jab at the fraudulent griever. Because @sonoftgb is absolutely right. Being such a dick is out of character for him.
The question for me is why he was triggered by Stacey’s comment about going a whole morning not thinking about her husband. Does Ehrmentraut live his life not thinking about his dead son? Does he feel shame to realize that? Or is it the opposite? Banks plays Ehrmentraut as such a laconic and bottled up character, hard to read. We get to infer things from his actions instead of being told those things. That’s good writing.
So, yeah, I thought that was great bit of storytelling and acting.
-Tom
Me too. I thought it was the best episode of the season so far.
A bunch of reasons - it’s a very important episode for Mike, since he has to transform into Mike from Breaking Bad, and it’s not out of character for that iteration of Mike (remember that he, for instance, beat up Saul to get information for Gus, etc.). He also had a much worse relationship with his daughter-in-law, so their relationship has to deteriorate, and both being somewhat disturbed at how Matt is fading in her memory seems natural (even though he likely knows that would be normal and expected - it’s still sad to him, because it’s not something he’ll ever get over, and in her and his grandchild he had a shared experience that kept Matt alive in some fashion).
You’re also understating the importance of the earlier scene with the potential “girlfriend” - the fact that both she, and his daughter-in-law, were present when at the later group therapy thing when Mike called out the fraud - clearly demonstrated that Mike couldn’t help himself and HAD to call that guy out, despite being aware of the potential negative consequences. Not letting a fool think he didn’t know the truth, and the injustice of other people falling for it, was just too much to bear. All similar to the journey he’s been on to correct the failings at Madrigal even though he not only doesn’t need to do so; it’s actually a risk he’s taking doing it. Mike is getting new life and enjoyment out of doing these things. The same internal force that’s compelled his Madrigal experience forced him to act at the Group therapy.
Maybe also worth noting that he made two “reads” of characters in the episode - both of the fraudster, and also the fact that Gus wasn’t going to kill him and actually wanted him to do something and he wanted to cut through the crap both times.
Best episode of the season. Loved the flash-forward.
Sort of surprised this thread is so quiet.
The shows are converging! There isn’t really much left until there is overlap with Breaking Bad. Mike is creating the chicken man’s lair. The chicken man told his story about the cat that ate his fruit (possibly the most long winded soliloquy to a character’s future fate ever) and we got a close up of the old guy’s bell finger (ding, ding, ding). What else is left? In this timeline, it’s just Kim. We know now she’s not looking to hitch her career to Jimmy, but we need to know why she disappears from the Breaking Bad timeline. I suspect it’s going to be heart wrenching. I bet Jimmy is behind whatever happens to her, and I suspect she’s not just going to dump him and go practice law in some other state.
The rest of it is what happens in the Cinnabon timeline, which I have no idea. I can’t imagine it’s going to be too happy, but I’m oddly attracted to discovering it.
Does anyone know if this season is the end of the line? It feels as if it is, but if there is another season on the books, then I have no idea.
Rumor has it there will be a 5th and final season. My prediction is Jimmy becomes Saul at the end of the season. Kim disappears as you postulate, I bet it will be unexpected and tragic.
I’m thinking and hoping the 5th season will show the “Better Call Saul” of the commercial complete with some humorous clients. While he is slowly becoming a criminal lawyer sucked into the cartel business.
I didn’t know about season 5! I will have to start thinking about it differently, not a wrap up this season. I would enjoy seeing some of the Better Call Saul from the TV commercials. Maybe even get a young Mr. Pinkman to do a few shows.
I am 3 freak’n episodes behind! D:
I don’t know if Kim’s departure will be “tragic”. Clearly she and Jimmy are growing farther and farther apart, and it may be something simple as transferring to an office her new firm has somewhere else.
Seems unlikely the show would pass up an opportunity for tragedy.
It’s not a rumor that there’ll be a 5th season - it was renewed prior to this one starting. May be a rumor that it’s the final season, but that makes sense given what Vince and crew did with Breaking Bad.
The departure can’t be anything but tragic from Jimmy’s perspective (and maybe Kim’s), but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just a break-up, and not her murder, as everyone seems to be predicting. On the other hand, if there’s anything that would knock him off the rails quickly, it would be that.
Oh, I wasn’t expecting murder, per se, though I’m not ruling it out. Just Jimmy fucking up her life.
I am annoyed at the image for this episode on AMC’s web page, because if I hadn’t seen that image I’d have been surprised at how things turned out when Jimmy turned and ran from the hooligans. Fucking dumb.
As much as I love the cast, I’ve never really bought the idea of a romantic relationship between Kim and Jimmy. I really liked early on in the series when it wasn’t clear what their relationship was. Was it unrequited on Jimmy’s part? Were they more like siblings? Longtime friends? Was she just fascinated by his hijinx and he knew she was out of his league? I liked that it wasn’t spelled out and we had to just infer from what we saw. I liked that it didn’t need to make it the obligatory romantic connection because they were male and female leads in a show.
But now that there’s no ambiguity, I just don’t get the sense that these two characters would be a couple. Is it just me?
Also, I can’t wait to see what comeuppance the jerkwad German dude gets from Ehrmantraut. Standing there sipping his beer and smirking like that! He is so gonna get it.
-Tom
I absolutely believe that they would try being a couple. It’s just not going to work out, and not just because we know they’re not together in Breaking Bad.
How am I still 2 episodes behind, damn you real life, sucking up my time.
Loved watching Mike inspect that trailer. I pretty much want a show now with Mike inspecting stuff.
There really doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of chemistry there. Of course, that could be deliberate on the part of the writers.
Nah, I mostly agree. The writers do an interesting thing of basically never having the two of them talk about what their relationship is. It really puts the romance (such as it is) in the background of events. Which is the second best way to handle an unnecessary romance (after not doing it at all).