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Better Call Saul - The Final Season (untagged spoilers!)


Stevo985

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Brilliant 3rd Episode.

Spoiler

Absolutely gutted about Nacho even though I assumed he would meet his fate eventually

If the final season keeps up this standard it will cement itself as better than Breaking Bad

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23 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Brilliant 3rd Episode.

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Absolutely gutted about Nacho even though I assumed he would meet his fate eventually

If the final season keeps up this standard it will cement itself as better than Breaking Bad

I think the quality of just about everything is better in BCS than in BB: The writing, the acting, the photography, everything about BCS is pretty much impeccable and just so deliciously subtle at its finest. 

I guess BB has some kind of untangible, maybe just the sheer tension and the action scenes, and the Walt/Jesse relationship. But then again, BCS has Rhea Seehorn, which is arguably enough to win the debate on its own. 

Doesn’t really matter which is best, really. They are both freaking excellent contributions to television history. 

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1 minute ago, El Zen said:

I think the quality of just about everything is better in BCS than in BB: The writing, the acting, the photography, everything about BCS is pretty much impeccable and just so deliciously subtle at its finest. 

I guess BB has some kind of untangible, maybe just the sheer tension and the action scenes, and the Walt/Jesse relationship. But then again, BCS has Rhea Seehorn, which is arguably enough to win the debate on its own. 

Doesn’t really matter which is best, really. They are both freaking excellent contributions to television history. 

I think BB generally had more things happening. That last season especially was absolutely incredible. The episode where

Spoiler

Hank gets killed

is genuinely one of the most WTF moments in TV for me. I couldn't believe it was happening.

 

Whereas BCS is far more slow burning. Which isn't a bad thing, it just makes the two shows slightly hard to compare. Which is weird considering they're so closely related.

I think you're right that BCS is better overall, but something about the way BB just ramped up and ramped up all the way to final season being the ultimate climax made it special

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Yeah, I think that’s absolutely right. You could perhaps say BB was better for pure entertainment, whereas BCS is artistically superior. 

Again, both are just fantastic anyway.

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When do we all think the overlapping timeline will come in to this season. I think we might get more BB then we were expecting, I initially thought WW and co might come in to it at the end but I think we might get more. There are 7 episodes up to May 23, then we back on 11 July for 6 more, might we get 6 episodes on an overlapping timeline. Possibly end of 7 being the Kim situation and would make for a strong cliffhanger.

 

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16 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I think BB generally had more things happening. That last season especially was absolutely incredible. The episode where

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Hank gets killed

is genuinely one of the most WTF moments in TV for me. I couldn't believe it was happening.

 

Whereas BCS is far more slow burning. Which isn't a bad thing, it just makes the two shows slightly hard to compare. Which is weird considering they're so closely related.

I think you're right that BCS is better overall, but something about the way BB just ramped up and ramped up all the way to final season being the ultimate climax made it special

The way my mate 'sold' BB to me initially, and he was right, was "Put it this way - At the end of season 1 you think 'how the hell did he get to here from where he was at the start of this season', and at the end of season 2 you think 'how the hell did he get to here from where he was at the start of this season'. And at the end of season 3 etc ..." you get the picture. Breaking Bad is an absolute fun-filled rollercoaster. It is what it is, pure story driven adrenaline. It's good for reasons completely different to why, say, The Wire is good for example. I love that BCS went the way it did though.

It took me a while to start BCS. In fact I watched 2 episodes before and left it. I think I was just tired of that whole universe and needed a break. It took me yonks to watch El Camino too. But we got there in the end. I'm glad I waited, because the gap meant I wasn't just ready for the universe again, the distance meant the show could live on its own as a standalone rather than as 'being that BB spin-off' (and I'm generally very dismissive of spin-offs as nothing more than inferior cash grabs).

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I think there were different pressures in writing the two shows, I assume with Breaking Bad it was originally the objective to write a show that gets renewed for a second season, and then a third and so on.  It must have been hard to keep writing it with a goal in mind but not knowing when you could bring it to a close.  With BCS I assume the creators had pretty much carte blanche to take as long as they wanted to get the story complete exactly how they want, due to the success of BB.  Hence the slower pace but bigger payoffs and more attention to detail.

Edited by sharkyvilla
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6 hours ago, sharkyvilla said:

I think there were different pressures in writing the two shows, I assume with Breaking Bad it was originally the objective to write a show that gets renewed for a second season, and then a third and so on.  It must have been hard to keep writing it with a goal in mind but not knowing when you could bring it to a close.  With BCS I assume the creators had pretty much carte blanche to take as long as they wanted to get the story complete exactly how they want, due to the success of BB.  Hence the slower pace but bigger payoffs and more attention to detail.

Yeah that’s a great point

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On 29/04/2022 at 16:19, sharkyvilla said:

I think there were different pressures in writing the two shows, I assume with Breaking Bad it was originally the objective to write a show that gets renewed for a second season, and then a third and so on.  It must have been hard to keep writing it with a goal in mind but not knowing when you could bring it to a close.  With BCS I assume the creators had pretty much carte blanche to take as long as they wanted to get the story complete exactly how they want, due to the success of BB.  Hence the slower pace but bigger payoffs and more attention to detail.

Never thought about that but it makes a lot of sense.

Not to argue, but Vince had also had a lot of success as a TV writer - he was one of the main writers of the X-files. He wasn't a creator but he became one of the main folks there so he was "due" a shot having certainly paid his dues. BB was green-lit by what was (at the time) a pretty small cable channel and TV was considered the low budget, under-class hillbilly cousin of Hollywood movies.

BB was absolutely one the shows that led the way for TV series to be what they are these days. You could make the argument that BB was among a few shows that helped create the Zeitgeist of watching shows the way we do now. Sopranos (obviously,) BB, and even 24 were some of the first "box set" shows. Game of Thrones I think cemented the idea into our collective consciousness that a multi season show was a great way to tell a story.

I just hope we see more BCS's in the future. i.e. Networks taking a shot on proven writers and giving them the time to develop their ideas. Hollywood has been the architect of its own demise by always going for the lowest common denominator and milking anything that is successful for all it's worth. (I see there's yet another Jurassic Park coming out soon..... yawn - and all that superhero shit can get in the sea.

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On 01/05/2022 at 05:37, TheAuthority said:

Never thought about that but it makes a lot of sense.

Not to argue, but Vince had also had a lot of success as a TV writer - he was one of the main writers of the X-files. He wasn't a creator but he became one of the main folks there so he was "due" a shot having certainly paid his dues. BB was green-lit by what was (at the time) a pretty small cable channel and TV was considered the low budget, under-class hillbilly cousin of Hollywood movies.

BB was absolutely one the shows that led the way for TV series to be what they are these days. You could make the argument that BB was among a few shows that helped create the Zeitgeist of watching shows the way we do now. Sopranos (obviously,) BB, and even 24 were some of the first "box set" shows. Game of Thrones I think cemented the idea into our collective consciousness that a multi season show was a great way to tell a story.

I just hope we see more BCS's in the future. i.e. Networks taking a shot on proven writers and giving them the time to develop their ideas. Hollywood has been the architect of its own demise by always going for the lowest common denominator and milking anything that is successful for all it's worth. (I see there's yet another Jurassic Park coming out soon..... yawn - and all that superhero shit can get in the sea.

I think the problem is Networks will always react to ratings, and a show like BCS is such a slow burner at times that i think a lot of people don't have the patience for it.

If BCS hadn't got the fact that it was a Breaking Bad prequel attracting viewers I'm not sure it would have survived.

Look at Mindhunter. Absolutely superb show but cancelled because it's not a show where there's a shit load of action every 5 minutes.

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Episode 4

Spoiler

Bit of a slow one this week, not a classic by any means but probably needed to dedicate a bit more time to Saul after the blockbuster cartel stuff.

 

Edited by AVFCDAN
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46 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said:

Episode 4

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Bit of a slow one this week, not a classic by any means but probably needed to dedicate a bit more time to Saul after the blockbuster cartel stuff.

 

Spoiler

Typical BCS. A nice, slow bit of approach play. 

 

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1 hour ago, AVFCDAN said:

Episode 4

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Bit of a slow one this week, not a classic by any means but probably needed to dedicate a bit more time to Saul after the blockbuster cartel stuff.

 

I actually really enjoyed this one

 

Spoiler

Think it was good to be back with Jimmy and Kim throughout after the first three mainly focusing on Nacho.

 

great scene with Kim and Mike meeting too

Rhea Seehorn directed this episode.

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Can I suggest the spoiler tags are not needed in this thread. Surely no one is clicking in here unless they've watched the show. 

I enjoyed the episode. I think it was needed. In previous episodes, when it would cut back to Saul, for a split second I forgot it was actually about him. 

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1 hour ago, DCJonah said:

Can I suggest the spoiler tags are not needed in this thread. Surely no one is clicking in here unless they've watched the show. 

Yeah we probably don't need them. When I created the thread the first 2 episodes were already out there so I was being careful.

I'll ask a mod to change the title to warn people

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1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

Yeah we probably don't need them. When I created the thread the first 2 episodes were already out there so I was being careful.

I'll ask a mod to change the title to warn people

I was glad for the spoiler tags. I’ve been glancing at this thread just to see reactions to S6 in the hope it continues to impress.

Yesterday, the wife and I finished rewatching the entirety of S1 to S5 as we agreed it’s been so long since we saw them that we didn’t want to risk not fully grasping and enjoying the content of S6 by forgetting some of the detail in the previous 5 series. We’ll binge watch S6 when it’s all available. As an aside, rewatching S1 to S5 reminded us how fantastic BCS has been.

Now I’ve read the early reactions to S6, I’ll have no problem not reading this thread, if it isn’t spoiler free.

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Pretty dull episode tbh but the end was okay.

I find myself only really interested in the Mike/Gus/The cartel storylines. I don’t really care for Saul’s/Kim’s storylines unless it involves Mike/Gus/The cartel too which is why for me it won’t ever be as good as Breaking bad.  

 

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4 hours ago, DCJonah said:

Can I suggest the spoiler tags are not needed in this thread. Surely no one is clicking in here unless they've watched the show. 

I enjoyed the episode. I think it was needed. In previous episodes, when it would cut back to Saul, for a split second I forgot it was actually about him. 

Depends how you use the forum... I click "next unread topic" rather than going back to off-topic thread page so it's a lottery what comes up next! I'd certainly appreciate spoiler tags anyway!

Another great episode anyway! 

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Not being bad to Rhea but you could kinda tell this was a directorial debut. It's like she wanted to use every bizarre camera angle available to her.  Some of the perspectives actually made me laugh because they were so obscured and unnatural. I could just imagine her flicking through the playbook thinking 'Oh I haven't used that one yet'.

As for the episode. I liked it. It was a nice return to pace for BCS and a pallette cleanser for what's to come. I expect there won't be too many more 'slow' episodes (although I've absolutely no problem with those) given that they're running out of episodes and they've a lot to resolve.

I loved how Lalo stayed physically out of the episode yet managed to dominate it nevertheless. It meant not only do the characters not know where he is, but neither do we. So it kept everyone; viewer included; on edge. Great stuff.  When he does re-appear it'll be a doozy :)

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