Welcome to the heavy spoilers show I'm your host Paul and now that Jimmy and
Kimmy are a Gus Fring of the past I thought we'd...not only get off
to a bad start with the puns but also discuss Better Call Saul's latest entry.
The season is ramping up to it's final few episodes and we have a big plot development
in this entry with us finally learning how our star crossed lovers went their separate ways.
I know every single ending explained that I've done for the show has started with
me talking about how Jimmy is dead and it's the rise of Saul Goodman
but here it actually feels like that's the case from the opening shot.
Though he's practiced under this name before, knowing what we do come the end
it's likely that this opening of the door and planting of the sign cements Jimmy going on the
path we always knew he would. Now this opening is filled with fitting imagery of the mundane
mixed with the more hoorrifying aspects of it.
They are of course trying to act natural and just go through the routines involving the usual things
like Bill Oakley getting a crap cup of coffee from the machine whilst he makes a deal with a Lawyer.
However mixed with this we get Howards blood being wiped up is faded into Jimmy wiping up sauce, Mike
digs bullets out of walls, makes literal bullet points, fills up their new fridge and overall
it feels like everything is back to normal which is even more terrifying when you think about it.
This is clearly shown in Kim who returns home and drops her character. The death of a man in their
home shouldn't be something that they can just sweep under the rug even if they've managed to
literally do that. Jimmy tries to see the positives and says that there will come a
day where they won't think about it at all but we can see from Kim's face that she'll never forget.
Titled Fun And Games, this of course has several meanings to it.
Obviously it's meant to evoke a feeling of happiness, like they've
managed to break away from the severity of everything due to Lalo now being dead.
However the full saying is normally along the lines of it's all fun and games until
someone gets hurt. Both Jimmy and Kim were happy manufacturing controversies to bring down Howard
and initially they saw the humour in this. However after he was shot and killed
it's all ended up bringing the joy that they found come crashing down.
Elsewhere Gus travels out to Don Eladios compound where he meets with the other heads.
He don have anything...f**k me...he don have anything to worry about as Lalos tape
in which he went off on Eladio now belongs to him but I love how there's this almost
cold war feeling to the entire meeting. What Better Call Saul does brilliantly
is that it brings a sterile feeling to a lot of the scenes due to it's direction.
Though Jimmy is charasmatic to a fault, characters like Mike and Gus are very
very reserved and clearly in a constant state of deep thought trying to work out the angles.
Gus wants nothing more than to smash Eladios head in like it's that thumbs up button.
You know for a fact that Hector and Eladio would also ring that notification bell.
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There sits Juan Bolsa, Hector Salamanca and The Cousins Marco and Leonel.
Accusations are flying about with the Salamancas of course
well aware that Gus was behind the mercs that attacked Lalo's home.
Hector wants Eladio to look into Gus's eyes and come to the realisation that he hates him.
Weirdly Eladio later says in the scene that he recognises this
but he clearly views Gus as being such a big money maker that he's willing to let it slide.
Expertly directed here we see Gus's stern outlook barely changes but in the reflection of his
glasses we can catch the fire burning, symbolising how he wants to bring them all crashing down.
Gus doesn't even want to respond and due to all his planning and prep throughout the season
Hector is simply seen as a crazy old man, bitterly twisted by his thirst for revenge.
This planning and prep is of course seen in the intro and thanks to Mike,
every angle is covered. Gus even comes out on top and he gains more territory than before.
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A mirroring of the past and future comes heavy in the closing of the scene with Gus standing at the
edge of the poolside. This is the exact same spot where his partner's body was slumped over
and he was forced to look into his cold dead eyes. This motif of having to stare into the
lifeless face of someone who's death you somewhat caused was also mirrored in Walt
looking into Hanks face after he was shot and Jimmy seeing Howards corpse last week.
The characters are always lying down so they can stare directly into the others eyes
and these deaths were defining for each character.
This pool is also where Eladio would end up after Gus enacts his final plan against him
and as they say it's all connected.
Gus returns home and we discover that Howards death did rouse suspicion. However it seems
like they bought the story and for now it's all closed. Kinda have my theories
that the series my culminate with Jimmy being arrested, potentially even with
Howards death being thrown in there too or he might finally grow a conscience.
Walt died, Jesse escaped and I think the close for him would be great if it ended up with Jimmy
going to jail. Saying that though I'd love it if he managed to escape too though who knows. Kim
might even snitch him, ey could happen but leave your theories below on where you think it's going.
Now in a more personal moment we see Gus and a sommilier named David bonding over a bottle
of red wine. Throughout breaking bad there were theories that he was in a relationship with Max
and that's why his death meant even more to the character than just the death of a friend.
He could stay there and even invite him back to share an extra expensive bottle of wine but he
leaves whilst David goes to get one to show him. This has a number of reasons to it and
clearly he knows that he can't have a personal life because getting attached to anyone would
put them in danger and make them a target. Throughout Breaking Bad and Better Call saul
we've seen as the rich characters like Walt and Gus have had to live humbly so that they don't
attract attention. Gus knows that bringing anyone in would alert them to his operatins
as even his home is a base that connects to others under a network of tunnels.
Gus can't live lavisly or let anyone in and thus he leaves.
Now this idea of being unable to be flash is juxtaposed by the end of the entry which
we'll talk about in just a bit. In that we catch up with Saul circa Breaking Bad in the
lavish mansion that was shown at the start of episode 1 in this season. He even has a golden
toilet and can clearly show this off because he obtained it using quote unquote legal means.
Swear that's not a pun.
Gus truly has destroyed any chance of having a personal and else where we get a touching moment
with Mike. He tells Nacho's father the truth about his sons death and he promises justice.
However his father questions this, instead suspecting that what he really means is revenge.
At Howards memorial service Jimmy and Kim we see several photos of him having fun and
though we hear all the kind words it's clear his reputation has been destroyed. Even the lawfirm
is getting renamed due to Howard and Chuck being gone showing how Saul destroyed their legacies.
This idea is cemented by Rich who calls him Saul instead of Jimmy.
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The pair both go to Howard's wife Cheryl who refuses to shake Jimmy's hand
and she goes off on him for the harassment he carried out. She also gets him to say what he
told the police and though he goes off into his BCS or BS mode, he's unable to hoodwink her.
This is when Kim steps forward for the final time and ever the pro delivers a
devastating story that will forever destroy Howard in Cheryl's eyes.
Due to the set up earlier in the season Cliff of course also witnessed something
similar to the story Kim gives and sadly it puts the final nail in his proverbial coffin
that means no one will remember him as how he was.
In the carpark it finally comes to an end between Kim and Jimmy
with this beautiful line before it being used to set up their standing.
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Kim says nothing, she just gives Jimmy a kiss goodbye and withdraws
from the case and the law profession itself. Now Jimmy being unable to convince a woman
is seen in his attempt to tell Kim to stay with him and continue being a lawyer.
However, much like Cheryl she sees through the lies and deciept and no longer wants to
be a part of it. After coming to the realisation that both enable the other to be their worst
selves she wants to get out of it. She reveals that she knew Lalo was alive
and that she didn't tell him because of his PTSD. She knew that that would make
them break up and she was having too much fun but now...the fun and games are over.
It's devastating, heartbreaking and she finally accepts that their poison.
Whatever way you cut it they led to a goodman's death and in his place rises another Goodman..ey.
Saul Goodman baby.
Now at this point we get a major time jump in the series with Saul waking up
in the mansion that was taken apart at the start of the first episode.
At his side is a lady of the night and he wakes up to the
sound of Journey singing anyway you want it.
Bit on the nose but i'll allow it.
His entire life has turned to a hollow and materialistic existence
in which there's no real love or care. Rather than making breakfast for kim
he's now offering breakfast bars and everything including his hair has declined. I love this
little combover shot and we even had a clip that focused on his hair medication in epiosde 1.
Jean is thinning massively on the top and the hair loss progression is some nice attention to detail.
Now when this takes place we don't know exactly but it's likely either during Breaking Bad
or just before the events of the show. Saul's Lawyer Up plate has November
05 dated on it and his parking badge has the 2008 on it which is when the original show started off.
Gone is his classy side from the beginning
and it's replaced by a tackier one with the inflatable statue of liberty there.
We end with him sitting at his desk and putting down his world's best lawyer mug
as he waits for his first client of the day.
Throughout the series we've had the worlds best lawyer flask
that ended up getting 2nd best written on it.
This was because Kim was the first however with her now out the picture,
everything has fallen on Saul who is seen as the top one now. In his
desk we also see the matchbooks which were important items in Breaking Bad.
This shot is of course deliberately set up to mirror the one with Gus earlier with
the glass of wine. Real sense of tragedy to it in which they put their work above
all else and are now alone because of their need to become something else.
It's a brilliant way to close out the entry and come the next one I'm expecting to see Walt and
Jesse show up. I dunno if we will ever revisit the Better Call Saul timeline but it does make
sense that we're now gone from that due to the events of the previous entry and this one.
With Lalo's death happening it would be pointless to hang around there and I'm interested to see if
this recontextualises the main show. It would be great if we heard things about this mysterious
heisenberg and saw from Gus' point of view how he learned about them in more detail.
Lot's of things to look forward to
and if you enjoyed this video I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
Also just to let you know I've featured in a video talking about all the movies
that you need to watch before Nope comes out which will be linked on screen now.
We’re running a competition right now and giving away 3 copies of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse
Of Madness On The 15th Of August. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is like
the video, make sure you subscribe with notifications on and drop a comment below
with your thoughts on the episode. We pick the comments at random at the end of the month and
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If you want something else to watch then make sure you check out our breakdown of perfect scene
in Spider-Man Homecoming. We break down the
entire thing so it’s definitely worth checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and
I’ll see you next time. Take care, Peace