The fact that Vince Giligan and Peter Gould turned a side character that was mostly a comedic vessel into a deeply layered character is a testament to their skill as story tellers
The jokes in Breaking Bad like “It was Ignacio,” or “Did Lalo send you,” turning into sympathetic characters and show-stealing villains in BCS has to be the best thing about these shows.
In general, the way the took a throwaway line with almost no meaning and turned it into a masterpiece storyline is commendable. The showrunners of this show deserve all the recognition for their talent as they can get.
Nacho wasn't a villain. As Mike would say, Ignacio was a good criminal. Living the criminal life but he was good at heart and was nothing like the rest of the cartel. He's really similar to Jesse.
Bullshit Saul isnt even anything good until season 5 Seasons 1-4 is filled with boring business bullshit Every single season of breaking bad builds on the last and gets better and better until season 5 where it reaches climax The level of tension that BB builds is unmatched
not mentioning Mike is such a crime. hes such a badass and the insight we get on him in better call saul was great. every time Mike is on screen im always glued to my tv screen.
Mike is sort of the constant between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He doesn't change too much over the show like Jimmy or Kim or Walt or Jesse. As a result his character arc is a lot more subtle than the rest, so it doesn't stand out much. However, he's also the glue that holds the shows together as he brings the Cartel world into BCS. It's super well done and extremely important to the cohesion of the show, but it doesn't stand out as much from a story perspective.
Fun fact for anyone who doesn’t know: Mike was never supposed to be a character. He first appears to help Jesse after Jane’s death but originally that was supposed to be Saul but Bob Odenkirk was unavailable to film so they ended up writing in Mike
ALSO what surprises me throughout the whole show is how meticulously every character in BCS had planned their story and setup and then a Chemistry teacher and a junkie come in and wreak havoc for their entire lives. AMAZING
Better Call Saul is one of the best spin off shows I’ve ever seen, especially for such a legendary show like Breaking Bad. However I’ll never forgive Vince for not making the TRUE spin-off: Better Fuel Huell.
Lalo is like Tuco but a fucking genius. Such a good villain, physically and mentally intimidating in every way. Props to the actor for portraying him in such a powerful way.
He has the most useful qualities of the Salamancas but he does business on the level Gus and Walt do He's not just Tuco but smart, he's scary on a level above everybody else
Tuco is a sociopath, Lalo is a psychopath. Contrary to popular perception, psychopaths are way better at appearing normal and sometimes even charming if it suits their immediate needs, while sociopaths tend to be more aggressive and reckless. Funny how the more calm and collected out of the two is scarier.
@@franklinbadge1215 in real life, sociopathy and psychopathy are not diagnoses. Both are just subjective labels for people on points of the ASPD spectrum, and you could be called either one Both Tuco and Lalo represent narcissism and machiavellianism, and some levels of psychopathy, you could describe both as dark triad personalities. Lalo is just more socially intelligent and less bipolar
I LOVE Kim’s arc. She’s such a unique character that can’t honestly be compared to Jesse or Skyler. With Kim there was this “is she okay with this or not” question throughout the show, even with the flashbacks when she’s a kid, you don’t know exactly how she’s gonna react when she, or people she cares about, “break bad”.
Kim, especially in season 6, has become my favorite character. The fact that through her performance I buy why she would "date down" with saul is a credit to the performance and the writing. She's a thrill seeker who uses a moral standing to justify her need for excitement. She uses a facade of strength to hide a truly despicable and hollow center. I started to notice around season 4 how manipulative she really is. The events of the last couple of episodes surrounding her were heartbreaking. Every time she does the "right thing" its entirely selfish. Howard saying "you two are perfect for each other," hit so hard.
@@jaycollins2036 At least she finally realises it in the end, even though it took Howard being killed for it to happen. She hates who she's become, and that's also entirely in keep with her character. Fascinating.
Kim is such a tragic character, even at her worst I couldn’t bring myself to hate her. I think there’s something genuine in when she tries to do good (all the public defender work that had zero strings attached), it just has this unhealthy comorbidity with her darker impulses because by unfortunate accident of being beaten down by Howard for trying to do good and being rewarded by her mom and Jimmy for doing bad she’s gotten sucked further into darkness. I think her decision at the end of the latest episode was an honest to God come to Jesus moment for her, I hope she gets the chance to turn her life around, especially after the sacrifices she made to do it. I feel bad when I see people say how much they hate Kim or how evil she is, but I can understand it. What a wonderfully layered character.
@@justvisiting2028 She's a great character because of her flaws. I think sometimes writers are afraid to give female characters a strange moral compass. usually what happens to them is what causes them to fail, they don't often have the agency to instigate problems that characters like her do. I was a fan from the beginning and felt for her more so, but I'm glad they took her down this path. I hope we see her again. but her exit was stellar.
@@TheDemonicPenguin I agree, she has the ability to see the toxicity and act on that knowledge, I'm just glad that her break up wasn't shitting on jimmy. Made it so much more heartbreaking that she didn't want to leave, she didn't hate him, it was her love for him that made her end things. if they made a show about her or movie with the right story, I would be so game. Rhea Seahorn deserves an emmy.
Just watched episode 9 (season 6) and I LOVED how Nacho’s father told Mike “you’re all the same”, cause he’s SO right, they think someone “did them wrong” so they’ll have their excuse to get “justice” (aka revenge), while they are the ones making decisions or choices which bring them to have a CAUSE and not an excuse or justification. That scene brought me back to Gus telling Mike he’s not like the Salamancas.
Howard was one of the characters that I disliked in the beginning. However, in the end, I came to realize he was the most moral and innocent character of them all and I really sympathized for him
That's a hard sell imo. Howard is a pretty posh, self-absorbed, silver-spooned and ignorant yes-man for most of it, and just about everything he did was laced with the feeling of being disingenuous or for his own benefit. He came around a little after the whole thing with Jimmy's brother, but it was essentially a pity party for himself until Jimmy shook him up a little. Then him offering Jimmy a job back at HHM was most likely still to try to absolve himself of guilt after treating Jimmy like trash for actual years. Honestly Schweikart is the better guy imo.
@@MJ-oh5ux i think both Rich and Howard are good. Howard tho for most of the time did everything that Chuck wanted him to do. Basically, Chuck had Howard play the bad guy in scenarios. Although Howard always tried to do what was best
@@MJ-oh5ux In what way was it a pity party for himself? Jimmy blamed Howard for Chuck's death and Howard obviously was being mentally tormented by it. I'm also confused as to why you think he is simultaneously self-absorbed AND a Yes-Man. It seems pretty obvious to me that Howard had faith in Chuck's judgement and only realized until it was too late that Chuck was severely mentally ill. Also surprised that you think his job offer to Jimmy was him trying to absolve himself of any guilt - the show clearly displays that Howard properly grieved Chuck's death and saw that Jimmy, instead of properly grieving, pushed it aside and pretended as if he was never phased by Chuck's existence. Howard has sympathy for Jimmy and is trying to help him; it wasn't about the position at HHM. It was about helping Jimmy understand his own worth (while Howard knows that Jimmy is continuously screwing with him).
@@MJ-oh5ux Howard always liked Jimmy and always cared for him. Even when he got sabotaged by Jimmy, he still somehow cares about him a lot. He was a genuinely good person even if he was the classic "smug asshole in a suit". Season 6 was about ruining his life. I still feel very bad for him.
The genius of Jesse is that he was, more or less, just a regular guy who got caught up in a get rich quick scheme gone wrong. He wasn’t a genius like Gus/Walt, wasn’t a badass like Hank/Mike, he was a normal dude in a universe of extraordinary people. Everyone can relate to wanting to make money, wanting to prove your parents wrong, wanting to screw over the dickhead in your life (Walt). Extremely relatable in a crazy story
At the start of BB you think to yourself that Jesse might be the ruthless one because he’s a junkie who knows this life in and out, but it turns out to be Walter, who was just an ordinary man at the start. It just completely flips it around, where Jesse becomes the “normal” one and Walter is a psycho
Tbh both Jesse and Walter are regular dudes who end up dealing drugs but they both do it for different reasons. Jesse does it because he’s a highschool dropout and Walter does it to provide for his family and to pay for his chemotherapy. I feel like Walter adapts better to his environment then Jesse does. Jesse has too big of a heart for the criminal world.
@Killer_gg667 Jesse was a deadbeat, methhead, criminal. He wasn't a normal dude. Did you see his drug dealer website? He only became normal through super compelling character development. He grew up. He was written to be killed off after season one, so he's pretty sleazy in that season.
That ending speech of his. Especially when he's talking to Hector. The way he says "you think of me" gives me chills. The amount of malice behind those words.
BCS has a less "thickly" tense tone. the writing and arcs are better thought out but there's a lot more room to breathe and there's a lot more humor in the drama
I felt really bad for Howard. Everything that happened to him happened because he didn’t want jimmy to know it was his brother who wanted to bring him down
Howard is the only good guy really did nothing wrong to anyone. He even felt sorry for jimmy for not standing up for him between chuck abuses. What a story for Howard.
@@hunterxgirl He only felt sorry when Jimmy pointed out the truth about Chucks bs. Though Howard did not deserve death, he sure was a brown noser for Chuck. When i did feel sorry for Howard was after Chucks death, him trying to make ends meet with Jimmy, seeing Howard's face of no sleep and such really got me, this show is masterpiece!
Underrated aspect of what makes BB and BCS some of the best shows ever made: The camerawork. They have so many creative and unique shots and has a distinct visual style that other shows can't usually match. No two shots look alike
I love the creativity and symbolism of the shots in BCS but not so much the digital aesthetic itself. The cinematography of BCS looks _very_ digital and “sterile.” I don’t like the super sharp, high contrast and overly clean look alot of RED footage has. The DP also doesn’t seem to utilize shallow depth of field that often. (Background blur and unimportant things kept out of focus.) The majority of the shots seem to have minimal bokeh, which is an odd stylistic choice to me. These things are probably all totally intentional - it’s just not my cup of tea. I prefer the grittier, filmic look of Breaking Bad.
@@Skrenja I know what you mean, Breaking Bad feels more textured and earthy. I think the style works for Better Call Saul though since there’s so much lawyer stuff in it and people in suits, the cleanliness of the shots fits.
I love how scary Hector was in this series too, he's a pitiful sight in Breaking Bad but after watching this we see how ruthless he is. Nobody tops Lalo though, the fact he's even scares Gus that much that he stops sleeping and is cleaning tiles with a toothbrush out of pure anxiety knowing Lalo might come for him.
i assumed the toothbrush scene was meant to show how much of an OCD freak he is that he is spending the time he's supposed to be asleep scraping off like the most minor stuff out of his bathroom tiles just so that everything is "perfect", but maybe it's a mix of both things
@@DeathCorridor Yeah you're right I think, definitely a mix of both. Where most people in that state would be freaking out, in his case it seems his OCD goes insane when he's anxious
One thing Charlie didn't mention that I think is important to note: given that BCS is a prequel, there's an underlying tension the entire time since we know where certain characters end up and have no idea about others. It ramps up the intensity early on.
People were theorizing that Kim would eventually be the blonde motel hoe with Jesse in breaking bad. Glad that wasnt the case as we saw in the last episodes
I legit think Better Call Saul is my favorite show of all time. Starts a little slow, but it's just so incredibly well written all other shows just seem shit in comparison.
The biggest misunderstanding by viewers is classifying Walt as a “good guy” who went bad. There was never really any evidence to indicate that he was ever a morally righteous character..at best he was a mild mannered guy whose ego had been beaten to the point where he was a shell of himself. When we first meet him he was on autopilot thru life and I guess people mistake that for him being a “good guy” BB imo was about a test of morality and character…how will a person act when given the right set of circumstances? And what does that say about their code of ethics? About who they are and/or what they’ve always been? In the case of Walt as Heisenberg, his ego grew out of control and allowed him to step into the power hungry megalomaniac that he always was deep down. People who relate to that struggle probably project goodness onto Walt as a result.
That is true for nearly every human being. They run on autopilot until they're tested. And some people are tested in such quiet ways that you don't even notice the darkness of their hearts. And so one could conclude, that the majority of the people we come across everyday may not be "good people" at all.
I think the entire thesis of the BB universe is about - go figure - breaking bad. Both shows illustrate it in entirely different ways though, which is part of the genius. Breaking Bad shows a "good man" who is driven to becoming the ultimate villain. Walt has a loving family, a respected career as a teacher, is generally seen a good person by the people in his life. As the show goes on though, it becomes apparent that Walt has an enormous ego and is using the death sentence he got as an excuse to act out that chip on his shoulder. Jimmy is almost the exact opposite. From the start he has "burnout" written all over him. His family doesn't like him, he's a public defender that's not respected by his peers and he has constantly lived in his brother's shadow. Despite all that Jimmy wanted to do what was right and be a good lawyer. Both men end up on the wrong side of morality. But Jimmy goes there kicking and screaming. Walt seems to enjoy it more and more the farther he goes
what do u think of ppl that view walt as a good guy throughout? im not a bb viewer, but my mother is and she says that walt is clever and cares for his family-- jesse is the stupid kid that messes up evevrything
well he was on the right side of the law, polite and kind, responsible, and hardworking. I'd say that's a decent man, a good guy if you will. That's all it really takes to be one in our world.
I truly think that because Jesse had such a hard time in Breaking Bad, seeing El Camino was both liberating and satisfying. He finally got something he wanted. Freedom. Peace. And most of all, survival. That’s why I love El Camino. He definitely deserved that ending.
I agree that el Camino does that, but something about the last shot of Jesse in breaking bad also showed us that he was free (the one where he is happy in the el Camino car)
@@juicejames4921 His ending in BB sets him free in the end but we don't get a satisfying ending to his arc. He tries to stand up to Walt, gets enslaved, and eventually freed by Walt in s05. El Camino shows us how he's grown as a character overall, a little more satisfying imo.
jesse could've had all that if he didn't start working with gus again & got a job like walt could've in s1e5. why do you all treat a grown ass man like a baby? he wanted to cut corners in life just like jimmy did. he's as deflecting of responsibility as walt.
They’re not the sole writers of the show. They’re the producers show runners. There’s more than a dozen writers for each episode and different directors with their own style.
Lalo (possibly) gets killed, but by who, if so? Kim gets killed, by who? Or does Jimmy get her the Hoover max pro? (Though The Disappearer has passed away irl) recently we saw Jimmy, ok Saul, see the vets booklet. Episode 1 shows his house being raided so and shows he had the booklet in possession, so maybe?
The only one who’s purely innocent and didn’t deserve EVERYTHING that happened to him is Howard. Howard was just cocky, arrogant, and a strict, pain in the ass boss. I think the worst thing he did was giving Kim a hard time and giving Jimmy a handout.
they did howard so wrong, all he did was put kim in doc review and didn’t move jimmy up which was chuck’s call. he was one of the most innocent characters in the series and it sucked how he died. wrong place wrong time.
"Saul never comes across as a villain, never comes across like Walt- never has an 'I am the Danger' moment" - Thanks to the second half of season 6, this did not age well 😭 Dammit Gene!
S6 E11 Spoilers: Slippin’ Jimmy would have never stolen from that businessman with cancer, but Gene (aka Saul Goodman) with nothing to lose has had his fair share of cancer victims. Such an amazing episode.
"I was the only one who could get him to debase himself like that. I made him lesser" I already liked mike in breaking bad but five-o made me fall in love with him
I do like Better Call Saul more. Feels like a more matured show than Breaking Bad. It makes sense that the writers and the rest of the team learned a lot from their first masterpiece.
@@itsprodigit In terms of character, i'd argue Walt is far more fleshed out than Jimmy or any other characters. Could be because of the acting from Bryan Cranston, but still valid.
@@UndergroundRose imo BCS has the side characters be more dynamic and have more layers than BB did. The main reason people hate Skyler, or people hate Walt jr., or why many people don't like the Nazi part (more than just being nazis obviously) is because those characters are to one dimensional. Skylar takes 4 seasons to get some actual depth, and she's the person who spends most time with walt aside from jesse. I'm one of those who thinks that the Nazi's feel awkward because they (imo) did a poor job at making me understand their characters (for better or worse). In BCS every character gets to be layerd.
Just finished the finale of BCS. I CANNOT believe Vince and Peter created such an amazing show from a side character like Saul. Perfectly incredible. As much as I love BB, BCS is so satisfying, it will go down in history as possibly better than its predecessor.
Im surprised you never talked about the Mike focused sections of Better Call Saul. Mike is another very deep and complicated character that is a driving force in the narrative.
I remember telling my friend back in 2009 “you need to see this show about a chemistry teacher that starts selling meth” he was like “meh” until I told him the teacher is Malcolm’s dad. Then he was down to check it out 😂
Jimmy is such a tragic character because he's an intelligent and likeable man who makes every effort to redeem the early mistakes he made in life, but no one *wants* him to redeem himself. To the point that Chuck actually likes having him as a f*** up and sabotages his redemption, because it makes him feel better about lacking the charisma and good heart that Jimmy actually has.
What I find disappointing and also hilarious is how many Breaking Bad fans gave up watching Better Call Saul because they didn’t think a show about a lawyer would be about lawyers
i absolutely adore the lawyer stuff, i wanted to see more of it in breaking bad and i was overjoyed when better call saul was announced. jimmys schemes are so much more entertaining than walts schenanigans imo.
The lawyer parts were absolutely boring and hard to get through. Mike & Nacho were keeping me in it. First couple seasons were hard to get into. BB was awesome all the way.
@@heisenbergII I just watched it recently because I rewatched BB after many years and still love it. Fans were going nuts over BCS, and I wanted to see why. If you cut out all the Jimmy, Chuck, Howard, and Kim nonsense it would be excellent lol. I did enjoy the Gene black and white scenes.
They were going to kill Jesse at the end of Season one but they kept him around because the recognized his acting talent. So instead of killing him, they made him suffer more than any other character in television history. And he sold it all, because he was, in fact, that good of an actor.
I think Lalo is my favorite villain of the 2 shows. It was shocking to see him introduced since he was only mentioned once in breaking bad in a throwaway line. Tony Dalton does a fantastic job playing as him
@@bitterismylastname6688 Its just that the situation isnt in his favor, but to see Gus have no control because of Lalo does show how much of a villain Lalo is.
I can’t believe no one is talking about Kim. She is (IMO) the most fascinating character in the BB universe. She’s extremely elusive and mysterious. She’s so hard to read that you have to watch the show a few times to even start to crack into what she’s thinking, and even then we don’t know 100%. What happened in her past? Why is she morally ambiguous. Does she have a bigger ego she’s hiding? Why did she want to go after Howard so aggressively? What are her true motives here? She’s so smart she could be playing anyone, even jimmy. To me she’s one of the best and most interesting characters on tv.
We saw what happened to her past and know why she is morally ambiguous. There’s no mystery there. She is a good character, but she stands second to Jimmy/Saul for a reason. She wants to be like him.
One of the things that makes appreciate Better Call Saul is the fact that it is not only a prequel but also a sequel to Breaking Bad with the Gene scenes. I really can not think of any other medium of this quality that has attempted to add this much depth to a universe ever. Peter Gould says this show will "change the way we view Breaking Bad forever". If that occurs and the Gene timeline is well resolved, I think Better Call Saul will end up being the better show (to me personally).
yup. rn i do think BB is the better show for now, but it’s all dependent on how the ending for BCS goes. if it goes well (which i have no reason to believe it won’t be) BCS will easily become the better show
I'm halfway through S4 and damn BCS is so good. Compared to BB it has a much slower start, greater focus on law & relationships, and less of a drugs-and-guns-every-episode approach; BB might appeal to a wider audience. So overall gotta give it to BB as the "better show" but BCS is still a 90+% show to me. edit: just finished S5, show is still gas
The show works it's way into the drugs and violence part slowly, and I'll guarantee you'll get a huge kick out of the action that's coming your way. I constantly wanted more of the cartel stuff when I watched BB, but of course the focus was on WW. But in BCS there's more time to flesh 9ut the cartel stuff and it's absolutely awesome as heck!
[SPOILERS] The fact that Lalo and Howard are buried underneath the laundry lab, a significant location in Breaking Bad, has forever changed how I look at the original show
Reminds me of a quote from one of the Ancient Ionian greek philosophers. Something like, "It is not life's adversity that makes you who you are, but how you choose to respond that reveals who you are.
I never judge a person based on the movies and television they do or do not like, but I know I’m speaking to a fellow Rhodes scholar of higher intellect when someone says they’re a fellow BCS fan.
I prefer Breaking Bad, but I think it's worth noting that both shows structure themselves thematically around the professions of their main characters. Breaking Bad's structure feels inspired thematically by chemistry itself and the nature of change over time. It's edited and structured in such a way as to evoke the feeling of a chemistry experiment in which an unstable, highly volatile compound is thrown into a pressure cooker to see what happens. That frenetic energy gives BB a much more vital pulse to its narrative. Meanwhile BCS feels like it takes it's structural notes from the practice of law itself. It's procedural, slow, methodical. Building a case through one piece of information at a time until there is enough evidence to settle, or in this case, take things to trial. It relishes in the most minor of details to craft it's narrative so that it's narrative case is rock solid. It's something I personally appreciate, but have much more trouble viscerally enjoying. Both are reat, though.
You described both of the shows perfectly. I’m still in season 2 of Better Call Saul, even though I finished watching Breaking Bad in 2014 but I am loving it.
@@user-ru9ij8ck2u I have a lot of respect for sopranos too, it definitely set the ground for these two shows but definitely not better that’s my opinion tho, you can have yours and I respect it. We all like the same criminal tv shows after all
the contrast between walter and sauls dark path is that walter was always had an evil core that just didn’t get to show itself till he had the opportunity, saul is a good person at his core who ends up doing bad things
2:41, you think that's criminal? People had to wait an ENTIRE YEAR after the Hank toilet scene in season 5 of Breaking Bad to see what would happen next.
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Mike, BCS adds so much to his character. Five-O was the episode where I realised this show was on Breaking Bad level
BCS does not have near the death count (so far) as BB, but the show gets you so emotionally invested in a character that when they die/get killed/get suicided, the impact is much, much harder.
I agree. I never felt as connected to the characters in Breaking Bad as I did to the ones in Better call Saul. Sure, Hank’s death is pretty gut wrenching, but Howard’s was so much more upsetting and shocking.
Lalo is not only one of the best new additions, but one of the BEST TV show villains ever created. He is introduced so late in the show, yet steals every single scene he's in. I cannot get enough of the character, and it's INSANE to think he had such a huge impact on the story before BrBa...
I was definitely a little down on Better Call Saul when it started because it was slow, and it lacked the tension of knowing where most of the characters end up. My fiancee and I binged it right before season six started and it's an absolute masterpiece
I started watching it and didn’t end up finishing the first episode or two I don’t think, but I loved Breaking Bad a lot. I did similar with Dexter where I stopped quarter into first episode and then didn’t watch for awhile, then checked it out again and it’s still my favorite show
I think it feels slow because you know where it ends up, and it can be easy to be impatient with it at first. Once I accepted that things clearly won’t go the way I imagine them, and there’s clearly a long road ahead, it’s been a wild ride.
The thing that impresses me the most about the writers is that they are able to just wing some things without you ever even noticing. Jesse was supposed to die in Season 1 of BrBa, Mike only exists because Bob Odenkirk wasn't available for filming for one episode, and as far as I've heard the same thing has happened in BCS too. Just amazing how they can pull it off without it being noticeable.
I think it's because they put a LOT of emphasis on the characters before anything else. I've always believe that the characters in a story are the most important part of telling the story. Even if everything else is flawed, if the characters are interesting, believable and compelling, audiences will easily look over everything else. Compare that with many other movies and shows recently where far too much emphasis is put on visual effects/plot/setting while neglecting the characters, and they all suck.
And now I can’t even imagine Saul as the person who helps Jesse clean up the “Jane” situation. Like it wouldn’t of worked. Just an extremely fortuitous situation to have to cast Jonathan Banks for that role.
Giancarlo Esposito was originally just going to be a guest star for 2 episodes but he played the character of Gus as if he was hiding something and the writers loved it so much they made him a main character
The writing and shift in tone in BCS is so well executed, seeing as we already know what happens to jimmy in BB the writers knew that the steaks and the tension had to be so much more inner personal to Jimmy and his eventual turn as the character Saul, we know what happens to him but we never knew what made him, with a big push on visual storytelling and a pull on the fast paced tension of BB it really gave us an introspective look into the gradual turn of the comic relief lawyer from BB
Trying not to spoil anything but Kim and Saul’s reaction when a certain character enters the room (if you’ve seen it, you know the scene) was some of the best tv I’ve ever seen.
@@bezglavigekoofficial7649 I can agree with that, but the fact that BCS' intro changes every season so subtly makes it up for me to believe BCS intro > BB intro.
Mike and Nacho’s fathers conversation is underrated in my opinion. Gut wrenching once you understand Mike is also explaining the reality of both he and his son. “He fell in with bad people, but he was never really like them”
Pretty sure if this mid-season finale break is bugging you, imagine how it felt for all of us that found Breaking Bad from the start. It's been an insane 15 years of incredible story telling...and long ass breaks.
cared? im still on season 4 but doesent mike still care about him? like we have seen mike have a conection with nacho so what do you mean he CARED (past tence), did mike loose affection towards him in season 6?
@@bruhmoment5219 its because jesse dies in el camino movie, so the past tense, mike even says "its better to call saul, again" at the end, which is just beautifull
Some thing Charlie didn’t mention is that Kim did not “become” more like Saul, she was like that since she was a kid and it’s shown when she stole the earrings, but Kim supressed those actions as an adult. Saul is the one that makes her want to take those fishy decisions as when she was young
We didn't know what was up with Kim, why she was changing and turning out to not be what she appeared at first, which led to rampant speculation on her oddly murky backstory & motivations, with some of us theorizing that she might be more like Jimmy than she lets on, with a troubled past, coming to Albuquerque to turn her life around & get on a good path like Jimmy, but then seduced by him into falling back into her old habits. It's only in the past couple of weeks that we got that one flashback scene that seemed to confirm this, and I won't be a bit surprised if the writers have another shoe to drop showing how it's actually even more complicated than that.
Where BB was a story about Walt's decent into negative change BCS is a story of characters failure to change. While we got to watch Jesse and Walt change in their personality and personal motivations, in BCS we instead see many characters such as Kim, Saul, Nacho and arguably Mike all one way or another become stuck in a cycle they do not wholeheartedly support but fail to ever break out of (not to say that no characters ever tried to do so, just to say they almost never succeed)
Lalo has somehow become one of my favorite television characters of all time. Holy shit what a likeable villian I could watch him murdering and terrorizing people for hours
It's truly remarkable how Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould incorporate such clever Easter eggs into their work. Their attention to detail and dedication to creating a rich, immersive universe is truly impressive, and it's no wonder why fans adore discovering these hidden gems.
The creators even cared enough to film a Malcolm in the Middle alternate ending. I didn’t doubt it would have been a great spin off but holy moly. These guys know how to make well written stories.
@@foilto3971 it had the dad, Hal, (who is played by Bryan Cranston, the guy who plays Walt) waking up from a nightmare and the nightmare was breaking bad
@@foilto3971 The creators filmed a fun alternative ending to Breaking Bad because the main actor was the father in Malcolm in the Middle and they saw fans making theories as a joke, then decided to give them the fan service that Walter White was just a dream the Dad had.
better call saul is absolutely incredible. it's so many levels above everything else that is "good". it's natural that charlie would appreciate and understand the greatness. vince gilligan and peter gould are so good at writing it's just WILD.
I just watched it all for the first time, and i gotta say the way I experienced it was actually pretty incredible. I binged Saul first until season 5 without ever having seen bb. Then watched all of breaking bad, now returned to season 6 of Saul and finished it off. It actually worked out so well as a way to experience this universe in it's totality and all by accident haha. Besides the slight jarring difference In camera work and writing style, the story tracks really well when I watched it this way. I feel like o got a fresh and deep understanding of all the characters this way.
I don't know how Vince, Bob & Co. did it but throughout my time watching it, they made me forget so many times that certain characters have plot armor because they are also in BB and they also introduced many amazing new characters, Kim is one of the best supporting characters of all time and Rhea's performance sticks out even in a show where everyone is on their A-Game at all times
I think Better Call Saul has the advantages of already having Breaking Bad as a learning tool. They're able to take an already perfect show and improve upon it with Better Call Saul.
I think one of the better examples of BCS's storytelling being improved on is through the visuals. Not to say that BB looked bad or anything, it looked gorgeous in a lot of scenes. But the color grading and color choices in BCS look like an art piece at some points. I also think scene composition is better in BCS, mostly due to the steady cam being used over shaky cam.
@@itaachiii if the first two season were boring how come it was literally because of the first few episodes that I was hooked? And I assume it's the case for everyone else. Except you apparently
@@lelenny2904 not everyone lol many have dropped the show following the hilariously bad first seasons of the show. Its either it was ur first tv show.. or you just have nothing better to do so you decide to keep on watching.
@@itaachiii buddy, if the first few seasons were so bad and made such a bad impression on many viewers how come it became so successful? Literally a top 5 show in history
That mid season finale was crazy. Two people from two different worlds in Saul's life have crossed paths and for him to go out like that after everything Saul and Kim put him through was pretty sad.
Just caught up to better call Saul and then rewatched breaking bad, and it's incredible how much of the dialogue and references they used from BB to BCS. I just watched the first ep that Saul appears, and Saul has a scene where he's at gunpoint and screams "I had nothing to do with Ignacio!" and "is this about Lalo?" It's so awesome, it feels almost totally seamless watching BCS into Breaking Bad
Ignacio was such a good character from start to finish. Better Call Saul is introducing people who failed to reach the levels of walter white over and over.
If you think waiting six weeks for the season to continue is bad, just remember that people who watched Breaking Bad while it was airing had to wait almost an entire year for season five to continue after the episode where Hank found out Walt was Heisenberg.
@@ultraviolettas it has been a while. When season 6 premiered I was so happy. I binged breaking bad up until the final episodes came out so I caught up in time for the finale. But with Saul, I've been there the whole way since 2015
I actually have enjoyed Saul more than BB, but the wild part is that Walt starts BB as a basically good person that turns into a complete narcissistic psychopath before our eyes that we want to see fail, while Saul starts out as a con man and ultimately we have ended up wanting him to succeed more and more as the show progresses.
i think that walter wasn’t actually a good person at first, he just lost his inhibitions, but it doesn’t seem like he had a good heart. unlike jimmy who turns pretty shitty but once was a genuinely good hearted person but with issues
@@pinkmenace6836 yeah given how Walt acts in BB, especially with Skyler and him pushing her to such limits really gives me that he's been manipulative in his past with her even before they had children. He was always bad, his shell just broke when given the opportunity
The actor of lalo is truely talented. Everything about him, the eyes that subtly unfocus, how quickly he can go from charming to literally chopping someone’s leg off with an axe, it’s just perfect.
I actually watched Better Call Saul first, so I had a unique time experiencing the prequel before the original I actually think it made me like BCS more because I didn't really know Saul would be Saul and who Saul even was in the beginning of the show. I obviously pieced it together throughout the watch through, but the mystery kept me in
You must've been so confused as to who Walter White was when you were watching BCS assuming you knew nothing about Breaking Bad. I watched Breaking Bad first, than almost all of BCS up to S6x9, El Camino (I dunno why I delayed this film till near the end of BCS), and then the rest of BCS.
@@lelouchvibritannia4028 it's been so long since I watched it, I can't even remember if I was confused about anything tbh lol I did really both though, so I must not have been too confused🤷♂️
Same lmao, I watched better call saul before breaking bad and I loved it all, I remember watchin the first season with my friends and I called Mike "the parking lot guy" they couldn't stop laughin at my cluelessness and oh boy was I in for a ride 😂😂😂
I can't believe Charlie didn't talk about Mike!! He's so soooooo entertaining! He takes complete attention in every scene he is in. Absolutely love his character to death
I think Saul’s “I am the one who knocks” moment did came, but with a twist. When Saul tells Howard that he has “lightning coming out of his fingertips”, but in the end he ends up looking like a total loser, with everyone staring at him and Howard walking away. I think this is the Breaking Bad writers getting even better. Saying shit like that would bring that sort of reaction from whoever says it.
I think the real Heisenberg of BCS is Kim Wexler, as she initially started off as reluctant to performing schemes. At the end of season 5 and based on what we’ve seen on season 6, she became hella sinister.
The 'I am the one who knocks" sounds badass, but really when you think about it's also pretty pathetic. Walter does feel trapped and he isn't in control. He quite literally is in danger. He knows Gus wants him gone. Skylar insinuates that he's in danger and that pierces him deep down into the crack of insecurity. Truth, the fact it might be true. actually it IS true. Walt takes this as nothing but belittlement. Even though it comes from a strong place of affection and love. She cares about him. This in turn causes a rather childish reaction of him trying to intimidate his wife, successfully so. Showing her how big and strong he is. Prick Still an absolutely amazing monologue though.
@@fancyguyfromsweden Yes. it's the central point of the "I am the one who knocks" scene that all the memes seem to completely miss: In the end, that whole rant is just a lie that Walt is desperately trying to convince himself of. At that point in the series Walt is at his most powerless since the opening scenes of the pilot; his days are spent locked in a basement cooking meth for a man he knows is plotting to kill him at the first opportunity and he's unable to do a damm thing about it. He's not even driving any of the main storylines at this point, he's almost like a side character on his own show.
Never thought about it that way but that is so fucking perfectly put. Shit like this makes me wanna cry from how much I love these shows. Making scenes that can be appreciated with so many interpretations and layers is a gigantic feat for someone to do once in a show or movie but BCS and BrBa repeatedly put out such mindblowing paradigm shifting scenes that it leaves you a changed person once you’re done watching the show.
You drew parallels to Kim and Jessie, when I think, that should've been with Nacho instead. I feel like their roles are more similar, with their struggles to leave behind a life of crime. (And their connection to Mike). I think, of all the characters in the show, the descent into corruption is most tragic for Kim. Her being Jimmy's moral compass throughout the series. She is such a well written character, probably my favorite. I'm scared of what might come next in the show!
What i specifically like about both shows is that they are very unique in just the way the film every scene. Whenever our local TV channel streams better call saul or reruns of the breaking bad i can instantly notice that is breaking bad or better call Saul just by looking at it, not even looking at the cast. Beautiful series.
And they way they flesh out Mike Gus and Hector’s backstories in BCS adds so much more weight to their interactions and ultimate fates in BB, best executed spin off / prequel on television hands down
Walter didn’t just flip a switch to become a bad guy. He already was deep down, he just kept suppressing it out of fear of conflict. When he learns he’s about to die, he’s progressively letting loose until he completely exposes that inner demon and lays waste to everything around him to satisfy his ego. That’s what BCS shows you, there was this whole ecosystem before him and he destroyed everything to show them who’s boss. Jimmy didn’t have something this big to send him over the edge, so it makes sense it’s more slow and progressive.
@Nil Not exactly though, I came to this conclusion after rewatching the whole thing again. You notice that ego, grandeur and hostility were there from the get go, he was just too scared to act on those feelings. The surface level motivation that pushed him to make drugs was his family, but he wanted the applause and admiration, first by Jesse, then by other drug dealers and eventually by the world. Being exposed to that world revealed more and more of who he already was deep down. He made a massive over correction in trying to become confident and live out his potential after so many years of suppressing it and little by little, his actions lead him to who he becomes in S05.
Thank you for saying this, I don’t get why people think he started out with good intentions, it was always about himself he just lied to himself about it
I couldn't watch BB because three episodes in Walter, the teacher, becomes a stone cold killer, and torturing people in his basement and dissolving them in acid. It feels to me like they just want to "shock for the shock" sake and doesn't come to me as a character development. In BCS the character develop much more realistic and the relation of the 2 brothers is just amazing.
@@dominikfranke8491 Woah Woah, hold up, what? “Stone cold killer”? His first attempt to kill people were when they were threatening to kill him, and when he had Crazy 8 in his basement, he wasn’t torturing him, he just needed him under control, because he was a violent criminal. He was about to let him go too, until he figured out he was going to get stabbed once he did so, and he panicked because he really didn’t want to do it. That’s not “stone cold killing”, that comes seasons later when Walt starts ordering mass murders and executes people he ran over, with a gun. Going through with a murder for your and your family’s protection when you really don’t want to is still murder, but not in cold blood. As far as dissolving them in acid, what were the alternatives? They needed to do something with them, alone, and do it in a way that won’t get them found out. Acid is the best way, because it leaves absolutely no trail. BCS is completely different, in that the main character always had a penchant for mischief and law bending, but his transformation took place because his brother kept sabotaging him. Jimmy wanted to be a lawyer, not a meth kingpin, obviously it will take more time for him to end up in situations like the ones he found himself in seasons 5 and 6.
@@dominikfranke8491 are you mental ? He only kills crazy 8 in self defence and keeps saying sorry while he is doing it, also he didn’t torture him he was literally making food for him
The moment I heard Something Stupid by Lola Marsh in the opening S5E9 of Better Call Saul I had a special place carved in my heart for the show. I can't fully explain it but I was teary eyed in the middle of the night and not even the saddest movies, animes or shows have entranced me like this before.
Just one of the genius aspects of this show is how the show changes the perspective of how you view characters from beginning to end. Everything was executed so perfectly
Because I feel like it's supposed to be more humourous compared to breaking bad which is more serious tho it could be because of Jimmy which is a funny character.
I am currently rewatching breaking bad and idk if anything can compare to the last two seasons. Season 4 finale is incredible and so is season 5. Walt's ability to work his way out of every situation is so god damn entertaining.
What I love about Better Call Saul is that it works not just as a prequel to Breaking Bad, but as an amazing show in its own right. Not only that, but it actually adds depth and subtext to some plot points and characters from its predecessor. Specifically, Mike Ehrmantraut's arc completely changes the way I view him in Breaking Bad.
If often wondered how many people have watched BCS before watching Breaking Bad. I'm sure it stands up just fine. But I have to believe those people missed the boat on SO MANY of the Easter Eggs & some things had to just not make sense. From Saul's story about a woman once believing he was Kevin Kostner to the excitement of Tuco opening the door with the gun at the very end of the very 1st BCS episode. Crazy 8's story. All of it. I would think it would be really bizarre to go watch Breaking Bad after Saul because of how those characters were introduced (like little surprises) in BCS. Also, we spent all of Breaking Bad thinking that Mike was Gus's right hand man. In fact at one point he says to Walt "if you ever call the police on one of my guys again..." But in BCS it's clear that Victor & Tyrus were more of Gus's main henchmen than Mike was. I loved the battle of moral compass between Gus/Mike. Mike is stone cold bad ass all the way. But as you stated, he also just got sucked into the power & the "game". Between his story with his son, daughter in law and grandaughter & even his relationship with with Nacho and eventually Jesse... other than being a murderous criminal... he had a good heart. If that makes sense? lol.
Saul is such an amazing character, he was actually only supposed to be in 4 episodes of breaking bad but he was loved so much and got a huge role and even a spin-off show with more episodes than the original.
It was so unfortunate for Saul cause whenever he did the things by the book he was punished in some way for that which only pushed him further to becoming corrupt.