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Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47120 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
Finale was very satisfying. The one criticism I have is that you must have watched all of Breaking Bad to understand what was going on, which hadn’t really been the case up until now.
Joined: Thu January 10, 2013 2:19 am Posts: 8895 Location: SOUTH PORTLAND
tragabigzanda wrote:
Finale was very satisfying. The one criticism I have is that you must have watched all of Breaking Bad to understand what was going on, which hadn’t really been the case up until now.
They emphasized how horrible "meeting Walter White" was, but, yeah, it's left to the viewer to want to know more about just how horrible he was if they don't already know from watching BB.
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47120 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
elliseamos wrote:
tragabigzanda wrote:
Finale was very satisfying. The one criticism I have is that you must have watched all of Breaking Bad to understand what was going on, which hadn’t really been the case up until now.
They emphasized how horrible "meeting Walter White" was, but, yeah, it's left to the viewer to want to know more about just how horrible he was if they don't already know from watching BB.
Finale was very satisfying. The one criticism I have is that you must have watched all of Breaking Bad to understand what was going on, which hadn’t really been the case up until now.
I actually agree with this.
I enjoyed the ending overall as a whole, but the last episode (even the last couple) leaned so much on the history of Saul Goodman from what he did in Breaking Bad more than anything he did in Better Call Saul. Nothing he really did on Saul would have landed him in any sort of actual criminal trouble... instead the end result of his story hinged on things that occured on another series ten years ago.
I do think the ending/resolution of the Jimmy and Kim story made up for that though. I really enjoyed that at the end of it, Jimmy was willing to give up everything to have Kim's respect back.
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47120 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
@SkitchP wrote:
tragabigzanda wrote:
Finale was very satisfying. The one criticism I have is that you must have watched all of Breaking Bad to understand what was going on, which hadn’t really been the case up until now.
I actually agree with this.
I enjoyed the ending overall as a whole, but the last episode (even the last couple) leaned so much on the history of Saul Goodman from what he did in Breaking Bad more than anything he did in Better Call Saul. Nothing he really did on Saul would have landed him in any sort of actual criminal trouble... instead the end result of his story hinged on things that occured on another series ten years ago.
I do think the ending/resolution of the Jimmy and Kim story made up for that though. I really enjoyed that at the end of it, Jimmy was willing to give up everything to have Kim's respect back.
Right. As a finale for Saul's story -- knowing everything we know about Breaking Bad -- it worked really well. But I think it could have been more impressive if it stood on its own two feet, rather than requiring all the knowledge from the parent show.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 3:35 pm Posts: 32273 Location: Buenos Aires
@SkitchP wrote:
I enjoyed the ending overall as a whole, but the last episode (even the last couple) leaned so much on the history of Saul Goodman from what he did in Breaking Bad more than anything he did in Better Call Saul. Nothing he really did on Saul would have landed him in any sort of actual criminal trouble... instead the end result of his story hinged on things that occured on another series ten years ago.
That's the tricky thing about bookending your prequel series with a sequel section. Still, it's not true that the ending wouldn't make sense or would be confusing to someone who hasn't watched Breaking Bad; all the relevant information is spelled out very clearly in the episode itself, at least in broad strokes (my evidence for this is that I watched it with someone who hasn't seen Breaking Bad and they were able to follow it just fine).
The Omaha stuff as a whole had to serve as an epilogue for both BCS and BB and I think they did a reasonably good job. Thematically and in terms of Jimmy and Kim's story, it wraps things up nicely. I loved the "three ghosts of Christmas" approach to the Mike/Walt/Chuck flashbacks, all pointing to the central theme of regret and the choices you can't unmake.
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47120 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
Jorge wrote:
@SkitchP wrote:
I enjoyed the ending overall as a whole, but the last episode (even the last couple) leaned so much on the history of Saul Goodman from what he did in Breaking Bad more than anything he did in Better Call Saul. Nothing he really did on Saul would have landed him in any sort of actual criminal trouble... instead the end result of his story hinged on things that occured on another series ten years ago.
That's the tricky thing about bookending your prequel series with a sequel section. Still, it's not true that the ending wouldn't make sense or would be confusing to someone who hasn't watched Breaking Bad; all the relevant information is spelled out very clearly in the episode itself, at least in broad strokes (my evidence for this is that I watched it with someone who hasn't seen Breaking Bad and they were able to follow it just fine).
The Omaha stuff as a whole had to serve as an epilogue for both BCS and BB and I think they did a reasonably good job. Thematically and in terms of Jimmy and Kim's story, it wraps things up nicely. I loved the "three ghosts of Christmas" approach to the Mike/Walt/Chuck flashbacks, all pointing to the central theme of regret and the choices you can't unmake.
I also enjoyed the three ghosts thing. But my wife watched Breaking Bad with me, and she was like "remind me again what happened with all these people?" And I've got a couple friends who recently started Saul on my advice, without having watched BB. I'm curious to see what they think of the finale without that frame of reference.
I enjoyed the ending overall as a whole, but the last episode (even the last couple) leaned so much on the history of Saul Goodman from what he did in Breaking Bad more than anything he did in Better Call Saul. Nothing he really did on Saul would have landed him in any sort of actual criminal trouble... instead the end result of his story hinged on things that occured on another series ten years ago.
That's the tricky thing about bookending your prequel series with a sequel section. Still, it's not true that the ending wouldn't make sense or would be confusing to someone who hasn't watched Breaking Bad; all the relevant information is spelled out very clearly in the episode itself, at least in broad strokes (my evidence for this is that I watched it with someone who hasn't seen Breaking Bad and they were able to follow it just fine).
The Omaha stuff as a whole had to serve as an epilogue for both BCS and BB and I think they did a reasonably good job. Thematically and in terms of Jimmy and Kim's story, it wraps things up nicely. I loved the "three ghosts of Christmas" approach to the Mike/Walt/Chuck flashbacks, all pointing to the central theme of regret and the choices you can't unmake.
Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm Posts: 47120 Location: In the oatmeal aisle wearing a Shellac shirt
Yes but "broad strokes" isn't really great given the circumstances. Imagine if any other beloved show were to end with "You're now going to jail for partaking in these heinous crimes, none of which we ever showed nor otherwise communicated to the viewer during the entirety of our run!"
Where Jimmy and Kim wound up is all well and good; great event. But you guys are giving them a pass on some pretty clunky storytelling mechanics, IMO.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 3:35 pm Posts: 32273 Location: Buenos Aires
tragabigzanda wrote:
Yes but "broad strokes" isn't really great given the circumstances. Imagine if any other beloved show were to end with "You're now going to jail for partaking in these heinous crimes, none of which we ever showed nor otherwise communicated to the viewer during the entirety of our run!"
That would be weird. But as you know Better Call Saul is a pretty unique situation. If this other hypothetical show of yours was in a similar position (serving as a prequel, sequel, and inbetweenquel to a much, much bigger show with a much wider cultural impact) it would be comparable. I think pretending that Breaking Bad didn't exist to ensure that BCS conforms to some formalistic idea of sound storytelling architecture would've been silly, and pretending that audiences today aren't aware of it is also kind of a pointless exercise
Yes but "broad strokes" isn't really great given the circumstances. Imagine if any other beloved show were to end with "You're now going to jail for partaking in these heinous crimes, none of which we ever showed nor otherwise communicated to the viewer during the entirety of our run!"
Where Jimmy and Kim wound up is all well and good; great event. But you guys are giving them a pass on some pretty clunky storytelling mechanics, IMO.
The black and white scenes have existed since episode one. The viewer doesn't need to know the specific crimes to figure out he did some pretty bad stuff to be living in a different state with a different identity.
Im so glad they didnt explain or showed whatever Saul did in BB. So fucking glad....if you wanna know bout it, there is a whole series that tells that story.
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