re: tOfficial Better Call Saul S06E11 “BREAKING BAD” Thread

Can we take a minute and appreciate how Bryan Cranston stepped right back into Walter White after several years? And not just Walt, but specifically season 2 BB Walt.

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pretty weak effort on Aaron’s part. How hard would it be to just rewatch that episode and pick up the mannerisms and inflection?

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Has anyone accused him of being a good actor?

You got to finally bring Walt and Jesse onto this show. How often was this idea discussed over the years? Was it just put off as something you would decide near the end? Was there ever a thought that you just wouldn’t do it?

I think we were always confident that they would come back at some point. We just didn’t know when or how. We started talking about this episode, where Gene was going back to his old ways. And we’re seeing what influenced him to become Saul, which was the Kim breakup and her not telling him about Lalo being alive for the reasons that she did — it really crushed the man who Jimmy McGill was. After that phone call he has at the side of the road in this episode, when he calls Florida trying to reach Kim Wexler, we don’t hear what happens on that call, but something on it brings back all the pain from the past, and his need to cover it up again. So his drug of choice is Saul Goodman, and that’s the best way to heal himself. That’s why we felt it was a good spot to flash back and forth between the two eras. And it helps pay some things off that you’ll see in the upcoming episodes.

When the Saul/Francesca flash-forward in “Quite a Ride” introduced the idea that she would have to be at a pay phone on a specific date and time, did you guys know what the call was going to be about?
Not only did I not know what the call was going to be about, I didn’t even know at first that it would be in the episode, because it was added after we broke the episode in the writers room. Peter and Ann [Cherkis] wrote that into the episode after the season was broken and decided we needed something. I don’t know what they were thinking! When I saw it, I was like, “What the hell is this?” Gordon [Smith] and the others joke that I was against the whole thing, and somehow it landed in my lap and I had to address it.

When Kim walked out on Jimmy a few episodes ago, and then we got the hard cut to Saul Goodman, that really felt like the end of the story you guys have been telling for six seasons. In these last two episodes, the title rubric has changed from earlier in the season — no more “this and that”-style episode names — the opening title sequence is changing, and the cast credits now only feature the actors in the episode. Are you guys treating these last four episodes as almost a different show?
Those decisions about who got credited, what the credits would look like — that all came much later, after shooting. When we broke these episodes, the end of 609, we really wanted that 2001 moment of the caveman throwing the bone in the air and it turns into a spaceship. Really, Jimmy McGill gets hit by a truck in 609, and bam, we are in the future. He’s Saul Goodman. That was something we talked about for a while, and I think that was really effective. Also, we teased Gene in all these teasers at the start of each season, and I think it would have been weirder if we just did another teaser at the start of Season Six, and that’s the end of Gene. What’s the emotional wrap-up of Jimmy McGill going through all these changes? Gene was a temporary “I’m in hiding” moment, but he couldn’t suppress it. He never dealt with the pain of his brother, never dealt with the pain of losing Kim, seeing Howard die. He didn’t deal with any of it. When Chuck died, Howard went through the steps of healing himself, he took the blame for it, he went to therapy, and did all the steps that Jimmy should have done, so all these deep things he’s pushed down will rise to the surface. We want to see how we resolve that. That’s where we’re heading in the final episodes.

The above is from an interview with the credited writer for this episode.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/better-call-saul-breaking-bad-episode-interview-writer-1389065/

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Couldn't watch last night, and it's killing me to not read this thread. What is the consensus on the episode? Good? Great? Meh? Filler? Etc.

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I found it better than last week, but other than a couple scenes mostly meh.

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Maybe “ Cinnabon Gene” is in greyscale because he is dead and this is all just a dream……

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This is a close 2nd on the lameness scale to Ham’s childish theory.

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How do the writers come up with -- Gwne calls for Kim ---Camera pulls away & shows an unhappy phone call but no actual voice over of the conversation ----More Gene scam scenes ??? Seriously? How do thwy sit there in a room & go "yeah, let's do that."?!?!?

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Well obviously they are showing us that the content of the exchange is irrelevant.

The call was important to Gene and unimportant to Kim. She’s over and done with him. This sets off Gene. Just as Kim helped create Saul, she unintentionally helped trigger his return.

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Agree about Jesse. He was supposed to be what, about 19 or 20 in the original scene?

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Yea, I watched "Better Call Saul" BB episode after last night's episode. Agree with the above about it almost being a different actor.

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I think a lot of people are going to lump this episode and the prevoius one in together and say that it was filler or pointless, but I wouldn't go that far. Same as last episode, we got some questions answered and we learn a little bit more about what's going on post -BB world which is nice.

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That's where I am with it.

Not ground shaking, but answers some questions, best of all I think it is the kill shot to Ham's theory.

And Carol Burnett seeing Gene and Jeffy up to no good is probably the set up for Saul/Gene's final fate.

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I must have missed it in the episode, but how did he know Kim was in Florida and the street she worked on, etc?

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It was never explained.

I figure he had some contact with her previous to the meltdown in Albuquerque that caused his visit to the vacuum man.

Kim is working at a place called "Palm Coast Sprinklers". The next episode is titled "Waterworks".