Better Call Saul Season 4, Episode 5, “Quite a Ride”

In my write-up of the previous episode, I expressed impatience with the repetitious nature of Jimmy’s plot this season, and the slow pace of his transformation into Saul. “Quite a Ride” corrects for this slow pace and then some, thrusting Jimmy ever closer toward becoming Saul, and offering my favorite episode of the season thus far. It helps, of course, that we actually – shockingly – see Saul for the first time on Better Call Saul (outside of Gene watching his old TV commercials). The episode opens with a flash forward to a scene set near the end of Breaking Bad, with Francesca shredding documents and Saul scrambling to pack his things and arrange a meeting with Robert Forster’s fixer character.

Sharp Objects, Back Half of Season 1

I wrote a piece on the back half of Sharp Objects for Cultured Vultures, focusing on character psychology. Check it out here: https://culturedvultures.com/sharp-objects-character-psychology/

Better Call Saul Season 4 Episode 4, “Talk”

Even more than in previous seasons, season four of Better Call Saul has really seemed like three or four separate shows that just happen to air within the same hour. Jimmy, Nacho/Gus, Mike, and to some extent Kim have all been off in their own worlds, dealing with largely unrelated conflicts and problems. Your mileage may vary on which of these storylines you find more compelling in a given week. Arguably, plots related to Kim and Nacho could be considered more interesting, as the fates of these two aren’t nearly as predetermined as Jimmy, Mike, and Gus’s. Regardless, while the writers and actors are capable of making each of these stories compelling in their own right, Better Call Saul is most enthralling when these different characters and plots intersect with one another, as they finally do once again near the end of this episode.

Better Call Saul Season 4, Episode 3, “Something Beautiful”

Like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul is not the kind of show that leaves logistical problems unaddressed. A problem the end of “Breathe” poses: how to dispose of Arturo’s body in a way that won’t arouse the Salamancas’ suspicion of Gus. The answer is to make Arturo appear to have been the victim of an ambush by a rival cartel. On Breaking Bad, when Walt and Jesse would come up with a plan like this, most of the time we would watch the whole process, from the posing of the problem, to the brainstorming of a solution, to the execution of the plan. Here, however, we skip all but the execution phase, leading us to wonder what Tyrus and Victor are doing, at least until they pop the trunk to reveal Arturo’s corpse.

Better Call Saul Season 4, Episode 2, “Breathe”

After a saggy episode to kick off the season, “Breathe” finds Better Call Saul returning to form with a tight episode that offers some interesting points of comparison with Breaking Bad, along with another standout Kim scene thrown in for good measure.

Better Call Saul Season 4, Episode 1, “Smoke”

Like every season of Better Call Saul, season four begins with a flash-forward to Jimmy/Saul's life as Gene in the post-Breaking Bad years. This season's flash-forward picks up exactly where season three's flash-forward left off, with Gene being attended to by paramedics after he collapsed in the Cinnabon. His collapse was a product of an encounter he had with a thief trying to hide from some mall cops. As we saw in season three, Gene reluctantly led the cops to the thief, but witnessing the thief’s arrest caused a bit of Saul to resurface from underneath Gene’s stoic exterior when he urged the thief to get a lawyer (much to the cops’ irritation). Upon returning to the Cinnabon, Gene collapses when he realizes how stupid it was to blurt out his advice to the thief and potentially draw the police’s attention.

Sharp Objects, First Half of Season 1

I've published my thoughts on the first half of HBO's compelling Sharp Objects over at Cultured Vultures. Check it out here: https://culturedvultures.com/sharp-objects-s1-halfway/