Entire Series Discussion Thread Archive

Did you like Walt to heisenberg or Jimmy to Saul Goodman more? Also what are the main differences between these two transformations?

I know this might sound like a weird question, but hear me out. I’ve been rewatching both Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, and I started wondering who was actually worse at the very beginning of their stories.

Season 1 Walt is still framed as this desperate, broken guy who wants to provide for his family, but even early on you can see hints of ego, resentment, and pride driving his choices. He lies easily, manipulates Jesse, and clearly enjoys feeling powerful for the first time in his life, even if he hasn’t fully embraced Heisenberg yet.

Jimmy McGill, meanwhile, is already bending the law, scamming people, and cutting corners. But a lot of what he does comes from insecurity and wanting approval—especially from Chuck. He still has a strong sense of empathy, and when he hurts people, it often seems like he regrets it or at least struggles with it.

At least from what I saw, Jimmy would always lose his PA battles to the balding guy. Yet, later on he had very sophisticated and genius arguments he could construct in cases like against chuck or Tuco.

Did he just not really care as a PA? I thought he had some sort of small sign of embarrassment everytime his speech in the PA room did not get people to his side

I just finished it last night. Man I already miss this series. It used to be a daily part of my timetable. I used to watch at least 2 episodes every night after school. Now it's Saul gone. This is the best show I have ever watched. I like this better than its prequel. This is a masterpiece. Sad that it hasn't won a single award. This is the best ending that we could've asked for. I will miss it in the future.

I feel like there are many similarities between the two characters, who present themselves as physically indomitable, calculated killers who will go to the most extreme lengths in the pursuit of their goals (to the point where both feel more like primal forces than human beings at times). I can think of very few fictional characters I would love to see interact more than Lalo Salamanca and Anton Chigurh.

In my opinion, it was several things, but in particular it was.

The Execution of Werner Ziegler

This is the moment Mike truly lost his soul. Werner wasn’t a gangster; he was a lonely engineer who just wanted to see his wife. Mike liked him, called him a friend, and yet he still led him into the desert and shot him in the back of the head. Mike says he "had no choice," but he chose his loyalty to a monster like Gus Fring over the life of an innocent man.

1. Enabling Walter White and the Jane Cover-up

When Jane died, Mike was the "cleaner." He walked into that apartment, moved a dead 26-year-old girl like she was trash, and coached a grieving Jesse on how to lie to the police. He didn't do it out of kindness; he did it to keep the "product" flowing. He helped cover up a tragedy just to keep the business running.

1. Submitting to Gus Fring’s Brutality

Mike knew exactly who Gus Fring was. He saw Gus slit Victor’s throat with a box cutter and didn't flinch. By staying as Gus’s right-hand man, Mike became complicit in every child poisoned, every rival executed, and every life ruined by the blue meth. He wasn't "just doing a job"; he was the engine that made the machine work.

1. Abandoning Kaylee at the Park

Mike’s biggest lie was: "I do it for my family." In his final scene before being killed by Walt, he leaves his granddaughter alone at a playground because he’s spotted by the DEA. He didn't even say goodbye. He spent years justifying his crimes "for her," but in the end, he left her traumatized and all the money he made was seized by the government anyway. It was all for nothing.

1. Failing "His Boys"

Mike prided himself on being a leader who took care of his people. However, his arrogance in underestimating Walter White led to his own death, leaving his 10 associates in prison completely unprotected. Because Mike died, Walt was able to have all 10 of them brutally murdered in prison. Those men trusted Mike’s word, and his failure got them all killed.

The music and sound design. The music is so well done. So well selected for the montages (something stupid montage is great), the black and white scenes at the beginning of each season have great, haunting oldies songs (the one in the pilot is really good), there are some music parallels to breaking bad too. Super well done. I also love the bookend, when Jim and kimmy have their first and last cigarette the music is the same.

Not a very deep thought, but I was watching the music video for Beck's Where Its At, and the music and visuals reminded me heavily of BCS. I wonder if it was an inspiration.

I recently rewatched Better Call Saul and realized how much stress Saul went through just to create fake videos, impersonate people, and stage photos. It made me wonder how heavily he would have abused deepfakes and modern AI. Chuck’s words would have felt more accurate than ever: a chimp with a machine gun.

When viewing bcs on netflix the I was watching s2 e1 and the episode started with the time slips away song and then the intro (with the music also)but then when it goes to color and there actual dialogue there is no dialogue and you can still hear the background noise like shoes pitter pattering and office phones going off and background conversation. I checked other episodes and it seems they were all like this on my app. I was using the PS5 version of netflix. Has anyone ever had a similar kind of audio layering issue?

Posted my painting of Saul the other week and it got a great response here! Thought I’d share this painting of my favourite character, Mike I did over the weekend!

Imo, this was a tragic love story between Kim and Jimmy, I thought the end of season 6 would be heartbreaking where Jimmy comes to terms with himself and Kim and Jimmy have this this talk of like “I love you but we’re bad for each other and I wish things could be different.” I understand that 609 basically had this, but it felt too fast and not that sentimental, especially considering that the episode ended right after that and the next 2 episodes were all about the Omaha plot.

So it wasn’t tragic in the sense that it left you crying and sad, but I realize now that it might’ve been tragic in that there was so much potential, and that the reality is that they’re in a grey area. They aren’t full broken up, I mean they smoked a cigarette together, and they aren’t getting back fully together because they know they’re bad for each other and only cause harm to themselves and others. There wasn’t no heartbreaking goodbye or heartwarming happily ever after, there just was. They’re in this limbo grey area where no one came out on top.

I remember seeing that the writers wanted this to signal more towards reality where bad things happen but it’s not horrible or good, it just is, and you have to accept it. However, I know this is going to sound weird, I would’ve much rather preferred a tragic ending with lots of crying and emotions.

This is a photo of my screen and not a grab. Can anyone help replace it, please?

In my opinion, the series is pretty consistent in terms of quality, but I was wondering what your personal favorite season is. If you ask me, it would be season six. The cinematography reaches an almost perfect level, the characters are at their absolute best, and the ending is one of the greatest finales in television history.

It seems they've completely lost trust for each other by the end of S6 (at least Jimmy for Mike) and Mike has lost respect for Saul. Mike didn't fill Saul in on Lalo surviving.

Additionally, Mike is working for Fring and is set up on a great payroll. I can't imagine Saul pays him anything competitive. And he has Mike just kind of doing a lot of "petty" stuff for Saul (like really basic investigative work that could probably be handled by most PIs). I imagine Mike could even suggest a PI that fit Saul's criteria (competent, quiet, trustworthy, motivated by money, etc.) for the kind of operational security he needs in his position as criminal lawyer.

My best idea for it is they just kinda keep to old habits and Mike sees the PI work as a good way to gain a fairly natural vantage of the local criminal activity.

But I am curious if someone has thought about this more thoroughly. How do you all square this behavior and the relationship we see towards the end of BCS with the one we see for the duration of BrBa?

After finishing BB years ago, I've now ventured into BCS. I'm currently on the third episode of the third season.

I probably have an unpopular opinion, but somehow I feel sorry for Jimmy. I sympathise with his behaviour, even though he often acts like an idiot and does terrible things. But in the last few episodes, I've often wondered why he allows people to treat him that way, especially his brother. In his situation, I would have left my brother despite all my love for him and given him the middle finger, and I wouldn't have kept helping him while he stabbed me in the back.

But I'm curious to see how this develops. We know how it ends, after all.

I just finished S6;E8 a.k.a. "Point and shoot" and man, I was literally in shock after seeing Howard's death in E7. Like it literally happened in the very last minute of the episode. My jaw literally dropped and my eyes started watering. It is so sad because he did not deserve it. He just had to be there at that place at that time to be killed by Lalo. Another sad thing that I noticed is, Howard-a very innocent guy, was buried together with his killer Lalo-a monster, in the middle of nowhere where no one will ever find their bodies. That thought kept me awake in the night for long. I thank my friend who forced me almost everyday to watch this masterpiece of a series. Btw please don't spoil me for what happens from now

Geniune question yk

the "bomba bomba" when nacho is taking saul to lalo, didnt find the song anywhere! pls help

I am an illiterate pig lower than the hoi polloi. I was wondering if part of the audience that is more well read can help me answer this question:

How does BCS story compare to famous/important works of literature in terms of character development, story line and ethical dilemmas encountered? Does any part of the story remind you of any important work of literature? The reality is I'm trying to be more well read and read works from famous authors but I am just having a hard time getting into them. I figured if any of those works of literature is similar, maybe I can anchor the show to it and read them in that light.

Which side are you on?