I was so excited because both returned recently.
And I have to say — so far — I’m disappointed.
Now the BARRY season is young and BETTER CALL SAUL is almost at the halfway mark of their final season — perhaps each series builds to a slam-bang conclusion — but for now, I find myself completely underwhelmed.
BETTER CALL SAUL is now slow to the point of indulgence. And they seem to have lost sight on what made BREAKING BAD so good — exceptional storytelling. In BETTER CALL SAUL this year it seems like every episode is just setting things up, and not in a particularly entertaining fashion. I don’t need to see Howard making cappuccino for five minutes. Last week I didn’t need to see Gus gazing at the underground meth lab he built for five minutes. I get it! Clearly they're padding.
At this point I’ve almost stopped following the disjointed story lines and ultimately all I care about is ‘are they going to kill Kim?” Everything else — whatever. With BREAKING BAD I cared about every character and was riveted at each unexpected ingenious story turn. It’s tough when it’s a prequel because you know who’s going to live by who’s in BREAKING BAD (which is why Kim is a big question mark).
I hope they make it worth my while. I'm told they have a major cliffhanger next week. We'll see.
I’ve seen the first two episodes of BARRY and that show seems to have lost its way. I don’t particularly like the new manic-depressive Barry. They don’t seem to know what to do with Henry Winkler. And how did Sally go from struggling actress taking lessons to star and showrunner of a series? Everything about her character seems to have completely flipped. I used to love Sally and now she’s Lena Dunham. Plus, the show is doing a lot of inside baseball TV industry stuff. The sessions with casting and executives play funny to me because I’ve been in those meetings, but I suspect 99.000% of the audience hasn’t.
Would I be as disappointed if I didn’t have to wait an extra year for these shows to return? Maybe. You figure — they had all this time. They could really craft something incredible. And they’ve done great things in the past. But the only suspense now is: are they going to get better? I sure hope so. Like I said, at one time I absolutely loved both shows.
What say you folks?
Oh, and HACKS started their second season last Thursday. Only one episode has dropped but it seemed to pick up right where they left off. What that tells me is “Hey, it’s not like every show disappoints.”
50 comments :
Agree on BETTER CALL SAUL. Not bad but not up to the previous seasons. So far.
I think Saul has always been overpraised. Particularly the first two seasons focusing on the brothers. The cast is fine, the storytelling is pretty bad.
My beef with Barry is less about that show itself (although it's far from perfect) and more about the fact that Get Shorty (with Chris O'Dowd and Ray Romano) did it better five years ago. That series did a much better job of integrating the commonalities between the criminal industry and the entertainment industry.
I don't think the "inside baseball" stuff is as hard to fathom as you think, Ken. So many people read and entertainment websites, blogs, substacks, and Tik Toks that I think your average viewer has a much better grasp of the workings of the entertainment industry than they do of our system of government, for example.
Given how much of this season of Better Call Saul has been scrambling to get Jimmy into position for the start of Breaking Bad, I'm actually kinda glad to have a break from that stuff, even if it means the show is moving slower for a bit.
That said, even though the show is airing weekly, it's always had more of a streaming-type pace that works better when binged than when watched new. Breaking Bad was the same way. So with that in mind, as well as considering the next episode is the mid-season finale (or the end of season 6 part 1, which is kinda silly but that's what they're doing so who am I to argue), I kinda suspect this is the calm before the storm. I would be very much surprised if these slower episodes weren't in preparation for something much faster and more bombastic.
If I'm right and that is, indeed, what they're doing... then yeah, this'll work a lot better in the future for Netflix binging than it does now for weekly airings/releases.
Thank you! I've been disappointed in BCS as well. Other friends I have talked to are still be happy with it. I was starting to think I was the outlier.
"Better Call Saul" Season 6 is what happens when the network tells you to turn a 10-episode story into 13.
"Better Call Saul" Season 6 is what happens when the network tells you to turn a 10-episode story into 13.
I think it's you. Sorry, but I'm going to disagree on both counts. I've only seen BARRY's season opener, but I think it lived up to the previous finale, especially the 'confrontation' between Barry and Cousineau.
And BETTER CALL SAUL! First off, they wrapped up the Nacho storyline and it had as much impact as Hank's death on BB. And half the fun in Saul is seeing these masterplans being set up. It's in the DNA of both shows. Also, BB never spent this much time with Gus and his paranoia, and Lalo Salamanca is the best villain I've seen in a while. Plus, Jimmy and Kim setting up Howard Hamlin as a pimp had me in knots (the parking lot signpost gag alone had me in tears).
I'm particularly eager to see how Kim will end up. I'm not so sure she'll end up dead - all signs point to her being the real mastermind behind Saul's criminal enterprise, possibly still very much alive in the era of Walter White. And possibly beyond - I REALLY want to see the fallout of Cinnabon Gene, and I trust Gilligan, Gould and company to deliver at this point. With eleven seasons, a TV movie, and well over 100 episodes under their belt (5 seasons of BB, 6 of SAUL), this writing team has more than earned my trust and faith.
I guess I’ve always been in the minority. I’ve felt BCS has been padding most episodes since season 1.
I trust the writers on the basis of the earlier seasons. The pacing is good for viewers like me who binge in irregular chunks (sometimes pausing mid-episode for a week), and I can't imagine having to suffer through commercials; I'd rather wait until Netflix (hence I've recently finished season 5). Perhaps season 6 will be on DVD at my local library before Netflix has it; in any case I'm willing to wait.
I didn't mind Howard's making coffee - for one thing, I did think the extent to which the character is as fastidious as Gus was interesting. For another, the payoff in his wife's reaction seemed worth it. The Gus thing was harder because the darkness made it hard to see what he was doing. The other scene I've seen people complain about as padding was Mike's astronomy scene. I've never known Gilligan to pad before, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming that these are all setups for tragedy. Of course, it could *also* be true that the crew have gotten a little too enamored of this type of sequence - but I still liked the extended tease showing the making of Werner's gift. Maybe it's the frequency rather than the sequences themselves?
wg
Bosch is my bitter disappointment. It plays like an average Mission Impossible tv episode
Hi Ken,
I'm not commenting on the shows you wrote about but I am writing about two shows that made us wait for a following season. You can delete this comment if you don't want the distractions.
The first show is Stranger Things - returning for a fourth season on Netflix. We've had to wait almost three years for and I can't wait. We purposely don't watch trailers because we don't want the story to be spoiled. My son suggested we go back and watch the first three seasons again so we're not constantly needing to go back to remind ourselves about why things are happening the way they are in season 4. It's going to be interesting to see what they do with the kids being older and with the characters spread out to new places.
The second show I want to talk about is the Genndy Tartakovsky animated series Samurai Jack. We had to wait 12 years for the final season but, boy, was it worth it. They took that long wait into account and a lot of the story changed for the final season. But it was a satisfying (though sad) ending to a terrific story. It CAN be done!
Jim Dodd
We've seen the first two Hacks, and have been impressed...the seemed to been able to pick up without loosing a beat.
I think what you've touched on is a common problem in the current TV era, for whatever reason. I loved the first season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but each consecutive season has been more disjointed and oddly pointless in some hard-to-define way. Amy Sherman-Palladino has real gifts as a writer, but it seems like she wants to prove she can do big scenes a la the Goodfellas nightclub tracking shot. She succeeds, but it doesn't seem to have much to do with the plot. And while the details are different, Game of Thrones, Lost, and others all drifted away from their strengths. Maybe Carl Reiner's approach to the Dick Van Dyke Show should be put into contracts: a set number of seasons, then you stop, period.
totally agree on BCS, ep 1 was a great example, the opening scene of them cleaning out Jimmy's stuff could've been 30-40 seconds, felt like it went on for 5 minutes.
I was more bothered that the cappuccino that Howard made was dumped into an anachronistic Yeti mug. As someone who drinks coffee at work out of one of those, the look was distinctive.
I can certainly understand impatience with the pacing, but BCS has always been somewhat slow and for me it almost always feels like there's a reason. They give you time to wonder where Lalo is and what he might be doing. They give you a minute to get into Howard's head when he's alone and following his meticulous morning routine. Mike's moment of family time from across the street is a valuable glimpse of what's on his mind, even if it doesn't seem relevant to anything else that's going on. I don't know, I'm just another guy watching a TV show but I still like it.
My biggest question that nobody is talking about is how Saul gets the Kettlemans' Statue of Liberty. Surely they've set that up for something entertaining.
JED: I'm waiting for the Stranger Things story arc where the kids go to the Upside Down and get groomed by CIA creatures to help "Freedom Fighters" ship cocaine and slit throats. I love the eighties!
Episodes 501-503 were great - as good as any in the Gilligan/Gould universe.
504-506 - seems like they put the second-string in the game - with subplots that are not so compelling - which I suppose will "resolve" in 507-510.
Espresso, french cuffs, luxury cars, superlab gazing, boxing gloves - most not required and the rest worthy of tight(er) editing.
(add wistful granpda phone calls)
The U-TURN ending 506 suggests a "ramp up" I suppose - maybe find out Monday.
Eduardo Jencarelli said...
(Kim Wexler will become) the real mastermind behind Saul's criminal enterprise
I like that - it works well with her passion for pro bono work - which keeps (will keep) her "under the radar".
I REALLY want to see the fallout of Cinnabon Gene, and I trust Gilligan, Gould and company to deliver at this point.
I agree they will wrap this up - but IMO it's not essential.
Well, to be fair, BCS has always had its overindulgent moments. Remember watching ants on an ice cream cone for five minutes? This season, though, it seems like there's more of it. Sometimes it's downright padded.
I did like the first three episodes. It was a nice trilogy of sorts for Nacho, with a satisfying end. Since then though, yeah, it's been a lot of setup for the remaining characters. A LOT of setup.
There's been a few standout moments here and there - Kim meeting Mike for the first time comes to mind - but I agree, I do wish they would move things along a bit quicker.
I am waiting for BCS to dovetail into the BB universe. I liked the scene where Mike is talking to Kim, and says she is "made of stronger stuff". Will Kim die? Will she go to prison?
Will she go into witness protection? Will she star in her own spinoff? Stay tuned.
"Barry" has become like the not-great seasons of "Dexter," where they've written the main guy into a corner and he starts doing uncharacteristically stupid things under pressure. (Barry is also, apparently, becoming more like Dexter in that he's killing people as a way of dealing with emotional problems.) It's become an even bleaker comedy, and the characters -- most of whom weren't likeable before, but in a funny way -- have become kind of annoying. And yet... I still enjoy this show! The writing is still mostly sharp, and the performances are fantastic. I don't know if they can get back to the dark-funny-ridiculous tone of the first couple of seasons, but I hope they do.
I think the glacial pace of Better Call Saul can be explained either by the Martin Scorsese effect which is just loving everything you shoot and cutting nothing, or they had to stretch out this season as long as they could to make as much money as they could to cash in.
There's also first time directors like Rhea Seahorn and they may have just indulged her and let her play with the camera.
I DVR Better Call Saul and skip over the commercials. Every episode flies by. I also did a rewatch of the entire series leading up to the season six premiere. I also did a rewatch of Breaking Bad as the new season aired. It's been great fun watching the two series play off and now dovetail into each other. Not looking forward to the mid season break but at least we won't have to wait an entire year for the final episodes like Breaking Bad.
You've mentioned previously how much you hate the number of commercials on Better Call Saul and it brings up an interesting question which you may have already address. The number of commercials per hour has certainly increased over the decades and as a result the shows themselves have gotten shorter and shorter. Just doing a quick online search it looks like a regular episode of M*A*S*H would be 25-26 minutes. By the 1990s a regular episode of Frasier would be 21-23 minutes. A loss of 2-5 minutes. I know some episodes of The Big Bang Theory are as short as 18 minutes. How frustrating was it to have to keep cutting scripts due to network's demand for more ads and how did that process work? Were the shows you worked on given an edict from on high demanding you cut so many seconds or minutes each episode for the whole season or did is fluctuate episode to episode such as those that aired during sweeps? Also were some episodes trimmed in post after a show had been completed to squeeze in a couple more ads? Any insight into this issue would be appreciated.
I'd watch Jonathan Banks silently and methodically plotting a trap for an hour every week for ten seasons. They haven't had one of those yet this season. If they ever make a live action version of the old Sunday comic HENRY as an adult they had better cast Jonathan as Henry.
Call Me Mike: Actually, I loved the ants. It was also an interesting way to indicate the amount of time passing...
Ryan E: Yes! re the Kettlemans' Statue of Liberty.
Actually, the thing I'm least satisfied with is Kim and Jimmy's pursuit of Howard. It seems so unimportant in the grand scheme of things. But maybe that's the point. People will destroy themselves over things that really just don't matter that much.
wg
"They had all this time. They could really craft something incredible."
Maybe that's the problem. Like estiv, I was disappointed in the new season of MRS. MAISEL. It didn't really hit its stride until the bar mitzvah scene. Maybe the long layoff between seasons causes the writers to lose their edge, unlike the days when (as you well know) there had to be scripts ready to shoot every week and shows were competing for audiences and awards. BETTER CALL SAUL, etc., is not looking at the possibility of cancellation if the audience drifts away. Maybe streaming platforms are not the future after all.
Hey Ken, a M*A*S*H question… do you know why BJ was added to the opening credits after the closeup of Hawkeye, when there wasn’t a closeup of Trapper there? Was this a Mike Farrell power play (as guessed by my buddy), or just a way to incorporate the new character?
I usually stop watching most TV shows in their last couple of years because they're either recycling plots or padding, but I'll stick with BCS for Kim. I fast-forwarded through most of the desert episode of BCS last year, and I find myself doing it more and more this year. It's especially galling when you sit through it and still don't know what happened, like when Gus was creeping around the widow's house and he looked at the label on the bottom of the acrylic thingie, which we had had to sit through the making of at the beginning of the episode. I still don't understand why he thought someone who crafted a memento would know anything about the job of the person who received it. I'm also in it for Kim.
I thought the third ep of Barry was the best yet, with Noho Hank answering all the app questions and of course the fact that there's a Bomb app to begin with...I suspect we're heading downhill to a big climax that will set up season 4, which Hader and Berg have said is already written.
I am not reading any of this, because I'm going to binge the series once it has concluded.
My comment. I'm sick of Hulu providing only DUBBED versions of foreign series. WTF? Netflix has done it a few times, as well. Give me the GD option of using subtitles, and hearing the actors speak in their own voices. How HARD is it to add that one option?
The relationship between Jimmy and his brother Chuck contained the best story elements. The family dynamics also showed much of where Saul's personality came from. Chuck's death was an essential element to Saul's transformation, but at the same time, the show lost some momentum. The dramatic focus shifted to the drug cartel, which is not what attracted me to the show. And you're right about the pace. I'm also not too fond of watching good people get victimized. In the earlier seasons, Jimmy was sticking up for the old folks and going after big business. His scams were aimed at people who were needing to be brought down a peg. Now we're watching innocent people get what they don't deserve. I'm not sure what Howard has done to deserve the reputation tarnishing he's about to receive.
I loved HACKS. They avoid the cheap, lazy intergenerational jokes (i.e. old person 'can't-figure-out-newfangled-iPhone', young person 'doesn't-know-coffee-can-be-brewed-at-home' type groaners) Jean Smart's character is razor sharp and, while each character started with those generational misconceptions, we quickly saw how they learned from each other as they struggled to get outside their comfort zone.
Ken, I agree Better Call Saul has been very slow. I hope Kim survives. I also agree that Barry is not as good,so far, as seasons 1 & 2. I haven't started season 2 of Hacks. The first season was brilliant. I have started watching The Girl From Plainville. Elle Fanning is excellent. We know the story and result but the writing has delved into the dysfunctional justice system. Lots of nuance a la The Americans. Lots of dysfunctional people. Hard to watch.
Anonymous Dave Lennon said...
I'm not sure what Howard has done to deserve the reputation tarnishing he's about to receive.
I forget what "greivances" Kim and Jimmy/Saul have with Howard - but they think (have said) they can bring a more-rapid payout to the oldest/sickest Sandpiper clients.
If they succeed with that, those clients can "spend their children's inheritance" - more of it, anyway.
I DO recall MY "grievance" with white-shoe "ethics" - which Jimmy ignored when he solicited Sandpiper clients. I have no respect for the blanket application of that sort of $#!T.
Barry has been officially renewed for season four today.
I LOVE Hacks. Jean Smart is brilliant and 100% believable (Not that it's news that Jean Smart is a really, really good actress. No one's forgotten her on Frasier, and did you see her season of Fargo? She was great!). I've worked with, and around, and even written for, a few top-tier comics (People that include Lucy, Groucho, Berle, Barry Humphries, and several others), and Jean rings so very, very true. (Also, I'm madly in love with "Marcus.")
I have only one issue with it: the character of "Kayla." She alone seems to have drifted in from some other, lesser, more obvious sit-com. She is not remotely believable at any level, and as a result, she hurts every scene she's in. The entire rest of the show is far, far above her. (And it does not help that 37 years ago I had a boss named "Kayla," who was a horrible, entitled bitch.)
I agree about BARRY; I watched the first two and a half episodes -- HBO Max crashed halfway through ep 3 and I haven't felt compelled to finish it. BCS, however, doesn't seem to have changed it's pace to me, though I do note that the episodes with commercials on AMC have run 70 minutes or more. But I'm still enjoying it, and I trust the core writing, directing, editing team
I also dislike the dubbed version of foreign shows. Half the acting is in the voices, and it seems the same four people do all the dubbed voices for every dubbed show. It makes the shows completely emotionless and bland. I'd rather read subtitles and get the feel of the words from hearing the way the actors say them.
I've been enjoying Barry, but think it may have gone darker than it was in the first seasons. I explicitly didn't go back and rewatch the first two seasons, because I want to only sort of remember what happened, and hope that most of what's going on in the current season can stand on its own without requiring complete knowledge of what's gone before.
I've not really liked the Sally Reed character from the beginning. I understand how she makes the show better, but wish it could be done some other way. The fact that she got her own show and is running it, just accentuates that time has passed from whenever the last season ended and this one picks up.
I'm really disappointed with Season 6 of BCS too. It looks gorgeous but the plot has barely moved along for the last three episodes. We also kinda know what Kim and Jimmy are going to do to HHM and Howard but I'm just not invested in it because they've made Howard almost pathetically likeable. The weird bit for me is that there's a psychotic killer who may be after Kim and Jimmy, but they're still so invested in this scheme to stitch up Howard. I hope it pays off and the Howard storyline finishes with this half of Season 6 and let the remaining episodes deal with Lalo and the events leading in to Breaking Bad.
Hi Jahn,
At the start of BCS, Howard was really Chuck's henchman. Trying to stop Jimmy from progressing in HHM and then sending Kim to do drudge work for her association with him. But my problem with the show is that they have been setting up this vendetta against Howard, but their revenge stands to be much more destructive than the petty torments he used to dish out to them.
I still watch Barry, but I agree with you completely it seems to have lost its way when she becomes the Show Runner I was confused. How’d she get there so fast anyway?
, I love your blog and I’ll keep reading it and keep hoping that we’ll get some good television. Go back to writing that stuff. You’re the best.
My feeling is Better Call Saul is pushing too far in the direction of 'respecting the audience's intelligence' by doing away with most exposition and 'allowing' us to patiently put the puzzle pieces together.
I say 'push too far' in that I (I like to think I'm a fairly intelligent person) am just confused and don't know what's going on in recent episodes. I've felt like I'm missing something (what is Jimmy and Kim's plot? What was Gus doing down in his planned lab space?) I have to go to fan discussion boards to help me out. I didn't know that woman in the last episode was Howard's wife till someone on a discussion board said he had told his analyst about his marriage woes in a prior episode).
And yeah, I think this is not exactly a wise decision. Like there is something wrong with being compelling? Maybe the show had to make changes due to Covid or this is when Odenkirk had his heart attack.
The Nacho episode was fantastic though. I'm still a fan of the show and thus far these recent issues are a blip.
Pretty much since the first episodes of BCS I’ve heard the complaint that the show moves too slow. When are we going to see Walter White and Jessie? Is going to become Saul by the end of the season? They are spending too much time with Chuck, Howard, and Kim, they aren’t even in Breaking Bad.
For me each episode and season is too short. I’ve really enjoyed the story, the pace and yes the growing occasions of crossing paths with Breaking Bad. Super Labs aren’t built in a day.
The slow pace has made me care about how Chuck influenced his brother, and what drives Mike. The scene where Mike talks about how his son was murdered was incredible. “I broke my boy”.
We’ve learned a lot about the Salamanca Cartel along the way.
Up until this year we got one episode of the “Gene Takovic Show” per year. The wait each season was exquisite. I wondered what they were going to do after a two year wait, looks we will see something at the end of season (part II).
I don’t need extensive action every episode. I want something I can roll around in my head each week. And then it pays off.
Mid-season finale on Monday. Looking forward to it. It’s my favorite show.
Looks like you have forgotten how slow Breaking Bad was.
Or maybe you were fast forwarding in your binge watching.
I feel the same way about Barry. (I do not watch the other show.) I have seen the first couple of episodes and am confused as ever about the foreign terrorists. I am rather bored with snobby Sally. I do not really understand the inside tv stuff. And the Barry/Fonzie story used to be interesting and now it is dull. It is like Barry has regressed to how he was before taking acting lessons.
With payoffs like the half-season finale, BCS reminds you that time spent admiring the scenery, or the mechanisms of vending machines is the teasing of a master showman making you wait. The Howard/Lalo scene was a better gut punch than the Hector/Gus faceoff.
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