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TV 19 - Simpsons Did It

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The actress in "The Last Day of Bunny Folger" (Only Murders 2.03 or 2.04) should get an Emmy. She is absolutely brilliant.
 
Deutsche Gopher Fan said:
Jesus, bcs.

“yep. Yep. Yep. Yep.”

shudder
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These episodes have been great, but I’m still wondering what the “never attempted before” concepts are that the creators mentioned. Unless we’ve been watching it and I’ve expected something different.

Crazy to think next Monday is likely it for this whole universe.
 
Spartanforlife4 said:
These episodes have been great, but I’m still wondering what the “never attempted before” concepts are that the creators mentioned. Unless we’ve been watching it and I’ve expected something different.

Crazy to think next Monday is likely it for this whole universe.
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I am still firmly in the "meh" category on this second half of the season. The payoff on the finale better be something special or honestly I wish it had just ended with the full on transition to Saul. I mean the future storyline seems to be going somewhere but I don't where it can go honestly that is going to be satisfying since there is one episode left.

Either the finale is going to be something for the ages, or it is going to fall completely flat they have left no real grey area here.

(I expect half of what we saw this last episode is some part of another con especially with Hamlin's wife and if that is the case then we could be in for a wild ride)
 
Deutsche Gopher Fan said:
Watched first 3 episodes of Yellowjackets. Wow. I now understand why it had some buzz.

seems like a mashup of lord of the flies and that plane that crashed in South America that had to eat each other. Girls high school soccer team crashes in Canadian Rockies and descend into cannibalistic tribes, at least that’s what it appears early on. Also follows present time when they are in their early 40s and series is told In flashback. Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis are great
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Tried this but couldn't get past the hideous acting. By the second episode I wanted every adult version and every teen version to die on impact.
 
Honestly a couple times I thought I paused because things went so slowly...and that is saying something cause this show is a slow burn anyways.
 
BCS. Yup, yup, yup, yup.

Odenkirk is a great actor. They are ending this the only way possible.

I assume I understand the "never tried before" the show is going for, although I would disagree it is truly unprecedented. Spoiler: it is that Jimmy, who we have loved and laughed with all this time, is just a creep, and always was, and by joining in the hijinks so are we. Now, I would say other shows have done this (it is after all my Mrs. Maisel theory that the writers suckered not just the audience and the reviewers but even the actors in creating a devastating critique not just of the central character but of why people would be led to like her. And less controversially I think it is the point of Killing Eve: the audience's perversion of enjoying the violence of a psychopath is gross and itself pathological. I believe all these shows are getting at the failure of citizens in modern democracies to uphold moral standards -- that the villain is not our leaders or dark forces, but is ourselves).

But those were still debatable and subtle messages, whereas I think this will be the first show that absolutely shoves the blade right into the viewer's eye and says "we fooled you fucks for years, and guess what, you deserve to know what you are. YOU CANT CHEAT AN HONEST MAN." We are the rubes, and we have been conned, and we should think about our adolescence and accept responsibility, like Kim did.

I think all of these shows are grasping at an ethical message: you guys who have been so ironic and sarcastic and caustic about basic goodness, and so thirsty to show how cool you are -- you are the problems, you dumb fucks, and the system is happy to monetize that childish attitude because it prevents you from denouncing them as an outrage, because that would be a drag.

This is the Revenge of the Squares, and I love it.

Anyway, that's my theory, and if you don't like it... well, I have others.
 
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I think you are right, but I think you are giving the writers way too much credit as to why they are doing it. I think they are doing it because it is really the only logical conclusion. Spoilers: Kim was the only thing keeping Jimmy around. Before he met her he was "Slippery Jimmy" and throughout their life together whether as partners or lovers or husband and wife she kept the good side of him alive. Even as she slipped into awfulness he was still trying to find ways to keep her from, ironically, breaking bad. He was always trying to protect her up to an including when Lalo wanted him to kill Gus Fring and he volunteered to let her do it so she could escape and he would be killed. That is why the second she asked for a divorce Jimmy got two in the skull and Saul arose like a phoenix! (that was the best scene of this last half of this season)

But I don't think it is any sort of commentary, any more than the fall of Walter White really had a deeper meaning. I think the whole point is that even the most innocuous, unassuming, loving person has the ability to do true evil if a few things go the wrong way. Think about it, how many characters that has any sort of arc are actually a good person? Many start out that way but they all find a way to become selfish, self important pricks in some way for one reason or another. Much like all of us, they feel they are the hero of their own story only they will go to any lengths to prove it.

The point isn't that we the audience was duped into loving this evil man doing evil things, we knew who he was in episode one when you find out why Chuck made him come to Albuquerque. (of course we also knew because of Breaking Bad but that is not the point) We cheered for Walter White and he was way less subtle with his fall despite all his whining about how he loves his family and he did it for them. I doubt anyone watching BCS thought Jimmy was a good guy even if they never saw BB. Every time we are supposed to empathize with him they have him do something bad or "slippery" to balance it out. Until Saul arrives he is never truly good or evil, he is full on in the shade of grey which is what I think we all wanted. Its why the scenes like when Jimmy finds out Chuck is the one who screwed him over at HHM not Howard work. Jimmy spends all this time taking care of his brother who besides being an egotistical prick is also suffering from agoraphobia and is probably schizophrenic! Even when they fight Jimmy is still there trying to help. Meanwhile Jimmy is running scams all over town trying to make a name as a lawyer and screw over HHM. But still that moment holds because you see that while Jimmy was likely always going down that path and never denied who he was and felt shame because his brother hated him for it, the lack of faith by one of the two people he respected and the full on screw job showed that even the most pious and great men are still just fuckwits like Jimmy is.

Saul was always there, Saul is who he was always meant to be. And Saul will live on. The question is how, and will he be alone. I still think the whole thing is a con...I think we are supposed to believe that Kim was having issues talking to Saul because she was scared or upset, but I think she was freaked out because the name he used was a code word for the "Final Con". Something they cooked up, maybe in jest, a long time ago and now it was happening. I dont buy that Kim had a crisis of conscience and confessed just to confess she is a character that is as much about self preservation as anyone. (thanks to her upbringing) She is obviously living a (yes yes yes MIRACLE WHIP!!!) life that she hates but not enough to risk prison by confessing to the framing of Howard. They had an out plan and I think this is it. (hell I bet if we went back and rewatched we could find it...Gilligan is good about that) The only question is, how bad will it go and who survives...maybe Carol Burnett kills them all! ;^)

That is my theory anyways. I think if Saul dies it will parallel BB too much so that won't happen. That said a happy ending would be too cliche for Gilligan and would ring hollow. (even though we all kind of want to see Saul on a beach in some non-extradition country being a shady lawyer for the locals cause we love Bob just that much!) I am not sure what "hasnt been done" but with the way they have set it up and sold it it is going to have to be something pretty crazy. The universe dies with this episode they can't just end it on a whimper.

That is my theory anyways. Lets hope the ending holds and we dont think discussing the possible endings is better than the actual ending. :^) Been a helluva ride though!
 
Handyman said:
I think you are right, but I think you are giving the writers way too much credit as to why they are doing it. I think they are doing it because it is really the only logical conclusion
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I like your theory better than mine. It's less of a reach, and mine is obviously colored by my own projection.

In any case, it has been a great series, and I trust Gilligan not to be inane at the end.
 
There's a theory I read after the Breaking Bad episode that was interesting. I would link it, but I can't find it anymore. Spoilers: If you haven't noticed, like I didn't until it was pointed out to me, the title sequences have degraded in quality each season. Up until this season each season was ten episodes and each episode had its own intro (i.e. episode 1 each season has the Statue of Liberty, episode 10 has the coffee mug). Gilligan and Gould say they weren't sure if the series would last past season two, so it's interesting they started degrading the title sequence then, but it must show they had some type of ending in mind back even then. If you weren't watching closely like me, you don't really notice it until Nippy when the video suddenly cuts to a blank tape screen.

So, where is this theory going? Well, to open the series Gene pops in his old Better Call Saul commercials. The thought is the tape is degrading because it's Gene watching them over and over reliving the Saul days. When we reach the tenth episode of this season, the tape cuts and we're left with the blue screen. Really, if you stop at episode 10, you get a happy ending and a concrete conclusion to the series. Gene gets to return to Slippin' Jimmy one last time with the mall robbery. It's successful and he gets to pull a little Saul lawyer action by blackmailing Jeff with his mutually assured destruction. At this point he seemingly has no outstanding problems. Nippy ends with him looking at the flashy tie at lunch, but putting it back, leaving "Saul" behind and implying he's content with staying as Gene at Cinnbaon.

In episode 11 we don't get any video or music, just the blue screen. The show is supposed to be over, but it's still going. From here it gets meta. The thought is that both Gene and the viewer can't get over the fact that the show is over. We've had Breaking Bad, El Camino and now an entire prequel in Better Call Saul, but there's still three more episodes that we the viewer are craving. We get the fan service Walt and Jesse cameos we've been waiting seven years for, and it even adds context to Breaking Bad. The call to Francesca is more or less supposed to be wrapping up any storylines that were left open, but then Kim is mentioned, the one story still left to be told, and so Gene gets sucked back into the show and continues his old ways.

Don't really know what the theory means for a finale, but I can see it being similar to yours, Kep. Gilligan said he wanted Walter White to be a protagonist people hated at the end. Problem is, when literal Nazis are the final enemy, it's hard to make the protagonist lose, so they end up writing the finale where he gets money to his family, finally admits the real drive behind the cook, and frees Jesse and takes out the Nazis. I could see this being the ending Gilligan was going for back then. The cartel is gone. The only possible enemies left are Kim, Jeff, and Carol Burnett. Kim has regained a conscience and has put herself in her own purgatory. Jeff's motive hasn't always been clear, but Jimmy/Saul/Gene got him to be done, then pulled him back in, and has now burned him badly. And then there's Carol Burnett. Three figures who no one would mind coming out on top.
 
I did notice some of that...it is an interesting theory I won't lie but...I dunno it would depend on execution.
 
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