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** Ultimately, this one's RuleOfDrama. The point of the Gene scenes is to show the contrast between the life Jimmy wants throughout the series, the life he has as Saul in the mother series, and how that all comes crumbling down by the time he winds up as Gene. The life Jimmy wants is one of success, public fame and fortune; the life Saul has is extroverted, glamorous (in a kind of seedy and superficial way) and makes full use of his charisma; ergo, for maximum irony points, his life of Gene is as an anonymous minimum-wage service-industry schlub, forgotten and ignored, the kind of existence he has spent his life disdaining and trying to avoid. It's Saul trapped in his IronicHell; leaving aside the fact that they already did the "man trapped alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere for years" thing with Walter, Saul would probably be, if not exactly happy, then at least happ''ier'' in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, because then he could at least be the version of himself that he wants to be; as Gene, however, not only is he on the run, but he's trapped in an identity that he detests yet can't break out of. Is it 100% realistic with regards to actual protocol for evading law enforcement? Perhaps not. But this is a universe where 100% realism has always been willingly sacrificed for the sake of a bigger artistic point, and in this case, the point is: "What's the one life this character would utterly hate to be forced to live? Let's force him to live it and see what happens." You just have to go with it on this one.

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** Ultimately, this one's RuleOfDrama. The point of the Gene scenes is to show the contrast between the life Jimmy wants throughout the series, the life he has as Saul in the mother series, and how that all comes crumbling down by the time he winds up as Gene. The life Jimmy wants is one of success, public fame and fortune; the life Saul has is extroverted, glamorous (in a kind of seedy and superficial way) and makes full use of his charisma; ergo, for maximum irony and drama points, his life of Gene is as an anonymous minimum-wage service-industry schlub, forgotten and ignored, the kind of existence he has spent his life disdaining and trying to avoid. It's Saul trapped in his IronicHell; leaving aside the fact that they already did the "man trapped alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere for years" thing with Walter, Saul would probably be, if not exactly happy, then at least happ''ier'' in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, because then he could at least be the version of himself that he wants to be; as be. As Gene, however, not only is he on the run, but he's trapped in an identity that he detests yet can't break out of.of (just as being forced to live all on his own with nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company and no one to show off to, dominate or convince himself he's protecting is Walter's hell). Is it 100% realistic with regards to actual protocol for evading law enforcement? Perhaps not. But this is a universe where 100% realism has always been willingly sacrificed for the sake of a bigger artistic point, and in this case, the point is: "What's the one life this character would utterly hate to be forced to live? Let's force him to live it and see what happens." You just have to go with it on this one.
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** Ultimately, this one's RuleOfDrama. The point of the Gene scenes is to show the contrast between the life Jimmy wants throughout the series, the life he has as Saul in the mother series, and how that all comes crumbling down by the time he winds up as Gene. The life Jimmy wants is one of success, public fame and fortune; the life Saul has is extroverted, glamorous (in a kind of seedy and superficial way) and makes full use of his charisma; ergo, for maximum irony points, his life of Gene is as an anonymous minimum-wage service-industry schlub, forgotten and ignored, the kind of existence he has spent his life disdaining and trying to avoid. It's Saul trapped in his IronicHell; leaving aside the fact that they already did the "man trapped alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere for years" thing with Walter, Saul would probably be, if not exactly happy, then at least happ''ier'' in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, because then he could at least be the version of himself that he wants to be; as Gene, however, not only is he on the run, but he's trapped in an identity that he detests yet can't break out of. Is it 100% realistic with regards to actual protocol for evading law enforcement? Perhaps not. But this is a universe where 100% realism has always been willingly sacrificed for the sake of a bigger artistic point, and in this case, the point is: what's the one life this character would utterly hate to be forced to live? Let's force him to live it and see what happens. You just have to go with it on this one.

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** Ultimately, this one's RuleOfDrama. The point of the Gene scenes is to show the contrast between the life Jimmy wants throughout the series, the life he has as Saul in the mother series, and how that all comes crumbling down by the time he winds up as Gene. The life Jimmy wants is one of success, public fame and fortune; the life Saul has is extroverted, glamorous (in a kind of seedy and superficial way) and makes full use of his charisma; ergo, for maximum irony points, his life of Gene is as an anonymous minimum-wage service-industry schlub, forgotten and ignored, the kind of existence he has spent his life disdaining and trying to avoid. It's Saul trapped in his IronicHell; leaving aside the fact that they already did the "man trapped alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere for years" thing with Walter, Saul would probably be, if not exactly happy, then at least happ''ier'' in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, because then he could at least be the version of himself that he wants to be; as Gene, however, not only is he on the run, but he's trapped in an identity that he detests yet can't break out of. Is it 100% realistic with regards to actual protocol for evading law enforcement? Perhaps not. But this is a universe where 100% realism has always been willingly sacrificed for the sake of a bigger artistic point, and in this case, the point is: what's "What's the one life this character would utterly hate to be forced to live? Let's force him to live it and see what happens. happens." You just have to go with it on this one.
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*** Exactly. Hiding in plain sight can work when you are a Gustavo Fring or a Walter White. It would seem absurd that a very successful restaurant proprietor or a high school teacher-- both with strong ties to the DEA-- could possibly be drug kingpins. But when they are looking for YOU specifically, it doesn't work, which is why Ed went to the extreme of hiding Walter in an isolated and unconnected mountain cabin. \

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*** Exactly. Hiding in plain sight can work when you are a Gustavo Fring or a Walter White. It would seem absurd that a very successful restaurant proprietor or a high school teacher-- both with strong ties to the DEA-- could possibly be drug kingpins. But when they are looking for YOU specifically, it doesn't work, which is why Ed went to the extreme of hiding Walter in an isolated and unconnected mountain cabin. \

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*** Exactly. Hiding in plain sight can work when you are a Gustavo Fring or a Walter White. It would seem absurd that a very successful restaurant proprietor or a high school teacher-- both with strong ties to the DEA-- could possibly be drug kingpins. But when they are looking for YOU specifically, it doesn't work, which is why Ed went to the extreme of hiding Walter in an isolated and unconnected mountain cabin.

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*** Exactly. Hiding in plain sight can work when you are a Gustavo Fring or a Walter White. It would seem absurd that a very successful restaurant proprietor or a high school teacher-- both with strong ties to the DEA-- could possibly be drug kingpins. But when they are looking for YOU specifically, it doesn't work, which is why Ed went to the extreme of hiding Walter in an isolated and unconnected mountain cabin. \
** Ultimately, this one's RuleOfDrama. The point of the Gene scenes is to show the contrast between the life Jimmy wants throughout the series, the life he has as Saul in the mother series, and how that all comes crumbling down by the time he winds up as Gene. The life Jimmy wants is one of success, public fame and fortune; the life Saul has is extroverted, glamorous (in a kind of seedy and superficial way) and makes full use of his charisma; ergo, for maximum irony points, his life of Gene is as an anonymous minimum-wage service-industry schlub, forgotten and ignored, the kind of existence he has spent his life disdaining and trying to avoid. It's Saul trapped in his IronicHell; leaving aside the fact that they already did the "man trapped alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere for years" thing with Walter, Saul would probably be, if not exactly happy, then at least happ''ier'' in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, because then he could at least be the version of himself that he wants to be; as Gene, however, not only is he on the run, but he's trapped in an identity that he detests yet can't break out of. Is it 100% realistic with regards to actual protocol for evading law enforcement? Perhaps not. But this is a universe where 100% realism has always been willingly sacrificed for the sake of a bigger artistic point, and in this case, the point is: what's the one life this character would utterly hate to be forced to live? Let's force him to live it and see what happens. You just have to go with it on this one.
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**Eladio is the main boss; what he says, goes, and he will not hesitate to put a bounty on anyone who double-crosses him, like he did with Nacho. Even if the twins did believe Hector; without concrete evidence that Gus killed Lalo, they’re shit out of luck. Plus, there was a four year gap between the end of Better Call Saul (the prequel side) and the beginning of Breaking Bad. Perhaps, in that amount of time, tensions did ease a bit.
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** The black and white style isn’t just to show how far removed Gene is from his old life, but how everything in the BB/BCS universe has symbolically changed as well, even if something things are still technically the same, due to the passage of time.

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** The black and white style isn’t just to show how far removed Gene is from his old life, but how everything in the BB/BCS universe has symbolically changed as well, even if something some things are still technically the same, due to the passage of time.time. Also, Ed may not be as miserable as Gene, but he doesn't seem to be quite happy either.
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**The black and white style isn’t just to show how far removed Gene is from his old life, but how everything in the BB/BCS universe has symbolically changed as well, even if something things are still technically the same, due to the passage of time.
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[[folder: Merging of BCS and BB timelines in respect to Gus and Hector]]
* When watching BB, it was my impression that Hector (and, by extension, the Twins) didn't really care about Gus one way or another. Yes, we learn about the bad blood between them, but clearly, the Salamancas [[ButForMeItWasTuesday didn't think much of it]], so it seemed plausible that their relations were a bit tense but civil, as much as it's possible among criminals. However, BCS ends with Hector adamantly convinced that Gus had murdered Lalo. In their final scenes together he's visibly seething with hatred, cannot stand the sight of Gus and is "vocaly" plying for his blood. It is already pretty hard to buy that they would refuse to take their revenge, regardless of Don Eladio's objections, but it strains all belief that either of the Salamancas would sit at one table with him or believe a single word coming out of his mouth, or that Gus, knowing what the Twins are like, would be reckless enough to meet them one-on-one in the middle of the desert like he did, plans or no plans. I guess Don Eladio could've told them something like: "If ANYTHING happens to Fring while you're there, I'm holding you personally responsible", but would that really fly?
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*** Granted, but seeing how Gus calls Don Eladio every swear word under the sun in the first ten seconds of his speech, you'd think that it would've been more than enough, and killing him mid-sentence would've prevented him from doing anything.
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** Also, it's possible that he ''is'' at least somewhat aware of Lalo, he just didn't immediately make the connection. Remember, his literal last words are him somewhat nervously realising that he's found himself in a more dangerous situation than he initially thought it was...
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** He's saying that he's going to devote himself to exposing who they ''are'', not what they've ''done''. Maybe he can eventually prove his innocence regarding how they set him up or maybe he can't, who can say. But what he's saying is that he will devote himself to making sure everyone eventually knows what spiteful, untrustworthy, manipulative and borderline-sociopathically cruel assholes they can be.
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** IIRC the writers themselves admitted they fudged it a bit, and that a real supermax prison of the sort that Jimmy would find himself in would be a lot less pleasant, but it's really just to show that even though his freedom and life is effectively over, there's still a note of grace to Jimmy's life in recognition of his willingness to finally take responsibility for everything he did. It's at least partly an artistic statement rather than a strictly realistic depiction of prison life; the writers are basically saying that it's never too late to find some redemption for your sins.


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** Probably not ''that'' valuable; he was, after all, merely throwing it out there to try and get some free ice-cream out of it. He's just raising it as a last little point to see if he can get a tiny little cherry on top of his already pretty sweet deal out of it. Had it not led to the revelation about Kim, and the authorities weren't interested, he'd have likely shrugged it off.

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[[folder: Howard's fate as a bargaining chip]]
* Even if Kim hadn't already told the police everything, how valuable would revealing Howard's murder be? Even if it is just trying to get ice cream? The man who killed him is dead, the people who covered it up are dead. It wasn't treated as a murder case, there is nobody to hand over, at most it just seems like it could give his widow some closure. Even then she already blames Saul/Jimmy and Kim for it.
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** Lalo was still conducting his campaign against Gus (burning down a Pollos) while in jail. Gus wanted Lalo out of country so he could assassinate him.
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** Who is to say he could? This comes from a very drunk and furious Howard rant. He might have thought differently when sober.
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** Given how Hector said they built their cartel on “Salamanca blood”, it’s possible that the missing members may have been killed earlier.

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[[folder:Ed Galbraith in black-and-white]]
* Gene Takovic is shown seeing everything in black-and-white around him, due to the people in Omaha having unhappy lives, much like him. But if that's the case, why is Ed Galbraith shown in DeliberatelyMonochrome in the few shots he's in. Not only is he all the way back in Albuquerque away from the depressing parts of Nebraska, but he's also shown to have a relatively stable life with little to be upset about. So why's he symbolically depressed as well?
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[[folder:Why didn't Jimmy contract the Music Store owners to buying all the ads or sue them?]]
* They already agreed to have a free ad then the rest. If they were contracted, they couldn't back out easily and Jimmy would safely have the money. If it was verbally contracted, then the three college kids could be witnesses to support a lawsuit.
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** Possibly an example of TranslationConvention, the production crew may have not wanted non-Spanish speakers to be forced to read captions in this scene.
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** I got the impression that Cheryl's goal isn't so much to get money (she seems to be living in the same mansion her husband lived in, got the sand paper money, and probably had a lucrative career of her own) so much as to vindicate her husband's reputation. So by shopping around all the prestigious law firms around town and telling them her story, she's probably hoping word gets out and enters the common consciousness that Howard was framed rather than Howard was a crack addict. Since lawyers in the show are shown to be gossipy, the story that the now infamous Saul Goodman and his wife launched an extended campaign against poor Howard as part of some revenge scheme (maybe playing up the Chuck factor too since Chuck's also apparently famous) has a decent chance of making rounds.

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** I got the impression that Cheryl's goal isn't so much to get money (she seems to be living in the same mansion her husband lived in, got the sand paper sandpiper money, and probably had a lucrative career of her own) so much as to vindicate her husband's reputation. So by shopping around all the prestigious law firms around town and telling them her story, she's probably hoping word gets out and enters the common consciousness that Howard was framed rather than Howard was a crack addict. Since lawyers in the show are shown to be gossipy, the story that the now infamous Saul Goodman and his wife launched an extended campaign against poor Howard as part of some revenge scheme (maybe playing up the Chuck factor too since Chuck's also apparently famous) has a decent chance of making rounds.
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** Jimmy's schemes weren't covered up as well as they could've. Howard already managed to figure out some things, like the PI switcheroo, almost immediately, so it's reasonable to assume that he could figure out the other ploys. The schemes only worked because they were intended to muddy the waters enough that Howard would freak out and cause some damage himself. If brought into court, Howard could've shown that they were up to shady business even if he couldn't clear his own name completely.
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** In Season 6, Gus is shown to own a small revolver. So he could be speaking literally, although chances are he would never even think about using it unless he didn't have his bodyguards.
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[[folder:Mike and Gus ensuring Lalo's bail]]
* Why did Mike (and by extension, Gus) get Jimmy to approve bail for Lalo? He was already in jail and mostly out of their way.
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[[folder:How exactly could have Howard exposed Jimmy and Kim hadn't Lalo happened?]]
* During their final meeting, Howard chewed both of them out and promised that he would have shown the world who they really are. How could have he done that? Jimmy and Kim surely cleaned up after themselves regarding them defaming Howard.
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** I got the impression that Cheryl's goal isn't so much to get money (she seems to be living in the same mansion her husband lived in, got the sand paper money, and probably had a lucrative career of her own) so much as to vindicate her husband's reputation. So by shopping around all the prestigious law firms around town and telling them her story, she's probably hoping word gets out and enters the common consciousness that Howard was framed rather than Howard was a crack addict. Since lawyers in the show are shown to be gossipy, the story that the now infamous Saul Goodman and his wife launched an extended campaign against poor Howard as part of some revenge scheme (maybe playing up the Chuck factor too since Chuck's also apparently famous) has a decent chance of making rounds.
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** Hector is a Salamanca, and they are prone to reckless actions. This troper assumed the lady with the child is Mexican heritage and knew this was some sort of narco mafia thing and that's why she was leaving to begin with. She's doesn't want to get involved at all. Even if someone did call 911, what would they say? There's a ranting old man with a bunch of scary looking goons, which could easily come off as a Karen induced racist moment, and do these customers even know the goons are Hector's? The biggest wildcard is actually probably Lyle, but probably there have been weird situations before, though likely far smaller, and he's been conditioned by Gus to always wait until Gus addresses the situation.

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** Hector is a Salamanca, and they are prone to reckless actions. This troper assumed the The lady with the child is Mexican heritage and knew this was some sort of narco mafia thing and that's why she was leaving to begin with. She's doesn't want to get involved at all. Even if someone did call 911, what would they say? There's a ranting old man with a bunch of scary looking goons, which could easily come off as a Karen induced racist moment, and do these customers even know the goons are Hector's? The biggest wildcard is actually probably Lyle, but probably there have been weird situations before, though likely far smaller, and he's been conditioned by Gus to always wait until Gus addresses the situation.
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** Hector is a Salamanca, and they are prone to reckless actions. This troper assumed the lady with the child is Mexican heritage and knew this was some sort of narco mafia thing and that's why she was leaving to begin with. She's doesn't want to get involved at all. Even if someone did call 911, what would they say? There's a ranting old man with a bunch of scary looking goons, which could easily come off as a Karen induced racist moment, and do these customers even know the goons are Hector's? The biggest wildcard is actually probably Lyle, but probably there have been weird situations before, though likely far smaller, and he's been conditioned by Gus to always wait until Gus addresses the situation.
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** IANAL, but it seems like there is a potential charge of assault. However, that would require proving that putting a battery in someone's pocket IS assault and that would require much more in-depth exploration of Chuck's condition in court, including why it didn't seem to harm Chuck at all. Chuck is clearly in no condition to face such a scenario.

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\n[[folder: Why doesn't Nacho consider federal witness protection?]]
* He is American and considering his line of work should certainly be aware of witness relocation. He's in the game but only sort of living the high life because he's gotten hopelessly over his head. He would get out if he could. His only familial connection seems to be his father, and while his father is utterly disgusted by his line of work, if Nacho turned state and explained they had to run to save them both, surely he would do so. Even if Nacho didn't want to give up some small players like Mike and Crazy Eight, surely the Feds wouldn't care if he handed them Fring and what he knows of the Salamancas.
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[[folder: Why doesn't Nacho consider federal witness protection?]]
* He is American and considering his line of work should certainly be aware of witness relocation. He's in the game but only sort of living the high life because he's gotten hopelessly over his head. He would get out if he could. His only familial connection seems to be his father, and while his father is utterly disgusted by his line of work, if Nacho turned state and explained they had to run to save them both, surely he would do so. Even if Nacho didn't want to give up some small players like Mike and Crazy Eight, surely the Feds wouldn't care if he handed them Fring and what he knows of the Salamancas.
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[[folder: Why doesn't Nacho consider federal witness protection?]]
* He is American and considering his line of work should certainly be aware of witness relocation. He's in the game but only sort of living the high life because he's gotten hopelessly over his head. He would get out if he could. His only familial connection seems to be his father, and while his father is utterly disgusted by his line of work, if Nacho turned state and explained they had to run to save them both, surely he would do so. Even if Nacho didn't want to give up some small players like Mike and Crazy Eight, surely the Feds wouldn't care if he handed them Fring and what he knows of the Salamancas.
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[[folder: Why doesn't Nacho consider federal witness protection?]]
* He is American and considering his line of work should certainly be aware of witness relocation. He's in the game but only sort of living the high life because he's gotten hopelessly over his head. He would get out if he could. His only familial connection seems to be his father, and while his father is utterly disgusted by his line of work, if Nacho turned state and explained they had to run to save them both, surely he would do so. Even if Nacho didn't want to give up some small players like Mike and Crazy Eight, surely the Feds wouldn't care if he handed them Fring and what he knows of the Salamancas.
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