#this was written after s3ep10

[slothinginorbit]

Cha Eunjae's arc in S2 was all about moving out of her familys shadow and getting her own wings. She was always hardworking, although she was put down she got back up every time. And she was always open to learning, even from her own mistakes (which is not easy, many do not even accept their mistakes yet alone correct them).

By the end of the season she built her self-confidence, she stopped living with her mothers rules. She became a respectful doctor on her own right. Her hard work paid of but also she finally found the support she deserved. From Kim Sabu to Woojin, to all the Doldamers. She was seen as Cha Eunjae the CS of Doldam, not the daughter and sister of the Cha family of doctors.

In S3 she is now slowly moving out of her fathers shadow and removing him from the pedestal she put him on. Her confidence started to flater once her father arrived, she started to question herself. Surely her father would know better.

Just like Kim Sabu. But she is continuously let down from relying on her father for various reasons. She is still hanging on tho but with the coming episodes I suspect she will stop looking up to Cha Jinman and maybe even lose her respect for him both as a doctor and father.

Her story started as the youngest child of a successful family, living a life predetermined by her parents (mainly her mother it seems). She was kind of a doll to them. I don't think they looked deep enough to see the real her. But her arc became gaining independence from each of her parents. In S2 it was her mother, in S3 it's her fathers time. She is learning to stand on her own. She is seeing a senior doctor might not be right all the time and she should trust her knowledge and experience just as much.

[4ever-untitled]

Better Call Saul - S3Ep10: “Lantern”

“I’m not good at building shit. I’m excellent at tearing it down”

There’s a question I often ponder when I start feeling nostalgic or am reminded of the past: Is it okay to have regrets? Obviously, the feeling of regret isn’t a nice one to have, but that feeling can help persuade you to make things right. On the other hand, living without regrets would probably lead to a more fulfilling life. I’ve always thought that if you learn something from it, it’s not a regret.

On this weeks episode, Jimmy finally decides to do something right just to have his own brother tell him that he’s a fundamentally bad person and will always hurt people, and instead of trying to make amends after the fact, he should just embrace it and live with no regrets.

That’s right, Jimmy might have finally started hitting the straight path if it hadn’t been for Chuck’s pep talk. He helped Irene get her friends back (albeit by making them all hate him instead. I guess a common enemy is a good way to bond) and he decided to kinda sorta apologize to Chuck about his behavior lately. But now that he’s finally deciding to do something right, Chuck let’s his true feelings about Jimmy show. “Jimmy, this is what you do. You hurt people. Over and over and over.” And the finishing blow, “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but the truth is, you’ve never mattered all that much to me.” Jimmy looks genuinely hurt in this scene, but Bob Odenkirks nuanced performance gives it that subtle hint of knowing deep down that Chuck really is right.

I mean, we’ve all seen Breaking Bad. Saul Goodman is not a character that Jimmy turns into, he’s the person Jimmy truly is and secretly wants to be, he just needs to starting learning to care less about regrets and care more about money, regardless of who you hurt. He’s no Atticus Finch, that’s for sure.

So yes, Jimmy McGill is a bad person, but he has one weakness: Kim. His brother hates him, he has no more elderly clients to worship the ground he walks on, so the only one left who truly cares is Kim, and her near-death experience is the one thing that momentarily gets him to step away from Slippin’ Jimmy for a while. Kim truly is the difference between Jimmy and Saul, and I hope she’ll stick around for a while longer to keep him in check. I mean, at the end of this episode, it seems like she’s doing great. She is finally taking some time off to relax with some Blockbuster-rented movies and all the food her clients gave her after the accident. Hooray for Kim! Here’s to surviving another season.

Things aren’t quite as hopeful, however, for our good friend Nacho. His plan for Hector seems to have worked (Why didn’t it work last time?), but all it took was a quick look from Gus to make me think Nacho may be disposed of sooner rather than later. 

Okay, everything else is out of the way, and now we can talk about one of the most gut wrenching sequences this show has ever done. I know I said that about the car crash, but this one really takes the cake. Everything just comes together perfectly. The two previous scenes where he destroys his relationship with both Howard and Jimmy result in Chuck, frankly, completely losing his shit. Just when we thought he was truly getting better, everything comes crashing down and we have to sit through a grueling 6 minutes of Chuck slowly tearing his house apart. It starts with lightbulbs, and ends with him tearing holes in the walls to find that one wire that is still pumping electricity through the house. If it wasn’t obvious already that Chuck has mental issues and his “condition” is completely in his head, the show makes sure it’s obvious now. He has no more regrets, no more friends, no more family to care for him and, most importantly, no one to get the high ground on. There’s simply nothing left for him to do.

His final moment of solace consists of him sitting in that old space blanket, methodically kicking the table over and over until the lantern he and Jimmy used to read under as kids falls off the table and takes Chuck out of his misery. All of this is backed by Dave Porters excellent score that is the perfect mixture of both somber and frantic, as well as some amazing camera work (Shout out to DP Marshall Adams) and lighting. Of course Micheal McKeans performance is a complete powerhouse as well. It was about as perfect a scene as you can get when it comes to television dramas, and it would rival even the best moments of Breaking Bad. 

At this rate, Season 4 is gonna be one for the history books. This show has constantly outdone itself and remained as excellently written, performed, and crafted as its predecessor. Breaking Bad went from dark comedy to just straight drama in its later seasons, and it appears Better Call Saul is doing the same thing, which I am very excited about. The show has made me incredibly invested in every single character on the show, and I seriously cannot wait to see where the next season takes them. What a fuckin’ show.

Shot of the week - Really loved how the board room scene was shot. The initial cut from Howard to Chuck and the slow crawl down the table. Really gave Howard a sense of power and showed the emotional distance between the two of them. The scene after with Chuck leaving to a sea of applauding co workers is also quite excellently shot.

Quote of the week - Kim: “You’re not feeding me Jimmy. There are lines we do not cross.” I also loved seeing Jimmy’s internal conflict about it beforehand..

Performance of the week - Micheal. Fucking. McKean. He stole every single shot he was in. Emmy board, take note please.

Extra notes: 

- I really like the set design of the HHM board room. I want those lamps. Shout out to the set decorator Allison Pharmakis! 

- I’ve looked and I cannot find who does the damn lighting for this show. Does anyone know because it’s awesome, especially any shots in Chucks house when the lights are off and all we get is the sun coming through the window..

- Chuck’s journal lists anytime he’s felt any pain from his condition. The last 3 times were listed as “ambient”, and the latest incidents’s pain level went from “average” to “irritated”, so I guess that outburst was building up over the last 48 hours.

- Bye Francesca! I’m sad this is probably gonna be the last time we see her until she turns into Breaking Bad Francesca, who may as well be a completely different character.

- Ever have one of those moments where a show literally makes you exclaim “Oh my God!” out loud? The fire at the end was one of those moments.

- “If the only thing standing between me and million bucks is some old lady’s tears, than I suggest investing in Kleenex”