Many "nonsense" moments in this episode.
More dumb then Nancy going into the tree!??? Who in their right mind would go in there....that scene was so ridiculous that it makes me rate entire episode with a 2/10
The worst episode by far, with weak story points and so many loopholes.
The only good bits were with the children, and a look into Jonathan's character.
I absolutely hate Nancy's and Lucas' characters. They're annoying, and Lucas' is just plain negative and obnoxious.
I adore Dustin, Joyce, Hopper, Will, and Eleven.
[SPOILERS]
What infuriates me the most is when the good guys are the ones caught or killed.
He was kind and sweet, yet naive and "too nice" to be "smart enough" to not get killed, apparently. I HATED that scene. I cried.
Barb. Another sweet character I've fallen for, but a sensible and cautious one. Also, someone not like the others. I wish it were Nancy instead, as she brings nothing to the show except her so-called "Ms. Perfect-ness", which is just "being dumb". But, of course, "plot".
I love Hopper, but this episode was idiotic. How they didn't catch him while he was out cutting the fence, I was smh. Then, inside, when he locked himself in, eyeroll. The weirdest thing would be the researchers finally getting ahold of him but not killing him. Of course, they would kill Benny but not Hopper, who had seen literally everything.
Yes. Stupid Nancy went inside the tree. Alone. Without telling Jonathan. Then she shone her flashlight on the monster instead of switching it off. At least she's in the other dimension so, hopefully, the monster eats her. Lol.
Jonathan is definitely a character with lots of potential to grow.
Why didn't Hopper ransack Joyce's place for bugs? That was lazy.
Lucas deserved to be hit on the head. Mean and vicious. My dear Eleven. I hope she's safe somewhere.
[/SPOILERS]
Really loving this series, however feel really bad for Bill. He came across as such a nice guy, pity to see him get torn into like that. :(
The English audio is AWFUL!!! The actors sound like they are reading the script for the first time out loud in their bathrooms. The original audio should be marked as Japanese, since this was made in Japan, the Japanese voice actors are actually acting and the animation in synced to the Japanese audio rather than English.
People should give the japanese audio at least a try. They won´t regret it.
The audio is poor. There's no ambience sound so there's a lot of awkward silences.
This is the first episode where I can tell that the character animations weren't created with the more underplayed English voice acting in mind. The contrast of the dramatic lip flaps with the deadpan delivery is a bit odd, but the animation is dope and I like the direction this is going so far.
It's the manga ending fleshed out a bit, plus two-ish additional scene right at the end and some adjustments. I doesn't change the ending (aside from Armin's admission), it just highlights it more. People will be discussing this again, just like after the manga ended. Let's see where this is going.
I, for once, found the last two episodes powerful. It's as far as I'm concerned a logical conclusion. Or at least I have no idea where the story could have realistically gone otherwise. Would I have liked it to end another way? Yes, definitely! But in the end I respect a conclusive ending more than a magically appearing good feeling ending.
The end of an era.
I only have one complaint, and it is the way in which they have given us the episodes of the last season, with so much time between them and separating the final season in too many parts... I think they have screwed us the experience of enjoying the correct way.
Regarding the series, I can only thank the creators for this great show and all the good moments they have given us.
I'm autistic. Attack on Titan has been my hyperfixation more often than any other piece of media in my life. I started watching a little late, entering in when the first part of the final season was out. But Attack on Titan is one of the most masterful, well-plotted, intricate pieces of fiction that I've ever seen. Analyzing it's mysteries and story, it's characters and world, it's message and symbolism. Nothing even comes close to Attack on Titan for me in that regard.
I unfortunately have been spoiled on many parts of the ending, because manga readers are the most insufferable people ever. But even still, it is an excellent conclusion, and I think it's so interesting how it decides to leave it's ending open to interpretation. It reflects how the entire series has been a series of questions and mysteries, so leaving with some questions left unanswered allows for discussion to be continued long after Eren's story is over.
I will forever love Attack on Titan, and the absolute joy it gave me for years, and it will be sad to see this legendary series go. But all good things must come to an end, and I think this ending is satisfying enough for something so special.
The greatest anime series of a generation finally reaches its grand conclusion. 10 years of drama and controversies, especially among the fandom over the manga ending, it's truly been a ride.
This was solid, although there are still loose ends and lots of questions that remain unanswered. And all that other stuff: multiple delays, changing of animation studios before the final season even began, the "questionable" plot twist into the final season, and much more other controversial things that I best rather leave out for internet enthusiasts and adventurers to find out.
Now, for the ending. It was satisfying.Let me explain: Was it the perfect ending? No. Could it have been better? Yes. But then again, it could have gotten any worse than what it was already, from the source material. As another reviewer pointed out, it's more of a compromised ending, between the fans' expectations and the infamous manga ending.
This, honestly in my opinion, is a good example of "a show doesn't need always need a happy ending, just a perfect one"
9/10
Actually found this to be the weakest episode so far, Jimmy's story, again, was kinda boring and din't carry any weight, and Kim's was a bit bland too, besides that scene with Chuck which had some great acting in. Yet again I just feel like Mike is holding this season up for me so far, just hoping it's holding back it's punches until the final few episodes, then I'll be a bit more forgiving.
Really felt like the Jimmy side of things is getting a bit boring at the moment, unfortunately as I was really enjoying it at the start of the season, luckily we have Mike to fall back on, and his story at the moment is what's holding the show up for me, the final scene alone was spectacular, tension and acting wise.
It's difficult to build tension and stakes in a prequel to some degree, and the problem is magnified the closer you are to the familiar part of the timeline. If you already know who lives and who dies, who has to reach a certain point of the larger narrative unscathed, it can deflate some of the excitement and intrigue of a particular storyline.
On the other hand, it can also heighten the tension in an episode, by spotlighting the mystery between the known beginning and the known ending. As Better Call Saul sets up Nacho calling a hit on Tuco, we know that Tuco lives; we know that Mike lives, and thanks to the opening scene, we know that Mike gets ridiculously roughed up, presumably in the attempt. It all raises the question of how we get from A-to-B. Does the hit go wrong? Does Mike beg off from Nacho and get a beating for his troubles? In true Breaking Bad fashion does some unexpecting intervening factor come into play that throws the whole situation out of whack? We don't know, but we want to know, and that's just part of the masterful job that BCS does in using its prequel status as a benefit and not a drawback when it comes to holding the audience's attention and interest.
It also does so by firmly establishing its characters' motivations without making them feel obvious or blatant. The closest "Gloves Off" comes is Nacho explaining why he's trying to take out Tuco. It takes a little prodding from Mike, but Nacho explains why he would want to be rid of the notably mercurial Tuco in a satisfying way that coheres with what he already know about him. Tuco is unpredictable. Beyond what we've seen in Breaking Bad, he has to be talked down multiple times in the desert with Saul, and it's perfectly plausible that he would be even more temperamental when using, which lines up with what we know of him from his run-ins with Walter White. Temperamental is bad for business, and it makes sense that somebody who seems cool, collected, and perceptive like Nacho would want that unpredictable element taken out of his calculus and his livelihood.
And then there's Mike, who is increasingly feels like the most down-to-earth incarnation of Batman there's ever been (and please, someone cast Jonathan Bank in a The Dark Knight Returns adaptation while there's still time). At some point, Mike Ehrmentraut's moral code, and his supreme ability to assess a situation and find the best option could hit the implausibility button a little too hard. But for now, it's a joy to see him listening to Nacho's (fairly well-reasoned) plan for Tuco and then poking holes in it before coming up with a better one, and eventually, an even better (if both more and less costly) one after that. There's a world-weary certainty to Mike, a sense that he's seen this all before and he knows the angles before anyone else does.
That's why the moral element to his storyline is vital and captivating. Taking a life is rarely something that's treated lightly in the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe. One of the most interesting aspects of Walter White's descent in Breaking Bad is the way that his killing escalated, from self-defense with Krazy-8 (who cameos here), to his failure to act to save Jane, to his more active vehicular activities to save Jesse, until making deals with neo-nazis and calling hits of his own.
But we know Mike's motivated not to do that, not to reach that point, and also that he will eventually. He doesn't have the "Mr. Chips-to-Scarface" transition that Walt does--we've already seen that he's killed the dirty cops who took out Matty--but there's a different between that and doing random hits for a big payday from various drug dealers, something the audience knows he eventually makes his peace with.
I bring up the Batman comparison with Mike because despite the difference in tone of their source material, they fit surprisingly well together. Both are gruff, both are uber-capable, and both, at this point at least, have a code against killing. There have been a lot of different interpretations of The Bat's reasons for this, but one of the most persistent is the idea that if he crossed that line, he wouldn't able to stop himself from killing every two-bit punk who crossed him, that it would be the easy solution to too many problems that required a more measured response.
But one of the interesting things about "Gloves Off" is that it comes close to positing the opposite for Mike. When Mike's going over his rifle options with the arms dealer we first met in Breaking Bad, he comes upon an old bolt-action rifle and makes clear that (in addition to his expert knowledge of rifles) that he's used one and is more than familiar with them. The scene intimates that Mike fought in Vietnam, that he he's seen the horrors of war, and likely bitten off more than his fair share of it. It's not a far leap to think that Mike killed people in war, that he was probably damn good at it, and that despite the avenging impulses that spurred him to take out Matt's killers, he has no taste for it.
When Nacho pays Mike and asks him why he would give up twice the payoff for a tenth of the effort, we already know the answer. Mike has a code. But he isn't Batman; he's already crossed that line and seen and felt what it does to a person, and that reminder, a symbol of that time, is enough to make him earn his money the hard way to avoid having to dip his toe into those waters once again. The sequence where Mike provokes Tuco, with his corny payphone accent and road rage argument is fun and it's clever and it's brutal. But it's the cumulative result of all Mike's seen and done, of who he is, and it makes those bruises we see him packing frozen vegetables onto more meaningful and important, both to the series and to the character.
It would be too much and too far to call Jimmy's story an afterthought in "Gloves Off", but his is clearly the B-story of the episode, despite the pretty significant fireworks between Jimmy and his bosses, his girlfriend, and his brother. The chickens have come home to roost from what we witnessed in "Amarillo". Jimmy is on incredibly thin ice with his employers, and also with Kim, who's been shunted down to the basement as punishment for his sins.
These scenes tease out a great deal of the core of Jimmy's character as well. One of the things I love about Chuck McGill as a character is that he is often wrongheaded or petty or unduly harsh, but there's a germ of truth to most of the things he says, even if he bends that truth to suit his needs. Chuck's not wrong when he tells his brother that he always seem to think that the ends justify the means, that if Jimmy can get the right result, what does it matter how he gets there? It's a striking moment when Clifford Main disabuses Jimmy of the notion that the partners' anger is about the money spent, or that the success of Jimmy's plan mitigates what upset them in any way.
Instead, it's the fact that he circumvented them, that he knew (despite his protestations to the contrary) how they were likely to feel about it, and rather than confronting them directly and trying to argue his case, he went with the mentality that it's easier to get forgiveness than permission. That mentality blew up in his face here, and not only did the blowback threaten the promising position he's lucky to have here, but it hurt someone he loves. Jimmy cannot help breaking the rules, and his golden tongue has almost always offered him a way out of any real consequences. Here, that doesn't fly, and his bad behavior takes down Kim with him.
"Gloves Off" ties together the three big factors we know motivate Jimmy: his inability to color within the lines; his desire to be with and do right by Kim; and his jumbled up resentment, love, and desire for approval from his brother. The scene where Jimmy and Chuck confront one another, like most scenes between them, is dynamite in how it teases out more of Chuck's perspective and personality, and leans into the tremendous, complicated dynamic between the two brothers.
Is it too much to suggest that Chuck might be playing sick, or at least embellishing how bad he feels once Jimmy arrives? He seems surprised that Jimmy is still there in the morning, and it's hard to say whether Chuck is above using such tactics to avoid uncomfortable confrontations he could undoubtedly see coming. Better Call Saul has yet to dig into what specifically led Chuck down the path of his electrical sensitivity, but it would not surprise me to see it as a reaction to, and a way of avoiding, stress or trauma or something unpleasant in his life.
That's the crux of the confrontation between Jimmy and Chuck. Chuck still sees Jimmy as a shyster, as someone who bends the rules, who gooses the system, in order to get what he wants, regardless of what the risks are or whether other people have done it the hard way. And Jimmy confronts Chuck with his hypocrisy, that Chuck can't outright say that he wants Jimmy out of the legal practice and that he'd leverage Kim to put pressure on Jimmy to that effect because that would be extortion and that would be against the rules. But even if he can't say it out loud, or admit, even to himself, that that's what he's doing, Chuck has his less than savory ways of getting the result he wants too. He uses Hamlin as his proxy and hatchetman; he subtly undercuts his brother and puts the screws to him and the woman his brother cares for, all under the guise of keeping things proper. And yet, he sees himself as quite above the fray.
There's more than a bit of Jimmy in Chuck. There's a sense that Chuck too knows what levers to pull, what buttons to push, to make things happen, but while Jimmy, to some degree or another, owns what he is and not only acknowledges its utility but can't escape it, Chuck is in denial, and convinced that he is a saint simply trying to keep order with an agent of discord who's threatening to topple the applecart and make a mockery of all he holds dear. And in between them, Kim is willing to fall on the sword, even when she'll be hurt by the result, because it's the right thing to do, and despite her extracurricular activities helping Jimmy con Ken Wins, the right thing comes far more naturally to her than to Jimmy, or even the petty Chuck.
Even though they never interact, "Gloves Off" draws a contrast between Mike and Chuck here. Mike knows what his goal is, sees what it would cost to his soul in order to get it, and without seeking praise or understanding, suffers more to get something less, but to keep something greater. Chuck, on the other hand, won't do the dirty work. He won't demote Kim himself; he won't be direct with his brother, because he can't suffer the minor indignities even as he's trying to bring about what he sees as the greater good. Mike acts with honor even when he's on the wrong side of the line; Chuck can't let himself be the bad guy even when he thinks he's in the right, and Jimmy is stuck in the middle, trying to figure out his place in a world where he's punished if he breaks the rules, but worries that he can't succeed without doing so.
Now, Let me tell you why I'm loving Better Call Saul so much.
Bob Odenkirck's magnificent acting, I mean, did you saw his eyes when Jimmy's brother was telling him all that stuff at the ending? Sadness. Bloody good stuff.
This episode itself was brilliant, because it was about loyalty and Jimmy, Saul, whatever you wanna call him, he thought he was finally doing something great, something he could share with his brother. Yes, he works hard. And his brother, on the other side, never thought that way, even when he saw his brother's excitement, I'm sure all he was thinking was HHM, and that's awful, his ideals are awful and maybe he is too. But hey, can you blame him? I think not, because we all have opinions on things that really matter to us and it's hard to change the way we see it.
The thing about this ep is that you get to recall every single thing Saul has done, good or bad. He's not evil, he's not a saint, he's a regular guy trying to be better. And you can feel sorry for him, because even when he does his best, he can't.
One of those memorable episodes Breaking Bad was known for.
Jonathan Banks is ridiculous good. He does so much with so little; plays the stoic, taciturn old hand so well, that it's tempting to think of that as the sum total of what he is. In both Breaking Bad and Community, he plays a perpetually grumpy, vaguely prideful, uber-competent ruffian, and does so with such skill, that it's easy to go back to that well again and again.
But then in an episode like "Five-O", he hits a note of vulnerability. He sits in the dark, and the tears well in his eyes as he talks to his daughter-in-law about how he "broke his boy." Mike Ehrmentraut is not made of stone. He is a simple man in many ways, who is remarkable for how unremarkable he is at times. But there is a beating heart beneath his steely exterior, one that grieves for his lost son, that blames himself for allowing it to happen, and who throws himself at the mercy of his son's wife out of a sense of guilt and fairness for having taken the man she loves away from her.
That scene is so damn quiet. There's no music to subtly or not-so-subtly massage our emotions one direction or another. There's little of the cinematic flourishes that made Breaking Bad and its successor stand out in a sea of often bland direction on television. There's just close ups of a wounded animal spilling his guts over his greatest regret, and a similar shot of his daughter-in-law, who carries a similar look of hurt but also one of understanding. It's one of the most powerful, tragic scenes in this young series, but also in its more celebrated predecessor, that deepens an already enthralling character and shows that Mike is far more than just grump and handguns.
At the same time, as good as that final scene is, it shouldn't overshadow how well the episode that precedes it is constructed. Apart from the story of Walter White, apart from the story of Jimmy McGill, "Five-O" is a wonderful little short story that works almost entirely separated from the narratives of the protagonists that Mr. Ehrmantraut finds himself associated with.
It is both a mystery and a character piece, offering details both about what led Mike to where he is when we meet him at the parking booth in the beginning of Better Call Saul, but also examining who he is and the baggage he carries with him when we first meet him in Albuquerque.
The episode begins by, not in so many words, asking a number of questions. How did Mike get shot? Was he speaking on the phone with Matty the night before he died? What brought him to Albuquerque in this state? Why won't he tell his daughter-in-law? What did they talk about? Who killed Matty? Who killed his partners on the force.
Then, one by one, the episode cuts back and forth between the present and the future, answering these questions and presenting new ones as it goes. At one point, I believed that Mike had killed his own son for some reason. Or that he at least knew what was going to happen, but didn't stop it.
Instead, the episode doesn't leave the audience guessing for long. Even as it tosses out breadcrumbs, and lets silences linger that make more of an impact than any dialogue, it eventually shows you what happened before it tells you the rest of the story.
The sequence where Mike takes out his son's murderers is masterful. The subtle touches show who Mike is and what he's about. He's capable and smart, as seen in the way he anticipates the dirty cops taking his weapon and breaks into their cop car to plant another one. Despite his anger, he's nervous about his plan, as seen in the way his hand shakes as he makes sure to let his targets know that he's having a few as he holds his glass of whiskey. And he's wily, playing into their expectation that he's drunk, leading them to take him somewhere that an execution can take place without too much notice or trouble.
Then his demeanor changes, and he does what he feels he needs to, and we get everything we need to know except the last piece of the puzzle -- how Matty got mixed up in this in the first place. And that leads us to that final scene, with Mike at the most open and honest and wounded as we've ever seen him.
And we learn things about one of this franchise's greatest characters that were unknown before "Five-O." We know that he's a drunk, who managed to crawl his way out of a bottle. We know that he was a dirty cop, or at least one dirty enough not to raise any suspicion because That's Just How Things Are. And he is a man who carries on with a tremendous sense of shame for the man he was and what it led to. He views himself as someone unworthy of his son's admiration, as someone whose failure to live up to the sterling image his son had of him led to his son's death. Mike is not a sentimental man, not one to wear his emotions on his sleeves, but "Five-O" makes it clear that he carries that weight with him wherever he goes.
While Saul appears for an important segment here, this episode is not about him. He's a supporting character in Mike's story. And yet in the midst of all this great standalone storytelling and character development of Mike, the folks behind Better Call Saul still take time out to lay the groundwork for why a pair of individuals like Jimmy McGill and Mike Ehrmantraut would find each other useful and build a relationship, if not necessarily a friendship together.
To that point, "Five-O" is a great episode of Better Call Saul, that deepens our understanding of one of the series's major players. But even apart from that, it's just a wonderful, heartbreaking, self-contained story about a man who went along to get along, with booze and kickbacks and thirty years of the usual business along the way, and woke up when he failed the person in his life who mattered the most to him. It's easy to love Mike Ehrmantraut, the old badass with a code; but it's even better to love Mike Ehrmantraut, the grieving father ready to live with whatever consequences are to come for killing his son's murderers, who still struggles with the thought that he corrupted something pure and beautiful, and feels responsible for taking away his granddaughter's daddy, his daughter-in-law's husband, because he was not as good of a man as he might have been.
Well, that was a sad story...
I like that this episode focused more on Mike, I like him more than Saul.
Perfect ending to a perfect season and tv show. I was expecting a 90minutes episode but they serve us with a normal length. Loyal to the game and fans, executed with brilliancy, leaves us wanting more. The game did the same 10 or more years ago.
Thank you for never ruining it, and turning one of my favourite games into a future icon for television shows.
I have cried in this episode but my biggest scream was for the opening: Ashley!!!!
It was a nice touch having Ashley Johnson (the voice of Ellie in the games) playing her Mother.
Brace yourselves, dear viewers, for this episode will undoubtedly spark heated debates among fans. Some will love it, while others will loathe it—much like the game itself.
The Last of Us ends with a masterful coup de grâce, cementing this adaptation's place in the pantheon of prestige television.
It is sombre and dark yet replete with emotions that run deep. Joel, at long last, becomes a man of action. Whether his actions are morally defensible, however, is a subject of endless debate.
Staying true to the game, this episode does not falter in its execution, boasting a master-stroke opening that sets the stage for a gripping narrative to unfold. The strategic use of a flashback adds layers of complexity to already richly-wrought characters, serving as a catalyst for some of the most poignant dialogue between Joel and Ellie to date—dialogue sure to leave the audience teary-eyed.
The action is far from glorified, leaving viewers in a state of visceral shock and awe. The last couple of episodes have served to do some fantastic work for Joel, and this episode is the proverbial cherry on top, truly a beautiful and profound culmination of his character arc. Indeed, the show is a thing of beauty, but beauty that is shrouded in darkness.
Were a flaw to be ascribed, it would be that of brevity. At a mere 40 minutes, the finale feels curtailed. The absence of the Cordyceps is understandable, given the laser-focused narrative, though it marks a deviation from the source material.
By turns harrowing and humane, towering and intimate, this finale buries its hooks deeply in the viewer, capping off a brilliant maiden season. Love it or loathe it, impassioned discourse will assuredly abound in the wake of this uncompromising conclusion to the first chapter of The Last of Us.
01x09 - Look for the Light: 8.5/10 (Great)
I feel like an extra 25 or 30 minutes would have been better to draw out the drama a little more. Still, pretty good and I can't wait for season 2!
This episode was awfully written. Very boring with useless drivel. Both the acting and the directing were terrible this episode. Also stormy was a bad choice for the role, she didn’t effectively portray the character and came off like she was faking a persona. Easily the worst episode of the bunch. Could have done a few flashbacks and one of pascal too would have been effective in getting the message across of what’s going through her head.
3/10 surprised by this bad episode after how good the previous ones have been so far.
Easily the weakest episode yet. The stuff we got was good, it was enjoyable, I liked the characters together - but it felt like it lacked any sort of resolution. This episode left me feeling unsatisfied.
I worry that the final two episodes are going to feel rushed.
The acting, directing, and production design of this show continue to be amazing. Unfortunately, at times, including for this entire episode, the writing falls back on tired zombie apocalypse tropes to drive its story forward. Flashbacks are all well and good; they help flesh out characters and can provide nice diversions from the main storyline. But Joel's predicament in Episode 6's cliffhanger needs no diversions, and there are no surprises offered in Episode 7. (Well, maybe except for Ellie's apparent queerness, which is a definite plus, though it doesn't do much to inform, flesh out, or provide insight into anything else that we've seen so far.) From the time that the show's trailer premiered we knew that the scenes in The Mall would be coming. And anyone who has ever watched more than one episode of The Walking Dead fully expected that the person Ellie shared those happy scenes with would be a close friend, and that they would die in a heartbreaking manner. What I didn't expect - especially after the triumph of storytelling that was Episode 3 - was that the writers would spend 50+ minutes telling this tale, and/or that there would be no surprise twist. It could have been done in 10. Fleshing out Ellie's pre-Joel story could have been spread out across multiple episodes. Instead, this week's installment felt like wasted time. Even worse than time, it wasted magnificent performances from Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid on an hour of TV that I kept wanting to fast forward through.
What a performance by Bella Ramsey! She has been amazing from episode one but, this episode she delivered everything!!
This episode was amazing. But why is this listed as a special?
Basically just a boring filler episode. There was only ~3 minutes of content actually worth watching, and it was all at the end.
The episode is boring, and flash back would have been better for a simple duration of 15 minutes to 20 minutes only, without going into many details that take up the episode time, which we have been waiting for a whole week.
I can't rate the episode more than 3/10
