Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP9[9.8/10] It seems like every season, there’s one episode of BoJack Horseman that just floors me, and this may be the best of them all. More than BoJack’s dream sequence in S1, more than his unforgivable act at the end of S2, more than the even the harrowing end for Sarah Lynn in S3, “Time’s Arrow” is a creative, tightly-written, absolutely devastating episode of television that is the crown jewel of Season 4 and possibly the series.
The inventiveness of the structure alone sets the episode apart. It feels of a piece with the likes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for finding outside the box ways to communicate the idea of dementia and the brain purging and combining and reconstructing dreams and memories into one barely-comprehensible stew. The way that the episode jumps back and forth through time is a superb way to convey the way this story is jumbled up and hard to keep a foothold on for Beatrice.
And that doesn’t even take into account the other amazing visual ways the show communicates the difficulty and incoherence or what Beatrice is experiencing. The way random people lack features or have scratched out faces, the way her mother is depicted only in silhouette with the outline of that scar, the way the images stop and start or blur together at emotional moments all serve to enhance and deepen the experience.
What’s even more impressive is how “Time’s Arrow” tells a story that begins in Beatrice’s youth and ends in the present day, without ever feeling rushed or full of shortcuts. Every event matters, each is a piece of the whole, from a childhood run-in with scarlet fever to her coming out party to an argument about the maid, that convincingly accounts for how the joyful, smart young girl we meet in the Sugarman home turns into the bitter husk of a woman BoJack is putting in a home. It’s an origin story for Beatrice, and a convincing one, but also one of the parental trauma that has filtered its way down from BoJack’s grandparents all the way down to poor Hollyhock.
And my god, the psychological depth of this one! I rag on the show a decent amount for writing its pop psychology on the screen, but holy cow, the layers and layers of dysfunction and reaction and cause and effect here are just staggering. The impact of Beatrice’s father’s cajoling and her mother’s lobotomy on her development as a woman in a society that tried to force her into a role she didn’t want or necessarily fit is striking in where its tendrils reach throughout her development. The idea of rebelling against that, and the way BoJack’s dad fits into that part of her life is incredible. And the story of growing resentment over the years from a couple who once loved each other, or at least imagined they did and then found the reality different than the fantasy is striking and sad.
But that all pales in comparison in how it all of these events come together to explain Beatrice’s fraught, to say the least, relationship to motherhood and children. The climax of the episode, which intersperses scenes of the purging that happens when Beatrice contracts scarlet fever as a child, her giving birth to BoJack, and her helping her husband’s mistress give birth all add up to this complex, harrowing view of what being a mom, what having a child, amounts to in Beatrice’s eyes.
The baby doll that burns in the fire in her childhood room is an end of innocence, a gripping image that ties into Beatrice’s mother’s grief over Crackerjack’s demise and whether and how it’s acceptable to react to such a trauma. The birth of BoJack, for Beatrice, stands as the event that ruined her life. BoJack is forced to absorb the resentments that stem from Beatrice’s pregnancy being the thing that effectively (and societally) forced her to marry BoJack’s father, sending her into a loveless marriage and a life she doesn’t want all because of one night of rebellion she now bitterly regrets. For her, BoJack is an emblem of the life she never got to lead, and he unfairly suffers her abuses because of it, just like Beatrice suffered her own parents’ abuses.
Then there’s the jaw-dropping revelation that Hollyhock is not BoJack’s daughter, but rather, his sister. As telegraphed as Princess Carolyn’s life falling apart felt, this one caught me completely off-guard and it’s a startling, but powerful revelation that fits everything we know so well and yet completely changes the game. It provides the third prong of this pitchfork, the one where Beatrice is forced to help Henrietta, the woman who slept with her husband, avoid the mistake that she herself made, and in the process, tear a baby away from a mother who desperately wants to hold it. It is the culmination of so many inherited and passed down traumas and abuses, the kindness and cruelty unleashed on so many the same way it was unleashed on her, painted in a harrowing phantasmagoria of events through Beatrice’s life.
And yet, in the end, even though BoJack doesn’t know or understand these things, he cannot simply condemn his mother to suffer even if he’s understandably incapable of making peace with her. Such a horrifying series of images and events ends with an act of kindness. BoJack doesn’t understand the cycle of abuse that his mom is as much a part of as he is, but he has enough decency, enough kindness in him to leave Beatrice wrapped in a happy memory.
Like she asked his father to do, like she asked her six-year-old son to do, BoJack tells her a story. It’s a story of a warm, familiar place, of a loving family, of the simple pleasures of home and youth that began to evaporate the moment her brother didn’t return from the war. It’s BoJack’s strongest, possibly final, gift to his mother, to save her from the hellscape of her own mind and return her to that place of peace and tranquility.
More than ever, we understand the forces that conspired to make BoJack the damaged person he is today. It’s just the latest psychological casualty in a war that’s been unwittingly waged by different people across decades. But for such a difficult episode to watch and confront, it ends on a note of hope, that even with all that’s happened, BoJack has the spark of that young, happy girl who sat in her room and read stories, and gives his mother a small piece of kindness to carry with her. There stands BoJack, an individual often failing but at least trying to be better, and out there is Hollyhock, a sweet young woman, who represent the idea that maybe, just as this cycle was built up bit-by-bit, so too may it be dismantled, until that underlying sweetness is all that’s left.
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@javikasu That is a hell of a compliment. Thank you very much!
I am incredibly grateful to Game of Thrones for this adventure I have found myself sucked into for some years now. I am grateful for all the emotions it brought me since day one, bitter and sweet alike. I am grateful for all the laughs, all the tears, all the jokes and gags, every single bit of it, I really am grateful and appreciative of it all. It's been just... wonderful.
That said, I am feeling robbed and betrayed right about now. This ending is arguably one of the worst series finales in the history of television and trust me I realize how bold of a statement that is. The terrible violations the characters have suffered this season, the lack of proper resolution to many of the plots and narratives developed over seasons worth of buildup, the seeking of shock value at the expense of quality writing... that and much much more solidified this as an absolute disappointment of a finale, as opposed to the marvel wrap it could've given this cultural phenomenon.
This episode does have its positives, as always the score, acting and cinematography are perfectly performed but I just do not think it's nearly enough to compensate for how lackluster the writing has been, as much as I wish they did. Oh well, sad as it may be, I'll just hold on to the good stuff and hope that GRRM's book, once finished, will tackle the ending in a more coherent, more respectful and more meaningful way. It's been real y'all...
P.S: I'll leave this here lest some people jump me again. This comment is a representation of my own personal opinion, I am entitled to one just as all of you are. If you enjoyed this season and felt this finale delivered what you were looking for then more power to you mate, but that doesn't nullify my opinion nor does it make yours any valid. If you want to discuss or challenge my views, I'd be more than happy to engage you on that basis but if all you have to offer are petty remarks then please keep them to yourself.
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Almost as bad as Lost! You said it well
A bit predictable, but still a good episode, and looking forward to next season ... I mean series.
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@sikanderx6 was it really predictable they were going to get relegated? A happy ending after the tie would have been predictable.
When season 6 first aired, I just knew it was going to end with BoJack either dead or in prison. As it turns out, he's a bit of both (he's actually in jail and he's basically dead to every single person he's been close with in the past). I also knew that Mr. Peanutbutter, Todd, and Princess Carolyn were going to be fine (did PC's relationship with Judah remind anyone of Peggy and Stan from Mad Men or was it just only me? What a great surprise! I happen to love them together very very very much and I'm incredibly happy at the idea of Princess Carolyn being with someone who actually respects her, loves her, understands how her job works and how important it is for her, and is always willing to go the extra mile for her), but I always worried the most about Diane. I've always felt very connected to her and I kind of hoped things worked out for her because that could mean that things will eventually work out for me as well. I was a little bit disappointed to find out that she's no longer with Guy because I also wanted her to be with someone who truly loves her and cares for her, but then I remembered what Sonny said to her a couple of episodes ago about Guy always choosing "broken women" whom he then "fixes" and who eventually leave him when they're better, and I realized this: maybe that's why Diane is no longer with Guy. She is not "broken" anymore. And her final scene, in which she cuts off BoJack from her life for good, is further proof that she is, in fact, alright.
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@waltandmartha I actually had to rewatch it because I can't believe I missed the part in which she shows BoJack her ring! I guess I was too caught up in the moment to focus on what I was actually watching. Thank you for telling me! (I guess my previous essay about her not being broken and all that was my sad, sad brain at its best: overanalyzing everything)
Wow. Lyra steps through that portal and ages 18 months and none of the characters seem to realize that they have all aged 18 months as well.
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@strykar weird considering they filmed season 1 and 2 at the same time!
what a great fucking show!! loved it so much for it's diverse viewpoints and no higher understand by the writers leaving it upto the audience to take sides like in IRL there is no black and white to situations and people make decisions based on what serves them best at the present influenced by their past determining their future. over-all this show was LIT!!! 11/10
LOVE THE THEME SONG ❣❣❣
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@afterkush im obsessed with the theme song too
Not a fan of the boring Russian subplot.
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@jamesmcavoy Dunno, i thought the whole "escaped but captured again" made the thing more interesting. But otherwise, it's one of the least believable parts (running after getting hit in the ankle 4 times with a sledgehammer? Humans can't walk after just stepping off the footpath wrong) and less interesting bits, agreed.
Does anyone else dislike that they incorporated coronavirus into the show? It takes me out.
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@the_argentinian this is us has always been a show that involves to the point of right now. Or are you forgetting the Super Bowl episode that came out a few hours after the actual SB and they had real time footage of it. They've always addressed current things and yeah while we watch shows to get away from it, it's good that they do it. Bringing awareness to all kinds of other stuff. The big ones being covid and George Floyd, but also the silly thing about cakes looking like real things. This will be a show that when we rewatch it again in a few years we'd be like oh yeah that happened that year
Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP9[9.5/10] They got me. They really did. I believed that Saul would do it, that he would find a way to lie, cheat, and steal out of suffering any real consequences for all the pain and losses he is responsible for. I believed that he would trade in Kim's freedom and chance to make a clean break after baring her soul in exchange for a damn pint of ice cream. I have long clocked Better Call Saul as a tragedy, about a man who could have been good, and yet, through both circumstance and choice, lists inexorably toward becoming a terrible, arguably evil person. I thought this would be the final thud of his descent, selling out the one person on this Earth who loved him to feather his own nest.
Maybe Walt was right when he said that Jimmy was "always like this." Maybe Chuck was right that there something inherently corrupt and untrustworthy in the heart of his little brother. This post-Breaking Bad epilogue has been an object lesson in the depths to which Gene Takovic will stoop in order to feed his addiction and get what he wants. There would be no greater affirmation of the completeness of his craven selfishness and cruelty than throwing Kim under the bus to save himself.
Only, in the end, that's the feint, that's the trick, that's the con, on the feds and the audience. When Saul hears that Kim took his words to heart and turned herself in, facing the punishments that come with it, he can't sit idly by and profit from his own lies and bullshit. He doesn't want to sell her out; he wants to fall on the sword in front of her, make sure she knows that he knows what he did wrong.Despite his earlier protestations that his only regret was not making more money or avoiding knee damage, he wants to confess in a court of law that he regrets the choices that led him here and the pain he caused, and most of all he regrets that they led to losing her.
In that final act of showmanship and grace, he lives up to the advice Chuck gives him in the flashback scene here, that if he doesn't like the road that his bad choices have led him, there's no shame in taking a different path. Much as Walt did, at the end of the line, Saul admits his genuine motives, he accepts responsibility for his choices after years of blame and evasion. Most of all, he takes his name back, a conscious return to being the person that Kim once knew, in form and substance. It is late, very late, when it happens, but after so much, Jimmy uses his incredible skills to accept his consequences, rather than sidestep them, and he finds the better path that Kim always believed he could walk, one that she motivates him to tread.
It is a wonderful finale to this all-time great show. I had long believed that this series was a tragedy. It had to be, given where Jimmy started and where the audience knew Saul ended. But as it was always so good at doing, Better Call Saul surprised me, with a measured bit of earned redemption for its protagonist, and moving suggestion that with someone we care for and who cares of us, even the worst of us can become someone and something better. In its final episode, the series offered one more transformation -- from a tale of tragedy, to a story of hope.
(On a personal note, I just want to say thank you to everyone who read and commented on my reviews here over the years. There is truly no show that's been as rewarding for me to write about than Better Call Saul, and so much of that owes to the community of people who offered me the time and consideration to share my thoughts, offered their kind words, and helped me look at the series in new ways with their thoughtful comments. I don't know what the future holds, but I am so grateful to have been so fortunate as to share this time and these words with you.)
EDIT: One last time, here is my usual, extended review of the finale in case anyone's interested --
https://thespool.net/reviews/better-call-saul-series-finale-recap-saul-gone/loading replies
@andrewbloom Thank you for taking the time to share your words about these episodes. Having used Trakt for many years, it's always a pleasure checking in and finding one of your reviews, you bring in some very interesting analyses and perspectives that complement the viewing quite well - that goes double for a show like this. Here's hoping TV continues to be this good.
@edrick If your question is genuine, I have to say... wince
It, uh...it's getting there...maybe. This certainly wasn't it's strongest episode, but it was better than the previous one. If you're not currently keeping up with the episodes, I'd say just reading a summary of what happened in this and last episode would suffice. So far, episodes 4 through 7 have been the best episodes this season. Everything else has been either "fairly good" (most of the other episodes) or just "meh/shrug" (this and last episode). It's a shame that this final season is so...underwhelming...
A gazillion Bearimy later, the show manages to bring itself back from the dead for one last breath, giving us an emotional, heartfelt, sweet, sappy closure. Farewell, The Good Place! May you find your own Better Place.
Also — interesting note —, I realised something quite striking (maybe) a few hours after watching the episode: every single one of the humans who were a part of the main cast disappeared into oblivion, except for Tahani, who still lingered on. Eleanor, Jason and even Chidi fell into the egocentric routine of "I lived a full afterlife, I did all the things that gave me pleasure, I am satisfied with myself". Tahani went through that, too, she was even ready to also blow the essence of herself into smithereens, but she took one step further and realised she could "live" on to help other people. Was Tahani, in the end, the only truly selfless human of them all, the only one genuinely worthy of being in The Good Place? I guess that will depend on what is considered to be a "good" human being but, quite honestly, that ship has sailed a long time ago.
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@waltandmartha Tahani doing Michael's job and unintentionally terrorising newcomers would definitely be fun to see :grin:
Why did they choose two actors that doesn't look like teenagers at all?
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@david0542 they look age appropriate to me shrugs
This show is so good at creating very nice computer displays, but they let a rare typo slip through: "EMLOYMENT", when Naomi is searching Ganymede's records.
Where did Dr. Meng get a photo of Mei? He just got that comm device when he boarded Tycho Station, so there's no way he brought it with him. Or have I missed evidence of implantable memory storage/retrieval tech before this episode?
I like how the zoom controls on Naomi's portable control/comm device are the reverse of what we use now. Pinching outward zooms out instead of in, moving the displayed content opposite her finger motion. It's not entirely believable—that's a very counter-intuitive control scheme.
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@dgw He logged in on Google Drive :-)
Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP9Very tempted to give this something less than a 10 because it doesn't have the heart of the greatest Futurama episodes (so perhaps consider this a 9.5), but my god is this episode both hilarious and brilliant as a parodic love letter to all things Star Trek. I love how game the actors from the original series were to poke fun at themselves and their show. (Shatner especially and surprisingly.) There were so many great Trek-related gags, and a lot of fun humor apart from those references as well (Fry's caterpillar escapade and inability to understand the life support/engines problems were both classic.) A ridiculously fun, creative, and laugh-worthy episode.
EDIT 12/6/2017: I loved this episode before I watched all of Original Series films and movie, and I love it even more now. While I knew most of the references by osmosis, it's even more enjoyable getting the subtler, direct references like snippets of dialogue pulled from the show, or the Church of Trek noting that the "Christine Chapel" is closed, or a giant green hand plucking our heroes from space. Plus, seeing the way the episode plays with the tropes of the show is even more outstanding having witnessed them firsthand. Bits like Kirk ripping his shirt, or the desert rocks setting, or the "Metamorphosis"-like energy being are all just outstanding. The comedy still lands perfectly, the story still moves at a great clip, and the interplay between the former castmembers is even better. Definitely one of my favorite episodes.
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@waltandmartha Bummer! I'd hoped that some of the usual Futurama madcap fun would be enough for non-Trekkies to enjoy.
Please, someone has to tell me that this was not a waste of time. Because it definitely feels like it
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it was a complete waste of time
How is it possible to like a show so much when I HATE the main character?
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@willgriggs Well at least you get to like it...
Fantastic start to the new season. Very touching episode, and nice to see Marge in the spotlight.
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:joy::joy: what was you watching
Shout by Snowy_CapHaddock
Follow-up commentary:
- "Nikolaj" pronunciation!! YES
- That Holt-Jake conversation, "chills, literal chills" - and some tears
- "Title of your s*x tape"!
- Man, I really hoped in a Bruce Willis arrivalWill miss them.
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@lumaestri I was checking off all the boxes as the season and last episode was going along and was thinking are they really not going to do the “Title of your sex tape…” bit one last time, and then in the last 2 minutes there it was in all its glory. Awesome show…gonna miss it.
Sean not kissing Alice was the biggest relief. Exactly how I hoped it would be handled. I've seen too many shows with going on that road. Not only is Alice just a kid but she's also the daughter of the only man helping Sean out. Putting those two together would be weird.
It was nice to actually see the mom, the flashbacks really gave us more insight on Jimmy's grief.
I didn't expect or like that ending. I hate when a show forces romance between the two leads..
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@chocoloctopus There is a 'SPOILERS' warning next do the date the comment was posted.
Despite all the great character development, strong humour, the use of Kristin Bell's real life husband and the emotional bonds that I'm forming with all of these characters... the moment of this episode that made me love it the most was the fact that the film on endless repeat in hell is Pirates of the Caribbean 6: The Haunted Crow's Nest or Something, Who Gives a Crap
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@lefthandedguitarist I didn't notice Kristin's husband or the Pirates of the Caribbean thing! I was just too distracted by everything else. That was one hell of a Hell! Thanks for pointing that out, it only made the episode even more hilarious, for me.
Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP9It'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.
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Superb write-up man, better than most of the guff I read in the broadsheets!
Great dual moment at the end with them both realising they have met. And so the game of cat and mouse begins!
I like how flawed they both are, it's such a rarity to have layered female characters written well. Really liking this show.loading replies
I actually think there are several shows (currently) that layer female characters well. We are in such an era now, where women as leads or co-stars are given much more defying material... Shows like: Homeland, The Americans, How To Get Away With Murder, Game of Thrones, The Hand Maiden’s Tale, The Good Place, Good Behavior, Queen of The South, Claws... the list goes on... all feature at least one if not more deeply complex female characters. Killing Eve is a wonderful addition, especially with a lead Asian-American actor.
This episode reminds us that The Mandalorian is a Disney product.
The Mandalorian for no reason became soft and sentimental. The only reason possible for this change is the "cute factor" shown more to the audience than the character, just like a Disney show would do. For someone who is supposed to be on this sort of job for a while, breaking a guild code just for some random child is a stupid thing to do - especially for someone who is supposed to uphold honor. The hostiles - supposedly trained soldiers and mercenaries - are nothing but incompetent mooks. Other Mandalorians show up as deus ex machina, almost feels like they are there just so Disney can sell more toys.
There is no build up. Everything in this episode is self-contained. From the appearances of other Mandalorian to the whistling bird, it's all used vulgarly in this episode.
This episode is such a huge let down. And we're still on the third episode.
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@xaliber I'm buying what the screenplay says I guess. What someone else (fictional or real) would/should do, in any given circumstance, is hardly something to be decided from others.
I mean doing 'whatever you want' means exactly that, following your own moral compass. I'm not sure what Mando will do next, he may change his mind or not, still that would be quite believable since that is what most people do in a conflicting situation.
I'm a little confused even by your idea of screenwriting since I do not see anything blatantly wrong here. I see things that you do not like instead but again, that hardly makes an argument to invalidate a screenplay.
I'll be honest, the problem these days is not with the quality of the Star Wars franchise or any other shows. The problem is with the quality of the average audience.
Or as Orson Welles once said - You can't expect every audience to be a good audience.
Couldn’t she just imagine a TTD and use it?
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@waltandmartha She could imagine one but since it would only be a figment of her mind, it wouldn't actually transport her through time.
Boring, mediocre as the rest of the episodes in the season 2. The characters is running in circles. the only slowly developing character is Homelander. I can't care less for the main crew except maybe Karen or whatever the hell her name is. The main character is not a character at all. he just drags around with the rest of the crew and completely forget the events about from season 1.
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Unpopular opinion but i guess you can stay lol
Kudos for Roy, he's clearly the MVP of this season, but I have no idea what are they doing with Nate. First three episodes he's acting like a jerk, now he's bashed for a totally unrelated thing and I'm supposed to empathyze with him. It works only because it's like an arc continuation from the first season, but I have no clue what did they do to him in the first three eps, and just when I think we are past that, moreover, it's like it never even happened, there's a look on his face at the very end, the look of being benched again and his newfound self-confidence disappearing in a second, and God, I just hope he and Roy won't go face to face. Please God, no. It's already a big enough pain that Ted might not go to therapy to the Doctor until the end of the season.
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@edrick Same here. I'm totally lost at what is happening with Nate.
This was a really hard episode to watch. Pulled at every single emotional string in your soul. The ending, was beautifully done, but wow, crying like a baby.
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You are not alone trust me
So, was anyone else confused by it all?
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@gloom8 to begin with? everything
I believe that 4 episodes are more than enough for one to decide whether to continue watching or to quit. I chose to quit.
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I wish more sci-fi fast food cry babies would follow that remarkable role model and move on and let us folks loving slow paced series and deep character development enjoy this rare 10/10 piece without all the drama in the comments - but in the end we all love the drama :joy:
Yep trying to hang on but getting painful
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@r-deniroj - Same, dude, same. sigh
