That's kind of the franchise's M.O. at this point. Give us long, dragged out scenes of the characters engaged in a scheme or set-up to intrigue the audience about what they're up to, leading to a spectacular payoff. Using this technique for an episodic cliffhanger is a bit of a longer play than the show usually does,…

I'm seeing a lot of complaints about all the screen time devoted to Mike and Gus in a show called "Better Call Saul," as if Mike's story is somehow detracting from Jimmy's story.

Great detail: The local who asks for Selina's picture, and tells his daughter she can't be president, is wearing a "Chicago Balls" NBA knockoff hoodie.

Of course it is. This show's sense of political maneuvering makes less sense with each episode.

Yeah, some of the most egregious product placement I've seen on a show or a movie.

I think it reflects how episodic television in America has evolved over the past 20 years
to more closely emulate the British model, where "seasons" are usually just 5-10 episodes focused on a single storyline. Shows on broadcast TV would usually run 20-30 episodes, making ongoing storylines a challenge unless…

Well, as soon as they described the machine I started thinking about how it could resurrect any of the dead characters who are now running around the framework, which certainly raises the stakes for the storyline beyond "it's just a computer program."

So, there were just a lot of weird little details that made this episode seem really off.

Probably because the show's writers don't actually think through the scenarios they're proposing beyond a superficial level. They have this rosy view of government service where being VP is somehow significant because it has the word "president" in the title.

This is a rather momentous occasion, the first meeting of Gus and Mike. Significant enough for Fring not to bother with his cover as a meek fast-food manager anymore. I love how Mike was carrying the note with him, no doubt the cog in his plan to hold it up to whomever he found at the end of his goose chase for the…

Seeing what Mike was up to with the shoes, I was rather pleased to watch it unfold more or less realistically, as in Mike not hooking the shoes on the line on the first try, and needing a few wild tosses to figure it out.

When the show ends 3 or so years down the road, it could very well be, as some have speculated, Walter White coming into Saul's office for the first time. But I have this nagging suspicion that it will actually end with an epilogue jumping back to fugitive Jimmy on the run in Omaha, and he somehow reconnects with Kim,…

He should make Hookstratten chief justice.

I was thinking it was the First Lady. It ties into her fit about getting away from the White House life so it would be easier to sneak off to secret meetings. Because why not, with this show?

Lazano was MacLeish's war buddy who was the sniper who shot Kirkman, and then was apparently taken out by the FBI when MacLeish ordered them to shoot to kill. They never showed his body and I think the only time we ever saw him was for a few seconds during his assassination attempt. So the confusion is rather…

I got a chuckle out of the fact they had one of the senators actually say the 9 justices thing is in the Constitution, just so the professor could give her little history lesson. Must be the being new to the job.

Saul was talking about Mike. It's pretty clear he doesn't know Gus is the ringleader until Walt blows everything up.

So, I'd suggest that a simulated Tripp or Ward could come back in the shell of Mace's body, Agent Smith style, but if Aida really hit "disengage" that's not gonna happen.

For all the talk about the emotional context of reality vs. Jemma's disregard for the digital characters, let's not forget that she was ultimately right about the "real" people wasting their time with pointless missions. Even so, Coulson disregarded Jemma's warning to attempt to save a bunch of digital kids from being…

So, by the time Walter White rolls around Saul has no idea who Gus Fring in, and that's what makes their meeting in this episode so great. It gives the fans an interaction between the two, and there's no reason for it ever to occur to Jimmy that Gus is anything more than a helpful fast food manager. And that's kind of…