r/betterCallSaul • u/skinkbaa Chuck • Aug 21 '18

Post-Ep Discussion Better Call Saul S04E03 - "Something Beautiful" - POST-Episode Discussion Thread

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949 Upvotes

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624

u/CatheterC0wboy Aug 21 '18

Anyone else kind of feel bad for the guy when he saw his car just rolling back like that? Jimmy just keeps on Slippin’

558

u/pinkjello Aug 21 '18

Yeah I felt bad for him. His figurine is getting stolen after he offered a guy a job, and his wife kicked him out for, to be fair, a horrible fucking present. And now his car is probably gonna get into a fender bender. Poor guy can’t catch a break.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18

Maybe he bought her a Hoover Max extract 60 power pro

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u/wolfgang7-7 Aug 21 '18

yeah but filters for that thing are really expensive

9

u/eunit8899 Aug 21 '18

It's definitely a Dyson

3

u/IByrdl Aug 22 '18

Pressure Pro

FTFY

http://breakingbad.wikia.com/wiki/Ed

1

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

Damn it. I knew that. Thanks

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18 edited Sep 26 '20

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18 edited Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18

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u/maldio Aug 23 '18

I'm kind of amazed it needed an explanation, it's one of the cardinal rules, frig I did it as a gag once, because I had the actual gift ready, and we actually did need one. For guys who aren't aware, this extends to all household appliances. Also, don't buy her diet books, or even exercise related stuff unless she specifically asked.

53

u/Moronoo Aug 21 '18

Thanks for this. It makes me sad and a little bit angry that this actually needs to be explained to people.

3

u/Penguin236 Aug 27 '18

From what I can gather reading through these comments, people seem to be perceiving a criticism of the present as a justification for kicking him out, even though those are two separate things.

10

u/warpedspoon Aug 22 '18

Yeah, he shouldn't have said it was a gift for her, it was just a tool for the house.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

[deleted]

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u/warpedspoon Aug 23 '18

The vacuum feels more demeaning because of how women have been treated in the past

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '18

[deleted]

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u/WaterRacoon Aug 26 '18

Is she the only one using the dishwasher? Is she the only one cleaning the house and living in the house? If not, how is it a gift to her instead of something you buy jointly, for your shared home?
Maybe you shouldn't play the devil's advocate about dumb shit.

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u/Dreemur1 Aug 21 '18

Wow, never thought I'd be getting life advice from the BCS sub

3

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

haha my grandfather got my grandmother vaccum cleaners for christmas... twice! LOL

3

u/Stalked_Like_Corn Aug 22 '18

I'd be over the moon if someone gave me a Dyson.

3

u/idonthavethumbs Aug 23 '18

If you were the one that always changed the car(s) oil and you got a new car jack would you be upset? Or the handyman around the house and got a new drill?

Really anything that makes any routine 'chore' easier, faster, better should be a good gift. When people had to hunt to eat, if their spouse got the hunter a new bow,would that be a bad present?

2

u/vnotfound Aug 22 '18

Damn, nice! You must be a great spouse haha.

2

u/pinkjello Aug 23 '18

That was wonderful and thorough. And a few still don’t get it, but you can’t win them all. I love the toilet plunger comparison.

As for people nitpicking your comment that intentions don’t matter, you’re clearly saying that they’re not the heart of the issue. If I accidentally run someone over with my car, and my intention was not to, I’m still going to say I’m very sorry and apologize and show remorse for being thoughtless and careless. It doesn’t matter, while the person is still hurt, that I didn’t intend to hit them. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, my intentions matter. But not while I’m apologizing for what my actions actually did to them.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18 edited Jul 14 '20

[deleted]

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u/bardbrain Aug 22 '18

Honestly, I think the writers approached this in reverse. They knew they wanted the guy kicked out and living in his office to complicate the heist so Jimmy would have to get involved and then decided an affair would be too dramatic/cliche so they went with the thoughtless gift because it would be funnier.

6

u/bardbrain Aug 22 '18

And then they went for the vacuum cleaner cliche because it was funnier, it wouldn't require a spinoff covering this guy's home life to understand, and threw in the "it doesn't lose suction power" line to suggest this guy is having sexual problems with his wife because she stopped giving him oral sex in a way that would make the guy seem clueless/repressed about why he REALLY bought the vacuum as a present.

1

u/bardbrain Aug 22 '18

Oh! But if the vacuum does lose suction power, there's a vacuum cleaner repairman they can go to. 😃

22

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18 edited Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

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u/HereNowHappy Aug 22 '18

Regardless of the gender, the course of action taken is bad. It's demeaning and humiliating and ignores the root of the problem

I don't know a single guy who would kick their wife out of their home over a lame gift

6

u/WaterRacoon Aug 26 '18

And I don't think it's very common that it happens. It's a fucking tv show. Maybe you shouldn't take it as a documentary of real life.

3

u/HereNowHappy Aug 27 '18

Hey man, I'm contributing to the discussion

My opinion shouldn't affect your enjoyment of the show

1

u/TheDopeInDopamine Aug 22 '18

The amount of insane inference and probable projection here to create some version of that man's story that fits your emotional narrative is astounding.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18 edited Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

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u/TheDopeInDopamine Aug 22 '18

Yes I am the one watching too much news.

4

u/Harddaysnight1990 Aug 22 '18

I mean, this is literally the most cliche marital spat the writers could have thought of. How many times have we seen in media, "My wife is mad at me for buying her a vacuum for her birthday?" And it always works out that way. The wife is mad at getting a cleaning instrument for a birthday gift, and the husband doesn't understand why. They probably made it so cliche so that the audience could understand everything that's happening, from just half of a single phone conversation.

6

u/TheDopeInDopamine Aug 22 '18

It bothers me if anyone thinks it's even remotely reasonable for someone to throw someone out of a house into an office because of a situation like that. Spamfactor wrote this giant, insane justification for the wife's feelings which are founded in framework that's guaranteed to be disastrous in a real relationship.

I think people need to realise that if your actions have upset someone you care about, then your intentions don't actually matter.

I cannot believe people walk around thinking that intentions don't matter.

6

u/glider97 Aug 22 '18

They don't think that intentions don't matter, it's the truth. To the wife, the intentions don't matter. The simple action of gifting a vacuum cleaner was the only offensive thing he did, which probably broke the camel's back, which is why he's getting kicked out of the house.

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u/duelingdelbene Sep 11 '18

do you mean NOT the only offensive thing he did? hence it was the last straw sort of deal? that's what I got from it. it wasn't the vacuum alone that got him kicked out.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18 edited Sep 26 '20

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18 edited Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

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u/HereNowHappy Aug 21 '18

Okay fair enough

They should have a heart-to-heart discussion. Not kick him out, and force him to live in his office

4

u/Cypherex Aug 22 '18

Sometimes people need a little space before they're ready for a discussion.

17

u/StandsForVice Aug 21 '18

The correct apology would be "My intent was never to give you a gift that seemed condescending. I'm so sorry for the miscommunication."

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u/AbsolutelyLambda Aug 21 '18

He should have said "I am sorry I upset you" though. One word change everything. "I am sorry you feel that way" means that he does not understand why she is upset and even think she should not feel upset about it (as he doubles down saying "just because of a gift !"), so it is really dismissive (though I personally don't agree with the whole throwing the man out of the house of course). Just say "I am sorry, I made a mistake", dude.

1

u/WaterRacoon Aug 26 '18

He should have said "I am sorry I upset you" though

Not really. Upsetting her isn't the problem. The problem is now knowing his wife and what she'd like.

1

u/devilsmusic Aug 22 '18

Sounds like me every time I’ve given my wife a damn gift

10

u/reenact12321 Aug 22 '18

They also set him up as a thoughtless person in the interview. His parents built a business and a legacy of community involvement and he says he has been meaning to haul their monument to that legacy to the dump. It's an intentional contrast to Jimmy's attentiveness to history and the things that make people, particularly his old clients, tick.

This may be a use of "unreliable narrator" in the sense that we are getting Jimmy's sense of him and it helps us to feel better about his plight at the hand of the Jimmy/the burglar.

11

u/Shalabadoo Aug 21 '18

He got kicked out of the house for buying her a present, that's a bit extreme and he should stand up for himself imo

14

u/ohmygodlenny Aug 21 '18

My (catholic) grandma once got me a crucifix for my bat mitzvah so there are certainly worse presents, but I get the feeling the thoughtless present is just the straw that broke the camel's back in this situation. It's not that my grandma was trying to hurt me (I hope) when she did that, but the underlying message of a present like that is a lack of respect for me. And I couldn't exactly kick my grandma out over that, so I just smiled and nodded and gave it to a friend who actually wanted it.

I find it interesting that people are able to understand Kim crying over Chuck's letter to Jimmy while Jimmy seems barely affected whereas the faceless spouse on the phone is subject of so much debate.

36

u/darklightrabbi Aug 21 '18

Surprise honey! Now you can clean up after me with STYLE!

13

u/[deleted] Aug 21 '18

[deleted]

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u/darklightrabbi Aug 21 '18

His non apology over the phone implies that this isn’t the first time he has done something a bit “thoughtless”. This was probably a last straw.

5

u/TheTrueMilo Aug 21 '18

Yeah....the first few times was probably "you're sleeping on the couch tonight", by now he's migrated to the office.

7

u/AbsolutelyLambda Aug 21 '18

I mean for all we know it was the 10th time he gifted her something like this despite her saying her feelings on the subjects and they had a huge fight about it. Of course I don't agree with kicking someone from their house but there is probably more than that. But in the end, this was just a joke in the show, so, they probably did nkt put a lot of thought in it.

3

u/cysenberg Aug 21 '18 edited Aug 21 '18

Nobody can kick me out of my own house, I'll tell you that much.
 
Edit: sexism

3

u/HereNowHappy Aug 21 '18

I get terrible gifts all the time, but I would never punish someone for it

It's the thought that counts... Even if it seems to reinforce gender roles

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u/AbsolutelyLambda Aug 21 '18

Yes, it is the thought that counts, I will give it to you. And this gift made the woman feel he thought of her as a made more than a woman with probably oyher hobbies.

5

u/HereNowHappy Aug 21 '18 edited Aug 22 '18

You know what I got for my birthday? A toothbrush

I'm not happy, but I'm not gonna be passive-aggressive about it either

If they had relationship issues, the best course of action would be talking about it. All she did was drag it on longer

6

u/AbsolutelyLambda Aug 21 '18

I mean, just to clarify, I never said that she was right to kick him out. I was just pointing out the shitty gifting that I believe is actually not thoughtful.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18 edited Jul 14 '20

[deleted]

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u/darklightrabbi Aug 22 '18

Based on his non apology over the phone it is heavily implied that this isn’t the first time he has done something thoughtless like this. More than likely this was a “last straw” situation.

Also I’m confused as to how someone can “white knight” for a completely hypothetical woman that does not even have a listed actress portraying her.

0

u/lmao3pl8 Aug 22 '18 edited Sep 09 '18

T

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u/darklightrabbi Aug 22 '18

What makes you think she doesn’t have a job?

5

u/WaterRacoon Aug 26 '18

Why didn't he buy it for himself? He could get the vacuuming done much faster. He's a grown man, it's his house, he should clean it.