What does the Better Call Saul ice cream cone mean? | Basement Breakdown
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- It’s BASEMENT BREAKDOWN, the show where John Teti analyzes TV to find the deeper meaning and filmmaking details you didn’t know you were missing. This time, John teases out some of the aesthetic threads lurking behind the mint chocolate chip ice cream cone that appears in BETTER CALL SAUL S5E2 "50% Off" and S5E3 "The Guy For This."
"Actually, leave off the mint chip" s5e10
Indeed!!
Exactly what I thought!
My immediate thought as well!!
Exactly!
And Kim puts it right into her bowl... Im scared.
Oh come on man! I just dropped it, that's all.
it all good man
😂
Luas Badman.
So cringe to impersonate fictional characters on CZcams xD
@@ZenBuu04 the irony
I feel like this show has been getting more popular with it's fifth season, like Breaking Bad getting popular in the last couple seasons, I love seeing it get the attention it deserves.
Um “popular” is a stretch. This video has 5 thousand views.
@@camelcats5280 Pretty sure the show he's talking about is better call saul, not this breakdown.
@@camelcats5280 I'm talking about Saul. But this is a quality CZcams show
@Scottish Girl I love every season of this show. The show pace works all week for me
I love Breaking Bad. I watched it like 9 months ago. But, to be very honest, I'm loving Better Call Saul more. The main reason is probably the difference in energy between Cranston and Odenkirk. Cranston could literally go from a cookie to latin demon in the matter of sentences. Odenkirk has mixed an upbeat character with a cunning and impulsive mind.
The latter seems a lot more laid back to me. The overall show has a more light hearted presentation compared to Breaking Bad.
Both shows are 9 or 9.5 out of 10, for me at least. But I have a bias for Saul.
In the season finale, when Kim was putting icecream dessert together, she had to push the choc mint back off because Saul decided he didn't want it. That means something.
If green symbolizes money or a scheme that's underway, then Jimmy asking for "a little bit of everything" is like him trying to have the rainbow/dreams but pulling back from greedy impulses. Living humbly, if he and Kim can manage it. Right now he's got more money than he knows what to do with and he's keenly feeling how close he is to losing Kim.
good point, J B. and now Kim is the one that is breaking bad. The destruction of Howard will be her downfall, and Jimmy will have to watch it happen.
@@nangke he wants to buy a house and settle. 100k isn't enough
He realized he made a mistake?
@@nangke YES ! and kim is asking for more when him has already had enough pure tv drama genius !
The crowd of ants are the criminals. Jimmy tries to rise above but they devour the sweets until he has nothing left and he's just a criminal like them.
Colony or army.
Jimmy boppin down the street with the ice cream cone was his last moment of freedom and innocence. It was taken away not by his choice, but Nacho's. When he got in that car, he left behind his last bit of honesty and legality, and came back as a drug cartel lawyer, despite his attempt to get out of it with Lalo. The moment of dropping the ice cream is a pivotal moment in the show. It's as if he is leaving childhood innocence behind him, and as often happens in life it comes suddenly and unexpectedly and completely beyond his control.
Jimmy chose to work with Lalo. He could've turned him in to the cops, or simply refused to do it. But Jimmy is greedy.
Remember the episode "Bad Choice Road" and Mike telling Jimmy that his actions is what brought him to this path.
@@Jeremy-jm3fe He didn't choose it. He tried to get out of it by saying, after the Krazy-8 thing, that he didn't have time for further representations. Lalo's response? You'll make time. That was a not-so-veiled threat.
@@skatefan9495 He still could've turned him in to the cops. And then there's later, when he had to get the $7 mil, and demanded 100 thousand dollars or else he wouldn't do it.
@@Jeremy-jm3fe Do you really think Jimmy going to the cops about Lalo is going to end up with anything other then him being killed? fuck that
So true
At the end of last season, "It's all good, man!" *finger guns*. He starts this season wanting the mint chip, having this romantic idea of what being Saul Goodman can be, but as soon as Lalo comes in, it starts to get too real. He's working for the real Bad Guys now and the ice cream gets overtaken by the ants. At the end, he doesn't want it, and Kim scoops it into her bowl. *Pew Pew*
yes ! plot twist + cliffhanger pure genius
Kim will work against Jimmy in Season 6. She's still mad at him for one-upping her with Acker and Mesa Verde. She's gonna go all in on Howard and Jimmy's gonna want to slow down, but she'll one -up him and force her plan through. Saul said to Walt in S3 of BB to "not hang yourself in the closet." If Jimmy can't rein in Kim, she's going to ruin Howard's life, resulting in his suicide. Howard is the only remaining link Jimmy has to his "straight arrow" days. More importantly, Howard is the only person who understands Jimmy's plight as a coping mechanism for dealing with his role in Chuck's death. With Howard out of the picture, and Kim likely indicated in Howard's suicide, Jimmy has nobody left, and has no choice but to fully embrace Saul.
Kim’s seen the money that he made from that one trip of being “friends with the cartel” and then she takes control of the situation and makes Lalo leave , it’s like she’s taking over from Saul because he’s scared , I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up dying next season because she gets involved in the game like Lalo said she is
Slippin’ Jimmy: “Kim, please. Let’s both of us stop trying to justify this whole thing and admit you are in danger.”
Slippin’ Kimmy: “I’m not in danger, Jimmy. I AM THE DANGER. A girl opens her door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS!!!!”
@@domskillet5744 Oh, that's so sad...
It's the end of his whimsical innocence being devoured by dangerous opportunists.
My interpretation also! Great minds...
yes, a fall from innocence in a way. by asking Kim to leave the mint chip out of his bowl in season 5 finale, maybe he's accepting that part of him has now gone forever. . .
I agree, when I saw that scene it became obvious to me that from that point on Saul was destined to lose everything. It was the summit what follows afterwards is the fall, that is the meaning of the ant reaching the top of the cone.
Thanks scoop!
The gnome means that Saul got gnooomed
Alexander M
The first time I read that I thought you said that he was “groomed” and I was like wow that’s actually a really interesting thought. Then I reread it and was like.
Ah.
I’m not sure why, but as soon as I saw the piece missing from the gnome, I instantly thought of the piece of the plate that Krazy 8 took in season 1 of breaking bad, when Walt chained him to the wall, although that’s probably just me 😂😂
Saul - _"You don't gnome me!"_
Watched it all in one day, now will have to wait another 1.5 years!! 😩
I feel that way every season.
And after each endless hiatus, I've then gotta wait for the new season to finish airing so I can watch it in 1 or 2 long blocks -- measly little 45-minute fixes once a week just piss off my appetite.
u mean u watchd the 5th all in one day, right? bcs otherwise that'd be impossible to watch about 40hrs in 24hrs
@@ninocorsellini8157 he's probably lost track of time watching it.🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@ninocorsellini8157 u can watch at 1.5x speed on Netflix so if u pull an all nighter then maybe it's possible
Anyone else catch what kind of ice cream Jimmy wants delivered to him every week in "Saul Gone", another tie in there.
4:50 Also plot twist climbing to the bottom since its the bottom of the ice cream in original perspective.
Like an illusion of being on top of the world but in reality it's a falling from grace.
Because someone close to me collected Hummel figurines, I realized the connection to the yodeling music when I first saw the episode. To me, the professional effort and genuine concern for Mrs. Strauss by Saul is the ethical high point of his legal career. He had such concern and affection for his elderly clients. Sure he grabbed the money, but he was working for it. His career innocence and joy were represented by mint chocolate chip ice cream, discarded to be consumed by the evil red ants.
I also want to mention the scene of Mrs. Strauss deciding who would be bequeathed each figurine in her collection was both hilarious and painful for me beyond words. I suppose you have to be of a 'certain age' to fully understand the absolute genius of the writing. One of the greatest television scenes I have ever seen.
I loved that last part where he sees what happened to his cone, like the universe is trying to tell him something but he can’t quite tell what it is. I feel like it almost breaks the fourth wall for jimmy but not quite so he remains in blissful ignorance that he’s just a character in a tv show
Spot on! I loved how you connected the yodeling to the Alpine Shepard Boy from season one. It seems to me that Jimmy has always viewed the path to legitimate success as insurmountable, but one whose view from the top is gorgeously fulfilling (like climbing an impossibly tall mountain). And every time Jimmy is reminded of how far he's fallen from this path, the audience can see that there's still some agonizing sadness that still hasn't been fully calloused over by Saul Goodman.
I'm anxious to see hear your thoughts on the Howard-Saul conversation in Namaste! It's as if Jimmy was offered a helicopter ride straight to the top of Everest and immediately turned it down, and I'm left trying to wrap my head around both of their motivations. The bluntness of their dialogue and Odenkirk/Fabian's fascinating acting choices were not at all what I expected from their characters' first real interaction this season.
Anyway, great work as always!
Just like the episode, the titlen is the name of Hamlin’s plate on his car. This tells jimmy his doing it to redeem himself and not because the bull**** he told jimmy about, that’s among the biggest factors as well as he getting comfortable with who he is becoming. Hope this makes sense to you
I had the impression that Jimmy felt that he saw through Howard in a kind of final way. Howard was feeling guilty before, and Jimmy wasn't having any of it then. Now Howard is presenting an apology that is somewhat more presentable to Jimmy: an acknowledgement of Jimmy's contributions to HHM, his claim on his own legacy and good reputation. This is Elliot Schwarz' offer to Walter White, but better; he isn't being offered a gift, but participation, or a kind of acknowledgement of their capacity to participate, something that both Jimmy and Walt felt they always lacked in life. Jimmy seemed to entertain the offer with some modicum of seriousness (I say this because at this point, Jimmy has it in him to outright tell Howard he's full of shit).. Then he saw Howard's license plate. Here things get more dicey and much more based on my personal prejudice, so I apologize for that. I think that a person with Howard's emotional baggage putting "Namaste" on an expensive car like that while offering a person he feels he wronged a job in a firm that this person has reason to feel he has some degree of claim to ownership of is... Well... Consider his whole proposal first. He calls Jimmy a scrapper and pitches the offer as "Jimmy, I can use you", basically. Now the license plate I think indicates Howard's adoption of a kind of truncated version of Eastern religion, as people in the States might do these days; "Namaste" can be a kind of slogan to Westerners that signifies a self-help system, something Howard is *using* to rid himself of his guilt and attain peace of mind- or at least, a sense of undisturbed self-satisfaction. That kind of easy self-satisfaction can take the blood from under just about anyone's nails, and for Jimmy, this is the summary of Howard's character becoming manifest in front of his eyes. And these men are supposed to be his betters, the people who reach the top of mount everest? This drives Jimmy further into Saul Goodman's easygoing cynicism; the game is rigged, don't bullshit a bullshitter.
howard is a hypocrite who wanted to hire jimmy to clear is conscience I guess, jimmy saw right trough it. He hate howard more than we (the audience ) had anticipated that's it. Kim knows this as well and try to push him at the end to see how far he would go. Like always he wants to do good but the call of green paper is always too appealing to him. And that's exactly what chuck saw in him when they were young, stealing the cash register in his father store. That's why he never wanted him as a lawyer...
(jimmy became a lawyer with a shortcut AGAIN to piss off chuck).
And he scam his way right back in after being suspended.
The serie goes full circle and it is a really really well written show. I love it.
I think Howard's offer came with strings in order to exploit "Charlie Hustle" to cover for his own laziness and redeem himself from his treatment of Chuck and Jimmy. Jimmy turned it down because he sees Howard as an empty suit, a person who moves through a privileged life without expending any blood, sweat or tears. By then Jimmy feels the power of the Saul persona and understands that people like Howard might want to benefit from it, they will never accept it and will turn away just as they did Chuck.
The firm still bearing his brother's name is everything Jimmy leaves behind with his Saul persona. It wasn't a helicopter ride for him, it was a long, slow slog into ego death.
Here's another soundtrack connection to the ice cream cone: when "Big Rock Candy Mountain" plays over the construction of Gus's super-lab. The imagery of Werner's engineers toiling away under the earth is reminiscent of ants building their tunnels.
That song makes no mention of ants or ice cream cones or any.similar item.
Oh, I interpreted the "rock candy" lyric as a euphemism for the candy-like (hard, colorful), crystal meth that would eventually be flowing from that "mountain"... but I think you're bang on the money there, too.
How does this guy not have more subscribers and views? Your videos are so awesome and fantastic, especially for someone like me who is very bad at symbolism and reading deep into things. You gave me a whole new perspective on my favorite show. Please don't ever stop making videos! You are literally a genius.
Makes me feel like sucha big dummy when these guys flaunt their big brain info on these intricate story details, I love and appreciate these guys so much for helping me appreciate my favoite show on such a deeper level
I saw the ice cream as foreshadowing the dead drops, the ice cream itself dropping dead to the sidewalk and also the idea there's "something sweet on the streets" - drugs, money, information - and all these underground networks (the Lalo/Gus competition, the feds) exchanging coded signals to home in on the prize.
Similarly, there's something a little extrasensory, like insect chemical signals, about Lalo's talent to sniff out opportunity. And Gus shows a voracious, insectoid energy in the way he sits in his lair-like dark office and focuses his attention on the (bug-like) flip phone on the desk. Or Gus' suspicion manifesting as the fly in the lab back in season 3 of Breaking Bad.
Beautifully said!!
To me that ice cream represents Jimmy's life
The moment he went into that car is life turned around and when he got back it was crawling with ants that devoured it. Ants representing criminals and ice cream representing his life
This decision to sit in Nachos car started EVERYTHING.
he didn't really had a choice mind you
Except that Nacho had to drive that car because Gus threatened to kill his father so Gus is the one who actually started everything. Or to be more specific, Hector, because Hector killed Max.
I just thought it was his innocence being picked away by his clients.
Yes with the ice cream and even the music sounding like choir boys
I also think the ice cream cone can symbolize childlike innocence and limitless dreams, and Jimmy being caught up with the consequences of his hubris, being under the thumb of criminals, makes him lose that carefree innocence. Later, with Kim, she shows the same hubris in her plans to destroy Howard, but is yet to feel the consequences in the same way Jimmy has. The shattered gnome can also symbolize a broken fantasy, which was the smooth life Jimmy might have hoped Saul would bring.
This is all fine and dandy, but I want a breakdown of this breakdown video. Notice the rainbow soundboard in the background. It perfectly symbolizes the ennui of adolescence, innocence lost. It's a marked contrast from the rainbow wristwatch on Ological's left hand, which captures the sinister cloak of joy hiding a much deeper resentment. What is this man hiding? What hidden messages are being telegraphed here?
Not to mention his rainbow watch strap! Hmm
Lmfao 😂🤣
Saul dropped slippin jimmy. The cone is slippin jimmy he was sweet happy go lucky and when he got picked up that symbolized the end of jimmy. Saul comes back to the cone cemented in his nw persona. Those ants are everyone in his life the top ant is his dead brother.
Yusuf Jackson I love that notion of the corpse of the Jimmy persona being consumed by the people of his past who held him back
I think the ants are Chuck, Kim, Lalo, Mike, Gus, Nacho, Jesse and ultimately, Walt.
See how tonight in the season finale Jimmy told Kim, no mint chocolate, in the hotel room. That adds to the discussion here
I feel smarter after watching your videos.
That could be a compliment or an insult haha
@@joemanco1075 insult... this nerd is just saying random shit
@@joemanco1075 pretty sure its a compliment. these videos have a level of analysis thats uncommon amongst most people when watching a tv show
WOW! That was so in depth. You clearly live & breath this show. Loved this video! Great Great work my friend.
The cone represent his broken intentions, that this is where he loses his way. He never get to eat it, he never get to do his plans as a shady lawyer for small time criminals. He Breaks Bad, right there.
I agree, but it's interesting that he didn't choose it. He was pulled into it. But once he was "in the game," he stayed there.
the best BCS channel. liked and subbed and totally underrated
In that second scene, when Saul returns to that sidewalk and spots the devoured ice cream, the last shot is taken from a high angle and pictures the road with some lane separation in the shape of a knife. Just another detail that caught my attention when I watched the episode.
That ant scene was one of the most beautiful and breathtaking things I've seen in a long time.
Those ants need their own spin off
Andrew McCormick I couldn’t disagree
The moment that cone fell was the moment Badger truly became Gus Fring.
In S5 ep5, apart from the obvious 'Namast3' on Howard's licence plate, there are also 3 Balls, 3 Bells and 3 Bandits. I tweeted the Writer, Gordon Smith, and he replied and said that it was just a pure coincidence. I still call shenanigans on this though!
Me too!
I love when i find a new channel that teaches me stuff about a show i never noticed before.
Very nice dissection. Thank you for getting me understand the why this is such a great series.
I told my wife that the cone was significant to the situation and that these film crew knew what they were doing. Jimmy later on becomes the cone in bag man. He has the money, he is happy, he is doing good and then his life gets flipped and ants swarm him. He becomes this melted mess of a man he used to be after everything that went down and he gets to take home the crumbs.
The ice cream is "Saul Goodman's" new life. He is now free to be himself and be the type of lawyer he's set out to be. But inevitably because of the nature of his skills his new short lived ice cream happiness will be devoured little by little until even Saul Goodman will cease to exist.
I feel like the creators allow you to think about this stuff deeply if you want to, but also have a sense of humor to kind of admit, “yeah it’s just a cool looking montage of ants eating the ice cream.” Like they intentionally focus on smaller details to an extreme degree to indulge a little bit. Nothing wrong with that!
The mountain analogy and the idea of Jimmy's "on the go success" attitude definitely have a great deal of explanatory power. Ice cream is also a junk food, which also underlines something in Jimmy that comes out fully in Saul Goodman; "on the go success" as you say, ice cream will melt if you don't eat it fast, and that's Saul Goodman's whole system- what is, however, given second thought for many consumers of ice cream is that while it must be eaten fast, there is a question of whether or not it's healthy to eat at all. What is notable about Jimmy and Kim with that same ice cream is that Jimmy was focusing on that ice cream while kind of dodging Kim's attempts to connect with him and speak about serious things, since she is concerned about the change she sees in Jimmy. Jimmy is savoring the instantly gratifying sweetness of being in the flow, his growing power as Saul Goodman, but then the underworld he wants to thrive on comes to, well, eat his lunch, so to speak. By the time Jimmy returns to his cone, it's a nest of vermin, unrecognizable, inedible. That's a wakeup call; both Jimmy and Saul are fragile; Saul's system can suffer no disruptions, and Jimmy himself is mortal.
Interesting analysis, thanks for making it! To me, both the ice cream cone and the gnome remind me of the archetype of the Trickster (the Fool). The Trickster subverts and bends the normal rules of society, often using their quick wit, charisma and intellect to to their advantage. I thought both the shot of the gnome and the ice cream cone (resembling the fool's hat) reflected the trickster archetype, all the while pointing out the fragility/sustainability of Jimmy's alter ego Saul Goodman.
It was just his favorite flavor he admitted it in the finale
A crew member just dropped it and they thought it would be cool to film all the ants getting it.
I was kinda high when this scene came on, some of the best television I've seen, the calmness the music the details the sounds. Man.
Underrated channel. You deserve more subs
I saw the the ice cream as a depiction of Jimmy trying to stay on the right path. Innocence almost. The melting ice cream symbolised how quickly that state of freedom from crime and joy of being on the right path doesn’t last long for Jimmy. He’s always racing against other dark forces that suck him back in. When Nacho pulls up with his people it’s a reflection of the dark that still has a hold on Jimmy, turning him into to Saul. The ants represent how Jimmy’s innocence is dismantled and constantly overburdened by those he surrenders himself to. They will engulf whatever is left of Jimmy and when he returns as Saul, he will be a used up, deflated individual who has walked the wrong path that leads him to a world of exile.
Now THIS is the kinda overanalyzing i love
Now the finale episode has been aired there is another thing related with the ice cream. When Jim and Kim are in the hotel room hiding from Lalo, Jim says that doesn't want mint choc on his ice cream mix while in the previous episodes we've seen him eating this ice cream flavor. We can see that as a change of his personality and the things he will have to leave behind if he stays as the lawyer of the cartel.
I really like the vibe of this channel.
I'm convinced it's Kim's foot that lands next to the cone in episode 3
On 5x10 Kim says that the court is "just a few blocks" from the hotel they stood. Maybe (just maybe), Kim walked near that mess at that moment.
Also important to note that the “top” of the ice cream cone was in fact the bottom when held in the traditional manner. Just another fun nod to jimmy’s inverted sense of climbing the ladder.
The loss of innocence
My favourite time of the week, when another Basement Breakdown comes out!
I love the concept of these videos.
To the point, nothing extra and nothing glittery sprinkled on top. Your observation skills coupled with your sense of explanation is a really good combo. You gave proper context to everything without wandering away from the topic at hand. Expecting to see you grow to millions with quality content like this. Best wishes! Keep up the good work.
I saw it as the disapearence of the bit of innocence he had left
Great breakdown!! I love this show and it's pacing, I never want the BB/BCS universe to end!
I love the symbolism of this scene. I'm obsessed with this show 😍
Hi!!! Please make analysis of the Better Call Saul episodes!!!! Your videos are amazing!!
This ties up with what nacho says that same espisode "once you´re in... you´re in"
It’s something refreshing, sweet, yet he let it die due to business. It could be him and Kim’s relationship, as it will most definitely end
The end of innocence.
This show is excellent! The attention to detail is astonishing.
Vince is a genius
Well done! Fun theory's on symbolism that seem to actually make sense.
Thank you for the thorough analysis! I have an opposing view:
The way I see it, the day at CC Mobile when sorrowful condolences and interest for Geraldine’s death were delivered over the phone, nothing more than Jimmy’s typical practice of public relations retention was taking place. Plainly put, he was faking it. He is a much darker character than one might tend to believe, despite being extremely likeable and the one most of us root for.
We can remember the flashback of his childhood, when the man who played his father for money at their family shop nastily exclaimed he would have to be a “sheep” or a “wolf” in this world. We know Jimmy made up his mind. We know that “Slippin’ Jimmy” is him at his purest condition, both because of the assessment of Marco, a longtime best friend that knew him too well, and because of Chuck’s multiple verdicts about him having been, and destined to always be, dangerous and malicious in his nature. Howard’s commemorative words for Chuck, in particular, reveal to us with an emphatic assertion what a unique mastermind he was, as we’ve kind of always known. Therefore, his clairvoyant view must be immaculate for his - also too well known to him - younger brother. A point Jimmy constantly proves, himself. He keeps marching on with his peculiar morale of tenacity for earning, accompanied by an inclination to illegality and plot-hatching.
This scheme has been hard-to-take for Kim Wexler, and it often brought cracks to their relationship, without completely breaking it. In many instances, she felt being in crossroads of thinking about continuing a normal life without Jimmy, or remaining his partner. She is the actual one that had been having a view to “climb the mountain while remaining a good person”, by pursuing a successful career of a normal human being. At least in the beginning.
As her affection for Jimmy grew - and he definitely is an outrageously lovable person for almost anyone, until he decides to “do what he is best at”, meaning making it all crumble to debris -, and as she contemplated the humane aspect of what interests she was serving with her work, she tended to his side. She found something moral in the “cause justifies the means” dogma, that Chuck punctually ascribed to Jimmy’s way of living. She cultivated the belief that it is worth it bringing better days for average people, not even affording trials, even if she had to go astray in strict law obedience. Lost interest in caring about the interests of colossal, multi-state bank corporations. Her evolution to a “Slippin’ Kim” has reached a point where Jimmy himself (5th season finale) is left in awe.
The “Kim Wexler transformation” phenomenon is hugely due to Jimmy’s likeable disposition. The latter though has, to a great extent and even between the two, been based on lies, that are Jimmy’s only dissecting line between real life and his uniquely troubling character. Small lies, threats, plots and coaxing are all that make him a prevalent figure of social and professional life - as well as life in crime. Kim has been, despite of the developing honesty between them, a victim of that as well. Characteristic example is Jimmy’s “chicanery” that incurably exposed Chuck in court, as well as his later “mistaken” leaking about his unstable mental condition to the insurance company, with a carefully planned emotional outburst. Or how he completely embraced Howard’s guilt confession about causing Chuck’s death because of their conflicting policy views at HHM and his advising about retiring from law practice. Jimmy used this situation to “settle”his relationship with Howard, obtaining the upper hand in any future exchange, as he made himself looked victimised. All these things remain with Jimmy, and no one else (for now, before 6th season is out) is aware of the manipulations he pulled off. They are kept to himself, and pose the true ingredients that differentiate and define him. Not a brilliant way to be defined.
Thanks for that. I read so many pro-Jimmy comments on BCS videos that I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. So many don't understand that Jimmy is not a good person. They can't see past Bob Odenkirk's fantastic work, nor can they see past his character's charm - a tool he often uses towards despicable ends.
Psychiatrists would have a field day with Jimmy McGill. Every time the guy attempts something legitimate he sabotages himself. Davis and Main was his big break and he pissed it away. He seems to believe that he can only live his best life when he's risking jail time or his own life.
The cone is actually looking wistfully in the direction in which Saul left. Wait, come back and eat me!
I love how BCS uses humor to pace the story-telling. The upside-down clown-hat ice cream cone made me laugh!
Thanks so much for your entertaining and insightful look at the show. I get so caught up in the story that I lose the big picture.
Any chance of a breakdown of the lunch with Howard? And its consequences?
eat or be eaten, thats my interpretation.
Amused, educated, convinced, amazed & subscribed ❤️
Another meaning I comprehended was, that Jimmy threw the ice cream on the floor and never cleaned it up, whereas when Kim participated in the beer throwing thing, she cleaned up the mess the next morning. Shows how Jimmy has a thing for not cleaning up his mess.
Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould are geniuses ! I admire them !
Might be a bit late here but I noticed that when the DA is accusing Saul of doing it for the money, the elevator dings almost in affirmation that she found the correct answer
Really funny timing or intentional sound design, either way I thought it was interesting
This is such a great breakdown
I’m so hooked on this show, and even more hooked on Bob Odenkirk.
You think icecream just HAPPENED to fall on the sidewalk? No! It was orchestrated! Jimmy!
I only just realised that later on when him and Kim eat room service ice cream jimmy asks for everything apart from mint chocolate chip
The cone symbolizes a good sweet life that is really fickle and can easily be wasted and devoured by another type of creature.
Ants or Jimmy, that ice cream was doomed to get gobbled up no matter what.
Your breakdowns are amazing. You’re very smart and observant ! Thanks for helping us understand the show on a deeper level. Keep up this good work it will pay off for you aloha
bro please come back for season 6
nobody does breakdowns like you
I have a different kind of basement breakdown. But I like seeing your take on it.
I think the cone and scoop represents Saul’s services. The ants represent everyone leaching it.
I live in ABQ and the only thought I had about the cone was that it sure as hell wasn’t edible to last that long on a sidewalk here. The ants are very realistic.
Making jimmy drop his ice cream is genuinely the worst thing nacho has ever done lmao
I have a theory. The ice cream is Jimmy and the ants are a bunch of tiny Saul Goodmans eating away at what remains of Jimmy
Green is success. He can only taste success. He can never fully be satisfied or sated by it.
To me the ants represent the criminals coming up from the underworld and slowly starting to tear jimmy down
It's like the snowball effect. Once jimmy comes into contact with the first ant (tuco) other ants (nacho, lalo, gus, walter) start to follow and begin eating away at the ice cream until nothing is left. This shows that the criminal world has become inescapable for Jimmy and he can no longer reach the heights he dreamed fo by playing straight.
He refused the green ice-cream from the wife on the last episode
I had just thought of it as representing how something so little could have a big consequence
To paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes an ice cream cone is just an ice cream cone.
Think it's just the loss of his innocence. Jimmy going from a crook to a criminal.
Ice cream (sweet) is the 50% discount that Saul provided to his customers. And they, like ants for sweets, ran to her.
It's kind of providence that, although they couldn't use the name "Jello" in Season 1, they used "Alpine Shepherd Boy" as a metaphor for Jimmy's better, innocent nature / instincts. Here, with the Alpine music and the mountain-shape of the cone scaled by a lone ant before the swarm rushes in...
Just like the providence that they had to invent the character Mike Ehrmentraut 'cos Odenkirk wasn't available for that filming block. And with compromise they create something I daresay is _waaaay_ better than the original vision would have been.
Plus, in all the "O"-ending names, "Alpine Shepherd Boy" _does_ stand out with notable poetry. I wish they'd kept that consistent naming format each season - Season 2 - "Yo Soy Saul", "You Soy Tio", "Estoy Renunciando"... _OK,_ that's not great but something like that. I _love_ the names of the episodes in Season 1.
Holy shit man how do I start watching contents the way you see them.
Just discovered you a couple weeks ago. Can’t wait to experience the final season & hear you share your thoughts. Excellent in-depth analysis.
The way I understood it, it meant something like "drop the blissful ignorance, your contact to organized crime is catching up to you right here, right now"
Just like any imagery of ice cream in Rick and Morty probably means something like blissful ignorance.
And the season ends with him not wanting mint chocolate chip! He was trying to stay level as Kim starts pushing ideas about taking down Howard. Taking her down a new road. Using settlement money to fund her pro bono work. This new road will I'm sure lead to Kim's outcome. So no symbolic green go go here. Really enjoyed your video. I'll hit subscribe.
I think this is a great examination of the symbolism in this scene, as a it pertains to this point in time of Better Call Saul. I think that even beyond what it says at this moment in this show, the use of insects symbolizes that this is the moment that the show actually crosses over into the story of Breaking Bad (since insects were such a strong motif of that entire series). We may not be into the timeline yet, but we might as well be viewing "Breaking Bad Year Zero" now. Although Jimmy has had some varied contacts with the Salamancas before now, this is the first time as Saul Goodman, and it is for the purpose of utilizing his "criminal" lawyer services, and the person he will be throughout Breaking Bad.
The ice cream is Jimmy and his sweet talent. The ants are Lalo and his cartel members coming to get that treat essentially eating away at his sweet side. He didn’t want to become what they turned him into but selfish Lalo is the ant at the top. Sometimes the things you love (blue bell mint chip) represent you. It’s the cartel destroying Jimmy. He mentioned in the end he loves blue bell mint
I truly believe the ants represent this bastardization of a seemingly legit career path and how deep Saul gets into the criminal underworld. The most important thing to me is how one ant finds the cone, his services and talents, and hundreds follow. I think the first ant was Lalo.
It's the lost of innocence and how each illicit act draws Saul closer into cartel territory. It happened in the season finale wen Jimmy/Saul tells Kim, no mint chip ice cream, it's his hope that he can extract himself out from under the cartel, but due to Lalo escape artist act, Saul will be drawn ever deeper in... how Lalo doesnt automatic finger Nacho in his complicity in the hit job, we'll see I guess.