As noted in the review of this week’s Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill broke a little bad and introduced the Hoboken Squat Cobbler not only to the Saul universe, but undoubtedly to the Urban Dictionary. It was a strong episode that continued to tease out the emotional rejection yet to come that will continue Jimmy on his path to becoming Saul Goodman.
There were also, of course, some really great details, many of which were highlighted on this week’s Better Call Saul Insider podcast. The links below go to the podcast, unless otherwise noted.
Sicilliene
The piano piece played by Chuck in the cold open — “Sicilienne,” an unused Gabriel Fauré composition created for Moliere’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme — was actually played by the show’s music supervisor, Dave Porter. However, if you’re curious about whose name was written on the sheet music — Rebecca Bois — that’s actually a name from the family of the episode’s writer, Genny Hutchison. The sequence is described by Vince Gilligan as the best cold open in the entire run of Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad. In the Insider podcast, Gilligan also hinted that Rebecca Bois could be a character that appears later this season.
The Cold Open
The teaser sequence, in the opinion of Gilligan and co., was designed to inform the audience of something that might not be immediately apparent: Chuck didn’t completely reject Jimmy because he thought Jimmy was ill-suited to his firm. He also declined to allow Jimmy to be hired because Chuck didn’t want to lose him. He’d become Chuck’s closest friend, and his caretaker, and he needed that relationship. Of course, he lost it anyway. The reason Chuck decided to go back to work, essentially, was to check in on his brother, because he does care about Jimmy, but he allowed his own self-interest to get into the way.
The symbolic lighting in this show is, as always, excellent.
World’s 2nd Best Lawyer
We now know who the first Greatest Lawyer is, right? (via Story Sync)
Chicago Sunroof
I’m sure that 90 percent of viewers picked it up immediately, but it didn’t occur to me until the second time watching that Jimmy grimaced when he opened the sunroof on his new car because, no doubt, he was reminded of the Chicago Sunroof. It’s those quick, little, almost imperceptible jokes that make Better Call Saul so good.
Laser Tag
Last week, we learned that Pryce’s real name is Daniel Wormald. This week, we learned that Wormald is maiden name of Thomas Schnauz’s mother (Schnauz is a regular writer on Saul, who wrote last week’s episode). Knowing that his name is “Daniel,” Redditor BlueJeansMan posited a fun theory that Daniel is the same “Danny” who owned the Lazer Tag business and who Saul tried to convince Walt and Skylar to use to launder their money. “Saul prefers the laser tag place, because it’s ‘foolproof.’ It comes complete with Danny, who ‘will play ball and make sure everything goes smoothly.'”
That theory is bolstered by a quote from Mark Proksch, who plays Daniel, to TV Guide: “It’s one of those things I would hate to speculate on, because our fans are so savvy that they may be able to figure it out, and then I would be spoiling something for them. So, you’ll just have to wait and see.”
Hostage Situation
Here’s an interesting note on the upholstery shop scene from the Better Call Saul Insider Podcast: While filming the scene, the entire crew had to go on lockdown in the shop — which is a real upholstery shop — because of a hostage situation in the area. There was a SWAT team and helicopters flying overhead for hours, the sounds of which had to be removed in post-production (no one was ultimately hurt).
Hoboken Squat Cobbler
While the Hoboken Squat Cobbler scene was undoubtedly the highlight of the episode — and maybe of the season — listening to Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould and Co. talk about the scene on the podcast is somehow even better. As relayed in the podcast (and to Alan Sepinwall), the idea to come up with a sex name for the act came from Bob Odenkirk himself. The script initially called for Daniel to simply “sit in pies,” but Odenkirk thought there should be some shorthand. He referenced “plate jobs” as an example, recalling that there are rumors of a “couple of celebrities” who are into “plate jobs.” He didn’t name those celebrities, but Google certainly does.
Sploshing
As Kelley Dixon reminds us in the Better Call Saul podcast, there’s an actual name for pie sitting. It’s called “sploshing,” and actually, it was depicted in the Showtime series, United States of Tara, by none other than Brie Larson, who sat on birthday cakes for the fetishistic pleasure of paying men on the Internet. So remember that, folks: Oscar-nominated Brie Larson, anti-It It Girl, former pop star and the star of one of the best indie movies on Netflix, was doing the Hoboken Squat Cobbler before it was cool.
The Video
Will we ever see the Hoboken Squat Cobbler video? “This video might actually exist,” is all that Peter Gould would offer, when asked by Gilligan if fans of the series have something to look forward to. Gilligan himself claims to have seen it. “I laughed so hard I literally burst a blood vessel,” he said of watching it. However, Gould noted that — while he and Gilligan have seen it — there is “literally no way for anyone else to see it.” They did, however, tease that it could be on the Blu-ray.
