#when in doubt think of what saul goodman would do

[arabaka]

Dear Reigen,

Is it true that you use the wifi from the cafe upstairs? It seems like every time I have an exorcism scheduled you’ve just returned from there. I get the feeling that you’re keeping something secret, but I just don’t know what. Should I stop scheduling appointments for Wednesday? It seems you’re really busy that day.

Sincerely,

Wednesday Woes

˚. ✦.˳·˖✶Oh no. He's started to let this ... Fixation affect his work. His fingers move fast on the keyboard.

"Now that is just not true. Rest assured, I am always looking out for my client's best interest. You see, sometimes evil spirits get a hold of my notices and I frequently miss out on important tenant updates! So the upstairs owner he ," Reigen places extra emphasis on the pronoun, "has to, uh, discuss them at length with me. Yeah! Please, keep your appointments. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Signed, Reigen Arataka Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century

[slamminslamminmcgill]

Outed - Saul Goodman/FTM Reader (NSFW!)

tags/warnings: shameless smut, trans fetishization, degradation, humiliation, name calling, choking, face slapping, homophobic/transphobic slurs, squirting, drunk sex, age gap

don’t like don’t read lmao

words: 3,317 ao3 link

this is based off a bunch of prompts i sent to @tonighttonight​ and i wanted to write a full length fic about it!!! enjoy ♥♥♥

You’d been in Albuquerque for a few years now. Originally, your plan was to get your degree at UNM and leave, but after settling in you found that you’d come to like it here. You weren’t exactly in a rush to get out, especially after landing a cushy job as a personal assistant…

at the office of Saul Goodman and Associates. 

Truth be told, you had no idea how you’d snagged it. You figured the seedy lawyer with his face plastered on every flat surface in New Mexico would be looking for a pretty young woman to wait on him. The kind of person he’d keep on payroll just to have a set of tits in the office to ogle, and you did not fit that criteria, at least not anymore. You were a 24 year old man, and no one had any reason to doubt that beyond your height and a minor case of babyface. Why’d he pick you? He didn’t seem like he was into men. Did nobody else apply? Whatever, you weren’t complaining. The job was easy enough. 

Yes, he was as sleazy and full of himself as his commercials made him seem, but he had his more endearing moments. When you managed to impress him, he’d pat you on the back and tell you “Good job, kid.” with a smile. And he meant it. He’d look at you like a son, and he was the proud father figure. Fitting, since he was practically old enough to be your father.

It was Friday night, and the whole week he’d been stressing about this one case. Something about a drug charge and whether or not the evidence was the result of an illegal search. He’d managed to swing it in his favor, and the charges were dropped. When he got back from the courthouse, he picked you up and hugged you, saying he couldn’t have done it without you. You doubted the truth of that sentiment, but in the past he’d playfully chastise you about selling yourself short. He even invited you out for drinks that night to celebrate, though he did crack a joke about whether or not you’d be let in the bar. You’d rolled your eyes at his quip, but figured what the hell, why not? Free drinks right?

A couple hours into the night, and you were gone. Tequila always got the better of you, but Saul had been following you shot for shot, and he seemed perfectly lucid. He was definitely buzzed, but nowhere near as much as you. You’d laughed over the other’s embarrassing stories, talked about your families, all the things you wanted to know about each other but never got the time to discuss. He was a fun drinking partner, and you said something about doing this more often, to which he agreed. You leaned over the counter, tilting your stool a little too far, about to order another round when he stopped you. 

“I think you’ve had enough, kid,” He said, pulling you back and resting his hand on the small of your back to stabilize you. “Me personally, I could do another 3, but I don’t want to set a bad example. Come on, it’s late. You can spend the night at my place, if you want,” He patted you as he stood up. 

There was that endearing quality to him. For all his jokes and teasing, you knew he cared about you. He held out his hand to help you off the bar stool. You stumbled a bit, but he was there to catch you.  The two of you walked out to his car, and he opened the door for you. You’d say chivalry was alive and well, but in all honesty you were probably just too drunk to figure out the handle. 

The car ride back to his place was mostly quiet. You gazed out the window at the ABQ’s night sky. The songs on the radio had you absentmindedly swaying from side to side. At one point, one of Saul’s radio ads came on, and the two of you laughed. He pulled up to his mansion and turned the car off.

“You still with me, kid?” He asked. You nodded your head. “Good, let me get the door for you.” He got out of the car and walked around. You were still swaying to a song that stopped playing 5 minutes ago, only stopping when the passenger door caught your attention.

“Thank youuu,” You slurred, trying to crawl out of your seat, but you were still buckled in. You had no idea what was keeping you trapped, so you tried to squirm out of your seat, to no avail, of course.

Saul chuckled at your attempt to get out. You were wasted. “Anytime, kid.” He replied, leaning over you to unbuckle your seatbelt. Again, he held his hand out to help you out of the car. You smiled up at him, still holding on to him as he walked you into the house. 

“You knoooow, I thought of… I thought of something else I wanted to tell you,” You said, swinging your arm that was holding his hand. “It’s a seeecret.”

“Oh yeah?” He asked, raising his eyebrow as he unlocked the front door. He thought it was funny how silly you were acting. Usually, you were nothing but composed and professional around him. Now, your face was bright red, and you needed his help with the most simple of tasks. “Tell me,” He opened the door and gestured for you to come inside.

You giggled as you stepped into the house, turning around to look at him with a cheeky smile as he closed the door and locked it. “I’m trans.”

His eyes widened at your confession. He didn’t seem angry or upset, just surprised, perhaps a little intrigued. You figured that’d be the case. You hadn’t met any other trans people since coming to Albuquerque, so it was just easier to be stealth than explain yourself every time.“What? Really?” He asked.

“Yeeep.”

“Pardon my uh,” Saul cleared his throat, “pardon my ignorance, but does that mean you have a, uh… a vagina?”

“Yeeeeeeeeeep.”

Now he was the one blushing. Having an affirmative answer to his intimate question, his surprise turned to overwhelming curiosity. “Well, can I tell you something?” He asked, slowly stepping towards you. He put his hands on your hips. Perhaps he just wanted to help your balance, but he had something else in mind. He had an idea. 

“Suuure,” You replied, punctuating your answer with a giggle. The alcohol had really messed you up. You just shared your most private secret with your boss, and you thought it was funny.

“Well, the truth is…” Saul leaned down to whisper in your ear, “I don’t believe you.”

“Pshhhh, whaaat?” You placed your hand on his chest and nudged him off you. He stood up straight and you looked him in the eye. “You want me to prove it?” 

Saul’s breath hitched in his throat. His pants suddenly felt tighter. You’d basically just offered yourself up to him, right? Was it really that easy? Were you really that easy? He’d be an idiot not to take you up on it. He called your bluff. “I think you have to.”

You were a lot of things, but not a liar. He held his hand out to you once more, and led you up the stairs into his gaudy bedroom, the ornate designs on the walls only disorienting you further. How you managed to avoid face-planting onto the floor was nothing short of a miracle. When he let you go, you peeled your shirt off and pointed at your top surgery scars. “Still don’t believe me?”, you teased.

“Hm… I dunno,” Saul played along, loving your newfound confidence. He would definitely need to get you drunk again.  “That’s not what I asked you about, is it?”

You got the hint. You unbuckled your pants, sliding them off, and your underwear followed. You plopped down on his satin sheets and spread your legs. You didn’t break eye contact the whole time. You still had a shit-eating grin plastered on your face.

Saul was stunned. He was sure he was dreaming. Here you were, fully naked, spread open for him, looking up at him, on display like a whore. And you had the most beautiful cunt he’d ever laid eyes on. It took everything within him to resist pouncing on you. He had to play it cool.

“Wow…” He mumbled, kneeling down in front of you. His hands crawled up your thighs and pushed your legs open even more. He was face to face with your cunt. “You weren’t kidding, huh?,” He was fascinated by your clit, how big it was, how it’d feel to touch it, how it’d feel in his mouth. He wanted to touch you. He had to touch you. “Does it,” he dragged his hand from your thigh, stopping when his thumb was over your clit, “work the same as a woman’s?” He flicked his thumb, and your whole body twitched in response. 

You gasped. He barely even touched you yet, and you were already putty in his hands. “Y-yeah…” you moaned. He stroked your clit while you talked, eager to break you down even further. “If a-” Twitch. “-nything it’s more-” Twitch. “ngh.. more s-sensitive…” Twitch. You could feel yourself getting wetter. 

“Yeah?” Saul teased, snaking his hands up to grab your hips, adjusting you so your ass was off the edge of the bed and your legs rested on his shoulders. He was salivating at the sight in front of him. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. “Perfect.” He dove his face into your pussy, licking up and down your slit in a frenzy. 

You practically screamed when he went down on you. Your moans echoed throughout the room. You fell back onto the bed, one hand grasping the sheets, the other grabbing his hair and holding on for dear life. You were sensitive normally, but the alcohol had you writhing beneath him. Every flick of his tongue had you shaking. He wrapped his lips around your clit, bobbing his head back and forth to suck you off. 

“F-fuck! Saul!” Goddamn, he was good. There was no way he had been with a trans guy before, but he was devouring you. He was working you in all the right ways. You tried grinding against him, desperate for more friction, but his grasp on your hips stopped you. You were at his mercy. He could tell what you wanted though, and brought one of his hands down to your pussy. Two fingers prodded your drenched, eager hole before sliding inside. His reward for that was a pathetic, pleading moan. You felt him chuckle against your clit, the vibrations like a shockwave that resonated through your whole body. He pumped his fingers in and out. Obscene wet sounds accompanied his movements.

Saul pulled his mouth off you for a brief second and gasped for air. His fingers sped up to make up for the absence of his mouth on you. You glanced down at him. His mouth was covered in your juices. He was panting heavily. His eyes met yours and he smirked. He quickly dove back in. He was drunk off your body. You’d figured he was a pervert, but this was beyond anything you could’ve imagined. It was disgusting. It was addicting. He was shamelessly slurping you up, desperate to take you, break you, and make you his. He curled his fingers into just the right spot, and you lost it.

“Fuck! Saul, god. Fuck! Please… more! Do that again please! Please! Please don’t stop. I’m so close. Please!” 

Your begging was the most beautiful thing he ever heard. He obliged, pressing his fingers against that same spot over and over again. Your head flew back into the covers and your back arched. He needed you to cum, you needed to cum, and you felt yourself teetering over the edge. It wasn’t long before you did, an iron grip on his hair forcing him as far down into your cunt as he could go. You’d neglected to mention that you were a squirter, and you didn’t even think of it until you felt liquid seeping into his mouth. When you realized what was happening, you panicked and let him go, though the tequila had definitely stunted your reaction time. 

He managed to swallow quite a bit, but still coughed as he pulled away from you. You clumsily hoisted yourself onto your elbows, looking down to see if he was okay. He seemed alright, though he was attempting to catch his breath. His face was glistening with your essence, and his suit now had an incredibly large and incredibly embarrassing wet spot. Shit, he still had his clothes on? How did you not notice? Your eyes followed his body as he stood up, until you locked eyes. He was staring at you with pure lust. His eyes were burning a hole into you. You were beneath him, and you felt the slightest bit of shame for the first time that night. 

“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, Saul. I-“ His finger pressed against your lips, cutting you off mid-apology.

“Shh. Shh. It’s okay,” He cooed. “You couldn’t help it, yeah? It felt good, huh?” The hand by your lips moved to caress your cheek, and you leaned into his touch. You didn’t realize his other hand was undoing his belt. 

You gulped. Your eyes fluttered shut, and you nodded your head at his questions. His touch was comforting, satiating, and embarrassing all at once. 

“Look at me, baby boy,” Saul grabbed your chin and tilted you up, forcing you to make eye contact. “And use your words. Did I make you feel good?”

“Y-… yes, Saul.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, Saul… you… you made me feel good.”

“Good boy. I knew you’d enjoy it,” He planted a gentle kiss against your cheek, “Such a good…” and against your neck, “little…” and slammed his cock into your pleading hole, “slut.”

You screamed again once he entered you, and he silenced you by pressing his lips against yours. He gave you no time to adjust to him, establishing a relentless pace just as suddenly as he entered you. You moaned into his mouth as he worked you over. You wrapped your legs around his back, allowing for his cock to reach even deeper within you. He broke the kiss to lean back and take in the sight of you, totally vulnerable, whimpering and trembling with his every movement. He could barely contain his excitement. 

“That’s it, whore. Take it. Just let it happen.” Saul growled. His voice was so raspy and grating. His demeaning words were grinding down any integrity you felt you had. His demeanor had changed in a flash. The gentle, nurturing touch he had before was gone, something more sadistic in its place, and you loved it.

You could barely find the words to string your thoughts together, “God…! ngh… fuck… Please more! Saul… Harder! More!” 

“More?” He scoffed. ”You want it that bad, bitch?” 

“God, yes! Please! Fuck! More! I need it. I nee-“ Your incessant whining was cut off by a backhand. You yelped at the hit and clenched even tighter around him. 

“Shut up! God, you’re annoying. Fine, you want more? Here,” Saul took one of his hands and wrapped it around your throat. “Here you go, faggot.” 

You initially panicked at the cutoff of your oxygen supply, but it fueled your desire even more. The fact that he could be so doting and so violent, so sweet and so cruel, it drove you crazy. You had a vice around your neck and a smile on your face. 

“You seem to be enjoying yourself. Are all cuntboys sluts like you?” Saul asked, his grip on your throat relaxing just enough so that you wouldn’t black out. You coughed and sputtered as the air hit you. “You disgusting fucking freak. I bet that’s why you told me, huh? I bet you told me you had a pussy cause you were just praying I’d stick my cock in it.” He slapped you again. “Pathetic tranny. You’re lucky you feel so good. You’re a better fuck than any woman I’ve ever had. So fucking tight, and no one’s ever cum so hard for me before. Ruined a perfectly good suit.” His twisted praise was pressing all the right buttons. 

Your grasp on reality was slipping. You’d lost the ability to speak, egging him on with only your body and an aria of insatiable moans. Every degrading epithet drove you further and further into him. 

“Maybe I’ll get rid of your desk at the office and just have you kneel between my legs all day. Does that sound good? I bet it does. A dirty cuntboy like you would probably jump at the chance to service a real man, especially one who’ll fuck you ‘til you break.” He punctuated his monologue with another slap across your face. 

He was right. He was so, so right. You wanted it all. You wanted to be his property. A cute little fucktoy that he could empty himself in whenever he had a break between clients. You were losing yourself. You could feel yourself nearing your peak. Blissful tears began to well in the corners of your eyes. You were inching closer and closer to becoming the brainless sex doll he saw you as. It took all your remaining cognition to ask for release. 

“P-P-Please… Saul… lemme… c-cum… Please…” 

With your pitiful request, something changed within him. He smiled, that warm genuine smile you’d come to know him for, and took your cock between his fingers. He began to stroke you rapidly and placed a tender kiss on your quivering lips before he spoke. “Go ahead, sweetheart. Cum for me.”

And you did. You wrapped your arms around him and sobbed as he pulled another orgasm from you, a familiar wetness rushing out and filling the space between your bodies. Saul hissed as you let go, your walls spasming around him had thrown off his mechanical rhythm. He gave a few more sloppy thrusts before he pulled out and jerked himself over you. 

“‘S good, kid. Real good,” His voice sounded strained as he frantically stroked his cock. “Hold still for me. Gonna make you look nice and pretty, ok?” 

You nodded, and the sight of you so eager for his cum made him snap. He came with a loud groan, painting your face and chest white. You mewled as you felt his seed coat your skin. You both panted heavily as you came down from your highs together. You’d had your eyes closed, but they jolted open once you heard a camera click. You were greeted by your boss holding his phone. Did he just…?

“Wanted to capture the moment,” he said, turning his phone around to show you the picture. Your cheeks were bright red, you had bruises on your neck, and you were splattered with cum. “Though with how gorgeous you look, can you really blame me?” He was clearly proud of himself. 

You tried to sit up on the edge of the bed, but you were practically boneless. Rough sex and alcohol were not a good combination for dexterity. 

“Easy there, tiger. Let me get that for you.” Saul propped you upright and grabbed a tissue off the nightstand. He gently dabbed your skin with the tissue, touching you like you would shatter if he put too much pressure on you, a strange contrast to how he treated you not minutes before. You hummed contentedly and leaned into his touch. When he was done cleaning you up, he cupped your face in his hands and left a kiss on your forehead. 

“Good job, kid.”

[septembersghost]

I was milling around on YouTube the other day and there was an old (end of s4) Bob talking about Saul/Jimmy video, and the fact that he said that if Kim did die, Jimmy “wouldn’t be able to go on” is both heartbreaking and reassuring

do you remember when jimmy said to the kettlemans, let's parachute down from cloud cuckoo land? that's how i feel reading comments insisting kim is going to die. other than the fact that they've somewhat openly hinted that isn't her fate (that things besides death can be tragic), it's definitely been made more and more clear for the past couple of seasons that he would not make it if she died. it wouldn't be decay into saul goodman, it would be complete collapse. i don't think he'd bother sticking with the law, i'm not sure how he'd keep going at all. that would be too much. that would be, be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where i cannot find you, the kind of heartbreak time could never mend, devastation. he said it himself, he can't do this if anything happens to her. he'd disintegrate if he lost her to violence/harm. we didn't really need the proof of him putting her life before his own to know that, but he did, so it only galvanizes this more. i don't know what's going to happen to her, or to them, but i feel sure that whatever it is, she's going to have to live with it, as will he. and maybe that will rip our hearts out even worse. still, where there's life, there's hope, and never doubt there's love.

[scrawnydutchman]

Better Call Saul: The Slow, Slow Death of Jimmy McGill

(SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BETTER CALL SAUL)

Better Call Saul is, quite possibly, my new favorite show EVER. What started as a strange successor to the legendary Breaking Bad in tone and pace has quickly become a worthy contender in it’s own right as the “Greatest show in television history”. When I first heard of this show after just finishing Breaking Bad I thought “ . . .really? Of all Breaking Bad characters to make a spinoff around you pick the goofy lawyer?”. But oh man. The drama, the lore, the absolutely RICH characters, the performances, the cinematography. Everything about this show is as close to perfect as a show can get. Even Breaking Bad has had its low or questionable moments (the most infamous one being the entirety of the Fly episode) but I can’t think of a single Better Call Saul episode that isn’t necessary for the puzzle that is “who is Saul Goodman REALLY”?

As to whether or not it’s OFFICIALLY better than Breaking Bad, well . . . .let’s see if it sticks the landing. As of the typing of this essay the latest episode is “Fun and Games” and there are still 4 episodes remaining. It COULD fall apart in its finale, but I sincerely doubt it given the immense talent of these writers.

But if the ending of “Fun and Games” indicates anything, it’s that it . . . .might . . . already be the end of the story of James Morgan McGill. The good hearted but sort of crooked public attorney who tries to fight an uphill battle to redemption but is being both pushed down the slope by higher ups that refuse to believe in him AND pulled down by lowlifes of the criminal world who refuse to let him leave the game.

Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman is especially interesting in juxtaposition to Walter White’s transformation into Heisenberg. While Walt willingly dives headfirst into the criminal underworld and has a relatively fast and explosive transformation into the meth kingpin Heisenberg, Jimmy has an agonizingly slow transformation into Saul Goodman because it’s *largely* unwilling or begrudging. Anyone who’s seen Breaking Bad knows where Jimmy McGill is headed, but that makes his decay all the more dreaded as we get a sense of just how good a guy he was from the beginning. What could do this to such a big hearted young man?

WOLVES AND SHEEP

James Morgan McGill was born and raised in Cicero, Illinois. The younger brother to Charles “Chuck” McGill, the two brothers grew up in poverty as their father worked a humble little convenience store that barely made ends meet. What’s worse is that his store was often the target of Grifters who knew that his was the spot for an easy handout. From one of these Grifters an impressionable young Jimmy took a lesson that would inform his life going forward.

“There are wolves and sheep in this world, kid. Figure out which one you’re gonna be”.

This philosophy informs Jimmy’s perception of reality. There are those who are good natured and those who are gonna try and take advantage of good nature. So how does he survive? In what way does he respond to this advice?

Well . . . . . Jimmy is a bit more complicated than simply being either a “wolf” or a “sheep”. He somehow managed to be a hybrid of the two . .  .and as a result, he became the bridge between two very different worlds: Legal and Criminal.

Red and Blue

One of the most common observations (and sometimes complaints) about Better Call Saul is that almost every episode has two very different plots going at once with characters that have virtually nothing to do with each other. Whether or not Jimmy will be accepted at HHM has nothing to do with whether or not Nacho will successfully get rid of Tuco. This is a very deliberate choice because it creates a context of two opposing worlds in this show: legal and criminal, with the legal world often represented by the rich blues of the lawyers suits and the criminal world represented with bright reds, especially on Nacho’s wardrobe.

So where does Jimmy fit in to all of this? Welp, as mentioned before, he is the “bridge” between the two worlds. While he’s fighting with Chuck about whether he deserves to work at HHM, he has a side hustle of helping Mike get out of legal trouble. Whenever he needs to knock an uptight pretentious lawyer down a few pegs he may resort to his connections in the underworld to play a part in his scams. The point is, Jimmy is the only lawyer, for a time, who has the ability to seamlessly step from one side of the law to the other. And he owns every role he plays. He can be the wolf when he needs to humble a pompous jackass or he can be a sheep when he really shows his heart to his brother or somebody else he cares about . . . even if showing his heart often results in him being taken advantage of. Which is precisely what reinforces his “wolf and sheep” philosophy.

But remember what I said about the legal world trying to push Jimmy out and the criminal world pulling Jimmy in? Well, that takes it’s toll, and eventually Jimmy won’t be able to seamlessly step from one to the other forever.

Chimp with a Machine Gun

Sooo just because there are two worlds of “legal” and “criminal” and “wolves” and “sheep” does not necessarily mean there is a clear “good” and “bad”. In fact, one of the shows greatest qualities is how it exposes the many ways morality can be ambiguous.

“I’ve known good criminals and bad cops. Bad priests, honorable thieves. You can be on one side of the law or the other, but you keep your word”- Mike Ehrmantraut.

The PINNACLE example of moral ambiguity in this show is the man everyone holds to high regard as a sharp mind for justice: Charles “Chuck” McGill. Chuck is Jimmy’s older brother, the most well regarded Lawyer at HHM . . . and is the primary antagonist of seasons 1 through 3. He’s also, what I like to call, the “villain of the legal world”.

Chuck wants you to believe that he’s as impartial and fair a judge of character as you can get, but in truth he is a bitter, self righteous and frankly repugnant old man who has ulterior motives for all he does. His main problem is that he’s all about punishment and refuses to acknowledge the possibility of change. He insists Jimmy changes his ways over and over yet denies him any real opportunity to do so. He punishes Jimmy any time he does something above board and he takes Jimmy’s rigorous help for his “allergy to electricity” for granted. What’s worse is that he uses the people close to him as pawns. He gets Howard to play the bad guy for him as he pretends to be on Jimmy’s side, leading to Howard being the show’s "red herring”. He uses Ernesto’s earnest (bravo Vince) behavior against him because he KNOWS he’s going to tell Jimmy about the tape and then punishes him for doing exactly what he wanted. He even tries to manipulate Kim onto his side with his bullshit story accusing a young Jimmy of pilfering 14,000 dollars (Jimmy DID steal from the register, but 14 grand? Sounds more like Chuck is blaming Jimmy for dad’s handouts). The point is, while Jimmy is a scam artist, at least he can say he never uses people’s love for him against them.

Chuck is just one of many forces in the legal world keeping people like Jimmy down. You screw up once and you are a delinquent forever, and no punishment is enough for you to endure so you can turn a new leaf. The tragic thing is Chuck’s omen about the harm Jimmy will cause with his law degree is a prophecy fulfilled in part due to Chuck’s refusal to think Jimmy could be anything different. He, and others, is pushing Jimmy down that slope.

A Friend of the Cartel

So if Chuck is villain of the legal world AND the villain of the first 3 seasons . . .who’s the villain of the latter half? And who is the villain of the criminal world? You already know who it is. Eduardo Salamanca. But you can call him “Lalo”.

So you might ask yourself, how exactly DID Jimmy become the bridge between these two worlds anyway? Well, once upon a time he tried to run a skateboarder scam on the Kettleman family. It failed so spectacularly that he and the skateboarders he was running the hustle with became the hostages of Tuco Salamanca (or as Breaking Bad fans remember, the “TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT” guy).

Jimmy ends up not only getting himself down, but talking Tuco out of killing some Skateboarders . . . which, if you know anything about Tuco, you know is QUITE the achievement. That’s rolling a nat 20 on a persuasion check type shit. So anyway, Nacho, Tuco’s right hand man at the time, remembers this and inevitably introduces him to Lalo. There’s also a number of things Jimmy did with Mike that made him a bridge to the criminal world but Lalo is the important thing here.

So remember when I said that the criminal world is “pulling Jimmy in”? No character embodies that more than Lalo. Jimmy is basically forced against his will to do a LOT of Lalo’s bidding. He represents Krazy 8 in an interrogation, he manages to get Lalo a bail . . . .and throughout his relationship with Lalo he tries and fails over and over again to find a way out but Lalo is not easily talked out of his mind.

That is, except for one instance, where Lalo tells Jimmy it’s totally cool if he doesn’t want to be his bagman, and instead of walking away Jimmy tells him he’ll do it for a price. Yeeeeeeeah we should probably talk about Jimmy’s agency in all this because he is by NO means an innocent party.

The Switch

So I know I made a big point about how Chuck refuses to believe in his brother and how he kept denying him opportunities to turn a new leaf. The thing is . . . . . . Chuck’s not entirely wrong in his assessment about Jimmy. Jimmy is, most certainly, crooked, and he has always had a fascination with causing a little trouble. Matter of fact, he often has the PERFECT opportunities to prove Chuck wrong but does the exact opposite. He aired a commercial without Davis & Main’s consent. He regularly resorts to solicitation to get new clients. He COULD have walked out of being Lalo’s bagman but chose not to, as pointed out before. But probably most egregious of all . . . is his treatment of Howard.

Howard, at one point in the show, gives Jimmy the full package. He acknowledges how he and Chuck mistreated him. He offers Jimmy the position at HHM he should have gotten from the very start. He offers to make everything as right as they can be. Finally, FINALLY Jimmy is going to get what he deserves. And Jimmy . . . throws bowling balls on his car. And sends prostitutes' to his dinner. And eventually Kim gets in on the pranks too and . . . . well . . . if you’re all caught up you know where that goes. Point is, Jimmy’s choices have an effect on where he goes too . . . and all of this, the pushing of the legal world, the pulling of the criminal world, and Jimmy’s self made momentum, lead to the incredibly somber ending . . .where these two worlds mash together.

Two Worlds Mash Together

For 6 seasons, Jimmy McGill was living two separate lives. Red and Blue. Legal and Criminal. But all of this came to a sudden and tragic end when Lalo broke into Kim and Jimmy’s apartment and killed Howard. Howard, who wouldn’t have even been there had Kim and Jimmy just left him alone. Then, Lalo died the same night, losing his long chess match to Gustavo Fring. The two of them were buried together. They were total opposites: Howard being the most morally upright and sincere man in the legal world whom we wrongly labelled as a villain because of his demeanor, and Lalo, the murderous psychopath who we loved because he was just so charming and likable. The two halves of Jimmy’s world were buried under the very lab that his hottest client ever would inevitably inhabit.

There’s no more crossing from one to the other. There’s no being a lawyer by day and criminal by night. Now there is only the CRIMINAL lawyer.

But even with all this, one last piece of Jimmy’s heart needs to be removed. The love of his life, Kimberley Wexler.

Too Much Fun

So. At this point, up to the episode “Fun and Games” almost nothing remains of Jimmy’s former life. No mom and dad. No Marco. No Chuck. No Howard. No HHM. As Rich puts it, it’s “the end of an era”. All that is left of Jimmy McGill’s heart . . . is Kim.

And Kim leaves. She quits the law and she leaves. Because she is finally ready to admit to the truth. Together, Kim and Jimmy are poison. Destined to hurt everyone around them. Kim spent a long time in this relationship coming off as “the squeaky clean one” but her gutting confession to Jimmy is the final blow.

She knew Lalo was alive the whole time. She knew, and she knew what would happen if she told Jimmy. Jimmy would insist on breaking up and distancing from each other to protect her. And she couldn’t take that. Because she was having too much fun. She knowingly put the lives of herself, Jimmy and Howard all at risk . . . . for fun. The truth is, she was always attracted to the crookedness in Jimmy. She DIDN’T want him to change, and that’s precisely the problem. She was enabling him for her own thrills . . . and in a way, she used him more than anybody else.

The Birth of the Criminal Lawyer

The immediate time skip to Saul Goodman after this heartbreaking revelation from Kim is . . . kind of perfect. Because Kim was the only trace of Jimmy McGill left. Without her, there is no Jimmy. Only Saul Goodman. If Jimmy was part wolf and part sheep, Saul Goodman is the wolf who just had that sheep as its meal. Saul is what happens when Jimmy completely closes off his vulnerable heart and becomes a cold, money chasing machine. So gross he’ll ogle his hired help. So low he’ll encourage prison shanking. So opportunistic he will hook up with a Meth Dealer to get that payday.

Y’know . . . . . sometimes, while watching Better Call Saul, I would go back to clips of Breaking Bad with Saul Goodman in them and think to myself “ . . .these don’t feel remotely like the same characters. Where did all that heart go?” When I first watched Breaking Bad I thought he was nothing more than a comic relief character. A goofy man in a goofy suit to offset the darker implications of the series. But now . . . .  it’s like watching the reanimated corpse of an old friend. It’s just weird and sad.

Soooo yeah. Goes without saying I fucking love this series if I’m willing to write a poorly constructed essay about it. Even if it doesn’t surpass Breaking Bad in it’s ending, it ranks high as my favorite live action show ever. I can’t wait to see what happens with Gene. Who knows? Maybe that will recontextualize everything.

[vince-thrilligan]

Rhea Seehorn: Who is Kim Wexler?

“I saw that something was eroding in Kim for multiple seasons.”

Awards Focus: In the season four finale, Kim was stunned when Jimmy revealed his emotional speech to get his law license reinstated was just a performance. She’s left standing in the hall as he races off to change his name to Saul Goodman.

This year, it’s Kim’s turn to leave Jimmy on his heels. Were you shocked when she left her work on Mesa Verde and subsequently started brainstorming about decimating Howard’s career to get Jimmy his Sandpiper case money?

Rhea Seehorn: Well, to be fair, it is a series of decisions. I saw that something was eroding in Kim for multiple seasons. And what I appreciate about our series, like Vince (Gilligan) and Peter (Gould) did with Breaking Bad, it’s about incremental decisions that these people are making. They’re unaware that they’re falling off a complete cliff. I didn’t know what that final scene was going to be. But I took every step that was handed to me with the information she had presently and played that scene.

AF: You’ve said you’ve seen erosion going on in Kim, can you speak more to that?

Seehorn: The beauty of the show is that these characters are so affected by their past, not only by the events we’ve seen on the series but even before that. From the beginning of the series there was something about Kim’s stillness and her need for control and to right every ship. When I looked at that, I asked “What are you trying to get away from?” or “What are you suppressing that’s so chaotic that you need to make sure that everything is steady all the time?” Those questions spoke to me about the changes we’re seeing in the latter half of this season.

AF: So there’s a potential “Slippin’ Kimmy” underneath the Kim we’ve come to know?

Seehorn: About halfway through the season, Peter (Gould) said that he and the writers started thinking about the masks we all wear and what’s behind Kim’s mask. I will be very interested to see if she follows through with the decimation of Howard Hamlin and can she stomach those actions? Is she a person now who doesn’t even have a conscience? When she shoots the finger guns at Jimmy, there’s a menacing undertone that certainly concerns him.

AF:  There’s so many telling moments about Kim’s character. The moment when she and Jimmy are throwing the beer bottles off the roof, but Kim cleans up the glass the next morning. If Kim does goes through with this plan for Howard, do you think she would follow suit in some sort of attempt to clean up that mess as well?

Seehorn: That’s a good question. If Kim goes through with her plan, there may no way for Howard to recover. Michael Morris directed those beer bottle scenes, I love how they tie the episodes together. The first one where Kim had some animosity about her saying the name Saul Goodman and then when they’re tossing the bottles together it’s a bonding moment.

AF:  Bob (Odenkirk) has spoken about living with Patrick (Fabian) and yourself in Albuquerque. Can you give our audience a look into the behind the scenes life during production?

Seehorn: The three of us have been living together for the last two years and prior to that Bob and Patrick lived together for a season without me. Frankly, I wish we’d been doing it the whole time. It’s so helpful because the scripts are so dense and complex and you’re always wishing you had more time to play with them and find new things.

AF: As you’ve pointed out, the scripts are often dense. When you have a dialogue heavy episode, how much of that preparation is just getting a grasp on the material?

Seehorn: A lot of it. Jonathan Banks and I laugh because we have the same philosophy. If you think you’re off book, then you need to ask yourself, “Are you off book riding a bike? Are you off book standing on your head? Are you off book swimming in the ocean?”

You think you know your lines and then as soon as you’re asked to do something, or you try blocking, or your scene partner decides to do whatever they’re going to do, the words start to slip away from you. There’s just no time for that with our shooting schedule, not if you want to bring your A-game.

AF: Is there a general time set aside for working through the scripts at the house?

Seehorn: If you’re having a cup of coffee in the main kitchen, you’re gonna get asked to read lines. You basically need to hide in your room if you don’t want to run lines, because if you are seen or visible anywhere in the house, you’re going to get asked. And we run lines that are not our scenes too. Like if Howard has a scene with someone else, then I’ll be whoever he’s talking to and it’s great.

AF:  The scenes between Lalo (Tony Dalton) and Kim are incredible this season.  Before we dive into specifics, talk about working with Tony and his presence as Lalo.

Seehorn: I mean, how great is Tony? What a find that Sherry Thomas and Sharon Bialy brought to Vince and Peter. He’s so talented, but he’s also a very generous actor. It doesn’t matter if he’s not talking for the majority of the episode nine confrontation, he’s giving me so much in that scene once I’m toe-to-toe with him.

AF:  We saw a different Kim when she meets Lalo in jail. Can you talk about crafting that confrontation?

Seehorn: I spoke with Gordon Smith, who wrote episode eight, about the idea of when is Kim off her game? Because previously, we’d seen that she can fall apart in a stairwell or at home, but once she walks into a courtroom or a meeting, she suppresses all of that, and can be totally professional.

So, I went in there questioning “Do we think she can actually hold herself together right now?”  We decided that she probably hasn’t slept at all and she knows this is a very scary situation. She’s pretty sure that Jimmy is dead or dying in the desert right now and she can’t call the police and tell them what happened. So, she’s trying to get information from Lalo and she’s unsuccessful in that scene whereas in episode nine she is successful.

I like that Kim got two attempts to go at Lalo using intelligence and rhetoric. The second one in episode nine, written and directed by Tom Schnauz, was a monster of a scene and we knew it.

AF: What were some of the logistical considerations for the episode nine faceoff?

Seehorn: Tom came to Bob and Tony and I, and asked if we could rehearse it on set. It’s technically a difficult scene, I have the big monologue at the end, but Tony has to play a lot of different things as he’s reacting to what he’s hearing from Bob and then Kim.

For Bob, he has to repeat the same story but slightly differently, I think four times, which for an actor is very hard material to memorize because you lose track of where you are in the loop. Tom had written in purposeful nuances as Jimmy sort of devolves in his storytelling.

So we rehearsed it, and thankfully we made a lot of decisions with Marshall Adams (the director of photography) and our camera ops and lighting people. That allowed us to get ahead of the curve and give ourselves the hours that we had to shoot it instead of losing time on the technical aspects.

AF: At the beginning of that scene, you have to be very present for Bob and Tony, conveying that sense of dread and uncertainty that Kim feels. What’s going through her head there?

Seehorn: Kim is in survival mode for the first half of the scene. She’s very still, but she’s practical. I think she’s immediately thinking, “Could we jump from this balcony? Where are the knives in the house? Could Jimmy and I take him if we had to?” Eventually, she’s run out of options and is left with observing Jimmy and what unfolds in front of her.

AF: Kim knows that Jimmy is lying to Lalo and that Lalo either suspects it or knows it.

Seehorn: She knows there’s a secret involving the bullet hole in the mug, and that the secret is so great that Jimmy is literally crumbling in front of her and it needs to be protected at all cost for some reason.

AF: And then Kim steps up to the plate, which was the most harrowing moment of the season. Were you always meant to get so close to Tony, having Kim invade Lalo’s space like that?

Seehorn: Yeah, that was in the script. I spoke to Jennifer Bryan, who’s brilliant with our costumes, and I said, “Kim’s coming from work so she has her heels on… do you think we can get the shoes off in the scene?” I talked to Tom Schnauz about having Kim’s shoes off because I wanted to be even physically smaller than Lalo.

Kim switches to pragmatism in that moment, that’s her fight or flight. She wants to go toe-to-toe like she’s proving a case, finding the holes in Lalo’s story and sewing enough doubt that he backs down.

AF: Do you think Kim prepared her argument while she was sitting there, listening to Jimmy?

Seehorn: I talked to Tom about that, I don’t think she memorized this monologue while she was sitting there on the couch worried. I think she starts it and has to find it. So, we made sure we did a couple of runs at that, just letting me find it and letting me constantly control that lump in my throat because Kim can’t become hysterical.

If Lalo sees that she’s emotionally terrified or starts screaming or anything like, she loses all she has, which is trying to present a logical, forceful argument that he really has to consider. You see Lalo shush Kim earlier on the scene, so I think she’s pretty clear what the cartel would think of women screaming or crying.

AF: Prior to Lalo,  Kim’s biggest confrontation was with Mesa Verde client Kevin Wachtell (Rex Linn). The property tycoon was locking horns with Mr. Acker (Barry Corbin), an elderly home owner who refused to vacate his property.

Kim, feeling sympathetic to the man’s circumstances, recruits Jimmy to represent him — a move that nearly causes their relationship to implode. I don’t think anyone saw the idea for marriage coming, much less from Kim. What was your reaction to that?

Seehorn: That was something Bob and I worked extensively on, getting that moment to feel authentic. It’s also Kim accepting Jimmy for who he is, rough edges and all. In episode nine, Jimmy can’t accept Kim’s decision to quit Mesa Verde and she calls him out on it.  

AF:  Knowing what we know from Breaking Bad and now El Camino, there are very few living characters in the Gene timeline that could give fans a meaningful, full-circle conversation as the series closes. Would you agree with the argument that Kim is the obvious choice for the final conversation with the Gene?

Seehorn: Honestly, I didn’t know I’d be alive this long. If I attempt to take myself out of the equation, which is super hard as an actor, I think the writers are always going to reach for the smartest ending.

Is it the most satisfying storytelling with Kim there at the end? Or is it not? I do agree with you that as a fan I want some resolution regarding Gene. Will we only get one more scene at the beginning of season six, or will it be expanded throughout that season? There’s another question for you.

Part of AwardsFocus.com’s BCS interviews [x]

[ramajmedia]

Tim Baltz The Righteous Gemstones Interview | Screen Rant

Tim Baltz chats with Screen Rant about his character on HBO’s new comedy The Righteous Gemstones, and what it’s like being a counterpoint to chaos. Fans of comedy are likely familiar with Baltz, whether they know it or not. The Chicago iO Theater and Second City-trained funnyman has a long list of roles from Better Call Saul to The Opposition with Jordan Klepper to Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, Fresh Off the Boat, Drunk History, and more. He’s also the creator, executive producer, writer, and star of the absurdly entertaining and criminally underseen comedy series Shrink (which can and should be streamed via the NBC app), which was part of the now-defunct OTT subscription service Seeso. 

Right now, Baltz is regularly popping up as B.J., the somewhat innocent and eager-to-please finance of Judy Gemstone (Edi Patterson) on HBO’s latest dark comedy from Danny McBride and Jody Hill (Eastbound and Down, Vice Principals), where he is regularly upbraided by members of the Gemstone clan, including John Goodman and Adam Devine. And while it may seem that B.J. exists solely to be a doormat on which the Gemstone’s frequently wipe their soiled soles, Baltz sees his character as a necessary contradiction to the disorder caused by Jesse (McBride), Judy, and Kelvin (Devine). 

More: Fall 2019 TV Premiere Dates: All The New & Returning Shows To Watch

In speaking with Screen Rant about his work on The Righteous Gemstones, Baltz discussed what B.J. is meant to represent, and he also went into detail on what it’s like working opposite a talented improv comedian like Patterson, and how their collaboration has resulted in one of the funniest (and, despite how deliberately absurd it sometimes can be, oddly believable) relationships on TV at the moment. Check out Screen Rant’s interview with Tim Baltz below:

Tell me about how you came to be on the show and what working on the first season was like for you? 

It was incredible. I auditioned for Vice Principals many years ago with Bialy/Thomas Casting, who I auditioned with many times. They booked me for Better Call Saul. They're really incredible among my peers and friends who audition a lot. They're very prestigious and always have the best projects and great taste. It was an honor just to get called in for that. 

And obviously I didn't get it, but my reps were like, 'No, it's okay. They're introducing you to the world.' And then when this came along, I read the script and I thought, 'Man, I gotta really take a solid shot at this.' It's in the wheelhouse of characters that I play often. And I grew up in Illinois so I'm no stranger to ... Illinois has all kinds of accents. I'm no stranger to that Southern accent. I toured the Southeast side of the city a lot. 

So, I went in, auditioned, felt good about it, didn't really think about it - which to me is always a good sign. It means I either did really terribly or really well. And they called me and said, 'Yeah, we need you to fly to LA and test for it in front of, you know, HBO and the whole Rough House team.' 

Danny and Edi was there. Edi, I had only known in passing. I met her once at Groundlings. We were supposed to do a show together at one point - just a little improv show but we didn't. I just really, really trust and appreciate her improv skills. She's brilliant and she's super easy to play with. And when I found out that I was reading with her, I was like, 'Oh, no matter what, I'm going to have a really good time.'

Rough House [Pictures] runs such an amazing ship. Their cast and crews are always perfectly selected. Everyone is really excited to be there. They believe in the project. And there's just this, I don't know... it's like every good set feels like a summer camp. You see this glee about being able to do something like this and get paid for it. And that fun feels like the fun that you had when you were first discovering [acting] as a kid or your teens or twenties when you're doing it for free. So that's always a great time. 

But then, you know, they're also film school nerds. And I mean that in the most complimentary way. So, you know [the project is] going to be richly textured and come with all the knowledge that they bring to the table, which is a huge privilege to get to work on a set like that. And HBO, you know, they're prestige TV. So it was very, very, very exciting and welcoming and a little nerve wracking because all of a sudden you're walking in and John Goodman is there and he's like, 'Hello. Looking forward to this?' 

And you're like, 'Yeah, I mean I'm definitely looking forward to this. You're John Goodman.' But he couldn't be nicer and sweeter. And everyone from the top of our cast list on down is a pleasure to work with. 

One of the things I found so funny about your character and your performance is the degree to which BJ is something of a nonentity. His very obvious plainness drives so much of what's funny about him. How do you see the character and what do you think is the source of the humor he brings to the show?

Well, he's very ... Like he means so well, you know? And I think that in the midst of all this drama, like the family tragedy and corruption and the really, really high stakes that are behind it, B.J. stands apart from all of those stakes as someone who just genuinely deeply loves his fiancée. And I think that he does have - as we see in the pilot - a little bit of insecurity about fitting in when it comes to some of the materialistic ideals or glamour. I feel it's the reason why he gets a nose job. It is absurd, but he means so well that he's a nice counterpoint to all of that drama and chaos. 

And he really does say what he means, which isn't necessarily the case with any of the other family members, especially not when they're talking among themselves and they're feeling themselves out when it comes to, you know, the conflict in the first couple of episodes. So he's definitely a change of pace. 

Danny [McBride], when we first sat down, when we went to Charleston to film the pilot, he told me B.J., in a way, is the voice of the audience. He's looking at this family and he's probably more open-minded about giving them the benefit of the doubt than the audience. But we still see B.J. reacting to them and meekly speaking his mind when he disagrees with something. And the audience is going to relate to that. And that's how I feel about this crazy family, too. 

Mostly, I tried to go into it by reminding myself that [B.J. doesn't] know any of the drama that's happening. All I know is that I love Judy so much and I want to not only be the best fiance for her possible, but also give her the boost that I think she deserves. Because I look at the family and I know how much Judy works. I know what she deserves and she's not getting it. It's really fun to play because he has a naivete to him, but he's also mostly naive to just in the circumstances, which means that I get to play very emotionally with Judy. And Edi is just, she's such a joy to act and improvise with. Especially as the season progresses, you'll see where the two of them are headed and I think it's very unique. 

Speaking of working with Edi. What's it like working opposite her? How does  your process work with hers, in terms of playing your comedic styles and sensibilities off one another? 

Well and it starts with the scripts, which are great. Every single one that rolled in, I just kind of would shake my head at and laugh out loud, which is rare when you're reading a script alone. Those are kind of baseline. David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, Danny, whoever was directing, they cast ... I think that the cast so well and specifically across all their projects and the history of their work and careers, that I think they trust the people to go off the page when they want. 

I think the scripts are great, and I always want to get what's on the page first. And Edi wrote on the show, so I'm sure she agrees, too. But Edi and I ... we've been studying improv for over 20 years, independent from each other. And when we first started talking during the pilot about what our approaches were, just to get a sense of each other I really, really respected her take on it. 

I was trained at iO in Chicago at Second City. I toured and did three shows there on the stages. I played at the Annoyance once it reopened in Chicago. And then I moved to LA in 2014 and I played, you know, various theaters out here. But a very broad range of improv education. And she has a very similar broad range. She's part of the Improv theater and Groundlings here, which are two very different things. And she studied all over and studied theater in college and she had as as wide of an appreciation for all these different sub genres of it and all of these approaches. And so it was very easy to almost like ... I don't want to be someone who likens improv to jazz, but it kind of is like that. You're making an offer and have to trust that your scene partner is going to recognize what that offer is, right? And you trust they will respond with a note that corresponds or compliments what you did. And so it is musical to a certain degree. And with Edi, I always trust that she's going to recognize exactly what my offer is and I try to return that to her. 

For me, especially if you're improvising around a script on camera, it's different than on stage, in the sense that the scene has a function within the script and episode itself. And so there are some parameters that you have to work within. And in order to make the improv ... to maximize its potential for actually getting in and past the editor and into the episode, you're always keeping in mind what your character's emotion and knowledge to this other character and what that dynamic is and what the scene needs for the episode itself. Then you can maximize the number of improv takes that are useful to the editors and the producers when they're looking at it in post. 

And whether I've ever verbalized that to Edi or not, she plays it that way and it makes it really seamless. And then, you know, you do anywhere from three to six takes and it's done and you're like, 'Oh, dammit. We could have gone forever.'

More: Carnival Row Review: Amazon’s Victorian Fantasy Wants To Be Your Next Genre Obsession

Can you, without giving anything away, what can audiences expect from BJ as the season rolls along? 

Well, they can expect him to be by Judy's side as she deals with all the family chaos and still continue to be, you know, a nice blend of naive, supportive, and caring. But he's on Judy's side before anybody else. And I think the audience is going to have a good time seeing where the line is for what he'll put up with and what he won't put up with. And when he discovers that line, I hope that it's as enjoyable for the audience as it was for us. 

In what way is  The Righteous Gemstones different from your experience on Shrink. Is it a little difficult moving away from something where you have more creative control or is that something that you like to have a mix of when you're working?

I mean, well, Shrink was...it was really difficult. You know, it was about 8 85-90 hour weeks in a row. And that was after two months of writing where we wrote eight episodes in eight weeks, which is breakneck speed.

It really, it was a great acting challenge. And I do think that I rose to the occasion. I had a great team around me. We went through a gauntlet and I'm super proud of what we came out with. Improv wise, I'd worked on Bajillion, which was based off an outline curve style. And I went into that knowing, okay that we have scripts, but we had about a quarter of it improvised. So we were improvising probably a good two to four hours a day, which is hard to yield a lot of material when you're working that way.

But I was really proud of how seamlessly integrated all the improv. And then the show came out, my dad was sick. My dad ended up passing away from ALS in November of 2017.

 When Seeso went under, we knew about it a few months early, so I took this job in New York because I came up with Jordan Klepper in Chicago and I think the world of him. And I was like, al lright, so Shrink isn't getting a season two, Seeso is going under, my dad's going to pass away. I want to keep working but I can't be in charge. I don't have the bandwidth.

I went to New York and I worked for Jordan, but I was away from home. I was all the way across the country and it was brutal. So, to slide into something as seamless and as already figured out as Righteous Gemstones, as the Rough House world, it's been a since such a welcoming change of pace, and I'm so, so grateful. I'll get back to developing and running my own thing and being an EP or whatever it is or lead of something at some point. But for the break from that to include a project like this, I'm the luckiest luckiest guy. So giving this everything that I have is, it feels like I've trained at 10 times gravity and I show up here and I'm like, 'Yeah, you just want me to emote and love this character and think that her family treats her poorly? Oh, my God, I'll put 100 percent into this. of course.'

It's a real privilege. Every character's storyline is great to me. I'm so excited for everyone to see  episodes six, seven, eight, and nine. 

Next: The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance Review: Adult Nostalgia Gets Its Very Own Puppet Show

The Righteous Gemstones episode 3, 'They Are Weak, But He is Strong' is streaming early on HBO Go and HBO Now.

source https://screenrant.com/the-righteous-gemstones-interview-comedian-tim-baltz-hbo-shrink/

[wellesleyunderground]

Little Women reviewed by Shloka Ananthanarayanan ‘08 (@shlokes)

This review originally appeared on Shloka’s blog, Pop Culture Scribe.

A year ago, I learned that Greta Gerwig had written and directed an adaptation of Little Women and it would be released on Christmas Day 2019. Since that announcement, this movie is what I have been most looking forward to all year. Little Women is one of my most cherished novels. The 1994 film (also a Christmas Day release) is a highlight of my childhood and I have watched it countless times. I have been in love with the character of Jo March my entire life, and I thought no one would supplant Winona Ryder as Jo in my imagination. But it has now happened, because Saoirse Ronan (and really, Greta Gerwig, who is the true Jo of this movie) has stolen my heart. The following review lists out everything I so deeply loved about this film and as such is brimming with spoilers. Please watch this movie first and read this review later. You deserve to treat yourself to this cinematic feast. However, if you do want a teaser, I highly recommend this Vanity Fair video where Gerwig and some of the cast dissect a scene in the movie. It will immediately tell you everything you need to know about how much love and artistry went into making this film.

1. The casting. Every character in this film has been impeccably cast: shout out to casting directors Kathy Driscoll and Francine Maisler. Yes, Saoirse Ronan as Jo is perfect, with her angular face and wild carefree attitude that is so at odds with the women of her day. But Emma Watson is also the perfect Meg, the beauty of the family who is gentle but strong, tempted by riches but wise enough to know that love is more important. Eliza Scanlen is a wondrous Beth, demonstrating her crippling shyness but also the efforts she takes to acknowledge others' kindnesses and give of herself in myriad ways until she no longer can. And Florence Pugh is a delight as Amy, the most irritating March sister. While it's definitely a hard ask to play 12-year old Amy in the childhood scenes, Pugh does a creditable job, highlighting what a brat Amy can be, but helping us to understand how she fits into this family and how her mind had been molded to think that her only escape from her existence will be to marry well. Then of course there's Laura Dern as the indomitable Marmee, the woman who is tirelessly raising these little women while her husband is off to war and does it with a cheerful composure that masks her own frustration and fatigue. And there's Meryl Streep as the cantankerous Aunt March, a horribly plain-speaking woman who wants the March sisters to do well but has very little hope that they will. We also get the wonderful Jayne Houdyshell as the hardworking Hannah, the Marches' maid who ensures they are fed and clothed and keeps things moving while the girls are off on their adventures. Moving from the women, we have Timothee Chalamet as Laurie, who is charming and always a treat opposite Saoirse Ronan: that casting helps as the two are such great friends in real life and it shows on screen. But he suffers from the opposite problem as Florence Pugh: while he's lovely as young Laurie, the older, more careworn adult is a harder thing to pull off and I'm not sure that he succeeds. For now, Christian Bale from the 1994 film will still be my Laurie. Louis Garrell as Professor Bhaer is also an interesting choice, because he's French, not German, which is a departure from the novel. But given how Gerwig treats that particular plot point (more on that later), it makes sense she wouldn't be too fussed about his nationality. We also have Chris Cooper as Laurie's grandfather, and this movie really amps up what a tender-hearted friend and surrogate father figure he becomes to the March women. Which brings us to the only casting decision that I found bizarre: Bob Odenkirk as Mr. March. To me, Odenkirk will always be Saul Goodman or some sort of comic relief, and I can't take him seriously as the patriarch of the March household. But he is barely in the film, so it doesn't really matter. 

2. The script. This movie captures everything I love about the novel. Every vignette, every line of dialogue, every plot point. They're all in there. But rather than following the straight timeline as the girls grow into women, Gerwig starts with the adult Jo marching into a New York editor's office to sell a sensational story, and then flashes back and forth between childhood and adulthood. This lends novelty to the piece since all the prior film adaptations have never messed with the novel's structure. But it also helps to develop these characters and remind us of what events in their childhood led to the decisions they made as adults. Meg's marriage to John Brooke is so much more compelling when immediately contrasted with her girlish fantasies of high society. Amy's desire for a rich husband is so much more nuanced when you see her as a young girl being taught by Aunt March that she is her family's only hope to rescue them from poverty. And most devastatingly of all, we contrast the first time Beth falls ill from scarlet fever and recovers to the second time when she dies, and it broke my heart. Beth's death is always sad, but told in this fashion, it is utterly devastating. Of note, the book and movies always seemed to focus on Jo's sadness when her favorite sister dies, but in this movie, it was Marmee's reaction that destroyed me. Massive kudos to Gerwig and editor Nick Houy for successfully executing all these time jumps and ensuring the story remains intact. As detailed in the Vanity Fair video, credit is also due to cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, as the childhood scenes are suffused with a "golden glow," which also helps to delineate timelines.

3. The feminism. As faithful as the script is to the novel, Gerwig throws in some curveballs and amps up the feminist manifesto. This is all in keeping with author Louisa May Alcott, a woman who never married and said she preferred to be "a free spinster and paddle her own canoe." Alcott was always my role model and I loved that quote, so nothing delighted me more than when Jo actually says it in this movie when she's trying to convince Meg not to get married. What is so important, however, is that this film doesn't sideline the ambitions of any of the other women and say that Jo is the only one who's living a proper woman's life. When Jo is being petulant and saying Meg shouldn't feel obligated to get married, Meg gently explains to her that, "Just because my dreams are different from yours, it doesn't mean they're unimportant." There are plenty of scenes in the movie where Amy grapples with how marriage is an "economic proposition" and Jo is railing against the unfairness of being a woman and we are reminded repeatedly of how few options these women had to lead independent lives. But the moral of the story is never that everyone should be like Jo and forge ahead with a brilliant literary career and no husband. Instead, the feminist moral is that all women should have the freedom to pursue their own dreams. They should be allowed to dream, and accomplish those dreams, without judgment from society or their own sister. Ultimately, all four sisters have very different fates, but there is never any doubt that they followed their hearts' desire, and that is what makes Little Women such a feminist masterpiece. Of course, the one quibble is Jo's marriage to Professor Bhaer, a twist that Alcott was forced to include to make the novel more commercially viable. I won't spoil what Gerwig does with that ending in this movie, but let's just say that she lends her true auteur's stamp to that particular plot point. Some diehard fans of the book won't like it, but Louisa May Alcott would be proud.

4. The costumes. The Vanity Fair video gave me a primer before the movie but I would have been captivated by these costumes even if I had no inkling of the effort that costume designer, Jacqueline Durran, put into them. Jo is always clad in something a little masculine and comfortable, while the other women are always a little more constrained. In one scene, Jo is walking arm-in-arm with Amy and Meg, and it is so bracing to see her uncorseted with no hoops in her skirt, unencumbered by all that burdensome femininity, embodying the tomboy attitude that made her such a heroine to me as a child. I kept noticing the color palette, with Jo wearing pops of red, Meg usually in something green, Beth in pinks and browns, and Amy in that gorgeous light blue that captured all of her desire to be refined and elegant. Early on in the movie, there is a scene in a Parisian park that genuinely looks like something out of a Monet painting and it quite took my breath away. While the focus is on Amy, Laurie, and Aunt March, I couldn't help gazing at the extras carrying parasols and furbellowed gowns and marvelling at how picturesque everything looked. It was a short scene, but every element was as perfect as if the entire movie was to be shot in that park, and it showcases the art that went into every frame of this film. 

5. The humanity. All of the above elements of the movie work together beautifully to create the world and develop these magnificent characters. As I watched the film, I was incandescently happy, because even though I knew every story element and who these women were, it somehow felt like I was seeing them through fresh eyes. The constant flashbacks meant that my emotions were always seesawing, which encapsulates the human condition; there are always ups and downs and these women go through events that can seem like utmost tragedy, only to recover the next day and have a laugh about it. Gerwig aptly captures the relationships between the sisters and gives all four women their due. She shows how they fight - not like petulant girls, but like proper sisters who want to tear each others' hair out when they have been wronged (paritcularly in the case of Jo and Amy). All of this leads to you feeling a bit emotionally on edge throughout the movie. And then we get to Jo's monologue after Beth's death, a moment when she is feeling unsettled, unsure of what her next steps are going to be, sad and purposeless. She first delivers a speech that is actually from another Alcott novel, Rose in Bloom, but which feels very apt for Jo March. It's a speech that's in the trailer, so you may have already heard it, but it is a screed about how women are full human beings, capable of so much, but are always just told that love is all they're fit for. On its own, it's a powerful speech. But what breaks your heart is what follows. Because Jo now confides to her mother that if Laurie were to propose to her again, she would probably say yes. And when Marmee asks, "Do you love him?" she can only reply, "I want to be loved." And when Marmee wisely declares, "that's not the same thing," Jo declares, "I'm so lonely." It is the most fundamental declaration of the pain of being human. We are capable of so much, and can do so many things, but sometimes the price of pursuing our dreams is that we are so incredibly lonely. It is something I have declared many times, and to see my heroine, my idol, espouse the same sentiment on screen, made me sob buckets. I had to re-read that chapter of the book, and realized that while that exchange does take place in the novel, Gerwig has wisely re-worked it to give it a more fiery intensity and pathos. As far as I'm concerned, she deserves an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for that one scene alone.

So that's Little Women. I went into this movie with insurmountable expectations, and somehow those expectations were blown out of the water. It is told with so much warmth, humor, brilliance, and insight, and it is as close to perfect as any movie could be. It is a cinematic masterpiece that I plan on rewatching multiple times and luxuriating in for decades to come.

[ramialkarmi]

Disney has struck an industry-changing deal, and now 'everybody is talking to everybody' (DIS)

The Disney-21st Century Fox deal has been announced, and some media analysts expect a flurry of deals to follow.

The first may be for independent Hollywood studios, as content clout suddenly becomes in high demand.

Some experts see Viacom as a natural acquisition target.

What will really be interesting is whether tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Netflix feel motivated to get acquisitive.

Now that Disney has announced a $52.4 billion deal for slew of assets from 21st Century Fox, it's hard to imagine that other media titans will stand pat.

In fact, many in the business expect a frenzy of acquisitions as the industry grapples with the specter of Silicon Valley, with its powerful platforms and deep pockets, not to mention rapidly changing consumer media habits.

"It's an all-out war on the content front," said Peter Csathy, the founder of the media-consulting firm Creatv Media. "Conference rooms are buzzing, and everybody is talking to everybody."

Who knows what's next? Here are a handful of possible moves at a time when almost anything seems possible.

Everyone needs to get bigger, starting with the studios

If Disney is indeed buying Fox assets to hoard content for its coming streaming service (and to make movies featuring the X-Men and other Marvel characters it didn't already have access to), do other media giants need to load up on content?

As Business Insider's Nathan McAlone recently noted, the concentration of power is only growing. So staying small is getting tougher.

"Scale matters when you negotiate," said Michael Goodman, the director of digital media strategies and digital consumer practice at Strategy Analytics. "This is sort of a continuation of a reaction to AT&T-Time Warner."

Here are some potential studio targets:

Lionsgate ("Saw" franchise, shows like "Orange is the New Black" and "Mad Men")

MGM (James Bond)

Sony ("Spider-Man" and "Better Call Saul," though observers say any deal would be complicated)

Potential studio buyers:

Comcast: As the digital-ad veteran Jay Sampson, who has logged long stints at Microsoft and Adobe, sees it, AT&T may soon have Time Warner in-house. Thus, Comcast may need to match that combo by adding a studio with a deep back-end catalog. "They'd get efficiencies in production cost, marketing, and distribution and maybe vault ahead of Time Warner," he said.

Amazon: The company is looking for the next "Game of Thrones," Variety reported recently. "I can imagine an Amazon getting into the game," Csathy said. "Their underlying strategy is to drive Prime membership." And the more reasons people have to subscribe to Amazon's Prime service (like, say, 20-plus Bond movies on demand), the more shoppers are locked into the Amazon ecosystem.

Netflix: It has already bought a comic book producer, which provided the streaming juggernaut with its own IP. If Disney plans to choke off its library, maybe Netflix buys an MGM to fill out its library while continuing to invest in originals.

Viacom has its challenges, but is it suddenly a big target?

There's no doubt the media conglomerate has its obstacles. Viacom's core business is cable networks aimed at young people (Nickelodeon, MTV) when young people are running from cable. Still, it has tentpole events like the Video Music Awards and kids' franchises like "Paw Patrol."

Plus, Viacom owns the movie studio Paramount.

Would-be buyers:

Viacom could recombine with CBS (they were part of the same company through 2006).

Viacom could look to connect with its fellow cable stalwarts Discovery/Scripps.

Or the likes of Comcast, Netflix, Amazon, or even Google could be interested. Maybe Google sees Viacom as a way to jump-start its move into TV ads?

The latter possibility is doubtful in the view of Brian Wiser, a research analyst for Pivotal. "I think the answer to pursuing TV advertisers' budgets is ongoing investment in video content," he said. "I don't think Google necessarily buys anyone to do that."

The Justice Department waiting game

Is the AT&T/Time Warner deal actually going to happen? It's uncertain, as the Justice Department has sued to block the deal, while the parties remain confident. It looks as if a decision won't happen until well into 2018.

The way this court case plays out could affect the appetite and parameters of lots of potential deals.

In the meantime, Goodman sees more consolidation among independent, regional cable distributors, such as Altice USA's recent purchases of Cablevision and Suddenlink Communications. "It's getting harder and harder for small operators," he said.

Is Verizon a buyer?

The wireless company was reportedly also kicking the tires on Fox. While Verizon has moved aggressively in online ads by purchasing AOL and Yahoo over the past few years, it is way behind when it comes to the TV screen.

But Verizon may be waiting to see what happens with AT&T and Time Warner. In fact, lots of people may be waiting for a decision on that deal.

If net neutrality goes away, then things might get crazy

The Federal Communications Commission is likely to end so-called net-neutrality rules. Sampson thinks that suddenly makes controlling the pipes into people homes — i.e., the broadband service that delivers people the internet —paramount, since, theoretically, an end to net neutrality would mean broadband companies could favor certain web content over others. That's when things get interesting.

For example, what if Amazon (or Google or even Facebook) bought Comcast?

"They've made big inroads into the home" with devices like the Amazon Echo, Sampson said. "Amazon to sell you stuff and Google and Facebook to sell you ads. Long term, they don’t want to be relying upon a cable operator or wireless carrier to get them there."

Plus, Sampson theorized, whoever controls broadband access would be able to start charging companies like Netflix a toll to get their content to people's home — or could choke those companies off. Lots of Netflix rivals would seem to be interested in that.

But many observers had serious doubts about how much net-neutrality rule changes would affect the way media companies operate.

"I think Amazon makes decisions based on what drives prices down or otherwise adds value to its retail and e-commerce consumers," Wieser said. " I don't know that owning pipes or distribution to consumers is necessarily that important."

A new presidential administration could also bring net neutrality back. "What if Trump is gone in a few years, and you've shifted your whole business and the laws go back?" Goodman said.

Does Apple do anything?

Csathy predicts that Apple will launch a Netflix competitor as a place to launch its own shows (Apple wants to spend $1 billion on content). That's why buying a studio could make a lot of sense, he said.

Others have resurfaced a popular theory: Apple could buy Netflix and put its shows there.

Apple isn't known for making such large acquisitions, Csathy noted. But it could look to grab a dark-horse content contender.

"Apple wont be able to stand on sideline," he said.

Join the conversation about this story »

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[notfro]

Media Bias - Climate Change

Is climate changing? Are humans responsible for causing that change? If it is and we are, should we do anything about it? Is it the responsibility of the American taxpayers to fix it?

Now, I’m not using this post to explain what climate change is. I’m not gonna reference data or scientific research or the effects of research or solutions to climate change.  I’m gonna talk about those questions.

Bear with me . . .

Back in 2012, I was 18 years old, going to school in Washington, D.C. (Georgetown). I wanted to go into politics and study politics at a school that is more than qualified to teach it.  In my first semester, I took a class called United States Political Systems. It was basically a civics class taught by a very smart guy.  And my classmates and I were lucky to be in that class at that particular time because a big Presidential Election was hitting it’s stride, and we would get a very knowledgable person’s perspective on all the events.

This guy - the professor - didn’t talk about politics as a liberal or as a conservative. He felt it was important for us that he didn’t color our basic knowledge of government systems with his subjective political beliefs.

I realize now after typing this how relevant that part of the story is to this blog, but that’s not why I bring it up. Maybe later . . .

Anyway, I can’t remember how the subject was brought up. Maybe the media or cable news, something like that.  But he started talking about facts. And I don’t have to tell you how much “facts” as term and as a reality has been politicized maybe throughout the history of politics, but particularly during the last two Presidential elections.  He gave a real life example: Climate Change.

Fortunately, there isn’t much of this anymore (I say completely hopeful that it actually isn’t), but at the time, cable news (typically CNN, but all of them did it) was having discussions about Climate Change.  But they weren’t just having discussions. They were having debates.

They invited talking heads to discuss the very serious subject: one, a scientist with extensive experience in studying climate, and the other, a guy.  Now this guy is an amagalm of dozens of people from all walks of life, but the defining characteristics, which make me confident in creating this amalgam, are that he does not study climate and he believes that Climate Change is not real.

Quick HISTORY Detour: Climate Change (a.k.a Global Warming) has been discussed publicly since the 90s. I remember seeing clips of people like Next Gingrich, maybe Dick Armey, talking about it from Congress. It wasn’t exactly a controversial subject. Most people accepted it as science and you know . . . it’s any other environmental issue. At the time, I’m not sure how dire the public thought the situation was, but they certainly knew what Al Gore was talking about when he made “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006.

Now, perhaps the rise of Climate Change skeptics started picking up steam long before Gore’s doc, but I can say for a fact, Gore’s doc to this day is used as exhibit A for why Climate Change must be a politically manufactured hoax.

All of sudden, “believing in climate change” became a political stance. The left took the side of saying it’s real; the right took the side of saying it’s not. And ever since, Climate Change has been a politically divisive issue.

So, it makes sense logically as CNN or as any other media committed to the appearance of being “unbiased” that you should have one righty pundit and one lefty pundit on the air to talk about Climate Change - i.e., a politically divisive issue.

This brings us to the scientist and the guy . . . on TV . .  debating Climate Change. And this happened a lot back in the day.  I remember the visual of some bespectacled nerd in a bow tie (coulda been Bill Nye) talking to a short loud guy looking like Saul Goodman sitting in front of (what I know couldn’t have been but I remember being) oil drills in TX at sunset.  At the time, I thought this was normal.  Yeah, I was a liberal and sure I believed in Climate Change and that skeptics were assholes, but I thought that about a lot of issues and Climate Change was just another issue, so why would I oppose having a debate on it like every other issue?

Because of the facts.

My professor wasn’t having a Howard Beale moment, revealing his political beliefs in an “I can’t take this anymore” outrage.  He was calmly establishing that journalists have a responsibility to the truth and the media has a responsibility to report on the facts. The facts are on ONE side in the issue of Climate Change. The guy - the oil drills guy - might be connected in high places, he might have a lot of money in the bank, he may be a smart individual, but he is NOT qualified to talk about Climate Change and the position he has taken is not just wrong, it is FALSE.  AND his elevation of status to being equal to Mr. Scientist is FALSE EQUIVALENCY, and it’s a dereliction of journalistic duty because it creates DOUBTS on FACTS that are PROVEN. Therefore, having a debate on climate change is irresponsible and NOT proper journalism.

This blew my mind.  I began to look at the news media in a completely different way. I began to look at this issue in a completely different way. I began to look at those first questions (at the top of this post) in a completely different way.

How do think of a political question? I don’t mean a “politically charged” or a “politically biased” question or a loaded question.  I mean a  political issue in question form.

Should gay marriage be legal?

Should abortion be legal?

Do you believe in a libertarian small government or an effective big government?

Do you believe the military is a tool that should be used more/less/never?

My feeling about the answers to these political questions was that I had one answer but I knew there was another or more. Essentially I felt that there were two answers (or more) to every question as a rule. Each individual picks one, but each answer is equally correct.

And the truth is, for a lot of political issues, that is the case. Because the answer requires a subjective response (i.e. how you believe something should be).  I mean sure . . . maybe the Constitution lays something out a certain way or the law does, but even then, there are even many issues where INTERPRETATION of the Constitution or law is required to yield an answer.

But what this moment taught me was the 2-answers-for-each-question rule is NOT a rule. It does not necessarily apply to every single political question. Both sides are capable of believing in the wrong thing, believing in a LIE. Therefore, the conservative Republican position on Climate Change is NOT equally correct to the liberal Democrat position. It is a LIE and should be treated as such.

I’m not here to discuss how I think Republicans have done a great disservice to themselves for believing in something that is objectively false, contributing to the problem and seemingly being incapable of looking at facts without political slant.  I could . . . I might want to . . . but I won’t.

I’m here to talk about the media, who propped up these LIES because they wanted to seem “unbiased,” because they were afraid of being criticized by conservatives and being labeled a part of the MSM (mainstream media), because they care more about their ratings and between-the-aisle “respect” than their journalistic integrity.  It was a mistake of epic proportions and dire consequences. AND they got there because they wanted to be “trusted.”

Which brings us the IRONY-ORGY of today.  No one trusts the news media.  Everyone thinks they’re biased. AND they got there because . . .

Well . . . we’ll get to that, but before we do . . .

Let’s talk about their corporate bias.

With a grain of salt,

Bryan

[ramialkarmi]

Disney's struck an industry changing deal, and now 'everybody is talking to everybody' (DIS)

The Disney-21st Century Fox deal has been announced, and some media analysts expect a flurry of deals to follow.

The first may be for independent Hollywood studios, as content clout suddenly becomes in high demand.

Some experts see Viacom as a natural acquistion target.

What will really be interesting is whether tech giants like Amazon, Google and Netflix feel motivated to get acquisitive.

Now that Disney has announced a $52.4 billion deal for slew of assets from 21st Century Fox, it's hard to imagine that other media titans will stand pat.

In fact, many in the business expect a frenzy of acquisitions, as the industry grapples with the looming spectre of Silicon Valley, with its powerful platforms and deep pockets, not to mention rapidly changing consumer media habits.

"It's an all out war on the content front," said Peter Csathy, founder of the media consulting firm Creatv Media. "Conference rooms are buzzing, and everybody is talking to everybody."

Who knows what's next? Here are a handful of possible moves, at a time when almost anything seems possible.

Everyone needs to get bigger, starting with the studios

If Disney is indeed buying Fox assets to hoard content for its upcoming streaming service (and to make movies featuring the X-Men and other Marvel characters), do other media giants need to load up on content?

As Business Insider's Nathan McAlone recently noted, the concentration of power is only growing. So staying small is getting tougher.

"Scale matters when you negotiate," said Michael Goodman, director of Digital Media Strategies/Digital Consumer Practice at Strategy Analytics. "This is sort of a continuation of a reaction to AT&T-Time Warner."

Here are some potential studio targets:

Lionsgate (The "Saw" franchise, shows like "Orange is the New Black" and "Mad Men.")

MGM (James Bond)

Sony ("Spider-Man" and "Better Call Saul," though observers say any deal would be complicated)

Potential studio buyers:

Comcast: As digital ad veteran Jay Sampson, who's logged long stints at Microsoft and Adobe, sees it, AT&T may soon have Time Warner in house. Thus, Comcast may need to match that combo by adding a studio with a deep back end catalog. "They'd get efficiencies in production cost, marketing and distribution and maybe vault ahead of Time Warner," he said.

Amazon: The company is looking for the next "Game of Thrones," reported Variety. "I can imagine an Amazon getting into the game," said Csathy. "Their underlying strategy is to drive Prime membership." And the more reasons people have to subscribe to Prime (like say 20 plus Bond movies on demand), the more shoppers locked into the Amazon ecosystem.

Netflix: They've already bought a comic book producer, which provided the streaming juggernaut with its own IP. If Disney plans to choke off its library, maybe Netflix buys an MGM to fill out their library while continuing to invest in originals.

Viacom has its challenges, but is it suddenly a big target?

There's no doubt the media conglomerate has its obstacles. Viacom's core business is cable networks aimed at young people (Nickelodeon, MTV) when young people are running from cable. Still, it's got tentpole events like the "Video Music Awards" and kids franchises like "Paw Patrol."

Plus, Viacom owns the movie studio Paramount.

Would be buyers:

Viacom could recombine with CBS (they were part of the same company through 2006)

Viacom could look to connect with other cable stalwarts Discovery/Scripps

Or the likes of Comcast, Netflix, Amazon or even Google could be interested. Maybe Google sees Viacom as a way to jump start its move into TV ads?

Doubtful, said Pivotal research analyst Brian Wieser. "I think the answer to pursuing TV advertisers’ budgets is ongoing investment in video content," he said "I don’t think Google necessarily buys anyone to do that."

Is Verizon a buyer?

The wireless company was reportedly also kicking the tires on Fox. While Verizon has moved aggressively in online ads by purchasing AOL and Yahoo over the past few years, they are way behind when it comes to the TV screen. 

However, Verizon may be waiting to see what happens with AT&T/Time Warner. In fact, lots of people may be waiting for a decision on that deal. 

The Justice Department waiting game

Is the AT&T/Time Warner deal actually going to happen? It's uncertain, as the Justice Department has sued to block the deal, while the parties remain confident. Looks like a decision won't happen until well in 2018.

The way this court case plays out could impact the appetite and parameters of lots of potential deals. 

In the meantime, Goodman sees more consolidation among independent, regional cable distributors, such as Atlice USA's recent purchases of Cablevision and Suddenlink Communications. "It's getting harder and harder for small operators," he said.

What if net neutrality goes away too? Then things might get crazy

Sampson predicted that controlling the pipes into people homes, i.e. the broadband service that delivers people the internet, will suddenly become paramount, since theoretically broadband companies could favor certain web content over others. That's when things get interesting. 

For example, what if Amazon (or Google or even Facebook) bought Comcast?

"They’ve made big inroads into the home [with devices like the Amazon Echo]," Sampson said. "Amazon to sell you stuff and Google and Facebook to sell you ads. Long term, they don’t want to be relying upon a cable operator or wireless carrier to get them there."

Plus, Sampson theorized, whoever controls broadband access will be able to start charging companies like Netflix a toll to get their content to peoples homes – or choke them off. Lots of Netflix rivals would seem to be interested in that.

But many observers had serious doubts about how much Net Neutrality rule changes would impact the way media companies operate.

"I think Amazon makes decisions based on what drives prices down or otherwise adds value to its retail and  e-commerce consumers," said Wieser. " I don’t know that owning pipes or distribution to consumers is necessarily that important."

Another reason Amazon may not want to go that route. "What if Trump is gone in a few years, and you've shifted your whole business and the laws go back?" Goodman asked.

Does Apple do anything?

Csathy predicts Apple will launch its own Netflix competitor, as it will need a place to launch its own shows (Apple wants to spend $1 billion on content). That's why buying a studio could make a lot of sense, he said.

Others have resurfaced a popular theory: Apple could buy Netflix, and put its shows there.

Apple isn't know for making mega acquisitons, Csathy noted. But they could look to grab a dark horse content contender.

"Apple wont be able to stand on sideline," he said.

Join the conversation about this story »

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