*I will be editing these earlier write-ups in order to provide a more in-depth analysis of the episode.  The format and structure from the latter half of these review submissions is the more concise quality that I will be aiming for when I give the final edit.  In the meantime, this is just a rough draft that’s only here as a placeholder.*

I really love that they incorporated Ken into the story rather than just give a wink too because now if you watched saul as a prequel series, Walt blowing his car up in breaking bad will just have that added humor that Ken is getting screwed with again rather than just being “oh i guess that brief cut to the random annoying guy was an easter egg who will eventually gets what’s coming to him here in BB. I’m also glad that they wrote him as intelligent and more human when Jimmy and Kim approach him. Other than that, such a fun and unexpected character to see again and it brought us such a sweet moment between Jimmy and Kim. That look before they kiss was so well acted. You can’t write that.

Great premiere. Mere minutes before the episode started, the thought crossed my mind whether the cold open would be a flash-forward again and then all of a sudden there we were and it was a strong way to kick things off. The slow push in towards the wall of graffiti and the “sg was here” was delightfully ‘lilly of the valley-esque’. I loved the switch ending and how it contrasted with the cold open. Jimmy has no problem drinking cucumber water from the spout and disobeying warning signs. He’s finding no obvious consequences to it which will probably not bode well for him in this series, let alone for where we know breaking bad gets him. I mean how bad will things get to the point of never seeing Chuck or Kim ever again?

Price is a guy who doesn’t realize the foolish choices he was making and the warning sign he ignores, given by Mike, was a lot more blatant and clear. Then to call the police upon himself, he pretty much figuratively breezed straight through cold open’s emergency exit without realizing the risk.

Like I said earlier in this thread, after watching season 1 again on dvd (and also again to show my sister), I’ve come to really look forward to the entire cast of characters rather than depending on the familiar ones. So a nice Kim/Jimmy-centric episode with them just having fun together was very charming and enjoyable.

This episode was dedicated to Todd Sopher who passed away back in October. He was a teamster on both shows and played the big guy who high fives during the “yeah bitch! magnets!” scene. He also was on BCS in “Bingo” as the guy who bumps Saul in the small bathroom when he’s calling Kim about the Kettleman’s. RIP