MovieChat Forums > Better Call Saul (2015) Discussion > Fireplace shadow

Fireplace shadow

posted 8 years ago by dt123 (707)
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There's a pt in S3E2 at about 3 minute mark where Chuck has just walked past what looks like a fireplace and then enters another room. The fireplace is lighted it looks like from above. A distinct shadow moves across or in the fireplace. It doesn't seem to be related to Chuck's movements nor the investigator dude who is in another room. Anybody notice this? It sure seems on purpose. What the heck is it? I've replayed a number of times and can't figure it out. Could just be a shadow of a billowing curtain but it's weird.

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[–] Incandenza (32) 8 years ago

Definitely something they wanted us to see and hear, as there is a woody sound, akin to a door or a window moving. Might have been just for setting the mood, but the uncertainty makes me curious. Can't quite figure out what it is either.

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[–] dt123 (707) 8 years ago

And Gilligan totally left us in that room with the fireplace in order to see it.

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[–] dt123 (707) 8 years ago

Ooh - didn't hear the sound. Wonder wassup with that?

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[–] AtomicReturns (1252) 8 years ago

I assumed it was just the investigator but I'm really not that sure. That shadow did feel ominous. And yet, I have a hard time guessing who would else it would be. Ernesto wouldn't ever do that. Gus, Tuco, Nacho? They wouldn't have any interest in the tape (their lives will intertwine later, but not now). And Jimmy didn't even know about the tape yet.

Maybe it was the investigator after all, and the show creators were just trying to freak us out and establish a paranoiac mood, to match Mike's own side story of shadowy night investigations.

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[–] dt123 (707) 8 years ago

Maybe. But Jimmy did know about the tape, because it was only a minute later that he came barging in. I'm wondering if his barging in was a distraction and something else was afoot.

I have a feeling the McGill brothers are trying to out-con each other. Note how when Jimmy comes barging in he's rattling off a bunch of con games. Chuck is just as much a con man as he is IMO!

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[–] dt123 (707) 8 years ago

I have to correct myself as I've rewatched the ep. It wasn't "only a minute later" that Jimmy came barging in. Different scenes. When the shadow is seen, Jimmy doesn't know about the taping yet. Or at least he doesn't let Kim know he knows about the taping. Hmmm.

Also, I'd like to think that the tape he tears up isn't the original tape. And if that's the case, it could've been him who changed it (unknown reasons), or it could've been Chuck (keeping the original tape as "insurance").

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[–] dt123 (707) 8 years ago

hmmm.. I wonder if one of those videographers is small enough to shimmy down a chimney. That's a stretch. Maybe it was a shadow of a curtain moving when a window was opened.

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[–] Mubblefluggie (44) 8 years ago

My take on this, a paranoid Chuck (what a stretch there) watching out the window expecting someone to come after him, and we suddenly see a shadow moving that obviously wasn't his..

There is someone else in the house!

It turns out to be the PI, playing cards in front of a gas mantle lantern casting the shadow, probably his right arm reaching for a card.

This show, and B/B, are known for misdirecting the audience, one of the highlights.

Chuck bangs his noggin in the copyshop, the next episode opens with Jimmy sitting on presumably Chucks deathbed, camera dollies sideways, and Chuck comes into view sitting next to Jimmy. It is their mom on the deathbed.

Spoiler ahead for B/B:

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Hector rings that bell for the last time, and then Gus leaves the room, adjusts his tie, he is unscathed. Camera dollys around to reveal a different picture, Gus will not be going out dancing tonight.

Mub

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[–] dt123 (707) 8 years ago

Watched the scene a few times now. It looked to me as f the investigator is in another part of the house. Hard to tell though.

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[–] AtomicReturns (1252) 8 years ago

Interesting theory (do you mean the skateboarding insurance fraud twins or the one who helped Jimmy film his commercial?) But yeah, with an erratic and desperate Jimmy you never really know what he can be up to (he's extremely entertaining to watch, but not one I'd like to deal with in real life). But it would be kind of neat to see the return of other characters like that.

Mubblefluggie, I agree the show does a good job (much like BB) in using clever misdirection. It keeps the interest level high, but also doesn't feel cheap or manipulative to me. I think that's a credit to the show's good writing and direction. The characters are richer and more complex than what we usually see, so that whatever decision they land on (Choice A or Choice B) - both seem plausible. Plus, these characters put themselves in extraordinary situations by making their own shady & dangerous network of connections, thus increasing the chances of something going awry at the last minute.

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[–] dt123 (707) 8 years ago

Def love the misdirection and get a kick out of it when it's revealed what's really going on.

I'm fuzzy on it now, but weren't the skateboarding insurance fraud twins the same guys who filmed the commercial?

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[–] AtomicReturns (1252) 8 years ago

I'm fuzzy on it now, but weren't the skateboarding insurance fraud twins the same guys who filmed the commercial?

I was fuzzy on S2 details too, but I think the ones that helped him film that commercial (where they used a fake war veteran and film in front of a military aircraft) were done by some community college kids Jimmy found.

The two skaters all the way from Season 1 reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite for some reason lol. They didn't really look like him, but they gave me that vibe anyways.

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[–] Mubblefluggie (44) 8 years ago

>>I was fuzzy on S2 details too, but I think the ones that helped him film that commercial (where they used a fake war veteran and film in front of a military aircraft) were done by some community college kids Jimmy found.

Yeah, Jimmy started hiring them with the billboard scam, and also the commercial that got him in trouble with the law firm in Santa Fe. Davis and Main, was it?

Mub

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