What was Kim doing when she was checking her work on the computer? - Better Call Saul (2015) Discussion

[–] ernieball5150 (49) 8 years ago

Kim is stressed out because honestly, she's in a little over her head with the amount of work required to handle Mesa Verde by herself. And her anxiety is compounded by the fact that she feels guilty because she knows Jimmy did something shady to help her get it. The business with the semicolon was a manifestation of both Kim's perfectionism and her insecurity about the Mesa Verde situation.

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[–] MarlonBrawndo (122) 8 years ago

Again, agree strongly with your take. OT: What's your axe? I'm Strat w D'Addarios.

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[–] ernieball5150 (49) 8 years ago

Lol. It varies. Lately the workhorse is a cheap Yamaha superstrat.

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[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

I felt like it was alluding to her developing some type of OCD... triggered by her meeting with Mesa Verde where the woman kept pointing out how Chuck made that rookie mistake... so now she's petrified of doing anything wrong. Maybe, it's nothing but that's how it read to me.

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[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

If you look back on last season when Kim was sent to the bowels of Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill, she would often be there all night into the next day, she seems to have always been a perfectionist.

Loved that whole scene though, it conveyed everything with very few words, Jimmy packing up the paint and Kim saying she'll be a couple of minutes to Jimmy starting the painting again. All because he knows she'll likely be there all night as he knows her that well, brilliant stuff that didn't need the dialogue that many shows would put in.

As an aside: Mike and the transmitter did the same thing all visual with few words, it's great when a show acknowledges that TV is a visual medium as well. To just let things play out like they do is what I loved about Breaking Bad, so glad they are doing in this show as well, this episode was big on that as well, as the opening scene did the same (really thought Saul wouldn't dob that kid in).

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[–] Bobby Briggs Briganza (485) 8 years ago

Kim is anal retentive and Jimmy is anal expulsive.

Explains why Saul eventually turns to nail salon ladies.

Seriously though, break out the Chicago Manual of Style or something, Kim. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out if a sentence calls for a period, semi-colon, or dash.

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[–] The LA Baker (971) 8 years ago

IIRC from college, its been a while, semi-colons should be avoided. If a period works there, just use it.

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[–] Mubblefluggie (44) 8 years ago

>> ...semi-colons should be avoided....

I know a guy that got semi-colon cancer.

He always did things half-assed.

I ain't signing this.

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[–] dt123 (704) 8 years ago

Semicolons, used sparingly, serve an interesting purpose. They separate what would otherwise be two complete and separate sentences, but give those two sentences a connection in meaning they would not have with a period. They add nuance. JMO.

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[–] Bobby Briggs Briganza (485) 8 years ago

That's not even your opinion -- that's absolutely right. They don't even have to be used sparingly. It's just that the situation where you'd use it is much less common than a period or dash, not that (as the above poster says) you're supposed to "avoid" them.

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[–] The LA Baker (971) 8 years ago

Interesting theory, but I just did a quick search and found confirmation of what I was taught over a decade ago in a not so great college.
"Generally speaking, it's a good idea to avoid using semicolons altogether. The semicolon is intended to separate two sentences where the second sentence clarifies or extends the first. In practice, they're often used incorrectly and there is ample evidence that they confuse readers and translation software. A comma or period would often suffice."

While you think they might be very useful, they rarely need to be used and cause more confusion than clarification. Like I said, if a period works(as it obviously did in this instance) just use it.

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[–] Bobby Briggs Briganza (485) 8 years ago

Like I said, no one is saying to use semicolon incorrectly. Using it CORRECTLY -- which will end up being in far fewer cases than other punctuation -- is not the same as avoiding it. "it's a good idea to avoid using semicolons altogether." is totally bullshit, written by someone who is not concerned with truth and accuracy, but rather concerned with saving low-level writers from messing up. It's like the grade school English teacher who tell their students "Don't use 'I' in an essay." Once the students get to higher level writing, they can understand how to use a personal voice and realize that there is actually no rule about using "I."

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[–] dt123 (704) 8 years ago

Yeah, they don't HAVE to be used sparingly, but if they're overused, they're noticeable, and the last thing you want your readers to do is NOTICE your punctuation. (Unless it's really really fun and clever!) I once heard Kurt Vonnegut say he never used them, never saw any use in them. Then I re-read my Vonnegut and found he most definitely DID use them, and used them to meaningful effect. What I do, as a fiction writer, is test whether the semicolon adds to the meaning/nuance of the two sentences (or, once every now and then 3 or 4 sentences). If it doesn't add to the meaning/nuance of those sentences, it's a period. Or, as Kim was neurotically testing (welcome to my world), an em-dash. To say never to use them makes me wonder: why in the hell are they there then? They're usable/belong in a writer's toolbox, and a writer uses everything in their toolbox.

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[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

I tend to limit my use of them to where I would think to put an and (with or without an Oxford comma), however don't really want one.

The road runs through a beautiful wooded valley, and the railway line follows it.[/i]

or:

[i]The road runs through a beautiful wooded valley and the railway line follows it.[/i]

Generally becomes:

[i]The road runs through a beautiful wooded valley; the railway line follows it.

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[–] dt123 (704) 8 years ago

It's pretty subjective for sure. Personally, I think the comma version you've written here is the strongest of the 3.

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[–] Jennie_Portrait (804) 8 years ago

Yes, I would use the first one. Whenever writing something, I try saying it out loud. The first versions sounds better than the one with the semi-colon.

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[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

To both, yes it is subjective and also can come down to country, like here in Australia the Oxford comma is rarely used, it's just something we don't do, so the semicolon works better in our minds.

In some ways I wish the English language was a bit looser, like originally intended when it was for the common person in relation to prior to that scholars and monks read and wrote things exclusively. I remember reading an essay by a new arrival here that was written in their understanding of English, at first it was tough to read, however I got used to it and it was nice to read in their voice.

Like how painters have their own brush works that distinguish them from others painting similar themes, I sometimes would like to have writer's be like that. For instance with the semicolon, it is not a hard and fast rule, so it could become that writers signature so to speak of how they use it.

Fair enough within a legal sense as Kim was using it, the language needs to be a certain way and to be honest I would likely fret over it the way she did if it was that important.

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[–] Jennie_Portrait (804) 8 years ago

Yes, at work (I am in New York) most people [b]don't [b] use the comma before "and." But for legal writing, the comma before the "and" is important. If you don't include the comma, it could be interpreted as connecting the last two items as a single entity. There have actually been legal decisions that hinged on this item.

As far as the em-dash, I don't find it at all in legal writing. It has more of a colloquial language usage.

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[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

Absolutely it can be important to put things in the right context, take like the 1969 film: Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. I have seen people argue it should be Bob and Carol, and Ted and Alice, however that gives them separation when the couples were all together in the context of that film, not 2 separate couples.

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[–] Jennie_Portrait (804) 8 years ago

Exactly. There is an adorable book on grammar named "Eats, Shoots & Leaves." https://youtu.be/U14adg1cObk

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[–] [deleted] 8 years ago

Yep and in the Australian context where roots is a term for sexual activity there is "Eats, Roots and Leaves." http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3953700-eats-roots-and-leaves

As of course you would say: The Australian Wombat eats roots and leaves, you wouldn't say it eats, roots and leaves (or maybe they do).

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[–] jasonbourne (1027) 8 years ago

The Elements of Style states, "Do not join independent clauses by a comma." It continues, "If two or more clauses, grammatically complete and not joined by a conjunction, are to form a single compound sentence, the proper mark of punctuation is a semicolon."

Kim was working late at night; Jimmy was painting the walls.

The exception is when using a conjunction.

Kim was working late at night, and Jimmy was painting the walls. While Kim was working late at night, Jimmy was painting the walls.

The exception is to use a comma when the clauses are short. Kim works, Jimmy paints.

It's okay to use a period, too. The period and conjunction/commas seem to be the more popular use of stating two or more independent clauses.

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[–] The LA Baker (971) 8 years ago

Well said. I think this was exactly what I was taught with the addition that the average reader is more likely to be confused by a semicolon than they are to gain any sort of punctual aid.

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[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 8 years ago

LOL, Bobby!

😎

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[–] Drmccormack (743) 8 years ago

Hmm, I think it might mean something important. I feel like they never put a hair wrong in this show. Even the filler becomes some consequential detail later on. I have a love/hate thing with those clues because I must admit I miss most of them but I can't help but recognize that they're clever.

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