Gene was Saul? Did i miss something? what made her instantly start realizing Gene was Saul Goodman? cause it felt rushed and didn't make much sense to me, like they needed to hurry up and have shit hit the fan but didn't properly build to it.
shareThe barking dog.
Gene turning up and seemingly arguing with buddy and Jeff late at night.
Gene saying he has never been to Alberqueque, but then being an expert on the bonds system there and how it compares to Omaha.
Him being rather short and rude to her when leaving the table to go to see Jeff car.
Her protective nature of Jeff
I dunno, it all felt too farfetched imo for her to put that together from those few things. None of those things would make me think "Oh hey this guy was a corny Lawyer years ago in another state that conned people now he's this guy in a new identity".
shareShe didn't put it together that he was Saul Goodman she discovered that, as Marion said in the episode: I typed in conman and Albuquerque, and up you popped, big as day.
Yeah, a mega-drug lord dying would have been national news, and his lawyer on the run with millions in cash would be a story too. Hard to hide when you're the first hit on Ask Jeeves.
shareShe was suspicious that he knew ABQ bonds law and Nebraska as well. That on to hot her seeing something go down in the garage and her son calling him. It was a lot of little things, combined with her suspicious nature. It felt like a natural turn if events for me.
shareYep all those things above got her suspicious, the whole conversation about Jeff got her thoughts peaked as you say she mentioned Jeff having problems in Albuquerque and then Gene says as above how it's easier in Omaha than Albuquerque, and you can see the look on her face. At that very point there's silence and then: G: Marion, you still there? M: Yeah. Why, Why did Jeff call you instead of me? G: Well, I think he was scared at how you'd take it.
So yep she got suspicious, probably even thought a bit after the scene is done, back to when Gene first showed up and all, probably even thought about how awkward Jeff was being when he came home and Gene was there. Guessing Marion started thinking Gene knew Jeff in Albuquerque, due to the Bond mention and thought back to Gene's awkwardness when she asked him about if Nippy was found. So Marion would start thinking Gene setup meeting her, so he could get to Jeff and likely thinks Gene was blackmailing Jeff into doing illegal stuff because she assumed he knew the stuff Jeff did in Albuquerque. Even when she got her scooter stuck Marion said: It wasn't like this when I came before, about that part of the path being sunk down, so may have thought/figured Gene did that, when and how I don't know but still Gene probably did.
I have to agree on this, though I can see why some people would see it as lazy writing.
A similar debate came up in S04 of BB re: how did Gus know Walt planted a bomb on his car when he went to the hospital to talk to Jessie? (S04E12 End Times)
The topic came up last year on the BB board
https://moviechat.org/tt0903747/Breaking-Bad/6159ca2330c3a52868243fe4/How-Gus-Fring-knew-there-was-a-bomb-in-his-car
I gave my theory a couple of times there. Unfortunately, it soon got lost in an on- going flame war between Kowalski & the thread OP after Mr. All-Caps criticized the Op's poor writing skills.
Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to directly link to my posts in the thread, & I'm too lazy to copy/paste them here.
Yeah I can see why people might, personally a few times I wondered if Marion would get suspicious, like was said when Gene abruptly left the table and seeing them argue late at night. Plus the part where Jeff seemed so concerned about what Gene would think about him buying Marion the laptop.
I've had a few times I've thought there were some conveniences thrown in, but on this as I said elsewhere on this board they tried to paint Marion as a tenacious ole biddy by not wanting help at the grocery store. So kind of saw Marion as someone who shouldn't be taken lightly and kept thinking Gene is underestimating her, so from my perspective this part was no surprise, as I thought if anyone is going to end up outing him it'd be Marion.
Old people are smarter than you think.
shareYep and some can become even more wily as they get older, Carol Burnett who plays her was 88 when it was filmed, so it's not that far fetched that Marion would still have her wits about her at that age.
Just because someone isn't as mobile as they once were doesn't mean they're not aware, she could get down to the grocery store and out and about by herself, it's not like she was shown as having dementia or anything. Think also of Mark Margolis who played Hector he's 83 and Hector was aware of what was going on despite what happened to him, it's that the Cartel didn't listen to Hector about what Gus was because of what his condition looked like to them (Mike/Jonathan Banks is 75 as well).
It's similar in Marion's instance, Gene saw what he thought was a feeble old lady and as I say above Gene underestimated her based on how he saw her. Marion was very far from being feeble and hadn't lost any cognitive ability, basically Gene saw her as like someone who was in Sandpiper Crossing retirement home and he was way off base on that assumption. For one Marion had a Life Alert button in case of emergency, like a fall or whatever may occur, which means she didn't need in house or out of house assistant care.
It's even likely Jeff setup that Life Alert system for her given he was working evenings and nights driving Cabs, I could actually imagine Marion protesting having it to begin with (not wanting help in the Grocery Store tells me that). Like I said there was a lot about what went on with Marion across the episodes that made me think that she would end up figuring out who Gene really was, so again no surprise from me.
So your saying arions cognitive ability is the opposite of Joe Bidens.
shareI have very little knowledge of Joe Biden's cognitive ability as I live in Australia and see very little of the full picture of US Politics, sure some may come later if Biden has early onset dementia like Reagan did in his final years of office, however even then the news would be fleeting. For me to engage in who is what in the USA regardless of political party, is not something I can enter into because my knowledge of it is only of how the news here want to report it based on what it means to us, which to be honest doesn't affect us greatly so is limited.
What I am saying is to pigeon hole all old people into being lacking cognitively because some are is do do them an injustice, really to pigeon hole any age group into being like all in that age group is to do them an injustice. Just because Marion had mobility problems didn't mean she was feeble of mind, just like because Stephen Hawking had ALS didn't mean he was like some others who had ALS. Everyone regardless of age, race, sex or condition is different and to box people in to anything is foolhardy in my humble view, not saying Marion was Stephen Hawking smart but underestimating her was Jimmy/Gene/Saul's big mistake.
Agree -That part seemed rushed to me and to think that a novice would pick up on the very few clues that Gene let slip in a moment when she was concerned about her son being in jail just didn't seem realistic to me.
It would have been more believable if she was just fooling around and searched Albuquerque and stumbled on his identity.
Yes definitely.
shareI think most watchers are seasoned BBers and are skilled in picking up the nuances of Vince and now Peters writing. I thought it was well played. Tho I admit I pegged Marion bringing him down as soon as I saw Carol was not just a guest spot.
shareVince almost spoiled it on a podcast because he started to talk about what it was like to direct her in episode 12, this before everyone else knew she would be in the episode.
shareI totally agree about this, I was wondering exactly the same thing. How did she figure it out? It was a good episode but I agree this bit did seem rushed. Gene really didn’t let slip that much info for her to put the pieces together.
shareIt was just bad writing, there was no moment that should've made her think Gene was a con man, all cause he said Omaha's law about bonds is not as bad as it is in Albuquerque or something and its as if she had a revelation, and i'm watching thinking "Huh? what am i missing here?" as she acts like Hank who discovered Walt was Heisenberg or something.
There was no slip ups on Saul's part, not enough imo to make an elderly feeble woman who laughs at cat videos pick up on him being a con man.
On the phone Gene slipped that he had expert legal knowledge on not only Omaha but also Albuquerque. This lead Marion to suspect Gene wasn’t who he said he was so she did some digging. She eventually found Saul’s commercials and immediately recognized the voice.
share