Wine and Roses
"Wine and Roses" | |
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Better Call Saul episode | |
Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 1 |
Directed by | Michael Morris |
Written by | Peter Gould |
Produced by |
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Featured music | "Days of Wine and Roses" by Jackie Gleason and his Orchestra |
Cinematography by | Marshall Adams |
Editing by | Joey Reinisch |
Original air date | April 18, 2022 |
Running time | 57 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
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"Wine and Roses" is the first episode of the sixth season of Better Call Saul, the spin-off television series of Breaking Bad. Michael Morris directed the episode written by Peter Gould. It aired back-to-back with "Carrot and Stick" on April 18, 2022, on AMC and AMC+. In several countries outside the United States and Canada, it premiered on Netflix the following day.
In the episode,
The episode's cold open features a glimpse into the life of Jimmy during the events of Breaking Bad when he was better known as Saul Goodman. The sequence was inspired by the classic films Citizen Kane and Sunset Boulevard. It includes an instrumental version of the song "Days of Wine and Roses". The closing shot of the opening shows a callback to an episode from the second season of Better Call Saul. Gould said it was a nod to the ending of Citizen Kane and that he wanted the moment to symbolize Saul's true character.
"Wine and Roses" was met with critical acclaim for the direction, screenplay, and on-screen performances. An estimated 1.42 million viewers saw the episode during its first broadcast on AMC.
Plot
In a flashforward, authorities remove possessions from Saul Goodman's opulent home.[a] As a cabinet is loaded onto a truck, Kim Wexler's souvenir tequila bottle stopper[b] falls into the gutter.
In the present,
The prosecutor and detective handling Lalo's murder case report that the defendant's name, address, and supposed family are fake and question whether Jimmy is complicit. Jimmy threatens to file misconduct complaints, and mistakenly refers to Lalo by his real name. He explains away the error, but afterward silently berates himself.
Kim suggests that if Jimmy intends to practice law as Saul Goodman, upgrades to his home, car, and office are in order. They decide to follow through on Kim's plan to force a resolution of the Sandpiper case by ruining
Lalo intends to enter the United States, but before hiding in the
Production
"Wine and Roses" was directed by Michael Morris and written by Better Call Saul showrunner and co-creator Peter Gould.[3] It is the first Better Call Saul season premiere that does not feature a flashforward of Jimmy McGill living under the alias Gene Takavic after the events of Breaking Bad. Instead, it shows a glimpse of his personal life during Breaking Bad, when he was better known as Saul Goodman.[4] Gould said that since the season was 13 episodes, instead of the usual 10, the writing staff decided to wait until later in the season to show the Gene timeline. The opening scene was inspired by the classic films Citizen Kane (1941) and Sunset Boulevard (1950). It features several callbacks to previous episodes as well as later ones. The sequence was shot in Albuquerque in the house of a wealthy family in the casino business.[3] The location was the crew's second choice. It was originally going to be set in the house Jimmy and Kim consider buying in the episode "50% Off" but it was deemed "too restrictive", leading to the change.[5]: 10:18–11:14 Many of the actors playing the house cleaners were professional dancers from the same dance troupe, an idea that Morris and assistant director Rich Sickler came up with to give the sequence a "ballet-like precision". The scene was rehearsed on a Sunday and filmed during the next two days.[5]: 13:40–14:43 [6]
Production designer Denise Pizzini and her crew transformed the house to the point Gould said it did not "look exactly the way you see it portrayed". Portions of the bathroom were taken from a set built at
The opening scene's first shot is of several ties falling into a pile, of which the first few are
The opening scene's final shot is of the tequila bottle stopper, produced by the fictitious brand Zafiro Añejo, that Kim keeps as a souvenir in the episode "Switch" from the second season of Better Call Saul. The stopper was added to the scene through CGI to save time and give the crew control over where it was going to land and was added during post-production by Rodeo FX.[5]: 32:11–36:26 The shot was challenging to film because it was the crew's last day in that location and they were running out of natural light. The shot is a nod to the ending of Citizen Kane, where the titular character's final words are explained by the trade name of his sled, "Rosebud", which no one notices. Morris said "the general approach to opening this season has a lot in common with that great sequence ending in the Rosebud reveal. The way that this sequence funnels into that one final image is deliberately reminiscent of that great, huge, what must have felt like a magical crane shot at the time, just going through the entire mansion."[3] Gould said the inclusion of that shot "tells you, or it at least tells me, that even when Saul Goodman was at his lowest and he's advising Walter White to kill people, he still has that Zafiro stopper, so there's still some soul left in there somewhere. Maybe."[2]
The episode includes an
In the scene where Nacho enters a motel in Mexico, a woman can be seen watching an episode of Casados con hijos, the Argentine version of the sitcom Married... with Children, featuring actors Darío and Luisana Lopilato, despite "Wine and Roses" taking place in 2004 and Casados con hijos not premiering until 2005.[10][11]
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website
Steve Greene, writing for IndieWire, said the first two episodes were "astonishingly short on false moves so far". He also noted Ed Begley Jr.'s acting as Clifford Main and the symbolism in Kim throwing away the "World's 2nd Best Lawyer" coffee mug, calling it a "a poetic bookend of sorts."[15][16] IGN's Tara Bennett said Odenkirk and Seehorn "lead a fantastic cast who all continue to bring nuance to their characters, even when they embark upon some inhumane life choices. They all make balancing a story about morality, corruption, revenge, and love, with an overriding side mystery of what happens to a lawyer who wears terrible suits, look easy."[17] IndieWire ranked "Wine and Roses" the eighth best TV episode of the year.[18]
Ratings
An estimated 1.42 million viewers watched "Wine and Roses" during its first broadcast on AMC on April 18, 2022.[19] It was the number one cable drama premiere of 2022 at the time of its airing. According to AMC, the two-episode premiere generated over half a million engagements across social platforms including Twitter and Facebook, an increase of more than 60% compared to "Magic Man", the premiere of the show's fifth season. Social analytics tracker ListenFirst said a 10-hour national trend on Twitter made the show the "#1 television drama in social engagement, organic search, conversation, and content shares." The premiere also resulted in the biggest day of new subscriber sign-ups for AMC+.[20]
Notes
- ^ The flashforward is set during the Breaking Bad episode "Granite State" (2013), after Saul flees after his association with the drug lord Walter White is exposed.[1]
- ^ First seen in "Switch".[2]
References
- ^ a b Sepinwall, Alan (April 18, 2022). "Better Call Saul Season 6 Premiere: Kim Wexler Breaks Bad". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ a b c Fienberg, Daniel (April 18, 2022). "Better Call Saul Boss Promises Breaking Bad Returns Won't Be Season 6's Biggest Surprise". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f Chaney, Jen (April 19, 2022). "A Deep Dive Into Better Call Saul's Colorful Cold Open". Vulture. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ Snierson, Dan (April 18, 2022). "Better Call Saul co-creator breaks down Jimmy and Kim's scheme, Lalo's mission". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f McCaleb, Chris; Dixon, Kelley; Gould, Peter; Gilligan, Vince; Morris, Michael; Pizzini, Denise; Reinisch, Joey (April 19, 2022). "601 Better Call Saul Insider" (Podcast). AMC. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
- ^ a b c Greene, Steve (April 20, 2022). "Better Call Saul Hired a Dance Troupe to Stage the Wordless Season 6 Opening Sequence". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
- ^ McCaleb, Chris; Dixon, Kelley; Gould, Peter; Gilligan, Vince; Esposito, Giancarlo; Levine, Ariel; Reinisch, Joey (May 17, 2022). "606 Better Call Saul Insider" (Podcast). AMC. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
- ^ Kurp, Josh (May 18, 2022). "A Better Call Saul Fan Is Pretty Sure That They Cracked The 'Little Black Book' Code". Uproxx. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
- ^ McCaleb, Chris; Dixon, Kelley; Gould, Peter; Gilligan, Vince; Schnauz, Thomas; Levine, Ariel; Reinisch, Joey (April 19, 2022). "602 Better Call Saul Insider" (Podcast). AMC. Archived from the original on April 23, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
- ^ "El insólito guiño de Better Call Saul a Casados con Hijos que no pasó desapercibido entre los fanáticos" [Better Call Saul's unusual nod to Casados con Hijos that did not go unnoticed by fans]. La Nación (in Spanish). April 19, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
- ^ ""Casados con hijos" y su sorpresiva aparición en "Better Call Saul"" ["Casados con hijos" and its surprise appearance in "Better Call Saul"]. Clarín (in Spanish). April 19, 2022. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
- ^ "Wine and Roses". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
- Segal, David (April 18, 2022). "Better Call Saul Recap, Season 6 Premiere: Run Nacho, Run". The New York Times. Archivedfrom the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ Potts, Kimberly (April 18, 2022). "Better Calls Saul's final season opens with a duo of tense, thrilling episodes". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ Greene, Steve (April 18, 2022). "Better Call Saul Review: Brilliant 'Wine and Roses' Sets the Stage for a Whole Lot of Loss". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ Greene, Steve (April 4, 2022). "Better Call Saul Season 6 Review: An Exquisite Start to the Beginning of the End". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ Bennett, Tara (April 7, 2022). "Better Call Saul Season 6 Premiere Review: 'Wine and Roses' and 'Carrot and Stick'". IGN. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ Greene, Steve; Khosla, Proma (November 30, 2022). "The 20 Best TV Episodes of 2022". IndieWire. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (April 19, 2022). "ShowBuzzDaily's Monday 4.18.2022 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ComicBook.com. Archivedfrom the original on April 23, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
External links
- Official website at AMC
- "Wine and Roses" at IMDb