[ACT] What shows have you been watching?

[Oedipussy Rex]

The long takes/scenes are what made Better Call Saul work for me. I should use a Jimmy example, like the forging of the contract, but the scene of Mike tearing the car apart looking for something, taking three to five minutes screen time, finding nothing, telling the crew at the junkyard to trash the car, pausing, "Wait," going back to the gar and finding the tracker Fring's men had placed in the gas cap make the discovery more earned than a two-five second shot of Mike poking at the engine, another couple second shot of Mike looking at the under carriage, maybe a third short shot checking the glovebox, then unscrewing the gas cap. We see the time and effort being put in and the reward feels justified, as well as giving the viewer insight to the character.

Since you mentioned buses, let's go ahead and use a Jimmy example: Jimmy on the bus heading to Louisiana. Jimmy writes a letter. He then gets a different pen, holding it in an awkward manner, and writes another letter. Cut and Jimmy has other people on the bus, writing letters, and time is spent with Jimmy chiding or praising the writing efforts. Again, a scene that could have been established in thirty seconds or less, but took far longer, made the payoff feel earned and showed us more about the character.

I enjoyed Better Call Saul more than Breaking Bad. And I really liked Breaking Bad. Two of the best series in television. Yes, even better than The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, I Love Lucy, and Green Acres.