Comment by blindriver
12 hours ago
> Character: "I'm flying to Vegas", the 3 minutes of pack, get in car, drive car, get to airport, walk through airport
That is classic Vince Gilligan. He does that several times in both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. It's not filler, it's done with intentionality. You might not like it, but to say that an editor should cut that out is simply wrong. That's his distinct style, just like Wes Anderson has his own style, etc.
I disagree. It's only there because he has to fill the time of a TV show. I strongly believe he'd pull those out in a movie. In other words, they aren't there to help the story, they are there to pad the production to the contract's content length requirements.
He's not the only one. Almost all current long form TV series do this. There are a few exceptions but it's now the norm.
A couple of years ago, I rewatched some episodes of a 70s BBC drama called "Survivors" (the plot etc. is irrelevant in the current context). In the very first episode there's a scene where a woman who is looking for her son but has no idea where he might be walks across a very small wooden bridge over an even small creek. She stops in the middle, holds the rail on the bridge and looks down at the water. The camera shows us what she sees. For somewhere between 30 and 60 seconds, we just see the water in the creek flowing. It's not even particularly beautiful.
Aesthetics sure can change a lot, even within a single lifetime.
Great series, BTW.