[8.4/10] I'd speculated about how Kim would depart Jimmy's world. I feared she might be killed. I thought she'd get fed up with his misdeeds and leave him over that. What I didn't expect was that it would be spurred by a moment of self-recognition born of a terrible tragedy. Kim still loves Jimmy, but she recognizes that they're "poison" together, that they get off on the joint cons, and that when they do, people get hurt. She is one of the vanishingly small number of people in this franchise to recognize that she's on a destructive path and take drastic action to stop it. It's one of the most unexpected, but ultimately satisfying ways to have her exit I can imagine.
And it puts her in good company. Jimmy is as horrified by what happened as Kim is, but he can envision moving on, he can picture maintaining this life despite where it led them, he can see forgetting this some day. Kim can't. It's the same way Gus cannot forget his former partner Max, someone he loves, whose memory lingers with him when he gazes into Don Eladio's pool and holds him back from continuing to flirt with the handsome waiter who chats him up over a glass of a wine. It's the same way Mike cannot forget his son, which leads him to tell Nacho's father the truth about what happened to his child.
Mr. Varga shrugs off Mike's promise that justice will be done, recognizing that what he's talking about is vengeance. He declares that vengeance is a cycle that doesn't stop, and we know from Breaking Bad that he's right. Gus hasn't beaten the Salamancas or Don Eladio. Mike hasn't completed his tour of duty so that he can retire and spend time with his granddaughter. Jimmy can't avoid crossing paths with the cartel again. They're all in this now, and their victories bring them no peace, only pull them deeper into the muck of this, and closer to their ignoble ends.
But Kim breaks away. She cannot forget, but she can act to stop this from happening again. Her final scene with Jimmy (for now at least) is more quietly heartbreaking than explosive and dramatic, but that suits the gravity of this. And in her absence, Jimmy is free to become Saul, as an indeterminate time jump to the man in his huckster faux-finery confirms. The last thing holding Jimmy back is gone. Saul Goodman is here. He can't stop. And despite the woman in his bed, the bedraggled secretary on his phone, and the crowd of people in his waiting room, he is alone.
EDIT: If you'd like to read my usual, longer review, you can find it here -- https://thespool.net/reviews/tv-recap-better-call-saul-season-6-episode-9/
Oh man... this finale had me bawling start to finish. I know a lot of people will have stuff to say but I loved it. I think they did the show justice. I hoped Pamela would die but a life in prison seems just as Negan said... it's worse for her than death. Walker Lance had me shook! I hoped they'd show him as a walker but I didn't think it would happen.
Rosita has never been a fave of mine but her death had me feeling A LOT. It was beautifully serene in the cruelest way. I had a feeling than when she fell and returned that they'd pull a Glenn again... having her survive but die later on. It was heartbreaking. That said I can't let Luke's death go. We didn't get much of Luke but the way his group reacted, the way he had to watch the woman he loved die gruesomely in front of him to then losing his leg and dying of that... it broke me!
The little moment between Maggie and Negan was so powerful. I'm so glad Maggie doesn't forgive him and in return I love that Negan now fully realizes what he's done to her.
Rick and Michonne's story is going to be interesting. I'm really hyped for the spin-off now that we've seen a glimpse of what that will look like. Seeing them brought back a lot of memories. Adding the montage of literal memories too it... My god... again; I cried.
Daryl saying 'I love you' to Carol meant the world to me. They really are soulmates. Platonic soulmates. I have so much love for the both of them.
I truly enjoyed the finale. It wrapped up a season that for me was bringing some of the OG magic back. I'll definitely revisit the show and I'm actually looking forward to the spin-offs now... which I didn't before but having our TWD end makes me ache for more.
