Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP9[9.5/10] They got me. They really did. I believed that Saul would do it, that he would find a way to lie, cheat, and steal out of suffering any real consequences for all the pain and losses he is responsible for. I believed that he would trade in Kim's freedom and chance to make a clean break after baring her soul in exchange for a damn pint of ice cream. I have long clocked Better Call Saul as a tragedy, about a man who could have been good, and yet, through both circumstance and choice, lists inexorably toward becoming a terrible, arguably evil person. I thought this would be the final thud of his descent, selling out the one person on this Earth who loved him to feather his own nest.
Maybe Walt was right when he said that Jimmy was "always like this." Maybe Chuck was right that there something inherently corrupt and untrustworthy in the heart of his little brother. This post-Breaking Bad epilogue has been an object lesson in the depths to which Gene Takovic will stoop in order to feed his addiction and get what he wants. There would be no greater affirmation of the completeness of his craven selfishness and cruelty than throwing Kim under the bus to save himself.
Only, in the end, that's the feint, that's the trick, that's the con, on the feds and the audience. When Saul hears that Kim took his words to heart and turned herself in, facing the punishments that come with it, he can't sit idly by and profit from his own lies and bullshit. He doesn't want to sell her out; he wants to fall on the sword in front of her, make sure she knows that he knows what he did wrong.Despite his earlier protestations that his only regret was not making more money or avoiding knee damage, he wants to confess in a court of law that he regrets the choices that led him here and the pain he caused, and most of all he regrets that they led to losing her.
In that final act of showmanship and grace, he lives up to the advice Chuck gives him in the flashback scene here, that if he doesn't like the road that his bad choices have led him, there's no shame in taking a different path. Much as Walt did, at the end of the line, Saul admits his genuine motives, he accepts responsibility for his choices after years of blame and evasion. Most of all, he takes his name back, a conscious return to being the person that Kim once knew, in form and substance. It is late, very late, when it happens, but after so much, Jimmy uses his incredible skills to accept his consequences, rather than sidestep them, and he finds the better path that Kim always believed he could walk, one that she motivates him to tread.
It is a wonderful finale to this all-time great show. I had long believed that this series was a tragedy. It had to be, given where Jimmy started and where the audience knew Saul ended. But as it was always so good at doing, Better Call Saul surprised me, with a measured bit of earned redemption for its protagonist, and moving suggestion that with someone we care for and who cares of us, even the worst of us can become someone and something better. In its final episode, the series offered one more transformation -- from a tale of tragedy, to a story of hope.
(On a personal note, I just want to say thank you to everyone who read and commented on my reviews here over the years. There is truly no show that's been as rewarding for me to write about than Better Call Saul, and so much of that owes to the community of people who offered me the time and consideration to share my thoughts, offered their kind words, and helped me look at the series in new ways with their thoughtful comments. I don't know what the future holds, but I am so grateful to have been so fortunate as to share this time and these words with you.)
EDIT: One last time, here is my usual, extended review of the finale in case anyone's interested --
https://thespool.net/reviews/better-call-saul-series-finale-recap-saul-gone/loading replies@tesbreag I might be a sucker, but I at least bought the possibility of Saul throwing Kim under the bus. I know the creators of Breaking Bad lamented how people idolized Walt and didn't see how he'd become a bad person. So I thought the intention might be to show just how contemptible Saul had become since his days as Jimmy McGill by having him betray one of the audience's other favorites. I'm very pleased that they didn't go that direction, though, and I love the ending we got!
These things are always open to interpretation, but I buy the change of heart, if only because we saw long ago that there was decency in Jimmy, which makes it more plausible to me that, with the right motivation in the form of Kim's example, he could see the error of his ways. He's been running away from a lot of things for a long time, and having them catch up to him, Kim first and foremost, could plausibly provoke a personal reevaluation in my book. But your mileage may vary!
Thank you so much for reading and for the kind words! You're dead on -- it's such a good series and wonderful finale, with plenty left to chew on!
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Thank you so much Andrew not only for your incredible insights into Better Call Saul but also a bunch of other shows I’ve watched. Especially with rich, subtle programmes like this one, I feel the need to process and delve deeper into what I’ve seen, not least, frankly, because I need the help to understand it. When I check Trakt after watching the first episode of a show, it is a joy when I see that it is one that you have taken so much trouble to offer your detailed thoughts and I invariably enjoy reading them nearly as much as I did the episode itself. I’ve had this luck so far (off the top of my head) for The Sopranos, The Americans and – from left-field for me – The Good Place. I look forward to crossing virtual paths next time.
Better Call Saul was a wonderful show, and the last couple of episodes were absolutely beautiful. I look forward to rewatching the whole thing in a new light – knowing what happens to Jimmy and Kim rather than being distracted by second-guessing.
