Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP9[9.8/10] What an episode! It's hard to imagine an hour of television that could draw out the differences between Jimmy and Kim better than this one.
In the wake of Howard's death and all the sins she committed and enabled, Kim numbs herself in a colorless world of banal conversations and empty experiences. Everything about her day-to-date life is colorless and dull, resigning herself to a sort of limbo as both penance and protection from inflicting anymore wrongs on the world. And even there, she won't make any decisions, offer any opinions, as though she's afraid that making any choice will lead her down another bad road.
Until Gene intervenes, balks at her command to turn himself in, and tells her to do that if she's so affronted by what they did. And holy hell, she does! If there was ever an indicator of moral fortitude in the Gilliverse, it's that. The courage of your convictions it takes to have gotten away with it, lived years away from the worst things you've ever done, and still choose to return to the place where it happened and accept your punishment, legal, moral, or otherwise, is absolutely incredible. Rhea Seehorn kills it, especially as Kim comes crumbling apart on an airport shuttle, amid all the hard truths she set aside for so long coming back in one painful rush. It's a tribute to Seehorn, and to Kim, how pained and righteous Kim seems in willfully choosing to confess and suffer whatever fate comes down, unlike anyone else in Better Call Saul or Breaking Bad.
It makes her the polar opposite of Gene, who finds new depths of terribleness as the noose tightens around him. As he continues the robbery of the cancer-stricken man whose house he broke into in the last episode, he finds new lows. Even when this risky excess has worked out for him, he pushes things even further by stealing more luxury goods as time runs out. He nearly smashes in the guy's skull with an urn for his own dead pet. He bails on Jeff. And when Marion finds him out, he advances on her with such a physical threat, a dark echo of the kindness to senior citizens that once defined his legal career.
The contrast is clear. Kim will turn herself in even when she doesn't have to and has excuses and justifications she could offer. Gene resorts to ever more cruelty, fraud, and craven self-interest to save himself from facing any of the consequences he so richly deserves. Kim is right to tell Jesse Pinkman that Saul used to be good, when she knew him. The two of them will understand better than anyone else in this universe what it's like to attach yourself to someone who sheds everything that made them a decent human being. Jimmy lost the part of himself that was good, or kind, or noble, even amid his cons. But Kim held onto her moral convictions, and it's what makes her not just Jimmy's foil, but the honorable counterpoint to the awful person he became.
EDIT: Here's a link to my usual more in-depth review of the episode if anyone's interested --
https://thespool.net/reviews/better-call-saul-season-6-episode-12-recap/loading replies
@andrewbloom I've enjoyed reading your comments for a while now. My favourites are always the ones that talk about Better Call Saul. It's a complex series with deep themes and yet you always find a way to do an amazing summary. I'm looking forward for the series finale and what you have to say about the whole thing. It's been a ride.
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
@andrewbloom Thank you for taking the time to share your words about these episodes. Having used Trakt for many years, it's always a pleasure checking in and finding one of your reviews, you bring in some very interesting analyses and perspectives that complement the viewing quite well - that goes double for a show like this. Here's hoping TV continues to be this good.
Booring feministic theme in this one.
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@enwyn talking about sexual harassment is "feministic"?
So, was anyone else confused by it all?
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@gloom8 to begin with? everything
Possibly the worst episode in the entire show so far.
Constant mindless saying of "die hard" "jokes", constant mindless "this isn't a religion" jokes. Boring story of Summer, boring villain, boring story of Rick just wandering around saying mindless shit and off-screen a lot making ships to rescue the Morty's. Speaking of which, it isn't really clear if these people are distilled Morty's, or if they just have a piece of him, "one 5 billionth" so i'm assuming it's that. If so, then it makes no sense there would be a religion or it would spread like that or any of these character's acting like they are, and i felt all of them having the voice of Morty was off and stopped the npc's from having more depth. The whole episode felt juvenile, boring, nonsensical and mediocrely written.
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@warden1 Walkie talkie Die Hard motherfucker!
"My cousin Susan didn't realize she could sing until her 40s!" I don't know I thought this was so funny, but I did, ahahaha.
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@milkhoneytea that Susan Boyle reference was so smooth and unexpected that it turned out to be hilarious! I was actually coming here to make a comment on it.
I haven't missed Gina one bit!! For me she ruins the show....
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@jay_g85 Gina in moderation is okay, but entire episodes based around her just never seems to work.
Fantastic start to the new season. Very touching episode, and nice to see Marge in the spotlight.
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:joy::joy: what was you watching
Why do they have to push a political agenda...
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they've been doing that from the beginning, what are you talking about?
I still haven't figured out what excites people about this show. There is nothing clever about the plot, just an endless series of weakness and its results.
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@silrog Because it's a fictionalization of real events and the assholes that have ruined discourse and any positive action in the US and the world on the most important aspects of our lives. It's also morbidly gratifying to see the utter dysfunction of such loathsome people, especially when it's couched in a compelling dynastic drama full of black comedy. It's a late-stage Roman satire for the latest Rome.
Wow too political 1/10
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@mattjackson this isn't the premiere episode.
Shout by Snowy_CapHaddock
Follow-up commentary:
- "Nikolaj" pronunciation!! YES
- That Holt-Jake conversation, "chills, literal chills" - and some tears
- "Title of your s*x tape"!
- Man, I really hoped in a Bruce Willis arrivalWill miss them.
Nine-Nine!loading replies
@lumaestri I was checking off all the boxes as the season and last episode was going along and was thinking are they really not going to do the “Title of your sex tape…” bit one last time, and then in the last 2 minutes there it was in all its glory. Awesome show…gonna miss it.
The way they picked an episode title that would make absolutely no one suspect anything…
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@katherysm a wedding episode on HBO...shame on me for not putting two and two together by this point
Shout by Elliot
VIP6Jeez, the snowflaky reactions of straight white men because not every single episode and narrative centres them - anything deviating from that priority is apparently "woke". Get over yourselves, you egomaniacal bigots.
Anyway, another great episode that nicely expanded Ellie's backstory - bonus points for the Mortal Kombat II appreciation, too :nerd:
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@2ls1t These are the same kind of people who would complain about black people being in movies one century ago. Deep down they know they’re out of touch and behind the curve, but it takes years to realize that. It’s fucking embarrassing, I apologize on the behalf of straight white men.
The show is getting completely unbearable. Half the scenes have a soft piano playing in the background when one would expect to find a good moral lesson instead the show shoves degeneracy in people's faces.
To complete the socially woke read and creatively broke theme they had russia-phobic scene. Complete with an African man showing a Russian how adore works. I'm glad I gave up halfway through the episode because the ending sounds great ridiculous.loading replies
I’m a Russian and I felt they were too soft on him. Russian oligarchs deserve to be shown the door, stop with this “Russophobic.” bullshit. Or maybe not supporting warmongering nation is woke too?
Wow, how the mighty have fallen. Was this season produced by the Hallmark channel? The schmaltzy music that plays in the background every other scene, the forced feel-good vibe, the corny jokes, the cringy musical interlude during this episode, that fucking Ed Sheeran montage…. it’s all so incredibly lame and cheap. Any of the sharp wit and quirk from the first two seasons has completely disappeared from the show. Instead this entire season felt like a bunch predictable, bland, sentimental nonsense made for the broadest of audiences.
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@jordyep this is what Ted Lasso always was. A corny show. That whole "Believe" thing? Please...
It never had any edge.
I don't know why would anyone have a problem with it now
I believe that 4 episodes are more than enough for one to decide whether to continue watching or to quit. I chose to quit.
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I wish more sci-fi fast food cry babies would follow that remarkable role model and move on and let us folks loving slow paced series and deep character development enjoy this rare 10/10 piece without all the drama in the comments - but in the end we all love the drama :joy:
Why is everybody complaining? It’s an awesome show. If you want to see some aliens, watch the countless shows about alien invasions - there are many.
But this one…is different. And that’s good. It’s about the people, not about the aliens.loading replies
@levim79 I thought the same, I'm really enjoying this show.
I'm just gonna say that this is great. Not like any other alien invasion, and the cliffhanger just teases more to come.
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Indeed. Great Actors/Actresses/Sound Design/Pacing/Visuals. I loved the design of the ship/alien/angel at the end.
Sean not kissing Alice was the biggest relief. Exactly how I hoped it would be handled. I've seen too many shows with going on that road. Not only is Alice just a kid but she's also the daughter of the only man helping Sean out. Putting those two together would be weird.
It was nice to actually see the mom, the flashbacks really gave us more insight on Jimmy's grief.
I didn't expect or like that ending. I hate when a show forces romance between the two leads..
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@chocoloctopus There is a 'SPOILERS' warning next do the date the comment was posted.
It was alright, predictable and jumpscarey but didn't really have an ending. I was expecting them to do a kind of viral meta ending where she kills herself (alone) at the end, but she smiles directly into the camera, so now it's like we are the cursed. But it just ends...
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That ending is so good wtf wish they went with that
I had to rewind it to make sure there wasn't a glitch lol
Shout by PrisonMike
This movie is dumb.
Something else needs to be pointed out as well. They never show her getting off the dam tower. Lame ending.
Why didn't she just stuff the phone in the bird
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@mediacenterkodi or the phone on the drone....
While still funny and immensely entertaining, I confess I was a little disappointed with Deadpool. With this character, they had an opportunity to make a completely ridiculous and nonsensical superhero movie, and what we got as another generic plot following the tired origin story / damsel-in-distress formula, with a bit of crude humor and 4th-wall breaking mixed in. I almost wonder if that was the cost for finally getting this movie made.
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@genesisx @myerz Nobody in this comment reply seems to make any sense. OP's not tired of the breaking of 4th wall--OP thinks the movie should go beyond that! DEADPOOL should've been MORE non-sensical rather than just a generic comedy-action with a bit of breaking of 4th wall.
And yeah this is the first we've seen Deadpool's origin story but we have already seen COUNTLESS of other superheroes' origin story. Which is kinda boring.
Damn son, I didn't know fanboys can be this dense.
