Better Call Saul

[TheHarbinger]

Remember, the last thing Saul does before he starts acting "out of character" is call Kim (the only thing left in his life which really matters to him)

Literally everything he did as Gene. EVERYTHING. Was out of character. He is the top fugitive on the FBI's most wanted list. His name and face are on television every other night in national stories. He decides to take a very public job working at the largest shopping mall in the state. And he is in working at a front facing store greeting hundreds of people every day. From the time Walter dies against the Nazis until Gene is recognized as Saul it is under two months. TWO MONTHS before he blows his entire cover? And begins telling people he is Saul and saying the phrase in an opening shopping mall "Better Call Saul" like and idiot?

How is that in character for a usually cautious person?

He is literally telling people he used to be Saul weeks into his new identity. And going on illegal capers and poisoning and drugging cancer patients only six weeks out from Jesse leaving his car at the border (which was technically Skinny Pete). It was so out of character and ridiculous. Jimmy always hired people to break into homes. He hired Mike to break into Chuck's home. He hired the thief to steal the Hummel from the fax business. He hired Mike to break into the Kettleman's home. Now he is breaking into the homes of people he drugged and almost bludgeoning them to death over some Rolex watches?

But when he called Kim, she told him to fuck off and turn himself in. And that broke him.

She already told him that years ago when she refused the Sandpiper money. That was not news to him. He called her because the writing for his character was all over the place. He is a fugitive on the FBI's most wanted list. But calls one of his only living relations on a traceable phone. Stupid writing.

The last three episodes or so were just Saul, now Gene, coming to realize what a shithole his life had become.

Ah yes. The horrible life he had as a manager of a successful business. Living in freedom. Being able to enjoy a private home and eat nice food, watch movies, go to sporting events. As opposed to the incredible freedoms of an ADX supermax prison? Are you kidding me? He is in the worst possible prison. Literally the most violent Islamic terrorists and drug cartel leaders like El Chapo are in the same prison. That prison is known for even the most hardened criminals killing themselves out of despair.

He was bored as Gene living in freedom? But will be excited to live in isolation 23 hours a day in ADX prison? Bravo Vince.

He traded freedom and a decent income and job and safety and security for what exactly? Kim's approval? A woman that hated him and left him anyways? A woman who pushed him to mess with Howard and encouraged him to work for he cartel? Ever after she found the shot up coffee mug she encouraged Jimmy to do cartel work.

 

[Sammich]

Ending seemed really weak to me. Show drug on a bit too long, that said, do any of you know what the next series will be, they can't walk away from a cash cow like this. I have to believe it's the top rated show in AMC.

 

[Nuns with guns]

Ending seemed really weak to me. Show drug on a bit too long, that said, do any of you know what the next series will be, they can't walk away from a cash cow like this. I have to believe it's the top rated show in AMC.

If they do anything else I'll just pretend it doesn't exist, like that retarded Sopranos movie.

 

[God of Nothing]

ah, it's finally over
time to watch something else
and by which i mean nothing because modern television is fucking cancer

 

[linchan]

I thought it was crazy when the introduced Jimmy's long lost brother, Sneed McGill, in the finale. Bravo Vince.

 

[AnOminous]

I wonder how much of this ending is directly because Vince Gilligan is not happy that shitlords, nerds, mra types and rahrahrah latched on Mike, Walter and Saul, so he decided to retroactively turn them into good guys in order to spite the fans he's not happy having...

Vince actually said he was frustrated at people who kept rooting for Walt and deliberately kept making him more and more vile to see if these people had a breaking point.

If you watch through the first season again, though, you realize it was all presented from Walt's viewpoint and his viewpoint was absolutely fucked. He was always an asshole. Remember the scene where he flipped out at a cop and got maced and Hank had to bail him out because he got pulled over (because he was speeding) and then he went off on a self-righteous rant about how he was a victim of the Wayfarer 515 crash? The one that he personally CAUSED?

He was always a complete asshole. Also anyone complaining about ridiculous bullshit plot twists in BCS should go back to that, which may be the most ridiculous plot arc in the entire Heisenverse. And of course the end of BB was a literal deus ex machina push a button and kill everyone machine.

And as for the Nazis, Jack was a more likeable person than Walt by the end. He only got killed because he was dumb enough to let Walt leave with some of his money. He should have just put him in the hole next to Hank and Gomie, but he went along with Todd's weird admiration for him.

 

[Ita Mori]

I don't think it was a rock-solid code. He was hiding behind a goofy con man persona to bend rules his way

He was Saul all his life, he just didn't give it a name until much later.
At what point is that persona the real you and not the mask you wear? He lived and loved the con life ever since he met it as a youth, and even before that as Chuck recalls infant Jimmy's klepto-tendencies.
Hell, the first three seasons build up to how Jimmy is in denial of who he is and his realization that he needs to embrace it rather than denounce it. He already tried to correct course and it ended up with his older brother six feet under as he raved about how Jimmy's redemption is pure bullshit.

When he heard Kim came clean not because of ice cream or brownie points but because it's the right thing to do, reality sink in.

Don't ignore the fact Kim knew that without a body there's nothing to hurt her with. Hamlin's widow can find the jewest lawyers to ever practice and they still can't do anything to her that the legal system doesn't inflict upon divorced fathers. This completely disregarding that Kim could run away and start over anywhere.

Had her confession ended with Kim serving time, this might've had weight. But it didn't.
Reality sinking in should've been a couple dozen years ago. Hamlin's death is downright optimistic compared to what Saul sees and does in BB, and if that didn't snap him back into reality, his jilted lover doing so is very thin ice.

I agree it was somewhat rushed

It was completely the wrong road to take. Forums and fans came up with better storylines and endings than what we got.

Many TV series have a hard time squeezing everything they want to do on their last episodes (hell, even Mad Men), and BCS was no exception.

Then do another season or postpone until you can trim the fat. You already postponed for years, what's 1-2 more?

The trope of coming clean for a life of prison while feeling spiritually free is not new.

But he's not spiritually free; he did this not because he atones for the countless people he robbed, scammed, or implicitly got whacked; but for his ex-lover's approval.
His spirit is not redeemed because he's locked away for the rest of his life based on arbitrary guidelines made by society. He didn't do some incredible good by confessing nor was it ever implied he regretted his cons, exploiting the system to serve criminals, or build a criminal empire. Hell, an episode ago he was knee-deep in his old ways again with nary a care. There was no road to redemption or moment of faith that leads him to denounce his life and walk the straight and narrow.
This was all so his favorite girl could talk to him again.

People saying he did it to simp on Kim are wrong. He knows he's not going to fuck her.

He doesn't want to fuck her, he's done that already countless times. He wants her approving stare and a chance to share a moment again.
He 100% did it for Kim. That's the whole reason he lied to the prosecutors; to get her to show up.

He does seek her approval, as Jimmy sought the approval of everybody throughout the series, but he came clean for himself. There was nowhere else to go and he was just constantly ruining his life over and over again.

There was plenty elsewhere to go.
7 years was the ultimate big dicked win. The Saul Goodman we saw for 6 seasons of BCC and 4 in BB would've taken that deal with a shit-eating grin as he flips off the entire bar association of New Mexico and his dead brother's grave. 7 years and he gets a clean slate; no more hiding, no more watching his back and overlooking his shoulder; he wins. He can do whatever he wants.


This would've been ok if this was Jesse who got caught, found a way to weasel himself out of the consequences by making up some hooplah that Walt had forced him into the trade, then finally comes clean and confesses to everything as he sees Brock and Jane's relatives at the courthouse. It's certainly more in-line with his character who was sulking in remorse for half of seasons 4 & 5.
This doesn't feel like Saul at all, and that's what annoys people.

 

[God of Nothing]

Vince actually said he was frustrated at people who kept rooting for Walt and deliberately kept making him more and more vile to see if these people had a breaking point.

Meh, if you're going to want people to hate your villain protagonist, you have to actually have them act like a villain in a way that distinguishes him from everyone else. Walt was still an egotistical man with noble intentions that gradually grew more self-obsessed as the time went on. Walt wasn't an outright asshole, a rapist, a thief, or even a murderer. He doesn't ice a completely innocent person for shits and giggles or without second thought. Other people end up doing that more or less on accident for him. If you don't want people arguing for his innocence, don't give an argument for it.

 

[Ita Mori]

Vince actually said he was frustrated at people who kept rooting for Walt and deliberately kept making him more and more vile to see if these people had a breaking point.

Yeah because that worked for David Chase or the writers of The Wire, dinnit?
You can't make a charismatic character then get mad people like them. And why is it wrong to like them anyway? None of it is real.

Literally everything he did as Gene. EVERYTHING. Was out of character. He is the top fugitive on the FBI's most wanted list. His name and face are on television every other night in national stories. He decides to take a very public job working at the largest shopping mall in the state. And he is in working at a front facing store greeting hundreds of people every day. From the time Walter dies against the Nazis until Gene is recognized as Saul it is under two months. TWO MONTHS before he blows his entire cover? And begins telling people he is Saul and saying the phrase in an opening shopping mall "Better Call Saul" like and idiot?

How is that in character for a usually cautious person?

He is literally telling people he used to be Saul weeks into his new identity. And going on illegal capers and poisoning and drugging cancer patients only six weeks out from Jesse leaving his car at the border (which was technically Skinny Pete). It was so out of character and ridiculous. Jimmy always hired people to break into homes. He hired Mike to break into Chuck's home. He hired the thief to steal the Hummel from the fax business. He hired Mike to break into the Kettleman's home. Now he is breaking into the homes of people he drugged and almost bludgeoning them to death over some Rolex watches?

And you wanna know something? That could've all worked to make this ending good.
We should've gotten a Saul who knows he's going scorched earth and is well aware of where his arrogance and foolishness is leading him, but he doesn't care.
He's angry.
He's angry at where he is, he's angry his lover left him, he's angry that he associated with an amateur who ended his good times, he's angry at himself for believing in the amateur, and most of all, he's angry that Chuck was right; he cannot change.
He will not change and Chuck died being right.

I wanna explain more but that'd be breaking into fan-fic mode and that shit's autistic, so I'll leave for the night instead. Adios.

 

[AnOminous]

He doesn't ice a completely innocent person for shits and giggles or without second thought.

Yeah he did. He couldn't give a shit less about anyone who died. He whistled a merry tune after a completely bullshit speech about how much he cared about that kid Todd shot. Once he got past his initial qualms about killing Krazy-8 he loved it. He wasn't some serial killer who killed people just for the sake of it but it was no big deal for him. And in the end, he murdered Mike for literally no rational reason at all and with no real benefit to himself.

He was a snake and a monster and every single person who encountered him was worse off for it.

 

[Nuns with guns]

This is a really autistic hill to die on, especially for something I watched only once. I won't argue any further, but in my first impression I liked it and I'm okay with some of you hating it to be fair you need to have a very high IQ to understand Saul Gone...

 

[Image Reactions]

It’s Jimmy…….Jimmy Skywalker.

But like BB before it, I watched every episode of BCS on the night it aired. I liked it leagues better than BB. I was really hoping Jimmy would get away, but I expected him to salvage Kim’s name in the end. He really loved her.

 

[linchan]

Nippy should have been the first episode of the season, and the stretch of episode 4 5 and 6 should have been merged or had more active scheming. Seriously those episodes each only has like one or two stand out scenes. Episode 4 was fine to me because it has that funny Jimmy dressed up as Howard scheme but man I can't recall what they did in 5 and 6 that furthered their schemes.

Maybe move back Episode 3 and have bits of Nacho running from the cartel, but I worry this would just make Nacho's story line feel too stretched out.

While I liked everything post plan and execution, everything before it other than Rock and a Hard place was felt like a really long set up.

It's a bit of a shame Kim was just an observer who needed saving by the end of the show. Thought that she'd do something drastic like find herself defending Saul or something, as unlikely that is. A part of me thinks in universe she is pissed off that she was once again taken away the burden of the consequence by Jimmy. Also the Zafiro Anejo barely played a role in the end of the story.

 

[Nobunaga]

>women are dindus incapable of evil
>junkies deserve sympathy because muh circumstances even when are responsible for ruining the lives of several people
Nice show Vince, this dumpsterfire should have honestly ended with Lalo death

 

[God of Nothing]

Yeah he did. He couldn't give a shit less about anyone who died. He whistled a merry tune after a completely bullshit speech about how much he cared about that kid Todd shot. Once he got past his initial qualms about killing Krazy-8 he loved it. He wasn't some serial killer who killed people just for the sake of it but it was no big deal for him. And in the end, he murdered Mike for literally no rational reason at all and with no real benefit to himself.

He was a snake and a monster and every single person who encountered him was worse off for it.

Krazy-8 was either him or his family. The kid, Mike, and Mike's guys are the closest condemnations. Todd still doesn't put him at fault for it, granted his reaction was the biggest sign of his rotting character. The two drug dealers were effectively nothing. Due to his own fucked ego, it was either him or Gus.

If they really wanted to sell him going off the deep end, he should've finished off Mike. None of that apology shit. Come on, you can tell they were half-assing the fall.

 

[ArthuriusMartyrius]

So they turned Saul into a simp? Jesus fucking Christ, I would've been way less angry about this finale if Saul came clean because he legitimately felt guilty but they make it so blatantly fucking obvious that he only did it to score good boi points with Kim that it ruins his whole character.

Oh well, at least we're finally done with the Breaking-Bad-verse.

 

[Something Awful]

Phew, it's all over. I hope the guy who kept sperging out about POTTERY IT'S POTTERY can find peace now.

 

[HarryHowler]

I'm overall okay with how the show ended, but in retrospect it's obvious they didn't have enough plot to fill four episodes after they skipped to Gene's timeframe. If you cut out some of the more pointless filler scenes, you could probably edit the last four episodes down to one 60 minute episode and one 90 minute episode without losing much.

 

[Gourmet Race]

Just watched the final episode and it was ok, it wasn't terrible by all means, it just wasn't that impactful as I'd expect. Saul went to jail and him and Kim had a talk, that was pretty much it in short. On the bright side, they did bring back one of my favorite minor characters in the show, Bill Oakley. Also, I like the title, it's very cheeky, "Saul Gone".

That whole time machine talk in the last episode, I'm guessing that was suppose to seal the deal that Jimmy would've still been Saul even if Chuck helped him land on his feet because he was always Saul. Chuck was right, he was and will never be able to change because he doesn't regret his action, he enjoyed it, like Walt. Kim, on the other hand, showed regret, thus was able to change.

I guess what bothers me a little bit is that Kim got the long end of the stick, nothing bit her back. She was part of Howard's downfall, and I understand she tried to reconcile, but you'd expect at least something to bite back. Just because you tried to reconcile doesn't mean there shouldn't be any sort of punishment. If anything, she's a lawyer again, so it wasn't bittersweet, it was a sweet ending for her.

Now that Better Call Saul has ended, I can now say that I prefer Breaking Bad over BCS.

 

[Weeb Slinger]

I can see Jimmy coming to terms with the fact that he is never going to change. I am less convinced by his solution - to take himself off the board permanently - because I still don't understand why he did it. I am not convinced he is capable of that level of altruism or that he would lay down like that, even for Kim.

The time machine inserts weren't dreadful, but whenever a showrunner has to resort to retconning the past to justify an ending it seldom feels organic. To my mind the only show that successfully managed to wire-in a back story that justified the conclusion was the final truncated season of Boardwalk Empire.

I did like the prison bus scene where Jimmy realises that he can never escape the tall shadow of Saul Goodman. I think I heard one of the prisoners in the bakery refer to him as "Saul." It's amusing that he thought he was in a prison when mixing dough at the Cinnabon. Now he's operating a dough mixer with an actual cage around it.

I also liked Kim's ending. She's doing what she wanted to do all along - helping people who have nothing to obtain justice.

Overall, I thought it was a good ending. I didn't want to throw anything at the TV. I'll give it a few months and then I'll watch the entire series, start to finish.

EDIT 86 years. Jimmy literally got 86'd from the free world.