"Better Call Saul," Year Five

All the spoilers ahead.

I decided that the fifth season of "Better Call Saul" needed its own post because this is Kim Wexler's season, and I haven't written nearly as much about Rhea Seehorn as I should have by this point.  At the end of the fourth season, Jimmy McGill had fully gone over to the dark side by becoming Saul, and from Kim's reaction I was sure that was the end of Jimmy and Kim's relationship.  The last thing I expected was for Kim to break bad herself.   

Watching Kim make that moral slide is fascinating because it happens in a very different way from the ones we've seen so far.  Like Jimmy, she realizes that she isn't happy operating within the big law system and decides to strike out on her own.  Unlike Jimmy, it's mostly for moral reasons.  There's still an emotional component, involving her contempt for bad actors like Hamlin and Wachtell (Rex Linn), but Kim still fundamentally believes in doing the right thing.  She just no longer equates the right thing with playing by the established rules.  Her relationship with Jimmy is more complex than it appears on the surface, and one of the best shockers of the season was "McGill v. Wexler," where Jimmy's willingness to pull a con on her has the opposite effect of what Jimmy assumes, because it achieves the correct result from Kim's POV.  Unfortunately, Jimmy doesn't really appreciate how much trouble being a friend of the cartel can bring on him, and his carelessness puts Kim in the crosshairs too.

Seehorn has been consistently great on the show, shouldering so much of the narrative by herself.  Kim is the only major female character in "Better Call Saul" with any real agency, and for a long time I was worried that she wasn't going to get much of the spotlight compared to other supporting players like Vic or Gus.  Holding back on Kim has actually helped in this season because her moves are more unexpected.  Compared to Skyler and Marie in "Breaking Bad," she's much more psychologically complex and therefore easier to root for.  As Kim gets more reckless, she's somehow all the more admirable and sympathetic.  I resisted becoming invested in Jimmy and Kim's relationship for most of the show, but now that they're this entangled in each other's lives, and Kim is the one actively tempting Jimmy to push their cons even further, I can't help rooting for them.  These two deserve each other, even though all signs point to their transgressions costing them big in the future.

Most of season five is spent setting up for the final stretch of episodes, getting Lalo Salamanca out of prison and building him up to be the biggest threat in this universe. Tony Dalton has really distinguished himself, establishing Lalo as one of the show's best villains.  He's smart enough to see through Saul and Mike's various schemes, and unscrupulous enough to harm innocent bystanders, all while maintaining a friendly, personable front.  He's the one character on the board who has his eye on every other character, and it's great.  While Jimmy and Kim are still mostly operating in lawful territory, we've already had a demonstration of how little that matters to Lalo and the other drug war participants.  Everyone's in the game now.  

The production values were noticeably good this year, especially for the episodes that take place in Mexico.  Mike on the ranch and Lalo's compound do a good job of opening up the universe a little more.  I'm also glad that "Better Call Saul" finally got a proper episode with the leads lost in the desert, when Jimmy makes his dubious debut as a cartel bagman.  I'll miss the Suzuki Esteem.  The action-heavy finale is also one of the most impressive hours of television I've ever seen, beautifully setting up Lalo for a revenge spree in season six.

Finally, a quick note of appreciation for Joey Dixon (Josh Fadem) and his film crew.  If we get another spinoff in this universe, I want to know more about him, Sound Guy (Julian Bonfiglio), and Drama Girl (Hayley Holmes).  Assuming they survive the series.  

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