Spoilers for everything up to this season.
The final season of "Better Call Saul" is split into two halves narratively. The first nine episodes finish the story of Saul Goodman in the past, or up to the beginning of "Breaking Bad." The last four take place mostly in 2010, when Saul is living in obscurity as a Cinnabon manager, and his past catches up to him at last. AMC decided to split these episodes differently for broadcast, ending the first batch with the big, shocking cliffhanger in episode seven. It's not a bad choice, however, since everything after that episode feels like an extended denouement, especially for Kim Wexler's character.
The first part of the season was great, and the final fates of Nacho, Lalo, and Howard were exactly what I was hoping for. Saul, like Walter White, becomes the antagonist of his own story, and Kim firmly reestablishes herself as the moral center of the show. The "Breaking Bad" universe hasn't had the best track record when it comes to female characters, but Kim has been the big exception, and she's easily my favorite out of everyone this year. Rhea Seehorn is absent from a good chunk of episodes, but whenever she's onscreen, you realize that you couldn't have the show without her. You realize why Saul makes the choices that he does in the finale. Everything that the show has spent five plus seasons setting up for their characters pays off beautifully.
I admit that I felt some restlessness while working through the final run of episodes, because I didn't find the Gene Takavic storyline all that compelling, though the big heist he engineered was fun, and it was great to see Carol Burnett pop up in a surprise role. The various intersections with "Breaking Bad,"and the cameos of so many familiar actors was diverting, but also distracting. The finale was really wrapping up both "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," however, so I can't really complain. There is absolutely no arguing that Vince Gilligan and his collaborators didn't end the show on their own terms, and considering the pandemic delays and Bob Odenkirk's health scare, I'm grateful. However, the best way to watch these episodes of "Better Call Saul" might be to pause at episode nine, marathon all of "Breaking Bad," and then finish out the rest of "Saul." While the writers do their best to give us some resolution for characters like Mike and Gus, mostly through flashbacks, their absence is deeply felt.
The show's production is as good as ever, and "Better Call Saul" stands out for its many unorthodox storytelling choices. This is one of the few shows that can get away with black and white cinematography (with some stunning uses of spot color), laconic pacing, and long dialogue-free stretches. There's a montage of Kim's humdrum daily routine in one of the final episodes that is one of the most devastating things in the whole show. And I appreciate that the aging actors who were all brought back for guest sports weren't subjected to CGI facelifts or much makeup. Instead, they're mostly just kept in shadow or dim lighting, which itself feels like an apt aesthetic choice as the walls close in around Saul in the last acts.
It's not really fair to compare "Better Call Saul" to "Breaking Bad" because they're very different shows telling very different stories. However, "Saul" feels like the greater accomplishment, telling a more mature, less sensationalized story that doesn't shy away from hard consequences. Where "Breaking Bad" had to stack the deck to keep us invested in Walt as a protagonist, Saul is a much more morally ambiguous figure who is able to prove that he was worth rooting for in the end. The relationship that he has with Kim is fascinating, truly one of the best screen romances that I've ever seen.
I don't expect that the ending will go over well with everyone, but I've been watching a lot of film noir lately, and this feels like the right place to leave Saul and Kim. I'll be back next time with my Top Ten episode list and a few closing thoughts.
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