Better Call Saul

One guest star def not not not redundant, however.

Seeing Kim's leaving (and Lalo's death) as the climax of the series and the last 4 eps as denouement, I'm happy with how it all played out. I had a feeling Saul would be caught quickly in this one. They had a lot of ground to cover in this episode -- great editing job to get it all in without seeming too rushed.

It was out of character because he found out Kim confessed and she's the only living person whose opinion of him he gives a fuck about. I mean her cold demeanor got him upset enough to shatter a phone booth in a previous episode.

Her confession shocks him because unlike him, she had no threat of law enforcement and multiple felonies and RICO charges looming over her. Just pure conscience.

He wants be seen as a decent human being in her eyes and that means squaring up to what he did and not weaseling his way out for maybe the first time in his life. His life is already shit, he has no real friends, he'd rather go to prison for life with the one person he loves respecting him again than emerge from jail in 7 years with nothing.

And of course that's a parallel to Walt in Breaking Bad confessing to Skyler.

Marie had zero effect on him at all. If Kim never confessed, dude is on his way to negotiating for a two year sentence and rack of lamb every night.

I like happy endings--happy in context, happy compared to all the other ways it could have ended--so I liked this. Not Mad Men's finale, or The Sopranos', but for me, very satisfactory. Saul finds Jimmy--I don't find that beyond the realm of dramatic plausibility.

If I'd made a list of who might turn up in the final episode, Marie would have been 37th. So I loved the surprise of that.

I expected Lalo to walk into the courtroom carrying the St Elsewhere kid's snowglobe

the point of all the flashbacks for the ep was to drive home his final courtroom appearance.

Honestly, I was kind of worn down by the Jimmy-Kim relationship over time. For me, the Jimmy-Chuck relationship was the highlight of the entire run, and that came through beautifully in the flashback here.

I do find it hilarious that prosecutors we're happy to finally have someone from the cartel to charge, after finding mostly dead bodies and AWOL people along the way

They set up Jimmy's about-face with the two conversations about time-machines/regrets. Not really a big deal, but if I had to point to one thing that stretched credulity a bit, it was that one of these conversations was with Mike. Through both series, Mike never seemed especially big on reflective, heart-to-heart conversations (his family excepted). In fact, his greatest moment ever for me was when Walter tried to have one just before Mike checked out. "Shut up, Walter"--death was preferable to a heart-to-heart with Walter.

I said that to my mother before Mike gave his. "He doesn't like small talk"

Walter's reaction, of course, was vintage: berate Saul about how scientifically illiterate he was.

mike had the "move to alaska" conversation with jesse - yr treading

the worst part of this episode was some acting by someone that seemed like they'd seen a 30-sec emmy highlight reels of that character and decided to amp by a 10 factor.

They set up Jimmy's about-face with the two conversations about time-machines/regrets

i liked walter's appearances in these last few eps because it showed him from an outside perspective. namely it showed him as a pompous, high-strung ass who must've been incredibly tedious to be around

I think Mike’s sharp character radar makes him actually care about Jimmy and Jesse though, and it translates into a weary but sincere level of interest in their thoughts. Whereas Walt he read accurately right from the start, so when he can finally tell him to just stuff it, he does.

He definitely adopts a parental concern with both Jesse and Ignacio (and a little bit with Kim, when he warns her about Lalo)--I'd extend the family exception to those two. And Walter, yeah, he has no use for him at all.

I'd put Jimmy/Saul maybe halfway on that spectrum?

NOW HIRING: General Manager in Omaha, Nebraska https://t.co/3OnH52qsly

— Cinnabon (@Cinnabon) August 16, 2022

Part of me was looking for a final heel turn at the end - throwing Kim under the bus for a couple less years in jail - but this ending was a bit less nihilistic. This half of the season felt a little like a rollercoaster. After setting up Jimmy/Saul as a complex character for the whole series, with understandable reactions to situations, they seemed to want to remind us is capital letters: JIMMY IS A POS. But then that was just used to set up the last-minute change of heart by Jimmy in the finale. It's ok, but speaks to the writers' seat-of-the-pants plotting.

It was a roller coaster, and a little hard for me to follow, especially the stuff connecting to BB, which I haven't seen in years. But there was a lot to wrap up, in multiple timelines, plus the opportunity to bring in popular characters again, so they forced themselves into this situation. Personally I was pretty satisfied with how it unfolded, but I think the Walter and Jesse cameos this season kinda distracted more than helped. Marie's was good

Would have liked it better if he went off to do his reduced time (but I think it would have been at least a decade: Feds seem less likely to cave quite so far, although I've read about it happening on State and lower levels pretty often), and we last see him as a jailhouse lawyer, cocky but keeping an eye about, always wondering if he's gonna get shanked or shived, since, as he mentions to prosecutors, some of those guys he was afraid of are still out there). That seems a lot more realistic/in character than---what they did, ugghhh

Was waiting for Bill to plead with Jimmy one more time and Jimmy responding "you're one of the smartest guys I ever met, but you're too stupid to see I made up my mind ten minutes ago"

Xpost Jimmy is way safer on the inside than he is on the outside now that everyone knows he's alive and where he lives. 7 years, 86....tomato

I did think the Walt bit was perfectly written and delivered. Disappointed that Odenkirk and Esposito are getting their own shows next year, but not Seehorn. Maybe she'll turn up on those, along with other BCS and/or BB actors. Maybe she'll get a one-of; maybe lifer jailhouse lawyer will! They could be in one one-off together, of course.

So is he now going off to prison in the Southwest? Everybody in that bus seems to know who Saul is.

yeah it was the particularly unpleasant prison he mentioned during his negotiation. a bunch of his abq-based clients end up there

Yeah, I *think* that he was genuine in not wanting to go to that prison, but I also wondered if it was his backup plan to get sent there punitively in case the deal somehow got botched or, as happened, he decided to torpedo it.

He's forever Saul Goodman there!

The Cinnabon call from jail was one of the more surprising moments. Something we might have assumed would be one of the last things on his mind, but revealed a basic good conscience? It kept me hanging on to some hope, even as it looked like he really might go all the way down. The complexity of the happy ending they gave us feels pretty satisfying.

but also... who else was there to possibly call?

It hadn't occurred to me before how uniquely suited to prison Jimmy is for someone who'd never done time. To whatever extent he isn't able to trade in on his rep as a criminal-friendly lawyer, he also has his rep as a high-rolling cartel associate. And he just generally seems to have a lot of facility in dealing with the type of people who might be doing hard time (and in ducking trouble if it comes his way). They could probably whip up a fun little miniseries showing him ruling the jailbird roost ten years down the line.

yeah that's why his change of heart didn't bother me - everything in his life is gone. he has no more family, no more friends, he's never gonna practice law again, and he'll never recover any of the riches he had without falling into the same habits that lost him everything in the first place. the only thing he has is Kim, and by confessing to the Howard thing it pretty much confirms that things there could never go back to the way they were. so what's he got to live for? at least in prison he's in a place where people know and respect him.

The Cinnabon call...revealed a basic good conscience?

Good conscience, I'd say, and also a dynamic--I've experienced this more than once, I'm sure others have too--whereby you develop a kind reflexive loyalty not to the company you work for, you know you're essentially nothing to them, but to the people you work with. You don't want to leave them with a mess. There's some guilt there, too, or something.

"a kind of"

Was thinking exactly the same xp

Would definitely watch a series of Jimmy in jail

can confirm

I thought I saw a faint bit of color in the glowing tip of the cigarette they shared, but I don't know if I'll ever go back to check. I tend not to rewatch shows -- too much else to get to.

Faint? It was clearly orange lol

That was a nice callback to the first time they met

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdl2AneHvgo

A+ backdoor pilot for the bill oakley spinoff

Loved both of Saul’s final displays of courtroom showmanship, heel and face: the first with the ice cold response to “you think a jury’s gonna buy that?” as he stares down Marie; the second makes total sense for the obvious reasons ppl have stated - Kim’s confession jolted his conscience - and his long long overdue moment of honesty (can’t call it redemption, really, and who actually benefits from this punk spending a more insanely long time in America’s stupid carceral system?) works for me as a happy ending of sorts, but fundamentally it’s still their old dynamic; these two spur each other to do reckless things

Finale posed too many questions.
Why did he dress up in a shiny suit in court if he was going to humble himself and turn back into jimmy?
Did his testimony absolve Kim?
What was the point of the scene with WW?

I enjoyed the thank yous More than the episode except for a Esposito more disingenuous than his character on the show

where were Walt and Saul in that flashback? i can't remember a damn thing about BB any more!

in the basement of the vacuum cleaner repair shop

I was confused by that too, till I read a review afterwards.

in the basement of the vacuum cleaner repair shop

― calzino, Tuesday, August 16, 2022 7:09 PM bookmarkflaglink

Best King Crimson album

Thought that actually flashed across my mind when B&W Saul took out the repair-shop business card: "They're not going to try some CGI thing with Robert Forster like they did with Nancy Marchand in The Sopranos, are they?"

The only thing that didnt work for me was how easily the feds took his BS and caved to his insane plea bargain demands. I find it very difficult to buy that happening in real life.

True. I guess we're supposed to think that Walt's demise was a humongous news story.

xpost Yeah, like I said this noon:

Would have liked it better if he went off to do his reduced time (but I think it would have been at least a decade: Feds seem less likely to cave quite so far, although I've read about it happening on State and lower levels pretty often), and we last see him as a jailhouse lawyer, cocky but keeping an eye about, always wondering if he's gonna get shanked or shived, since, as he mentions to prosecutors, some of those guys he was afraid of are still out there).

Yes, def. rooting for return of Jailhouse Saul, like yall.