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Better Call Saul


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The mumblings in the teaser to me sounded like he was trying to remember road demarcations for where he might have hid money. He said something about "mile ten" or something. I dunno. 

Could not watch Kim break down. Hearing it was bad enough, and knowing it was in public was just torture. 

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On 8/2/2022 at 10:27 PM, peterien said:

I would normally trust the process given that Gilligan, Gould etc have given us some of the best episodes of tv we’ll ever see BUT there’s literally nothing to play with for the final two episodes, everything that has to be done is done. Whatever happens to Gene is irrelevant. 

I was wrong. I was so very wrong. 

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On 8/10/2022 at 8:56 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

There was a lot going on during the telephone call scene, as well as the scene where they signed the divorce papers. Gene clearly wants to reunite with Kim, but Gene, or Saul, if you will, is a gross caricature of the man she loves. She tries to appeal to him as Jimmy, not Gene, Saul or Viktor, which causes him to flip out and begin attacking her. He goads her into confessing, and somewhere between the telephone call and her arrival in Albuquerque, she decides to do just that. I thought it was brilliant the way she switched back to being Kim when she returned to Albuquerque. As a former lawyer, she knew the affidavit wasn't enough to get her charged for any crimes, so she went a step further and confessed to Cheryl. When Cheryl threatened to take everything that Kim has, it was clear that for Kim, her "Miracle Whip" life in Florida didn't amount to much. When she told Gene that he can't be living much of a life and that he should turn himself in, she might as well have been talking about herself. That said, she deliberately chose that life in Florida so that she wouldn't hurt anyone anymore. She probably would have continued with her mundane routines if Gene hadn't called her, and may indeed return to it. The call was the catalyst for Gene going off the rails in Nebraska, and whatever his final outcome is, and Kim finally confessing, and was the crossroads moment we saw in the previous episode. Kim's confession also implicates Jimmy in the crimes (if that's the correct verb), but I don't think she cares by this point as the Jimmy she loved is gone. I suppose she has to feel some guilt over that as it was her decision to leave Jimmy that pushed him over the edge. but their relationship was already strained by their opposite reactions to Howard's death. It's interesting that she protected Jimmy at Howard's memorial, but is now making an effort to have even more charges laid against him. 

I forgot one key point here. Kim doesn't reveal to Cheryl that Jimmy is still alive. She's leaving it up to Jimmy to turn himself in. I think this is directly related to the guilt she feels about the choices she's made ever since she came up with the idea to ruin Howard's career, including the disastrous decision to not tell Jimmy about Lalo. Watching the telephone scene again, it's Kim's silence that causes Jimmy to flip out. I wonder if that's related to her silence after he tells her to have a nice life after he signs the divorce papers. Rhea's acting in that scene is brilliant. The second time I watched it, I focused on her reactions and you can see the mixed emotions she's feeling and the way she fights to repress some of her feelings. You can tell she still loves Jimmy but hates what he's turned into. 

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Saddest episode of the entire BB universe. She better get that damn Emmy this year.

Some great conversation here about Kim’s mindset. Totally agree that her realizing she was no longer in danger led to the confession and return to ABQ. I was coming here to note that she actually didn’t tell the whole truth, but that was pointed out in the post above.

Kim’s character arc is basically Walt in reverse in a way. Walt started off as an under-appreciated meek shell of his true self. In the end, with the cancer diagnosis as the turning point, he got what he wanted which was to be recognized as a Great man. Kim was recognized for her brilliance early in her career, in command of her destiny etc etc. To go from that to the shell we see in Florida is such a heartbreaking turn.

She was in control of the Howard scheme and you can tell that eats at her more than anything. Florida Kim doesn’t want any control. She can’t even bring herself to chose between two flavors of ice cream.

I think she also blames herself for where Jimmy ended up. We the audience know that’s not on her, but you can see it in her face during the phone conversation. It’s why she told that one lie during her confession. She still feels the need to protect him even though she recognized years ago, in the rain, that the Jimmy she knew was gone.

Edited by Jrag
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Only one day left til the finale. My DVR has the ep listed as an hour and 38 minutes. So a bit bigger episode to go out on.

My final guess is the end result is Jimmy in prison. The big three will all have different outcomes. Jesse eventually escapes to isolation in Alaska. Walt died in a blaze of glory. Jimmy gets caught and pays for everyone's sins. It didn't have to be this way, but he's addicted to pushing things too far. Chuck was right about Jimmy all along. His fate is to be a criminal lawyer, just as Jesse said. But criminal in the sense he's behind bars now, advising other inmates on appeals and what not. A clever turn of phrase from right before his first BB appearance.

I don't have a good guess as to how Kim factors into our conclusion. Admitting to multiple felonies in that affidavit takes away her ability to pass the BAR and show up in the final scene as Jimmy's surprise PD. So is it possible her role in this story is already over? I guess we'll find out tomorrow night.

This is probably the end of this universe forever. There's no real spin off characters left. End of an era.

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14 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:



This is probably the end of this universe forever. There's no real spin off characters left. End of an era.

ACTUALLY~!!!

Gilligan said in a recent interview that he has ideas for other stories in the BB universe, but he’s not looking to jump into them right away. He’s going to do other things first.

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Badger and Skinny Pete would make for a good series.

I'd be down for a one season deal of exploring what life is like for Skylar, the kids, Marie, the DEA, etc.

It seems like there's more to learn about Madrigal.

Yeah, I think there's plenty of ideas and content to mine from the BB universe, but there's also no need to jump back into it right away. Give things a couple years or so to breathe.

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7 hours ago, southofheavy said:

I'm okay with not seeing Marie again. What a pill. 

You just had to say something, didn't you? ? The thumb in her eye with the monologue (at least before he changed his mind later) was pretty tasty though. 

Anyway, fine finale. My only question is what was the deal with Walter and Jimmy together in that room, because I don't remember the situation/circumstances from BB at all. 

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12 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

You just had to say something, didn't you? ? The thumb in her eye with the monologue (at least before he changed his mind later) was pretty tasty though. 

Anyway, fine finale. My only question is what was the deal with Walter and Jimmy together in that room, because I don't remember the situation/circumstances from BB at all. 

It's when they were waiting for vacuum cleaner guy to take them to their new lives. 

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For as good as this show was, the Gene timeline was kind of a letdown. A letdown in the sense that everything preceding it was just so griping. And so visually spectacular. I'm not knocking the ending we got by any means. But when you compare it to episodes this season like Nacho's death & Howard's death & Lalo's death... the last three episodes just felt... there. Plus I did not enjoy the black and white.

But the ending we got was pretty great as far as character development. It was the ending that was earned. Saul was just Saul-ing his way through everything until he found out Kim was in real legal jeopardy, civilly. That kind of made something click in him and it was his Walt / I did it for me moment. It didn't really do anything for Kim other than absolve her of the guilt she was feeling in driving Jimmy further down the Saul rabbit hole.

Him talking a 190 year sentence down to 7, just to blow it up in the end is exactly what Slippin Jimmy would do. It's fitting. He's now behind bars for the rest of his life and won't be able to hurt the people he loves anymore. Not that there's any left. From a story stand point, it's great story telling. It's not as dynamic as the Breaking Bad finale. But it's the ending fitting of the character this show fleshed out.

I liked getting to see Marie again. The anger she feels being directed at the only person left she can direct it to made sense. Even if Saul himself had pretty much no part in Hank's death specifically. At least someone involved is paying the price for the damage caused by Walt and his empire.

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What an insanely beautiful finale. For me, it was perfect in every way. I don’t think time on the inside for Jimmy is going to be all that bad. No one is going to mess with him, I could see Jimmy being friendly with guards, he gets to work on the kitchen, etc. And Kim, maybe my favorite tv character ever, gets maybe the best ending anyone from this universe has ever received.

This, more than the ending to Breaking Bad, more than El Camino, was the best way to close out this universe and give a sense of finality to everything.

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This really was the closest thing to a happy ending you can get with this universe. Jimmy lost everything, but got to do the right thing in the end, and got to call all the shots in doing so really.

There were some great little touches, like the Kim/Jimmy bookend shots. The way they lingered on the buzzing Exit light when Jimmy finally talked through his guilt over Chuck.

He went down swinging like Walt did, but whereas Walt was a full blown villain, Jimmy has a bit of a decent person still in him and I came away still wanting to see him find redemption.  Also you know he was reveling in the fact that little ol' him, a lawyer that the big firms never had time for, just brought a fleet of DOJ and DEA attorneys to their knees.

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Now that I've had a few hours to digest the episode, I think this was a happy ending. 

-Jimmy got his quasi-redemption arc in that he came clean about his misdeeds and is paying his debt to society.

-He and Kim were never going to reunite, but by admitting to his involvement in Harry's situation I'm assuming she's now in the clear from being sued. She did have that notarized confession, but with Jimmy taking the blame for it I'm guessing the two conflicting confessions will benefit Kim in the event of a civil suit. In the end he did as right by her as he could, and she seems proud of him.

-His life as Gene is full of paranoia and boredom, so much so that he ended up going back to his old Slippin' Jimmy days and got himself into trouble. Any subsequent vacuumings would have probably resulted in equally unfulfilling lives where he had to constantly live even further under the radar and would have had just as much a sad life.

-Think of his line to Walt about being the John Dillinger of the prison system had he given himself up. That's pretty much what Jimmy is going to be in prison. The reaction he got on the bus and the brief glimpse of his interactions with the other prisoners show he's respected there. Sure he's a con man, but he's one of them and no doubt many people in there were former clients or knew someone who was. I don't know if he goes full Andy Dufresne, but him offering his legal expertise to his fellow inmates (and possibly even guards) to curry favor is totally on-brand for him. Not to mention it's prison, where there are basically unlimited options for an enterprising con artist to ply his trade.  

 

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I can't believe it's over. That final scene with Jimmy in the prison courtyard, wow... I liked how they kept swerving us. Gene's gonna do a runner and try to get cleaned, but gets caught inside a rubbish dumpster. Jimmy goes full Saul Goodman in trying to have his sentence reduced, then it seems like he's going to completely screw Kim over, but no, change of heart and he finally confesses to his regrets in front of the judge. I hope he doesn't fall into some Slippin' Jimmy trap gain in prison. He probably will. But at least he won back Kim's approval, and now she has a new lease on life with the legal volunteer work. I honestly didn't think they'd r6edeem Jimmy, but I was kind of shocked by how evil he seemed post-arrest. In the end, we got as a close a happy ending as you could get. 8 years, though.  Great show. Bummed that there won't be any more. 

 

Edited by ohtani's jacket
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I wanted him to take the deal...

This face turn seemed pointless and too little, too late. I expected he'd do it to try and take the heat off of Kim for Howard's death, but he really didn't. He got choked up when he mentioned Howard then moved on to confessing to ruining Chuck. It seems that Kim is still on the hook for that civil suit. I'm not sure what he'd even be able to say to change that, and would she go along with it?

I'm glad Kim is sort of getting back into legal work, but is she still with Mr. Yep Yep Yep? I guess she can spend her free time at the legal aid office so she won't have to endure that as often. The lawsuit will also take up a lot of her time.

Jimmy renounces Saul during his big redemption scene, but slips right back into being him in prison. So what was the point? Just to impress Kim? Maybe he's back to Saul just to survive because that name brings him respect, but it sure undermines him coming clean.

I'm not saying I hate the ending. Just trying to process it. It's complicated!

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