Better Call Saul (Season 6)

Creators: Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould
Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Giancarlo Esposito, Tony Dalton, Mark Margolis, Michael McKean, Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Carol Burnett, Ed Begley Jr., Betsy Brandt, Jessie Ennis, Juan Carlos Cantu, Sandrine Holt, Tina Parker, Pat Healy, Max Bickelhaup, Peter Diseth, Julie Pearl, Kevin Sussman, Jeremy Shamos, Julie Ann Emery, Joe DeRosa
Original Airdate: 2022

**The following review contains major 'Better Call Saul and 'Breaking Bad' Spoilers**

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

When Better Call Saul premiered seven years ago, there was an unspoken understanding that co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould's primary job was to show how the likeable but scamming public defender Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) devolved into Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman's (Aaron Paul) egomaniacal "criminal lawyer" Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad. We were under the impression this transformation would occur quickly, perhaps as early as its first season. The writers even acknowledged as much in interviews, all while doling out those post-BrBa black-and-white flash forwards of Jimmy/Saul toiling away in a lonely, depressing existence as Omaha Cinnabon manager Gene Takavic. But then a strange thing happened as seasons went on and they inched closer to the prospect of Jimmy going full Saul: we feared seeing it. 

Anticipation turned to dread as we waited for the catalyst. It wasn't the guilt over his brother Chuck's (Michael McKean) death, getting disbarred, becoming entangled with the cartel or even his role in Howard Hamlin's (Patrick Fabian) demise. These and many more incidents undoubtedly contributed to the transformation, but what really did it was losing Kim (Rhea Seehorn). It was always about Kim. And few could have guessed after being given only about five minutes of screen time in the pilot, she'd end up as one of the richest written and performed female characters on modern television.

Kim was always different, as theories circulated as to what would happen to explain her absence during Breaking Bad. And now we have our answer. She wasn't "disappeared," like Walt, Saul and Jesse eventually were, in prison, or killed. Sickened by what she became with Jimmy, she made a conscious, pragmatic choice to leave her husband, unintentionally solidifying his persona of "Saul Goodman." But more accurately, it's Jimmy who manufactured Saul, wrapping himself in this over-the-top con man as if it were his late brother's space blanket. Goodman's as much a psychological defense mechanism as Chuck's illness, if not more so, and the definitive answer to whether this obnoxious, loud dressing criminal lawyer was an extension of Jimmy or a mask he donned to dull the pain. Of course it was the latter, and maybe we should kick ourselves for thinking he'd be able to drop it so easily after everything that's gone down. But they got us. 

We wanted a happy ending for Gene Takavic, but Gilligan and Gould have frequently depicted a moralistic world where actions lead to justifiable consequences. All the clues were there that Gene would completely fly off the rails in Nebraska, self-destructing under the weight of his own guilt. He almost succeeds, taken back from the edge in a final episode and season that ranks among TV's greatest finales and the rare spin-off to rival its predecessor in quality. It may have seemed impossible when this started, but the writers haven't only avoided disrupting Gilligan's original creation, but enhanced our appreciation of both, ensuring neither can be watched exactly the same way again.  

A panicked but resourceful Nacho (Michael Mando) is on the run, having no place to go after helping fast food drug kingpin Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) seemingly knock off suave supercriminal Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), who faked his own death. He's laying low, plotting to extract revenge on Gus by exposing the Superlab, while Nacho's taking heat from both sides and inevitably can't survive much longer. 

Nacho's exit is both tragic and heroic, carried by the intensity of Mando's performance and the idea that, despite poor choices, he follows a code of honor that Gus' future right hand fixer Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) can appreciate. In protecting his father Manuel (Juan Carlos Cantu) Nacho makes the ultimate sacrifice, going out on his own terms and in a blaze of glory, putting the screws to the wheelchair bound, bell dinging Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis) one last time. Of course, Gus is smart enough to know Lalo is very much alive, quietly preparing himself for war when he reemerges.  

As charismatic mastermind Lalo, Tony Dalton slid in to fill the void left by Michael McKean's exit as the show's central antagonist. And did he ever deliver, playing this sociopath so frighteningly and entertainingly that we don't want to see him go, while knowing full that departure is a must given the circumstances. His final stand enabled Gilligan and Gould to again do what's become their trademark: methodically and deliberately subverting audience expectations. All this while Jimmy and Kim reach the finals stages of their elaborate plan for Howard which, due to Lalo's reemergence, carries catastrophic consequences. 

Taking what Mike likes to call "Bad Choice Road," Kim can't help but turn her car around and finish the Howard scheme with Jimmy, marking an amoral point from which there's no coming back. And in doing so she throws away Cliff Main's (Ed Begley Jr.) invitation to continue doing what she loves, instead doubling down on discrediting Howard to force the Sandpiper case settlement. While it's difficult to watch Kim tragically sink even lower than Jimmy, the character's behavior is consistent with what we know of her, and far from a total blindside. 

Flashbacks to Kim's relationship with her alcoholic mother as a child isn't meant to explain, excuse or even provide a reason for all this, but they do offer context about who she is and what motivates these choices. Barely parented at all in a household where duplicity was rewarded, it makes sense she'd gravitate toward upholding the law. Unfortunately, it also tracks that she'd be drawn to the thrill and excitement of breaking it that accompanies her relationship with Slippin' Jimmy. And now they've gone too far, by a lot. 

Patrick Fabian's series-long performance Howard Hamlin might be its most underappreciated, with the character initially earning viewers' disdain for reasons that have more to do with how we'd expect him to be portrayed on a lesser show. Largely respecting Jimmy's hustle at HHM, he was always in an awkward spot trying to carry out Chuck's dirty work. Even if there were moments of Howard mistreating Kim, she and Jimmy aren't doing this out of vengeance, but because it's fun, which is far worse. 

Despite resenting Howard for healthily coming to terms with Chuck's death, even Jimmy expresses hesitation before "successfully" seeing through the plan that paints Howard as a cocaine addict and demolishes his reputation. Lalo's arrival in their apartment feels like the tragic culmination of Jimmy's cartel involvement and Kim just not knowing when to quit. They are toxic for each other and the Sandpiper payout is now blood money, with Mike swooping in to clean up what's become their defining mess. Easily the show's most victimized character, Howard was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and just the kind of loose end Lalo wouldn't think twice about eliminating.

The legal and cartel worlds of the show collide in the most literal sense with Lalo and Howard sharing a grave under what will eventually become the Superlab. But if if we know one thing about Mike it's that he doesn't like innocent people being dragged into the "game." His instructions to delicately handle Howard's corpse is in line with the code he's always operated under, or at least convinced himself he has. The talk with Nacho's father reveals a cold, harsh dose of reality that not everyone lives for revenge. No matter what he tells himself about how he's not the bad guy, none of it will bring this man's son, or his own. Shot behind bars in that scene, Mike's in a prison of his own making, and like so many of the show's other characters, he can't seem to break the habits destroying him.

As for Gus, the events leading to his Superlab showdown with Lalo have exposed a more vulnerable version of the coldly calculating crime boss from Breaking Bad. Scared, flustered and not fully in control here, he gets the job done nonetheless, setting the stage for the criminal mastermind we'll get later. But he isn't that until he outsmarts Lalo, still laughing and smiling as he draws his last breath. He may have done too good a job conning everyone, as Hector's carried away by the cousins in his wheelchair, still ringing that bell.

Gus gets a brief, fleeting moment to bask in his victory, which reveals more about him personally than we've gotten in either series thus far. His bar scene with wine sommelier David (Reed Diamond) initially presents itself as a throwaway until you realize the writers acknowledge the biggest elephant in the room while giving us a rare look at the man outside his work element. Seeing him flirting and connecting with another person proves there's a human in there somewhere, with the sad coda being that the criminal life he's chosen dictates a world that could never include anyone else. Like Mike, he's dedicated himself to revenge, but gets a rare breather to take it all in before the real action starts in about four years.   

In so many ways, episode 6.9 ("Fun and Games') serves as Better Call Saul's true finale, putting a bow on this era and timeline, not to mention also Kim and Jimmy. HHM dies with its last surviving partner and Howard's memorial is attended by the only two people who know he wasn't a suicidal drug addict. Taking Mike's advice, they are doing their best Laurence Olivier and Meryl Streep, as to not arise suspicion in his grieving widow, Cheryl (Sandrine Holt). But Kim takes it further by outright gaslighting her, recognizing the need to completely squash Cheryl's suspicions in order to cleanly close this out. 

That was the last time. Kim's done, even if she won't be able to live with herself afterwards. Unlike the self-denying Jimmy, they'll be no pushing it down or waking up one morning to discover she hasn't thought about it. At this point she's right that together they're poison, bad for each other and everyone around them. And as Kim packs up and leaves, we're reminded of all the forthcoming danger she thankfully avoids, and how differently both will process this moment. Enter Saul Goodman.

The shocking flash forward jump from Kim leaving Jimmy to Saul waking up in his rotating bed next to a sex worker speaks volumes. We see him picking out flashy suits and ties while perfecting his trademark comb over in the same mansion authorities were cleaning out in this season's first episode (golden toilet and all). 

Hopping in the Cadillac and yelling at Francesca (Tina Parker) through that earpiece, we buckle up for the Breaking Bad era, only to realize we're still a few years away from when high school chemistry teacher Walter White walks into his office as "Mr. Mayhew." Gilligan and Gould know there's little reason to retrace those same steps or follow Saul any further, at least for now. More thematically relevant glimpses of that will come during Gene's journey in the 2010 timeline, which is where the series spends the majority of its remaining hours.

Thinking we'd be lucky to get at least maybe one full episode centered on Gene Takavic, there are essentially four. All of them function as kind of a multi-part closing epilogue reminiscent of Breaking Bad's "Granite State" and "Felina," which served as a post-script to the electrifying "Ozymandias," still considered by many that show's unofficial finale.   

Shot entirely in black-and-white, the polarizing tenth episode, "Nippy," gives us our wish in focusing exclusively on Gene. When we last left him his cover was about to be blown by cab driver Jeff (Don Harvey), an Albuquerque native who  recognized him as the infamous Saul Goodman. That Harvey's scheduling conflict forced a recast oddly ended up working in the story's favor. 

A small, but key part that grows in importance, Harvey briefly portrayed Jeff as slightly menacing and threatening, causing us to further commiserate with Gene. This season, Pat Healy steps into the role and his very different take on Jeff coincides with the evolving dynamic, as Gene commits to handling this guy himself and asserting control, revealing a more hapless, pathetic side to Jeff that Healy knocks out of the park. 

The jaunty, immensely enjoyable department store caper Gene orchestrates (recalling early Slippin' Jimmy scams) isn't exactly high stakes, but that's not the point. It's a gateway to get Gene out of his rut and back in the game, albeit in the unhealthiest way possible. Still, seeing him socialize again and befriending the mall security guards (in an incredible montage) is a stark reminder of how much he's missed any kind of human connection. And Gilligan and Gould's use of 89 year-old comic legend Carol Burnett as Jeff's mother Marion pays off in ways no one could have envisioned when her inclusion was surprisingly announced for the final stretch. Gene's wrangling her into his con but that she takes an immediate liking to him is only natural considering Jimmy's long history with the elderly. But it also makes the attempted manipulation of her especially cruel, even by Saul's lowest standards.   

Any hesitation viewers had in fully embracing "Nippy" as a standalone are entirely erased in the subsequent Thomas Schnauz-directed episode 11, "Breaking Bad," which contains the eagerly awaited appearances of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, with many guessing exactly how they'd return. But what few anticipated is how relevant their scenes would be to Gene's plight. Since it was the Breaking Bad episode titled, "Better Call Saul" that first introduced the sleazy criminal lawyer into Walt and Jesse's orbit, it's only fitting they both now reappear in this Better Call Saul episode, which flashes back to that initial encounter in the desert, but with a twist. 

Abducted by a masked Walt and Jesse and kneeling over an open grave, Saul's frantic throwaway (at the time) line about Lalo and Ignasio takes on deeper significance now that the series has retroactively explained its inclusion. But it's the other previously unseen conversations between the three men in the RV that's more important. Besides the thrill of seeing Walt and Jesse bickering again, we're confronted with the fact that neither of them would have gotten as far as they did without Saul, who saw his opportunity and took it, despite Mike's warnings. He just couldn't leave well enough alone, as history repeats itself in Omaha with Gene attempting to relive his Saul glory days, neglecting to acknowledge that's what caused his downfall. 

Gene thinks he's found a new Walt and Jesse in Jeff and Buddy (Max Bickelhaup), but he's really just an addict using whomever and whatever is at his limited disposal to get a quick Saul hit. The teased fifth season phone call to Francesca was from Gene, but it's not the important one. Sure, he gets an update on how hot the situation is, our confirmation of Jesse's El Camino status and what's happened to some remaining players, but the real thrill comes in him dropping the Gene guise for a couple of minutes, even if a justifiably aggravated Francesca wants none of it. 

It's the mention of Kim in Florida and his subsequent call to her that pushes Gene off the deep end. The identity theft scam Gene ropes Jeff and Buddy into (another great montage) is uncharted territory in both its pointlessness and physicality. He doesn't need the money, but has now resorted to drugging people and breaking into their homes for kicks. Buddy's refusal to rob kindly cancer sufferer Mr. Lingk (Kevin Sussman) doesn't trigger Gene's sympathies, but rather reignites his disdain for another cancer patient, Walter White. "We're done when I say we're done." Unfortunately, he'll have to do it himself this time

Risks be damned, he breaks into Lingk's house, making no effort to cover his tracks, as if he wants to be caught And if that call with Kim completely destroyed him, it's also brought this addictive opportunist back to the surface, as Schnauz cuts between this break-in and a flashback of Saul entering Walt's school, confirming that some things never change.While all this doesn't exactly reimagine events, it reframes the character of Saul in Breaking Bad as something more dangerous than just a sleazy criminal attorney.  An instrument of destruction who saw an opportunity and pounced, he propped up a chemistry teacher who would have otherwise been killed by the cartel or DEA within a couple of months, just as Mike had predicted. Walt was a monster, but Saul's been conveniently ignoring his own role in unleashing him.  

To see what's become of Kim Wexler six years after she last saw Jimmy is jarring, knowing that so many of her most identifiable, positive characteristics have been suppressed or buried in the wake of what they did to Howard. But unlike Jimmy, she's painfully aware of it and determined to punish herself on a daily basis. Working a 9 to 5 office job at Palm Coast Sprinklers, Kim chats with middle-aged Karens, wears dowdy clothes and struggles over the choice of mayonnaise or Miracle Whip with a boring live-in boyfriend. Her blonde ponytail replaced with brunette bangs, there's nothing inherently wrong with this new life other than who's leading it. She didn't have to change her identity or live in constant fear of the authorities like Gene, but this isn't her.

Always certain of what she wanted, the most alarming aspect about 2010 Kim is her indecisiveness, as if she feels making any choice will lead to disaster. This is a different kind of prison than surrounds Gene, but one that's intentionally safe, mundane and filled with predictable routines. The tragedy comes in knowing she's not doing what she loves and was always best at: practicing law. When we do eventually see their phone conversation, all she can legally and morally offer him is silence, along with relief he's still alive. But when he lashes out in response to Kim's suggestion he turn himself in and flips it all back on her, the realization sets in that she can't do this anymore. It's time. 

Kim's return to Albuquerque is a depressing reminder of how the years have marched on, leaving everyone from the past behind. Mike's former parking attendant job has been replaced by a machine, "Better Call Saul" benches now bare ads for defense attorney Bill Oakley (Peter Diseth), and saddest of all, Kim watches a young, idealistic lawyer prepping her client for court. HHM is a distant memory, as are Howard, Chuck, Jimmy and herself. It didn't have to be this way, but it is, and while we can't read all of the affidavit Kim brings to Cheryl, we see enough to know it's a full confession. And Gus, Mike and Lalo all being dead still may not eliminate the potential consequences for her. That's ultimately up to Cheryl. 

It's revealing that Kim doesn't let Cheryl know Jimmy's alive, still protecting him to some extent. The picture of steely composure and certainty for six seasons, it's taken this confession for her to finally let it out, with Rhea Seehorn delivering her most powerful acting moment in the series when the tears start flowing on the bus. Uncomfortable to watch, but necessary to have happen, it's one of many literal invocations of the Gilligan written and directed episode's title, "Waterworks," his first pulling double duty since Breaking Bad's finale. It was worth that wait.

The affidavit isn't the only legal document we see in the episode, as Saul stalls and anxiously awaits Kim's arrival to sign divorce papers at his "Cathedral of Justice" back in 2004. If his attitude wasn't enough to convince her the Jimmy she knew is long gone, the clientele sitting in his office seals the deal. One of them is drug dealer Emilio (John Koyama), who just so happens to have a hoodie and baggy pants-wearing friend waiting for him outside in the rain. Did we absolutely "need" a scene with Kim and Jesse? Plot-wise, probably not. But under the circumstances it definitely makes sense enough not to feel shoehorned in, representing what might be the ultimate overlap of both series. It's fan service, but totally works since the two characters occupied such similar roles in their show's separate but interlocking universes. 

At opposite ends of their respective journeys, Jesse recognizes Kim from representing Combo and briefly expresses some doubts about this Saul guy. In an alternate world she warns him, and even if the events of Breaking Bad still happen, maybe they don't go as far? It's the earliest incarnation of Jesse we've seen, but you sense even in this brief interaction that he values this woman's legal advise or he wouldn't have asked. But after signing of those papers, she understandably wasn't in the mood. Is Saul Goodman a good lawyer? "When I knew him, he was." It's as diplomatic an answer as Kim can muster considering she really doesn't know him at all anymore.

A now middle-aged Aaron Paul steps back into an early twenties Jesse and plays him as he always did, with some clothing, lighting and camera angles taking care of the rest. This appearance probably works better physically than the previous episode's RV scenes with Cranston and Odenkirk, where he had only half a mask to hide his head and face and was frequently shot in close-up. The voice is noticeably deeper but that adjustment is out of the way quickly as he falls right back into all the Jesse mannerisms we know and love without skipping a beat. Since he's much younger than Cranston, his aging could have been a distraction, but they do as good a job as possible making it an afterthought, allowing us to excitedly lose ourselves in Cap'n Cook's return. 

While Kim struggling over how much or little her confession numbs the guilt, Gene hits rock bottom. It comes not when he considers smashing Lingk over the head with his deceased dog's urn, but during a final interaction with Marion, who he greatly underestimated. Besides watching two comedic geniuses in Burnett (who's guest Emmy worthy) and Odenkirk go toe-to-toe in a tension-filled scene as deadly serious as anything in Breaking Bad, it's only fitting that a senior citizen bring him down. Marion's discovery of those "Better Call Saul" commercials on her new laptop shows he let his guard down, playing it a little too loose in corrupting poor, deluded Jeffy.  

Gene tightening the phone wire in his hands as he approaches Marion just might be the most terrifying moment in the history of the series. We believe he could kill her and it's only when she tells him, "I trusted you" that something breaks through, perhaps reminding him of his better days practicing elder law. That was when Jimmy stuck up for people like Marion, who's now looking into the eyes of a desperately unhinged Cinnabon manager. When he lets go and she presses the Life Alert button, he's forced to flee, with the tiniest hint that maybe a piece of Jimmy could be left after all. 

If "Waterworks" is Seehorn's showcase, then the Peter Gould written and directed series finale "Saul Gone" belongs to Odenkirk, who's never gotten the chance to play as many versions and personas of this character within a single episode. It's a trip, but one that won't draw comparisons to "Felina," which saw Walt storm back into ABQ like an avenging cowboy, gunning down Nazis and rescuing Jesse before going out in a hail of bullets. That was great, but this show isn't Breaking Bad, the recognition of which has always been one of its most valuable attributes. 

Different in tone and tenor, Gilligan and Gould drew from its predecessor's blueprint to craft an intimate, character-driven series that's a little more cerebral, trusting patient audiences to feel rewarded by their attention to detail. So much of the show's drama has been built on characters using their intellect to wiggle out of insurmountable dilemmas. And given how it all started, it's oddly appropriate the last episode contains nearly every element that's characterized its impressive run. 

Within minutes, Gene is appropriately apprehended in a garbage dumpster, and just like that, he's back in the system, hilariously calling upon former legal nemesis Bill Oakley for help. But sans mustache and in full Saul mode, he doesn't need any help so Bill's forced to only sit back and enjoy the ride. Facing a laundry list of charges and staring down a life sentence plus 190 years, the master goes to work, manipulating the feds into agreeing to a sweetheart of a plea deal. 

Once more, Saul uses the truth to spin an elaborate lie, while a visibly disgusted Marie Schrader (a returning Betsy Brandt) listens to his story about being threatened and intimidated into doing the dangerous Heisenberg's bidding. He knows it only takes one juror to believe it, and the feds fold, offering him an unprecedented seven-and-a-half year sentence. But for Saul for real revelation comes next when he hears of Kim's confession. It may take away what little leverage remained, but he was just toying with them anyway. Suddenly the satisfaction of screwing the system again doesn't seem quite as enticing as before. 

The idea that Saul, and human beings in general, are incapable of change is explored in three pivotal flashbacks involving Mike, Walt and Chuck. All of them are long gone, but in previously unseen moments he spends with them, we witness a different side of Saul, seemingly lost and looking for help, yet still not quite ready to own up. And while he's clearly trying to own up to his mistakes, did he ever find the three wrong people to turn to for guidance. 

Mike might be the exception, as we flash to a conversation during the memorable fifth season "Bagman" episode where he and Jimmy were stranded in the desert. At least he sees Jimmy's hypothetical time machine scenario as an opportunity for introspection, citing the day he took his first bribe as the moment he'd change. But despite clearly presenting that question in hopes that Mike can coax the truth out of him, Jimmy again buries his true feelings and changes the subject. 

Confirming predictions of many, Cranston's second Walt appearance arrives via Breaking Bad's penultimate episode, "Granite State," when he and Saul briefly roomed in Ed the disappearer's vacuum store before separately starting over with assumed identities. This is end game Heisenberg and it's amazing how Cranston can just pick up exactly where he left off in attitude and demeanor, with Walt insufferable as ever. Arrogantly dismissing Saul's time machine question as scientifically impossible, he at least cuts to the core of the issue by recognizing that he's actually asking about regret. 

Further confirming what a pompous blowhard he is, Walt starts in again with his arguable, unproven claim Elliott and Gretchen forced him out of Gray Matter. Always the victim, nothing is ever his fault, but unlike Saul, it wasn't circumstances that changed him. Prideful and desperate for respect, "Heisenberg" was always bubbling under the surface, looking for an excuse to emerge. 

It's telling that's Walt again blames his biggest regret on others, conveniently overlooking all the chaos and death he initiated afterwards. But confounding us again, he stares at the watch Jesse gave him, implying maybe one other regret, which we know he eventually makes right. If even Heisenberg can reach some sort of realization about his selfishness, it's definitely not too late for Saul, who wasn't "always like this," as Walt accuses. That's a description better reserved for himself.

Saul won't admit in either of those two conversations that his biggest regret is Chuck, and while it wasn't a given Michael McKean would reappear in a finale, how could he not? There's enough blame between the brothers to go around and both could have made better choices, but it feels momentous to revisit the very early days of the series (or just before it started), with Jimmy making those deliveries to Chuck's house. He did a lot for his older brother while getting nothing but grief and judgment in return, but this scene (besides revealing the origin of "The Time Machine" book confiscated from Saul's mansion) shows a different side to that. Aside from the mental illness, Chuck was also lonely and isolated, to the point that it's kind of sad to see him genuinely wanting to connect with Jimmy and get nowhere, mainly because neither will budge.

Chuck's obsession with sabotaging Jimmy's legal career was a self-fulfilling prophecy, helping to create the "chimpanzee with a machine gun" he intended to stop. And after Jimmy realized he'd never get his brother's love or approval, he went about destroying him instead. 

Chuck and Jimmy may have been incapable of change, but they share a couple of small moments here that hint a common ground could have possibly been reached if both tried a little harder. Of the finale's three tremendous flashbacks, this is the deepest and most consequential, especially considering what follows.

After getting the call from DA Ericsen (Julie Pearl) that Saul's testimony in Albuquerque could negatively affect her, Kim enters the courtroom fearing the worst. It's "showtime" alright, but with a big catch, as he repeats his Heisenberg sob story to the judge before making a dramatically sharp turn into the truth that seems to surprise even him. 

With Bill hilariously flailing to withdraw himself from the case as the feds look on in delight, Jimmy  torpedoes his meager seven-and-a-half year sentence to admit he facilitated Walt's worst crimes. His voice cracking and trembling, he not only takes full responsibility for what happened to Howard, but also the cancellation of Chuck's insurance that led to his suicide. Now Kim knows he's for real.

Jimmy seeing the person he most respected and accepted him for what he was come clean proved to be the example he couldn't get from Walt, Mike or Chuck. Unlike them, he was able to break the cycle. There's nothing in it for him when he throws away that sentence to spend the next 86 years in prison, other than Kim's potential forgiveness. And his own peace of mind. 

Jimmy can't control Cheryl's potential civil suit against her, but does the right thing anyway, dropping the mask and finally being honest with himself. The almost invisibly subtle change in Seehorn's body language and facial expression while Kim watches confirms this breakthrough, as does the buzzing of the EXIT sign, a brilliant visual nod to Chuck's courtroom meltdown in "Chicanery." Saul's gone but "James McGill" will get to share another smoke with Kim as a tiny bit of color reenters their world, coming full circle from the series' pilot episode. 

This is about as "happy" an ending as Jimmy could have gotten considering the circumstances, and judging by the prison inmates' enthusiastic reaction to meeting the legendary Saul Goodman, he'll be just fine not having to constantly look over his shoulder as Gene. Kim just might be okay too, as her volunteering at that legal office indicates she may now feel somewhat freed of the burden that's held her down.

When Kim visits Jimmy in prison, she's carrying herself differently than we saw in Florida, showing small signs of her old, confident self. And despite using her unexpired New Mexico bar license to get in, it's fair to say that'll be the extent of her future scamming. 

It's possible Kim resumes practicing law again somewhere, maybe even working to have Jimmy's sentence commuted. When he gives her the finger guns as she leaves, it's hard not to acknowledge the possibility this isn't the final time they see each other. Or at least we can keep telling ourselves that.

Better Call Saul succeeds where most finales don't in absolutely sticking the landing, with every scene, line and visual choice purposefully building to a conclusion that was in the cards the entire time, while still managing to completely surprise. And that's not easy when you're constructing a prequel where more than a few events and character fates are predetermined. Its final hour and a half not only works as a hits compilation, but the concluding moments spotlight what the entire story was about. So many finales fail at this, instead settling to safely sign off in a manner that upsets the fewest fans. 

If Breaking Bad was about Walt's love for "Baby Blue" this was always all about a very different, more complicated bond between Kim and Jimmy. Initial skepticism about the show's direction played out over multiple seasons, but Gilligan and Gould had a game plan, adjusting accordingly as they went along to ensure all the pieces fit. And now as this entire universe presumably comes to a close, there's a new yardstick against which all future TV spinoffs and prequels can be impossibly measured.           

Better Call Saul (Season 5)

Creators: Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould
Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Tony Dalton, Giancarlo Esposito, Mark Margolis, Max Arciniega, Kerry Condon, Dean Norris, Steven Michael Quezada, Barry Corbin, Rex Linn, Cara Pifko, Lavell Crawford, Robert Forster
Original Airdate: 2020

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★) 

When Better Call Saul premiered in 2015 it was understood that, as a prequel, certain developments would be inevitable. Locked in, so to speak. The challenge for showrunners Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould would be to take the details we already know about Breaking Bad and retroactively deepen them without causing disruption or inconsistencies within the narrative. The pressure wasn't in being great, but merely not screwing up, as most prequels have. And they chose to do it through Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), the sleazy, comedic "criminal" lawyer of Walter White many didn't think had an interesting enough backstory to carry this. And the doubters were sort of right, because the show ended up not being about him at all, but Jimmy McGill, the name to which he was born, and has spent the past few seasons desperately trying to shed.

Jimmy's long transformation into Saul appeared to have finally peaked at the end of last season, formally changing his professional name and fully licensed to engage in legal tactics that would make his late, brother Chuck (Michael McKean) turn over in his grave muttering, "I told you so." Even if it was a monster he helped create. The chipanzee with a machine gun is now officially on the loose and the final straw seemed to came at the end of Season 3 when the Jimmy did the unthinkable in suckering girlfriend, sometime business associate and scamming partner Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) into believing he'd changed. That he tearfully came to terms with his troubled realtionship with Chuck, only to turn her around and play her for a sucker, doubling down on his deception. S'all good man.

We know what happens to Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and to a large extent, Jimmy McGill, but Kim was always the wild card. And the the closer we get to brushing up against Breaking Bad's timeline, the more we realize this has really been about her all along. Not only because Rhea Seehorn gives the most under-rewarded, underappreciated performance on TV, but we know Kim won't be in it, which is terrifying. This whole time we've been bracing ourselves for Jimmy's crash, wondering when he'll drag our beloved Kim down, scratching our heads how this reasonable, kind, intelligent person could continually go to bat for such a self-destructive con-artist.

This penultimate season does nothing to alleviate any fears about Kim's potential fate since it's clear she has a blind spot, and we struggle to come to terms with how large it may be. Now we have our answer. And if what happens in the final minutes of this season is to be taken at face value (which few things on this show are), then we may have been worrying about the wrong person, as Gilligan and Gould introduce the possibility that Kim may share more than a few similarities with a certain high school chemistry teacher turned pork-pie hat wearing drug kingpin. Chief among them is moral indignation accompanying a belief that the end justifies the means. That it isn't the wrong thing if you're doing it for the right reasons.

It's entirely possible Kim's just testing Jimmy, but just as likely that the writers have cleverly shifted the conversation and she doesn't need to save him from himself since he'll become Saul Goodman attempting to rescue her from herself. It's a potentially shocking development from a series that always walked up to the line of predictability without stepping over. The chance that Kimberly Wexler has broken bad while Jimmy sits in regrettable, nervous contemplation over his violent brush with the criminal underbelly is as unpredictable as it gets. And now, with the two frequently overlapping worlds of the show officially colliding, there's no turning back.

Like each prior season, we flash- forward to a post-Breaking Bad, black-and-white Omaha, Nebraska where Jimmy's assumed identity as Cinnabon manager Gene Tacavic is now increasingly starting to show its cracks. Following an impromptu fainting spell, a trip back from the emergency room ends up blowing his cover. And it's hard not to feel that these scenes carry an added urgency after El Camino, which proved it's possible to successfully add an epiolgue onto Breaking Bad that doesn't violate anything that came before. Like that film, we're treated to an appearance from the late, great Robert Forster as vacuum salesman and "disappearer," Ed Galbraith, who can only get Jimmy out of this one for a price. That is if he wants to get out, or instead fight, possibly re-embracing his original identity, despite the risks. And whichever identity that is, it's clear either would be preferable to being Gene, a charade that's slowly killing him inside.

The action preceding all this in New Mexico is what carries the most suspense and anticipation, as the drug war rages on between Gus and the Salamancas. With patriarch Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis) incapacitated from his stroke and now using that infamous wheelchair bell to communicate, his charismatic nephew, Lalo (Tony Dalton) has taken over. He's made Nacho (Michael Mando) his right-hand man, unaware he poisoned Hector and secretly works for Gus. If only Lalo could find a good lawyer. Enter the recently re-instated Jimmy McGill, now officially practicing under "Saul Goodman."

Jimmy's representation of the criminal element escalates from hawking cell phones to being suddenly thrust into the middle of a big stakes drug war for which he was entirely unprepared. Kim also has her own distractions practicing at Schweikart and Cokely while simultaneously taking pro-bono cases on the side. Torn between facilitating the greed and corruption of banking client Mesa Verde and its clueless President and doing the right thing for a cranky land owner they're evicting, she involves Jimmy. That's a big mistake.

If anyone knows about living with mistakes, it's Mike, and the fallout from last seaon's bungling of the Superlab construction and his killing of Werner Ziegler has led him down a dark, depressing path of drinking and violence. The only person who may be able to pull him out of that hole is Gus, redirecting the former cop and doting grandfather's goals, serving as a motivating force in much the same way he eventually will for Walt. It's an interesting parallel, especially considering where all three characters eventually end up. But everything leads back to Kim and Jimmy, who find themselves on opposite sides, both in the courtroom and their personal lives, with criminal chaos quickly engulfing their world.

It's been established throughout the previous four seasons that Kim not only harbors a blind spot for Jimmy's illegal and morally bankrupt schemes, but is even frequently excited by them. But for someone whose ethical compass is so steady she's expressed a degree of reluctance joining in even his most minor of scams, he seriously tests her. First, with the Mesa Verde mess, which sees Jimmy really pull the wool over her eyes all in the name of "protecting" her and then again with his involvement with Lalo, that puts both of their lives in jeopardy. Her answer to dealing with it will drop a lot of viewers' jaws, further cementing a union we knew was doomed from the start.

It's pretty sad when the only person Jimmy feels truly comfortable opening up to is Mike, and as much as he leaves Kim in the dark, he still ends up telling her too much, or at least enough to make her vulnerable. But one of many things we've learned about her is that she won't take anything lying down and may in fact be more equipped to deal with all of this than he is. She's nobody's victim and it's a testament to Seehorn's performance that she somehow still suprises and even shocks with her range of reactions to the curveballs thrown her character's way. And ultimately, the show saves the best one for last.

If these ten episodes really succeed in shining its spotlight on the characters who don't appear in Breaking Bad, but nontheless shape those upcoming events. As Lalo Salanmanca, Tony Dalton is a charismatic force of nature, and a total break from what we've come to expect from a family that's basically been portrayed as brainless, hot-tempered thugs up until this point. From Tuco to Hector to the Cousins, they've cornered the drug game with muscle over mind, with none of them presenting themselves as a match for the calm, calculating Gus.

Lalo's different. Not only is he just as intelligent as Gus, he's surprisingly funny and charming, while knowing exactly what he's doing. Combine that with what at times seems like superhero-type survive skills like leaping onto cars and escaping impossibly precarious physical situations, and you have trouble. So much so that you wonder if the result would have turned out the same if Walt had to deal with Lalo instead of Gus. And if that's not a compliment to Dalton's performance, I don't know what is.

Like a chess player, Lalo's more than a few steps ahead, frustrating Gus' takeover plan and even forcing him to adjust course several times. This also affords Giancarlo Esposito to offer a deeper peak into Gus' psychology and how it's evolved leading into the events of Breaking Bad. Much about him is the same, but he does seem less in control here, still negotiating the balance between his public facade as the mild-mannered Los Pollos Hermanos manager and impending rise as a drug kingpin. But you can see the blueprint in his fastidious attention to detail with both. And Nacho, who Michael Mando continues to play with such nervous intensity, can barely go a moment opposite Lalo without the viewer thinking he'll be found out.

Lalo and Nacho share many intense scenes, each seemingly more  than the next, culminating with the finale. Bound to Gus to protect his family's life, Nacho's caught between a rock and a hard place, as the consequences could be equally bad if Lalo suspects he's a rat. Despite he and Lalo getting a shout-out early in Breaking Bad's run, we really have no idea whether either makes it, or maybe Saul's unaware that they didn't. Along with Kim, these two are pretty much at the top of every viewer's death watch list, with Nacho the most vulnerable of all.

The back half of the season finds all these characters scrambling, with Jimmy now all the way in. If Lalo has to use his resourcefulness to outsmart and outmaneuver Gus when the walls start closing in on him, it becomes clear just how underestimated he is. Jimmy's at his most pitiable and fearful as a desert shootout leaves him a walking billboard for PTSD and left to wander the desert with Mike in theVince Gilligan-directed episode, "Bagman." It's probably the most screen time Jimmy and Mike have shared thus far during the series and plants the seeds for the working relationship they'll eventually have, with the latter grumpily protecting the criminal lawyer while even developing a begrudging respect for him, at least by ornery Mike's standards.

The desert experience changes a shell-shocked Jimmy but it's unlikely anyone thought it affect Kim more. Knowing how things turn out for him, maybe we took it for granted that he would be quickly comfortable with a life of crime. He's not quite there yet, and if Jimmy is Kim's weak spot, than his is still Chuck. His continued obsession with "getting even" with his late brother through HHM's Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) over slights both perceived and imaginary prove he'll never be out from under Chuck's thumb.

There's no reason to believe Howard's olive branch of employment to Jimmy is anything but genuine since he was one of the few to try to go to bat for him. But despite his possible sincerity, Howard has this way of coming across as a slick phony looking to absolve himself for being Chuck's lackey. But it's Kim who thinks that throwing bowling balls onto his car and framing him for soliciting prostitutes isn't enough punishment for Howard's warning that Jimmy's "bad for her." The bigger question is whether she even truly cares. Does destroying Howard's life and career for the sake of building a pro-bono law firm make her master plan morally just? No one could have envisioned a scenario where Jimmy is the voice of reason, pleading her not to go through with it. Or is she just testing the waters to see how far he'll go? Only now we have a whole new avenue as to how he can possibly get there. 

After delivering what many believe is its strongest season yet, some have gone as far as to say this series is eclipsing Breaking Bad. I'm not one of them, especially considering this show's existence is based entirely off of it. That series to told one story with laser-like focus and few detours, whereas this has been a bit messier and took longer to find its footing, its two main storylines only now fully intersecting in its fifth season. While it hasn't spun its wheels, the execution's been deliberate and I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking they'd be further along at this point, or at least not a full four years before Walt starts cooking. But you still sense, more than ever, there's a strong plan, with the gaps between seasons perhaps partially contributing to that anxious feeling of impatience. Where it more clearly falls short of its predecessor is in its sometimes inconsequential cold opens that just seem to do little else other than reveal expository information related to the episode.

On Breaking Bad, these opening segments were a can't-miss, often times featuring an earth-shattering flashback or flashforward that reveals character or intel that was absolutely crucial to the overall narrative. But there are still notable exceptions here, such as The Cinnabon Gene flashforwards, flashbacks to Jimmy and Chuck's history and last season's Ozymandias cold open, which saw Saul scrambling to disappear with his new identity. All those seemed essential, as does the long-awaited Kim childhood flashback we got this season, which directly ties into her current plight, as well as the character's psychological motivations.

It's probably too early to say they dropped the ball on Hank (Dean Norris) and Gomez's (Steven Michael Quezada) appearances since they'll very likely be back, but their minimal involvement this season seemed inconsequential and even somewhat forgettable considering how important we know they'll become. But these are nitpicks of what's arguably the most successful prequel series in modern television, and one that faced no small creative task in terms of what it had to follow. When it's over it'll be an interesting experiment to watch the two shows in chronological order and then see how Better Call Saul plays knowing what we'll know. That'll be the ultimate test. After what's sure to be an excrutiatingly long wait for the final season, it's a safe bet Gilligan and Gould will have it all figured out and really step on the gas when it returns, making it all worth the wait.  
  

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

Director: Vince Gilligan
Starring: Aaron Paul, Charles Baker, Matt Jones, Jesse Plemons, Scott Shepherd, Scott MacArthur, Tom Bower, Kevin Rankin, Larry Hankin, Tess Harper, Marla Gibbs, Jonathan Banks
Running Time: 122 min.
Rating: NR

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

**Warning: The Following Review Contains Major Spoilers For 'El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie' **

When Breaking Bad's last episode, "Felina," aired in 2013, it was one of the few examples of a legendary show sticking its landing, delivering a series finale that many considered a perfect send-off. Running five seasons and not a single episode longer than warranted, creator Vince Gilligan knew the story he wanted to tell, and while pieces on the board may have been moved along the way, you got the impression the eventual destination was always clear. It's also the rare finale that's grown in stature since it aired, with initial rumblings of Walter White's (Bryan Cranston) Mr. Chips to Scarface journey wrapping up a little too tidily beginning to dissipate over time. So the big issue becomes whether any part of this is worth toying with.

With a current prequel series in AMC's Better Call Saul creatively performing better than it has any right to, you'd figure Gilligan would want to get out while he can, further preserving the integrity of both shows. But there's always been that nagging Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) issue. When Jesse escaped that Nazi compound in the final minutes of the series, screaming in agony and joy as he drove that El Camino right through the gate, we were left to speculate what would become of him, while also wondering if we're better off not knowing. And whether our imaginations could provide a more satisfying conclusion for him than anything Gilligan could cook up, leaving it a thread better left unresolved. So the big question becomes whether any of this is even worth toying with.

With Netflix's feature film, El Camino, Gilligan takes a calculated risk in attempting to continue Jesse's story by adding an epilogue to "Felina," while also creating an entity that holds its own in the Breaking Bad universe he revisits. Is it necessary? Not terribly, as what happens in the 122 minute film to the embattled, traumatized Jesse following his escape is probably very similar to what fans envisioned in their minds. Does it in any way harm the series? Absolutely not, as the quality of writing and directing here is very much on the same level of the show at its peak with key differences being the narrative stakes and the absence of its previous protagonist/antagonist. This is Jesse's story now and probably the most impressive thing about El Camino is how far it leans into that, delivering a claustrophobic character study effectively doubling as a taught, suspenseful crime thriller. And for a series consistently praised for how cinematic it looked, the feature provides additional evidence as to why.

This doesn't feel like an extended episode of the series, or a forced reunion. There's a very functional structure to the screenplay, sharing commonalities with the show's best episodes that seamlessly alternate between character-centric flashbacks and present-day action scenes. And it does this while somehow feeling entirely different from all the episodes that preceded it. As a standalone movie, it's tremendous, even as its success as a continuation of the show will proabably be debated. But it's ultimately all about Aaron Paul's complex, nuanced performance as one of TV's greatest characters. Experiencing Jesse's desperation, it's easy to forget whether or not we "need" to return to this. It just simply feels great to be back.

Walter White is dead. Gaining revenge on the Nazis while sacraficing himself to save Jesse, the latter fled the compound in captor Todd Alquist's (Jesse Plemons) El Camino. Physically and emotionally scarred from his imprisonment, a bearded, dissheveled Jesse must now decide what's next, remaining a"person of interest" in the Heisenberg case.  Considered a dangerous fugitive with reports of the compound massacre all over the news, he manages to evade authorities long enough to make it to the two people he knows he can trust: good friends Badger (Matt Jones) and Skinny Pete (Charles Baker). Far from criminal masterminds, the two burnouts come through in giving their pal a place to clean up and hide untill they come up with a plan. But with authorities rapidly closing in, Jesse quickly sets out on his journey with a very specific goal in mind. To get there, he'll have to make sacrifices, rely on his resourcfulness and come to face-to face with his past in order to even get a shot at starting over or having any kind of future ahead of him.

The narrative signposts in El Camino are always to clear to Jesse before becoming apparent to us, with Gilligan keeping the character a step ahead the entire time and completely driving the action. This keeps us on pins and needles anticipating his every move, often taking him on detours and destinations we rarely expect he'll go. In hindsight, each step makes sense, but in the moment we become Jesse's captive audience, wondering who or what he'll run into next, or how it'll tie to the ordeal he's been through.

It's to Gilligan and Paul's credit the psychological implications of Jesse's recent imprisonment isn't brushed over, nor is the very real possibility he'll be put into a situation where he'll need to kill again, if his survival depends on it. Considering everything he's been through, it makes logical sense that he's a functioning PTSD sufferer haunted by not only his own morally questionable past actions, but all the manipulation he endured at the hands of Walt. While the deaths of Jane (Krysten Ritter), Andrea (Emily Rios) and Mike (Jonathan Banks) haunt Jesse, they're never explicitly mentioned. We get it. And Gilligan gets that we do, letting Jesse's actions and a few carefully chosen flashbacks do all the work.

Since the finale was in many ways already an epilogue unto itself (with many still considering "Ozymandius" the true climax) rather than a continuation, it's a touchy subject which characters should reappear. If this was merely "fan service," it's safe bet we'd see Hank (Dean Norris), Skylar (Anna Gunn), Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte), Marie (Betsy Brandt), Gus (Giancarlo Esposito), either in flashbacks or the present, depending upon their fates. Of course, it doesn't help that Jesse's business with those aforementioned characters is either extremely limited, non-existent, or finished. With only two encounters with Skylar during the series and not so much as a a scene with Walt Jr., there's little reason for them to intereact now.

Similarly, it would take too much work to be able to logically tie the post-BrBa events of Better Call Saul to Jesse's journey, so an encounter with Saul's (Bob Odenkirk) Cinnabon Gene alter ego was always going to be a long shot. If there are any complaints about Gilligan's creative decisions, it'll likely be regarding who does show up and why, since there's a big question mark surrounding what any potential returnee could add at this point.

Jesse Plemons' Todd wasn't likely topping anyone's prediction list to return considering his death in the finale, but here he is, in an extended flashback sequence that initially comes off as a curious use of time. After all, was anyone really begging for a deeper glimpse into Todd's disturbed psyche, especially considering our knowledge of how things turned out for him. But a funny thing happens as Gilligan keeps returning to this oddly specific flashback and Plemons' role grows larger, evolving into what amounts to a co-lead for what seems like half the picture. When the basis for Todd's inclusion presents itself and we discover how he directly and indirectly impacts Jesse's present quest, it all starts coming together. This makes it easy to further appreciate Plemons' performance opposite Paul, and just how twisted their dynamic became while Jesse was imprisoned, revealing Todd as even more childlike and sociopathic than originally suspected. But Gilligan's blueprint is clear: This will be about what Jesse needs to collect in order to move forward.

From then on, it's a pretty wild ride, with Jesse trying to evade capture and gather enough cash to reach what we should have known all along was his ultimate goal: A rescheduled appointment with Ed "The Disappearer" Galbraith (Robert Forster). Having missed his initial pick-up with the vacuum repairman, he's now looking for another chance at a new identity, just as Walt and Saul received before him. Hopefully, with better results. But it won't be easy since Ed has his principles and doesn't like being stood up, priding himself on doing business the right way.

Jesse's verbal interplay with Ed makes for the film's strongest section, as Forster reprises and significantly expands on the crucial role he so intriguingly played in the series' penultimate episode, "Granite State." All that occurs when Jesse enters this vacuum store is gold, with the extended sequence crackling with nervous tension, sarcasm and humor. Much will made made of this being Forster's final role (with the Oscar-nominated actor passing the day of its release), but regardless of that tragic irony, it's a carefully measured performance worthy of the highest praise, cool and calm as can be in the presence of Paul's manic energy. If the latter owns this movie, then Forster's the next best thing in it.

While it was never a question that Bryan Cranston would show up as Walter White, the "when" and "how" remained a well-guarded secret. It does kind of come out of nowhere, while managing to make perfect sense when considering every flashback and present-day encounter in the film centers around Jesse coming to terms with his past in order to build a future for himself. It's fitting we join the two when their partnership was at its early stage, before Walt's hubris poisoned it. He was still ex-chemistry teacher "Mr. White," and his cancer diagnosis made him as desperate for money as former cooking partner Jesse is now, looking to build a nest egg for his family when he's gone. That's how things started, and while we know how they turned out, it's intriguing that Gilligan picked this previously unseen diner conversation for Walt's cameo, with their trusted, duct taped RV parked in the lot.

Of course, Cranston slides right back into the role like he never left, playing a weak, uncontrollably coughing version of Walt who has yet to become the alpha in their partnership. Instead, he relies on Jesse, while expressing a genuine concern and disappointment at why his former student wasn't thinking about his own future, as a friend or father would, if not for that hint of condescension.  At first, the scene seems almost superfluous within the context of this movie, but try not to marvel again at the surreal sight of them sitting across from each other again. Or deny that much of Jesse's survival now depends on the many lessons imparted and inflicted on him by Walt, the very person that caused his life to unravel. Wrong and arrogant about a lot, Walt's belief that Jesse was wasting his potential was always spot-on, even as the mentor failed to take his own advice, looking for success in all the wrong places. It just took all of this to go down for Jesse to finally realize it.

It's appropriate that the two characters Jesse gleaned the most from and forged his most meaningful human connections bookend his story. Mike and Jane may both be victims of Walt and while it's too late for them, he still has a shot if he can evade authorities and make it out of this alive. Fans complaining Walt had too tidy a resolution will likely have a field day criticizing Jesse's send-off, but it's unquestionably the right ending, and really the only one, even if you feel no further closure was necessary. But for a character whose screen time did become increasingly limited as the series drew to a close, it's no small feat that we know more about Jesse Pinkman now than we did going in.

To say no one needed El Camino more than Aaron Paul isn't a knock on his immeasurable talent, but instead an indictment on an industry that failed to give him the showcase he's deserved since the series concluded. Back in the role he belongs, we're reminded that in the six years since it would be highly unusual for him, or any other working actor, to get material at that level. And while it may be true that the series or its fans didn't need it, we'd be fools to complain about getting more, especially since it's about as accurate a representation of Breaking Bad's best that we'll ever get in feature form.           

Better Call Saul (Season 1)

Creators: Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould
Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Michael McKean, Jeremy Shamos, Julie Ann Emery, Kerry Condon, Mel Rodriguez
Original Airdate: 2015

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

                           **Spoiler Warning: The Following Review Contains Plot Spoilers for Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad** 

There's a scene in "Pimento," the penultimate episode of Better Call Saul's premiere season, during which a reveal comes that causes us to rethink everything we thought we knew about these characters up until then. It literally changes the trajectory of the entire series, forcing us to evaluate just how high the ceiling for this show can really get. While it's only a slight stretch to say underachieving public defender Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) enters this devastating conversation as a likeable screw-up, only to exit it as Saul Goodman, he's definitely well on his way. This just speeds up the process.

Better Call Saul Title Card

If "prequel" is a dirty word and the surest sign of oncoming creative bankruptcy, then "spin-off" is an even dirtier one. Combining them both is a recipe for failure, especially when you consider it's a spin-off of arguably the greatest dramatic television series of all-time. And if we're really being honest, few were clamoring for the origin story of Walter White's sleazy, wisecracking "criminal lawyer" Saul Goodman, as entertaining as he was in small doses.

Would this be a half-hour comedy? An hour-long drama? Neither? How much would it resemble Breaking Bad, if at all? Expectations weren't exactly high, and no one quiet knew how to feel about the possibility of that show's sacred universe being tinkered with in any way. And yet somehow, someway the finished product manages to be reminiscent of the show that inspired it while still being nothing like it at all. It sure isn't perfect, nor necessarily as focused or consistent as it needs to be yet, but the potential moving forward is cause for legitimate excitement.

Any fears  this character couldn't carry a show prove to be unfounded, as co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould far surpass expectations to deliver a first season that's not just as good as it could possibly be under challenging circumstances, but better. And it's doubtful anyone thought we'd be talking about Bob Odenkirk and Michael McKean being a shoo-ins for an Emmys. In other words, it's mostly all good, man.

Jimmy/Saul's future as Cinnabon manager, "Gene"

In true Breaking Bad form, the series begins with a flash-forward, picking up after the events of that series have concluded. Filmed in stark black-and-white, we see Saul making good on his promise to Walt that he'll be managing a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska. That's exactly where he is, balding, mustachioed and stuck in a humdrum work routine under an assumed identity after Walt's trail of crime forced him out of Albuquerque. His only joy seemingly comes when pouring a drink and watching old Saul Goodman commercials in his recliner, even if the events in this initial season call into question whether he's instead mourning that time, contemplating what could have been.

The series then begins in 2002, before he was Saul and six years prior to when he takes the country's most famous chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin on as his client. He's Jimmy McGill, a struggling public defender in Albuquerque working out of the back of a nail salon while caring for his older brother, Chuck (McKean), a respected attorney who's now been left an emotionally crippled recluse from electromagnetic sensitivity. And Jimmy's battle with Chuck's law partner Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) to cash out his incapacitated brother's share in Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill has put best friend and HHM associate Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) in an impossibly difficult position, compromising her personal and professional loyalties.

Jimmy also manages to get under the skin of courthouse tollbooth attendant Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), with whom he eventually forms an uneasy alliance to take down white collar criminal couple, The Kettlemans (Julie Ann Emery and Jeremy Shamus). Desperate to leave his con artist past behind and earn respectability as a lawyer, Jimmy struggles to to do the right thing, even as outside forces pull him in the other direction, inching him closer to a criminal future as shady attorney Saul Goodman.

One of many visual callbacks to Breaking Bad

Initially, the first few episodes become a game of feeling the series out and counting the call-backs to Breaking Bad, some so covertly placed they almost requires multiple viewings to take in. But if it were just about that, the show wouldn't work, and there is a concern early on it will occur as the show attempts to find its creative footing. The pilot ("Uno") provides an absorbing, if methodically paced introduction to Jimmy and the cast of characters surrounding him, as well as a reminder of just how much we've missed the city of Albuquerque as a setting, as cinematographer Arthur Albert (taking over for BrBa's Michael Slovis) goes to great lengths to make it the show's most prominent character. Many shots visually echo its predecessor like mirror without coming off as a cheap copy since they're often almost equally astounding and fun to compare. 

Between the familiar locations and cold opens that categorized BrBa as a TV institution, it's clear this series will at least be to treading some of that common ground. It's hard not to compare Jimmy's ugly Suzuki Esteem to Walt's Pontiac Aztek or look at the entire Cinnabon flash-forward as the Walter Whitewashing of Saul/Jimmy, complete with cooking segments and a physical appearance that even resembles his depressed, loserish client in that show's pilot episode. Where it deviates sharpest is in tone, mainly because the flashier, more overtly comedic protagonist of this series calls for a different approach from Gilligan and Gould.. At times it more closely resembles FX's darkly comic miniseries Fargo in that the humor's so twisted it's always threatening to spill over into dramatic tragedy.

The least interesting material in this series often involves the heavier crime stuff, like the brief reemergence of BrBa's Tuco Salamanca (guest star Raymond Cruz), whose surprise appearance comes off as little more than fan service. While there's little doubt it's exciting to see him in his pre-meth king days, that's tempered by knowing no matter how intense it gets, no real harm can come to Jimmy on his way toward becoming the flamboyant, scheming Saul. Tuco's appearance is merely the catalyst for introducing him to the criminal world and opening the door for Nacho (Michael Mando), who's clearly being established as a major player. But it's Jimmy McGill's figurative death that this series hinges on, as a clearer picture is painted of how a guy seemingly so committed to getting on the straight and narrow, fell off the morality wagon.

A flashback to Jimmy's con artist past

Jimmy's personal relationships that provide the show's most compelling moments, as well as his desire to shed the "Slippin' Jimmy" con man reputation he cultivated back in Chicago with best friend and partner in crime, Marco (Mel Rodriguez). Or at least that's before big brother rescued him from a potential future behind bars. Chuck, mental illness notwithstanding, is established the successful, straight-laced attorney Jimmy could never be since he's his own worst enemy.

Just as Gilligan utilized masterful cold opens from the past, present and future to convey valuable information and flesh out characters over Breaking Bad's five seasons, the same approach helps establish the dynamics of Jimmy and Chuck's relationship here. And it's a complicated one we think we understand until the wool is pulled over our eyes, causing us to question what we thought was true about their relationship.

We're also forced to rethink how much Odenkirk was capable of as an actor and whether he'd be able to carry an hour-long series requiring him to flex some of the same dramatic muscles Bryan Cranston did, albeit with a bit more comedy thrown in. And while no performer's work (on TV or otherwise) over the past decade compares with Cranston's, just the mere fact Odenkirk's opened up such a conversation in only ten episodes has to be viewed as a promising sign. He took what was previously an effective comedic sidekick and filled him with a depth and complexity that no only stands on its own in this series, but could potentially enrich minor elements of Breaking Bad on subsequent viewings.

Chuck runs for cover in his space blanket.

Comic veteran Michael McKean, even less known as a dramatic actor than Odenkirk, has a surprisingly emotional arc as this control-obsessed man paralyzed by this mysterious condition that strangely seems both out of his hands and of his own making. He has this incredible scene where it's evident just how debilitating this illness is, as a trip out the front door to retrieve the paper in space blanket (Episode 1.4, "Hero") becomes this hilarious and heartbreaking freak show that caused me to simultaneously laugh and cringe with disbelief. In a clever bit of foreshadowing, it also demonstrates just how far Chuck's willing to go to prove Jimmy wrong and fit him into the box in which he always believed he belonged.

At first, Chuck's partner at the firm, Howard Hamlin, seems to be set up as a stock villain, seizing on his vulnerability and screwing Jimmy over at every turn. And watching what appears to be a one-note performance of sleaze from Patrick Fabian, there's no reason to think otherwise. Until there is, and you gain a greater appreciation for just how much he was doing with the character, causing a total reevaluation of his intentions throughout the ten episodes. Similarly, Jimmy's best friend (and maybe more) Kim would seem initially to be another throwaway, but over the course of the season she also gains resonance as the only person who actually believes in and supports his legal ambitions, even going so far as to put her own future at HHM on the line.

The more we get of Rhea Seehorn in the Kim role, the more she excels, and her scenes opposite Odenkirk are some of the most fun and playful of the series, even as she still manages to make the character both the toughest and most vulnerable in the series. Of all the similarities with Breaking Bad, Jimmy and Kim's relationship just might be the biggest, as its hard not to think of the flashback scenes of Walt with Gretchen, and how that damaged relationship served as the inciting incident that eventually led to his dark transformation. Already with more screen time than that sub-plot, you have to believe whatever causes Jimmy to become a "criminal lawyer" will somehow involve Kim.

Mike Ehrmantraut's backstory is explored in "Five-O"

Highly anticipated as it's been, the glimpse into how Jonathan Banks' Mike Ehrmantraut became Saul Goodman's "fixer" and Gus Fring's right hand man is one of the least eventful arcs of the season. To be fair, it's very early, but this is the where you start to see some of the inherent limitations of a prequel. Because Mike was such a specific character viewers got to know so much about on BrBa through his memorably agitated, hangdog facial expressions and violent code of honor, there was a real danger in actually fleshing out his past. A past that didn't need to be conveyed since Banks already did such an exceptional job of it with so few words.

The Mike-centric episode (1.6, "Five-O"), detailing the tragedy he suffered as a cop in Philly that drove him out west is the bleakest, comic-free of the season. It might also be the least interesting since you could easily guess most of what it entails. Thankfully, that doesn't make Banks' powerful performance any less impressive, even if most of its content confirms why Mike is strongest as a supporting character rather than the lead. As a one-off it's fine, but it's still a reminder that the last thing we'd want is a gritty cop prequel series centered on him. Starting off as a court parking attendant harassing (and being harassed by) Jimmy, it takes a little while before he gets out of the booth, but their interplay once he does is predictably satisfying.

The decision to show how Mike evolves from retired cop and ostracized grandfather to career criminal was always a no-brainer, but his biggest draw as a character was always how viewers never had to stop and question why this old man's such a bad ass. Doing that will be tricky, since he was the one Gilligan creation who specifically benefited from a lack of backstory. But it does but into clearer context the protectiveness he showed for Jesse in Breaking Bad, perhaps making those scenes and that relationship resonate stronger on repeated viewings. All this could also make Mike's eventual death at Walt's hands play more tragically if revisited with a better understanding of his past. It's cruelly ironic (and not at all coincidental) that Mike's first big job in this series involves a drug deal with a nerdier, more incompetent version of Walter White. It's little touches like that lift the series and convince us surprises are still possible within the confines of a prequel format.

Slippin' Jimmy in action

Jimmy ends the season (Episode 1.10, "Marco") much closer to becoming Saul Goodman, but maybe not as close as we thought he'd be. No loud ties yet. No inflatable Statue of Liberty or Constitutional wallpaper. But just as the revealingly crude title sequences hint that it's coming, so does the story. But the bigger question just might be who's responsible. Is his brother right? Is this a man who was always incapable of change? His future actions in Breaking Bad suggest Slippin' Jimmy with a law degree is very much a "chimpanzee with a machine gun." But this first season speculates whether it had to be that way and how much of it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, resulting from his insecure, know-it-all brother holding him down. If it were up to Chuck, Jimmy would spend his life in the HHM mail room or at best relegated to continuing to practice elder law.

There's this possibility teased throughout that Jimmy turned over a new leaf and had the potential to be as great and respected a defense attorney, albeit in a far different style than his brother. In court, we see he has the skills, but the big surprise of the season is that his worst enemy doesn't end up being himself, but the one person he always trusted to have his back. We still don't know what happened to Chuck to cause his mental break, even if his actions speak to something deeper and more resentful. There's also a history between Jimmy and Kim that's yet to be fully explored.

The big question is what happens when Gould and Gilligan inch closer to the Breaking Bad timeline. Do they flash a title card on the screen telling us to watch that series and come back? There's also tons of speculation as to when the inevitable Walt and Jesse appearances take place, when Gus Fring enters the picture, and how much  more of Cinnabon manager "Gene" we'll get to see. And it wouldn't take many leaps in logic for Jesse to show up in Nebraska, or for Saul, like Walt, to triumphantly return to Albuquerque to finish business as Jimmy. The possibilities really are endless.

Kim and Jimmy share a smoke

So far, the show's bread has been buttered with Jimmy's dysfunctional relationship with his brother and his bond with Kim, but it's easy to imagine neither lasting since anyone who didn't appear in Breaking Bad is fair game for a "trip to Belize," so to speak. In the meantime, there's more than enough to keep viewers occupied besides the mythology. It's unlikely Better Call Saul reaches even an eighth of the heights of its predecessor just because the stakes can't possibly be what they were on that series. But the best news is that by the season finale, it's hard to argue that it's not already better than most of what's on TV right now.