Better Call Saul Season 6 thread (with spoilers)

[Batman]

I had that exact same reaction when I got on here this morning!

I thought for sure I'd find all sorts of chatter, and the only thing n here was a question about who played the U.S, attorney.

Even thought it's a spoiler thread, I generally like to wait a couple of hours until everyone has had a chance to see either the episode or the replay.

I watched both airings and enjoyed it. I don't think this finale was quite as good as Breaking Bad's "Felina," but they certainly tied up all the loose ends from both series. Unless we get Better Call Bill Oakley (who stole a lot of the scenes he was in with his "What the hell is going on here?" looks whenever Saul went rogue on him) or Francesca falling in with her pothead tenants and spawning her own Breaking Bad sequel, I don't think they left any room for more sequels.
After 15 years and two series, that's a pretty impressive feat to put that kind of a bow on things.

Kim is still going to get the pants suit sued off of her by Hamlin's widow, which might be the only unsatisfying conclusion. Jimmy's confession did not help her at all. It was only a ploy to win back some of her love and respect.
And Saul is going to be just fine in prison. I think we finally, fully see him blending all of his personalities in that final scene — the little bit of good that Jimmy McGill has in him as he bids farewell to Kim; the conman aspect of Slippin' Jimmy; the showmanship and celebrity of Saul; and the survival aspect of Gene. He wants to be Jimmy McGill, but he needs to be Slippin' Jimmy to sell to the convicts that he's Saul, which will help him survive and thrive in prison.

 

[Cosmo]

Watched it live last night but had to get up early to drive to an event, so I'm just now getting around to commenting. I thought the finale was good. I saw two of my Facebook friends comment that this was the greatest season of television in the history of the medium, which is insane. Better Call Saul was very good. I don't think it sniffs the upper tier of prestige TV though. Too many plodding moments. Too many times the show just dragged and dragged. I also don't need another minute of this universe. Thankfully Gilligan and crew are going to ensure that's the case.

 

[TigerVols]

The realization that Kim actually called his bluff and confessed to their meddling with Howard - and exposed herself to consequences by doing so - "knocked" him out of Saul mode and back into Jimmy. He purposely tanks his deal in an effort to protect her, and also in an attempt to regain her respect. Throughout the episode, he's also thinking back to conversations with three people - Chuck, Mike and Walter - who don't really repent or change, and Jimmy is aware of what happened to all three of them. He loses his freedom, but saves his soul.

This is really well put; I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.

I thought the courtroom scene could have been soooo much better. It just seemed to lack punch...not to mention, I'm still not sure how what he did protected Kim nor why was she there to begin with.

The prison scenes, though, more than make up for it – just fantastic acting and cinematography. I'm curious to learn if they actually got permission to film at the Supermax facility? I doubt it (did a quick Google search and found nada).

Edit: Google Maps shows they did not film at ADX Florence, IMO.

 

[sgreenwell]

Watched it live last night but had to get up early to drive to an event, so I'm just now getting around to commenting. I thought the finale was good. I saw two of my Facebook friends comment that this was the greatest season of television in the history of the medium, which is insane. Better Call Saul was very good. I don't think it sniffs the upper tier of prestige TV though. Too many plodding moments. Too many times the show just dragged and dragged. I also don't need another minute of this universe. Thankfully Gilligan and crew are going to ensure that's the case.

I've been defending the finale here a bit, but - I don't disagree with your comments either. It's probably not the greatest show of all-time to me - that's still "The Wire" - but BCS is kind of its own thing. The cartel stuff is relegated to B and C-plots a lot of the time, and large stretches of the show are just about professional and personal ethics, and the degradation of them. It's crazy that it got 6 seasons.

 

[Cosmo]

If anything, I'm really happy this show introduced me to Rhea Seehorn, because I did not know of her before this and she was just electric when she was on screen. Tony Dalton as well. I'd almost say that the acting at points saved us from some pretty middling plot. To your point, six seasons was a lot.

 

[Bubbler]

Watched it live last night but had to get up early to drive to an event, so I'm just now getting around to commenting. I thought the finale was good. I saw two of my Facebook friends comment that this was the greatest season of television in the history of the medium, which is insane. Better Call Saul was very good. I don't think it sniffs the upper tier of prestige TV though. Too many plodding moments. Too many times the show just dragged and dragged. I also don't need another minute of this universe. Thankfully Gilligan and crew are going to ensure that's the case.

Well put. The finale was fine, better than the show had been in recent weeks, but I think Better Call Saul had the same affliction Breaking Bad did in terms of critical and popular perception … it reaped its praise after it hit its peak. And there's a legion of fans who will see no wrong from it, which is fine, because at its best, the show earned benefit of the doubt.

In hindsight, the series probably should have ended after Season 4 (as Breaking Bad should have too), the moment Jimmy tells Kim he's Saul Goodman.

That would have robbed us of some cool shit from Seasons 5 and 6, and probably of Lalo's arc entirely (he was intro'd at the end of Season 4), but everything afterwards for Saul's character just wasn't as interesting. All of the Mike/cartel shit could have been wrapped up. Actually? Mike shooting Werner would have been a great way to leave his character and the cold-as-ice Mike we got in Breaking Bad.

They also had to shoehorn Kim into Saul's doings and that's when they started to screw up her character. Which, by the way, given where they did take her character, I don't buy that's she's a sympathetic figure just because she has regret and acted on it. She was morally bankrupt too. She doesn't deserve a Supermax (I don't think Jimmy deserves a Supermax either, that seems a bit over the top), but she does richly deserves the civil suit coming her way. Impersonating a judge would certainly bring heat on her too.

I've said what I've said about Howard, he was superfluous after Chuck died, but they bowed to fan service and forced him in. I thought it was funny Patrick Fabian was so effusive in his thank you's to the fans in the post-show thingamajig for keeping his character going. Damn right. He knows where his bread was buttered. (Superfluous or not, Fabian himself was great in the role.)

Anyway, it was a helluva run. They fell a bit too in love with themselves as they approached the finish line, but all told, it was a really good show.

Back to the now, and my new favorite show, "Evil".

 

[poindexter]

It was fine.

For a second, I got a Seinfeld finale vibe, with all these old characters coming back.

It was fine.

 

[poindexter]

If anything, I'm really happy this show introduced me to Rhea Seehorn, because I did not know of her before this and she was just electric when she was on screen. Tony Dalton as well. I'd almost say that the acting at points saved us from some pretty middling plot. To your point, six seasons was a lot.

I remember her well from a Whitney Cummings sitcom that was on a decade ago.
I think Whitney's bf on the show got "me too'd" several years ago.

 

[sgreenwell]

I remember her well from a Whitney Cummings sitcom that was on a decade ago.
I think Whitney's bf on the show got "me too'd" several years ago.

He's still around and very gross, in a Dane Cook kind of way, I believe. And I first saw Rhea on "Franklin and Bash," a comedy legal show on TNT, staring Breckin Meyer and Mark Paul Gosselaar. This will shock you, but on that show, she played... An uptight lawyer.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

 

[JimmyHoward33]

There was also strikingly little exploration of the idea that Kim created the meth emperor Saul.

She left saying they were bad for each other. Turns out he was WORSE without her. She never reckoned with that