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Aug 16, 2022 · In the striking and elegant finale to one of TV’s most consistently strong dramas of the past decade, Bob Odenkirk ’s Saul Goodman, to borrow a phrase, broke good. Having finally been...
Aug 16, 2022 · Saul asks to be called James McGill and the prosecution wants the full sentence. Before we see Saul’s fate, we get another flashback with another surprise guest star: McKean back as Chuck.
Aug 16, 2022 · Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk breaks down Jimmy's life-changing decision in the finale. Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn on those Kim-Jimmy scenes — and Kim's final fate — in the...
- Darren Franich
- 1 min
Aug 15, 2022 · Better Call Saul was never headed for a comparable ending, and Monday’s series finale for the acclaimed prequel spinoff was a far quieter and less bloody affair, one marked by meditations on time...
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- Verdict
By Rafael Motamayor
Posted: Aug 16, 2022 4:49 pm
Warning: The below contains full spoilers for the series finale of Better Call Saul, which aired on Aug. 15, 2022, on AMC.
Better Call Saul ends in a much different place than where it began. A show that could have easily gone wrong at many different points quickly turned out to be one of the best things on TV. After many magic tricks over the years, the finale, aptly titled “Saul Gone,” pulls its biggest one yet and manages to pay off 14 years' worth of story. It is a fulfilling, thought-provoking, satisfying emotional gut punch, and a perfect bow to tie a just-about perfect show in.
We pick up right where the previous episode left off, with Gene on the run from the cops and Carol Burnett's Marion. While he is an excellent lawyer, he is a lousy fugitive, and is quickly caught by the cops. He is utterly defeated – that is, until he realizes he has one more ace under his sleeve. Once in custody, Gene slips back into Saul mode and manages to weasel his way out of a life-plus-190-years sentence in exchange for a brisk seven years in a comfy white-collar country club of a prison by telling a sad story about working out of fear of Walter — all while Marie Schrader (Betsy Brandt) listens in.
Throughout the episode, we get three flashbacks and three Dickensian ghosts, two of whom answer the time travel question, and the third illustrates it. First up is Mike, who answers by saying he'd go back to the day he accepted his first bribe, as that set him on a path that ended with his son dead. The second flashback includes a surprise appearance from Bryan Cranston's Walter White in a scene set immediately after the events of Ozymandias. In an episode full of heartbreak, it is hilarious that Saul asks Walter if he has any regrets the day after he quite literally lost everything that mattered in his life.
Seth Amitin gave the final episode of Breaking Bad an 9.8/10 for IGN, writing, "For all of the work put into Breaking Bad, this series was a major accomplishment. We knew the end was coming. We knew Walt would have to do something, and we knew about the ricin and the M60. We saw it all coming and that didn’t even take away one bit of the ending." Read the full review here.
The Walt we meet here is not the badass crime lord that outsmarted a cartel, but a pathetic, apathetic, self-centered asshole who blames the entire world for his problems and belittles everyone around him. This feels like a retroactive attempt at making up for the way audiences continue to side with Walt in the years since the show ended. Walt immediately fixates on the physical implausibility of time travel, and when it comes to regrets, he says he would go back and stay at Gray Matter Technologies rather than allow his partners to kick him out (we know differently) — though he does silently look at an expensive watch Jesse gifted him before answering.
On both occasions, Jimmy avoids the question and gives vague answers, one about money and one about a weak knee he once hurt. This is a man who has spent the entire show avoiding asking himself tough questions, dodging consequences for his actions, and denying any regrets. But the third flashback tells a different story. We meet the biggest ghost of Jimmy's past, Chuck. Set shortly before the first episode of Better Call Saul, we see Jimmy deliver groceries to Chuck. Though the older brother offers Jimmy the opportunity to stay and talk about work, Jimmy refuses, knowing Chuck would only take the opportunity to scoff at him for doing a bad job, a rare time where Jimmy was the one to turn down bond-building.
“Saul Gone” is not just clever wordplay, but a thematic bookend on a show that was never really about Saul Goodman.
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Though he doesn't say it, we get the feeling this is the moment Jimmy would travel back to in order to correct things (made clear by Chuck having a copy of H. G. Wells' book in his hand). This is undoubtedly his biggest regret: failing to try to build a bond with his brother beyond obligations. What's more poignant is Chuck's look of disappointment when Jimmy declines the invitation to stay longer. It is a look that shows that maybe, had things gone a tiny bit differently, the brothers would have been closer, and Chuck wouldn't have tried to sabotage Jimmy, and Jimmy wouldn't have resorted to destroying Chuck's career. And so much suffering, pain, and death could have been avoided.
Better Call Saul
Breaking Bad
Six Feet Under
Avatar: The Last Airbender
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The Leftovers
Better Call Saul ends with a Dickensian episode that recalls the past, contextualizes the present, and looks toward the future with optimistic eyes. The story of Jimmy McGill comes to a satisfying close that brings the themes of this show and Breaking Bad to a boiling point, providing plenty of gut punches, unexpected cameos, shocking revelations, ...
Aug 16, 2022 · Better Call Saul. Vince Gilligan. 'Better Call Saul's finale wasn't just a satisfying conclusion for the show. It also changed the endings of 'Breaking Bad' and 'El Camino' for the better.
May 24, 2022 · Although it was never intended as a midseason finale, Monday’s Better Call Saul absolutely ended with a jaw-dropping conclusion that will keep fans on edge until the AMC show returns with the...
