Growth, then Decay, then Transformation
******* Spoilers ahead *******
During the last few moments in the series finale of Better Call Saul, aptly titled, Saul Gone, we see Kim and Jimmy share a cigarette. Very much like how they did in the very first episode of the show, titled, Uno. The shot from the finale felt like it was straight out of classic film noir. Kim (with her New Mexico attorney license that hasn’t expired yet) is visiting Jimmy in the prison and she decides to share a cigarette she snuck in for him. And they share a cigarette in the visiting room. Just like the old times.
How much has changed in their lives since the old times when they used to share a cigarette, passing back and forth, in the HHM parking lot?
Times — They keep on changing and with them many things.
But what will you change if you could go back in time? Better question would be “What would you do if you had a time machine?”. The series finale begs this question multiple times during its duration.
The first time this question pops up in the episode — it is when Saul asks this question to Mike when they are stranded in the desert with 7 million dollars in cash. Mike answers in an introspective mode, saying he would go back to that time in his life when he took his first bribe, which set him along this path, and made him lose his son along the way.
The second time this question pops up is when Saul and Walter White are stuck together in a scene, set immediately after Hank and Gomez’s deaths from Breaking Bad. Walter, in his usual style dismisses the very unscientific idea of “time travel” and the implausibility of it all. When pressed what his regrets are, then, the apathetic, self-centered asshole that Walt is, says he would go back in time and stay at Gray Matter Technologies, the company he help found. When it is his turn to answer, in both the occasions, Jimmy aka Saul, gives the silliest of the answers, one that involves him hurting his knee when he was younger, and the second one that was about investing in Berkshire Hathaway when it was just founded. Not surprising coming from a man who has spent the entire show avoiding asking tough questions to himself and denying any regrets.
But the third time this question pops up, it is during a scene set before the first episode of the series. Jimmy is bringing groceries for his brother Chuck, as he is holed up in his darkened house. Chuck asks Jimmy to stay a little longer and have a chat about his cases. Jimmy refuses the opportunity to stay, knowing Chuck would scoff at his work. As you gather during the most dramatic court room scene later in this episode, this — his relationship with his brother, could probably be Jimmy’s biggest regret. This theory is subtly hinted by a shot of H.G. Wells’ book The Time Machine on Chuck’s table. (Apparently, the book appears in a couple of other episodes. Clearly, the writers have thought this metaphor through).
The whole finale episode hops back and forth like a time machine. Much like the season itself. Talk about brilliant writing and direction.
Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, the creators/writers/directors of the show could have taken the show in so many different directions and so many things could have gone wrong. But somehow they have managed to deliver one of the best written shows on TV. And that too through six riveting seasons. Better Call Saul ends in a much different place than where it started. I was mildly underwhelmed at first, after watching the season finale, but the more I thought about it, the more I concluded that it was the most fulfilling, thought-provoking, satisfying emotional gut punch, and a perfect ending to a show that was almost too perfect from the get-go.
While Breaking Bad ended on an explosive note, with Walt going out on his own terms even if he didn’t get to redeem himself, Better Call Saul’s ending was more about Saul Goodman finally being gone, and Jimmy McGill being back. Unlike Walter, Jimmy pays for his actions. He gets 86 years in a shoddy prison (Alcatraz of the Rockies as Saul calls it). To his surprise, he is beloved by the inmates who recognize the legend of Saul Goodman. Saul was after all the man who helped countless little guys when nobody else would, no matter their crime. So, you, the viewer, end the show thinking Jimmy got what he deserved and he will be alright.
Earlier in the episode, in an unexpected but excellently directed courtroom scene, Saul, after having successfully weaseled his way out of a life + 190 years sentence and making the prosecutors agree to a plea deal of a mere 7 year term at a country club like prison in North Carolina, in a wild twist, offers a confession, claiming responsibility for Walt’s criminal empire. He says only his actions prevented Walt from being caught or killed within a month. Saul goes onto accept responsibility for the deaths of Hank and Steve, thus ruining his plea deal.
Now, with Saul being gone for good, Jimmy McGill goes as far as confessing to causing Chuck losing his insurance, which ultimately led to him losing his job, and then his life. James McGill, as he asks the judge to refer to him as, finally has a genuine show of remorse. We get to see a man reclaiming his humanity — including his name. After running away from his own heart, Jimmy finally finds the courage to face it by being fully honest with himself.
I started watching Better Call Saul only because of Breaking Bad. Saul Goodman was a very interesting character in Breaking Bad — A one-dimensional comic relief side character, to be precise. The first few minutes of the new show was a bit disorienting for me. But then, I started enjoying the narrative trickery employed by the writers. Because the whole show is built around key puzzles, the trickery keeps you engaged. For example, Why does Jimmy become Saul? Why was Kim never mentioned in the parent show? How does Saul extricate himself from literally everything? What is Saul’s moral compass? And why did Saul become Gene to work in a branch of Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska? With every episode, you keep solving these puzzles until you reach the finale when it is time for Saul to pay. The show also melds genres so effectively. Better Call Saul is a part legal drama, part relationship drama, and a part crime thriller.
It was six seasons of betrayals, cartels, cold murders, cons, and legal drama. All the tension that these six seasons built up are visible through the expressions on the faces of Jimmy McGill (played brilliantly by Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn, who has a guaranteed Emmy winning performance in S6 Ep. 12), in their longing glances and in their delicate little half-smiles, as Kim leaves the prison.
In the first episode of Breaking Bad, Walter White, the chemistry teacher asks his class what “Chemistry” is. None of the students comes close to explaining it the way Walter wants. Then Walter goes on to explain chemistry as “Growth, then Decay, then Transformation”.
Well. Breaking Bad may have ended on the notion of Decay.
But Better Call Saul goes through all these notions in all the six seasons and eventually ends on the notion of Transformation.
That’s some journey.
A journey that has redefined what spin-offs could do!!
