So the 6th and final season of Better Call Saul.
Looking at interviews from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan,
it appears this will definitely be the last show or movie set in the Breaking Bad universe.
There’s two things I would like to mention before I get into the review, two things I
wanna get off my chest. The first is that I knew – I mean, I say I knew, but it never even happened
in the end – but spoiler alert, I was under the impression that Kim was going to die in the end.
Maybe it was a pseudo-spoiler I ready somewhere, or maybe I just came across an article or comment
saying something like “when Jimmy lost Kim” and I jumped to the assumption that that meant she dies.
In any case, it had a massive bearing on my viewing of the show, because all of Kim’s
development and evolution, all of her storylines – in the back of my head, I had it that this would
all end with her death, probably murder. Like when she had the car accident, I thought, “oh
is she gonna die now” or when she meets Lalo and I was thinking “Oh this is where she surely dies”
So I’m still having to kind of work my head around that, unfill my brain from all the
things I thought were foreshadowing and whatnot. The second thing is that, after season 1 or 2,
somewhere around then, it was spoiled for me that Lalo kills Howard Hamlin, which was just shocking
to me, and of course takes away from the shock and horror when it actually happens. It sounded
bizarre when I came across that spoiler, because I couldn’t even imagine a character like Lalo and a
character like Howard in the same room; they seem to be from two completely different worlds. And
I have always had a soft spot for Howard – I mentioned in a previous review that this
character kinda caught my eye and I felt that he wasn’t all that bad as he was made out to be,
and it was nice to see him given a chunk of the spotlight in season 6.
So, we pick up events immediately after season 5, with Lalo having survived a shootout,
even though everyone thinks he died. He is now out there somewhere, a shadow, a spectre looming
and coming for his nemesis Gus Fring, and who knows who may be caught in the crossfire.
Jimmy continues his descent into his persona of Saul Goodman.
He marries Kim so that the duo cannot testify against each other,
and they then execute a plan to ruin, or at least marginally damage, the career of Howard Hamlin,
having seemingly fixated all their frustrations and insecurities on him.
Meanwhile, Gus is called to Mexico as the cartel react to the apparent death of Lalo,
all the while Nacho is on the run after being discovered by Lalo as a rat.
So there’s a whole chunk on the season which leads to the run up to Breaking Bad. The
remainder of the show takes place after the events of Breaking Bad, with Jimmy living as Gene Takavic
in Nebraska hiding from the law. We’ve had these segments of Gene throughout the show,
not really too interesting, but in season 6 we get full episodes of Saul’s life post-Breaking
Bad with a full narrative taking place and the fate of the unorthodox and off-beat
criminal lawyer Saul Goodman finally known. So I really, really enjoyed season 6 of Better
Call Saul. I thought it was the best season. I’ve been looking online to gauge the consensus and it
seems season 5 is unanimously considered the best, and the final season also highly commended, but
not as much as the previous. I don’t quite agree to be honest – I mean season 5 was brilliant,
as was season 4. In fact the whole show was great – season 2 is the only one that really frustrated
me, and that was pretty much because of the excess fat and that it felt like it was holding
back on the story, waiting for future seasons. That aside, you can make a strong argument that
Better Call Saul gets better with each season, ending with quite simply, superb television.
Part of what I liked about it is that it feels like they just threw everything at it in this
season. It felt unrestrained and unhinged in placed, whilst retaining and adding to the nuance
and character moments that the show is built upon. It feels like the show is so excited and
giddy at being able to just throw everything left from the Better Call Saul universe at the screen.
Oh you thought season 2 was boring? Here have some mob stand offs and
action. The Nacho storyline in the first 3 episodes or so is like a movie in of itself,
a tragic thriller. Gus vs Lalo makes for some great moments of nail-biting tension. Remember
Walter and Jesse? Yeah why don’t we just throw them in here as well. And its all anchored by the
evolution and demise of Saul Goodman and his arc. And it all works, it all fits so perfectly. It’s
like the show - and Breaking Bad, as season 6 is the connective tissue between the two shows – but
it feels like the whole thing is a big jigsaw puzzle and season 6 is the final few pieces.
The only thing I’m struggling with is the ending – I haven’t yet quite come to terms
with the decision Jimmy made at the end of the show and why he chose that course of action.
It’s still something I am trying to swallow, much like the controversial ending of The Sopranos.
The characters have become so good, so interesting and complex in season 6 that the likes of Jimmy
and Kim I think are starting to rival some of the big boys in the playground. I’m not saying
the show is on the same level as The Sopranos and The Wire, but season 6 sure does smash through
a bar I wasn’t sure it would be able to do and transcends itself into something quite majestic.
So I think I’ll leave it there. I know this review has been brief, but I do have a lot more
to say about Better Call Saul but rather than skim the surface with various different things,
I want to give characters and plots their full attention in individual separate videos.
So be sure to subscribe for an avalanche of Better Call Saul videos,
as I have a lot of ideas for new vids given the show has given me a lot to ponder and chew on.
So what did you think of season 6 if Better Call Saul? Do you think it’s the best?
How do you think the show compares to Breaking Bad? I definitely enjoyed Better Call Saul more
than Breaking Bad, though the two do make good companion pieces and I think Breaking
Bad is actually improved by the details and intricacies of Better Call Saul.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for watching.