The first part of the Better Call Saul Season
6 has come to an end with the midseason finale, Plan And Execution, and the Breaking Bad prequel
is firing on all cyclinders with us having to wait until July to see how this will all
end.
But in this video essay, I'm going to be discussing why the first part of this final season is
so great in setting up a potentially exploxing ending to this great show.
There will be spoilers in this video, so if you haven't seen the first 7 episodes of Better
Call Saul Season 6 Part 1, then I would recommend catching
up before watching my analysis.
But before I get into it, if you want to see more videos on the final season of Better
Call Saul, then don't forget to support this video by giving it a
like rating, subscribing to the channel and turning on your notifications.
Also, feel free to check me out on twitter, facebook, reddit and instagram at cortex videos,
which is all linked in the description below.
But without further a do, lets dive into my review of Better Call Saul Season 6 Part 1,
alongside my thoughts on why I think it sets up the perfect
ending.
So of the many routes that they could have taken with the midseason finale of Better
Call Saul, I'm sure that not many people predicted how Howard would meet his end, and that him
and Lalo would be two character arcs that the
show joined.
We got two complete opposite sides of Better Call Saul meeting in the middle with that
of the cartel and the law.
Both of these structures have been getting ever so closer
to each other as the seasons have gone by, and it's something that has symbolised the
gradual transformation of Jimmy McGill into Saul
Goodman.
It all built up to the explosive moment at the end of episode 7 and now it's quite clear
that the show has put two firm feet in the world of Breaking Bad.
The first 7 episodes successfully developed the central story,
taking the two primary narrative structures and slamming them together in a fitting, yet
brutal way, and it signals that the final 6 episodes
will have the most extreme consequences yet.
Of course, there were some viewers that found the first part of season 6 quite a slow building
one, but I'd argue that alongside this midseason finale being a headshot to that
idea, it also solidifies what these episodes have so excellently conveyed.
They've built on the immense tension that surrounds the world of
Breaking Bad being ever so close to completely taking over the lives of the characters that
have entertained us for many years.
The greater humour of this show has been a more relaxing
element for us in watching the cons of Jimmy and also Kim escalate further and further.
But there was always going to be a point in this show where the seriousness of the overall
situation would finally be obvious to the audience.
If the tragic death of Nacho Varga earlier in the season wasn't a clear sign of that
happening, then the shocking death of Howard Hamlin is the final headshot to make that
clear.
We've now entered the cartel world and Better Call Saul season 6 part 1 has set up a second
part of consequences that will keep us on edge for as long as this show can hold
it.
It's been a fantastic start to this final season, displaying emmy worthy performances
from even the supporting players who've made us
sympathize with them in this brutal landscape.
Who would of thought at the start of this show that the writing would make us truly
sympathise for Nacho or Howard the way we do now after
their recent deaths.
We've seen deeper into their inner-turmoil, like with Howard who was barely able to hide
behind his confident lawyer status once we see into his personal issues at
home.
Add in that Jimmy and Kim commited to completely burning his reputation and we learn that this
season is one that will make us truly see that what Chuck was saying about Jimmy is
totally true.
He will hurt everyone around him.
And I think this is the central idea that the end of this show is eventually going to
answer.
Will Jimmy Mcgill finally break that loop, and in turn the one of Slipping Jimmy and
Saul Goodman?
Will he find the inner-Mcgill that he can be and eventually do the right thing?
The fact that the answer is so unpredictable, especially when we know that he takes up Saul
Goodman full time in Breaking Bad, makes the writing of this show so masterful.
It sets up the perfect ending with part 2 in that we'll
finally know how Jimmy will resolve his lifetime choices on bad choice road.
Jimmy and Kim are now fully in, they can't escape it, and we know that more bad is going
to happen then good.
But yet we still have no idea of what that entails for a few of these characters and
whether Jimmy will overcome the problems he's always faced.
The ending could be a message of him never being able to do that just like his
brother claimed or it could end in a way which shows that he does change but still faces
the consequences for it.
I think the latter will be the route they go, but I'm not totally sure that
this will be final stone because of how intelligent the writing has turned out in this final act.
I think season 6 Part 1 is one of the final nails in the coffin when it comes to demonstrating
how well the've executed this story.
When it started we didn't think that a prequel show to
a character that we already knew what happened too would be all that interesting.
And here we are after just witnessing the opening of the final season, debating whether
the ending can be as good as Breaking Bad.
It's a huge feat that Peter Gould, Vince Gillian and all the writers involved have pulled off
with Better Call Saul, and I think what they have set up can be
quite extroadinary.
The show's amazing villain in Tony Dalton's Lalo, is someone we of course know is not
around in Breaking Bad, yet 'Plan and Execution' gives him a lifeline.
In the moment that he spots a cockroach in the sewer,
it recalls back to last season's 'Bagman' episode, where Lalo told Kim that nothing
was going to happen to Jimmy because he’s a survivor
like the cucaracha, a cockroach.
And with Lalo already knowing exactly where to find him and realising that Gus has tapped
the call to his uncle Hector, there's only one option to turn
too.
In addition, there's many other examples of symbolic occurances that the writers have
shown, only for us to forget.
Whether it be the flashback of how Kim's mother was scarily like
her and that life had been embedded within her from an early age or the symbolic reference
of the bottle top lying in the corner of the road and being left behind as Jimmy brought
it to celebrate in episode 6.
Or the added symbolic colours in the characters clothing, like how Kim has major shirt changes
to symbolise her greater affiliation with Saul.
It's stuff that has been so geniously designed and increasingly
placed, making us think over and over about how this show and it's individual characters
will come to an end.
Like do the shadows in scenes with Kim, whether it be the blinds at the
window or so on, suggest that she will eventually go to jail.
We don't know if that's the case, but it's the smaller details and the extent that
the creators have gone to when putting together Better Call Saul, that makes it the best show
on TV.
It's calls for rewatching it after it's finished to see all the connections, what
they mean and then also revisit Breaking Bad.
Season 6 may be the best season yet when it comes to hinting this stuff and it's only
fitting in a season full of tension and complete transition when it comes to going from the
world of Better Call Saul into the world of it's predecessor.
And with now 6 weeks to wait until the final episodes, we're desperate to see this will
all go down.
Howard’s death means that Better Call Saul has reached a point of no return and with
Kim and Jimmy now being deeply involved in Albuquerque’s criminal underworld, the legal
sides of this show are fading by the minute.
The slow build over the seasons and particularly this
one have been foreshadowing that the entire time.
We've seen the origin of characters like Mike, Jimmy and Kim, go from flawed individuals
into those increasingly embarking down bad choice road.
And we've seen greater complexities and fears with characters like Gus, Hector and Nacho.
And aside from the mential effects that I'm sure Howard’s death will have on our
main characters who are still alive, the impact of cartel-related conflicts will create even
more desperation for Jimmy and Kim.
While we know that Jimmy is the cockroad that surives
into the events of Breaking Bad, we still have many questions.
What happens to Kim?
How does Lalo die and what does it mean for the future?
And how does Saul become the way he is future timelines?
With Howard now lying dead on Jimmy and Kim's apartment floor and us having all of these
other questions, the writers have made us desperate for answers.
So now, they have 6 episodes to deliver on pretty much all of
this, and while on the surface it seems like a monumental task, I think they've proven
with every twist, major death or incident, that sometimes
the truthfull answer is the right choice.
The outcomes always have a purpose and there's never a doing this simply to create a twist.
The twist comes and works because it's something you'd never imagine, yet it feels so right
for what the show has been tackling and trying to say.
The death of Howard is what the entirety of Episode 7 and this show has been giving
context for, and that is that us and the characters have fully entered the criminal landscape.
I have confidence that they will stay true to the characters left and give us an ending
that is right for the journies they've been on.
If you watched my predictions video the other day you'll know that I found it incredibly
hard to predict where these characters will end
up in these last few episodes.
But the confidence of what we've seen and the high level of TV produced so far, tells
us quite clearly that we can expect huge collateral damage in Season
6 Part 2.
With all that went down in part 1, we can only imagine what's waiting for us in part
2.
But that was my video essay for Better Call Saul Season 6 Part 1.
The start of this season has been quite the masterclass in how to write television and
I'm insanely excited to find out what the shorunners have been planning
for the end of it.
Of course, any show can turn out disappointing, but I think along with Breaking Bad, this
is one of the rare examples where I have complete confidence in what they're
doing.
They know how to hit the landing, but it's very rare that we get the same writers hit
gold twice in a row.
I think that just speaks to how great of a job they've done so far
with Better Call Saul, and I'm very confident that the ending of season 6 will be worth
it.
Overall, Better Call Saul Season 6 Part 1 is the
beginning of the end that indicates an even stronger part 2 with many unexpected events
on the way.
I gave two episodes a 10 out of 10 rating in my individual reviews, and I'm expecting
the quality to only stay high as we reach the conclusion.
With top tier performances, gorgeous cinematography and perfect storytelling, Better Call Saul
is on the path to being one of the best TV shows we've ever seen.
Now all that's left, is for them to pull off the ending and give us the truthfull answer
to the life Jimmy McGill.
But to those who have already seen the first 7 episodes, what are your thoughts
on all the events that went down and what do you think will happen come the end of this
fantastic show?
Let me know down below in the comments section.
For videos on every upcoming episode of Better Call Saul Season 6, then subscribe to the
channel and turn on your notifications.
Also if you enjoyed this video remember to leave a like
rating and follow me on social media via the links in the description.
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've been Cortex and as always make some noise.