The final episode of Better Call Saul, titled “Saul Gone,” brings to a halt the live-action version of a universe that hit the asphalt well over ten years ago.
We have had the pleasure of watching a story that we found entertaining, thrilling, and hilarious more often than once.
Better Call Saul has successfully cemented the Breaking Bad universe as one of the most popular television universes. Continuing the legacy of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul has been a great addition.
Like its predecessor, the show captures the spirit of the decade it was set in. It may invoke nostalgia for many people with constant references to the culture of the 2000s.
The show also toys with the format of characters that one cannot term as either villains or heroes. They are just people who find themselves in circumstances where they must do what they must do.
On Better Call Saul, however, the main character is a bit ambiguous in his moral standing. His morality is a result of an inferiority complex and colossal greed.
You can never know where Jimmy stands. Or you can, depending on who you meet on a given day.
Is it Jimmy McGill — dedicated brother, small-time con man, and struggling lawyer; or Saul Goodman — master manipulator, con man, and criminal mastermind, or Gene — a man stuck in the past who can’t scratch his criminal itch enough?
Throughout six seasons, we have seen the evolution of an intelligent man struggling to make ends meet into an architect of more than one criminal enterprise.
But how did this happen?
The show’s early seasons dealt heavily with the relationship between Jimmy and his brother Chuck. Chuck, according to Jimmy, was the most brilliant lawyer he’d ever met. That must be true, considering that the man had his name in the name of a prestigious law firm.
Jimmy always admired him and wanted to be like him. Chuck would not give him the time of day, however.
According to Chuck, Jimmy is less than a mediocre man with questionable morality. He can lie and manipulate with the ease of a man respirating. With his faltering morality and ease with casual disregard of the law, there is no man Chuck deems as unworthy as Jimmy.
This rocky relationship is what made Jimmy an even bigger crook. He always wanted to prove to Chuck that he was good enough and could be better than Chuck ever was.
Jimmy has a proper moral crisis when he realizes that his success is predicated on destroying his brother’s reputation and consequently destroying him.
When Chuck commits suicide due to Jimmy’s actions, it’s the final straw. He graduates from Slippin’ Jimmy to full-on criminal Jimmy.
Later seasons dealt with the relationship between Jimmy and Kim Wexler. They track the progress of their relationship from colleagues to friends, lovers, spouses, partners in crime, and eventually exes. Their relationship is one of the few that incentivizes Jimmy to change. But a leopard cannot erase its spots.
Between trying to form a reputable practice and cultivating solid relationships, Jimmy meets many characters along the way. From the highly immoral management of Sandpiper Crossing to the killers of the drug cartel and the chicken man, all these people help make Jimmy into Saul Goodman.
In this show, we also dive deeper into other characters in the universe. Chief among them is Gustavo Fring. We saw his strategic rise as a drug lord under the guise of a fast-food master. Gus was one of the most ruthless characters ever in the shows.
We also learned more about Mike — a dedicated grandfather, parking assistant, and an occasional murderer.
Better Call Saul Season 6 alternates between the present and future events, filling in some blank spaces as to what happened before and after Breaking Bad.
We learn that even after the drug empire came crashing down in Breaking Bad and everyone ran for their lives, Jimmy never changed. He evolved into Gene, committing crimes as before.
In the final episode, Jimmy is on the run. He doesn’t last long, though. He is caught after a short while. While in jail, having lost all hope, he realizes that he is a lawyer and if there is anything that he is good at, it’s manipulating the law to serve his purpose.
In another state, Kim is having a moral crisis of her own. After quitting law, she has settled into a nine-to-five routine, has another lover, and sits at lunch with her co-workers. However, she feels like an outsider looking in into her own life.
This feeling prompts her to confess what happened to Howard Hamlin. It leaves her exposed.
Elsewhere, Jimmy has managed to manipulate United States Attorneys into knocking down his sentence from life plus one hundred and ninety years into a mere seven years.
All he had to do was sign a plea agreement. He, however, learns of Kim’s plight and does a complete turn.
Jimmy’s actions in the courtroom are probably the most selfless he has ever been in his entire life. He didn’t do this out of the kindness of his heart, though. He did it to save Kim. Maybe he did love her after all. He confesses to all his crimes and absolves Kim of all her potential crimes.
Kim becomes a volunteer lawyer helping women at risk.
Jimmy gets eighty years in prison. However, I got the feeling that he was going to be okay. With the many crooks he’d helped over the years? He even got kitchen duty in prison — baking.
He seems to be popular with other inmates. Who knows? He might be running it in a couple of years. Ultimately, this was one of the best series endings I have ever seen.
The creators didn’t beat around the bush, leaving viewers dissatisfied. Objectively, the world was a better place without Jimmy in it. The world is better off without Walter, Lalo, Gus, and Nacho.
Creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have said that they aren’t planning on making any more Breaking Bad shows, but they are not also not going to make any more.
Which character would you like to get a prequel or a sequel? I know I would find a younger Gus to be interesting. Let us know in the comments. You can watch Better Call Saul online right here on TV Fanatic to relive the magic.
Denis Kimathi is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.