Better Call Saul (AMC) TV Show • Page 122

I'll be the one to say I unashamedly loved the bus chant

 

I appreciate that now we know how BB, BCS, and El Camino all end, it paints a bit of a Venn diagram between how Walt, Jimmy, and Jesse’s stories wind up.

Walt’s life ends, Jesse gets to start over, and Jimmy gets both in a sense.

 

I think the bus scene was fine up until the chant. If it had just ended with a bunch of the guys recognizing him then I would have been happy with it.

 

I thought the bus scene was going to end (prior to the chant) with a flood of legal questions from everyone on the bus toward Saul to the point where everyone was shouting out questions that he kind of just zoned out. Would have liked that more than the odd chant. I was going to be soooo pissed if that would have been the final scene, haha.

 

I had this thought while watching too and it would have really soured the entire episode for me.

 

She is not his lawyer, lol.

 

Although, it would not shock me if if Jimmy/Saul does get his sentence lightened in lieu of working for the government or some shit as an expert in scams/cons.

 

Forgot we saw the book in the first episode when they cleaned out his house

 

I hope somebody somewhere is waving their weenie in front of a Hobby Lobby today in tribute

 

I really liked this answer about the particular characters they chose for the flashbacks.

Walt appears again, you bring both Chuck and Marie Schrader back as well. Were there any other characters you wanted to include in the finale but couldn’t?
Oh, man. You’re talking to the writer-director of the episode. I would have loved to have Patrick Fabian back, to have Dean Norris back. Anna Gunn would have been great if it fit in the story. I love our entire cast. Giancarlo Esposito is one of the best, most fun actors to work with there is. So I would have wanted them all. I’m greedy. We didn’t want to make a kind of overstuffed epic, and I hope we didn’t. We wanted it to feel like a drama, and not like a collection of scenes. I would have absolutely brought them back. And of course Michael Mando, Nacho’s shadow hangs over the whole season. The feeling I had about this episode was that it was a little bit like A Christmas Carol. Gene becomes Saul, and he’s visited by three ghosts. And each time he’s visited by one of these ghosts, you realize this guy is trapped in the cycle. It’s not an exact analogy, but hopefully those flashbacks help to illuminate the change that he’s making in this episode. He’s making a change, and it’s a tough thing to do.

'Better Call Saul' Creator Explains the Series Finale

So if we’re diving deep into the imperfect analogy, who do you think is Past, Present, & Future (or would it be exactly as presented onscreen, i.e. Mike, Walter, Chuck)?

 

cool stuff! first thought that comes to mind is that he's Jimmy when talking to Chuck, is well on his way to becoming Saul with Mike, and is right on the verge of being Gene with Walt. past, present and future

 

However, while he was first sent to this maximum security prison (ADX Montrose), it is shown in the card logo just before the end credits rolls that Saul, due to his good behavior, was later transferred to Bernalillo County Detention Center. ("Saul Gone")

Didn't notice this.

 

Flawless finale IMO. The flashbacks were the most effective they've done yet, and the inclusion of Marie was unexpectedly emotional for me. It really did a great job of both ending this show and putting a cap on this entire BB/BCS saga -- not to be reductive but Marie serving as the stand-in for all the "victims" of everything Walter and Saul have done, that really was a gut-punch.

And the final Kim/Jimmy scene was perfect -- such a flex to go full-blown film noir and have it work so well. The cigarette glow, man...

 

What time period was the Walt scene supposed to take place in? Was that like while they were being vacuumed away? Before the events of Granite State I guess? I was a little unsure where that fit in the timeline.

 

Yeah in the basement of the vacuum shop when they were waiting for new identities and homes

 

You guessed correctly.

 

* In recent years, Emmy eligibility rules for the guest acting categories changed to exclude performers who appear in 50 percent or more of a show’s eligible episodes. Carol Burnett is in four out of these final six Saul installments, which will be eligible for next year’s Emmys, so she won’t be eligible for what otherwise would have been a sure victory for Guest Actress in a Drama. But my goodness, her delivery of, “Oh, please, get him,” as Marion watches Gene drive away is a thing of beauty.

This is BS.

 

Two other good catches:

In court, Saul wears a ribbon on his suit that is almost certainly the blue memorial ribbon he began sporting in the wake of the plane crash Walt inadvertently caused at the end of Breaking Bad Season Two. (For that matter, he and Bill fly back to New Mexico on Wayfarer, the airline behind said crash.)

And before labeling the Gray Matter situation as his greatest regret, Walt first looks at the expensive TAG Heuer Monaco Chronograph watch Jesse gave him for his 51st birthday, perhaps silently understanding that what he did to Jesse (including his very recent decision to leave him to be killed by the Nazis) is far worse than whatever version of the Gretchen and Elliott story he is telling himself at the moment.

 

I mean, she was his "lawyer" but not for any real purpose other than just getting in there to see him lol. I think she could still do that same thing years later if she really wanted to, but I wouldn't doubt if that's the last time they ever really see each other.

I love how many times this is mentioned. haha. It happens to Jimmy when he first starts getting clients, then Saul mentions a public masturbator when they do a time jump, then I'm pretty sure he mentions it when when we first see him in Breaking Bad.

 

Yeah I wondered if they can put Kim up as lead actress and Carol for supporting actress next year. Assuming they don't want to have them compete for one award. Or if there's a minimum appearances for a lead actress, idk

 

Lol yeah his first appearance in BB he thinks Badger is the public masturbator haha

 

It's pretty hard to make it fit perfectly in the context of past, present and future, but you could come up with something.

Future = Mike. Mike is basically telling him how he would use the time machine to check on people years from now and make a better future for them. Both guys are picturing where they could be at years from then (while stranded in the desert), and it's drastically different than where they both actually end up down the road. I know Jimmy wants to take the time machine to the past, but he's doing it so he has money for the future.

Past = Walt. Walt tells him to cut the bullshit and points out that he's strictly talking about past regret and things you would do differently. Jimmy is basically blocking out all of the bad things he's done in the past as a coping mechanism and refuses to ruminate about them.

Present = Chuck. Even though this too happened in the "past" and he could have made a different "future" for himself at the moment of his flashback with Chuck, Chuck is basically telling Jimmy "You have an opportunity right this second to change your path". And that's what he chooses to do during the finale, just a little too late.

 

Yeah thank god this finale didn't feel like complete fan-service, like the BB movie was. I didn't have a problem with the movie, I liked it, but it was simply fan-service.

 

Chant defender logging on:

I liked how it felt twilight zone-esque (I think someone said before the episode that’s what was hinted at?). Part of it definitely serves as confirmation that Jimmy will be okay in jail, but on another level I think it’s there to haunt him as well. Hell never escape being Saul, and I think you can see that in his face at the end of that scene, partially feeling his ego, but also almost grimacing at the fact he’ll never get away from his mistakes.

Also, perfect finale, no notes.

 

Idk if anyone mentioned it yet, the prison that Saul originally requested was the one that Bernie Madoff died in lmao.