On this week's season finale of Better Call Saul, Jimmy and Mike have reached their tipping points and choices have to be made. My thoughts are after the jump.
And there we have it folks. Better Call Saul is off the air until early 2017, hopefully with a season longer than 10 short episodes. Were we left with a satisfying enough closer to bide the time until then? I think so, but there was more that we could have had to really wrap things up this season.
I'll start with that first. We did not get much resolution for Mike's side of things. He occupied so much of the season and he has been completely separate from Jimmy's story, save for the beginning of the season. This was forgivable because Mike is perhaps the most compelling character on the show and his story has always been so riveting. Sadly, even with all the time spent with him this season, he was but an after thought in this finale. He had one really great tense scene with his sniper rifle, but it ended with an anti-climax. He simply did not go through with killing Hector or the twins. Somehow, Nacho knew that he was going to do it and telegraphed that to Mike through the car horn. He even left him a note to confirm that. Then that was it. Nothing else for us to think about during the break. I was hoping that this episode would have a cliffhanger that would justify Mike's story placement this season by possibly bringing him and Jimmy together again. I am sure this will happen sometime next year, but it definitely leaves the end of this season hanging in an unsure space at the moment. I wonder how prominent Hector Salamanca, Tuco, and the Twins will be next season. I'm hoping we jump right back where we left off with this plot line instead of Mike focusing on something else once we come back. Perhaps the show wanted to save the fireworks with this story until they had a whole season 3 to focus on the conflict. It could be their way of pulling the punch until the opportune moment (the arrival of Gus Fring perhaps??), but it does not take away from the fact that we were not left with much in this exact moment.
(UPDATE (4/19/2016): After posting the review, Reddit user xe_om pointed out to me that I missed the fact that Nacho was not able to leave the "DON'T" note for Mike. He was in the house. Someone else had to have done it. The question that leaves is: who? That development does make me feel a little bit better about Mike's final scene, but it is still a tiny bit underwhelming given how much focus he had this season. It is an intriguing question though. I am thinking that whatever plot developments we get will eventually lead to a Gus Fring reveal, so it has got to be someone with ties to a larger criminal world. Higher up the food chain than Tuco and Hector if you will. Though, the other plot thread left with Hector is how he ends up in the bell-armed wheelchair. I am sure that the events of this series will clue us in on that, if not reveal it outright. However these plot threads are resolved will be very interesting to see. Thanks for the comment xe_om!)
Despite that disappointment, I thought the rest of the episode was really great. More of Kim would have been great (I love Kim so much) but she had a few stand out episodes the past few weeks so I thought she was left in a good place. This season ended on a quieter note than I expected, but it is not any less interesting as far as our characters are concerned. The sequence with Chuck in the emergency room was really intense and visceral and it was a great way to depict where Chuck's mental state has gone. This show has really become Jimmy v. Chuck. The sad part of that is that Chuck is really the only one who knows it though. Regardless of Jimmy's schemes to get back Mesa Verde for Kim, he really does love his brother. He is continually hurt by Chuck's disapproval and judgement, but his love for his older brother is still there. That is not the case for Chuck's side. Chuck has no love left for Jimmy. There is only contempt. This season has really focused on how charming and likable Jimmy is even though he is not the most honest person in the world. Chuck plays things completely by the book, but there is not a lovable trait about him. This eats at Chuck. Why does everyone love the imperfect bottom feeder little brother but not the older, wiser, more responsible older brother? The episode opened with a flashback that showed his mother calling out for Jimmy in her final moments, but not for Chuck. Earlier in the season, Chuck confided in Kim the story of how Jimmy basically led their father to ruin by short changing him and yet their father had nothing but love for him. He could not believe that his youngest son could do any wrong. Chuck knows otherwise and it is destroying him. This does not justify some of Chuck's actions and hatred, but it explains where it comes from and how it is so real.
I am predicting that a really big season 3 is coming. Now that Chuck has Jimmy's confession on tape, Jimmy is going to have to be the most clever he has ever been to get out of it. I believe we will get the People (Chuck) v. Jimmy McGill season in 2017. Mike will probably get involved in helping Jimmy with some murky territory as well. How that fits in with Mike's story is beyond me, but I am sure it will come together nicely. Depending on how lengthy this series is, this could be the reason why Jimmy takes up the name of Saul. I do not think he is going to get away with this. Chuck is going to get him disbarred. Jimmy is going to lose everything and Saul is going to emerge to forge a new path. It will be his new name so he can practice law again. How this all works without Saul being discovered as an alias for Jimmy is also beyond me. It is not like Saul lives somewhere completely new in Breaking Bad. This will always be in Albuquerque. Wouldn't people recognize Jimmy if Saul started practicing law under a new name after being disbarred publicly? He even has ads running on TV now as Jimmy McGill. Plus you have Kim who will be a witness to all of the fall out and is running a business with him. Somehow everything is going to get torn down and swept under the rug so no one questions Saul's existence. This does not look good for anyone. Season 3 is going to be a painful piece of character intrigue. I cannot wait to see how it all goes down.
Until 2017 everyone! Remember: It's all good man!
Grade: B+.
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