With just one 'Better Call Saul' episode left, we speculate on how the story should end. Watch the series finale Aug. 15 on AMC with Sling.
Warning: SPOILERS follow.
It’s Saul-most over.
There’s just one episode left in AMC’s bonus-sized final season of Better Call Saul. In last week’s penultimate episode “Waterworks,” we caught up with the black and white version of Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), who is not only alive, but is still living under her government name (the fact that her character is still breathing at the end of the series almost feels like a twist ending). After getting a call from Jimmy/ Saul/ Gene (Bob Odenkirk), she flies to Albuquerque to come clean with the true story of Howard Hamlin’s (Patrick Fabian) untimely demise.
Meanwhile in Nebraska, Gene is following through on his plan to rob his cancer-stricken mark. Despite the chance to get away clean, Gene recklessly decides to take a little more, and soon Jeff (Pat Healy) is taking the fall for the crime. This provides Gene the chance to slip back into Saul Goodman-mode, but it also tips-off Marion (a wonderful Carol Burnett) about Gene’s past. The episode ends with Gene menacing Marion to keep quiet before she (life) alerts the police and he flees.
All of this is heartbreaking (once again, the episode title is perfection). And in an unpredictable season loaded with surprises, it also sets up a series finale that could go in any number of directions. With that in mind, we rounded up a few Saul watchers to get their thoughts on how the series should end. Check out the responses below and be sure to tune-in to the Better Call Saul series finale Monday, Aug. 15 at 9pm ET on AMC.
Is it too much to ask for a redemption arc? Is it naive to think Jimmy/Saul/the-hunk-that-is-Bob Odenkirk can live a quiet life and quit his self-destructive scheming? I don’t need Saul to atone for his sins in the legal sense. I just want him to build something new, something livable. There must be a happy medium between Cinnabon and grand larceny. As Cat Stevens once sang, “Find a girl, settle down/If you want you can marry/Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy.” Expecting a fairytale ending in the Vince Gilligan universe is a fool’s game, but co-creator Peter Gould let me fall in love with this imperfect character...and we all know love blinds you and makes you do silly things. - Janine Schaults
Marion blows the whistle on Gene, and he finds himself back in Albuquerque with the events of both shows to answer for...and a remorseful Kim as star witness. At some point in the process Jimmy decides to stop fighting and own up to what he’s done, which wins back some of Kim’s respect – but not her heart, because after everything that made us love Kim, wouldn’t we be disappointed in her if she took him back? Then, as Jimmy and Kim await sentencing, Lalo and Howard crawl out of their shared grave and feast on the brains of everyone in the courthouse. - Alex Castle
Jimmy McGill’s transformation from loveable lawyer to the slimey Saul Goodman sprung from his inability or unwillingness to properly process his past. We saw this in his callous dismissal of his brother Chuck’s death; in his practiced coldness toward Kim when signing their divorce papers; and now, in Gene’s brutal call with Kim. It would be fitting, then, if Jimmy’s story ends with him finally facing the music, even if he has to be coerced into it by the strong arm of the law. With Jimmy/ Saul/ Gene confined to a cell, he’d have no other option but to think about what landed him there, and he could finally do the psychological work to move beyond his past. This being Slippin’ Jimmy, prison would still provide him the opportunity to run his clever cons. Dealing with and atoning for his sins while scheming to sneak cigarettes past security? At this point, it’s pretty much the happiest ending we could hope for. - MS