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cjlasky7In three days (April 18), AMC will broadcast the premiere of the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul. This is presumably the final chapter in Vince Gilligan's Albuquerque epic (which started with Breaking Bad in 2008), and Gilligan and his staff promise to wrap the whole thing up in mind-blowing fashion.
For fans of BCS, there is a sense of relief and gratitude to go with anticipation, because this season came close to not happening at all. Series star Bob Odenkirk suffered a heart attack and collapsed on the set, freaking out his fellow cast members and sending a wave of concern and well wishes over the internet. Fortunately for all concerned, Odenkirk recovered quickly and finished the season. He's even got a new series lined up and plans a sequel to his 2021 action movie, "Nobody." (Bob. Dude. I love the work ethic, but maybe take it easy for a while? We almost lost you...)
Anyway, the final chapter is here, with about a million questions left over from Season 5. You might think that, as a prequel to Breaking Bad, there isn't much of a mystery about what's going to happen. We know Jimmy McGill (aka Saul Goodman) survives and dives even deeper down the drug cartel rabbit hole. We know loveable sourpuss Mike Ehrmentraut (Jonathan Banks) solidifies his status as cartel "fixer"--only to die at the hands of Bryan Cranston's Walter White. We know Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) will be serving fast food chicken and meth for awhile longer... until he gets blowed up real good.
But, technically speaking, BCS isn't ONLY a prequel: we've had flashforwards to the present day, with Jimmy/Saul trapped in Witness Protection as a Cinnabon manager in Omaha. Will "Gene" recover his old mojo, perhaps at the cost of his own safety? Also, there's the fate of various secondary characters: will Nacho Varga survive the wrath of Lalo Salamanca? Will Gus take Lalo out of the game for good? Will Howard Hamlin see the metaphorical train coming at him at full speed?
And--most important--what's going to happen to Kim Wexler?
Kim Wexler, brilliant attorney, wielder of the Power Ponytail, Jimmy's significant other and occasional partner in crime, has slowly evolved from a bare sketch of a character in s1 to the central character of the series. Rhea Seehorn has imbued Kim with such focused intelligence and subtle passion that her fate has been the key topic of debate on BCS fan boards. Since we know her character never appears on Breaking Bad, the question is: what happens to Kim?
There are four distinct possibilities:
1. The cartel kills Kim. A likely outcome, but maybe too obvious. Seehorn, Gilligan, and (co-creator) Peter Gould haven't spent five seasons developing Kim into a fan favorite only to bump her off at the end. Besides, the general consensus is that if Jimmy is even indirectly responsible for Kim's death, it would destroy him. He'd never be able to pull off the high-level chicanery Saul performed in Breaking Bad; best case scenario, he'd sink to the bottom of a bottle.
2. Kim has been there all along. This is hilarious, and part of me wonders if Gilligan and Gould could pull it off. So... in Breaking Bad, when Walter White and Jesse Pinkman leave Saul's office, the phone rings? "Hi honey. Loaf of bread. Milk. Uh huh. Shrimp. Ice Station Zebra on cable? Great." But no, I don't think so. Saul does not strike me as an especially happy man on Breaking Bad, and seems to be very much alone. (Kim is not there when he "disappears" at the end of the series.) Also, I find it almost impossible to believe Kim wouldn't have gotten tangled up in one of Saul's messes during the BB timeline.
3. Jimmy betrays Kim; Kim leaves town. The odds on favorite. It's not like anyone thinks Jimmy would deliberately betray Kim for selfish purposes; it's just that Kim is more likely to suffer collateral damage from one of Jimmy's cons. Maybe Kim gets caught working with Jimmy in something borderline illegal and gets disbarred. (Or she goes to jail.) Maybe she's forced into Witness Protection. Maybe Jimmy cuts Kim out of her share of the Sandpiper Nursing Home settlement to pay off the mob and save their necks. There are so many ways their precariously balanced existence can go to shit. I'm sure there are dozens of scenarios out there.
4. Kim burns Jimmy, and takes off with the money. But here's one I don't see in BCS fan theories. We're always thinking Jimmy is going to fuck things up. But what if it's Kim? Over the past few seasons, she's shown herself to have some... moral flexibility. She wouldn't be with Slipping Jimmy otherwise. So what if it's Kim who finally decides to cut her losses with Jimmy and takes off with the Sandpiper money? Before the end of last season, I wouldn't have believed this possible. But now? Who knows?
*****************
I'm probably wrong about all of these. Gilligan and Gould have consistently surprised me when I thought I knew where the plot was going. But I do hope they end the series the way the romantics in fandom want it to end:
Kim Wexler, older and wiser, walks up to an Omaha Cinnabon. She smiles at the manager, and it's as if no time has passed at all....
For fans of BCS, there is a sense of relief and gratitude to go with anticipation, because this season came close to not happening at all. Series star Bob Odenkirk suffered a heart attack and collapsed on the set, freaking out his fellow cast members and sending a wave of concern and well wishes over the internet. Fortunately for all concerned, Odenkirk recovered quickly and finished the season. He's even got a new series lined up and plans a sequel to his 2021 action movie, "Nobody." (Bob. Dude. I love the work ethic, but maybe take it easy for a while? We almost lost you...)
Anyway, the final chapter is here, with about a million questions left over from Season 5. You might think that, as a prequel to Breaking Bad, there isn't much of a mystery about what's going to happen. We know Jimmy McGill (aka Saul Goodman) survives and dives even deeper down the drug cartel rabbit hole. We know loveable sourpuss Mike Ehrmentraut (Jonathan Banks) solidifies his status as cartel "fixer"--only to die at the hands of Bryan Cranston's Walter White. We know Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) will be serving fast food chicken and meth for awhile longer... until he gets blowed up real good.
But, technically speaking, BCS isn't ONLY a prequel: we've had flashforwards to the present day, with Jimmy/Saul trapped in Witness Protection as a Cinnabon manager in Omaha. Will "Gene" recover his old mojo, perhaps at the cost of his own safety? Also, there's the fate of various secondary characters: will Nacho Varga survive the wrath of Lalo Salamanca? Will Gus take Lalo out of the game for good? Will Howard Hamlin see the metaphorical train coming at him at full speed?
And--most important--what's going to happen to Kim Wexler?
Kim Wexler, brilliant attorney, wielder of the Power Ponytail, Jimmy's significant other and occasional partner in crime, has slowly evolved from a bare sketch of a character in s1 to the central character of the series. Rhea Seehorn has imbued Kim with such focused intelligence and subtle passion that her fate has been the key topic of debate on BCS fan boards. Since we know her character never appears on Breaking Bad, the question is: what happens to Kim?
There are four distinct possibilities:
1. The cartel kills Kim. A likely outcome, but maybe too obvious. Seehorn, Gilligan, and (co-creator) Peter Gould haven't spent five seasons developing Kim into a fan favorite only to bump her off at the end. Besides, the general consensus is that if Jimmy is even indirectly responsible for Kim's death, it would destroy him. He'd never be able to pull off the high-level chicanery Saul performed in Breaking Bad; best case scenario, he'd sink to the bottom of a bottle.
2. Kim has been there all along. This is hilarious, and part of me wonders if Gilligan and Gould could pull it off. So... in Breaking Bad, when Walter White and Jesse Pinkman leave Saul's office, the phone rings? "Hi honey. Loaf of bread. Milk. Uh huh. Shrimp. Ice Station Zebra on cable? Great." But no, I don't think so. Saul does not strike me as an especially happy man on Breaking Bad, and seems to be very much alone. (Kim is not there when he "disappears" at the end of the series.) Also, I find it almost impossible to believe Kim wouldn't have gotten tangled up in one of Saul's messes during the BB timeline.
3. Jimmy betrays Kim; Kim leaves town. The odds on favorite. It's not like anyone thinks Jimmy would deliberately betray Kim for selfish purposes; it's just that Kim is more likely to suffer collateral damage from one of Jimmy's cons. Maybe Kim gets caught working with Jimmy in something borderline illegal and gets disbarred. (Or she goes to jail.) Maybe she's forced into Witness Protection. Maybe Jimmy cuts Kim out of her share of the Sandpiper Nursing Home settlement to pay off the mob and save their necks. There are so many ways their precariously balanced existence can go to shit. I'm sure there are dozens of scenarios out there.
4. Kim burns Jimmy, and takes off with the money. But here's one I don't see in BCS fan theories. We're always thinking Jimmy is going to fuck things up. But what if it's Kim? Over the past few seasons, she's shown herself to have some... moral flexibility. She wouldn't be with Slipping Jimmy otherwise. So what if it's Kim who finally decides to cut her losses with Jimmy and takes off with the Sandpiper money? Before the end of last season, I wouldn't have believed this possible. But now? Who knows?
*****************
I'm probably wrong about all of these. Gilligan and Gould have consistently surprised me when I thought I knew where the plot was going. But I do hope they end the series the way the romantics in fandom want it to end:
Kim Wexler, older and wiser, walks up to an Omaha Cinnabon. She smiles at the manager, and it's as if no time has passed at all....
no subject
Date: 2022-04-16 04:19 am (UTC)~sigh~ The trouble with this new "Golden Age II" of television is finding the time to watch even a fair portion of it! Between you and shadowkat at least it narrows the options a bit.
Most recent series I finished watching was The 100. I am now completely convinced that the incessant commercial interruptions that occur while viewing these shows is destroying the content. I was (and still am) a big fan of this show, but found the final season seemingly confused and wandering.
Then I got the DVD set, and-- it's like a completely different creation! I found it often thought-provoking and moving, and the ending, which confused the hell out of me on live viewing, now not only made sense, but was clever and daring.
sigh redux
no subject
Date: 2022-04-16 04:56 am (UTC)[Peal of satanic laughter]
Sorry. Yes, very much.
I think Breaking Bad was one of the great American TV series of the past 20 years, and it just got better as it went along. The climactic episode of the series, "Ozymandias" (directed by Rian Johnson!), was probably the best episode of television since "Becoming 2."
I think Better Call Saul is just as good--although there are fans out there who think the Mike Ehrmentraut sections of the early seasons can get a bit dull. I'm not one of them.
Bob Odenkirk is just as effective a lead as Bryan Cranston. The writing continues to be impeccable. (You've gathered how I feel about Rhea Seehorn.)
Watch it ALL.