spoilers Better Call Saul

[Cas Stark]

I expect this finale will age well.  After people get over the initial, potential, disappointment of no surprises and everything pretty much as expected.....Kim back on a path toward redemption, Jimmy in jail but having made something of a breakthrough. It all feels of a piece and well earned.

I've said many times on the GOT rants threads what a better show GOT would have been to have a writers room like BB/BCS where they spent a lot of time on character motivations and what would/wouldn't a given person do to ensure that the twists and turns were grounded.  The finale definitely stayed true [mostly] to the characters, although I'm skeptical that Jimmy would really talk himself into almost 100 year prison sentence, even for Kim.

 

[Heartofice]

I thought as a finale it was quite fitting. 

My take is that you can't separate out the final episode and expect it's going to do anything revelatory that isn't inkeeping with what came before. This entire season has been the 'end' of the show, and so this last episode was the bookend to that. Maybe other shows would demand some big high impact finale, but BCS doesn't need that, it ended at the logical place it had to get to. It was pretty sad, part of me always wanted Jimmy to get away with it, but him keeping himself in prison is maybe the right ending for him, I'm sure he will be lording it up in there eventually, running little scams and being a bit of a Shawshank. 

[SeanF]

I've still to watch it when get home.

But, spending the remainder of one's life in some hell-hole of a penitentiary is quite a downbeat ending, I think.  I'd say Walt got the better ending.

[Nictarion]

I liked it. Yeah, the bus was bad (I was afraid for a second it would end with that), but there was a lot of good stuff between the flashbacks, and the Kim scenes. I was glad we got to see Jimmy work a room one more time when he got himself the plea deal, and that Kim decided to go work for the free legal service. 

The series as a whole, ended up being so, so much better than I thought it would be when I first heard the idea. 

[Cas Stark]

I didn't mind the bus scene really.  It was a little OTT, but Saul was always going to be a legend in prison.  I did expect they would go back to color, although we saw the red of the cigarette end, that was it.  

I loved all the flashbacks except the one with Jesse and Kim which I didn't think added anything to the story.  

[Winterfell is Burning]

11 hours ago, DMC said:

I don't know when predictable became associated with bad, or at least not good, but I definitely think the internet has a whole lot to do with it.  A good narrative should be predictable, at least to a certain extent - especially a character study like BCS.

And specially considering this was a prequel.

I liked the ending even if it wasn't too surprising. Jimmy is really right where he belongs.

[dbunting]

I think it was a good ending, an ending that made sense. Just take out the BCS chant on the bus and it would be even better. I also like how Gene's life has paid dividends to Jimmy, his experience at cinnabon and baking there has gotten him what's considered a prime job in the kitchen in prison.

Saul was trying to get everything he could for himself with his plea deal until he learned that Kim confessed. Once he learned that he changed back to Jimmy and tried to find a way to protect her and let her know he was still inside Saul. He wanted her approval more than anything. The confession at the end was exactly what he would do. He wanted them to know that Walt wouldn't have been who he was without Saul, kind of his "I am the danger" moment.

To me the best moment of the episode was when they shared that cigarette in the room together. It brought us back to the beginning. They didn't need to talk to each other in that moment, just the smoke and the knowing looks. That should have been the final scene instead of the walk outside.

[Relic]

The muted and subdued tones of this finale worked for me, as a contrast to the garish personality and physical appearance of the Saul Goodman character. Its fitting that the show ends in black and white, with Jimmy wearing prison garb.

I find fan speculation about character deaths in shows like this to be extremely banal. It was clear that this wasnt a show that ends with Kim's dramatic death. 

[SeanF]

I didn't really see it as any sort of redemption for Saul/Jimmy.  More, it seemed to me to be the story of a man who had given up caring about his life.  Talking himself into spending the rest of his life in a hellhole doesn't help anybody.  It doesn't help Kim, who will still face the civil suit, and presumably, could make herself bankrupt if she had millions of dollars awarded against her.  Saul/Jimmy can't make amends for anything he has done in an environment where, realistically, the only way that he could survive is by befriending powerful prisoners, and by performing dubious legal services for them.

I wouldn't say it was a bad ending, but it was definitely, a very downbeat one.

[Spockydog]

Not having that ending at all. 

The idea that Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman deliberately fucks himself like that, for the reasons they gave, is patently absurd. It made no sense. None whatsoever. 

I mean, he may as well have transformed into an octopus and started playing My Way on a trombone made of cheese. 

Very poor. 

 

[Spockydog]

And another thing...

Been reading a lot of "awwww, they rekindled their love over a cigarette. Bless them."

Fuck that noise. Two terrible human beings who deserve every miserable moment coming their way for what they did to Howard (and everyone else the both of them fucked over). 

 

[SeanF]

12 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Not having that ending at all. 

The idea that Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman deliberately fucks himself like that, for the reasons they gave, is patently absurd. It made no sense. None whatsoever. 

I mean, he may as well have transformed into an octopus and started playing My Way on a fucking trombone. 

Very poor. 

 

Yeh.

A redemption would be becoming like Jesse’s counsellor at the start of Season 3 of Breaking Bad.  He ran over his daughter, when high on drugs, and must have done serious time for it.  But, then tried to do something useful with his life.

[SeanF]

Why on earth would he even be sent to ADX Florence in any case, which is intended for the most dangerous prisoners in the system, like contract killers, terrorists, serial killers etc?

Bent lawyers don’t get sent there.

I’d rather be put before a firing squad than spend the rest of my life there.

[Maltaran]

The government saying fuck you after he blew up the plea deal?

[SeanF]

10 minutes ago, Maltaran said:

The government saying fuck you after he blew up the plea deal?

I don't think that would be a problem.   If anything, the prosecutors would get additional laurels.

In reality, I'd expect the judge to have adjourned the hearing to have Saul/Jimmy psychologically assessed, and to get to the bottom of why he was actually doing this.  Paradoxically,  Kim could  have got into real trouble, had the judge suspected that Jimmy was taking the blame  for Howard's death in order to shield her.

[Mark Antony]

1 hour ago, SeanF said:

I’d rather be put before a firing squad than spend the rest of my life there.

Guess you did not see the hardened killers,  rapists, and thieves on the bus nearly break into song to celebrate the awesomeness of Saul.

[SeanF]

7 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

Guess you did not see the hardened killers,  rapists, and thieves on the bus nearly break into song to celebrate the awesomeness of Saul.

If anything, it seemed a bit menacing to me.

But, assuming they have any regard at all for him, the only way he'll keep alive in that place is by providing them with legal, and extra-legal, assistance.  If a person wished to make a clean break from being Saul Goodman, a maximum security Federal penitentiary is the last place you'd wish to be sent to.  No one is sent  there to be reformed, and the authorities don't expect anyone there to be reformed.  You're sent there because you're considered so dangerous that you can never be allowed back into society.

[Mark Antony]

1 minute ago, SeanF said:

If anything, it seemed a bit menacing to me.

But, assuming they have any regard at all for him, the only way he'll keep alive in that place is by providing them with legal, and extra-legal, assistance.

I definitely think the implication of the bus scene was that our protagonist is actually gonna be okay in prison because of his celebrity status amongst the criminals. Just did not seem realistic to me 

[Cas Stark]

Of course he will be fine in prison.  He's not only a former cartel adjacent now infamous lawyer, but he's a very good defense attorney with a criminal mindset.   He will be trading legal advice for perks for however long he's in jail, which may or may not end up being the rest of his life.

[Mark Antony]

Actually wondered what the remaining Cartel affiliated people would think of Saul. I guess he’s probably not well known in those circles anymore. But yeah I wasn’t trying to say him being fine in prison was unrealistic just that the way they went about telling us that was the cheesiest over the top say possible.