Summary: In the past, Kim and Saul finalize their divorce. Kim has a brief talk with Jesse about Saul. In the present, Kim is living a mundane life in Florida until she gets called by Jimmy. She tells him to turn himself in and says she's happy he is alive before hanging up. After, Kim decides to return to Albuquerque where she tells the full truth to Cheryl and the police. Afterwards, she breaks down on a bus. Meanwhile, Gene breaks into the cancer victim's house and gets all his information, but he decides to steal some things and celebrate. In that time, the victim wakes up and Gene has to sneak out where some cops have parked behind Jeff. Jeff panics and tries to get away but crashes and is arrested. Gene returns home and Jeff calls him. Gene says he will get him out and calls Marion, who continues to be suspicious. When Gene goes to pick her up, she has found his identity on Ask Jeeves. Gene threatens her but ultimately relents and she uses her LifeAlert to notify someone. Gene runs away.
The Good: The final act of this season continues to intersect with "Breaking Bad" in interesting ways. It's compelling to see this story play out while we get flashes back to the past, fleshing out the key events that correspond to the story arcs of Gene and Kim in the present. This episode's past scenes center around a meeting between Kim and Saul, their last in-person interaction up until the present. Naturally this is a huge moment for the characters involved, and we start off the episode in Jimmy's head with him agonizing over how to handle this situation. In the end, he goes full Saul Goodman and decides to use his fun new personality to subsidize his own pain and show off to Kim in a most brazen and obnoxious way. We can see the shift in his very demeanour when he tells Francesca to bring her in, and his cold words and brash attitude clearly discomfort Kim, who is capable of seeing through the façade that Jimmy is putting on in his Saul Goodman persona. It's crude, it's annoying, and most damningly, it's sad. We can see the pity and pain in Kim's eyes as she leaves Saul's office, having witnessed him acting like a shell of the man he once was. This leads into a fun surprise as Kim encounters Jesse (who's there to help out Emilio who is in legal trouble), and the two have a brief conversation. Aaron Paul slips back into the role nicely as he rambles on about typical young Jesse Pinkman things. He's an obnoxious, dim-witted kid, but one who has a good heart, and clearly has better values than those that he hangs around. Kim knows this and so she doesn't engage in this conversation, but one thing strikes her: even Jesse is able to see through the Saul Goodman act and questions if he is actually any good. To which Kim answers with one of the episode's most powerful lines: "when I knew him, he was". And with that line filled with sad melancholy, Kim runs off into the rain and out of the life of Saul Goodman forever. The moment captures melancholy so vividly and perfectly, one of many such scenes involving Kim in this episode that do so. Outside of the "Breaking Bad" timeline scenes, the episode was divided into two halves. The first half belonged to Kim, and the show handled our reconnection with Kim perfectly. I was curious and excited to see what had become of her, and this episode did a fantastic job of reintroducing her. Despite not being an outright criminal like Saul Goodman, Kim is living an empty life in Florida just like Gene is in Nebraska. And she's been doing this for six damn years. It was jarring from minute one when we see that Kim has become a brunette, and as the episode goes on, it becomes more and more apparent how empty Kim's life is. From her basic job, to her inability to allow herself to even give an opinion, to the total bore of a man she is together with, everything feels so empty. It's sad and painful to watch (but not without it's own sense of humour), and it paints a vividly sad picture of what Kim's life has become. And so when we catch up to the point when Gene gives Kim a call, it feels completely different from what we expect. It's astonishing to me how this phone call ended up being significantly less brutal than I was expecting, yet it was somehow even more emotionally brutal with its subtlety. Kim doesn't say anything outright terrible to Gene, she simply tells him what he doesn't want to hear, and that sets him off. But even still, we can see on Kim's face that she understands the situation he is in and that she wants to reconnect with him more than anything else to escape from her own personal hell. But in the end she gives him brief words of affection before abruptly hanging up, shutting down any chance of her finding happiness. This was a brutal way to explore Kim's guilt and how she believes that she does not deserve happiness, and it was another scene that perfectly evoked deep melancholy. In spite of her hanging up with Gene, the call gives her a realization: she cannot keep living like this. And so in a perfectly 'Kim Wexler' way, she decides to take care of her guilt and move on. And the method she chooses is a brutally honest confession to law enforcement and to Cheryl. Her confession takes her back to Albuquerque where she gets to see echoes of her past. This is another scene packed with that sense of melancholy as we see Kim drive into that classic parking lot (where Mike's former job has now become automated), and enter that same courtroom where she was once a commodity. But now times have changed, and she is unrecognizable, watching another woman with a striking resemblance to her fighting the righteous war that Kim no longer believes that she has any right to fight. Her confession to Cheryl follows, and the scene is wonderful. It's good that Cheryl finally got some closure, but she does confirm our worst fears: all that everyone remembers of Howard is the lie that Jimmy and Kim told. Kim doesn't bother painting any pictures of defending herself at all. She tells Cheryl as it is and gives her the truth that she deserves, and then she leaves. Clearly this was an attempt by Kim to return to her self-righteous ways and help absolve her of her sins, perhaps helping pave the way for Kim to move on to being happy. But it doesn't work. Kim has confessed to all, and still the pain does not go away. What follows is a tough and harrowing scene as Kim breaks into tears, finally giving into years of emotional build-up (see: Best Moment). It's the final note of melancholy in a deeply saddening story that highlights Kim's struggles with guilt that prevent her from moving forwards with her life. This is the awful fate that we had all feared would befall Kim, and it is painful to see it. The other half of the episode centers on Gene continuing his antics and it is equally painful to watch. But while Kim's story was packed with deep melancholy, Gene's is instead horrifying for us, showing how much this character has fallen in his attempts to stop feeling the pain. Gene takes some dark turns in this episode for self preservation, which at times made me believe that he fully deserves what is coming for him. His ill-advised break-in at the end of the previous episode goes every bit as badly as you would expect. The tension throughout this long sequence is always felt, and every second had me at the edge of my seat with disaster looming. Gene continued to make things worse for himself as he did increasingly awful things, starting with simply stealing a watch to considering murdering the man with his dead dog's ashes. I never imagined Gene would go this far, and it highlights his inner darkness perfectly. The sequence continues to be brutally intense and I was horrified to see how it would end. But "Better Call Saul" subverts our expectations beautifully as the scene ends with one of the biggest laughs of the series serving as a release of all of the tension. Panicked by the presence of the cops, Jeff plans to make a run for it. But then we cut to the cops who are having a Hank and Gomie-esque conversation about fish tacos, and they prompty witness Jeff suddenly speed off, immediately crashing into a car. The suddenness of this moment is spectacularly funny, and it's perfect to end this scene with some of the signature "Breaking Bad" universe black comedy. There are consequences to this moment however, and it's far more than just a joke. Jeff is arrested and blamed for a robbery, and now Gene has to explain this to Marion. Gene puts onhis sweet-talking game as usual, but he has failed to notice that Marion has taken notice of his activities with Jeff. Some explanations that come naturally to Gene regarding different laws in Omaha and Albuquerque rouse her suspicions, and by the time Gene goes to meet her, she knows exactly who he is. The show handles this reveal magnificently. The show knows that we know Marion is piecing things together, so it extracts its drama from Gene realizing that he has been found out. Bob Odenkirk is tremendous in this scene, and the million dollar shot is Gene's crestfallen face looking upon that classic commercial (which reflects in colour on his glasses!) once again. But our sympathy for Gene quickly evaporates as he proceeds to threaten Marion intensely. At one point it even feels like Gene might strangle her to death to keep her quiet! This moment is deeply uncomfortable, and it is the darkest we have ever seen this character across both "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul". But Jimmy is still in there, and Marion's broken "I trusted you" draws Jimmy out from the frightening Gene. Finally taking stock of what he's doing, it seems that Jimmy forces Gene to let go of Marion and allows her to call for help. Finally Gene has been exposed, and now he has no choice but to run. And at that dramatic cliffhanger, this terrific episode finally concludes, leaving me very excited to see how this whole story wraps up. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. Kim and Jesse's scene isn't strictly necessary, and it is fanservice in a way. For me, the scene was so well written and effective that this didn't matter to me. The Unknown: What is Gene going to do next? Will he call Ed to look for another way out? Will he return to Albuquerque? Will he go to Florida to find Kim? It's tough to say what exactly comes next. Is this the last that we've seen of Kim? I hope not, and I would love to get more story from her. What role will she play in the finale? Will we see the consequences of her choice to turn herself in? Will she see Gene once again? What will Jeff's fate be? Will we see him again? Best Moment: Kim breaking down in the bus was a terrific moment. You don't always see TV shows portraying the raw, ugly emotions that people feel in such situations. As such, there was something special about seeing an extended scene of Kim finally giving in to the emotions that she had left pent up for so long. Rhea Seehorn was phenomenal and reached new acting highs in this scene. The scene was somber, depressing, and affecting. Television at its emotional best. Character of the Episode: Kim. Conclusion: A fantastic episode. "Better Call Saul" is nailing this final storyline, and this episode took the slow-paced character-driven story we have been getting over the past two episodes to a whole new level. This experience had it all: phenomenal acting, nail-biting suspense, deep-layered character work, hilarious moments of comedy, and a sense of dread and melancholy as we enter the series finale. What a journey it has been, and after this exhilarating hour I am very excited to see what's in store for us in next week's finale. Score: 80
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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