Better Call Saul: Ending Explained | Breaking the Cycle

at the end of breaking bad we watched a character achieve his stated goal of amassing a fortune for his family then we watched him die alone hated by anyone he ever knew or loved walter white may have achieved some small amount of redemption by saving jesse and finally admitting the truth he did it for me i liked it but all in all the morals seem to say it was too late for walter white vince gilligan's goal was to turn an average man evil and by the end he succeeded he showed us all the steps involved and showed us both sides of the equation the prize wealth and thrills the cost dying alone once breaking bad ended and better call saul approached with a similar promise turning jimmy mcgill into saul goodman you could ask what more is there to say on the matter why do we need to see another man morally erode until there's nothing left by the end of the series i think the answer was made clear first it served as a broader cautionary tale if breaking bad advised against the perils of pride and ego better call saul expanded the tale to show other more complicated paths to evil mike gus kim chuck and jimmy all suffered different flaws which pushed them toward self-destructive or just plain destructive behavior the show also explored relationships so much more and how we shape each other often in unexpected and unintentional ways second and especially important for the ending better call saul didn't just turn jimmy mcgill into saul goodman but also asked how do you turn him back that's the key question tackled by the better call saul finale throughout the series jimmy mcgill developed a dangerous coping mechanism one where he deals with trauma by not dealing with it in season three after chuck's meltdown in court jimmy visited the malpractice insurance office he was there to try and cancel his own since he wouldn't be practicing law for a year then he saw an opportunity to hurt chuck and he took it by slyly letting them know about his brother's humiliation in court after that chuck's insurance cost and the effect he would have on hhm's overall costs were too much howard pushed him into retirement and chuck spiraled taking his own life in season 4 howard confesses to jimmy and kim that he believes chuck's death was a suicide and that it may have been his fault for pushing chuck into retirement over the insurance issue that catches jimmy's attention what about the insurance it was uh our malpractice insurance they found out about truck's condition raised our rates after an episode of barely speaking and just generally looking shaken jimmy's demeanor changes drastically the moment he learns that his final move against chuck was the thing to push him over the line jimmy turns into a different person well howard i guess that's your cross to bear he gets up feeds the fish with a smile and whistles to himself as he makes coffee rather than deal with the traumatic realization that he played a role in his brother's death jimmy instead puts on an act an act which says everything's okay sound familiar after the tragedy of howard hamlin and especially after losing kim jimmy put on a similar act only this time it had a name saul goodman and it would last for years in his final confession jimmy acknowledged this directly after bringing up what happened to howard kim had the guts to start over she left town but i'm the one who ran away he ran away from himself by adopting a false persona and what's so wrong with that from the flash forward after kim left him we get our only real glimpse into saul's personal life and what we see is sad we see someone doing everything they can to ensure they are never alone with their thoughts or feelings jimmy knows that's when things get painful like in the season 4 finale winner jimmy is forced to sit on the board for charles mcgill's memorial scholarship he watches howard and the others pass over christy esposito thanks to one black mark on her record this of course reminds jimmy of himself so he gives her an impassioned speech about cutting corners and making everyone else suffer despite their looking down on her once again of course he's talking about himself afterward in a rare show of genuine emotion jimmy sits in his car alone and suddenly sobs as saul goodman he'd never allow that even in the shower he doesn't give himself a second to be alone instead he's already shouting into his bluetooth earpiece this continues on his car ride into work and when he's home when there's no more work to be done he has a steady stream of escorts to distract him we only see one but the bowl of neutral grain bars tells us everything we need to know in that same flash forward there's also this line oh that's my xanax guy uh tell him yes and today the most blatant signal that underneath the facade saul goodman is not okay he's taking medication used to treat anxiety and panic disorders and there are other signs too like the copy of the time machine he apparently kept all this time in the finale we learned this was chuck's book that alone would be enough to signify that chuck was still on jimmy's mind to some extent otherwise why would he have held on to that book why would we have found him reading it in episode 2 of the final season and why would it be found among saul goodman's things in the cold open of the final season's premiere further the finale teaches us that jimmy uses the idea of time travel as a circuitous way to discuss regret you are talking about regrets so if you want to ask about regrets just ask about regrets jimmy has regrets about chuck howard kim walt and more i'm sure being saul goodman doesn't make that all go away it's just a tactic of avoidance a way to not think about it or feel the pain and for a while it does work to keep jimmy distracted by feeding him a steady stream of victories jimmy loves to scam and that too has long been a part of his coping mechanism we saw it all the way back in season one after learning chuck was the one blocking him from hhm jimmy returned to cicero and went on a week-long scamming bender with marco since childhood jimmy's world view was that you're either a wolf or sheep after watching his father die a sheep he did his best to show the world he was a wolf and after feeling rejected by the person he respected most chuck jimmy reacted like a cornered animal he was no longer just a wolf now he was a wolf out for blood at the end of season one he wonders to mike why they didn't take the kettleman's stolen 1.6 million dollars for themselves by stealing from thieves they'd have never been caught well i know what stopped me you know what it's never stopping me again put another way jimmy is done doing the right thing if the world was out to screw him and reject him he would answer the world in kind he would use his abilities to cut corners and take advantage he would play the game and measure his success using their own scoring system money and as we saw he amassed plenty of it as saul goodman as saul goodman he's a wolf and a winner which makes it a bit easier to forget jimmy mcgill a bit easier to forget all that pain and trauma his journey was of course a little more complicated than this with plenty of starts and stops along the way otherwise the series would have been over after season one but that's where the trend began and after the ultimate rejection from kim leaving jimmy wounded and alone he did his best to fully embrace the saul goodman role morning day and night ultimately jimmy ended up in a prison of his own making trapped in the dishonest world of saul goodman just like gus was trapped in his quest for revenge mike in his resigned existence as a gangster or kim in the meek shell of her old self the lesson living immorally or dishonestly means living in a spiritual jail cell and the longer you indulge that life the more likely it is to end up killing you see nacho gus mike or walt and if it doesn't kill you that spiritual prison will eventually take physical form as it did with jimmy sending him to omaha under the assumed identity of gene takovic suddenly he wasn't just on the run from himself but from the law too and now someone who loved to be in the spotlight had to do nothing but hide and make himself as small as possible heading into the final stretch of episodes it was hard to imagine a happy ending for jimmy but if there was one it would have to involve jimmy reconciling with himself we'd have to see him stop running from his trauma and instead face it but how does someone make that change jimmy isn't jesse pinkman in the captivity of villains waiting to be rescued he's just a guy who needs to break from his own patterns and make the right choice what gets someone to do that in the finale we find out and it's easy to pinpoint the moment it happens on that airplane on the way to albuquerque new mexico jimmy learns a little more about kim's confession from bill she is unlikely to face any criminal charges but bill points out cheryl hamlin is shopping for lawyers kim is likely to face severe civil charges that fact makes jimmy think and when bill returns from the men's room jimmy hatches one more scheme one that will get kim to albuquerque will she'll witness his own confession up to this moment things looked bleak for jimmy when jeff recognized him in the cab jimmy had to use some saul goodman tactics to protect himself but scamming again was like an alcoholic taking one last sip it's never really the last and then jimmy's phone call to kim pushes him over the edge years earlier he responded to her rejection by fully embracing the saul goodman persona this phone call has a similar effect rather than being happy to hear from her ex-husband she can hardly speak and can only offer that jimmy should turn himself in and she's happy he's alive jeff woke up jimmy's love of scamming and kim reopened an old wound so jimmy copes the same way he coped when he was betrayed by chuck years earlier he goes on a scamming bender though this time he doesn't have marco kim or walt as partners in crime so he settles for jeff and buddy season 6 episode 11 breaking bad tries to ensure we understand the tragedy of this choice by pointing out that it is a repeat of a cycle which has trapped jimmy for years the events of breaking bad this series represent some of the worst choices jimmy ever made getting involved with walter white meant crossing perhaps unforgivable moral and legal lines and it meant destroying any chance at living any kind of normal life if anything was going to shake jimmy mcgill out of his spell so he could see where he went wrong you would think this would have to be it but as the episode breaking bad showed us jimmy instead repeats the same mistakes walt and jesse kidnapped saul but he saw potential in them and went on to help build heisenberg's meth empire jeff and buddy intimidate gene lording over him their knowledge of his past but he saw potential in them and upped their game too from shoplifting to identity theft to be clear we're talking about different types of potential in walt he saw talent and someone who could make really good meth in jeff and buddy he saw a couple of tools he could use for his own ends finally better call saul parallels two moments where jimmy crossed a threshold in their latest scam buddy gets cold feet after learning their mark is terminally ill so jimmy insists on breaking into the house himself jeff warns that the man will soon wake up there's a high likelihood jimmy will be caught and he doesn't need the money despite those warnings jimmy breaks into the man's house the episode intercuts this with jimmy entering walter white's school where we know from breaking bad he will make his pitch that they work together this is despite mike's warnings that walt is an amateur in both cases he ignores logical warnings and makes a choice that will ultimately be his undoing but why why does jimmy make the same self-destructive choice again we know jimmy is addicted to the thrill of scamming and that thrill is most palatable when you're on the brink of getting caught but just barely getting away with it and we know he has a hard time admitting defeat or pulling the plug inches from the finish line just look at the season 5 episode wechsler v mcgill he and kim hatch a scheme against kevin wachtel to ensure mr acker gets to keep his land the night before they pull it off kim visits jimmy to call it off he hesitantly agrees but ultimately couldn't fulfill his promise he blindsided her by executing the scam anyway despite her wishes once jimmy is in the man's house it looks like he might actually get away clean then he decides to stay just a bit longer why it could just be that he wants to savor that feeling of getting away with it a bit longer or like saul's holding on to the time machine it could be another sign of his conscience bubbling up from beneath the saw goodman facade perhaps some part of jimmy is tired of running he recognizes that he's trapped in this self-destructive cycle and wants it all to end so he pushes things a little further putting himself in danger hoping to get caught but when he almost does get caught the other part of jimmy the part that's afraid wakes up and he runs back home he saw goodman again dispensing legal advice to a desperate criminal on the phone and of course we all remember what happens next jimmy at marion's house threatening her with a phone cord but in that moment we're once again reminded that this vicious persona the version of jimmy that can threaten to kill an elderly woman is an act sure acting as saul goodman he could advise walt and jesse to kill badger or hank but taking a life with his own hands is not something jimmy mcgill is capable of and maybe there is that part of him which wants to get caught it made him stay in that man's house a little too long and here it made him drop the life alert system letting marion make that fateful call then just like in the man's house the moment passes jimmy gets scared sober and he runs though he's quickly caught and finally finds himself on the wrong side of the legal system at first he's utterly defeated and doesn't know what to do with himself then a vulgar joke etched into the wall of his holding cell reminds him who he is he's a lawyer he is saul goodman and he fully commits to the role he looks into marie schrader's eyes and plays the victim he tries to parlay howard hamlin's tragic end for some mint chocolate chip ice cream and as saul goodman he wins negotiating down from life plus 160 to seven and a half in a country club prison it's a clear win for saul goodman until he has that conversation with bill he'd already heard from the prosecutor that kim confessed that certainly got jimmy thinking trying to make sense of it and talking to bill he quickly does he asks what the d.a will do and bill explains that with no witnesses or physical evidence probably nothing and jimmy says okay as if suddenly it all makes sense after all it was easy for kim to confess if there were no consequences then bill sets the record straight kim didn't just confess to the d.a she also took her sworn affidavit straight to howard hamlin's widow opening herself up to a civil suit her confession was real and had real consequences suddenly as peter gould put it in an interview with variety that seven and a half year deal which saul was kind of happy about turned to ashes in his mouth hearing of kim's genuine confession shakes jimmy to his core it's the thing that finally pierces the saul goodman exterior and tells him he's been looking at the wrong scoreboard how much money he can make and how much he can get away with clearly hasn't made him happy his conversations with walt and mike about time machines tell us he's filled with regret he doesn't know how to voice his overstimulated life as saul goodman tells us he's constantly fighting a battle against inner turmoil but what's the alternative the world is wolves and sheep right if he's not saul goodman taking constant advantage of the people around him then he's charles mcgill senior getting fleeced by hungry wolves or maybe he's chuck mcgill constantly doing the quote-unquote right thing but with ulterior motives flaunting superiority and putting others down due to envy resentment and pride then this happens this person jimmy loves and respects did something which on the surface seems self-destructive what's kim's angle what's her ulterior motive jimmy can't find one it's kim wexler confessing and bearing her soul plain and simple jimmy's worldview collapses in front of him he was wrong suddenly that quiet voice which told jimmy to drop the life alert button or stay a little longer in that man's house grows louder now it tells jimmy to stop running and confess if kim can do it so can he but it would feel incomplete if she wasn't there with him maybe he needs her there so he can feel strong enough to go through with it or maybe he just wants kim to see him confess so he can show her that he's better now so he makes up a lie about having more testimony which implicates kim personally that's likely the only way he can get her into that courtroom when he confesses and when he takes the stand he does exactly that admitting to making all of walter white's crimes possible then he looks back at kim and in her eyes sees that there's more to confess he hasn't gone far enough so he talks about howard and chuck bill reminds him that what happened with chuck wasn't even a crime but for jimmy this isn't just about the law it's about taking responsibility for all the things he did wrong it's about finally facing his trauma and guilt so he can stop running after kim made her confession the walls of her mental prison began to crumble she felt guilty over what happened with howard so she deprived herself of her life's passion she would no longer practice the law or use her talents to help those who need it but in the finale we see her take on some volunteer work at a law office that's the beginning of the real kim wexler finally waking up making his confession and accepting the consequences may do the same thing for jimmy unfortunately his crimes went a bit further than kim's actively participating in the building of a meth empire including all the death and destruction that comes with it his consequences are more severe than a civil suit jimmy ends the series facing 86 years in prison and although he's reclaimed his identity as james mcgill the world will never see him as anything other than saul goodman except for kim who in their final scene together calls him jimmy hi jimmy so much of this series has been about love between these two characters the loss of that love is what finally had jimmy fulfill his destiny from breaking bad turning him into saul goodman in the finale although they likely won't be together in any traditional sense he does win back some version of that love and he is finally dealing with his emotions is he fully healed probably not but he's at least taken the first step acknowledging his regrets crimes guilt and wrongdoings is it a happy ending well in my view it's as happy as can be given the circumstances for jimmy to unburden himself and have a chance at true happiness he had to give a true confession and a true confession requires one to face the appropriate punishment so knowing all the awful things saul did in breaking bad meant that the happiest possible ending to this series is one where he pays for his crimes while rediscovering his soul and i think that's the ending we got to be clear by the way when i mention things like confessions or jimmy's soul i am borrowing religious terms though personally i think of them as psychological shorthand jimmy rediscovering his soul means jimmy feeling at peace with himself and feeling like he's living properly and i think that's in line with what better call saul tried to communicate with its finale just take a look at the lyrics of the song all things are possible which plays as saul enters the courtroom i met god one morning my soul was feeling bad heart heavy laden i had a fire doubt ahead he lifted all of my burdens right now my soul is feeling glad yes all things are possible if you'll only believe after jimmy and kim's reunion in the prison we get one more scene where she walks off and jimmy shoots her those classic finger guns peter gould has talked about why he included that last scene they had considered ending on jimmy and kim in the prison but that felt dishonest because it implied they were together now and although it's valid to imagine they keep in contact after this the reality is they'll likely never again have what they had earlier in the series so ending on a shot hearkening back to episode 1 felt disingenuous instead they ended with them apart but acknowledging each other and acknowledging the good times they had that's how i read jimmy mcgill's finger guns at the end basically saying yeah we did a lot of bad but let's not forget some of the fun we had and apparently they did shoot a version of the scene where kim does the finger guns back and some people claim that she is subtly returning the gesture if you look closely at her fingers i'm not sure if i see it or not but either way just based on the way they interacted in the prison in my mind she feels the same way as jimmy whether her fingers show it or not now despite everything i'm saying i'm sure some of you are thinking okay i'm gonna stop you right there don't try and sell me this nonsense that saw going to jail for nearly a century is a happy ending okay i hear you and hey there is some good news first although i'd partially consider it karmic punishment that jimmy will always be saul goodman to the rest of the world it also works in his favor on that bus ride and in the prison kitchen you can see he's well liked and getting along just fine he'll certainly suffer a lack of freedom as a prisoner but his life won't be a living hell in some sense he's getting just the right amount of punishment he deserves second kim seems to be back to her old self so it's easy to imagine that she may try to legitimately shorten jimmy's sentence ray seahorn likes to believe that's what kim would do and even peter gould himself has coyly suggested something similar in his interview with the hollywood reporter he said this it felt right to have them apart and also deal with the truth that he's in prison and he's going to be for quite a while whether or not it's the full sentence we can all fantasize and think about what might happen next and in a creator q a with amc he said this and i don't know about you but i feel like this guy is so clever i kind of wonder how long he's really going to be in prison so hey sounds like there's a good chance jimmy will get out a bit sooner and enjoy some freedom finally if you're looking for some hope at revisiting this world one day gould said this in that same q a certainly never say never and i think if you watch this episode kim wexler seems like she's got more to do that's for sure and i think that about wraps it up personally i could not have left this series more satisfied i loved taking this journey with jimmy and kim and i thought they masterfully earned the bittersweet ending they gave us and if you're not ready to leave the world of walter white and jimmy mcgill just yet subscribe to the one take podcast channel we're doing a breaking bad re-watch and we'll cover the experience there with roughly one episode per season in that re-watch we're not just revisiting the series but also seeing how our viewing of it changes after seeing better call saul and if you want more than one podcast episode per season check out our patreon where we'll be doing some extra episodes all those links are in the description with that please like subscribe and hit the bell icon if you enjoyed this video thank you for watching and see you on the next one take

Channel: OneTake

Views: 101,050

Keywords: Better call saul, better call saul ending explained, better call saul analysis, saul goodman, jimmy mcgill, walter white, breaking bad, better call saul finale, better call saul finale explained

Id: 7HV7_VG6zoM

Length: 27min 25sec (1645 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 27 2022