Better Call Saul Season 6 Ending Explained | Episode 13 Recap & Review

"He was an incredible lawyer. The most brilliant  guy I ever met, but he was limited. I tried, i could have tried harder." Hey guys, Pete here. Today I'm going to talk  about the ending of Better Call Saul and this   video will absolutely contain spoilers for the  end of the Breaking Bad universe if you haven't   watched the finale (episode 613) yet. I imagine at  some point there was a meeting where Peter Gould   explained a vital piece of information to his  costume director, I'm gonna need you to find a   suit that goes so hard that it drips Saul Goodman  even when we see it in black and white. after all,   this is a man getting dressed for his own funeral.  "Saul Gone" is the rare tv series finale where i   got everything that i wanted and then some it  managed to give me more than what i was willing   to expect for fear of being disappointed i may  not have necessarily been hoping to see gene turn   so hard into being saul but what i thought was  brilliant in the way this was put together was   that the writers led me on a journey where because  of what i know about the characters i could more   or less anticipate each step and it all felt right  once again they managed to make it exciting even   though ultimately the characters do what we expect  them to do and to be fair it's a lot more cerebral   than what i imagined some people were wanting so  i guess i could see how it might not land for some   but i'll come back around to my thoughts about why  it worked after i recapped what happened spoiler   alert because jimmy didn't get away with it and  still found redemption from the only person that   matters to him episode 13 opens with the first of  three flashbacks which in his interview with alan   seppenwall peter gould compared to a christmas  carol in the episode we watched gene become saul   and he's visited by three ghosts the first is  mike ehrman trout which happens during their   trek through the desert back in episode 508 bagman  i guess if we really wanted to put this in context   for the timeline since he still has his urine in  the davison main bottle when he finally gets phone   service this would have to be after they make  contact and no help is on the way jimmy brings up   the idea of keeping the seven million dollars and  when mike explains why that would be a bad idea he   lays out his plan take the first 6 million and  build a time machine that leads to the question   of where's the first place you'd go mike says  back to december 8 2001 which i presume is the   night he killed his son maddy's murderers based  on the timing of things but he quickly updates   that to the first day he took a bribe and became a  crooked cop what's more important than his answer   is that he's being honest which jimmy shows is  something he's incapable of when he talks about   going back to invest the rest of his money this  is before howard died and before kim left him and   so before he ever decided to go full saul to try  to relieve his pain so we know his answer is bs   this lack of honesty will continue through  the second flashback where we go back to ed   the disappears basement during the events of the  penultimate episode of breaking bad before saul   was carried off to become gene in omaha and walt  was stashed away in new hampshire they spent some   time together and saul brought up the time machine  question again walt being the arrogant prick he   is dismisses it as a meaningless question because  that kind of time travel is impossible as it would   violate the second law of thermodynamics this  takes us a step closer to what the whole thing   is about when walt calls it what it is saul is  asking him about his regrets mr white almost gets   there when he mentions gray matter but quickly  shifts the blame away from himself by saying   that his partners were artfully maneuvering him  into making his decision saul still can't come up   with anything real so he brings up a slip and fall  that still gives him pain and to that walt says so   you were always like this this sounds a lot like  the third ghost his brother chuck and is something   that would later be echoed by howard hamlin right  before he died and i do think this is crucial to   what they're trying to say with this story so  i will definitely come back to it at the end   before we get into that this finale is about  change and before that can happen jimmy slash   saul jean has to make a choice to get us there  the present day timeline picks up right where   episode 12 left off we saw a glimpse of jimmy when  he didn't stop marion from pushing the button on   her life alert but now he's fully gene in survival  mode trying to escape on his way out in her last   dramatic contribution marion is able to get his  license plate number which means it doesn't take   the police long to track him down there's a short  chase where it seems like he might have a chance   to get away i mean he still has those diamonds  and ed's number right yes but no his escape ends   in a dumpster which is a nice reference to the  beginning of the sandpiper case back in season 1.   in case you weren't sure where his head was it can  be kind of confusing his first call is to cinnabon   to tell them they'll be needing a new manager  after that he sort of falls apart in the holding   cell and at his lowest point looks up to see my  lawyer will ream you as carved on the wall he   starts to laugh and in this instant becomes saul  goodman in the script for the episode peter gould   wrote that as a fugitive he was playing a game  he didn't know but now that he's in the system   his system he's like cal l waking up under a  yellow sun in this place he has super powers   and we see him get right down to the business  of putting those to use he calls bill oakley who   francesca told him had switched sides to become  a defense lawyer and he sets out to get himself   a deal on the way to meet with the lawyers he  sees marie schrader and uses her as a prop to   show them what they're up against after listening  to a heartfelt monologue about losing her husband   and what she'd like to see happen to saul he  responds in kind with a story about how he got   dragged into working with walter white he mentions  being taken to the desert and having a gun pointed   at his head and how that scared him into doing  everything he did it's the kind of performance   we've seen before and he basically looks sincere  no one in the room believes this to be true and   the prosecutor doesn't think a jury will either  but that's not what's important as saul points   out all he needs is one and that reality is enough  to bring them to the table he gets them to agree   to a really generous deal where he'll serve seven  years at the prison of his choice it's all at full   throttle and while seven years is not nothing this  would pretty much go down as a legendary win given   the circumstances it almost ends there but when  he pushes for a pint of blue bell mint chocolate   chip ice cream in exchange for information about  howard hamlin's death he learns about kim going   back to albuquerque to file her affidavit with  the d.a while that steals his thunder as far as   the mint chocolate chip is concerned it gets worse  when bill tells him on the flight back that even   though there are no witnesses and the d.a probably  won't do anything with it she also went to confess   to cheryl in person which means she'll be able to  bring a civil suit against her we see that this   gives saul an idea but it's not at all clear what  his angle is he tells bill to tell the prosecution   that he has more information about howard this  is somewhat confusing because as bill points out   anything he tells them might be bad for kim  plus we know that kim isn't looking for him   to save her but at this point we have to sort  of give it to him that he knows better than us   after the end of the last episode i was hoping  that kim's breakdown on her way out of albuquerque   would mark the end of the indecisive life she  was leading in florida we take a brief trip   there to see that it is starting to happen but  that it's going slow it's not jimmy turning into   saul or kim waking up in the morning and snapping  back to be her old self in a scene at lunch with   her co-workers at palm coast she still struggles  to offer an opinion but later we see her go to the   local legal aid office and volunteer it's a step  in the right direction and i loved how the woman   is so busy that she doesn't offer much in the  way of her having to make a decision she just   tells her to answer the phone and we see how she  lights up and rises to the challenge right away   unfortunately any newfound piece she achieved  from this is dashed away when she gets a call   from ada eriksen she tells her that saul's in  custody and that he's giving testimony that   affects her personally cut to saul goodman being  led into the courtroom with that sharkskin suit   i mentioned at the beginning of the video we  see that his plan worked because kim is there   and as he derails his deal by telling the truth  we start to understand what he was trying to do he   tells the court that he lied about her involvement  in howard's murder just because he wanted her to   be there to hear what he had to say he started  off with the same story he told marie about being   afraid of walt but admits that it didn't last long  he saw an opportunity and did everything he could   to help walt build his empire we know that all of  this came from his coping mechanism that he put   into place after she left and there's a moment  after bill hilariously tries to withdraw from   the case where he looks back to see that kim is  certainly watching but he can tell he hasn't quite   won her over yet which at this point is clearly  all he's trying to do he brings up howard and by   now saul is gone he mentions that kim had the guts  to leave town and to start over but he was the one   who ran away now that he's really looking at the  truth he moves on to admit that he got chuck's   insurance cancelled because he saw a chance to  hurt him and that he'll have to live with the fact   that he went on to commit suicide and while this  is all coming from a person who we know would say   just about anything if it would help him the  fact that it doesn't hear shows us that he's   telling the truth there are some visual clues  to enforce it as well when he mentions chuck it   cuts to a wide shot where we can see the exit  sign a lot chicanery and hear the electric hum   and there's a shot of kim where she's framed like  she's in the crosshairs from the railing in the   courtroom it's also in the performance and in the  way he says the name's mcgill i'm james mcgill but   where it really counts for him and for everyone  who fell in love with the characters on this show   where it really counts is that kim believes  him he looks back at her one last time   and when he doesn't see the response right away  he drops his eyes but when he looks back up ray   seahorn does the most subtle bit of facial acting  where she doesn't really do a look but the tension   in her face sort of eases up just enough to where  you see that it got through to her and in case you   didn't pick up on that it's made explicit when  he gets called for a meeting with his lawyer   i completely expected this to beak him through  the long drawn out reveal but thought that it   meant that she'd been reinstated and was moving  on and practicing law again in reality she just   used her new mexico bar card that doesn't have an  expiration date and boy was i glad that she did   and a beautiful callback to the first scene they  had together back in season one she pulls out a   cigarette and they share it up against the wall  her hands are shaking as she tries to light it   and when he helps her steady them you see that  the flame and then the cherry on the cigarette   is in color it ain't much but it's theirs and it's  a spark that comes from that thing that they share   you learn that instead of seven years he ends up  doing 86 for telling the truth so even though he   mentions good behavior it seems safe to say that  he'll never get out of there this is a fictional   prison as far as i can tell so it's not even clear  if she'll come back to visit this could be the   only time they see each other but again that's not  what's important here as kim walks out and fights   off tears she gets one more look at jimmy in the  yard and it's clear that no matter what happens it   was enough for him to have just one more moment  with her in the closing shot he gives her the   finger guns and this time it's a sign that saul's  gone when she turns again before he's out of sight   you know that she knows that he didn't do it  to get out of trouble or to win her over but   to set himself free it ain't much but given what  he's done it's also kind of everything so in the   end he didn't get away with it he didn't even get  what walt or nacho did a chance to go out on his   own terms in the first half of this show i thought  the tragedy was that jimmy a character who at his   core was always looking to be liked by everyone  and to be loved ultimately was looking in a place   where he could never get it his brother chuck a  complicated character who was broken in different   ways to the point of not being able to give it  to him for the way things played out it was more   about him not being able to find himself as all  these things were happening chuck's death the   ordeal in the desert lalo howard's death losing  kim and the entirety of his time with walter   white he may have brought most of this on himself  but these things ended up defining him and his   not being able to move past them each thing sent  him further away from the good that was in there   and each made it harder to change what i really  liked about this is that his most self-destructive   period came after kim made the hard but  sensible decision to leave after howard's death   so it's fitting that when he finally comes around  it's after he finds out that she came clean to try   to make that right no one is saving anyone but the  thing that they share that connection means enough   to get jimmy to start the process of changing it  smashes chuck's idea that jimmy was born that way   and that it was pointless for him to try to be  something different it also shows that he's not   the same type of character as walter with him i  always believed that getting cancer was the thing   that allowed him to become what was always under  the surface he was motivated to get respect and   fear he thought he deserved and was being denied  in his life and heisenberg was the realization of   that jimmy came off as more complicated because  after you met him you started to wonder if the   saul persona you already knew might all just be an  act it turned out to be something else something   more self-destructive but it wasn't terminal like  walt's cancer jimmy under the surface just wanted   to be loved and through his time with kim learned  what that could be because that's the thing none   of us have time machines and as jimmy found out  none of us can run from our past forever we can   just go forward trying to make better decisions  and make the ones that the people we care about   would appreciate jimmy only earned one smoke in  one long last look but it's worlds better than   anything saul goodman ever was a part of i don't  think it's a traditionally happy ending but it   could have been a lot worse especially given how  many people die in this universe for jimmy being   in jail might not be the end of the world i think  you get a sense of that here if i could have left   one thing out of this maybe it would be that bus  ride chant which was a little bit much but either   way you can imagine that he'd be able to handle  himself in there nothing about what he did would   appear to help kim's situation with cheryl's civil  suit but i suppose she would feel that it's a just   punishment also jimmy could have really wasted the  opportunity if he tried to solve that problem for   her they both paid the price for their mistakes  to some extent they both got there by their own   means and by finally taking some responsibility  and looking at the part he played in the pain   he carried around he gets to be jimmy again and  speaking of chuck when jimmy was doing his thing   in court right after he said his brother was a  brilliant lawyer he added that he was limited   it seemed like a really strange choice of words  at the time but it ties in really wonderfully with   the final ghost of christmas past flashback  in that we see them in what appears to be   the time right before season 1 started did you  ground yourself it's like music to the ears and   there are about a thousand references packed into  this short interaction but what stands out the   most is that at least in this case chuck is the  one that would like jimmy to stay so they can talk   as isolated as he was you never got the sense that  he was lonely and i suppose neither did jimmy they   go back and forth and you see a warmer side of  chuck even though there's the sense that he might   be trying to talk him out of practicing law to  balance things out it doesn't re-contextualize   their relationship but it is a reminder that chuck  did care for his brother in that limited way that   jimmy mentioned it wasn't what he wanted but there  was something there and it's here that we see the   copy of the time machine by h.g wells that popped  up in the season 6 premiere in saul's mansion   and again in jimmy's room in episode 2. my initial  interpretation was that this meant that this was   jimmy's answer to the time machine question maybe  he would come back and have this conversation with   his brother rather than rushing off to try to  impress him by being something he thought he had   no business being and in the end it turns out he  was pretty good at that his being leaned back in   his chair as he listened to his deal put that  on full display it was glorious but it wasn't   everything and i think that is a great place to  leave things so let me know in the comments what   you thought about the ending of better call saul  and how it worked as the ending of the breaking   bad universe there's a ton of references and  things i had to cut out because there was so   much going on that i really wanted to focus on  this change that jimmy was going through as heavy   as it was it managed to throw in some great laughs  i cracked up when bill tried to quit the case and   when walt told saul to stay in his lane it really  is the end and the callbacks and references really   made it feel that way the impact that common items  like the wayfarer headrest on the airplane or when   walt takes a second to look at the watch that  jesse gave him for his birthday i'm gonna miss   seeing things like that pop up and the writing  and the acting and everything i mean last week   was sort of ray seahorn showcase and this week was  all about bob odenkirk of course everyone involved   did a terrific job but i have to point out how  skillfully he went through this episode changing   from one of the characters to the other that  all exist inside this same person there's just   nothing else like it and i could go on forever but  i won't i want to thank you all for watching this   season with me you all helped to make it a blast  please like this video if you enjoyed it please   subscribe to my channel if you haven't already  and thanks for watching i'll talk to you soon

Channel: Pete Peppers

Views: 617,980

Keywords: better call saul, better call saul season 6, better call saul season 6 episode 13, better call saul ending, better call saul ending explained, better call saul season 6 episode 13 review, better call saul season 6 episode 13 explained, better call saul season 6 episode 13 ending, better call saul season season episode 13, better call saul season 6 episode 13 recap, pete peppers, better call saul explained, better call saul series finale, better call saul series finale review

Id: jDfTXG1d3eg

Length: 19min 5sec (1145 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 16 2022