Saul Over
Have to admit, I was confused at first at the end. It didn't feel epic and definitive like the 'Baby Blue' scene did to conclude Breaking Bad. But I've watched it twice now. I've read interviews with Saul and Kim. I've read the review by Alan Sepinwall, one of the few writers/reviewers I respect.
I've come to appreciate it as the only possible ending there could have been to give Saul any redemptive arc whatsoever.
It was well crafted and killed off the Saul Goodman we knew. The flashback sequences all set the stage for the self realization and courtroom catharsis that effectively killed the alter ego inside Jimmy. Mike asking if it was all about money, no regrets. Walter telling him "you were always like this" with disdain (not admiration). Chuck telling him it was never too late to change paths (although Chuck's message was delivered with misguided arrogance). Chuck picking up The Time Machine was a blatant "tell" at the end of that scene, by the way. Blatant foreshadowing that it took me a while to get. The whole "if you could go back" was the driving force of this finale.
My first take, that he threw himself on a grenade as an act of love for Kim, to save her from the potential litigation was wrong. Trashing his seven-year deal didn't give her that buffer -- she'd already signed a confession.
What that was about was for the first time in his life....honesty. Not figuring out some shady way to get out of it or escape accountability for his actions. It was a man traveling back in time and reclaiming his identity, whatever the cost.
Stopping at just taking credit for his part in Walter's (was it only 16 months?!?) empire building wasn't enough to salvage that. There was still an element of hubris there. He had to go a step further and unburden himself for driving Chuck to suicide. Even though that wasn't criminal and had no bearing on his active case, it was the final step in shrugging off the technicolor Saul suit and becoming James McGill again -- at least in his mind.
On the bus he realized that despite his redemptive confession, who he was would always be a part of him. It just no longer had to rule.
I give the writers credit. They pay attention to the tiny details. Apparently The Time Machine showed up in several episodes across the series span. The final prison cigarette scene was a near mirror image of a scene outside HHM in episode 1. These guys are masters at that.
They didn't give us explosions or literal death. They gave us the death of a character and after two viewings and a night to sleep on it, I think that was enough.
Jimmy goes on. Kim goes on. Maybe there's a "beginnings of Kim" series somewhere. Maybe there's a "Saul gets out at age 90" sequel.
Whatever there is -- if there ever is -- I'd watch it.
Maybe they didn't "stick the landing" like some might have wanted, but as endings go I think it was appropriate and done better than most.
When you think about how so many great series fucked a flattened football at the end -- Dexter and Game of Thrones come immediately to mind -- this quiet, melancholy end to a chaotic character's life doesn't seem that bad. It kind of left me empty and confused/disappointed at first. But after a little bit of reflection, my admiration has grown. I don't think anything will ever trump Bad's ending for me but this was about as good as they could have done.
*Final thought.
Marie Schrader just DOES it for me.
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