Better call Jimmy McGill

As another giant of the streaming world comes to an end CONSTANTINO PSILLIDES on how it was done with style

WARNING: The article contains major spoilers for both the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. You can watch both series on Netflix.

“When the going gets tough you don’t want a criminal lawyer. You want a CRIMINAL lawyer”. That’s how our favourite shady lawyer Saul Goodman was introduced almost 13 years ago in one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed drama series to date, Breaking Bad. Played by comedian and comedy writer Bob Odenkirk, Saul Goodman was an unscrupulous legal practitioner who helped drug kingpin-to-be Walter White navigate legal waters and launder his money, originally designed to act as comic relief.

The extremely capable and almost completely amoral Saul though turned out to be one of the show’s favourite characters and once the show ended, showrunners Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan decided to launch a spin-off show starring Saul.

The decision was not met with enthusiasm. Hardcore fans were afraid that this was just a money grab and wondered how the showrunners would ever match the success of Breaking Bad.

Well, they didn’t. They surpassed it. Having learned and matured from their Breaking Bad days, the showrunners delivered an even better series and most importantly, they got a second chance at a finale.

When BB ended, Walter White triumphed over his opponents through sheer intelligence and cunning and in the end died next to his life’s creation: a meth lab producing an unmatched drug. He paid for his sins but there was no recognition of a mistake: he died with a smile on his face, proud of his life’s work, more sorry that he got caught than for the crime itself.

In Better Call Saul, the showrunners went in a completely different direction. In the series finale, ol’ Slippin’ Jimmy is back doing his tricks, having grown bored of his 9-5 job and hiding from authorities. As is the inevitable conclusion for all criminals (except white-collar ones), he got busted and is now at the mercy of the authorities who finally apprehended the wanted lawyer. Keeping the slippery Saul Goodman behind bars is not an easy task though. Working his magic, Saul manages to knock charges down to a seven-year jail sentence, served at a cozy, country jail. Having learned nothing of consequences, Saul once more manages to outsmart the police and outplay the legal system: he is almost free.

But then he gets the news: his ex-wife and former partner Kim Wexler (played by Rhea Seehorn) has come clean about her involvement in the murder of a former co-worker. Unable to take the guilt she confessed and is ready to face the music. It was a watershed moment for our protagonist as Kim was the only person he cared about and even though he wasn’t in her life anymore, her approval was everything to him.

Earlier in the episode, in one of three flashbacks, he is seen talking to Walter White about a slip-and-fall scam he did when he was younger. The cruel pragmatist White then looks him in the eyes and says “So, you were always like this”, a stunning revelation for Saul who always viewed himself as essentially a good guy.

Coming back to the present day, Saul tricks Kim to come to his trial where he delivers his last performance. Minutes before his greatest triumph and for the first time in his life, Saul decides to change. No ruse, no tricks, no games. The titular character owns up to everything that he did up to that moment and gets his ex-wife off the hook. The showrunners could have treated this as a sacrifice, as a white knight moment where the hero saves the damsel in distress, but they chose not to. This is a moment of absolution. Saul doesn’t hide from the truth: he embraces it and welcomes the consequences so he can set himself free. By the end of his speech he also delivers one of the most simple, yet powerful lines of the series: when the judge addresses him as “Saul Goodman” he proudly replies “My name is Jimmy McGill”, having symbolically killed off his worst enemy, himself.

Jimmy is sentenced to 86 years in prison and most likely would die there. He accepts that as payment for the lives he helped destroy and all the pain he caused. Saul is dead but Jimmy is a criminal and criminals belong in jail. In a touching scene at the end, he shares a cigarette with Kim, mirroring their first scene together in the series, she having forgiven him for what he did and grateful to get a second chance in life.

Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould ended the series in the most amazing of paradoxes. Stuck in prison for the rest of his life, Jimmy McGill was finally free.