How I think Better Call Saul will end (SPOILERS)
Expect the unexpected on one of TV's greatest shows ever — or you'll never find it.
Better Call Saul, the prequel to Breaking Bad, is the best show on television by a country mile.
Some will argue it’s even better than its predecessor. I’m not ready to go there yet. But if you’re like me and put Breaking Bad up there with The Wire or The Sopranos for best dramas of the last two decades, then you have to make room for Better Call Saul on the mantel.
Origin stories are hard to pull off. On one hand, the audience knows where the story is ultimately heading, which means you’re able to focus more on character development. On the other hand, it’s hard to introduce new characters that don’t appear in the original, then give them a satisfying exit.
To that, this show has been a slow burn (especially in the first few seasons), but all the while a masterclass in storytelling. Every single detail on the show, from the objects and settings to how they’re shot, elevates tensions or advances the plot. And knowing how this transformation from Slippin’ Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman ultimately ends up has allowed for more introspection than we saw in Breaking Bad.
Adding a twist to it all is the “flash forward” scenes at the beginning of each season, shot in grayscale and showing life after the events of Breaking Bad. If you haven’t seen any of Breaking Bad, I recommend you plow through that before digging into Better Call Saul, otherwise it’ll spoil too much for you. The “flash forward” scenes have been perhaps the slowest of slow burns in this series, but we’re expected to get finality on that in these final six episodes.
The second half of this final season picks up on Monday, following a six-week hiatus after a major cliffhanger involving Howard. What I like most about the show is how the show’s writers manage to keep you surprised about what’s going to unfold despite already knowing where the story’s ultimately headed and having all the clues seemingly right in front of you — and making it all believable.
And as I mentioned, the characters are deep. Lalo Salamanca might be the most terrifying villain I’ve ever seen on a TV show. Tony Dalton’s minimalist approach to the role reminds of Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men, able to scare the bejeezus out of you with such terse economy of motion.
I also appreciate that the show seems to be watched by a smaller audience that’s more trusting of the writers to get it right. One of the problems with Game of Thrones, besides the writers running completely out of gas the last two seasons, was the titanic zeitgeist around it. Everything got so out of control. So many people were so obsessed with it that massive story leaks were inevitable. Every time Jon Snow so much as passed gas, it spawned a thousand fan theories about what it signaled based on obscure passages from the books the show was based on. The fact that they had to film three separate endings just to divert fans is ridiculous in itself. But the fact that the one they landed on ultimately was as atrocious as it was makes me wonder what the hell the other options were.
Better Call Saul’s fans seem to be smarter, more even-keeled, and more self-deprecating. Which makes this such a fun show to talk about with friends.
I’m going to get into a couple of theories about how I think this show’s going to end. As I wrote this I tried sticking to absolutes rather than wild uncertainties, but there’s two things we should keep in mind:
We don’t know why Carol Burnett’s suddenly here
She’s entering the final leg of this series as a new character named Marion. But we aren’t told much about this character beyond that.
Given her age and profile, I’m guessing the role will be related to the Sandpiper case. But I don’t imagine you hire someone as big a name as Carol Burnett not to have her move the plot forward significantly.
All our theories about Walter and Jesse’s upcoming appearances are apparently wrong
And that’s straight from the mouth of show co-creator Peter Gould, via Entertainment Weekly:
“You’re going to see Walt and Jesse this season, but I think the way you see them and when you see them won’t necessarily be what you’d expect. I’ve heard a lot of few theories about what’s going to happen, and I’m happy to report I haven’t heard a theory that comes quite close to the actual fact.”
However, Gould does note that the timing of Walt’s and Jesse’s appearances “is just one factor that will help it to rise above fan service.”
He also goes on to say:
"The thing that I'm really proud of is that we waited to see them until it was right for this story," he says. "Of course, the low-hanging fruit would've been to have them appear early in season 1, to kick the show off. I think the way that they do appear is all about the story of Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler and Mike Ehrmantraut. I hope you agree when you see it.”
With that in mind, here are six things I’m confident will happen in the final six episodes of this masterful show:
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
1. Lalo’s ultimate fate will be left up to interpretation
Enough people in Mexico, and in the Albuquerque court system, seem to think Lalo is dead. But by the time we meet Saul in Breaking Bad, he clearly thinks Lalo is still alive. The writers have proven to be pretty smart so far, and I imagine they used this paradox to their advantage when determining how things will play out for him.
They’ve done such a good job keeping our heads on a swivel that the pieces to the puzzle are unfolding right in front of me — Gus plants a gun in the not-yet-finished super lab, for God’s sake — and I’m still not sure what to believe.
Gus Fring declares in season four of Breaking Bad that with the rest of the family wiped out, the Salamanca name will die with Hector. But these writers seem to appreciate that resolution is death, which is why I have a hunch Lalo gets an ending that could be left up to interpretation.
But then again, if he doesn’t die, how is Fring able to get away with anything in Breaking Bad? Or, let’s remove an assumption from the equation. Does Lalo create a circumstance that would allow Fring to get away with it?
2. Stacey and Kaylee Ehrmantraut will be unwittingly used as bait against Lalo
We know both mother and daughter survive to Breaking Bad. But Mike Ehrmantraut also made a mistake in pulling all of his guys back to Fring’s house, leaving Jimmy and Kim exposed to the visit from Lalo that gets Howard killed. Next stop, Erhmantraut house?
Mike has to be expecting a confrontation at Stacey’s house at some point. That’s why he keeps checking in and calling from across the street. At some point these worlds will collide and lead to what will ultimately be the final resolution on the Lalo/Fring conflict (at least for the Better Call Saul timeline)
3. Gene Takovic will encounter someone from the Breaking Bad world
We don’t have a timeframe of how long the events of Breaking Bad have passed when we are introduced to Gene in the very first scene of the very first episode. This leaves a number of possibilities, but the two I like best are:
1 - He runs into Walter White on his way back to Albuquerque
In the first scene of the last season of Breaking Bad, we see a disheveled Walt at a diner in Albuquerque under an assumed identity, purportedly celebrating his 52nd birthday, in a foreshadowing of what’s to come in the penultimate episode of the series, “Granite State.” When the waitress asks to check his New Hampshire ID to verify his birthday, she remarks “You’re a long way from home” and asks how long a drive it is. “About 30 hours if all you do is stop for gas,” he says.
That makes this timeline plausible. Credit to Reddit user “Oh__Archie” for figuring out on Google Maps that it’s about a 35-hour drive from Concord, N.H. to Albuquerque if you take a route that goes through Omaha. We’re also led to believe months have passed since Walter went on the lam before breaking from his assumed identity to return to Albuquerque and settle one last score, which further makes this plausible.
What would they be talking about? Would it be a chance encounter? A planned meetup? Would he inspire Gene to settle the score with the cab driver? Would Gene help Walter devise his convoluted scheme for using Elliot and Gretchen to launder money to Walter Jr.?
2 - Huell Babineaux and Patrick Kuby reunite to help Gene settle a score
These are two of the most popular Breaking Bad characters whose fates are ambiguous. “Where’s Huell?” has been internet meme for years, after he was left hanging in the DEA office following Hank and Gomez’s deaths. We don’t know what happens to Patrick, who’s portrayed brilliantly by Bill Burr.
Vince Gilligan has cleared this up, saying Huell is a free man. We’ve already seen Huell multiple times in Better Call Saul. Let the speculation flow.
4. Kim will take the fall for Howard’s death and get “vacuumed”
Gould has hinted that we haven’t seen the last of Cliff Main. I believe he’ll be a major plot driver down the stretch. We have to assume going to figure out Kim no-showed for the job interview on “D-Day”, and that he’ll start raising questions. This is where I think this new Marion character will make an observation or discovery that leads to Cliff figuring out this wasn’t exactly a suicide, concluding that Kim had a hand in this foul play, and leading to her being charged.
From there, she’ll call up vacuum salesman Ed “The Disappearer” Galbraith for a new identity, and leave the black book with Jimmy.
Where she ends up is where the fun begins with this theory. I have three guesses:
Nebraska, where we learn in a flashback from earlier in the season is where she grew up. This leads to an encounter with Gene.
Alaska, where after the events of El Camino she runs into Jesse.
Swampscott, Massachusetts. Back to that opening scene of the last Breaking Bad season. When the waitress checks Walter’s fake New Hampshire ID, she mentions she once visited “a little town called Swampscott right outside of Boston”, pronouncing Swampscott the way an out-of-towner would. Don’t sleep on this throwaway line. If there’s one thing we know about the Breaking Bad universe, it’s that every little detail is there to advance something. Hell, the very idea of Better Call Saul was predicated on what we thought was a throwaway line when Walt and Jesse took Saul out to the desert.
5. Jeff the cab driver is no cabbie
Just what is this guy’s deal?
Let’s go back a few seasons to when Gene first gets spotted by Jeff and a friend and goaded into saying his famous “Better Call Saul” line. How did Jeff recognize him as Saul so easily? Why was he so convicted, without reasonable doubt?
Ed Galbraith is supposed to be an expert at getting criminals new identities and new places to live. That’s why they call him “The Disappearer.” Anybody who spots Saul, presumably, has to already be looking for him, which leads me to believe one of two things:
Jeff is an undercover agent of the law. When the hospital had trouble running Gene’s information, that was no machine mistake — they were actually alerting the police. The delay was to let Jeff, undercover as a cab driver, get in place. He was there to get a closer look and confirm Saul’s identity. (Credit to Reddit user “theyusedthelamppost” for coming up with this theory two years ago!) But then again, given the lengths this show goes to to make everything believable, is this in concert with typical undercover police behavior?
Jeff is connected to Jack Welker’s gang. And he’s either out for revenge, wants a reward for delivering police information leading to his arrest, or both. He got word of Saul’s whereabouts and wants to capture him, hence the invitation to call him “whenever you need something.”
6. Gene will settle the score with Jeff, then turn himself in and defend himself in court
I first heard this theory from my coworker Tony Sprangers, who watches the show religiously from New Zealand. We hashed this all out over coffee last month while we were both at our company’s headquarters Lincoln, Nebraska for work-related business.
The more you think about this, the more it makes sense. Think about the poster for this season. We know that colors have a significant meaning in this story universe. Darker, more conservative colors are befitting of the more straight-and-narrow lawyer Jimmy McGill sought to become. Brighter, tackier colored suits are more fitting to Saul Goodman. So why else is grayscaled Gene Takovic slipping on a bright red jacket?
There’s a scene in Breaking Bad where we see a safe full of tapes. Is it possible this comes into play? (Credit to Reddit user “Specialist_While_909” for pointing this out)
In the very first Gene scene, we see him empty out a tin full of diamonds. I would assume he’ll use that as collateral to post bail.
As for what happens in trial? I don’t think it would be the writers’ style to show us what ends up happening in court, given the focus on introspection. We still don’t know whether Walt truly died at the end of Breaking Bad. Rather we’ll see a focus on the metamorphosis back into the Saul Goodman he was destined to be. It’ll be a beautiful way to end one of the best shows in the history of television.