Agreed, I was just thinking that if they’re still hunting Saul, as his assistant said, watching Kim for signs of contact would be an obvious strategy.
I loved the scene with Francesca where she was like “I know you’re drug dealers, I don’t give a crap, but it means I don’t have to do landlord work for you cause I know you can’t sue me.”
"No, I'm not all right. There's a criminal in my kitchen and his name is Saul Goodman!" I love it. Marion was indeed suspicious and all she had to do was search "con man" and "Albuquerque" and up pops those ridiculous commercials. We're so use to seeing gorgeous, sweeping vistas as the breathtaking shots of this show (and the one before) but, my gods, the close-up on Gene's face with the out-of-focus, color video reflections off his glasses while staring in utter horror is one of my absolute favorite shots of both shows. But the real gold of this episode was, as always, Kim. At last, we finally caught up with her, not just in the flashforwards but also in the now rare present-day moments. My heart continuously broke for her. The dead-end relationship while working in a mind-numbing job in Florida. Her faithful decision to go back to Albuquerque and bare her soul in legal writing to Cheryl about what really happened to Howard. The passionless, matter-of-factly dissolvement of their marriage. And that cry. Gods, I felt that cry. I knew it was coming and it still hurt. I don't care if it was superfluous but I also really loved seeing Kim and Jesse interact. Kind of passing of the torch but after the fact. A fun but bittersweet moment with Kim knowing she truly lost Jimmy...but doesn't care anymore. P.S. Hi, Emilio! Bye, Emilio!
Poor Kim, punishing herself in boring limbo with a Florida Man and her Karen friends. During Talking Saul the writers mused Lalo was the happiest character in the entire series. And I was like, wow, I never thought of that but it’s 100% true. When Saul said they hadn’t talked in 6 years he must have been mentally blocking out the divorce signing. Timeline for that seems way off to be 6 years ago.
The end is nigh. Damn I'm going to miss this show and the Breaking Bad Universe. Fantastic episode. 'ol Jimmy had a blind spot with Carol Burnett, never thinking for a moment she was suspicious. He forgot Gene for a moment as he casually rattled off the differences in bail conditions between Albuquerque and Omaha. And on no less than two occasions, we saw Gene prepared to do the unthinkable; smashing in the head of his mark with the urn and the not-so-subtle manner in which he wrapped the telephone cord around his hands. Heart breaking to see how much Florida Kim had shut herself down. Also heart breaking seeing Jimmy glibly tell Kim to have a nice life, fully subsumed in his Saul persona. I don't see much of a case for Gene to fluke a happy ending anymore than Walt. Kim on the other hand, I sincerely hope is lucky enough to finally find some peace and happiness in her life - especially after her cathartic release in this episode.
He thought Burnett was another Irene. Another helpless old lady he could charm and would never ask questions, Then there were echoes of Irene and the way he gave up his first shot at the Sandpiper money to save her friendships.
Don't do this shit. Rhea Seehorn is a person, not an object. You will not get any further latitude on this.
Heavy episode to watch. I hope Gene makes it. Why? Because Walt would have killed to get himself out of that situation. Gene/Saul/Jimmy ultimately couldn't go through with it. For all his faults, he is a man with limits.
I have to agree, he's gotta go down, or wind up with a new life even more mind numbingly dull than Gene ( in some ways that might be worse than prison, as someone up-thread said, Jimmy would probably fit in well in prison, he's useful). Oh Kim though, that's heartbreaking. I almost wish they had killed her off now The breakdown on the bus was horrible to watch, Seehorn was amazing as usual. In so many ways her new life was almost worse then Jimmy's, it's like she's had her soul sucked out of her. I almost hope they do put her in prison because that might allow her to reboot her life, she could still do good, presumably she could still provide advice even if not a lawyer? We'll never know if he'd have whacked the guy over the head, yes he has limits, his limit seems to be that he's happy to arrange someone's death, he's just not willing to get his own hands dirty. He's not a good man, every time he's been faced with a choice he's chosen badly. He doesn't deserve a happy ending.
Marion's "I trusted you" pierced what decency was left in him. As for the guy in the house, we'll never know. But it looked like he was committing before he slumped over. Taking out the guy would have been easier; he barely knew him and his back was turned. But fate interceded and Gene was spared the choice. Marion on the other hand, fate wasn't so lenient. And, unlike the mark, he had formed a friendship (of a sort) with her and - in contrast to the mark - had to look her squarely in the eye if he was going to go all the way. Conspire to murder? Facilitate the poisoning a child? That's fine though - so long as he's behind the curtain and can compartmentalize it all away. I don't know what a fitting ending for Saul is. Jail? Dead? Living out a wreck of life alone and broke? As mentioned upthread, he would probably end up thriving in jail.
I think Kim has to go to prison and face the consequences of Howards death. As long as she doesn't go she will always feel the guilt for her actions because she never faced justice for them. Which means when you do something criminal you are suppose to go to jail. Something that somebody who cares about law would feel you would think. I think Jimmy's punishment is also prison but unlike Kim he see's prison not so much as a means of facing his guilt and paying a price for his sins but something that will make him feel like a failure. Him going to prison basically makes his brother's views on him as right and that is something he will have to live with for the rest of his life as he rots behind bars. Prison for her can be a means of redemption and someday a second chance where with Jimmy it is the ultimate end of line. The final statement on his life.
The thing about Kim is the way she can do the most good is also her favorite thing to do. Her pro bono cases. It’s a tragedy that she’s chosen to punish herself to prevent her from doing that. In a way I think a fitting punishment for her is to fight to get her credentials back and live with the guilt as she helps people the way she can.
Yeah, but, strictly speaking she didn't do anything illegal, especially if you limit the scope of her culpability to the circumstances of Howard's death, which are: Spoiler Howard entered her apartment drunk and belligerent, accused her and her husband of committing acts he couldn't prove they committed, and while they were trying to talk him down, a fourth party entered the apartment uninvited, held the three of them at gunpoint and shot Howard in the head. Kim didn't have the opportunity to either save Howard or kill him herself and, thanks to the cleaning skills of yet more extraneous parties, it's doubtful a forensic examination would show that a violent crime occurred there at all, much less that Kim bore any responsibility for it. Even if she laid out in detail what she really did in that confession, it's a confession of fraud, not murder, and the targets of the fraud were really HHM's corporate partners. Howard was really the main prop in the scam. Bottom line, I'm sure Kim does care about the law, but she also knows enough of it to understand that there's no way she'd serve enough time in jail to assuage her guilt, given what a criminal court can pin on her based on that confession. I also don't think going to back to the law and doing pro bono work would help her either, because if it did I doubt she would have quit the law entirely, and the thought that it can't help is probably contributing to her overall sadness,