Better Call Saul's Season 4 finale was TV magic, despite being hampered by Breaking Bad

Entertainment Weekly

The Jimmy McGill storyline on Monday's Season 4 finale felt like a full meal by itself, says Darren Franich. "This was high-level storytelling, crafted with deconstructive precision by writers Thomas Schnauz and Peter Gould," he says. "There’s an ongoing thread in Better Call Saul where Jimmy could almost be a dreamweaver from Inception. He’s a con man, sure, but his lies tilt toward the modern vogue for the word 'narrative,' the possibility of conjuring a whole believable universe of (truthy) facts and (amended) figures. The season 4 finale was his best trick yet." However, Franich says the Breaking Bad storyline was the worst part of Season 4. "So much of this Better Call Saul year felt like a profound evolution, Jimmy’s moral quagmiring rendered with style and sophistication," he says. "But across town, Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) were stuck in the prequel-iest of prequel subplots. Forget cheap Rogue One references. This was the Breaking Bad version of that old Clerks joke about the Death Star contractors, brought to life with such aesthetic refinement that the overwhelming feeling of boredom was almost an accomplishment...I guess on some level this just is the Better Call Saul experience, this weird polarity between psycho-jurisprudential inquisition and druglord demigod western. The dissonance works for some viewers. To me, it feels like Breaking Bad is starting to become a problem for Better Call Saul, an easy lever to pull when it’s been too long since a cool action scene, a little leg to show any Bad fans who aren’t interested in which ski resort Schweikart & Cokely chooses for its annual teambuilding exercise."

ALSO:

• The Breaking Bad origin story feels empty, like a high-tech underground lab that manufactures Easter eggs -- all of it is masterly; none of it is necessary
• Season 4 was the best and bleakest season, embracing the bifurcated nature of the show
• Better Call Saul's journey is more heartbreaking than Breaking Bad’s, and more agitating, too
• The hugely important final shot, explained
• Season 4 is an indictment of the American justice system
• The Season 4 finale would've made for a great series finale
• How Better Call Saul writers cooked up the perfect con this season
• Bob Odenkirk: "It feels like a new beginning"
• How Better Call Saul rebuilt the meth superlab from Breaking Bad
• Co-creator Peter Gould says the biggest challenge was finding the right balance between Jimmy and Mike: "It scared the hell out of me because it felt different and dangerous"
• Better Call Saul writers will continue to call its protagonist "Jimmy" as long as Kim does
• Gould says "it really feels like we're closer to the end than to the beginning," but "I don't know how many more seasons we've got"