"So you were always like this..."
And here we are. It's over... and it ends like this. Wow.
That was an hour of television that will haunt me for a long time.
Of course, there's no suspense about whether or not "Gene" is going to be caught: there's no escape for him, and we know that this is the last act of Saul's... no, Jimmy's tragedy. There can be no hope for him... but, unexpectedly, there's redemption. And, for that redemption to be genuine, there must be real catharsis, full confession and harsh consequences... eighty-six years in a prison Saul had earlier described as a "hellhole".
The episode is punctuated by flashbacks- with Mike, with Chuck, both better and wiser men than him, as he asaks them what they'd do with a time machine, all the answers being revealing. But it's Walter White who, with his typical arrogance, calls him out: this is really about regrets. And Saul, of all people, certainly should have had a few, as attested by the dizzying number of charges he's presented with.
And he seems to play his hand with very Saul Goodman cunning, getting a very lenient plea deal of only seven years in a not-too-bad prison. And it seems even that isn't enough. Kim has acted with integrity, leaving herself open to being sued by Howard's widow as atonement... but Saul, it seems, right up until the moment he steps into the courtroom, seems set to throw Kim under the bus, which would be far from surprising.
But... he doesn't. Instead, he admits all and takes the brutal consequences. Almost certain life in a hellhole prison... but he has Kim's respect again. And, through suffering, redemption. weirdly, Jimmy (not Saul) is probably happier than if he'd taken the seven years. He is, at last, doing the right thing. Even Jimmy McGill is not beyond redemption,
Wow. The script, the acting, everything. This in no way ended as I was expecting, but it feels perfect.
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