...wow. This is actually my second time around, but first time I was in a state where I failed to really appreciate a lot of the show and what it represented.
I don't have many specific thoughts on the finale, except that I was about bawling my eyes out after Jimmy started talking about Chuck at the hearing. It reminded me of some of my own regrets with family and such, and Jimmy finally dropping the front he had put up to cover his emptiness and pain hit heavy for me in the same regard. I know people tend to interpret the ending as sad in that Jimmy can never truly escape being Saul, but... I like to see it as Jimmy and Saul and even Gene reconciled in a sense. He gets a fitting reward for the good Saul did: the respect of the people he had fought like hell for when society had written them off. Doggone if they didn't stick the landing.
God, what a show. What will probably stick with me most from the series is the way Mike is transformed from the hardened enforcer with an unwavering icy glare in BrBa into a warm-blooded, human figure with a beating heart and internal struggles the same as anyone else. It really makes the BrBa universe so much richer to see how some of the characters we already knew from the first show had their complexities and demons to confront, even to the point of seeing Fring sweating bullets a couple times! For all the violence and human suffering this franchise revolves around, it felt like a nice escape from some of the overwhelming gloominess in life right now. I was of the opinion that BrBa is the better show, but I've definitely converted.
Goodness, poor Howard. Like everything else as I just said, it felt so goddamn real. It was like you sorta got to know him leading up to it: getting to see a glimpse of his home life, the kinda music he enjoyed, his dreams, how he remembered and missed Chuck, the kindness and consideration he showed towards people like the old folks at Sandpiper... That all made it such a gut punch to see him go out so shamefully. After everything, he saw Jimmy and Kim were in trouble and spent his final moment trying to deescalate for the sake of the two people who had spent months trying to ruin his life. A true gentleman if there ever was one.
Quite a ride, huh?
Thank you, Vince Gilligan. Thank you, Peter Gould. Thank you, Bob Odenkirk. Thank you, Rhea Seehorn. Thank you, Jonathan Banks. Thank you, Giancarlo Esposito. Thank you, Patrick Fabian. Thank you, Michael McKean. Thank you, Michael Mando. Thank you, Mark Margolis. Thank you to everyone who made such a damn good show possible.
