Better Call Saul 6 Review: Episode 1-2 A Promising Plan To Close The Circle! Countdown Towards The Grand Finale
Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Tony Dalton, Giancarlo Esposito
Director: Michael Morris, Vince Gilligan
Streaming Platform: AMC and Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4.5/5 (four and half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Better Call Saul 6 Review: Saul Goodman is back Two years after the fifth incarnation of Better Call Saul, thanks to the pandemic and the illness of Bob Odenkirk on the set, the spin-off of Breaking Bad starts on the avenue of the sunset after giving us a show worthy of its predecessor. The final transformation of James McGill into the lawyer we first met in the Vince Gilligan series is imminent, if it is true that Walt and Jesse will return in Better Call Saul 6, the undisputed protagonists of one of the masterpieces of television series, which he found in the Netflix creature of Gilligan and Gould a worthy successor. The new season starts exactly where we left off in 2020 and promises sparks.
Better Call Saul is always one step ahead of the viewer. Like its predecessor, Breaking Bad, this spin-off has a plan. Both the creator of the original series, Vince Gilligan, and the co-creator of this spin-off, Peter Gould, have specialized in putting us under constant tension by slowly sowing evidence of their respective machinations. In the case of ‘Breaking Bad’, that roadmap had a wide margin of maneuver when it was announced that the fifth season would be the last, while the circumstances of the closure of ‘Better Call Saul’ are much more particular.
Better Call Saul 6 Review: The Story
The temporal planes begin to merge the black and white of each season prologue since 2015 is colored by the bright colors of Saul’s ties, collected by the police who evacuate his sumptuous home. A feeling of defeat and loss to see men and women stacking the possessions of Albuquerque’s most eccentric lawyer, who escaped with a new identity to Nebraska. A scene that explicitly recalls the ending of Fourth Estate , especially in lingering, finally, on Saul’s Rosebud; the unmistakable cap of Zafiro Anejo, symbol of the manifestation and acceptance by Jimmy of his true nature, the result of a stunt carried out in the company of Kim, who in the meantime has become his wife and on the verge of inevitably crossing the border that has kept her on the right side of the fence all her life.
Because he continues his plan to discredit Howard, facing a Jimmy who measures the woman’s evolution in a thoughtful way, as he continues the ride as Saul Goodman after regaining his lawyer license. All convinced that the threat of Lalo Salamanca is behind us, but we know from the finale of last season. That Hector’s nephew is not only survived the attack hatched by Gustavo with the complicity of Nacho but prepares for revenge and knows the truth. Blood For Blood, this is the motto of the Salamanca and poor Nacho knows it well, forced to flee, but hunted down by the threat of the implacable twins, with Mike trying to find a way to free him from the pact with Fring, not without risk.
The fiction centered on the origins (and future) of the least scrupulous lawyer from Albuquerque is both handcuffed and liberated by its prequel and sequel nature. The exploration of the past is bound to connect with the story of Walter and Jesse in a moment that can be cathartic for fans of the universe, but that should in no way overshadow what is really important doing justice to the fascinating microcosm that has been created around them. Jimmy McGill, already turned into Saul Goodman. Not only does the past come into play there, since for the culmination to be complete, the imagination must be allowed to fly in all times, including the future.
At the start of each season of ‘Better Call Saul’ we have been given the opportunity to peer into the life of Gene Takovic, the identity that Saul embraced at the end of ‘Breaking Bad’ to start from scratch. With enigmatic and distressing black and white sequences, the spin-off has been planting a plot apparently unrelated to the rest of the series, but which will be decisive in the outcome, as AMC has already anticipated.
In fact, the official poster for the sixth and final season plays on this factor by combining Gene’s black and white with one of the colorful outfits that define Saul, in what aims to be a return to the roots… but What did I warn as soon as I started? Yes, once again Gilligan and Gould are ahead and after watching the first two episodes of this final installment I can confirm that they have been able to subvert expectations with a return that breaks the trend of previous starts to leave us, again totally baffled.
Without going into spoilers about that change in the initial vignettes, the new season takes place immediately after the explosive end of the fifth batch: Lalo searches for evidence to confirm his suspicions after surviving the attack on his farm, Nacho tries to flee a hostile territory, Fring plays his cards to conspire without starting a war, Mike finds his moral code clashing with his loyalties, and Jimmy and Kim hatch a plan to smear Howard and finally get their share of Sandpiper’s severance pay.
So far, everything is within what we could have imagined in the two years that have intervened between one season and another, but we must not forget that many of the surprises of the series lie in the small details. As the beginning of this first part of the finale unfolds, nods to ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’ itself are parading, since it is an exemplary exercise in past and future reminiscence. With the passing of the seasons, we have continued to be shown, among other symbols, Marco’s ring, highlighting Jimmy’s evolution and its imperfections, and the sixth installment raises that connection ability to the nth degree. Without rushing to catch up with the original series, ‘Better Call Saul’ looks at its own beginnings, making this beginning of the end even more satisfying and, above all, highlighting what has been created in this spin-off whose identity goes beyond the ties that tie it to one of the best series in history.
Better Call Saul 6 Episode 1-2 Review And Analysis
It goes without saying that the start of Better Call Saul 6 proves to be a solid confirmation. On the other hand, we did not expect anything else from a well-established writing room attentive to the dynamics between characters who live in a tragic but defined dramaturgy down to the last detail. The skills of the writing team created by Gilligan and Gould meander throughout the minutes of these two episodes, without neglecting details or forgetting anyone. Whether it’s Saul’s shady attempts to get what he wants in the least conventional ways or Nacho’s anxious motel seclusion awaiting an escape route, there’s an ever-present security in the script., a rudder that points straight towards the goal, a loom that spins every weft of its warp with abundance, to rejoin paths that we believed by now divided.
We do not know exactly how far Lalo’s revenge will go, a little bit we foresee it, but a little bit we hope that things do not go exactly as planned, because there will be shocking moments and twists. After all, on the antagonistic front the writers have almost never disappointed, neither in the parent series nor in this spin-off. As always proves to be a guarantee, the staging of Better Call Saul, in its refined and articulated approach at the level of direction and photography, in delightful harmony with the other departments, with particular attention to sound and scenography. The icing on the cake, however, is represented by the interpretations of the cast that make the whole organism come alive without any smudges of fate.
After all, ‘Better Call Saul’ is a series with memory, in which the actions have as much weight as the characters who carry them out. For this reason, from the moment of its premiere it has been able to preserve the legacy of ‘Breaking Bad’ while not allowing itself to be swamped by it, even growing in complexity with respect to its predecessor. If the adventures of Walter and Jesse had elements of humor, intrigue, tragedy and pure adrenaline, which coexisted and even mutated from one episode to another, those of Jimmy, Kim and company are so different from each other that in ‘Better Call Saul’ they inhabit multiple series.
Nacho lives an intense action movie, Jimmy and Kim are a kind of Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan planning a hit and Lalo, Fring and Mike are involved in a drug thriller. More than ever, in this sixth season each of the plots is taken to the limit, which maintain communion with each other due to the outstanding visual and narrative style and superb interpretations that, when intertwined, make ‘Better Call Saul’ one of the best series of contemporary television.
Better Call Saul 6 Review: The Last Words
Better Call Saul 6 is a well-oiled mechanism in both writing and staging; he knows his goal very well and knows how to achieve it by managing the various narrative lines that weave the warp of the final evolution of Jimmy McGill in Saul Goodman. We can only greet with enthusiasm the return of this show that has just inaugurated its latest act. In perfect continuity with the past, we witness the evolution of the varied dynamics linked to Saul, Kim, Mike, Gus, Nacho and Lalo Salamanca. The latter will surely be able to leave a trail of blood in his path of revenge and Jimmy is but one piece of the puzzle.
