Warning: This episode contains plot details from Monday’s episode ofBetter Call Saul, titled “Waterworks.”
Let’s get this out of the way first: Kim Wexler is alive.Howalive is she, though?
That was one of the questions explored in the unsettling and mesmerizing penultimate installment ofBetter Call Saul.
Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler and Alvin Cowan as Glenn on ‘Better Call Saul’.Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
(No 50th birthday wishes.)
(Cue: A chance encounter and smoke with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul).
(Jesse on Saul: “This guy, any good?”
Carol Burnett as Marion and Bob Odenkirk as Gene on ‘Better Call Saul’.Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Kim: “When I knew him, he was.”
Well, nothing anymore.
With the help of Ask Jeeves, she realized that he was actually Albuquerque conman Saul Goodman.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Kim is alive!
She’s living her most mediocre Florida life, pondering Miracle Whip questions and writing sprinkler brochures.
Was there one particular line?
He is willfully nonchalant; he’s barely looking at her.
And she’s a smart person.
You gotta put on the performance of a lifetime and act like you don’t care.
But there’s something else that’s disturbing in that scene.
I mean, he always was Jimmy McGill, cutter of corners and bender of rules.
He’s turned into this person she doesn’t even recognize.
And she says that to Jesse Pinkman outside.
She says, “When I knew him, he used to be a good lawyer.”
She’s kind of dead from the neck up, purposely so.
It’s just [that] she has a legal calling and she’s denied herself that calling.
She’s denied herself a great many things.
As unpleasant as the messenger may be, the message is probably correct.
I need to pull the Band-aid off here.
I need to atone for my sins.
I need to come to life here and do the right thing."
So I think that’s where that comes from.
It’s so hard to watch.
It’s so beautifully quiet.
That’s such a great episode and it’s so tough.
You gotta atone, you gotta apologize.
And I don’t think she ever apologizes in that scene, and she doesn’t tear up.
And that was all on purpose, too.
And she’s not.
She’s just got to say this.
She realizes after all these years, she has to tell the truth.
But it’d be too much, it’d be too self-serving for her to ask for forgiveness.
And therefore she doesn’t.
Until she makes it to the bus, when a years-in-the-making cry comes.
I think that was the first time.
There’s horror and there’s guilt, but it’s cathartic too.
It just had to come out.
And now Jesse’s original meth-making buddy Emilio [John Koyama] needs help.
Jesse has some wise words about why one would seek legal help from a funny TV commercial.
What appealed to you about bringing Jesse back in this context?
It is a cool colliding of two worlds.
This is Kim Wexler sharing the screen with Jesse Pinkman.
It was just delightful!
And listen, anytime I spend time with Aaron Paul, I’m gonna do it.
And anytime I can spend time with Rhea Seehorn, I’m gonna do it.
[Laughs] It’d be even better still.
It was really just a delightful scene to write and to direct.
And I can’t even remember who came up with it in the writers' room.
Gene is headed down a very bad choice road.
He shouldn’t have gone into the house after Buddy warned him the guy could wake up.
There’s a lot of self-sabotage going on there.
This is the craziest cry for help I’ve ever seen or ever been witness to.
He’s just behaving like a maniac here and he is robbing a guy that doesn’t deserve it.
It looks to me like there’s a certain level of self-abuse going on here.
And maybe it’s because he feels bad about that conversation with Kim.
Speaking of his behavior, he almost bashes that guy over the head with his dead dog’s ashes.
Then he’s holding that medic alert button necklace tightly around her neck.
When she says, “I trusted you,” something in him changes and he drops it.
Is he questioning how far he was going to go?
I think that’s exactly what it is.
We talk a lot about classic movies in the writers' room.
And a fabulous movie we’ve talked a lot about over the years isBridge Over the River Kwai.
He says, “My God, what have I done?”
This is not that exactly, and the setup for it couldn’t be more different.
It looks like sanity prevailed there for a moment.
And really, how could you seriously think you’re going to menace and hurt Carol Burnett?
Marion has been nothing but kind to him.
When is this guy going to snap the hell out of it and become a normal human being again?
Because I don’t like this guy at all.
I want nothing to do with this guy.
He’s a bastard!
What cryptic hint would you give viewers for the final episode ofBetter Call Saul?
How much danger is this fugitive in?
It’s gonna be dramatic.
[Laughs] It’s gonna be a big one.
Buckle your seat belts.
What adjective would you use to describe this finale?
