But more importantly, they serve to show where Jimmy is now as a person as he’s on the cusp of immersing himself in all things Saul. In determining Howard’s current weak spots, there are callbacks from the mythology that are too delicious to spoil. The show honors that with what he’s planning with Kim. Jimmy’s always been a man who can see the big picture but can also harness the power of the immediate grift. As directed by co-creator Vince Gilligan and written by Thomas Schnauz & Ariel Levine, Jimmy’s past, present, and the future we know from Breaking Bad continue to inch towards one another in satisfying ways.
It’s in the second episode, “Carrot and Stick,” that the machinations move forward. It’s still absorbing to watch, especially the way this cast prowls their various playing fields. The masters are at play, observing the chess board, the moves they could make, and how all of their choices could play out. Jimmy and Kim spend time staking out Howard for her plan to get the slow-as-molasses Sandpiper deal to come to a close, while Lalo does the rounds to establish who worked him over in his own compound.
Overall, there’s a groundwork feel to the first episode, which is something the series does so well.
Back in Albuquerque, Kim's surprising transformation from Jimmy's moral foundation to the instigator is a surprising twist that should lead to an entertaining final season." Read the full review here. IGN's David Griffin gave the Season 5 finale of Better Call Saul a 9/10, writing that it "ends its penultimate season with a thrilling showdown between Lalo and Nacho." "Peter Gould's stellar direction leads to some really cool camera shots, which heighten the action and suspense as Lalo fights for his life. What We Said About the Season 5 Finale of Better Call Saul And then it picks up right where the story left off, with Nacho literally on the run from what he did to Lalo in Mexico, Kim starting her post-Schweikart and Cokely career as a public defender, and Jimmy continuing to build the Saul Goodman phase of his legal career. The series has trained us to expect a sneak peek at Jimmy’s post-Breaking Bad life under the alias of Gene Takavic of Omaha, Nebraska, but there’s a tantalizing left turn that is plenty haunting. The two-episode premiere begins well with “Wine and Roses,” written by co-creator Peter Gould, giving eagle-eyed viewers a twist on the customary black-and-white opening to every season.
Now it’s the real beginning of the end of Jimmy’s story, with the finale season of Better Call Saul broken into two parts, starting with seven brand-new episodes now, and then six final episodes in July, for a total of 13. The first two hours aren’t reinventing the wheel, but cumulatively, there’s a steady pressing of the gas that this show will inevitably pay off in big ways. Season 6 picks up right where it left off, in terms of the narrative threads and the show’s masterful ability to reinvest the audience right back into everyone in Saul’s orbit to great dramatic effect. It’s been two years of waiting to see what comes next after the incendiary Season 5 finale of Better Call Saul, "Something Unforgivable," where Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) escaped Nacho Varga’s (Michael Mando) last-ditch assassination plan on behalf of Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and Kim Wexler’s (Rhea Seehorn) morals slipped ever closer to Jimmy’s (Bob Odenkirk) when she proposed bringing down Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) for revenge.