I'm not going to trash the whole series. There were some great rumbles, epic gunfights, and ruthless bad men writing a history of honor and passion in the blood of their enemies. Lalo, Nacho, and Gus all deserve MVP honors for this show.
But it was a mistake to make Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman into something more than comic relief. This episode is the ultimate last-ditch effort to give Saul gravitas, and it doesn't work.
Having Saul turn down a sweet deal to embrace martyrdom, in order to protect a woman he's never going to see again, is not only childish and simplistic. It's melodramatic and predictable. In THE GODFATHER II Frank "Five Angels" Pentangeli pulls a similar last-minute switch. Anyone who's seen that movie -- and that's just about everyone -- could see this "twist" coming a mile away.
But Frankie Five Angels is an old-school gent from the word go. He's been established very clearly as a "Moustache Pete" who plays by rules established centuries ago in Sicily. His honorable behavior in the courtroom makes sense. The shock comes from the fact that this old-school gent is not only honorable but fast on his feet, able to outthink a room full of lawyers and stop on a dime. In a way he's like Jack in Hemingway's story "Fifty Grand." ("Funny how you can think so fast with so much at stake." "You're some boy, Jack." "It was nothing.")
Well, Saul is not Frankie Five Angels. He's not Jack. He's always been a sleazy opportunist and his redemption at the end is sheer sentimentality. And no offense, but it's a very Catholic form of sentimentality. He's fixed it up so he's "married" to Kim forever, but sex is never going to happen. We're supposed to believe that Saul and Kim are going to stay celibate forever, and that's their triumph. Because sex is dirty, see. And now they're clean. They've renounced crime, and they've renounced sex, because really, sex between a man and a woman is more disgusting than any scam.
Give me a Catholic crime epic with Catholics who aren't quite so prim. Paging Frankie Five Angels!
But it was a mistake to make Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman into something more than comic relief. This episode is the ultimate last-ditch effort to give Saul gravitas, and it doesn't work.
Having Saul turn down a sweet deal to embrace martyrdom, in order to protect a woman he's never going to see again, is not only childish and simplistic. It's melodramatic and predictable. In THE GODFATHER II Frank "Five Angels" Pentangeli pulls a similar last-minute switch. Anyone who's seen that movie -- and that's just about everyone -- could see this "twist" coming a mile away.
But Frankie Five Angels is an old-school gent from the word go. He's been established very clearly as a "Moustache Pete" who plays by rules established centuries ago in Sicily. His honorable behavior in the courtroom makes sense. The shock comes from the fact that this old-school gent is not only honorable but fast on his feet, able to outthink a room full of lawyers and stop on a dime. In a way he's like Jack in Hemingway's story "Fifty Grand." ("Funny how you can think so fast with so much at stake." "You're some boy, Jack." "It was nothing.")
Well, Saul is not Frankie Five Angels. He's not Jack. He's always been a sleazy opportunist and his redemption at the end is sheer sentimentality. And no offense, but it's a very Catholic form of sentimentality. He's fixed it up so he's "married" to Kim forever, but sex is never going to happen. We're supposed to believe that Saul and Kim are going to stay celibate forever, and that's their triumph. Because sex is dirty, see. And now they're clean. They've renounced crime, and they've renounced sex, because really, sex between a man and a woman is more disgusting than any scam.
Give me a Catholic crime epic with Catholics who aren't quite so prim. Paging Frankie Five Angels!