'Better Call Saul' Series Finale Details You Missed
The start of the episode flashes back to season five, episode eight's "Bagman," in which Jimmy and Mike haul Lalo's $7 million through the desert.
While stopped, Jimmy and Mike discuss what days they'd go back in time to if they had a time machine. Jimmy says he'd return to 1965 when Buffett took over Berkshire Hathaway and would invest some of the money from Lalo's stash.
Buffett probably got a kick out of that. He's been vocal about his love for "Breaking Bad" for years, giving the finale an A+ and doing a parody of the series during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting in 2013. In 2015, Buffett was a VIP guest on the set of the second season of "Better Call Saul."
Mike's son, a cop named Matty, was killed in 2001. We've learned from both "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" that Mike had a difficult time with the death of the son, who was killed by people Mike had considered friends.
Mike's date change alludes that he wouldn't go back in time to save his son. Instead, he'd go farther back in time to maybe choose a different lifestyle and profession, one where he didn't put his loved ones in danger.
A shot of the mixer at the prison can be seen in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment right after the show's title appears on screen.
In two different flashback scenes with Mike and Walter White, Saul asked both men where they'd go if they had a time machine and could redo anything.
If you thought it was a random question, it wasn't.
Late in the episode, it was quietly revealed in another flashback that Jimmy's brother, Chuck, owned H.G. Wells' sci-fi novel "The Time Machine," which follows a time traveler's journey into the future.
In the finale scene, Chuck tells Jimmy: "If you don't like where you're heading, there's no shame in going back and changing your path." That's ultimately what Jimmy did. It just took him a long time to figure that out.
"The Time Machine" is never discussed on the show, but it has been quietly teased throughout the final season...
The book makes an appearance in Saul Goodman's house as it's being cleared on the season six premiere. H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" can be seen again in Jimmy and Kim's room on season six, episode two, "Carrot and Stick," on his side of the bed.
Jimmy kept Chuck with him all those years.
In effect, this entire episode was a time machine with Saul/Jimmy moving back in time before the events of "Better Call Saul," moving forward to the timeline after "Better Call Saul," and to a few key moments from the series.
Jimmy mentions that he'll see Chuck tomorrow and he may have the Financial Times."
On the pilot episode, Jimmy brings it to him.
It turns out Jimmy held onto Ed Galbraith's (Robert Forster) Best Quality Vacuum Repair card which fans learned he acquired from Dr. Caldera, a veterinarian with connections to the criminal underworld.
The number on the card is only supposed to be used when someone wants to disappear and start a new life with a new identity. Jimmy previously dialed the number in "Breaking Bad" when he needed to flee Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was sent to Nebraska.
On the season five premiere, Jimmy revealed that he kept a stash of diamonds in a small Band-Aid tin. Fans assumed that Jimmy traded in any remaining cash he had for diamonds so he could easily go on the run if needed.
While trying to call Ed, Jimmy loses his balance, knocking the tin and the diamonds to go everywhere. The diamonds, which mattered more to him more than anything in the world, wound up being Jimmy's undoing as the cops heard a noise coming from the dumpster where he hid.
Saul tells Marie Schrader and the legal team about the time Walt had 10 people murdered in two minutes on season five, episode eight of "Breaking Bad."
He even mentions Daniel Wachsberger, the lawyer who represented some of Gustavo Fring's henchmen.
If you're wondering why Jimmy decided to make things worse for himself, it was because of his last conversation with Kim.
On season six, episode 12, after not hearing from him for years, Kim told Jimmy to turn himself in. In response, Jimmy told Kim she wasn't innocent either and that she should turn herself in, not thinking she would actually do it.
On the finale, Jimmy was shocked that Kim actually revealed the truth about Howard's death to set herself free to live her life normally, with whatever consequences she may face. So he decided to do the same and wanted Kim to be there as a witness.
Sure, he could go to prison for seven years as Saul, but he'd still be alone when he'd get out. Inspired by Kim, he finally decided something was more important to him than his diamonds or money. It was worth more to him to shed the Saul persona and let Kim know that Jimmy, the person she once knew and loved, still existed.
Kim and Jimmy recreate the moment when we first see them together on the first episode of "Better Call Saul." Jimmy even puts the shared cigarette gently back in Kim's mouth.
It's almost as if the entire scene is flipped. Kim and Jimmy are now on the opposite side of the room and the angle at which the light hits them comes from the opposite direction, behind bars.
When Kim suggested coming up with a scheme to run on Howard on the season five finale of "Better Call Saul," she made the same gestures to Jimmy.
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