The series finale of Better Call Saul opens with several previous black and white snippets and a new one in color showing Saul and Mike’s grueling trek across the desert, hauling $7 million dollars cash in bags. After running out of water and resorting to drinking their own urine, they finally find a water source, where after quenching their thirst, Saul suggests taking and splitting the $7 million bucks 50-50 and taking off. Mike warns it’s not ours. Saul muses using $6 million to build a time machine and asks Mike where he would go first. Mike responds March 17, 1984, a regretful day when he took his first bribe as a cop. For Saul it’s May 10, 1965, when Warren Buffett took over at Berkshire Hathaway where Saul would stick his half of the remaining million ($500,000) and subsequently become a billionaire, or as Saul muses, “Is there such a thing as a trillionaire?” Mike responds, “That’s it, money?” to which Saul replies, “What else.”
Off topic, in this finale there’s a time machine and going back theme. The time machine comes up again in a Walter White and Saul scene. Again in a new scene in color with Saul and his attorney brother who picks up a book with H.G. Wells in large print letters; I missed reading the title but my daughter exclaimed, “The Time Machine!” In the bus on the way to prison, although Saul claims he’s McGill, the prisoners recognize him as Saul, and, thereafter, by inmates and guards. And finally, at the end when Kim as his attorney visits Jimmy in a black and white cigarette smoking scene with a noticeable quirk that my daughter and I immediately recognized, the red lit end of the shared cigarette. Later, co-creator Peter Gould explained:
“Hopefully it’s not excessively cute on our part. I think the characters are doing it on purpose. This is something we’ve seen them do before. It’s a sign to each other there’s still something between them — that there always was.”
My family enjoyed the Better Call Saul series a lot more than Breaking Bad because of the highly entertaining well written scripts, superb cast of outrageous characters played by highly talented actors. Fortunately, both series shared in common outstanding, highly artistic directors of photography and cinematography. The only annoyance was COVID-19 that disrupted and delayed the production of the sixth and final season. Most remarkable and amazing, after suffering a near-fatal heart attack while filming episode 8, Bob Odenkirk recovered and returned with fresh energy and vigor to finish shooting the final season.
Regards,
Ray