Better Call Saul Season 5, Episode 10, “Something Unforgivable”

“Something Unforgivable” concludes another stellar season of Better Call Saul, one that once again has upended my expectations not only about where the series is heading, but which has also altered my notions of what the series is about more generally. All along, I’ve thought of Better Call Saul as a sister show to Breaking Bad, each of them being about the transformation of somewhat “good” characters into largely “bad” characters. And while each show is certainly about how people can change, Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman is revealing itself to be a more complicated story than Walter White’s transformation into Heisenberg. Perhaps even more significantly, the show is also revealing itself to be about the changes other characters undergo, particularly Kim.

Better Call Saul, Season 5, Episode 9, “Bad Choice Road”

“Bad Choice Road” is a phenomenal episode of television, easily the best yet of Better Call Saul season five. It gets its name from a speech Mike gives to Jimmy midway through the episode. Jimmy suffers from PTSD after he and Mike make it back to civilization, and when he turns to Mike for advice about how to handle it, Mike lays out the entire ethos of character arcs on both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul: “We all make our choices. And those choices, they put us on a road. Sometimes those choices seem small, but they put you on the road. You think about getting off, but eventually you’re back on it…. And nothing, nothing can be done about that.”

Better Call Saul, Season 5, Episode 8, “Bagman”

“Bagman” finally gives Better Call Saul the kind of action-packed episode that was regularly featured on Breaking Bad, where the characters are put in a life-or-death situation and must figure out how to survive. The result is a highly rewarding suspense piece that also performs important character work, pushing forward character change and certain relationships.