WARNING: Spoilers ahead for the “Better Call Saul” series finale.
“You Better Call Saul” completed its six-season odyssey with Jimmy/Saul/Gene (Bob Odenkirk) sentenced to 86 years in federal prison, where he said an emotional goodbye to his ex-wife Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) — but not before exonerating her, in a colorful final courtroom, of any wrongdoing by covering up by Howard Hamlin execution-style death several years earlier.
“I saw the [finale] for the first time on Monday night,” Seehorn told the Post on Tuesday. “I watched it with a few people from the show and significant loved ones and partners and it was very emotional.”
Monday night’s finale, “Saul Gone,” included scenes from all three timelines of the “Better Call Saul” and featured surprise appearances from Marie Schrader (Betsy Brandt) – the widowed wife of “Breaking Bad” DEA agent Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) – and, in a flashback, Chuck McGill (Michael McKean), Jimmy’s bright but troubled older brother who committed suicide in the Season 3 finale of “Better Call Saul.” Walter White (Bryan Cranston) also materialized in a “Breaking Bad” flashback.
The episode mainly focused on Saul’s broken relationship with Kim, who now lives a dull and boring life in central Florida, designing brochures for a sprinkler company and sporting shorter (and dark) hair. . In the penultimate episode of the series, she flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to confess to Howard’s wife that his “suicide” was anything but, and to give a full statement to the forces. order about his past life with Saul – including their involvement in the cartel. pivot Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), eventually murdered by Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito).
In “Saul Gone,” Kim returned to Albuquerque for Saul’s sentencing … and, in their final scene together, they shared a cigarette – recalling their salad days. (It was also the last scene Seehorn and Odenkirk filmed together.)
“Of course, the weight of the show’s ending for me was, personally, a tough goodbye, and I’ll definitely be watching [the finale] again,” Seehorn said. “I got to see it as a fan of the storytelling and as a fan of the show outside of being on it.”
Seehorn, who was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actressapplauded series co-creator Peter Gould, who “has done such a great job of finding a way to embrace the intelligence of this series and our audience.”
“It’s a very dark ending but there is light – and there is hope, love, redemption and salvation there,” she added.
As “Better Call Saul” — and supposedly future dives into the “Breaking Bad” universe — come to an end, Seehorn said she believes Kim and Saul’s relationship will continue despite his life imprisonment.
“Peter wanted to write an ending that inspired people to continue the story in their heads and I think he did,” she said. “There are several interpretations of what happens the next day and next year and [for] the rest of their life. Personally, I’m a hopeless romantic and I think [Kim] continues to see him and visit him and that she is gradually coming back to justice.
She also said she was happy with how Kim fared in the show’s later episodes after moving to Florida following Hamlin’s death.
“I feel like at first she tried to disappear – not to hide from the law, but to be a shell of a person and to think that she was doing penance by withdrawing from any kind of of passion,” she said. “She lived a muted life – there’s nothing wrong with that – but she couldn’t even trust herself to choose ice cream for someone’s birthday party.”
“We see the tragedy of it because we know what she could have been – she was normally a lively, passionate person – and I think she decided she could actually be active to atone for her actions… in part on a challenge from Jimmy but also realizing he’s right, she could do more than live under a rock. So she goes, atones and makes her peace.
Seehorn also reflected on Gould’s choice for her character Kim, amid her attempted redemption, to continue to keep a truth hidden.
“The only lie she still tells at the end of the day is ‘if in fact Saul Goodman is alive’ – she never gives up on him and never lets the feds tap her phone,” said the actress. “I thought that was telling – it’s the one line she won’t cross, as she just can’t bear to be the person who’s going to seal her fate. It’s up to him to decide.
As for Saul’s fate of spending his life behind bars, Seehorn thinks it’s bittersweet for Kim.
“I don’t think she’s happy that he’s been in prison for so many years, but she’s happy that he had a chance to save his soul and chose to do so,” he said. she declared. “And she chose that for herself too…. but I think she’s ready to face all the music… to give herself a chance to have an authentic life again.