FINALE OF 'BETTER CALL SAUL' IS STILL MILES FROM GOODMAN

Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn on Better Call Saul: Winning

Turns out BETTER CALL SAUL, at least concerning Season Four, isn't following its predecessor's footsteps. Instead, SEINFELD seems to be the muse. For this has been a season about nothing... which still can be pretty entertaining and addictive... But not much ground was covered... 

Having gone back to rewatch BREAKING BAD, the slimey, lip-puckered, pudgy, balding, crooked-as-hell (and awesomely hilarious) Saul Goodman still has almost nothing to do with this show's endearing Jimmy McGill fella who, with the perfect girl's perfect girl, Kim Wexler, faithfully by his side, would never, ever amount to Walter White's sociopath lawyer: a guy who easily contacts master criminals ranging from a meth kingpin to paid assassins. Sure, he's dishonest and getting proverbially worse. But the BAD Saul is so crooked, his world leans conveniently in his own direction so that, in another reality, he's standing completely upright. 

S4 Score: ***1/2 Finale Score: **

Onto this particular episode, the Season Four Finale titled WINNER, and what's been leading to it: The German construction workers creating the rudimentary platform of Gus Fring's meth super-lab involving Mike has been somewhat intriguing, but the turnout wound up dull and predictable...

Understandably, the significance is how Mike goes from henchman to coldblooded killer, but it took too long and was far too slow to get there. And this new cartel villain, Lalo — yet another formidable nephew of Hector "Tio" Salamanca — provided 11th hour potential a few episode's back. But all he did here was follow someone who's following someone else.

As for the central plot: Jimmy's input involving Chuck's scholarship should have been covered on the first episode, right after he died. It's been an entire season without Chuck — we don't need to keep digging him back up! Meanwhile, Jimmy's con-games don't even seem like cons at all. In faking melodramatic responses, it's somewhat unclear what he's after in the first place.

And he's saying this part to himself, not his secretary....

In order to get this series to connect with BREAKING BAD, without pulling a George Lucas prequel situation, is to get rid of Kim Wexler altogether, or at least, pit her totally against Jimmy... or rather... Saul Goodman, and stop with the 10-minute pillow talk and teeth-brushing sessions... Okay, we get it, they love each other...

But Saul was a guy who lusted for the "booty" of his rude overweight secretary... Talked about getting "happy endings" from massage parlours... Repeatedly urged Walter White to kill off anyone who gets in their way (first Badger and then Jesse, two young men)... Had been married twice and... well... Hopefully next season will stop making Bob Odenkirk a leading man (imagine a CASABLANCA prequel where Peter Lorre is turned into Humphrey Bogart): His character not only needs to start getting "badder" but, to have any sort of continuity, he must also become a disgusting and obnoxious, insincere boob, embarrassing to be around. That's the BREAKING Saul Goodman. Creator Vince Gilligan and Writer/Director Peter Gould made a fantastic show here, and despite this review, it's a personal favorite. But as far as their Jimmy/Saul character goes — the boys are suffering from an extremely BAD case of serial amnesia.

"God you are killing me with that booty" Kim can't be alive for Jimmy to say this to Francesca, who hates Saul, but adored Jimmy???

Saul to Bad: From having the perfect woman in love with you to striking out with a fat woman who hates you