The Breaking Bad spinoff series Better Call Saul has just set a new record with its latest episode. "Plan and Execution," the seventh episode of the sixth and final season, served as the midseason finale before the show's return in July. Culminating years' worth of storylines and including some rather shocking moments, the episode left a big impact on viewers, resulting in the episode netting a near-perfect 9.9 rating on IMDb.
This not only puts "Plan and Execution" among the highest-rated television show episodes of all time, but it also marks a new series high for Better Call Saul. It is the only episode to reach the 9.9 mark, though a handful of others have come close. Season 3's "Chicanery" scored a 9.7, as did the season 5 episodes "Bagman" and "Bad Choice Road." An earlier episode from season 6, "Rock and Hard Place," also grabbed a 9.7 score. The season 4 finale "Winner" is the next one down, sitting at 9.5.
These scores have helped Better Call Saul to establish itself as worthy of its predecessor. Breaking Bad has long been considered by many to be among the greatest television shows of all time. The season 5 episode "Ozymandias" is the only episode of any TV series to land a perfect 10.0 score on IMDb, while the season 4 finale "Face Off" and the season 5 finale "Felina" both scored 9.9. There are still six episodes left of Better Call Saul, and if the final episodes continue the momentum, Better Call Saul just might be able to land that 10.0 score as well.
Better Call Saul Needs to Stick the Landing
Without getting into spoiler territory for those yet to catch up, the first half of Better Call Saul's final season has been wrapping up certain storylines in very big ways. There are still some big questions that will need to be answered when the series returns this summer. To provide a satisfying conclusion to the story of Jimmy McGill (aka Saul Goodman, aka Gene Takavic), the show will need to stick the landing, and given what happened with Game of Thrones, there must be a lot of pressure felt ahead of the final episodes' arrival.
“He’s looking back on his whole life and asking himself, ‘Do I react the way that my instinct tells me, the same instinct that has landed me in a f— mall in Omaha, making cinnamon rolls? Do I keep following that gut?'" series star Bob Odenkirk recently stated in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. "He’s still Jimmy McGill. He’s still Saul Goodman. I promise you that. But in his growth, he’s asking himself, ‘Really? Is this all worth it?’ And you see in that moment that he can’t hold that s— in any longer. He needs to be himself.”
The second half of the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul will premiere on July 11 on AMC and AMC+.