Spin-offs may be a dime a dozen, but rarely are they as good (if not better altogether) as the OG show they branched off from. Created by Breaking Bad makers Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, Better Call Saul, however, has set the gold standard when it comes to spin-off shows. It rose from the ashes of the same show that El Camino did but ended up with a story more profound and unassailable in spirit.

The show has raked in multiple awards wins and nominations, including a whopping 46 Primetime Emmy nominations, and bafflingly enough, not a single Emmy win. Not that award wins are any indication of the quality of a show or film, but this has left fans of the show wondering why the Emmys have been so elusive for the Better Call Saul team and if they keep getting snubbed.

The Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, and Jonathan Banks-starrer recently wrapped up its sixth and final season. They have been nominated in the following categories: Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Bob Odenkirk), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Rhea Seehorn), and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (Thomas Schnauz for "Plan and Execution"). This is their last shot at the Emmys (scheduled for September 12, 2022), and they deserve the wins this year.

Saul’s Life Is an Exquisite Rube Goldberg Experiment

Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn in Better Call Saul
AMC

Apart from being an absolute treat to noir fans, the last few episodes of Better Call Saul are a testament to a fascinating aspect of Saul Goodman, aka Jimmy McGill’s character. Saul’s whole life has been a Rube Goldberg experiment. From finding his own way in life as Slippin’ Jimmy to becoming a devious millionaire attorney, Saul mastered the art of pulling the long con with the most absurd and fascinatingly convoluted ploys. And the payoff was not always great – but like a true artist, Saul got his thrill from the process. Despite his many confessions about money always being his endgame, in the end, it was all about his regrets and redemption.

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The opening sequence of the first episode of season six, "Wine and Roses," is lavish, cinematic, and reminiscent of noir classics Sunset Boulevard and Citizen Kane. The scene takes time to meander through what was to be Saul Goodman’s life. It ends on a seemingly trivial piece of trinket that falls off the back of a truck stuffed with the things that made up Saul’s opulent life. The trinket is the bottle stopper from the Zafiro Añejo tequila Saul had shared with Kim when he was still more Jimmy than Saul (or Gene) almost a lifetime ago. The trinket was of no value to anyone but Jimmy.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Wexler

Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul Season6
AMC

As satisfying as it was to witness Saul’s rise to who he became on Breaking Bad, it was even more thrilling to witness Rhea Seehorn’s magnificently subdued yet powerful performance as Kim Wexler. Even though Seehorn has been nominated along with actors like Sarah Snook (Succession), Patricia Arquette (Severance), Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), and J Smith-Cameron (Succession), it will be nothing short of robbery in broad daylight if she doesn’t win. Seehorn performed Wexler’s character with every breath in her lung and muscle in her body.

The thing is that stumbling upon a character as well written as Wexler’s happens by some amount of luck, but being able to breathe life into it the way Rhea Seehorn has needs to be lauded and awarded. She is enigmatic and inscrutable, yet not in a way that female characters are written to be all these things.

Pop culture will have us believe they would go on like Saul when something tragic happens – like witnessing a long-term associate’s brains getting blown out in front of your own eyes. But the reality is that most people would become like Kim – an empty husk of a human being, a shell mired with guilt, waiting to burst open at the seams, but somehow containing all that nervous energy inside.

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Kim’s flash-forward scenes are crafted with such delicate discernment. Just as the music builds the pace of Saul’s narrative, staccato editing choices lay out the banality of Kim’s life after she moves to Florida.

Will the Emmys Finally Get It Right?

Bob Odenkirk in Better Call Saul Finale
Sony Pictures Television

The story, the amazingly framed lingering shots, and the thrilling performances by the cast have successfully raised the TV bar much like its predecessor did in its own time. The show nails it with its technical aspects to give us a cinematic experience in more than one scene, even where no plot progression happens. The way music supervisor Thomas Golubić brought all guns out to create the atmosphere of the show – shifting between the landscapes of desolate Albuquerque and good ol’ Omaha – deserves pause for appreciation.

Better Call Saul is one of the finest shows to have been made this century, which is saying something, given we are already in the thriving centre of the Golden Era of television. Few shows can set up so many formidable characters and make them move meticulously towards their destinations like chess pieces as they have done here.

In an interview with LA Times, Rhea Seehorn spoke about how the show will remain the beautiful creation it is no matter how many awards and accolades they get. Seehorn reflected:

“As Peter says all the time, the work stands no matter what it is, it lives on, and I put my heart and soul into it — blood, sweat, and tears — and so that that matters more. And there are brilliant performances that were not nominated, and that’s not lost on me.”

But the question remains if Better Call Saul will finally win Emmy gold this year. Perhaps we should manifest.