{"id":1609842,"date":"2022-08-17T07:16:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T11:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1609842"},"modified":"2022-08-17T07:17:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T11:17:16","slug":"facing-complex-moments-of-temptation-is-what-makes-better-call-saul-characters-authentic-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facing-complex-moments-of-temptation-is-what-makes-better-call-saul-characters-authentic-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Facing Complex Moments Of Temptation Is What Makes \u2018Better Call Saul\u2019 Characters Authentic"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffacing-complex-moments-of-temptation-is-what-makes-better-call-saul-characters-authentic-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1609842&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The\u00a0\u201cBreaking Bad\u201d universe created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould is essentially about choices and consequences. Of course, that\u2019s Drama 101, but it\u2019s striking that as much character ambiguity as there is in this ABQ world, you can\u2019t come away from watching the whole thing thinking nihilistically. There\u2019s good, there\u2019s evil, there\u2019s right, there\u2019s wrong, and the wrongdoers not only deserve to be punished, they\u00a0<em>will\u00a0<\/em>be.<\/p>\n<p>That is, you don\u2019t hurt others without suffering\u00a0something,\u00a0either long or short term. Those scales of justice? They\u2019re cosmic, really.<\/p>\n<p><em>Warning: Spoilers ahead. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The intriguing question of\u00a0\u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d\u00a0was, of course, how did Jimmy McGill become Saul Goodman? The series answered that question, but what makes it great is that the answer the show gives isn\u2019t simplistic.<\/p>\n<p>The core struggle Jimmy faced, from both within and from without was always,\u00a0\u201cis this just the way I am?\u201d His brother Chuck mostly seemed to take this view, although his scene in the finale hints at more complexity. Jimmy himself embraced his cheerful, talky scamming persona and made it work for him \u2013 most of the time. But did this personality fate him to get involved with the cartel and then Walter White, with all the consequences flowing from those entanglements? Did it mean that he had no choice in pulling the scam on Howard and ultimately playing a part in Howard\u2019s murder?<\/p>\n<p>The power of\u00a0\u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d\u00a0is that it makes this journey complex, even though we know so much of how it turns out in the end. I recently re-watched several episodes of this last season and was struck by how many moments of hesitation there are. How many moments between Jimmy and Kim in which they pause, fall into silence and either ask each other or ask themselves if they should take the next step, if this is right, if they are bad for each other.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0\u201cBreaking Bad,\u201d\u00a0Walter White had many such moments, but of course, every time his pride won out.\u00a0What propels Jimmy and Kim forward is never so simply expressed.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a bit of greed, there\u2019s a bit of vengefulness, there\u2019s some apparently innate attraction to the chicanery, and there is, of course, the fun, or to put it more bluntly, the turn-on that it affords. And in the end, that\u2019s all that\u2019s left, isn\u2019t it? That burning heat, glowing in full color in an otherwise colorless world.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot to be said about what\u00a0\u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d\u00a0brought us. The more I think about it, the more I am impressed not only by the challenge these folks took up in creating this show but by the truth they\u2019ve expressed here, whether they intended to or not.<\/p>\n<h2>The Time Machine<\/h2>\n<p>Jimmy\/Saul\/Gene. Which is he? And what kind of choice did he have in being \u2026 whoever it was? Of course, the framework of\u00a0\u201cThe Time Machine\u201d\u00a0in the finale expresses this point and punctuates the final journey. He begins conversations about time machines both with Mike and with Walter White. All of the responses reveal something deeper. <\/p>\n<p>If Mike could go back in time, it would be to the moment he took his first bribe, presumably, to make a different choice. He knows that his life since has been a trajectory of negativity and harm to others. He admits it. He\u2019d change it if he had the power, and we\u2019ve seen that sad regret in his character all along, in both shows. If Walter White could go back in time, he\u2019d make a different decision about Gray Matter, but even so, he still blames others for what happens and scoffs at Saul for even presuming he, a joke of a lawyer, could help\u00a0<em>him.\u00a0<\/em>Pride, always pride.<\/p>\n<p>In both conversations, Saul has his own response, reflecting his own greed and short-term thinking. He seemingly has no regrets about big choices or the greater trajectory. Not yet.<\/p>\n<p>But as Walter White points out with great vigor, time machines are an impossibility.<\/p>\n<p>We can, however, admit what we\u2019ve done and try, in whatever small way we can, to embrace contrition, confess, and do penance. It\u2019s the closest thing to a time machine we have and in the end, Saul steps into it and emerges, having gone backward? Forward? Both?<\/p>\n<p><em>I\u2019m Jimmy. Jimmy McGill.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>He has been running, running, and running, and finally, in that moment of confession, prompted by Kim\u2019s owning up and taking responsibility, he does the same. His moment, I think it\u2019s safe to say, is framed by love. It\u2019s a love he knows now will never be fulfilled, especially now, but it\u2019s a love that demands nothing less than truth.<\/p>\n<p>So back to the moments of choice and possibility, the interplay of who we are and the places we find ourselves in. The complex portrayal of Jimmy\/Saul\/Gene makes it authentic, for we are all complex, too. In some sense, he is who he is, as he\u2019s reminded often \u2013 in this final episode by Walter White:\u00a0\u201cSo, you\u2019ve always been like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But time and time again, we saw Jimmy make choices. We saw him want to do the right thing, to use, as we say, his unique powers for good, but every time give in to some temptation that tips those almost neutral qualities into a negative, harmful space.\u00a0And, as I said, those temptations and moments are complex in themselves, but more often than not the most destructive choices of all emerge from moments of rejection.<\/p>\n<p>I think the final scenes in the bus and in prison express this perfectly and even subtly. He\u2019s accepted the consequences and even made a sacrifice, moved by Kim\u2019s situation, and is on his way with his fellow prisoners. These prisoners recognize him, despite his assertion that no, he\u2019s not Saul Goodman anymore and they start a chant:\u00a0\u201cBetter! Call! Saul!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the midst of this acclaim, we see just the slightest look on Jimmy\u2019s face of muted wry satisfaction and acceptance. It could have been a bigger, broader moment, but the fact that it didn\u2019t underline the layers of this character and the strange ways in which our personalities and our life circumstances shape us.<\/p>\n<p>Look where we\u2019ve gotten ourselves. It\u2019s a mess. But here we are.<\/p>\n<h2>A Toxic Power Couple<\/h2>\n<p>When we next see him, he\u2019s in the prison kitchen. He\u2019s called \u201cSaul\u201d by a fellow inmate, and he goes to meet his visitor, Kim.<\/p>\n<p>Of course,\u00a0\u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d\u00a0ended up being almost as much about Kim as it was about Jimmy \u2013 another point of greatness, as she\u2019s not a simple character either. She wasn\u2019t a \u201cgood\u201d woman trying to make Jimmy fly right. She wasn\u2019t an evil temptress re-opening up his bad side over and over, either. You could say she was a little of both, but even that would be unfair. <\/p>\n<p>The character was a human being with some unknown issues of her own who engaged with Jimmy, bringing good out of him, but also his worst.\u00a0They were terrible and toxic for each other (and for those who suffered because of their actions), but they were also a good team, who could have been a great team.<\/p>\n<p>What I\u2019m most grateful for and intrigued with is the subtlety of the show\u2019s treatment of human nature, choices and the consequences of those choices, and what they say about who we are.<\/p>\n<p>As Kim leaves Saul, we see them both behind bars in a way. It\u2019s an image that brought home this entire motif to me: there are certain given elements of our characters that in a sense, imprison us. There are choices we\u2019ve made in the past, the consequences of which, in a sense, imprison us.<\/p>\n<p>But is it possible, nonetheless, even with all that limits us, to claim a sort of freedom, to choose and choose well, and even do some good. Or at the very least, less bad. <\/p>\n<p><em>This article was <a href=\"https:\/\/amywelborn.wordpress.com\/2022\/08\/16\/saul-gone\/\">originally <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/amywelborn.wordpress.com\/2022\/08\/16\/saul-gone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published<\/a> by Amy Welborn at <a href=\"https:\/\/amywelborn.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Charlotte was Both.<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Amy Welborn is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Amy-Welborn\/e\/B001JP2VDE%E2%80%9C\">author<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/amywelborn.wordpress.com\/%E2%80%9C\">writer. <\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0\u201cBreaking Bad\u201d universe created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould is essentially about choices and consequences. Of course, that\u2019s Drama 101, but it\u2019s striking that as much character ambiguity as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1264,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1609842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}