thoughts on Jimmy/Saul/Gene's arc in "Better Call Saul"

[WARNING: spoilers. And the following discussion is relevant only to those who've followed "Better Call Saul" and know all the character names.]

The final episodes of "Better Call Saul" have introduced superstar Carol Burnett as Marion, an older lady who meets Jimmy/Saul in his guise as Gene Takavic. Gene is not in witness protection; he's merely deep in hiding after the events of "Breaking Bad," and it's possible that Marion is slowly realizing that Gene is a scammer who has sunk his claws into her son Jeff. With only two or three episodes left in the series, it's probable that something is going to come to a head as Gene continues to try to make illegal money.

I've been watching some of the blow-by-blow reviews of these final episodes on YouTube, and everyone seems to be ecstatic about how the series is progressing. While I, too, find "Better Call Saul" pretty engrossing, I can't say that I like the overall trajectory of Jimmy/Saul/Gene's arc, especially over this final half of Season 6. The series feels almost as if it's wasting time, what with Gene essentially reverting to his old "Slippin' Jimmy" persona. "Slippin' Jimmy" is a moniker that Jimmy McGill acquired as a youth known for his recidivism, i.e., his slippage back into his old habits. This is why Jimmy's older brother Chuck held Jimmy in such disdain: Chuck might be an arrogant prick, but he figured out, early on, that Jimmy is an unreconstructed crook at heart, and that he'll never change. Without a moral compass like Kim Wexler in his life, Jimmy will always revert to crime, to the easy route, to the heedlessly self-destructive path. To some degree, as a criminal, he's very good at what he does, but in the big picture, Jimmy/Gene will never rise to the towering heights of, say, Walter White. At most, he will only ever be a middling crook, just as he was a mediocre lawyer.

And I find this disappointing because it means that Jimmy/Saul/Gene hasn't really had a character arc at all. For a time, when he was with Kim, there were hints that he could become a better person, but Kim left Jimmy after telling him that, together, he and she were poison—toxic for each other, and harmful to the people around them (which is how pompous-ass Howard ended up getting killed by Lalo). Kim was clear-eyed enough to see the situation she was in, and she got out before it was too late for her. Jimmy, left to his own devices, is the can't-help-himself moth to the flame. He's going to get caught and/or killed, and that will be the sad end of Jimmy McGill, a.k.a. Saul Goodman, a.k.a. Gene Takavic. Watching Jimmy is a bit like watching my own father: no amount of tragedy can keep him down; like a stupid puppy, he takes a hit, then gets right back up and is cheerful again, ready to be stomped on once more. He's incapable of evolving, of learning lessons from past mistakes. It's frustrating to watch people who never learn and grow, and Jimmy is one of those stupid folks who are forever caught in the whirlpool of their own bad karma. There's no striving to become a better person, no evidence of greater awareness about how life works. There's only the repeated making of the same mistakes, over and over and over. The series teased the possibility that Jimmy might be able to change, but nothing changes him: not the death of Chuck, not his own near-death in the desert, not the death of Howard, not the departure of Kim—nothing. Jimmy is utterly impervious to new knowledge and wisdom. 

I can only assume this non-progression is a deliberate choice on the part of the showrunners. Since they've chosen to show flash-forwards of Jimmy/Gene's life after the "Breaking Bad" timeline, it was possible, for a while, for me to think that maybe Jimmy/Gene could turn into someone redeemable. But if there's any redemption in Jimmy's future, well, there are only two or three more episodes in which to show it. So right now, my prediction is that Jimmy is going to come to a bad end, and "Better Call Saul," despite being at least partly a comedy, will end up being a weird sort of nihilistic tragedy, i.e., a tragedy in which the main character dies or gets jailed, thus affirming the ultimate meaninglessness of his life.

So unlike all the other critics, I'm left with my unpopular opinion that "Better Call Saul" is ending on a disappointing note (unless you like nihilism). The showrunners had a chance to make something of our main character, but they've chosen to do nothing instead. Who knows: maybe something big will happen during these final episodes—something that might change my opinion, but at this point, I think it's too late for Jimmy to undergo any sort of deep metanoia—a profound change of heart and mind. All we can do is watch Jimmy fizzle, sputter, and go out like a candle flame with no more wick.