We talk with Better Call Saul finale writer Gennifer Hutchsion about where Jimmy falls on the Jimmy-to-Saul scale post-finale.
The following contains spoilers for theBetter Call Saulseason 3 finale.
Better Call Saul,while a great show, isnt always know for its Earth-shattering finales.
The moral decay of Jimmy McGills into Saul Goodman happens incrementally and logically.
Was that the case for this season as well?
Gennifer Hutchison: Yeah.
Thats how we usually do it.
As we go that can organically shift.
This season definitely operated along those lines.
The big hearing with Jimmy and Chuck thats something that we were definitely aiming for midseason.
We wanted to have that confrontation between them.
We talked about that from very early on.
There was a lot of stuff with Gus and Mike and Nacho and Hector.
Hector having some sort of attack by the end of the season is something that we talked about.
Do you recall where the origin of the lantern as a sort-of motif originated?
Its all very natural for Chuck.
Hes been using these lanterns for so long.
Weve talked about how dangerous that really is.
It just felt right that if he was going to do something like this that would be the mechanism.
Having the photograph of the lantern does kind of function as a Chekovs gun.
I dont really know if that was intentional though.
It might have just been one of those happy thematic things that ended up happening.
Fire always felt right with him.
How does the collaboration process work in theBetter Call Saulwriters room?
Im sure each show is different.
We break all the episodes together.
Its up to our showrunners, Vince and Peter.
Its basically a sequence or a schedule of who writes what.
It really is the luck of the draw.
What was it like to be assigned the finale?
Just because premieres and finales are always extra special.
Youre trying to start something or end something so you get a few more interesting moments.
Theres always some added pressure too though.
You want to check that that you deliver.
Do you have a favorite moment from the finale?
I love so many scenes.
They have such nice chemistry and such a rapport that those are always fun, gratifying scenes to write.
And then to see how they end up performing them.
They always end up making it even better than you imagine it in your head.
Whats it like to write within those two genres on one show?
It can be a little tricky to confirm theyre not too jarring between each other.
We think a lot about that.
We give a shot to link things thematically.
Its really nice though to have that freedom to be able to write across genre within the same show.
You get to exercise some more of your writing muscles and still have a fun show.
The thing that really drives it is that its such a character-driven show.
We really wanted to show Chucks decline in a definitive, measurable way.
This felt like the best way to do it.
We give a shot to write it fairly detailed.
Then you film it and its in little pieces.
I got pretty emotional watching it actually.
Michael McKean did such a great job with the performance.
It was definitely a thing that evolved in my head and became something that was almost difficult to watch.
Hes probably teetering around a 6 or 7.
I think this is a very dangerous time for him.
After everything that happened with Chuck, hes in a very precarious place emotionally.
Id say hes closer to being Saul than hes probably ever been.
Do you have a favorite episode or moment from working onBetter Call Saul?
I have moments from all the episodes.
And Im proud of all of them.
Im really particularly proud of this one.
It was such a big episode that closed off so many arcs and opened up some new ones.
This one felt really particularly significant.
Every scene felt so great.
Its rare to just be really happy in an episode.
Im happy it all came together.
And is it closer to the middle or the end?
It does feel monumental.
The thing that makes Jimmy Jimmy is his relationships.
And in particular his relationship with Chuck and then his relationship with Kim.
I think its intentionally a monumental step towards becoming Saul.
If it is all about relationships, it seems like theres just Kim left at this point for Jimmy.
Lot of pressure on Kim there!
