After ranking the best episodes of Breaking Bad last week, we’re now ranking the top Better Call Saul episodes following last night’s tremendous series finale. This article might be a little more subjective with so many options, which shows just how good of a series the prequel turned out to be. [Note: spoilers for both ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’ are included in this article.]
10. “Lantern” (S3E10)
The early seasons of Better Call Saul included multiple episodes worthy of consideration—from “Five-O” and “Pimento” in Season 1 to “Nailed” in Season 2—but “Lantern” gets the final spot based on the ending (Chuck’s suicide by fire) being the culmination of everything built up through 30 episodes. By the end, Chuck had been on bad terms with both Jimmy and Howard, and to kill himself in such a horrific manner showed just how damaged his brilliant mind had become. This episode also had an overlooked tie-in with the series finale—with Jimmy wanting to talk about his regrets while a defeated Chuck dismissed him by saying he’d never change. It turned out to be their final conversation.
9. “Point and Shoot” (S6E8)
The consequences of Lalo killing Howard—or perhaps more appropriately, Jimmy and Kim playing games that resulted in an innocent’s death—were fully felt to begin the second half of Season 6. The action picks up right where the midseason finale left off, with Jimmy convincing Lalo to let Kim be the one to kill Gus (simply to get her away from the homicidal villain)—leading to a scene reminiscent of Jesse being forced to kill Gale in Breaking Bad. Of course, Mike stops Kim at the door, and Gus eventually goes to the laundry to be outsmarted by Lalo for a short while. For the intensity to be cranked up to “10” despite knowing Gus obviously makes it out alive was quite a filmmaking feat, and Lalo’s showmanship gets the best of him by allowing an opening for Gus to shoot him dead with the gun he planted in the under-construction lab. Tragically, Howard is buried next to the man who killed him, adding another layer (no pun intended) to Breaking Bad.
8. “Bad Choice Road” (S5E9)
It doesn’t take long for Lalo Salamanca to be a feared individual after being introduced late in Season 4, and by the penultimate episode of the penultimate season, viewers and characters alike have truly no idea what he might do in any given moment. So, when Lalo drops in on Jimmy/Saul after the events of “Bagman” with questions (“Tell me again.”)—while Mike has a sniper trained on him from outside—all we really know is that Jimmy will live. To defuse the situation, Kim steps in to essentially lecture Lalo about what her husband went through for him, and the villain quietly looks at them for what feels like an eternity before walking out without saying a word to end the episode. Before that, Gus and Mike set out to put a hit on Lalo with the forced cooperation of Nacho—which sets up a memorable season finale.
7. “Waterworks” (S6E12)
Having some sort of tears for “Waterworks” felt like a certainty based on the episode title, and Rhea Seehorn didn’t disappoint as the one to breakdown as the present-day version of Kim—uncontrollably crying on the bus after telling Cheryl Hamlin what really happened to her husband. We also get conversations between Jimmy and Kim over the phone (with her not showing much love other than saying she’s glad he’s alive), the flashback of their divorce during which Jimmy compartmentalizes his sadness (“Have a nice life, Kim.”), and a final appearance for Jesse Pinkman in a captivating conversation with Kim as the two shows continued to collide. Then, the episode concludes with Jimmy/Gene contemplating killing Marion before relenting and being forced to go on the run once again.
6. “Chicanery” (S3E5)
“Chicanery” has a case to be higher than this, as it was a masterful hour of television that pits Jimmy and Kim versus Chuck and Howard—highlighting the McGill brothers by showing their true selves. For Jimmy, he pulls a classic Saul trick to get a cellphone battery into Chuck’s pocket with the help of Huell (demonstrating to the judges that his brother is not well), and his charisma, as always, is on full display. On the other hand, Chuck goes on an epic “I’m not crazy” rant about Jimmy that seals his fate, and the sad irony is that he is right about not making a mistake about the numbers—as it was Jimmy’s scheme that created the “mistake.”
5. “Rock and Hard Place” (S6E3)
“Rock and Hard Place” also included an amazing rant—with Nacho facing death by speaking his mind about the Salamanca’s while tragically believing he was successful in getting Lalo killed. Once again, Mike was keeping a watchful eye with a sniper ready to take out Nacho himself if a quick death looked unlikely, but Nacho attacking Bolsa and taking his gun suddenly turned the tables and made it seem as if an opening was there for him to somehow escape; that wasn’t to be, though, as Nacho shot himself in the head (with Mike whispering to himself, “do it.”) to ensure his father would not be harmed by Gus. The final scene stole the show, but this early episode in the final season also saw Saul using Huell to help create a duplicate of Howard’s car key, and Kim continued to show a destructive willingness to mess with Howard.
4. “Winner” (S4E10)
The process of creating the lab that Walt and Jesse eventually use in Breaking Bad was very interesting to see, and Mike had heavy involvement with Werner and his men. Unfortunately, a respectful bond between the two “veterans” that was built throughout Season 4 had a tragic end, as Werner could no longer be trusted, so Mike—rather than allow Gus to hire his own man to do it—killed the German engineer himself under the starry New Mexico sky. But the thing that puts “Winner” among the best episodes of BCS is Jimmy’s storyline, as he uses grief about Chuck’s death to win his appeal hearing for the Bar Association—but it turns out to be insincere with him mocking the “suckers” for buying his fake sadness. In a scene that was perfectly paced, Season 4 ends with Kim finding out about Jimmy now practicing law as “Saul Goodman”—leading to her standing in shock after Jimmy spins with a cheerful yet chilling “S’ALL GOOD, MAN!”
3. “Something Unforgivable” (S5E10)
This episode almost feels like “Crawl Space” for Breaking Bad with the ending and final shot—Lalo escaping the compound—being so good that it gets a boost for the entire episode. That said, the other moments shouldn’t be overlooked with Jimmy desperately wanting Lalo taken care of (and learning of the planned assassination from Mike), Kim essentially “breaking bad” by insisting they mess with Howard (leaving the room with signature “finger guns” when Jimmy wants to talk her out of it), and the humorous look at Lalo with his family after arriving with Nacho. But it’s indeed the ending of a furious Lalo limping away from his home before the credits roll that turns up the stakes heading into the final season.
2. “Plan and Execution” (S6E7)
The No. 1 spot on the list is very close, with the midseason finale having perhaps the best scene of the show with Howard’s shocking death at the hands of Lalo. Jimmy and Kim could only stand in absolute fear knowing what Lalo is capable of—while Howard doesn’t seem to ever fully realize that he’s in any danger until it’s too late. Before Lalo even enters the picture, Patrick Fabian had his shining moment as Howard by cutting deep with words at Jimmy and Kim that they deny/deflect but know to be true. When the candles in the apartment flicker with the air from the door opening, you can feel a sense of dread hanging over the couple, and the mystery turns to absolute terror with Jimmy watching a ghost walk into his living room. After the cold-blooded murder of a man he just met, Lalo ends the episode with three calm words: “OK. Let’s talk.”
1. “Saul Gone” (S6E13)
A completely happy ending was probably never going to be in the cards for Jimmy McGill based on all he did in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul—because while he might have never had his finger on the trigger, the final courtroom scene (and previous episodes in Season 6) showed he had a heavy hand in the rise of Heisenberg and his path of destruction: “Fact is, Walter White couldn’t have done it without me.” Still, most of the episode had a feeling that Jimmy would somehow find his way out of the situation, and that was more of less the case with his negotiations getting the sentence down to a little over seven years—plus a cushy prison of his choice, and a “sweetener” hanging over the situation that would have resulted in ice cream every Friday during his sentence. But it was regret that hanged over the episode—via flashback conversations with Mike, Chuck, and Walt (something that had to happen in the series finale)—allowing Jimmy to leave Saul Goodman behind by willingly coming to terms with everything he’s done and caused. The surprising courtroom turn put Jimmy in prison for perhaps the rest of his life, but the time shouldn’t be difficult (his fellow inmates love him based on his reputation as a lawyer), and it also resulted in winning back Kim as much as was possible considering what they’d been through. Basically, the finale allowed us to see one last win for Jimmy, and it was on his own terms with consequences that were fitting for his crimes. The final moments of Jimmy and Kim sharing a cigarette calls back to their first appearance together in the series, and the final shot of Jimmy using the patented finger guns as Kim departed was a perfect ending to the Breaking Bad universe.