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'Better Call Saul' Season 5 Finale Review: How long are Jimmy and Kim safe after the rebellion and bloodbath?

In their quest for survival and safety, Jimmy and Kim finally address a much-needed topic as a bloodbath raises the stakes for the sixth season

Spoilers for 'Better Call Saul' Season 5 finale Episode 10 'Something Unforgivable'

After an entire season of approaching the titular Saul Goodman's (Bob Odenkirk) turnover from an idealistic attorney Jimmy McGill, the finale fizzles out when it comes to the menacing aura that was expected of him. Instead, it's a giant evolution for Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) - the woman who has single-handedly proven in the last two episodes that she has bigger balls than pretty much anybody else on the show. And be it out of love, devotion or an in general anguish towards a world left behind, we are just glad Kim wasn't caught in a bloodbath like we were anticipating so far. Instead, the shower of bullets rain down on Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), finally, or so think the rivals and his little sidekick Nacho, because the new Salamanca in town proves just why he is to not be messed with.

From boiling hot oil in a frying pan to using an underground tunnel as means for both an escape and a trap, Lalo proves just once again how he still is pretty much the one who knocks. And given that his days are numbered, it was a brilliant set up for the tragedy that's to come in the sixth and final season.

We meet Jimmy and Kim exactly where we had left them off in the previous episode: Kim having just faced off Lalo and called him out on his behavior towards Jimmy the way it should have been. Jimmy suggests a change in surroundings for their own safety and the couple spends the night at a fancy hotel with designated fancy separate single beds and curiously enough - separate brushing time too. There's an ongoing teasing "Will they? Won't they?" going on, but more than making up, it's surrounding what had looked like an inevitable break up between the two. But trust Kim to be so inherently Kim some times that even Lalo and the cartels with their bullets and public shootouts can't seem to leave us rattled as much.

On one hand, there is her assertion that Jimmy won't do something like the desert job again. On the other hand, it's her knowledge about the world they have left behind and how Jimmy needs to stick with Saul and leave all ties in the past. Her internal conflict surrounding right and wrong came to an understanding when she had assumed Jimmy was dead and came to a full display when Lalo had shown up at their home. In the finale, Kim is the one partaking in the titular 'Something Unforgivable'. She faintly smirks, her eyes laden with conviction as she wants to use her career for the good but is also not shy to give Jimmy's enemies a taste of their own proverbial medicine. Seehorn channels a mysterious tongue-in-cheek aspect to Kim's newfound persona as someone up for whatever scheme Saul is on to and with finger guns and an effective wink of an eye, she is the one who throws "S'all good, man!'" even better.

One would think she is doing this all for Jimmy, but Kim has given us reasons to believe the thrill and excitement is something that has excited her. And while Kim is taking the reins or standing upright in moments where Jimmy - still traumatized from recent developments - can't so much, the finale doesn't shed as much light on him. Odenkirk has essayed this man ready to hide and adopt a sabbatical of sorts for quite a while. But it is Kim's participation that has Jimmy still going, not Mike Ehrmantraut's (Jonathan Banks) reassurances that Lalo's days are numbered. While the finale does offer some hope in the Jimmy and Kim relationship department, what makes things worse is knowing that Lalo is out on the prowl. But before we dive headfirst into the elaborate escape Lalo orchestrates in the heat of the moment, something that's only possible with Peter Gould's direction, let's take a detour with Nacho first. 

Hiding out in the neck of the desert, beyond the south of the border, Nacho has been tasked with letting the paramilitary forces into taking out Jimmy as per Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) and Mike's plan. And for the most part, Nacho does really well, which is telling because of how much he doesn't want to be a part of this world anymore. Kim's duality, her denial of the life they are choosing and her interest in being with Jimmy, is rivaled by Nacho's conflicting interest in taking down Lalo. On one hand, he gets to be free, but on the other hand, how free can he be considering he is organizing a mutiny under Gus's orders?

The hot oil in the skillet was his personal touch to causing a distraction serious enough for Lalo to engage in. His picking the locks using tin snips and aluminum can be attributed to Mike all the way, executed to perfection by Nacho himself. But he runs while Lalo dives into an underground escape route and emerges alive elsewhere returning to take down every last single one of the men who had come to take him out. In its own way, this invincibility is a striking nod at 'Better Call Saul's elaborate gimmicks trying to put Gus, Mike, or even Jimmy at times on a pedestal. It was high time Lalo got his due. In fact, if that particular scene with Dalton gleefully smiling as the car window rolls down didn't give off his malice and insidiousness then the scene in Season 6 surely will. And knowing this time he's definitely coming for Nacho and co. along with Jimmy and Kim possibly, makes it ever so terrifying.