Quick-Thoughts: Better Call Saul Season 4 (2018)

WARNING: Spoilers for Better Call Saul Seasons 1-4

Better Call Saul season 4 continues the show’s strengths in building divine character pieces that even legendary tales would struggle to vie against. James McGill’s brute arc in this season is genuinely the best character development I’ve observed in this show yet! The character’s reaction and handling to his brother Chuck’s death seizes one of the most unconventional routes I’ve ever witnessed. There even could be an argument made additionally that James’s evocative transformation into Saul Goodman in this season is on par, if not, grander and more polished than Walter White’s hideous transformation into Heisenberg—Vince Gilligan’s writing evidently has yet to decline, as it becomes subtler and subtler. How they express how Chuck, even at death, became the assassin to the name “James McGuill” is impeccably executed. Additionally Kim’s turn to Jimmy’s dark side when it comes to illegal tendencies, the consequences Nacho ends up taking on, and Mike’s affair involving his work versus his morality are all excellent side-plots in this season. 

A chunk of the steady pacing, however, is mildly slugged whenever the show clogs in origins to contextual constituents or familiar ground from the Breaking Bad timeline. When the references work, they work—usually in significant settings that pertain to the central stories at hand. When they’re minimal, jammed in, and nonessential, occasionally they can feel like a betrayal to the already magnificent distinction that Better Call Saul possesses when compared to its divergent predecessor. Nevertheless, this is my only qualm with this season. Wow! 

So, debatably, it’s not quite (as if this was saying much) the greatest season of Better Call Saul—that goes to the previous season with James and Chuck’s optimum duel—but ultimately it’s another astonishingly remarkable accomplishment for television standards, again. Plus, I’d reckon that the final two episodes of season 4 make-up the best finale this show has had yet—hands down! The ultra-fine and dexterous writing revolving around these top-tier characterizations just keep on winning me over and over and over…

Season 5, don’t let me down! 

Better Call Saul Season 4 Math:

1.Smoke = A-

2.Breathe = A

3.Something Beautiful = A-

4.Talk = A-

5.Quite a Ride = A-

6.Piñata = A-

7.Something Stupid = A-

8.Coushatta = A-

9.Wiedersehen = A+

10.Winner = A+

Final Verdict: A

And yes, this is my first time ever reviewing a season of Better Call Saul, so here are my previous grades for the last three seasons below: 

Season 1 = A

Season 2 = A

Season 3 = A

This show really is the season of the A’s, huh? C-O-N-S-I-S-T-E-N-C-Y. 

“Better Call Saul” Season 4 is available to stream on AMC, Netflix, Sling TV, fuboTV, Philo, and YouTube TV.