It was a mistake to jump straight into binging Season Four of Better Call Saul fresh off of marathoning six seasons of The Americans. It was difficult to re-adjust to Vince Gilligan's slow, methodical, artsy style of storytelling after living in Joe Weisberg's fast-action 1980s period drama. Both shows are great in their own right, but it was considerably tougher for me to get sucked into Saul than it had been in years past. To wit, my wife effectively called it quits after the first couple episodes (though naturally, she still wanted me to tell her what happened).
The season did take its time to find its footing, to be sure. The fallout from Chuck's death included extremely weird behavior from Jimmy, who seemingly couldn't find joy in anything until he found out that he was indirectly behind Chuck's suicide. That should have been the first clue for his McGill-severing behavior in the finale. Similarly, Mike meanderings in Lydia's warehouses early in the season wound up not serving much direct purpose, and his arc didn't really pick up until later in the season.
That said, boy did his arc pick up. His effective command of the superlab construction project was probably my favorite Mike storyline of the entire series, and this is the first time I've found myself more invested in Mike than Jimmy. His relationship with Werner and its ultimate termination were heartbreaking, and the scene in which he's forced to kill him is simultaneously one of Better Call Saul's saddest, best-shot (heh) and well-executed (ahem) scenes.
Nacho getting absorbed into Gus' operation was another interesting twist, and I would have liked to see that action play out further. It was horrid to watch him in agonizing pain from the gunshot wounds of Gus' guys, and we really didn't see a whole lot of him after his recovery. The arrival of Lalo* was a new element of danger for Nacho, and we last see him looking at Canadian driver's licences (I think?) for him and his father.
*I've read that the "Better Call Saul" episode of Breaking Bad, Saul asks Walter and Jesse if they were sent by Lalo. That's fascinating how much of this world was built by offhand comments in the predecessor series. It makes me want to re-watch Breaking Bad to catch all of these references.
Kim had a little bit of a weird season as well, as she was often cold and shut off. Her best moment came when she lashed out at Howard over Chuck's will arrangement. The rush she gets when slipping (heh) into Jimmy's schemes continues to fascinate me, but in the end it appears that she was conned more than anyone else in that storyline. She shed tears over Jimmy's impassioned speech to the bar committee and when it was revealed shortly after that Jimmy was totally full of shit, it seriously hurt, as Kim had said she'd be with him no matter what. Thinking back on the season, the moment had plenty of foreshadowing but it still registered as a total shock when it happened.
One wonders whether Jimmy's relationship with Kim has permanently severed at this point. She's pledged allegiance to him through so much garbage over the course of the series, but this was by far Jimmy's most serious betrayal of her trust. It's the first time that Jimmy seriously doesn't seem to give a shit about her feelings and the single point at which there's no doubt that he's beyond redemption*. Breaking Bad had a similar climax at the end of Season Four, when the camera pans to the Lily of the Valley plant, effectively revealing that Walter poisoned Brock. The Saul Goodmanning of Jimmy McGill is effectively complete in this moment, and we're left with one more season to link him up with Walter White. Better Call Saul has had better seasons, but its run of quality largely continued in Season Four. The debate of whether this show or its effective sequel is the better series will continue to rage on -- something that seemed inconceivable when news of this show originally leaked.
*Humor me, assume that there's not a whole, previous television series indicating that he's beyond redemption
Season Grade: A-
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