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The final episode of the first season of Better Call Saul felt like a departure from the rest of the season. We wrapped up several loose ends, but there was really not much to it. As a season finale, there was a surprising lack of plot movement. What we did get was perhaps the most important character development from Jimmy/Saul that we've seen all season.

This whole season has really been about Slippin' Jimmy moving up to "Charlie Hustle" - side note: this is not really a flattering nickname, Pete Rose was a disgraced baseball player known for working really hard. Not flattering, but perhaps very appropriate. Charlie Hustle gave way to James McGill, Esquire. That was Jimmy's attempt at becoming an equal to his brother, which we saw blow up in his face in a spectacular fashion last week. This episode we see Jimmy finally start to turn into Saul Goodman.

(Tune in to the TV Soup Podcast - Better Call Saul S01E10 - "Marco" Review)

Jimmy has always been a guy who has excelled at pretending to be someone else (Kevin Kostner anyone?) Heck, once he dressed up as Matlock, his business started taking off. Perhaps he's always been most comfortable being someone else. He finally cracks while being a bingo caller and tells everyone in the room about a "Chicago sunroof". He's clearly not playing his Matlock role very well here, but Jimmy just can't get over his brother's betrayal at this time. Bob Odenkirk delivers one of the best monologues of the season (he has all but like 2 lines), and I won't butcher any of the funny moments for you here. Just make sure you go back and watch it at least one more time.

So, Jimmy needs a break and he heads up to Cicero, right back to his old stomping grounds. Marco might have been right when he said that Jimmy is basically the Miles Davis of scammers. It definitely was fun watching Slippin' Jimmy work. He picks up right where he left off with Marco, down to Marco sitting on the same damn barstool. They launch right into a "west facing Kennedy" scam without skipping a beat.

We're promptly lead into one of the most fun montages of the season (boy do I love my montages in this show). This one had everything - Nigerian Princes, a violin, “cash” coated in some black substance, cars being in a bad neighborhood, Irish lottery tickets, and of course plenty of booze and loot. Clearly, Jimmy and Marco are kings of their own domain, living it up and making up for the last 10 years.

Jimmy gets snapped back into reality with 15 voicemails about old people wanting to set up their will. The start contrast is definitely what is needed to bring Jimmy back into reality. He realizes that he’s got responsibilities back in Albuquerque and Chuck or no, he doesn’t exactly want to just bail on all those people. Marco convinces him to do one last Rolex scam and they set up in the exact same alley we saw them in back in episode 4, “Hero”.

The entire scam is very anti-climactic, but not because it’s a failure. In really the only plot of the episode, Jimmy comes up on Marco and he’s nearly dead. He manages to wake up Marco for a moment, who is able to convey a moment of pure joy, telling Jimmy that this has been the best week of his life. This HAS to stick with Jimmy for a long time, and I’m sure whenever he touches the ring he now wears, he remembers Marco’s smiling face when he told him that.

After Marco’s funeral, Jimmy heads back home in order to take advantage of a prospect he has with another law firm that is going to help out on the Sandpiper Crossing case. Just like Walter White’s offer from Grey Matter, which would have set him up for life, Jimmy just can’t bow down and refuses the opportunity. He’s reached the moment where he’s no longer living to be Chuck’s equal, he doesn’t care about impressing Kim, and he could care less what Howard Hamlin thinks of him at this point.

So, to close out the season we’re given one last cheesy moment in this episode. Jimmy pulls up to Mike’s tollbooth and rather blatantly conveys his regrets that they didn’t just take the $1.6 million from the Kettlemans. It’s not the money specifically, but Jimmy is apparently sick of not taking advantage of every opportunity in front of him. He’s not going to let the “right thing” get in his way anymore. This completes the tragic tale of Jimmy McGill and signals the transformation of Slippin’ Jimmy into Saul Goodman. I’m excited to see the reality checks that Saul has in season 2, and as a fanboy, I’m looking forward to lots more Breaking Bad drops.

Candied bacon can be a bit time intensive and tedious, but it's definitely worth it and destined to become something your friends and family keep asking you to make. (The whole recipe is listed at the bottom.) First of all, you want to start off with some thick-ass bacon. I usually use smaller slices (about 1oz each), but for these pictures, I had some extra thick stuff, these slices were about 1.7 oz each. This definitely made an excellent end product, but regular butcher's cut thick bacon is sufficient as well.

Get a baking sheet, parchment paper and an oven-safe baking rack. Don't be an idiot, spray some Pam on that rack first. Prep the bacon by throwing it in an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Leave it in for 10 minutes, then flip and cook for 5 more minutes. While this is going on, prepare the glaze. You'll need rice vinegar, maple syrup, dark brown sugar and black pepper.

Measurements: 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 4 tbsp syrup, black pepper to taste. It's hard to get the black pepper to stick on the bacon, so if you like black pepper, use a whole lot of it in the glaze. I like to use a lot of black pepper, it gives a good contrast to the sweetness. Once you've got the bacon prepped (cooked for about 15 minutes), brush both sides with the glaze, and put it back in the oven for 6 minutes.

You'll need to flip the bacon every six minutes and spread more glaze on the top side of the bacon. You want to repeat this every 6 minutes until you're out of glaze. It will start to shrivel up and the bottom of the pan will fill with sugar and grease, so make sure to use parchment paper - otherwise you'll never get the pan cleaned.

Once you're out of glaze, leave the bacon in the oven until it's finished. This will take 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye out, because it will burn quickly when finished, but you need to make sure it gets crispy first. Resist the temptation to turn the oven up, as the sugar will burn at temps above 350 degrees.

When it's done, the bacon will be a dark leathery color (though quite shiny). The sugar on the pan is burnt, but the bacon only has a tiny bit of burning on the ends. Trust me, these burnt ends are fucking delicious. Move it away from the heat and let it cool down. Make sure to pull it loose from the grate once everything starts to set. If you wait too long, it will stick very badly and you will have torn up pieces of bacon instead of nice sexy strips.

Have fun making this, you're probably going to find yourself doing it more than once. Here's the whole recipe laid out:

8-10 oz of bacon (regular thick bacon is about 1oz per slice, the bacon in the pictures was 1.7oz each before cooking)

1/4 cup - dark brown sugar

2 tbsp - rice vinegar

4 tbsp - maple syrup (use the real stuff!)

black pepper to taste (as in, if you have taste, you'll use lots of it)

Preheat oven to 350. Prep the bacon for glazing - cook it for about 15 minutes, then pull it out and glaze both sides of it. Cook the bacon for 6 minutes, flip it and glaze the top. Repeat until the glaze is gone, then cook for 15-20 minutes to crisp up the bacon. Let it cool completely before devouring entirely.

(Listen to the Retrospectical Podcast Episode 06 all about bacon, including an interview with Baconfest Chicago co-founder, Seth Zurer) 

This episode starts off very innocently, we’re outside and Jimmy and Chuck are enjoying their feet in the grass. Chuck is trying to get more used to being outside (he’s sitting in front of the transformer). It's a quick scene, a little small talk about the case, but a big contrast from later in the episode, down to it being bright and outside, and later is all dark and shadowy. Yes, this show loves to play with lighting.

Jimmy (I wrote Saul here initially - maybe being in court really reminds me of him as Saul) argues (successfully) against a restraining order that would have kept him from seeing his clients. This was never going to stand anyways, and he's given a big thrill by an early victory, but he doesn't realize that this is just the first drop of a tidal wave his opponents are ready to unleash at him. Schwiekart is pumping him up with some false bravado before he brings in the big guns.

(Tune in to the TV Soup Podcast - Better Call Saul S01E09 - "Pimento" Review)

Jimmy gets back to Chuck’s and is snapped into reality with a ton of paperwork that Schwiekart & Cokely had delivered while he was in court. Chuck breaks it down and has to tell Jimmy that he needs to refer the case over to HHM. This is exactly what Jimmy didn't want to do. Jimmy wants to "Erin Brockovich" the shit out of the case (as a reference, this is interesting, because she's not really a lawyer), but Chuck (of all people) has to force Jimmy to see reality. "Hail Satan. I submit to the dark side".

Chuck, in the middle of the night, sneaks out to use Jimmy's phone. Think about everything he had to "overcome" in order to pull that off. That means that this phone call is incredibly important AND he can't tell Jimmy about it. What the fuck, Chuck? At least he stabbed his brother in the back in the least dignified way possible - wearing a space blanket and oven mitts.

Mike (first to work, he also does his homework) is waiting in the parking garage. He meets a gigantic dude "is this the place where we wait" and the guy from Grand Theft Auto. Literally. There's a hilarious "whatcha packing" sequence. "pimento is a cheese, they call it the caviar of the south". Their "employer" pulls up and he's worse than Walter White at the very start. The theme of this scene seems to be people who are talking way too much. Also that Mike is a complete badass.

Chuck, dressed in a foil-lined suit, heads over to HHM with Jimmy in order to refer the case to them. We see at HHM that everyone is turning in their old ass cell phones (good job props department). They cut the power to the building and Chuck gets a huge welcome from the entire firm. In the boardroom, Howard makes Jimmy really happy with the financial side of the deal, but he cannot work there. Jimmy demands an explanation from Howard, who just stonewalls him. Chuck doesn't really fight for him, and in fact almost seems to be making faces at Howard which give him up, but Jimmy is really focused on Howard. He's always taken the fall for Chuck and it's really starting to eat at him.

Kim confronts Howard after the meeting and after berating him, Howard can't stand being the bad guy on this to Kim (maybe he likes her?) and finally spills the beans (behind closed doors). Howard's been the bad guy up till now and maybe he's not all that bad, because even as a high powered lawyer, he can't stand being quite that crappy.

Mike is finally in his element that we're so familiar with from Breaking Bad. He squeezes Nacho (first sighting since ep 2) for the last $20 of the money and impresses us all with the background work he had done on the deal before getting there. Mike is like the wizened old criminal, doling out sage advice and teaching budding criminals the ropes.

The dominoes are starting to fall now, as is typical in the penultimate episode of a good series. Kim goes to Jimmy's and tells him to take the deal. She doesn't tell him about Chuck (though it's assumed that she knows by now). Jimmy goes off on her, one of his only real friends. After she leaves, he starts putting the pieces together about Chuck (his dead phone is a big clue). He has the look of a guy who knows he's about to discover a bad truth as he picks up his office phone.

Cut to Chuck's house for the final scene. Bob Odenkirk's acting all year has been great, but the last two scenes of this episode are really spectacular. I hope he's considered for an Emmy for this role. The reveal that Chuck has been the guy who kept Jimmy down since passing the bar exam is one that most of us were putting together from the beginning of the episode. The pacing of the reveal was great though. It allowed for Jimmy's long rant about the brothers working together, if that's what you really want. Chuck has a bit of a diploma entitlement thing going on, where he has no respect for the way that Jimmy became a lawyer. He knows he's still slippin’ Jimmy, but now he's a chimp with a machine gun. Funny way to put that. Jimmy isn't that guy, but Saul definitely is. Jimmy may eventually become Saul, but Chuck might be the spark that gave him life.