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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
Entertainment
Tommy Cummings

After ‘Better Call Saul’ series finale, Tina Parker analyzes the top 5 moments

DALLAS — As Francesca Liddy, the put-upon receptionist to Saul Goodman, Dallas actor Tina Parker has been a recurring presence on the combined 11-season runs of Breaking Bad and "Better Call Saul" on AMC.

So, as "Better Call Saul" rolled out its series finale Monday night, Parker was like millions of other fans of the "Better Call Saul/Breaking Bad" universe paying rapt attention and analyzing the details.

“It’s the end of an era,” Parker said the next morning. “It was truly a magical place ... from the showrunners to the stars, your No. 1s to the PAs, everyone was excited to be there.

“It was a rare unicorn of a show.”

"Breaking Bad" started it all with a story about the rise and fall of chemist-turned-meth-producer Walter White. "Better Call Saul" was spun off and told the story of a hustling lawyer whose cons eventually ended up being his demise.

Parker appeared in three seasons of "Better Call Saul" and four of "Breaking Bad," which are the tip of the iceberg in her long film and TV career. In 20 years, she has 50 credits as an actress, according to IMDB.com. She is currently the co-artistic director and company manager at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas. She’s able to critique the series from an acting sense and in terms of its overall artistic quality.

Parker analyzed the top five plot points in the series finale:

Plot point 1: Jimmy McGill, Bob Odenkirk’s character a.k.a. Saul Goodman, turns tail when Marion, played by Carol Burnett, calls the police via her Life Alert. Jimmy thinks he’s evaded capture before being forced into a dumpster. But police discover him anyway, make the arrest and he’s held for numerous crimes. Did being found in a dumpster hit the mark?

Parker: A thousand percent. It seemed right that he was in the trash — hiding in the trash and trying to call the vacuum cleaner guy [who facilitated Saul’s hidden identity in Omaha]. Of course, it’s over. It’s comically sad, which seemed right on the nose for him.

Plot point 2: In an Omaha jail, Jimmy is upset but gathers himself when he sees a crude message on the wall about the power of lawyers. He laughs, slips back into Saul mode and helps his attorney/acquaintance back in Albuquerque hatch a legal strategy, which includes involving agent Hank Shrader’s wife, Marie Schrader, played by Betsy Brandt.

Parker: It’s kind of a last victory, a hurrah, to get that sentence down to seven years, plus golf and wherever he was going to be from 180 billion years, or whatever the sentence is, to seven years. It was a strange victory for him to be able to negotiate everything down.

Plot point 3: Saul’s final negotiation point — the revelation that he had info on the disappearance of Howard Hamlin — blows up in his face when prosecutors tell Saul his ex-wife Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) had confessed to seeing Howard killed. Howard was shot and killed by Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) in front of Jimmy and Kim.

Parker: It became about her and protecting her, and doing right by her. And that’s ultimately the story. He finally makes the right decision and he’s finally able to be Jimmy McGill. He’s not Saul anymore like the title of the show, “Saul Gone.”

Plot point 4: As a thread that pulls the narrative together, Saul brings up time travel to recurring characters Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), Walter White and his brother, Chuck McGill (Michael McKean). Each encounter gives Saul pause and deepens his thought process.

Parker: Yes! I loved it. In the scene with Walter White, (he said) “What you’re really talking about is regret.” In all the scenes that discussed time travel, he was never willing to fully admit that. He would go back if it had to do with money or that time he fell and hurt his knee. It was never to do anything about personal connection. And at the end of it all, he finally does [make that connection]. He is able to make amends.

Plot point 5: In the end, Kim and Jimmy rediscover their connection. In a scene, they share a cigarette, which hearkens back to their early moments in the series. Did you catch that?

Parker: It was really moving. It had so much heart. Oh, this guy has a soul, and it’s really about love.

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