What Makes Better Call Saul a Love Story? (Spoilers) MARCO/PLATONIC LOVE I think one of the most under discussed parts of Better Call Saul is definitely the episode Marco. I think it‘s the first example in the story where Jimmy loses someone he loves close to him for the first time inadvertently as a result of his scheming. The ring of his dead best friend is an important thematic signifier for his behaviors as it shows up later in season 6 when he puts it back on while scheming as Gene Takovic. CHUCK/BROTHERLY LOVE If losing Marco is losing your best friend, losing Chuck is Jimmy losing his only family. Chuck is an interesting character because we’re supposed to hate him only to see he’s partially right. He tells Jimmy he can’t change while hypocritically demanding he must. When he tells him he doesn’t care about him it’s this false lovelessness that only further pushes Jimmy into selfishness and becoming Saul. Jimmy has an ego but love is what prevents him from being consumed by it. MIKE/FATHERLY LOVE Everything Mike does is a loving sacrifice for his granddaughter. However he's forced to shoot Werner in the head after he gets too close to him and tries to see his wife. It’s Mikes love and kindness which tragically upend him. On a flip side the relationship Nacho has with his father parallels thematically the relationship Mike had with his son. Mike sees Nacho as a son he hasn’t failed but when nacho kills himself he loses his redemption. ”Good nature” is no excuse for criminality. It’s the dialogue with Papa Varga that solidifies this:”Justice? What you talk about... is not justice. What you talk of is... revenge. It never ends... my boy is gone. You gangsters and your "justice." You're all the same.” In the end Mike loses everything for love. GUS/GAY LOVE One key scene is when Gus watches his “partner“ die in Breaking Bad which heavily deepens his character and implies he is gay(he is confirmed gay by the writers). Gus Fring is one of the only characters truly dedicated to the love of another. He dedicates his entire personality in both shows to being emotionless even though his entire arc is built around the revenge vendetta for his loved one. We see him pretty plainly flirt with another man with wine in season 6. This is the only time he displays maybe any real emotion other than presumed sociopathy in the entire series. If a key theme in both shows is doomed relationships and masculine ego Gus understand this masterfully when he manipulates Walt by telling him, “A man provides.” You see the difference between Gus and Walt is Gus does it for love and Walt does it for himself. He is arguably the better man. HOWARD/PARALLELING KIM/JIMMY Like Chuck, the show wants us to dislike Howard only to have us to realize he’s right and that Jimmy has unfairly projected his guilt onto him. By season 6, Jimmy and Kim’s love has flourished. They make out on a bed as they listen to Howard‘s life being destroyed and his marriage collapses. When Howard confronts the two Lalo kills him unexpectedly. For the entire show Kim/Goodman has been a self indulgent but admittedly self destructive relationship. As seen in a flashback with Kim’s mom she is able to abandon her morals in the name of love. But her love and guilt brings her morals back. She breaks up with Jimmy and does the same thing Chuck does:deny him the right to change the same way the thematically unfair American system treats its ex criminals. So why be better if you can’t change? Jimmy losing everyone pushes his heartbreak to consume his selfishness and ego. This is the moment Jimmy becomes Saul Goodman. THE KETTLEMANS/FORESHADOWING/PARALLELS The Kettlemans perfectly foreshadow and parallel Kim and Goodman. They are constantly told by Saul and Kim that they should tell the truth and give up. Which is exactly what they initially refuse to do after Howard is dead. However in season 6 when they all reconnect Jimmy gives them money whereas Kim berates Betsy which further highlights the moral complexities of these changing characters. It’s essence the Kettlemans are the opposite of Saul and Kim’s future where the Kettlemans stay lying together and Saul and Kim disconnect but ultimately both end up confessing to the truth just as they had begged the Kettlemans too initially. MARIE/PARALLELS The inclusion of Marie in Better Call Saul is the best example of good unexpcted writing. Similar to the Kettleman's consistent relationship it’s ironic that Marie and Hank also have the only other real “healthy relationship.” Saul has destroyed both Howard and the Schrader’s relationships. It’s perhaps only comeuppance that he lost his own. Only now does he realize this once in court. With Kim beside him once more he finally takes the high road he tried to convince the Kettlemans to take fully. Although he has been consumed by his selfishness and ego it’s his love for Kim that allows him to confess and finally become Jimmy again. Instead of allowing his heartbreak to make him worse, he finally uses it to become better and finally admits to the guilt that he’s responsible for killing Chuck. CYCLES/PLATONIC LOVE/ Better Call Sauls cigarette shots mirror each other in the beginning and the end. Once Jimmy has confessed he acquires a dual identity between Saul and Jimmy. Everyone has sacrificed and destroyed themselves for love but Jimmy has given up and arguably has a happy ending because of it. Even though he and Kim are no longer lovers their story repeats the same as friends. Moments of shared silence and mutual understanding shared one last time through a cigarettes orange flicker in a colorless world. “Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.”