Better Call Saul’s fifth and penultimate season recently came to an end. With its final season set to air next year, the show’s timeline has more or less caught up with where Breaking Bad began. Jimmy McGill is practicing law under the name Saul Goodman and he’s being increasingly drawn to Albuquerque’s criminal underbelly in his new role as a “friend of the cartel.”
The fifth season of Better Call Saul might have been the best yet. It was certainly the most action-packed year for the s’all-good spin-off. So, we’ve ranked every episode in Better Call Saul’s fifth season by their IMDb scores.
Namaste (8.7)
Although “Namaste” is technically rated as the worst episode of the season, an 8.7 score is still pretty impressive. The most memorable moment in the episode sees Jimmy launching bowling balls at Howard’s car in response to his condescending job offer.
The episode had a great cliffhanger ending, too, as Mike went back to antagonize the guys he’d previously fought while drunk and woke up in an unfamiliar compound with a healing stab wound.
Dedicado A Max (8.8)
Picking up where “Namaste” left off with Mike recovering from his stab wound, “Dedicado a Max” was arguably the least action-packed episode of the season.
But it still had plenty of great character moments, building on Mike and Kim’s arcs in particular, while Jimmy’s continued efforts to delay the construction of Mesa Verde’s call center (creating fake artifacts, planting radioactive material, spray-painting Jesus etc.) made perfect use of the Saul Goodman persona’s in-your-face use of loopholes.
50% Off (8.9)
The second episode, “50% Off,” set up most of the season’s conflicts, especially for Nacho. With a gun to Nacho’s father’s head, Gus forces Nacho to gain the confidence of Lalo Salamanca, setting in motion the Lalo villain arc.
Vince Gilligan has admitted that he didn’t feel the need to explain who Lalo is, but Peter Gould did. Thankfully, Gould won the argument and, courtesy of the charismatic Tony Dalton, season 5 raised one of the Breaking Bad universe’s most sinister, yet charming villains to prominence.
Magic Man (9.0)
Almost a year and a half after season 4 ended with Jimmy telling Kim, “S’all good, man!,” Better Call Saul returned with “Magic Man,” a season premiere that saw Jimmy finally begin practicing law for Albuquerque’s shadiest crooks under the name Saul Goodman.
In a sweet turn of events, the episode was dedicated to Robert Forster, who cameoed as Ed Galbraith (reprising his role from Breaking Bad and El Camino) in the episode’s black-and-white flash-forward and passed away before its airing.
TIE: JMM (9.2)
Whether the title stands for “James Morgan McGill,” “Justice Matters Most,” or “Just Make Money,” “JMM” was a turning point for Better Call Saul.
Jimmy and Kim got married to protect themselves legally, Lalo recruited Jimmy to pick up his bail money, and in the show’s chilling final moments, Jimmy exploded at Howard after their conflict finally came to a head.
TIE: The Guy For This (9.2)
Kim’s conflicts with Mesa Verde bubble to the surface in “The Guy for This,” setting up her season-long development, as she realizes she cares more about her pro bono clients, but the corporate fatcats will keep pulling her away to evict people from their homes.
Plus, Jimmy is embroiled deeper in the Salamancas’ business. Notably, “The Guy for This” saw the return of Hank Schrader and Steven Gomez as Better Call Saul started to catch up with Breaking Bad.
Wexler V. Goodman (9.5)
When season 5’s episode titles were announced before the season aired, one particularly tantalizing title that grabbed fans’ attention was “Wexler v. Goodman.” With no context for the title, we had to watch each episode to fill in the blanks leading up to such a legal skirmish.
The episode in its final form didn’t disappoint, as Jimmy pulled “the ol’ switcheroo” in a Mesa Verde meeting with Kim and went ahead with a scheme she’d already vetoed. Seeing this scene from Jimmy’s perspective and from Kim’s perspective made it both hilarious and excruciating.
Something Unforgivable (9.6)
The season finale, “Something Unforgivable,” set us up for the sixth and final season in some really exciting ways. It left us with a ton of questions. Will Lalo come for Jimmy? Can Nacho get a clean break? Will Kim sabotage Howard like she planned to? And, more broadly, where was Kim during Breaking Bad?
We’ll have to wait more than a year to find out, but the finale still brought plenty of satisfying moments, from Kim laughing at Howard to Lalo going full Anton Chigurh on the assassination squad sent to kill him.
TIE: Bad Choice Road (9.8)
The penultimate installment of season 5, “Bad Choice Road,” spends its entire runtime building up to its explosive climax. Everything seems to be going great: Lalo is going to disappear to Mexico, Nacho will be off the hook, and Jimmy can stop worrying.
But then, Lalo catches wind that Jimmy’s recollection of the events of “Bagman” is filled with lies. So, Nacho drives him back to Albuquerque, where he confronts Jimmy. It’s an intense scene, and may be Kim’s finest hour as she uses well-chosen words to get Lalo to stand down without having to reveal the truth.
TIE: Bagman (9.8)
There’s a sly self-awareness in “Bagman.” In the opening scenes, as Jimmy tells Kim he has to drive out into the desert to pick up Lalo’s bail money and insists he’ll be fine, then pours his water all over his shoes while he waits for the cash, there’s an ominous sense that something terrible will happen.
And, lo and behold, it does, as Jimmy is run off the road by hired goons and saved from certain death by a sharp-shooting Mike. The duo’s odyssey through the desert played brilliantly as a standalone neo-Western storyline, as well as an integral piece of the larger puzzle.
