Better Call Saul is one of the best programmes on television. I could rave about it for hours – the writing, the perfect performances, the unexpected twists and turns, the cinematography. To me, it’s the peak of television, and series 5 has been the peak of Better Call Saul.

We went into this series having finally reached the point where ‘Jimmy became Saul’ – a phrase that had developed into something of a meme as the series went on, a perhaps simplistic way of perceiving the slow burn of Jimmy’s descent into the murkier depths we originally saw in Breaking Bad. By the end of series 4 he had, in name, become Saul Goodman, and I went into this series excited for the classic Saul twists and turns. We got them, and they were just as good as I was expecting. But I came away most intrigued by Kim, fabulously played by Rhea Seehorn. Kim is something of an enigma, all clipped tones and vague uptightness, but it’s clear by the end of series 5 that Better Call Saul is as much about the fall of Kim Wexler as it is the fall of Jimmy McGill, most clearly stated in her ‘Pop pop!’ of finger guns to Jimmy after suggesting a terrible scam to ruin Howard’s reputation – an exact mirror of Jimmy’s ‘S’all good, man!’ at the end of series 4. This was an utterly unexpected and welcome twist. We’ve spent several series waiting for the moment when Saul’s submersion in the moral underbelly of Albuquerque becomes too much for Kim to bear, and now we’re faced with the equally terrifying prospect that it never will be. The stand-out moment of the series belonged to Kim, too, when she fiercely went out to bat for Jimmy against an armed Lalo, using her advocacy skills to barter him down into leaving and considering the weaknesses in his own organisation. It takes a skilled lawyer to insult a cartel leader and get away with it.

But it equally speaks to Lalo’s more introspective nature. I wasn’t a huge fan of Lalo in series 4 – I merely tolerated his presence rather than enjoyed him. But this changed by the end of series 5. What I like most about Lalo is his cunning and intelligence, something missing from much of the Salamanca line. His unravelling of Jimmy’s lie about the broken car in the desert, or his glance at Nacho’s still-full glass (implicating him in the assault on the compound), indicate a superior intellect and more introspective nature. Unlike Tuco or the twins, he isn’t violent or drug-addled – and that makes him far more frightening than any of them.

It’s a testament to the quality of Better Call Saul that, despite the audience ‘knowing how it ends’, it manages to constantly create tension and excitement. Going into the final series, we’re afraid for all of these characters – for the fates of Kim, Nacho, and Lalo, and for the hearts of Jimmy and Mike. I love that BCS is always willing to take a quiet step back. The result is a more introspective and character-based show, and it is superb.