.
I find it interesting that all seasons of BCS have been ten episodes and that Nippy (S6E10) very well could have been the final episode. All major plotlines (with the minor exception of what happened to Kim) have been closed and Gene had a complete arc where he closed off the Jeff situation and left Slippin' Jimmy and Saul behind.
But Gene doesn't recognize the rules of the show. He doesn't know he should be done. He keeps playing the tape even though there's no more footage for the intro. He calls back to Albuquerque right as we start, where we learn there's literally nothing left for him. There was no reason for him to call. It only upset him as he became aware of all the money he didn't need but lost. And the one dangling thread that could have been left untugged (Kim) leaves him unsatisfied when he tugs it out of a sheer lack of anything to do. And now he's in this limbo after his show should have ended where he's doing things he doesn't have to and making the same mistake he did all those years ago by diving headlong into something he wasn't prepared for.
I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of meta commentary there too with the Walt/Jesse cameos. The show functions perfectly well without them, but we demand them anyway, wanting to drag "color" into this black and white story. Like Gene, we're not satisfied with episode 10. So episode 11 immediately gives us what we've been asking for, but with a cost.
Edit: Talking with my friends and coming up with more evidence to support this reading. Definitely making a full post once the sub unlocks. But when Gene makes the call to Francesca, my friend remarked that it felt like a fan calling the showrunners and asking for them to tie up arbitrary loose ends (like what happened to all these characters that ultimately weren't that important). Francesca looks kind of confused because there's no real reason why he should care. The story's over. He keeps pushing for more, even dropping a fan theory that one of the characters was secretly gay the whole time. Nothing satisfies him. And he doesn't even ask about Kim. Francesca offers it up at the last minute, like she's disappointed she doesn't have anything for him, and so she gives him the opportunity to address the last plot thread that he may be better off leaving behind. He almost does, but there's still time in the episode, so he goes back, calls, and ends up spiraling down because the answer is far from satisfying.
