Better Call Saul is back: Here’s what you need to remember for the sixth and final season
The end is near for the Breaking Bad prequel, so get refreshed on what Jimmy, Kim, Mike, Gus, and the Salamancas are up to
TV News Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul, like Breaking Bad, the Emmy-winning classic that spawned it, has only gotten better with each season. What began with the irrepressible public defender Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) squabbling about courthouse-parking-lot stickers led to Jimmy, in the penultimate season, becoming nearly full-on Saul, collaborating with fixer Mike (Jonathan Banks), drug lord Gus (Giancarlo Esposito), and cartel family member Lalo (Tony Dalton).
Slow burning and packed with the nuanced characters, heart, heartbreak, humor, and that Hamlindigo blue of the the Vince Gilligan Universe, Saul has taken us right up to the brink of Bad. And there are more varieties of tragedy to come before it’s all is done. In anticipation of the April 18 premiere of the first half of season six on AMC, here’s a look back the most important details from season five. (We’ll recap the new season’s episodes on the nights they air, so watch out for those, too.)
Gene probably won’t have a happy ending
At least we know Saul, Mike, Gus, and Tio Salamanca (Mark Margolis) live to see another series. But one of Jimmy McGill’s many aliases may not be so fortunate. The third version of Jimmy (not including that one time he convinced a waitress he was Kevin Costner), the post-Breaking Bad, on-the-lam Omaha Cinnabon manager known as Gene Takovic, has been the season-opening teaser throughout Saul. And we’ve been shown us that, as much fun as Jimmy and Saul had, Gene paid the price for it, one crappy apartment, PB&J brown bag lunch, and visor-topped outfit at a time. Gene is as sad and meek as Jimmy and Saul are jaunty and boisterous, and the only thing that might break Gene out of his mall-dwelling doldrums is the fact that he’s been busted by cab driver Jeff, who recognized him from those glorious “Better Call Saul!” promos from back in the ABQ. Being hoisted by one’s own petard is a trademark of Gilligan and Peter Gould’s storytelling, and though the always resourceful Jimmy/Saul/Gene opted not to have “Ed the Vacuum Cleaner Repairman” get him out of this scrape, it still seems like a long-shot to think Gene might make it to another series (by which I mean the Gene spin-off I dream of).
“Bagman” changed the game (and proved Gilligan & Co. still know how to wring a masterpiece out of this story)
From the beginning of Breaking Bad to the fourth season of Better Call Saul, Team Gilligan and Gould had done 102 shows set in this world, and it’s quicker to count the number of installments that aren’t amazing than the ones that are. And then there are those episodes that go another level, gems like Bad’s “One Minute” (season 3, episode 7) and “Ozymandias” (season 6, episode 14), and Saul’s “Bagman” (season 5, episode 8). not to mention the opening minutes of the follow-up, “Bad Choice Road” (season 5, episode 9). “Bagman” sets up moments big and small that will take us all the way to the Saul finale and beyond.
Jailed Lalo offers Jimmy $10,000 to drive off into the desert and pick up $7 million in bail money his cartel cousins (the cousins, Leonel and Marco Salamanca) are going to drop off for him. Despite objections from Kim (Rhea Seehorn), Jimmy sees none of the danger, only the whiff of easy money he’ll make. But a convoy full of gun-totin’ men who want those duffle bags full of cash are about to kill Jimmy when a hidden sniper—Mike, of course—saves him. Vehicles are damaged in the process (R.I.P. Suzuki Esteem), and Mike and Jimmy spend a harrowing night walking across the blazing desert, with the meager supplies Mike thought he’d need (urine is ingested, via a Davis & Main bottle).
Gilligan directed the tense, funny, and beautifully shot story, which pays off in so many ways: Kim sobs in relief upon finally hearing Jimmy is alive when he gets a cell signal, but only after she goes to Lalo and reveals Jimmy’s vulnerability as she demands his whereabouts. Lalo gets his bail and is free to wreak havoc into the beginning of season six. And Jimmy and Mike open “Bad Choice Road” with one of the most memorable moments of the series. The duo finish their scorching trek to a truck stop, where Victor (Jeremiah Bitsui) and Tyrus (Ray Campbell) find them, in shorts, generic travel tees, and flip flops, mentally and physically fried, holding giant fountain drink cups.
Walter White and Jimmy McGill aren’t the only ones who’ve broken bad
Jimmy spends season five urging Kim to trick everyone from her pro-bono clients to Kevin Wachtell, the Mesa Verse honcho who she’d worked so hard to woo. Despite her refusal to adopt Jimmy’s ways, he forged ahead and did it his way, nearly costing her work, relationships, and her reputation with his blackmailing and shortcutting. Her old boss Howard (Patrick Fabian), her new one Rich (Dennis Boutsikaris), and even Kevin warned her of the consequences of Jimmy’s influence. And if it hadn’t become clear before, this did it: Kim’s reaction to all of Jimmy’s lies and shenanigans was to suggest to him that they break up—or get married?!
“Either we end this now and enjoy the time we had and go our separate ways…or maybe we get married,” she tells him in “Wexler v. Goodman” (season 5, episode 6), proving beyond a doubt that our beloved Kim Wexler—kind, moral, generous, pro-bono devotee Kim Wexler—is happy to employ the “S’all good, man” philosophy, too. Be it making sure their conversations and actions have spousal privilege attached, as they now do, or plotting the ruin of Howard’s reputation so Jimmy can get his hands on the Sandpiper settlement more quickly, allowing her to focus on pro bono work, Kim Wexler has broken bad.
And like the fellas who earned them before, no one on the series, or in all of TV land, deserves an Emmy nomination for this transformation more than Kim portrayer Rhea Seehorn. One more shot, Emmy voters.
And now for the biggest Kim-related question remaining: She was never a part of Breaking Bad, which has a lot of fans worried about her fate. To all the Saul watchers who’ve already declared it the superior series to Breaking Bad, we’ll argue that it’s too soon to tell. No one is more likely to stick the landing than Gilligan and Gould. But a lot of that depends on that ending with Kim.
78 Comments
I think Kim dies. I think Mike kills her. …just gonna leave this here and see if it ever gets approved.
Nothing about my main man?
Seriously that “pill swap” scene from a few seasons back was some of the most intense shit I have ever been through. Just white knuckling it.(reeeeaally really hoping he manages to get out of all this by the end)
I guess it’s really Nacho day.
My guess is either he ends up in a shallow grave or a fugitive. I don’t see a happy ending for him at all.
Nacho! My poor bad-choices baby.
He’s such a good actor I would’ve sworn he was in Breaking Bad too, lol.
Yeah, he’s impressive – love that role. Casting is such a key thing for a series like this.
You’re not the only one.
Saul makes a reference to an “Ignacio” in Breaking Bad, so there’s a solid chance he makes it. Saul could also be referencing him even if he’s dead to try and save his own skin.
This. As much as I’m anxious about Kim, I’m downright terrified for Nacho.
Sadly, Nacho didn’t have much to do this past season. I hope it was because he’s going to have a LOT to do in the final run.
I fucking love Nacho, he is absolutely precious, and if he makes it out this season alive I’ll eat a whole damn hat. dude has been barely dodging death for like three seasons straight
You know who I’m glad I ain’t gonna be? Nacho Varga
This is my favorite show when it’s airing … I’m glad it isn’t streaming so I have a chance to savor and anticipate each episode.
I hate Netflix for introducing the “drop the entire season” method. It seems so inelegant and spurs spoilers for those who watch the entire thing in a day or two.
Some shows we like to binge through but not this one. Good luck getting out of greys.
Greys? This is one of the few kinja sites that i’m not in the greys, lol.
Yeah. The binge model really sucks and utterly obliterates any real collective conversation about a show once it drops, since everyone is watching it at a different pace.
Some shows are better binged, but this for sure is not one of them. You NEED that time between episodes to really absorb that shit.
Yes, a popular and anticipated show, especially more nuanced shows like BCS/BB need time to digest. 2 episodes a week could be the sweet spot. Binging is good for shows that have already run its course and you start watching since spoilers are irrelevant or a new show that has not been established yet, or shows that are just fun to watch that do not require too much analysis. Of course spinoffs would not count as a first season to me in this context.
You can stream the episodes after they air, of course.
Why would I want to do that? I’m already keyed up for an hour before a new episode airs. Not missing the ‘live’ broadcast.
I agree. Some shows you need time to digest the episodes. When an entire season drops you tend to rush through it, whether just into it or wanted to avoid hearing spoilers. I think 2 episodes a week is the sweet spot. Enough to chew on each week and not feel wanting but also not overdoing it. If a show is one that is popular and anticipated, it should be released gradually but not too gradually. Some shows can be binged, usually older shows that have already run their course or a new show in its first season before we know how good it really is.
“One more shot, Emmy voters.”
Two more I think, due to the split season.
I’m worried about LyleYou don’t see him in Breaking Bad…
Emmy voters have two more shots – the season is split between Emmy-eligibility-years.
A lot of people seem to think Kim won’t survive to the end of the series, but I don’t see that happening. If Kim dies, I don’t see Jimmy ending up as the Saul we see in Breaking Bad.
Absolutely, no way.I see Jimmy as kind of similar to Jesse, in that he flirts with the fantasy of power and wealth, and at first seems gleefully amoral about it, but in actuality has clear lines he doesn’t want to cross.Jimmy doesn’t value much (certainly not his reputation), but Kim is easily the most important person in his life. If Saul Goodman’s shenanigans got Kim killed, that would be THE END for him. No way would he be Saul Goodman as portrayed in BB if, like, the cartel murdered Kim Wexler.My prediction is still that he keeps sliding into the ill repute of BB-era Saul, and somehow alienates Kim in a permanent and unfixable way. She doesn’t die, he just ruins their relationship and is left as an extremely gaudy empty suit.
I’ve been predicting for years that the twist will be that Kim actually was still with Saul during the events of Breaking Bad (and we just never saw her because we never saw much of Saul’s personal life), and she reunites with Gene during the post-BrBa timeline.
I’ve been predicting for years that the twist will be that Kim actually was still with Saul during the events of Breaking Bad (and we just never saw her because we never saw much of Saul’s personal life), and she reunites with Gene during the post-BrBa timeline.I love this theory and now I want this to be true!
Yes, I’m expecting pretty much the same thing. The Gene story will end with a happy ending for the series.
She manages the Omaha Auntie Anne’s.
I was thinking this too, however, I did not see a possible heel turn for her. Gilligan did once say he’d be interested in a Kim spinoff series.
Saul has very few lines (if any) he wouldn’t cross in the BB timeline. He even flirts with/suggests the idea of murdering Jesse to keep himself and Walter in the clear.
I mean its a credit to the writers , actors and especially Rhea Seahorn that people are genuinely concerned for her characters fate .
I hope not. My guess is Kim has either had it with Jimmy and left, or is forced to go into hiding separate from where Gene eventually ends up.
Totally agree. I’m not worried about her. I think maybe she’s in hiding or witness protection or something, but she’s not dead. I see a Gene-Kim reunion at the end of the series.
I think Jimmy feels massively betrayed by Kim in the end, and chooses to write her off and forget her. This might even be what turns him full-Saul Goodman. I remember seeing in BrBa that his favorite mug – says, “World’s Best Lawyer,” which feels like a jab at his relationship with Kim, who gave him the “World’s 2nd Best Lawyer” mug. I can see him thinking, never again. And choosing the new mug to symbolically one-up her or erase her.
Kim is living it out in Omaha Nebraska. This season will reveal that the ‘Flash Forward’ threat to Saul is not in fact the Cartel but Kim Wexler trying to suss out whether the guy at Cinnabon is in fact Jimmy
Really glad I rewatched the whole series last month in anticipation for this. It almost felt like I was watching season 1 for the first time again. Can’t believe the show premiered seven years ago!Howard has become one of my favorite characters on the show upon rewatch, because you realize he has always been the most decent main character on the show the whole time. If anything, he is always doing his best to manage the chaos around him as professionally as possible and is barely keeping his head above water. A lesser show would have just written him off after Chuck’s death, but they’ve continued to add depth to his relationship with Jimmy and Kim even with reduced screen time over the last couple seasons. I’m expecting some sort of a twist with his character in the final season, especially since they’ve revealed nothing about his family life yet.
Howard has become one of my favorite characters on the show upon rewatch, because you realize he has always been the most decent main character on the show the whole time I just finished a rewatch and could not agree more. I found Howard to be a sympathetic and truly good guy, this time around. I felt sorry for him – he tries to do right by Jimmy, despite Howard not understanding or approving of the type of lawyer Jimmy is and wants to be. After Chuck is gone, Howard has to shoulder the entire failing (because of Chuck!) firm, and still tries to find ways to make it up to Jimmy.As with Breaking Bad, each character, even minor or barely-supporting characters, seem to have their own lives and worlds independent of what we’re shown. I used to say that BB and BCS have some of the best writing on tv – now I still say that, but don’t say “some of”.
One of the great things about the show(and Patrick Fabian’s acting) is that initially Howard comes across as generic high powered, rich lawyer asshole , when its gradually revealed that he’s a lot more than that and as you said a truly good guy.
And in opposite of that, Kim comes across as a truly good guy (woman), but she’s slowly revealed to be… kind of not.
Howard’s best moment is getting eviscerated by Kim after that letter to Jimmy.Also, another possibility—Kim is in jail for the entire BB run (which is only about a year, right?).
Kim getting disbarred and jailed, instead of Jimmy, because one of their schemes fell apart seems like a very appropriate turn of events. If, as previous commenters have suggested, Kim dying would have caused Jimmy to have left Albuquerque for ever, Kim going to jail might be the impetus to make him go full Saul Goodman. This also holds out hope for a far distant finale (which is to say, set in 2022) in which the two of them are back together as free persons, ( whether in honest trades or dishonest ones is an exercise left up to the reader)
Two years (from bacon 50 to bacon 52). Still plausible.
Howard was mostly reacting to Kim in that scene. And Rhea Seahorn nailed it. Still can’t believe she hasn’t won an emmy.
Of all the characters in Better Call Saul that weren’t in Breaking Bad, the only one that I had never, ever worried about was Howard . . . until the final few minutes of last season. Now I’m (almost) as worried about him as I am about Kim and Nacho.
One of the things Howard did that showed he’s a decent guy was when he brought over a bottle of expensive Macallan to help cheer up Chuck in season 3.
Look at that second photo and tell me that Gene isn’t Larry Kleist, rapist…
Yes, “slow-burning” is a great description of the show, and of each episode. Man, it takes time and attention must be paid, but the reward, after watching Mike just watch somebody for many scenes (or after watching Mike fabricate a tool or two) is always worth it. The slowness (though we can all agree it’s not slow paced, right?) works for the entire run, as we watch Jimmy eventually become Saul, not through a cheapo one-time revelation, which a lesser show would employ. We follow him, and everyone, as they naturally and necessarily become what they’re going to be.[And my vote is for Kim to show up at the end, to somehow rescue Jimmy/Saul/Gene… but could they pull that off and keep the integrity of the show? I think they could but might not want to. But… if they kill her off, we still had 6 seasons of Rhea Seahorn being amazing.]
See, this is a show that knows how to do the “slow burn” right unlike say, The Americans, which slow burns its way to the finale, and nothing really happens along the way. Well, except some plucky self-aware automated mail delivery machine conspiring to kill agents that disparaged it.
Hot Take: AV Club’s obsession with mail robot was really weird, and in general, keeping up with the checklists in those reviews was the wrong way to watch The Americans
Mail Robot was a cult hero though.And his final scene was arguably one of the greatest moments of the entire run.
I do think it’s kind of slow paced actually, especially the Mike scenes. Don’t get me wrong, I love the show, but I tend to skip the Mike stuff on rewatch. It’s like two different shows.
Man what the fuck
I thin the creators thought it would be fun to parallel Mike and Jimmy/Saul’s story in BCS, but it soon became clear that Mike doesn’t really have much of a story to tell. Jimmy is a complex, layered character who is on a clear journey. Mike is basically the same character we already saw in BB, there’s just not much to do with him that holds any real weight. So, as much fun as he is, he gets saddled with dumb crap like the “building the lab” subplot, which was BCS’ worst/most pointless bit of business.
I feel like Breaking Bad turned into too much of an action/adventure thriller at the end and less of the good character stuff that made up the early parts of the show. I really hope they remember the main part of this series is about Jimmy and not about people shooting each other and drug deals gone wrong
BCS is the great show everyone pretended that Breaking Bad was (BB was fine with a few outstanding and some bad moments).
yeah. the character work in BCS is so much better it’s wild. BB was excellent at landing those holy shit moments that made everyone lose their mind, but look past those and it’s a pretty inconsistently written show
Breaking Bad’s antihero arc with Walter White was incredibly influential at the time it was done, and it’s still a great show. But I think Vince Gilligan was also observing what his AMC counterpart, Matthew Weiner, was doing with Mad Men at the same time and realized just how deep you could go with character work and slower pacing. I genuinely believe Mad Men was a huge influence on the tone and writing style of Better Call Saul.
I just realized this and feel dumb, Jimmy and Walt both had similar sore spots in their lives. That one thing to quickly bring out their anger. Jimmy’s was HHM. Walt had Gray Matter Industries. Two huge companies that kind of pushed them away. I say kind of because (trying to think back) didn’t Walt walk versus Jimmy getting shoved away by Chuck?
I’d prefer Kim go to the vacuum store and be the one stalking Gene. In the meantime, spinoff Kim into her own show or at least a damn movie to fill in what she was up to in between BCS the end of BBRhea deserves it!
Didn’t really like the episode Bagman that much. Lotta redshirts getting shot to death from a distance, plus there was never any question Mike and Jimmy were gonna get out of the dessert alive
Since she isn’t in BB, Kim either:1) Dies2) Leaves3) Out-Jimmy’s Jimmy and becomes a crime lord.#3 is my fave.
The most important question is whether Donna Bowman is going to still be reviewing the series, as her writeups are really fantastic. I think she’s a freelancer so hopefully they still carry her reviews, otherwise not much point in coming here for Better Call Saul material, or much else.
Probably not.
Nobody thinks Saul is better than Breaking Bad. And if they do, theyre wrong.
Excellent article. Hope Kim makes it out alive. I mean I really, really, really… REALLY hope so.
I don’t get the whole “Since The Show is Ending And It’s A Crime Drama The Main Character Guy Has To Die” conceit.
Sure, it’s possible.
Tony probably died. Walter definitely died.
But McNulty didn’t die. Raylan didn’t die.
Saul is more of a Sunuvabitch than an true Anti-Hero choosing the path of Emotional and Physical Pain to Others to Advance His Own Interests.
While Walt lets Jane choke on her own vomit, Saul throws a bunch of bowling balls at Howard. Sure, he messed with his brother out of righteous spite…but didn’t think it would end Chuck’s life, right? So does he deserve the same kind of fate as those who intentionally choose the path of awfulness??
Truth be told, though, if there are any specific breadcrumbs/foreshadowing as to Gene having a “fateful” type of fate that I might have missed, then I guess it’s not so much a conceit as it is hinted at in ways that went over my head lol…
I wouldn’t use McNulty as an example of the protagonist of this sort of show – for one, he’s not really the main character – one of The Wire’s strengths is that it was more of an ensemble show. It had a deep bench of characters that it could give moments, scenes and development to in order to fill out and explain the world. Also, he’s not a criminal – he’s a police officer who sometimes gets a little creative with his investigation, but not the sort of character who really is constantly in danger. The Wire isn’t really that sort of universe.Vic Mackey in The Shield is an example that falls right in line with Tony Soprano, Walter White and Saul Goodman, though. And he doesn’t die – he loses everyone he cares about, he loses the respect of everyone he knows, and he’s stuck in a job he hates in order to keep from going to prison. He’s in a hell of his own making, with all the time in the world to reflect on how his choices brought him to that point.I wouldn’t be surprised if that how we end things with the Omaha flash-forwards. All of the goings on, all of the trouble and worry that balding Saul has been dealing with in black and white? Just some coincidences. Perfectly innocent. His fate isn’t death, his fate is that his life is now one of eternal paranoia. He’s trapped in the role of Gene Takovic, Cinnabon Manager because to embrace his true personality means the kind of visibility that could get him killed. And in the choice between getting killed, or hating his life…as Lalo said, he’s a survivor. Whether he likes it or not.
So, what sticks out for me, is that based on what Saul says in his debut BB episode, whatever happens to Nacho and Lalo this season is going to happen without Saul ever finding out. My personal assumption is that Lalo will be killed, and my hope is that Nacho gets to Manitoba with his Papa. I think Kim will either leave, or she’s actually upstairs at Gene’s place, and he’s just habitually paranoid while also watching his old commercials, tearfully, in the middle of the night.
Kim dies on Wayfarer 515.
Whoa! That’d be insane and I wouldn’t put it past them.
Two cents from me:
A. Walter White cameo when Saul brings the new wheels into the car wash
B. Kim is originally from Nebraska. After she gets disbarred she moves back home. The show will come to an end w/ Kim spotting him at the Cinnabon, nodding and going about her day.
Unless I missed it somewhere, Jesse has to be in the final episode, right?
Sorry Saul. Don’t even care anymore. Gone way too long. And I definitely do not need any more Breaking Bad. Especially the incredibly annoying Mike Ermantrout.