Two things got in the way of that plan. Want more Rolling Stone? He leaves a generous tip on the bar, and exits before David can return to tempt him further.
What began as a prequel series is now, at long last, nearly caught up to the events of the show it spun off from. Read More: Check Out Some of Our Other Recaps! In the aftermath of vanquishing Lalo, Gus allows himself the smallest of celebrations, but that is all it can be. In many ways, this is a greater tragedy than what follows between her and a confused, apoplectic, ultimately devastated Jimmy. She is not attempting to dismiss his feelings as insincere, nor is she denying her own. TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. He cannot possibly fathom what is already becoming clear to those of us watching, but she has just kissed him and this entire life goodbye.
When he promises Manuel that justice is coming for the Salamancas, its to make himself feel good at least as much as it is meant for Manuel and Manuel is not having it at all. Then the seasons biggest surprise hits audiences like a ton of bricks. Be warned: full spoilers for everything in Better Call Saul up to this point are ahead! Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. If the gang isnt all here(*), it is enough of a quorum for what turns out to be yet another goodbye to what this show was. The whole event is, of course, excruciating for Jimmy and Kim, two of the three people most responsible for the death of the man being honored here. End of an era. He is a thug working for a kingpin. While Jimmy tries to talk her out of quitting the law, though, he keeps trampling over Kims words and accidentally finds all of her bags packed before she has a chance to tell him whats going on. Jimmy and Kim prepare for D-Day, Howard tries to make peace, and Lalo has some questions. But its also something of a conclusion of Mikes own character arc on the series. PopTonic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. They cannot give Cheryl closure on what actually happened. It is a necessary lie for Kim, and it is also the last straw. He cant deny it. When David steps away for a moment, Gus contented expression hardens into his more recognizable paranoid mask. Underfed, underpaid, and living at the back of a nail salon, lawyer Jimmy McGill tries to make ends meet whilst caring for his home-bound, eccentric brother Chuck by taking any and every client he can get his hands on. He is reserved in speech, not because he is afraid to betray any weakness to potential enemies, but because he just wants to hear this beautiful man talk about wine. Jimmy McGill has morphed into Saul Goodman after six seasons of some of the best drama on TV. Or is Saul finally done talking and ready to face justice for everything hes done? Jimmy tries his hand working at a private law firm, but soon finds it's not really for him. But we have left behind the show none of us expected, much less expected to care for as deeply as we have. My guess is that well call him Jimmy as long as Kim does.. Because no matter what happens, you can't keep a good man down that is, if Jimmy does remain a good man after what he will face, and what he will do to save his own skin. Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad. Lalos gambit nearly paid off, as sending Kim to rattle Gus left the laundromat undefended. So a sobbing Kim walks back to the bedroom to resume packing. Again and again, they have done things that would have once seemed unthinkable to either or both of them, from Jimmy deliberately placing himself in an assassins path (and chasing that experience with a warm gulp of his own piss) to Kim walking up to a strangers front door with the intention of shooting him. Meanwhile, prosecutor Bill Oakley is glimpsed in the opening courthouse montage, and the first half of this season brought back Bills colleague Suzanne Ericsen, Kims former paralegal Viola, and Jimmys old Davis & Main nemesis Erin. Mike has a fraught conversation with Nachos father Manuel about what happened to his son (more on that in a bit), that is itself an attempt to efficiently resolve old business, before we finally return to Jimmy and Kim. * When Kim is lying to Cheryl about Howards drug use, she suggests she was still an HHM associate about a year and a half ago. The Emmy-nominated actor weighs in on the heartbreaking events of "Fun and Games.". It seems the main order of remaining business for him regards the evolution of his feelings for Saul versus his grudging affection for Jimmy. Mike, who similarly lost his own son to criminal violence, is clearly more alienated and alone after the conversation. Furthermore, Mike begins to spiral after the unfortunate conclusion of Werner Ziegler's employment. (After the Cousins wheel Hector away, Eladio even does a cruel impression of how Hectors face contorts post-stroke.) It does not start out like an episode that will be saying goodbye to our central characters as we knew them, and to the point in time at which weve been following them. Its the quiet, subtle, heartbreaking way that Kim and Jimmy part ways at the end of this era. So all sorts of timeline shenanigans could be possible in these concluding chapters. Its his punishment for falling in with Walter White, of course, but now we know that its also his penance for what he did to his brother Chuck, his former boss, Howard, and the way he and Kim drove each other to greater heights of villainy. And it happens because Kim walks out of Jimmys life and possibly out of the series. But so what? She is not saying it to be cruel. He is enjoying himself. Leaving Mesa Verde behind for good, Kim sides with her husband over the law and plots a convoluted sabotage of Howard and HHM to support their future endeavors. * No, the production did not send Patrick Fabian traveling around the globe to get those photos of Howards outdoor adventures that are on display in the HHM lobby. Gus sweats life in red-alert mode while Jimmy goes on a joyride. This turns out to be a show trial out of deference to the man Hector used to be, as we realize Lalo did too good a job of faking his own death following the botched hit on his compound. Is it any wonder that, from our perspective as viewers, the instant Kim leaves, Saul materializes? this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Heres what to remember about where we left off, as Jimmys transformation into Saul nears completion. He plays Jimmy as thunderstruck and irreparably wounded. He tried to do good for so long, and for so many reasons: to impress his brother, to connect with his eldercare clients, to impress Kim, and because doing good had the unexpected side benefit of making him feel good. From there, we follow Gus down to Mexico to be grilled by Don Eladio and Juan Bolsa regarding Hectors accusations of treachery against the Chicken Man. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BetterCallSaul. Kim stops in court to explain that she has resigned from the New Mexico bar and left the legal profession altogether. Elsewhere, Mike reaches out to Nachos father, Mr. Varga, to tell him that his son lost his life while working for the cartel. Mike goes on a mission of mercy. And, perhaps even more bleakly, it means saying goodbye to Kim Wexler. Gus asking him to restart construction on the Super Lab is just a reminder of how he utterly failed his friend Werner, and then murdered him. Going any further than very occasional chatting with David (who implies he hasnt seen Gus in quite some time) would be dangerous for both of them. BB never explicitly said this, and Giancarlo Esposito has talked in the past about how he appreciates the ambiguity about how many layers existed within that partnership. Hermanos, the Breaking Bad episode featuring the flashback where Hector murders Gus partner Max, implied that Gus and Max were lovers or, at least, that Hector believed them to be. Why would we have ever rooted for such a thing? Kim loses sleep. Sign up for our newsletter. In This Article: Better Call Saul has finally moved its final few pieces into place and set audiences up for something theyve been begging for since the show started. The scenes are shot and edited in a way that allows images from lawyer world to dissolve into ones from cartel world, and vice versa: coffee pouring from the courthouse vending machine becomes blood being squeezed out of a sponge, while Kim showing the jury a photo of her physically abused client turns into Mike studying a picture of the apartment pre-cleanup for comparisons sake. The scene is tense not because Gus is at any real risk of being discovered by Eladio or Juan at this stage of his plans, but because it feels like a storytelling thread is being tied off, for good. Jimmy and Kim get a new refrigerator. So consider this a reunion of sorts. However, this series has loftier ambitions. In Fun and Games, we see the final threads unraveling as the people weve followed throughout the series morph into the characters we met over a decade ago on Breaking Bad. The midseason finale ended on a devastating note. Despite knowing it was coming, it is a moment for which we were not prepared.
The eldercare practice is long in the rearview, replaced by clients like Spooge. pic.twitter.com/z6moIaa4WT. I mean, really over. Since Saul almost certainly bought this one for himself, it also puts him in company with Michael Scott the role that Bob Odenkirk almost played (and thus wouldnt have been available when Breaking Bad was looking for a sleazy lawyer). She confides in him that she knew that Lalo survived the assassination attempt and didnt tell him. The episode then cuts to Gus, who is drinking alone at a nice wine bar. Fun and Games draws that line as explicitly as it possibly can. We may see one or both again(*). Thats not it. Tearfully, she says it was because she was having too much fun with himtoo much fun tormenting Howard, playing cons on random marks, too much fun breaking the rules with him. (*) We dont see Mesa Verde senior counsel Paige Novick, but her name interestingly comes up later on, to potentially fill in for Kim on one of her criminal cases. Gus and the cartel chase Nacho, Kim and Jimmy pursue Howard and everyone is conning someone. It seems like a prototypical calm-after-the-storm story, giving both the characters and audience a chance to catch their breath before the endgame. And leaving institutional homophobia out of the equation, it is simply unfair of Gus to take on anyone as a romantic partner at a time such as this, because the possibility exists that they could wind up with a fate similar to Maxs. However, after the man rushes off to grab another expensive wine to share with Gus, the crime boss comes to his senses and realizes that going any further will only result in David getting hurt. We drank 3 rounds with the hotshot cast of Top Gun: Maverick. Its a lovely, terribly sad scene. Meanwhile, Don Lalo Salamanca casts a shadow over Gus' business of operations, as Nacho is forced to play both sides of the field in order to keep his dad safe, but it's only starting to dawn that no matter how well this is accomplished, he will not be able to easily leave this life behind. In reality, he was a straight-laced lawyer who became the victim of a brutal smear campaign from Jimmy and Kims ruthless desire to hurt him. (DING! We were meant to get here much sooner. Earlier, in the HHM lobby, Rich will say goodbye to Jimmy, before stopping to correct himself and address the man in front of him as Saul. Cheryl, his widow, confronts the pair, telling them she knows they were harassing Howard while he was alive. She is just delivering the last closing statement of her life, and pointing out that their love has dire, at times fatal, consequences for other people, and the only way to prevent more pain is to get out now. Once inside the memorial, we get a glimpse of many of the key players from legal world, including Rich, Cliff Main, and Howards widow Cheryl. In an episode full of lasts, this seems like another one: the last time anyone in Albuquerque, or perhaps in the audience, will ever mistake the one identity for the other. However, now that we know what he lost to get here, the Saul Goodman character feels tragic and hollow. And second, they realized that they really liked Kim Wexler, and that a show where Jimmy raced into being Saul would not be doing right by Kim assuming it still had room for her at all. What on Earth is going to happen now?
"This is a deep connection and a deep commitment to one another," says exec producer Gordon Smith of Jimmy and Kim in "Point and Shoot.". Only by now, it is the moment none of us wants, and certainly not in the way that the series chooses to give it to us. In the process, she transmutes Cheryls suspicions into self-loathing, sending the widow crying into the bathroom, under the belief that she failed to notice her own husband even an estranged one falling into addiction. The proper introduction of Saul feels shocking because of the deliberately abrupt time jump, from Jimmy listening to Kim pack up her stuff as she prepares to leave him, to Saul waking up in bed in his garish mansion after a night with a sex worker a deeply felt relationship replaced by a transactional one. The actors playing the next generation of pilots in the action sequel felt the need for lots of cocktails. Lalo coldly took Howards life before turning his attention to Jimmy and Kim, as seen on last weeks midseason premiere, Point and Shoot. So because their creators fell in love with them, these two characters got to fall in love with each other, and got to make the audience fall in love with them, too. DING! And all of it is ruined for her now. He was about to set out on this mission when Lalo Salamanca, a monster Jimmy thought hed never see again after Nacho Vargas plan with Gus Fring seemingly led to Lalos death. They are back in the familiar HHM atrium for Howards memorial. Lalo Salamanca lives following his "assassination", and his enemies scramble as he goes far afield to get his revenge - Nacho searches for a way out of his predicament, Mike strives to protect his principles and his family, and Gus covers his tracks while preparing for Lalo's inevitable retribution. Adrien Brody, Bob Odenkirk, Amanda Seyfried, and more react to their Emmy nominations.
Bad combover, bluetooth, Caddy with LWYRUP license plate, utter lack of shame the works. An attractive sommelier strikes up a conversation with him, and we get a rare glimpse of Gus actually flirting with someone. The problem, as Inigo Montoya might tell you, is that when you devote your life to the revenge business, you have precious little room for anything else. But there is really no more to tell about this particular corner of the story. In the past, when weve been at these would-be crossroads, Ive often asked Peter Gould whether Jimmy had finally become Saul and whether, as a reflection of this, the scripts now referred to him as such. Mike is drawn deeper into the local criminal underworld, especially due to a bitter grudge against the infamous Salamanca clan. Like that sequence during Lalos defense in JMM, one moment we are watching James Morgan McGill, and the next we are seeing Saul Goodman. Lawyer world has been paid sufficient tribute by now. Saul Goodman, first introduced in Breaking Bad, gets his own Vince Gilligan prequel. Finally, the truth about "Jorge de Guzman" comes out, making Jimmy an outcast in the legal realm. This allowed Lalo to slip in with a camcorder, intent on collecting evidence that Gus planned to betray the cartel and initiate his own drug production business. We drank 3 rounds with the hotshot cast of. Kim and Gus make some difficult decisions of the heart. But it also feels that way because so much of Fun and Games to that point seems like it wants to live up to its title as best it can under the current narrative circumstances. * Saul having a Worlds Greatest Lawyer mug was established on Breaking Bad, but it plays differently now that weve seen how much Kims various Worlds 2nd Greatest Lawyer gifts meant to Jimmy. They brought down HHM entirely. She cant practice law because it would remind her too much of Howard Hamlin, and about all the ethical rules she allowed herself to break because as she will tell Jimmy, her voice so filled with self-loathing its a wonder the words can get out at all I was having too much fun. Kim doesnt get to do the job she was born for. Yet he is almost unnervingly relaxed, relatively speaking, because of the pleasure he gets from being around the boy he likes. In fact, Kim makes things worse for her, deflecting Cheryls understandable skepticism about her late husbands would-be drug use with an invented anecdote about walking in on Howard snorting a line in his office. * Mikes conversation with Manuel Varga outside the upholstery shop is itself a way of addressing outstanding plot points before the time jump, since Mike makes clear that Manuel is finally out of danger from the Salamancas. Better Call Saul Recap: Its Not All Fun and Games, The Saddest Moments from The Vampire Diaries Universe, The Biggest Reveals from the Nintendo Direct, and we get a rare glimpse of Gus actually flirting with someone, The big-shot lawyer lives in a huge mansion. But, as it turns out, it wasnt when he began practicing law under that name. Down in the parking garage where she and Jimmy once shared a cigarette, Jimmy tries to put the whole Howard/Lalo affair behind them. First, they realized that they really liked Jimmy McGill, and wanted to spend more time with him. It wouldnt cause this much pain if it hadnt been so good for so long if we hadnt, like Kim and Jimmy running their latest con, or even like Walter White and Jesse Pinkman exploiting the power of magnetism, been having so much fun. The two are aided in this lie by the disappointed Cliff Main, one of Howards close friends, who saw the direct evidence of Jimmy and Kims attempts to discredit Howard. Even if you assume she wasnt being precise which Kim usually is, but might not be under such fraught circumstances she quit HHM late in Season Two, while Season Four covered the entire year that Jimmy was suspended by the bar. By the time we meet him on Breaking Bad, Mike has largely let go of these illusions. There is a charred corpse that matches his dental records (RIP, Mateo), and the only person Lalo spoke to after going on the run was his nonverbal uncle, whose faculties are no longer trusted by the head of the cartel. So either Paige has, like Kim, had a come-to-Jesus moment about the soulless rot of banking law, or she is doing a last-minute favor for an old friend. Mike is still cleaning up the crime scene at the apartment, and Jimmy and Kim are applying their very different approaches to criminal law. Also see the new teaser for the last batch of episodes. Hell-raisers: The Boys season 3 shakes up prestige TV with superhero debauchery, Just because they're Emmy nominated doesn't mean The Boys are pulling their punches. And thats it, they part, and nothing will ever be the same. Ready for takeoff! However, he is more than ready to abandon Jimmy McGill and become a more colorful, criminal character a decision that will doom him to become no-one at all. Hey guys, in this video I'll be breaking down and discussing Season 6 Episode 8 for Better Call Saul.Be sure to leave any opinions in the comments section below, and possibly a like if you've enjoyed the video :)I'll see you guys next time with more Better Call Saul!Relevant links:My Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/TheVividKiWiMy Twitter:https://twitter.com/TheVividKiWiMy Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/TheVividKiWi/My Twitch:https://www.twitch.tv/TheVividKiWi0:00 - The Apartment2:12 - Gus Fring's House4:02 - Superlab Showdown7:38 - Aftermath11:37 - Rankings Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 9. It is a remarkable scene to witness, because Esposito gets to play a Gus unlike any we have seen before on either series.
* Finally, a few guest star notes. Since the series started, audiences have gotten glimpses of a lonely, dejected Saul, now living as Gene Takovic, managing a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska. Finally, the pieces are all in place. These black-and-white sequences show how soulless and empty Sauls third life as Gene has become. (The third is unable to attend, but is otherwise very close to the deceased.) Now, though, it is not a temporary outburst, but the permanent transformation. * After the time jump, the Goodman & Associates sign that Jimmy and, especially, Francesca look so proud of in the opening montage has been replaced by the more familiar one trumpeting this shows titular catchphrase. After lying to Cheryl about Howard, Kim cant bear the weight of what theyve done any longer. Offers may be subject to change without notice. With so little time left before the finale, and so much to be dealt with in that time, Jimmys complete transformation into Saul not just the name, not just the tacky suits, but the empty shell of a man with no conscience and no remorse was an inevitability. And boy, does it. She cant be with him because of how many people get hurt in their wake. All six men gathered around Eladios pool will be killed within a few years. Even before Rich Schweikart explains that the firm is renaming itself all three name partners are now dead, after all and downsizing to a smaller office elsewhere in ABQ, it feels like the conclusion of an epoch. A series of online webisodes and cartoons which supplement the show. Will the series use its final four episodes to explore Sauls side of the story during the events of Breaking Bad or simply dive into the aftermath of Genes recent run-in with someone who knows his real identity? Me watching Saul Goodman being funny in Breaking Bad after watching Better Call Saul. She plays Kim as composed and controlled until she absolutely isnt, in that horrible moment when Jimmy tries to fix everything by reminding Kim that he loves her the first time, as far as Seehorn herself can recall, that either of them has said this to the other on camera and she replies, I love you, too. Like the shot of Lalo and Howard lying together in their eternal resting place, it is the Saul creative team (with Ann Cherkis writing this episode and Michael Morris directing) using visual language to make clear that whatever barrier once existed between the two worlds has been permanently shattered. The Breaking Bad prequel is back for its final season. And thats true. But he has also already lost, because his desire for the exact perfect kind of revenge the one where Hector Salamanca is forced to helplessly watch his nemesis destroy his family and organization will ultimately be his own undoing. But it was an inevitability we tried putting out of our heads, because of the line it would draw between the show weve watched for these five-plus seasons and the one we remember so well for introducing Saul, Mike, and Gus. Kim is gone now, and not coincidentally, in the very next scene after she walks out of our sight, Im told that the script explicitly refers to the man we are watching as Saul. We are in uncharted territory now, with four episodes remaining. Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler, Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 8 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television, Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman - Better Call, Bob Odenkirk reveals next week's episode of, Stars react to their 2022 Emmy nominations, Tony Dalton as Lalo Salamanca - Better Call Saul _ Season 5, Episode 9 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television; Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring, Ray Campbell as Tyrus, Jeremiah Bitsui as Victor - Better Call Saul _ Season 6 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television; Christopher Kelly as Kim's Client, Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 6 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television; Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill - Better Call Saul _ Season 6 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television, Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 8 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television, Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 8 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television, Tony Dalton as Lalo Salamanca - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 8 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television, Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 7 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television; Tony Dalton as Lalo Salamanca - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 7 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television; Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 7 - Photo Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television, Bob Odenkirk with US actress Carol Burnett, poses on his just unveiled Walk of Fame Star in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on April 18, 2022, Better Call Saul Season 6 Giancarlo Esposito, Michael Mando as Nacho Varga - Better Call Saul _ Season 6, Episode 2, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 07: Aaron Paul (L) and Bryan Cranston attend the after party for the World Premiere of "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie" at Baltaire Restaurant on October 07, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. In a full-circle moment at the start of the sequence, Jimmy notices that building management finally got around to replacing the trash can he kicked after a frustrating meeting with Howard way back in the series premiere. After a shocking season 2 finale that saw Jimmy's law career hanging in the balance, he realizes that desperate times call for desperate measures. (That earlier tour of the house also help orient us as Saul begins his day with Journeys Any Way You Want It, a fancy shower, sock garters, breakfast bars, and all the other trimmings.). Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. After he returns to his own home (as opposed to the safe house on the other end of the tunnel), opens the shutters to let daylight back in, and instructs Mike to resume construction on the Super Lab, Gustavo Fring allows himself an indulgence, but only briefly.