Better Call Saul - What to expect for Season 6

The sixth and final season of Better Call Saul approaches rapidly, and for the sake of tension, it will be aired in two halves, with the first half of 7 episodes premiering on April 18th and running weekly until the 23rd of May, and the second half of 6 episodes commencing on the 11th of July, culminating in a series finale on the 15th August. In preparation, I wanted to use this blog post to illustrate where we stand in Better Call Saul at present, in context to the wider Breaking Bad universe. This will mean analysing what events will need to take place for the Better Call Saul to align with what we already know takes place during Breaking Bad, and where that leaves us as we approach the finale of the show altogether.

First thing to clarify, this article will be impossible to write without including spoilers for the already-aired seasons, so don’t read ahead if you’ve yet to finish or watch either show. If you’ve watched Breaking Bad but not Better Call Saul, I would also advise not reading ahead, and instead that you begin Better Call Saul right away. If you enjoyed Breaking Bad, BCS is really worth your time.

Structure

In saying structure, I’m alluding to how the episode span of season 6 will be allocated to what the season needs to fulfil. The finale of season 5 left us a couple of years away from the events of Breaking Bad, with some questions still unanswered. However, the cold opens in BCS all the way through have foreshadowed the life that Saul Goodman leads post Breaking Bad. With this in mind, I think it’s a fair guess that the first half of season 6 to air will span the events leading up to Breaking Bad, with the second half following the events after.

Season finales in Better Call Saul rarely match the tension of the preceding episode and tend to act more as scene-setting for the following season. I suspect that episode 6 will see the current storylines and dynamics reach climax point, likely featuring at least one character death, with episode 7 showing Saul picking up the pieces and, if not arriving at the doorstep of Breaking Bad, giving us a good impression of what Saul’s life between now and then looks like.

Where we stand

In the most recent season, Gus halted production of the meth lab with Lalo’s presence in New Mexico too much of a risk. Reporting back, Nacho informed Gus and Mike that Lalo’s plan is to chip away at Gus and the Los Pollos side of distribution that they become too much of a liability and Don Eladio decides to cut them off altogether.

While Kim headed the banking department at Schweikart & Cokely, Mesa Verde’s plans for expansion hit a snag from Mr Acker, who refused to give up his home on the site that Mesa Verde wish to build on. Sensing that her party were in the wrong, Kim sent Jimmy to represent Mr Acker and ensure his best interests are protected. Jimmy came up with ideas to disrupt the construction teams on site and filmed a TV commercial with the intent of slandering Mesa Verde’s image.

Kim asked Jimmy to pull the commercial, and said that she’d advise Mesa Verde to settle. Jimmy double-crossed Kim and played the commercial for Mesa verde anyway, which ended up working as him and Kevin Wachtell agreed on a price to pay to make the allegations ‘go away’. Still, this caused a rift between Jimmy and Kim, who felt Jimmy’s actions were not only insulting to her, but also could have placed them both in legal jeopardy. To get around this, the two get married in a rather unceremonious manner, to achieve husband-wife confidentiality as a legal protection.

Jimmy also meets with Howard, who offers him a job at HHM, attempting to make amends for the chance that Jimmy wasn’t given the first time round. The attempt to make peace offends Jimmy, who retaliates by throwing bowling balls at Howard’s car during the night, and sending prostitutes to one of Howard’s business lunches. When confronted about this behaviour, Jimmy unloads on Howard, letting him know that he believes HHM is far too small for him.

To eliminate the problem of Lalo, Mike orchestrated his arrest for the murder at the TravelWire place. While in custody, Lalo orders Nacho to burn down Los Pollos. This makes it evident that Lalo isn’t out of the picture, so Mike has Jimmy secure Lalo’s release on bail so that they can truly deal with the threat he poses by ensuring he heads back to Mexico. In the meantime, Nacho relays Lalo’s request to Gus, who goes ahead with destroying his own restaurant to ensure Lalo retains full confidence in Nacho, his inside man.

Having secured Lalo’s bail, albeit for a hefty $7million, Jimmy is sent to the border to retrieve the money, however he is ambushed by a gang sent by Juan Bolsa who attempt to rob him, however this gang is killed in the nick of time by Mike, who had been tracking the location. Jimmy’s car is destroyed in the crossfire, so Jimmy and Mike head back to Albuquerque with the money by foot. Once Lalo’s release is secured, he makes his way towards Mexico, but returns to Jimmy’s apartment to question why his story about the money doesn’t add up. Kim retaliates against Lalo’s line of questioning, telling Lalo that if he doesn’t trust anyone else to trust with the money, then he has bigger problems to worry about than Jimmy.

Jimmy and Kim spend the next few nights in a hotel, still fearing for their lives. Following Jimmy’s ordeal in the desert, Kim reached an epiphany and decided to quit Schweikart & Cokely and hand Mesa Verde over, allowing her to allocate her time fully to pro-bono work. The two come up with an idea to frame Howard for ‘something unforgiveable’ to tarnish HHM’s reputation and force a settlement in the ongoing Sandpiper case, allowing Jimmy and Kim to get their 20% fee.

Lalo has Nacho drive him to Mexico. Once there, he arranges for Nacho to meet with Don Eladio. Nacho impresses Don Eladio, but is also told that he’s in the wrong business if he doesn’t want to be looking over his shoulder. Lalo presents a sports car and a case full of money as a gift to Don Eladio, placing the Salamanca family in a more favourable position to him than Gus & Juan Bolsa.

During the night, Nacho lets an assassination squad, sent by Gus, into Lalo’s family compound, before fleeing himself. Lalo is able to stand his ground against the squad, but in the crossfire, several of his own relatives are killed. Approaching the last remaining assassin, Lalo has him call his employer to tell him the job is finished. Lalo sees Nacho has vacated the premises and leaves the compound himself, marching away in fury before the camera cuts to black.

Characters

Jimmy McGill - Breaking Bad tells the story of Walter White’s battle with cancer, so logic dictates that that the story either ends with Walt beating cancer, or cancer beating Walt. With Better Call Saul, it is less apparent where this story will end for Jimmy.

BCS tracks the descent of down-on-his-luck, affection-craving Jimmy McGill, to the sleazy, morally bankrupt Saul Goodman. We already know he becomes the latter, so the question may fall on the events that take place post Breaking Bad. Namely, will he continue down the path laid out by Saul Goodman, one that will surely ensure his arrest/death sooner rather than later, or does he grow from his mistakes and ‘choose the right path’ so to speak.

In Breaking Bad, Saul’s final move is fleeing to Nebraska to take on the new identity of Gene Takavic, with Walter White’s identity as Heisenberg confirmed and Saul’s links to him undeniable. In the flash-forwards we see of Gene’s life in Nebraska, it’s clear he’s hiding from something. Saul committed countless crimes throughout Breaking Bad, although many of them were witnessed only by characters who are now either dead, or also living under a new identity. He is likely still looking at several charges of facilitating money laundering, but his demeanour as Gene seems to suggest he fears for something larger; his life. Given the news coverage of Walt, it is likely that Saul knows Walt, Jack Welker and his gang, and Lydia have all died, so it is unclear who he thinks his life is at danger from.

Unless it is someone from Better Call Saul. As the course of the show seems to imply that it will follow Saul into his post Breaking Bad life, this segment would need to bear some continuity to the story of Better Call Saul, to justify being part of the same show. It’s likely we could see some relationships, or themes/situations from BCS re-occur in Nebraska, to allow Jimmy’s end point to be marked in comparison to where he began.

Kim Wexler - Perhaps the most captivating aspects of Better Call Saul has been the mystery around the fate of Kim Wexler. The mystery of how a character who is such an integral part of Jimmy McGill’s life, not to mention, his wife, would end up not appearing or even being mentioned throughout Breaking Bad. The easiest solution to this would be to assume that Kim dies before the events of BB, however I’m going to argue against this, mainly on the grounds that if it did happen, I would spend the rest of my life weeping.

Firstly, there is no concrete reason for why we would have seen Kim during Breaking Bad. Throughout BB, we never saw Saul’s residency and are never clued into any details regarding his personal life; there is nothing to suggest that Kim couldn’t have still been his partner throughout Breaking Bad and just never in the foreground. The reasons for this? Maybe because by then, as a result of actions we are maybe yet to see, she knows full well to keep her distance from Saul’s legal doings. The more likely reason is that Breaking Bad was Walter White’s story, not Saul or Kim’s. We don’t need to see Saul’s wife in the same way we don’t need to see Gus’ wife or Lydia’s ex-husband; their appearance ultimately isn’t necessary to tell Walt’s story.

However, in the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad, we see Saul Goodman in the basement of the vacuum cleaner store, ready to assume a new life in Nebraska as Gene Takavic. This is where Kim’s absence becomes an issue, as if Saul believed himself to be in much danger that he had to leave the state entirely, it’s unlikely that he wouldn’t bring his wife along too to protect her.

He may go alone for the same reason Walt went alone, because relationships with their wives had become somewhat soured. Circumstance may drive an unbreakable wedge between Jimmy and Kim and their reunion could become one of the key questions/tension points of Gene’s life in Nebraska.

The following season will see Jimmy and Kim flirt with the idea of using ‘scorched earth’ tactics against Howard to force the settlement of the Sandpiper case. Jimmy appeared surprised with the enthusiasm and conviction with which Kim spoke about this idea, implying that she would be willing to take the idea further than Jimmy. When Jimmy tricked Chuck into submitting the wrong numbers for Mesa Verde in an attempt to damage his image, it blew back up at him, and Jimmy risked disbarment as a result. Should the plan to hurt Howard go the wrong way, Kim may well risk the same fate.

Both Howard and Jimmy floated the idea to Kim that Jimmy, or perhaps rather the direction that Jimmy’s headed on, is bad for her in the most recent episode and Kim rejected this idea both times. In the following season, Kim may learn this lesson the hard way.

Lalo Salamanca - We know 3 things about Lalo’s future. The first is that he’s not in BB. The 2nd is that, as shown by Saul in his first BB appearance asking Walt & Jesse if Lalo sent them, that Saul believes Lalo to still be alive and to have a vendetta against him specifically. The 3rd is that Gus tells Hector in BB season 4 that he has no living relatives. This means that either Lalo is dead, or that Hector, and potentially Gus too, believe him to be dead.

As the sound of Lalo’s footsteps in Something Unforgivable foretold, a storm is coming. He has just survived an orchestrated attempt on his life and likely has his sights set on those behind it. One of these he knows is Nacho and where Nacho heads to first may be crucial to whether or not he survives Lalo’s wrath. It is most likely that Lalo’s quest for vengeance will see him set foot in New Mexico again. A return to the United States however, may spell a return to custody for Lalo, having violated his bail by fleeing to Mexico, which could explain his absence in Breaking Bad.

Nacho Varga - Over the course of Better Call Saul, Nacho has perhaps been the the counter-point for Jimmy. While Jimmy can’t help but let himself get entangled deeper and deeper into the world of crime, Nacho has been fighting a losing battle to untangle himself and his family from the clutches of the drug trade.

What we know of Nacho is that he isn’t in Breaking Bad, and a character so prominent in the lives of Saul, Mike, Gus, and the entire Salamanca family, wouldn’t be absent for the entirety of Breaking Bad without good reason. At present, Lalo is likely seeking revenge for the attempt on his life, and Nacho is the one person he knows with certainty was involved in it. Lalo will likely kill Nacho if he finds him, but Lalo’s erratic nature may see himself killed before then. If the Salamanca cousins find out Nacho was involved however, it’s a done deal.

Nacho’s death would be a tragedy, but also a victory for him, in that he would finally be free of the Salamancas and of Gus Fring, both of whom have for long expected him to bend to their every will. A scene in s4e8 showing Nacho looking at his and his fathers IDs, suggests a possibility that the two of them could jump ship, should Nacho learn that both their lives are at risk from Lalo’s wave of fury. However, this is contingent on Nacho knowing that the assassination attempt failed.

Howard Hamlin - Another character who doesn’t appear in Breaking Bad, not even being mentioned. However, his paths have never crossed with the cartel, his life never in danger, and his relationship with Jimmy will likely break down as a result of Howard still being a target for a lot of Jimmy’s resentment towards him and Chuck, as well as Kim and Jimmy’s plans to extort Howard in the following season. Given this, it’s entirely feasible why Howard would not appear in Breaking Bad.

The role Howard has played in the show has been a tracker of morality. Jimmy and Kim were rivals to Howard in the first 2-3 seasons as the two saw themselves as victims of mistreatment as a result of Howard’s obsession with the firm’s image, devotion to Chuck, and cutthroat management style. Since then, Howard has been rebuilding his firm and his life from the wreckage caused by Kim, Jimmy, and Chuck. On several occasions since then, Howard has attempted to shine a light on both Jimmy and Kim’s declining morals and neither of them have wanted to hear it.

Jimmy, and more-so, Kim, plan to use the usual tricks to tarnish Howard’s reputation to force a settlement in the Sandpiper case. Howard’s smart though, and when things start going awry, it is likely that he will immediately suspect that they are behind it. If he shines a light on this attempt to tarnish his reputation before it is successful, he could spell the end of the Kim’s legal career, one which he helped build in the first place, and if this is the case, he wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to offload the blame for this onto Jimmy.

Gustavo Fring - Gus’ fate is sealed, though we do know he at least makes it to Breaking Bad. In Better Call Saul, Gus is largely the same Gus we end up seeing in Breaking Bad, able to switch between cold, calculating kingpin and charming, welcoming restauranteur at the flick of a switch. One aspect that’s different though is that Gus in Better Call Saul carries an overconfidence, attested to by his “I am different” proclamation to Mike. Further to this, Gus has a tendency to always act first, in stark contrast to the omniscient Gus we see in Breaking Bad, this allows him to get pegged back and pulled into games with the cartel and the Salamancas, like when he sees that Lalo is arrested, only to order that he be released on bail just a few episodes later.

The next season should be a humbling experience for Gus, for he will have to clean up a grand mess of his own making. Gus proclaimed to Mike that their actions once Lalo is south of the border must be unimpeachable. The death of several guards, innocent relatives, a whole squad of unremarkable assassins, and Lalo still alive and walking, suggests this failed.

Gus will have to move heaven and earth to ensure his role in the failed assassination attempt isn’t relayed back to the cartel, to the rest of the Salamanca’s, or to Don Eladio, lest he risk all-out internal war. Lalo, in their recent meeting, appeased Don Eladio with a much greater gift than that sent by Gus, so it’s likely that Don Eladio would favour the Salamancas, should he learn of such a conflict. Given all the parties appear to be working in relative harmony by the time Breaking Bad comes around, he may well manage this, but killing Lalo has now become a much more urgent matter than it already was.

In Bad Choice Road, we hear Mike advise to Gus that he doesn’t believe fear to be an effective motivator, something Gus pushes back against, only to repeat the line later in Breaking Bad. It is likely that Gus’ use of asset Nacho Varga blows up in his face, forcing him to reconsider his stance, or at the very least, something happens to make him acknowledge that Mike’s advice is generally spot on.

Mike Ehrmantraut - Another character whose fate is sealed, and in contrast, Mike looks well on track to become the character we see in Breaking Bad. It’s likely that the failure of Gus’ top men to kill Lalo, and the ease with which Mike took out the crew that tried to rob Jimmy in the desert, will see Gus beginning to put a lot more faith in Mike’s capabilities, eventually embedding him as Gus’ go-to man.

Mike still carries the weight of the deaths of both his son and of Werner Ziegler, both of which have lead him to question the person he is. Early in season 5, he attempted to cut ties with Gus altogether. Mike is someone who assumes full responsibility and accountability of his choices, something he expects of others, so it won’t sit right with him the way he was roped back in by Gus.

I would expect some point of reckoning in the following season where Mike confronts the potential consequences and victims of his line of work, before reaching the inevitable conclusion that doing what he does is worth it so long as it keeps his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter safe. Further to this, ensuring that Gus knows their relationship is work-based, and his loyalty lies to his family and his family alone, is a box Mike will want to tick.

Events

There are some events that we know take place between the most recent episode and the start of Breaking Bad and some of these may find their way into the following season. Firstly, we know Gus resumes construction of the underground meth lab, allowing it to be ready for Walt to take over in Breaking Bad when he first begins working for Gus. Jimmy will move into his new office, with his constitution wallpaper and the fancy pillars, leaning even more heavily into the Saul Goodman brand.

There are several characters we’ve yet to see who appear in Breaking Bad. Given many of these are introduced to the story by Saul, we know he meets these characters, likely for the first time, in the time between now and then. Firstly, Jack Welker and his gang, including, Todd Alquist, are introduced by Saul when Walt, Mike, and Jesse are looking for a new place to cook. Saul even says that he’s been “pulling their chestnuts out of the fire, legally speaking, for five years” so we may well be approaching the point of their first encounter.

Ed Galbraith has appeared in flash-forwards in Better Call Saul but never in the present day. You may know him better as the disappearer, or vacuum cleaner guy, and he is the man who Saul pitches to Walt as the last resort in season 4 of Breaking Bad, and who Jesse, Saul, and Walt end up relying on to escape New Mexico. He sadly will not appear in the following season due to actor Robert Forster’s unfortunate passing in 2019, but there’s a strong chance reference will be made to his character and the services he provides.

To date, we’ve only seen 50% of Saul’s A-Team appear in Better Call Saul. Jimmy’s had his first encounter with Huell, but he’s yet to meet fellow henchmen Patrick Kuby, who goes on to assist Walt & Skyler’s purchase of the car wash, the great train heist, and the recovery of Walt’s money from the storage unit. Better Call Saul has managed to match the quality of Breaking Bad in many ways, but it is still a Bill Burr cameo short of truly being its equal.

I also had a paragraph written here making the case for why Walt and Jesse would not appear in the coming season and why their appearances weren’t necessary. This was rendered obsolete when AMC literally announced on Sunday that the two would in fact be making appearances so that shows what I know. The circumstances that force Jimmy McGill to leave New Mexico and assume the new identity of Gene Takavic are undoubtedly a pivotal life event so it does make sense that this is covered from Jimmy’s perspective in Better Call Saul, even if we do already know the details from Breaking Bad.

One small thing I would enjoy in the following season is an appearance of Kristy Esposito, the girl who interviewed for Chuck McGill’s memorial scholarship, but was ultimately passed up. She received a rousing speech from Jimmy to be more than the one mistake she made (she was ultimately rejected due to a shoplifting conviction), and it would be interesting to see how she progresses if she goes into law, having already learned lessons that it took Kim & Jimmy years to learn.

Overall, I believe the writer’s have given themselves a lot to do with the coming season, but I believe that the impeccable quality of writing, that’s improved from an already elite level over the course of Better Call Saul, will allow them to not only pull it off, but to reach a conclusion that may well surpass that of Breaking Bad in terms of quality.

Watching Better Call Saul has in many ways been half the fun, with the other half in attempting to piece together in my own mind the events between the two shows. This is why I’m in part not ready for the show to come to an end, but I’m comforted by the fact we have a long, tense, and likely devastating way to go before we get there.

April 18th. Double-premiere. Be ready.