Better Call Saul - the sixth (and final) season

[NoSleep]

Spoiler alert

Just realised that this is an echo of Hank reading Leaves of Grass on the loo and realising who his brother-in-law really is; which happened at the same point, at the end of the first half of the final season, before they took a break.

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[Pseudopath]

What's up with Netflix (UK) today? I thought new episodes were turning up Tuesday morning but had to find it elsewhere.

It's been there for me since 8am: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81341721?trackId=255824129

[Blue Jam]

Was there at 8am for me too.

For those who care about such things, this episode is already rated at 9.9 out of 10 on IMDB, higher than "Bag Man" and "Bad Choice Road", up there with "Felina", and only beaten by a perfect 10 for "Ozymandias".

Also

Spoiler alert

"Howard Hamlin"

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is trending on Twitter, so if you haven't yet had time to catch up Twitter is probably best avoided.

[Blue Jam]

Fun fact:

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That was only the third episode to feature a more sombre sountrack over the end credits than the usual sleazy outro theme. The other two of course being "Rock and Hard Place" and "Lantern" :'(

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[Petey Pate]

As soon as

Spoiler alert

Mike said he had taken his guys off all low priority targets, it felt inevitable that Lalo was going to show up at Kim's apartment.

Still at least my prediction that Irene was going to die didn't come true...

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[Petey Pate]

Big question is

Spoiler alert

what is Lalo's clean-up service like? Breaking Bad was full of people with different agendas working together to cover up something that would implicate them all, but how much does Lalo give a shit? Is he likely to shoot off once he's got what he needs, and leave them to clear up the mess?

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Spoiler alert

He didn't exactly give a shit when he killed Fred at the Travel Wire, just burnt the place down.

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[Blue Jam]

607 was written by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Not a spoiler, just a warning
:(

I made a bit of a mistake there, Thomas Schnauz also deserves a credit as co-writer (and director) of 607.

On top of everything else, I was impressed at how that episode tied up so many threads so neatly, and how none of it felt cheap. I really don't want this show to get too Breaking Bad-y now and I hope it continues to feel like it's own separate thing.

[Blue Jam]

606: Kim's mother telling her "Relax, Kimmy- you got away with it!" was also foreshadowing wasn't it?

Spoiler alert

No-one will ever know Howard was telling the truth because, while he caught Kim and Jimmy and they effectively confessed, he's going to take their secret to the grave. Not that that's anything to relax over.

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[BritishHobo]

Spoiler alert

He didn't exactly give a shit when he killed Fred at the Travel Wire, just burnt the place down.

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Spoiler alert

Aaaaaaargh. This has to be it then, right? Kim and Jimmy dealing with a dead Howard in their apartment hours after he's told multiple people that Jimmy is out to get him. That's something they could leverage, I suppose - "he came to my apartment and ranted about a conspiracy before shooting himself in the head", but only if they can think quickly.

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That said, I suppose

Spoiler alert

if they get Mike in once the smoke clears (assuming he's not preoccupied) then I'm sure he can make it good with no trouble.

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[Perplexicon]

Spoiler alert

FUCK! I thought it was too far-fetched that Howard would be choppes at all in the series, and far too much of a stretch to be done at the hands of Lalo, but that was absolutely shocking. Holy shit. What a fantastic job by the writers and Patrick to make Howard such a sympathetic and likeable character throughout. That is one cruel cliffhanger indeed. Argh!

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[BritishHobo]

I'm wondering now (spoilers for an announcement made by the show's Twitter just before S6 began airing, very significant one just in case you've not seen it yet)

Spoiler alert

why they tweeted that "They're Back!" reveal when they did. It's not like Doctor Who where they were about to be caught filming in a public place. I assumed it was done because they were in the first episode - and when they weren't, that they would be in this half of the season. But again, no. Part of me would love if they never appear at all, and it was all a lie.

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[Blue Jam]

Spoiler alert

I really don't want to see Walt and Jesse appear either. I trust the writers not to make their appearance look cheap, but not everyone who watches this show is
BrBa fanboy/girl FFS

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Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I've noticed Jimmy saying "carpe diem" a lot, and I had been wondering if those were arc words. The full version of that quote is "carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero", or "sieze the day, put little trust into tomorrow", ie, because you can never predict how life will unfold. Or, as Mike might put it, "This isn't gonna go down the way you think it is".

[DrGreggles]

Spoiler alert

'kin 'ell

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[NoSleep]

It's been there for me since 8am: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81341721?trackId=255824129

I was up too early. It's there for me now. I always thought they upped new material at midnight (pretty certain I've caught stuff like that), but that might just be when they up whole seasons, like they usually do.

[The Guppy]

Spoiler alert

I really don't want to see Walt and Jesse appear either. I trust the writers not to make their appearance look cheap, but not everyone who watches this show is
BrBa fanboy/girl FFS

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Spoiler alert

I think it makes sense to have them appear. This show is gonna end with Jimmy as a totally corrupt lawyer, making piles of money. But he's also working at Cinnabon, having lost it all. People who never watched BrBa need to know why he went into hiding, and that reason is Walter White.

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Is anyone here watching the show, but never saw Breaking Bad? I wonder how much sense the Nebraska scenes make to those people.

[lankyguy95]

Spoiler alert

I think it was a good episode but oddly enough I thought the exact opposite until it finished.

As soon as Mike told Kim however many episodes ago that it was very unlikely that Lalo would come back to their place, we should have been expecting it but I didn't even think about it until his silhouette emerged. Glad Howard got his monologue in there at the end. I guess any time someone gives a defiant moral speech to their persecutors this season we should be expecting a bullet through their head within a minute.

As for the rest of the episode, I don't think I've ever been more frustrated with this show than when Kim and Jimmy's stupid plan started working. I wasn't far from turning it off when I saw Kim's smug face in response to Howard's interruption during the meeting. What I will say though is that as silly and pointless as the plan was, and as fortuitous it was for Kim and Jimmy that it even worked, I think the basic inanity of it makes some sense in light of the ending; the morality tale of the destructive effects of feeding your moral vices, even those vices you try to justify or think you can control (particularly in Kim's case) has been a theme most prominently in BB but also very much in BCS, and that was a pretty resounding way to hammer that home. I still don't buy Kim's motivation for the nature of the vendetta this season – Howard's speech essentially stated that it's just the same thrill she got from the early season pranks with Jimmy on a more bombastic scale, which I don't think quite correlates – but I definitely judged the episode differently in light of that ending.

Another thing I liked is that Mike didn't stop it or come save the day. There's been an almost invariable tendency in BCS that wasn't quite there in BB for the writers to use Mike, at least when he's in work mode, as de facto superhero – his plans are supernaturally good, pay off perfectly, rarely anything left to chance; literally and metaphorically, if he needs to snipe a moving target from a distance, he never misses. That he didn't even consider that Lalo might be aware he was being tapped, that he took people off Kim and Jimmy's place to fatal consequences makes him less of that; this time the moving target got away.

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[Petey Pate]

Was the teacher talking to Gus the same person that Walt unsuccessfully tried to make a move on in Breaking Bad after Skyler slept with Ted?

[NoSleep]

I'm wondering now (spoilers for an announcement made by the show's Twitter just before S6 began airing, very significant one just in case you've not seen it yet)

Spoiler alert

why they tweeted that "They're Back!" reveal when they did. It's not like Doctor Who where they were about to be caught filming in a public place. I assumed it was done because they were in the first episode - and when they weren't, that they would be in this half of the season. But again, no. Part of me would love if they never appear at all, and it was all a lie.

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Spoiler alert

This season opened with Saul's office being dismantled, so maybe the last half will start with another Alberquerque flash-forward, featuring them. I wonder if the footage will be their 2021 ageing selves or if there has always been some extra footage in the archives waiting for this moment.

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[Blue Jam]

Just realised

Spoiler alert

"Who are you?"
"Me? Nobody"

was an almost verbatim quote of the opening of Nobody:

Had to be deliberate, surely? Blimey, even in this show's darkest moment there's a nod and a wink

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When will it be be safe for us to stop using spoiler tags?

[selectivememory]

Well I knew shit had gone down when I saw how many replies to this thread there were. Fuck me.

Poor Howard. Spent the whole episode feeling sorry for him and then that happens. Incredible show. If anything it's getting better in this final season.

[JamesTC]

Spoiler alert

Aaaaaaargh. This has to be it then, right? Kim and Jimmy dealing with a dead Howard in their apartment hours after he's told multiple people that Jimmy is out to get him. That's something they could leverage, I suppose - "he came to my apartment and ranted about a conspiracy before shooting himself in the head", but only if they can think quickly.

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That said, I suppose

Spoiler alert

if they get Mike in once the smoke clears (assuming he's not preoccupied) then I'm sure he can make it good with no trouble.

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Spoiler alert

I would have thought it would be relatively easy to deal with Howard. He comes in ranting and raving before his drug dealer (Lalo) shot him. Everybody "knows" he is on drugs.

I wonder if the public destruction of Howard's reputation allows the Kettlemans to pursue that case. Maybe they end up coming to Saul to represent them.

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[Gulftastic]

Spoiler alert

Howard's death got an 'oh my god!' From me. Poor bastard.

I loved the moment Lalo realised that the nursing home phone was bugged. Having him then call again to feed false info to Super Mike was awesome.

Ed Begley Jr. also deserves praise. He's been excellent.

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[selectivememory]

I'm still in shock lol.

Spoiler alert

With Nacho's death, the whole episode had a sense of inevitability about it from the cold open, but I never saw this coming.

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[Petey Pate]

Was the teacher talking to Gus the same person that Walt unsuccessfully tried to make a move on in Breaking Bad after Skyler slept with Ted?

To answer my own question, she wasn't. I don't think the gymnasium was the same as the one at the school Walt taught at either.

Can anyone ID the film that Jimmy and Kim were watching?

[Blue Jam]

Can anyone ID the film that Jimmy and Kim were watching?

Born Yesterday (1950), according to IMDB:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042276/

Uncouth, loud-mouth junkyard tycoon Harry Brock descends upon Washington D.C. to buy himself a congressman or two, bringing with him his mistress, ex-showgirl Billie Dawn. Brock hires newspaperman Paul Verrall to see if he can soften her rough edges and make her more presentable in capital society. But Harry gets more than he bargained for as Billie absorbs Verall's lessons in U.S. history and not only comes to the realization that Harry is nothing but a two-bit, corrupt crook, but in the process also falls in love with her handsome tutor.

Not seen it myself but the significance seems pretty clear.

[buttgammon]

Spoiler alert

The second time this series I've been genuinely stunned. My partner and I had a conversation a couple of days ago about what we thought was going to happen and we both suggested Lalo killing Howard somehow but the circumstances were way beyond anything I could have imagined.

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[Weeping Prophet]

Spoiler alert

Having the plan go perfectly was a brilliant bit of suspense, especially with all the red herrings they set (the caffeine sensitivity, etc). We know it's going to be bad for Howard but it turns out worse than anyone imagined.

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[Dex Sawash]

Spoiler alert

I knew the candle looked like it was getting blown out but didn't want to drop a spoiler on the rest of you

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[Old Nehamkin]

I'm wondering now (spoilers for an announcement made by the show's Twitter just before S6 began airing, very significant one just in case you've not seen it yet)

Spoiler alert

why they tweeted that "They're Back!" reveal when they did. It's not like Doctor Who where they were about to be caught filming in a public place. I assumed it was done because they were in the first episode - and when they weren't, that they would be in this half of the season. But again, no. Part of me would love if they never appear at all, and it was all a lie.

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Spoiler alert

From an interview Peter Gould gave shortly after that announcement:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/better-call-saul-season-6-premiere-peter-gould-interview-1235131511/

I want to quickly talk about last week's PaleyFest announcement. You have teased some of the Breaking Bad returns ahead of time and left others to surprise the audience. When it came to Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, how did you decide that you were OK with giving that information ahead of time?

I'm going to be incredibly frank with you. Vince and I talked about it, and we both thought that we'd been cagey for long enough. Don't forget that Aaron and Bryan also have to keep this under their lid and everybody asks them about it, and it just felt like the right moment to let the cat out of the bag, because for better or for worse, I have to say that there are so many other surprises and left turns this season that I kind of wanted to take that one off the table.

You've had seven years of people asking you when and if those characters were coming back. I'm sure I've done it.

In the past we could always say, "We're hoping to do it someday," and usually we'd say, "Not this season." And we couldn't lie if somebody asked if they're going to show up this season. I don't know. It seems petty to lie about it. But also, I have to say, if I thought that that was the biggest surprise or the biggest spoiler, I probably wouldn't have said it.


How has your perspective shifted over the years on whether having them on the show was going to be necessary and how you wanted to use them once you brought them on?

Vince and I both felt from the beginning that this is the story of Jimmy McGill. This is his story. The only time we've brought people back from the Breaking Bad cast was when they had a good reason to be there for the story that we're telling. Personally, I would find it frustrating to see a character I loved from the past just kind of thrown in there or passing by in the background.

Obviously, business-wise, the smart thing probably would have been for us to put them in right there in the first season, but we really wanted to have the show stand on its own two legs. I believe that it does and I'm super proud of that, but we're also running to the end of this guy's story. We're trying to tell a complete story of who this man is and who he becomes and what his fate is in life, what his choices lead to, and those two characters are part of that. So it seemed like the right thing to do.

Of course, the other thing about it is that these are two actors, two human beings, that I love and they're both wonderful and working with them is always a dream, so I think it showed a lot of restraint that we didn't have them back way before this.

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[Petey Pate]

Spoiler alert

It would still be somewhat hilarious if their appearance was just them walking past Saul in a hallway exchanging 'heys'. I'd be more keen to see Michael McLean return in a flashback than I would to see Walt or Jesse again, but perhaps we'll get both.

Prediction for the beginning of next episode:

Lalo will repeatedly ask Jimmy if he knows 'Michael',  he then uses Jimmy's phone to call Mike and taunts him down the phone while Mike remains silent, mirroring the phone call with Werner Ziegler.

Come to think of it, at this stage Lalo wouldn't want any of Fring's men to be tipped off where he is. It seems inevitable that Jimmy and Kim will cross paths with Mike again and that Jimmy will lash out at both Mike and Kim for not telling him Lalo was alive.

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