Better Call Saul

[R_R_X]

Spoiler

This is exactly why I love the death so much. Even though he's something of an antagonist on the show, Howard isn't a "bad-guy" and I don't even know if you can really call him a bad guy either. His last speech to Jimmy and Kim is 100% correct and poignant without even being insulting or crossing a line. Jimmy and Kim ARE ****** people for the scheme and as much as they try to justify it, there's absolutely no justification for it. Had he not been killed, pretty much because of their scheme, they could have still written him off as an fine fellow. Now that he's dead, they have not choice but to feel responsible.

Spoiler

And even in his final moments Howard was still looking out for the two people that ruined his career, Jimmy and Kim are very compelling and really well written protagonists but much like Walter it gets harder to like them as the seasons go on, this episode was the final nail in the coffin when it comes to their likeability, Howard's meltdown might have been played for laughs but I just found it absolutely heartbreaking to witness, seeing how giddy they are about destroying this man's life for no good reason and then have sex as they hear him lose his mind over the phone, it just left a really bad taste in my mouth which I guess is what the writers intended, come to think of it just about every person they don't like are better individuals than them, Cliff Maine comes to mind, I wonder how his character will react to the news of Howard's death in Jimmy and Kim's apartment (probably framed as a suicide) knowing that he blamed them for what happened that morning at HHM.

 

[The Buffinator]

Spoiler

While he's far from blameless, I have to disagree that Jimmy is as culpable as Kim for Howard's death for the simple reason that she didn't tell him that Lalo was alive. Had he known he would have been too frazzled to go through with the plan against Howard, so Howard would not have ended up in harm's way.
I thought the flashback to Kim's childhood showed us that she had a less than stellar role model growing up, to the point that her mom probably groomed her to be a grifter. It could be after all is said and done (and despite her best efforts) the apple will not have fallen too far from the tree. Time (& 6 more episodes) will tell!

 

[Rotfish]

Spoiler

I'm a little miffed with how little detail we've gotten regarding Lalo's international trip. He clearly has connections, but BCS is a series that would normally show those kinds of things. Background details, processes, small characters that help the main ones get from A to B. Instead, he teleports (as far as we're concerned) to Germany, finds Ziegler's wife, then teleports back and we have no time frame for any of it. I really hope they explore more of his trip in a flashback or debriefing in the second half of the season.

 

[Prime Clone]

Spoiler

They writers have made a big deal of making sure the audience knows Kim was born and raised in nebraska and there's been several easter eggs about Kim in Gene's scenes, a famous theory is that Kim somehow ends up in Nebraska again and her and Gene will cross paths.

Thanks, I've obviously missed that with my intermittent viewings.

Also, just realised the final twist was hidden in the episode title!

 

[choombaz]

Spoiler

I'm a little miffed with how little detail we've gotten regarding Lalo's international trip. He clearly has connections, but BCS is a series that would normally show those kinds of things. Background details, processes, small characters that help the main ones get from A to B. Instead, he teleports (as far as we're concerned) to Germany, finds Ziegler's wife, then teleports back and we have no time frame for any of it. I really hope they explore more of his trip in a flashback or debriefing in the second half of the season.

Agree. But I’m not confident they would backtrack to something like this. I didn’t realize initially he was even in Germany!

 

[Rambler]

Thanks, I've obviously missed that with my intermittent viewings.

Also, just realised the final twist was hidden in the episode title!

Bingo. Plan and Execution

 

[Prime Clone]

So Jimmy is now responsible for destroying most of "HHM". I guess that pushes him further into his Saul persona.

Was also fun to see Gus doing his "upstanding citizen" thing again!

 

[Johnny Utah]

I'm shook after the new episode. Again, poor Howard.

 

[Neal136]

That was phenomenal television. Due to Breaking Bad, you know certain characters are safe, but the tension and pure dread that built throughout this episode was pretty amazing.

 

[Prime Clone]

Can't wait to catch the latest!

 

[choombaz]

That was phenomenal television. Due to Breaking Bad, you know certain characters are safe, but the tension and pure dread that built throughout this episode was pretty amazing.

Agree, what an astounding piece of tv. I’m just surprised how much they did in the space of an hour and the mind boggles at what they are going to do for the last five episodes.

I am so nervous, so scared for Kim. I can’t remember ever feeling this way about a character in a tv show.

It’s great she got nominated, but as supporting actress? Typical stupid awards rules.

 

[Buttmunch]

It still feels like we are a ways away from
Breaking Bad. I wonder if we’ll start speeding up a bit now and then the last episode is all Cinnabon time? Feels like so much to connect and wrap up still. Glad this last episode tied up some big ends so quickly.

 

[Rotfish]

Glad this last episode tied up some big ends so quickly.

I'm conflicted. I feel like this season meandered quite a bit for the first four or five episodes, then they quickly did away with one of the show's biggest conflicts in the latest episode with five still to go.

Maybe my sense of pacing is warped because this is the first season where I'm watching episodes week-to-week instead of binging two or three at a time.

 

[pixletwin]

It still feels like we are a ways away from
Breaking Bad. I wonder if we’ll start speeding up a bit now and then the last episode is all Cinnabon time? Feels like so much to connect and wrap up still. Glad this last episode tied up some big ends so quickly.

I’m hoping one, maybe two more Jimmy/Saul episodes with the remaining time spent with Gene.

 

[Rambler]

Man, Howard was done dirty. Did not deserve that at all. Wow. This show man.....

 

[R_R_X]

Episodes 7 and 8 were a masterpiece, that lab will never be viewed the same way.

 

[SwedishHeat]

It still feels like we are a ways away from
Breaking Bad. I wonder if we’ll start speeding up a bit now and then the last episode is all Cinnabon time? Feels like so much to connect and wrap up still. Glad this last episode tied up some big ends so quickly.

Remember, these are the writers that put a machine gun in the back of Walt's car, without a plan of what it was for, and gave themselves six episodes to resolve it ... so I trust them to deliver on this one.

 

[choombaz]

Remember, these are the writers that put a machine gun in the back of Walt's car, without a plan of what it was for, and gave themselves six episodes to resolve it ... so I trust them to deliver on this one.

It’s like Chicken Man’s pistol on the dozer. How long ago did they do that? But I never forgot that knowing they would come back to it.

 

[SwedishHeat]

It’s like Chicken Man’s pistol on the dozer. How long ago did they do that? But I never forgot that knowing they would come back to it.

That was just in Episode 5, aired in May. In the show's timeline, that was probably only a few weeks ago. I know folks have been saying Lalo ends up buried under the lab for a while, but I feel like those rumors started before that episode aired.

 

[Rotfish]

It’s like Chicken Man’s pistol on the dozer. How long ago did they do that? But I never forgot that knowing they would come back to it.

I originally read that scene as Gus letting go of his paranoia. Turns out his paranoia had peaked and that was his contingency plan.