Better Call Saul Season 6 thread (with spoilers)

[da man]

I, too, thought that scene with Lalo and Gus was ridiculously implausible.

I also think they messed up their timeline a bit -- or maybe someone can explain this to me.

So in last night's episode, Jimmy/Saul finds out for sure Lalo is dead. And he hears for the first time (I think) that Ignacio was the one who tried to kill Lalo.

But in Breaking Bad, when ski-mask wearing Walter and Jesse grab Saul and have him kneeling in front of an empty grave, he says, "It wasn't me! It was Ignacio!" Then after realizing his kidnappers don't speak Spanish, he says, "Lalo didn't send you?"

So if at that point he knows Lalo is dead, why would he think Lalo sent them?

 

[Batman]

I, too, thought that scene with Lalo and Gus was ridiculously implausible.

I also think they messed up their timeline a bit -- or maybe someone can explain this to me.

So in last night's episode, Jimmy/Saul finds out for sure Lalo is dead. And he hears for the first time (I think) that Ignacio was the one who tried to kill Lalo.

But in Breaking Bad, when ski-mask wearing Walter and Jesse grab Saul and have him kneeling in front of an empty grave, he says, "It wasn't me! It was Ignacio!" Then after realizing his kidnappers don't speak Spanish, he says, "Lalo didn't send you?"

So if at that point he knows Lalo is dead, why would he think Lalo sent them?

Sepinwall did an interview with the episode's writer, who essentially attributed it to PTSD and lingering fear. After all, he was told Lalo was dead once before and he appeared out of nowhere, right? What's to stop it from happening again?

'Better Call Saul' Writer Breaks Down Pivotal Latest Episode and Where the Show's Headed

In that desert scene on Saul's first episode of Breaking Bad, Saul seems genuinely relieved Lalo didn't send Walt and Jesse. So he is still afraid the bogeyman is out there and coming for him?

Yes. I think that's the idea. The last thing he says before that gag goes in [in this episode] is, "It wasn't me, it was Ignacio!" And when the gag comes off (on Breaking Bad), that's the first thing he says. So I think there's some sense memory going on for Jimmy/Saul, and he's never going to outrun that fear. No rational part of his mind or rational information is every going to make him feel anything other than that Lalo has sent something out there that might take a long time to come smashing into him.

 

[Bubbler]

Sepinwall did an interview with the episode's writer, who essentially attributed it to PTSD and lingering fear. After all, he was told Lalo was dead once before and he appeared out of nowhere, right? What's to stop it from happening again?

'Better Call Saul' Writer Breaks Down Pivotal Latest Episode and Where the Show's Headed

I mean, OK. The show is entertaining, so I'll overlook it, but that sounds like justification after the fact for having a continuity error.

 

[poindexter]

That episode had more action than any of the first few seasons of BCS.

Funny, when BCS started, Saul was the star, the interesting, fun, quip guy. Now he's nothing but neutered shell of a man.

There are a half dozen characters on BCS from this season who are more interesting on screen than Saul.

Lalo
Nacho
Fring
Kim
Mike
Tio
heck, the kid opening up the chicken joint in the morning has more on-screen persona than Saul.

 

[Batman]

I mean, OK. The show is entertaining, so I'll overlook it, but that sounds like justification after the fact for having a continuity error.

To be fair, when Saul dropped the line about Lalo and Nacho in BB they had no earthly idea they'd ever have to link it up in a spinoff series. So to turn a dropped line from an episode more than a decade old into two of the better characters in a universe full of great characters is a pretty damn impressive feat even if you have to make a slight leap of logic to get from the end of the bridge back to land.

 

[sgreenwell]

I mean, OK. The show is entertaining, so I'll overlook it, but that sounds like justification after the fact for having a continuity error.

Eh, life has "continuity errors." People frequently don't act in logical or reasonable ways IRL. I think it's valid for Jimmy / Saul to have flashbacks in times of violence, especially since it's not like he's some hardened soldier in the game. He's ultimately a coward and an opportunist in most situations.

 

[sgreenwell]

So, where are we headed? I think we might be done or almost done in New Mexico. I think Kim uses the vacuum guy's services first, and that's the reason Jimmy is slumming around Nebraska when he gets his own extraction - he's hoping Kim will resurface to see her mother at some point, the only link Jimmy probably knows of. Walt and Jesse are supposed to show up at some point, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's just Jimmy remembering an encounter or conversation with them - I don't think either one of them are showing up in Nebraska.

 

[Batman]

So, where are we headed? I think we might be done or almost done in New Mexico. I think Kim uses the vacuum guy's services first, and that's the reason Jimmy is slumming around Nebraska when he gets his own extraction - he's hoping Kim will resurface to see her mother at some point, the only link Jimmy probably knows of. Walt and Jesse are supposed to show up at some point, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's just Jimmy remembering an encounter or conversation with them - I don't think either one of them are showing up in Nebraska.

There are five episodes left. Figure the next one deals with the aftermath of the Lalo/Howard situation. The finale seems like it has to be centered almost entirely on Gene. That leaves three episodes to put a bow on New Mexico; establish how Mike and Saul established a genuine working relationship rather than the arm's length one we've seen to this point; get rid of Kim in a satisfying way; make Saul rich via the Sandpiper settlement; turn Saul back from a broken man to a functional, amoral one; and fast forward us to his first meeting with Walt and Jesse.
If I had to guess, I think the final scenes of Episode 5 lead up to his meeting Walt and Jesse and closes out New Mexico. Then the finale is all about Gene dealing with the cab driver and showing us where he ends up.

Also, it's heavily implied that Jimmy never had a choice about moving to Nebraska. That's where the vacuum guy sent him. When VG shows him the Nebraska license in "Granite State," the exchange was:
"Nebraska? What's in Nebraska?"
"You."

 

[Batman]

So, where are we headed? I think we might be done or almost done in New Mexico. I think Kim uses the vacuum guy's services first, and that's the reason Jimmy is slumming around Nebraska when he gets his own extraction - he's hoping Kim will resurface to see her mother at some point, the only link Jimmy probably knows of. Walt and Jesse are supposed to show up at some point, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's just Jimmy remembering an encounter or conversation with them - I don't think either one of them are showing up in Nebraska.

It'd be impossible for either Walt or Jesse to show up in Nebraska. All of their time is accounted for.
Walt and Saul disappeared from Albuquerque at the same time. Walt spent a year in New Hampshire and then he was dead. The only way he found Saul in Nebraska was if he stopped in Omaha for a Cinnabon on his road trip to Albuquerque — which would be a hilarious cameo, but probably not how you want to do the big reveal of Cranston's role.
Jesse spent a year in the Nazi compound, and then was in Albuquerque for only a few days until he disappeared for Alaska. Unless he made a random trip to Omaha at some point after that, which seems like it would be quite a stretch, there's no way he found Saul in Nebraska. He certainly couldn't have been there with Walt.

 

[Kato]

So, where are we headed? I think we might be done or almost done in New Mexico. I think Kim uses the vacuum guy's services first, and that's the reason Jimmy is slumming around Nebraska when he gets his own extraction - he's hoping Kim will resurface to see her mother at some point, the only link Jimmy probably knows of. Walt and Jesse are supposed to show up at some point, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's just Jimmy remembering an encounter or conversation with them - I don't think either one of them are showing up in Nebraska.

If we're really almost done with New Mexico, it will be quite ironic, as since BCS was first announced, everyone's been waiting for the full transformation from Jimmy to Saul -- his office, the commercials, the smart-alecky, fast-talking Saul that we see with Badger and who tells Walt and Jesse that they "suck at peddling meth." So if you're right, then we'll never see that, only know it from BB. That's not really a complaint from me, just ... interesting.

 

[Batman]

Oh, Jimmy. You're one of the smartest lawyers we ever met ... and you're too stupid to realize she made up her mind 10 minutes ago.

 

[poindexter]

If we're really almost done with New Mexico, it will be quite ironic, as since BCS was first announced, everyone's been waiting for the full transformation from Jimmy to Saul -- his office, the commercials, the smart-alecky, fast-talking Saul that we see with Badger and who tells Walt and Jesse that they "suck at peddling meth." So if you're right, then we'll never see that, only know it from BB. That's not really a complaint from me, just ... interesting.

The last 10 minutes are in your honor