WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! For up to and including episode 607 of Better Call Saul, as well as Breaking Bad and El Camino. Episode 608 will be airing tonight on AMC.
For previous seasons I’ve posted predictions for Better Call Saul up to the middle of season 5, but I haven’t recently because the show has gone into directions I couldn’t foresee. Most of my predictions were wrong anyhow so I just decided to settle in and enjoy the ride, but with only six episodes left for the entire series and the deaths of two main characters during the first half of season 6, things are narrowing down and it is becoming at least feasible to make predictions.
The main unknown is the ultimate fate of Kim Wexler. She seriously broke bad this season with her scheme to ruin Howard Hamlin in order to hasten the settlement of the Sandpiper case and at long last get the settlement money due to Jimmy McGill for finding the case. Ostensibly the purpose of the sizable payment is so Kim can continue her pro bono practice of helping the under-served, but when the opportunity to raise money legitimately with the help of Cliff Main appears, she still goes ahead with her plan. Kim’s dark side took over, with the unintended result being the murder of Howard.
Kim seeing seeing Lalo Salamanca kill Howard in front of her and Jimmy will be permanently damaging. I predict she’ll be wracked with guilt by what a terrible thing she had done, especially because she knew Lalo was still alive but never told Jimmy. I think she’ll survive the confrontation with Lalo, but in the aftermath there will be new focus on Kim and Jimmy. A lot of BCS fans have been predicting that the body of Howard will be hidden somehow, or his death will be made to look like a suicide, but I don’t see either happening. A missing Howard will draw extra attention on them, and no gunpowder residue will be found on Howard’s hand. Once Lalo leaves they’ll probably report it to the police because all they have to do tell the truth about what happened, minus incriminating details. They can say that Lalo, a former client, broke into their apartment to consult with them, then killed Howard because he was a loose end that could have given him away and/or to scare Kim and Jimmy. Hiding Howard’s body or doing something else with it would just lead to more problems.
However, the investigation will only be the beginning. There will be new scrutiny on Kim and Jimmy because Howard has already told his wife Cheryl and Cliff Main that he was having troubles with Jimmy, which will cause Jimmy to be further investigated and will inevitably tie in Kim. The police and district attorney will want to know more about the scheme against Howard, and Jimmy is already persona non grata in the legal community for getting Lalo out of jail. He may be seen as responsible for the death of Howard.
The investigation may delve deeper into the past and take a closer look at the Huell Babineaux case and the fake letter writing campaign, the doctored paperwork for the Mesa Verde case, the duplicity surrounding the Everett Acker case, or maybe even the time Kim lied to a client to get him to take a deal at Jimmy’s suggestion (though that would be hard to discover). The investigation may even reveal things about Kim that even Jimmy doesn’t know. When Kim and Jimmy got married, there’s a scene where Jimmy and Huell are talking in the foreground while Kim is in the background looking at what appears to be two pieces of paper, a piece of hidden paperwork that may turn out to be vital, and reminiscent of the blueprint switch Kim and Jimmy pulled at the Lubbock Public Works Department. The judge’s remark about Kim not having a middle name may also play into this. Kim may have a secret about her identity that upon revelation could ruin her life professionally and personally. Show runner Peter Gould has already said to look at the tequila stopper Kim saved from her and Jimmy’s scam against Ken Wins as a clue to her fate, and in the cold opening of 601 it’s seen falling out of a desk that’s being loaded into a moving van and landing in the gutter. That doesn’t bode well for Kim.
As for Lalo his story line appears to be approaching its conclusion. He’s onto Gus Fring and feels he’s close to getting the proof he needs to bring to Don Eladio that Gus was behind the botched assassination attempt on Lalo and that he’s building something in New Mexico without telling the cartel. Now that he’s at Kim’s apartment, the next logical step would be going straight to Gus and his crew. How he gets there is tough to figure out now, but he could get the information he needs from Jimmy, though he doesn’t know much, and then move on without killing Jimmy and Kim because of lawyer client privilege as well as spousal privilege. Also he may not care about being found out as Howard’s murderer because he’s already wanted in Albuquerque for murder so he’s already keeping a low profile. Once he finds out what he needs to know he may plan on heading back to Mexico.
Another possibility to get Lalo out of Kim’s apartment will be a phone call. Gus and his crew are hunkered down at his house(s) awaiting an attack from Lalo, but when it doesn’t happen Mike Ehrmantraut may think back to the previous time when Lalo went to Kim’s apartment and then call Jimmy. If he does call and Jimmy is allowed by Lalo to answer his phone, Jimmy will have to speak cautiously and not in his usual free wheeling manner. Mike will pick up on that and take action. If there’s a call from Mike and Jimmy is not allowed to answer, that will also set off an alarm and Mike will investigate.
Another possibility I thought of was Howard having either a recording device or an open phone to catch Kim and Jimmy confessing to their scheme so he can use it against them and salvage his reputation. A recording or open phone line would not only have captured Kim and Jimmy being confronted with what they did but Howard’s murder as well. If it’s a recording device it can be removed and destroyed, but if it’s an open phone line with someone on the other end, possibly Cliff, then there will be no way to hide what they did.
The final showdown between Gus and Lalo can go a number of ways, but the clues are pointing to it happening in the still unfinished underground lab. Gus has already figured out how to shut off the lights, and counted the paces to a piece of heavy machinery and hid a pistol in its tractor tread. This seems to indicate that Gus will lure Lalo into the lab, shut off the lights, and retrieve the hidden gun, but things can still happen differently. I believe that whatever happens, the end result will be the death of Lalo, and before he dies Gus will tell him about his plan to open up his superlab and then kill all the Salamancas except Hector so he’ll be around long enough to see the Salamanca name die with him. Then Lalo’s final dying wish will be for Hector to kill Gus, which will amuse Gus because of Hector’s physical condition (but little does Gus know what awaits him in Breaking Bad!).
The other great mystery besides Kim’s fate is Gene Takovic’s final destination. So far all we’ve seen of him are the five cold openings from the first five seasons that show his post BB and post Saul Goodman life as a man living in fear of getting caught or possibly killed. Getting identified by Jeff the cab driver will send him in a new direction, but what is that direction? It seems there are only two options. The first one is turning himself in and facing the consequences of his actions, then using his legal expertise to help in his defense. The events in the Gene timeline take place after the death of Walter White so it may be a closed case anyhow. How Gene reacted after Walt’s violent last hurrah at the Jack Welker compound and the subsequent disappearance of Jesse Pinkman would be interesting to cover.
The second option for Gene would be to neutralize Jeff somehow so Gene can continue living his secret life. If Gene takes this path he wouldn’t be able to shun Jeff completely because Jeff could turn him in, he would have to develop some kind of relationship with Jeff to keep him quiet. Maybe Gene can return to his former criminal Saul life in a limited way with Jeff as his new Huell/Kuby. Another possibility for this option would be for Gene to send Jeff “on a trip the Belize,” but committing murder is not something one would expect from Jimmy/Saul/Gene, and there’s Jeff’s friend who was with him at the mall when he spotted Gene. There’s been talk of a new actor playing Jeff because previous actor has a commitment to a show on HBO and there has been a new actor playing a cab driver, but it hasn’t been confirmed by the show runners and I hope it isn’t the case. Don Harvey as Jeff has the right combination of menace, creepiness, and eagerness.
One last prediction for the last six episodes. Special guest star and longtime Vince Gilligan fan Carol Burnett will be appearing in tonight’s episode playing an episode named Marion, and my prediction is that her character is Howard’s mother. She will have to deal with the grief of her loss and will demand justice for her murdered son, and will be all up to her because Howard’s estranged, cold as a fish wife Cheryl probably won’t care all that much.
And those are my predictions for the last six episodes of Better Call Saul. I and all its fans will miss it when it’s over, but we’ll also be appreciative that it was here, and there are always reruns. I’ll be back with a wrap us for the entire series after episode 613 airs and all the mysteries have been answered.
©2022 Robert Kirkendall
Robert Kirkendall 