The fifth and most recent season of when the sixth and final season hits our screens, but season 5 still marked some major turning points for the series.
Season 5 was arguably the most action-packed season yet, with plenty of violent set pieces and yelling matches we’ve been waiting years to see. Here are the 10 most shocking moments from the fifth season of Better Call Saul.
Jimmy Throws Bowling Balls At Howard’s Car
In the cold opening of “Namaste,” we saw Jimmy buying some bowling balls in a store filled with random knick-knacks. This was from the middle of the episode’s plot and it wasn’t clear why he was buying them.
Throughout the episode, Jimmy had lunch with Howard, got offered a job at H.H.M., and was driven crazy by Howard’s “NAMAST3” vanity plate. Later, we saw what the bowling balls were for as Jimmy launched them at Howard’s car in the middle of the night.
Kim Proposes To Jimmy
After the fiasco with Mesa Verde in which Saul left Kim and Rich in a legal stalemate, Kim was furious at Jimmy for making her the “sucker” of one of his schemes.
When it seemed like they’d break up, Kim surprisingly suggested that they get married, so she could never be forced to testify against him.
Mike Gets Stabbed
One night, when he was walking home from a bar, Mike got into some trouble with some gangsters hanging out on a front lawn and ended up getting into a fight with one of them.
What was even more shocking was that, a few nights later, Mike went back and antagonized them again. This time, he wasn’t so lucky and they overpowered them. One of them stabbed him in the torso and he had to be saved by Gus’ team.
Gus And Nacho Blow Up Los Pollos Hermanos
In “JMM,” Nacho informed his criminal overlord, Gus, that his other criminal overlord, Lalo, wanted him to burn down a Los Pollos Hermanos franchise, Gus agreed to it.
In fact, he helped Nacho do it, in order to gain Lalo’s trust on his behalf. They trashed the interior of the restaurant, then blew up the building with a frozen chicken.
Jimmy Demands $4 Million For Mr. Acker
After getting cold feet about scamming Mesa Verde in “Wexler v. Goodman,” Kim told Jimmy to cancel the gambit and settle the dispute over Mr. Acker’s property.
He agreed to these , but then, when he went in front of the Mesa Verde board, he changed his tune and demanded a $4 million pay-out. Kim had seen the Saul persona in action before, but she’d never been on the receiving end of it.
Nacho Finds Lalo In The Backyard
In the season finale, “Something Unforgivable,” when Nacho arrived at the Salamancas’ compound with Lalo, he received a call telling him to leave the back gate open at 3:00am and run like hell, allowing some assassins to sneak in and kill Lalo.
However, when the clock struck three and Nacho went out into the backyard to carry out the plan, he found Lalo sitting by a fire, drinking. Spanner, meet the works.
Kim Talks Lalo Down
At the end of season 5’s penultimate episode, “Bad Choice Road,” Lalo became suspicious of Jimmy and returned to Albuquerque to confront him. Mike called Jimmy and told him to keep him on the line while he set up a sniper rifle across the street. It was one of the season’s most intense scenes, as it was unclear how the situation would pan out.
All we knew was that Jimmy was lying to Lalo and Lalo was determined to find out the truth. Jimmy offered to give back the money, but Kim knew that if he took the bag of money, he’d see the bullet hole in Jimmy’s coffee cup, so she used her quick wits to talk Lalo down.
Jimmy Yells At Howard
At the end of “JMM,” Howard confronted Jimmy at the courthouse, asking him once again if he’d thought about his job offer. Jimmy used his usual excuse that he was still thinking about it, but Howard called him on his bowling ball and hooker-related scams and withdrew the offer.
With nothing left to lose, Jimmy exploded at Howard, ranting about how small his offer was and the fact that lightning bolts shoot from his fingertips and he’s a part of worlds Howard can’t imagine. It was a defining moment for Jimmy.
Lalo Turns The Tables On His Would-Be Assassins
After creating a distraction in the kitchen, Nacho managed to get Lalo out of the way, allowing him to escape through the back gate and let the assassins in. Lalo saw the gunmen coming at the last second and managed to escape to a hidden tunnel under the bathtub.
Then, he went back into the compound with the upper hand. He wiped out all the mercenaries who were sent to kill him, including two who were crawling through the tunnel, and told the last guy to report the mission as a success.
Hired Goons Run Jimmy Off The Road
At the beginning of “Bagman,” Jimmy’s insistence that everything with the monetary pick-up would go fine made viewers certain that something awful would happen. Lo and behold, after Jimmy picked up the cash and drove his Esteem through the desert, he was run off the road by some hired goons.
One of them put a gun to his head and was fully prepared to kill him before he was saved by an unseen sniper who turned out to be trusty Mike Ehrmantraut.