Like Better Call Saul has split its highly anticipated final season into two halves. Since the first half of Saul’s final season ended on easily the most shocking and heartbreaking moment in the series to date, fans can’t wait for the second half to arrive.
The second half of Better Call Saul’s sixth and final season has a lot to tie together – Kim’s uncertain fate, Jimmy’s future life as Gene, Walt and Jesse’s promised appearance, etc. – but the first half contains all the key setups for how these storylines will be resolved.
Lalo Is Onto Gus
When Gus sent assassins to kill Lalo in the season 5 finale, Better Call Saul fans expected this storyline to get Lalo out of the picture ahead of a final season focused on connecting to Breaking Bad. But Lalo has simply refused to die. He turned the tables on his would-be killers and now, he’s back in Albuquerque with his sights set on Gus.
Lalo has been staking out Gus’ laundromat from a sewer across the street. Fans know that Gus will survive to the events of Breaking Bad (at least up to season 4), but the walls are closing in.
Jimmy Has Been Outed As A Cartel Lawyer
In an early moment from season 6, Jimmy was confronted by a couple of fellow lawyers about his work with “Jorge De Guzman.” After he slipped up and said Lalo’s real name, Jimmy found himself ostracized by the legal community for his connections to the cartel.
This marks the final nail being hammered into the coffin of Jimmy’s legitimate law career. Now that he has a reputation as a “cartel lawyer,” he has no reason to keep up appearances anymore. In the second half of the season, this slip-up could turn out to be the last stage of his transformation into round-the-clock Saul.
The Sandpiper Case Has Finally Been Settled
The first half of season 6 paid off a storyline that’s been ongoing since way back in season 1. Jimmy learned that the residents of the Sandpiper Crossing retirement home were being scammed out of money and became determined to get justice. A spanner was thrown in the works when HHM took over the case and got nowhere with it.
The whole point of “D-Day” was to force HHM to settle the Sandpiper case. Cliff Main ended up settling for a lot less than they wanted just to save face after Howard’s prank-related meltdown.
Kim Skipped The Santa Fe Meeting
One of the delightful side effects of Jimmy and Kim’s attempts to destroy Howard’s career is that Kim managed to line up a lucrative meeting in Santa Fe through Cliff Main. Kim ended up abandoning this meeting when the D-Day prank almost went awry.
After finding out Kim missed out on such an important meeting, Cliff might be able to piece together that Howard was telling the truth after all, and that Kim was involved in the planning.
Jimmy Has Moved Into Saul’s Familiar Office
Throughout the six-season run of Better Call Saul, Jimmy has bounced from office space to office space. He used to work in the mailroom at HHM, he had a back office in a salon for a while, and he briefly co-ran a firm with Kim.
In the first half of season 6, he finally moved into the familiar strip mall office where Walt and Jesse find him in Breaking Bad (and hires back his familiar secretary, sca).
Mike And Kim Have Met
Mike and Kim were two of the only Better Call Saul characters who had never met each other. In the first part of season 6, they finally met – and Mike complimented the “stern stuff” she’s made of, possibly setting up a partnership in the second half.
When she noticed that a couple of guys were following her around, Kim didn’t let the fear get the better of her; she simply confronted them and threatened to call the police. This prompted Mike to introduce himself to Kim and explain who the guys were. He had security keeping an eye on anybody that Lalo might if he returns to New Mexico.
Nacho Took The Fall For Gus’ Betrayal
Just three episodes into Better Call Saul, Nacho Varga – one of the show’s most lovable characters – met a horrifyingly grim fate. After the Salamancas put out a hit on Nacho for his role in the assassination attempt on Lalo, it was only a matter of time before Gus’ role as the financier came to light.
So, Gus forced Nacho to make the ultimate sacrifice and take the blame for the operation. But even after Nacho died to protect Gus’ secret, Lalo still doesn’t buy it. He’s determined to figure out the truth.
Kim Knows About The Vacuum Store
During a visit to Dr. Caldera’s veterinarian office in season 6, Jimmy and Kim got a glimpse at his little black book full of encrypted underworld s. Kim finds the business card of vacuum store owner Ed Galbraith, the “disappearer” who gives Jimmy his Nebraska Gene identity.
This tease could possibly foreshadow her fate in the second half of the season. Robert Forster has ed away, but all the Better Call Saul team has to do is show a van leaving Albuquerque to suggest Galbraith’s presence.
Lalo Murdered Howard
In the midseason finale, the morbidly titled “Plan and Execution,” the season’s two ongoing storylines – Lalo’s quest for revenge and Jimmy and Kim’s prank war with Howard – collided in a completely unexpected way.
Of all the unpredictable ways that the first half of this season could’ve wrapped up, nobody could’ve guessed that Lalo would shoot Howard in the head in front of Jimmy and Kim. The stage is set for the series’ most intense and harrowing run of episodes yet in the second half.
Jimmy And Kim Are Traumatized
Howard’s final monologue, wondering what the point of the D-Day prank was, has a haunting new meaning after his untimely death. On top of the external conflict of Lalo’s sinister presence and Howard’s blood-soaked corpse, Jimmy and Kim will be irreparably traumatized by what they’ve seen (and indirectly caused).
Audiences have already seen how Jimmy deals with this trauma – by regressing further and further into the Saul Goodman persona – but Kim’s fate remains to be seen.