After a long hiatus during which Bob Odenkirk nearly lost his life, Saul Goodman is back and this time around his partner in crime Kim Wexler looks bound to take a long walk on the dark side as the show’s final season moves towards solving the mystery of what happens to her prior to Jimmy’s full transformation into the character made famous by Breaking Bad.
In that sense, Better Call Saul wastes no time with a double-header premiere that picks up right where season five left off, though if anyone’s memory is a little iffy, they can always go watch the season 5 recap released by AMC last week. The good news is that Better Call Saul continues to be as visually impressive and nerve-racking as its older cousin while setting up a tense confrontation climate down in Albuquerque and the northern part of Mexico.
The first episode, “Wine and Roses”, was directed by Michael Morris who happens to be behind some of the best Better Call Saul episodes to date, and on this occasion, his opening shot is a rather colorful one as the camera takes viewers on a small tour to the future where Saul’s extravagant possessions are being seized. Perhaps his intent is to illustrate how big of a gap exists between current Jimmy and future Saul, with the latter persona needing to be more flashy as Kim later suggests.
In any case, the show has to deal with the aftermath of Gus’ failed assassination attempt on Lalo Salamanca, or at least Nacho Varga has to because after the previously mentioned glimpse at the future his journey is taking the spotlight. Whatever plans all parties had after taking out Lalo get tossed out the window, because Nacho is suddenly the Cartel’s most wanted man and Gustavo surely wants to handle the matter as cleanly as possible.
It’s through this that viewers get to see more of Mike rebelling against his boss, advising, dissenting and outright contradicting him on how Nacho’s fate should be handled, especially as his own distaste for pointless bloodshed grows more intense. Naturally, Gustavo’s pragmatism keeps him on high alert and he simply cannot accept the hit fulfilled its mission when things are looking so chaotic.
Elsewhere, Jimmy and Kim continue enjoying their lives as they plot how to exact revenge upon Howard Hamlin, and yet despite their chemistry being properly aligned again, it’s clear Kim is unrattled whenever she comes across evidence of her partner’s work, whether it’d be bags of money or a coffee mug with a bullet hole in it. Kim has been breaking bad for a while now, and though her hardball tactics at times appear to best Jimmy’s, this is the way the camera warns viewers she’s not quite there yet.
The star of the show is definitely Lalo Salamanca, as he strolls with all his murderous charm to take the first steps of his revenge, which even involves planting someone else’s body ad if it were his (teeth and stache included) to fool Gustavo. Lalo is the mastermind behind the plan to expose Gus, but for all his efforts fans will be relieved to see he and Hector still can’t fool the chicken entrepreneur.
Most of the comedic elements in these two episodes come from Kim and Jimmy’s efforts to tarnish Howard’s reputation, as they first try to plant cocaine baby powder on him, so that Clifford Main begins to doubt him; and then on the “Carrot and Stick” episode resort to bringing back an old familiar face, the Kettlemans, who make their return after appearing in season one as one of Jimmy’s first plays.
Better Call Saul continues to be a slow-moving show, yet it never truly feels like that in these first two episodes. Vince Gilligan takes over directing duties for the second one, but the decision to release them together seems correct as they retain the vibe that both work better as a unit with the first one concluding the season recap and the second one doing more to move the plot forward with less room for visual spectacle.
Tension reaches its peak point when Mike’s continued fondness for Nacho causes him to briefly disobey Gustavo, nonetheless, it’s these kinds of encounters that will surely make his stock rise with his employer. Thus, once the credits roll, Nacho’s whereabouts are still unknown but he could very well be in the hands of the Salamancas, alive and talking just like they wanted him, and this is the one thing true cliffhanger ahead of next week’s third episode, without forgetting this season will be split into two parts.
The final scene might give some the idea that Kim is already turning dark, however, it would be naive to think this is as far as she’s willing to go, especially seeing that her actions still carry a certain amount of good faith. It’s likely Kim and Jimmy’s relationship will see more instances of the former acting as the bad cop and good old Saul Goodman coming out as the more likable one, but even more so that a turning point event is what truly pushes Ms. Wexler to the edge.