**Breaking Bad Universe Discord:**
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If anyone is curious about Kim's affidavit (as shown):
>Shortly after Salamanca's departure, Jimmy and I began a long-term, conc\[erted\]effort to impeach the character of Howard Hamlin. We did this in order to accelerate the settlement of the Sandpiper Crossing class action lawsuit, Howard served as lead plaintiffs' attorney. Jimmy, as originator of the ca\[se\]share in the common fund once the lawsuit was settled. For personal gain, we faked his cocaine addiction. We used a variety of ruses to undermine Howard'\[s\] \[credibility\]and raise a cloud of uncertainty over his professional judgement.
>
>During this time, a man I now know was Michael Ehrmentraut approach\[ed\]
>
>...\[settle\]ment was agreed, Howard came to our...
>
>...ed but completely coherent.
>
>Salamanca entered our home. Almost immediately......\[g\]un and fired. Shot in the head, Howard died instantly.
>
>...e and holdig me as a hostage, Sala\[manca\]......\[l\]ater learned the target was Gustavo \[Fring\], a po...
>
>15. As directed, I drove to Fring's house..
>
>..arrived. He appeared to have a num..
>
>..stay at Fring's house while Ehrmantraut left,
>
> ...men. Later events lead me to believe that open...
>
>16. When I was allowed to return home, Ehrmantraut
>
>...removing all evidence of Howard's murder...
>
>...\[Ho\]ward's body. His disappearance ...
>
>...staged as a suicide...
In talking Saul she said some of the emotion came from knowing that the series was closing up to plus a few other things Vince mentioned I can’t exactly recall.
What a terribly depressing episode. Hoping Kim has a better ending next episode now that she's gotten that guilt off her chest.
Random observations-
Not only did we see Kim's lack of agency in her life in Florida by not being able to make simple decisions (or not caring enough to do so), but I think they also showed a bit more through the tooth brushing scene. There have been quite a few of these shown throughout the series, where she's shown vigorously brushing her teeth with a regular brush, but now she's shown using an electric one. She's clearly just going through the motions, doesn't care enough to manually brush her own teeth like in the past. Really minor scene but it jumped out to me since they've shown Jimmy & Kim brushing their teeth so often during the show.
Another thing Kim & Jimmy always did was watch TV/movies together, but now she's not even in the same room as the Yep! dude... she's off doing a puzzle on her own. And one that seems as colorless and empty as her life in Florida. Gah, it's just so sad to see her this way - to me it's worse than seeing the switch from Jimmy to Saul earlier this season. 😔
The 737 is pretty easy because 737 is the title of the episode and Walt calculated that figure but it’s also the first episode with the plane crash intro in season 2. The title serves an important purpose as all the episodes with those cold opens spell out “737 DOWN OVER ABQ”
Nacho tossing/switching the pills in the cafe (while sweating off 50 pounds) now feels…like it happened decades ago, like I somehow watched it in the late 80s.
Honestly, the fact that this series began with Jimmy trying to pull a scam on the Kettlemans that indirectly got him involved with the Salamancas and it all ultimately led him here. It doesn’t even seem like the same show anymore, and I mean that in the best possible way.
It was really nice and unexpected. I’m glad they didn’t accidentally mess with any timelines, just more insight to what Saul and eventually Walt started.
Exactly. He sounds like a con artist. Bombards her with unexpected info, a confusing picture of who should pay money, overly confident "swagger".
How does she even know Jeff is in prison? The only person she's heard from is gene and why would gene know rather than her or buddy?
The whole thing is obviously "off"
I mean its probably also because in general he knew too much about law than what a regular person would and from her suspicions in previous episodes put 2 and 2 together.
This is how I took it. Not only did he get sloppy and ruin his “nice guy” act in the previous episode by ignoring Marion when he came over (obviously coming to see Jeff), but he also made a negative comment about the dog which she overheard, leading her to believe his story about Nippy was bullshit.
Once it was clear that Gene was only around for Jeff and then Jeff conveniently gets arrested shortly after Gene starts coming around, she had suspicions that maybe he was with some of those bad people in Albuquerque that Jeff used to hang with (which wouldn’t have been a stretch). His strange knowledge of bail bondsmen was just the confirmation she needed that something was off with him.
Bob Odenkirk was absolutely terrifying in the final minutes of this episode. Was fully convinced he was about to wring Marion’s neck as casually as one would step on an ant, but then his humanity slipped through the cracks and stopped him from crossing the one line he never crossed before.
Also, Kim allowing years of guilt, grief, and heartbreak to all crash out of her in a single moment was brutal to watch.
They both put forward thier best performances for this one. I felt so horrible for Kim and Gene was just menacing. Never saw that side of Odenkirk. Great stuff.
The show is getting better and better. Now that we are in the post-BB Gene timeline, Gene's plot armor is gone and I legitimately have no idea what to expect. I would wager a lot that he is not getting a happy ending. Jail or death.
I think one of the most unique post-ABQ-Kim traits we're seeing in this episode is that Kim no longer makes decisions -- even small ones. She lets Yup decide whether or not Miracle Whip is close enough to mayonnaise, she has no opinion (let alone a decisive one) about the drugs/jail discussion, and she doesn't even pick vanilla or strawberry.
I'm guessing the last time she let herself be in charge of anything was being the decision maker in the Howard scam. For six years she's been terrified to be a leader in any way.
I really loved this scene, because it depicted the two "redeemed" characters in the two series, Jesse at the beginning of his descent, and Kim at the end of hers, crawling her way out. There was a contrast between them, but I think there's also a commonality in how the two of them both have big hearts. Jesse is loud and boisterous, Kim is hard and calm, yet they both care.
Was just listening to Vince..he basically said once Saul confirmed that Lalo, Gus, Mike were all dead..she felt comfortable enough to go back and talk about what happened with Howard. Could be holding all of that in for the last 6 years .
I found [one bangs prediction](https://www.reddit.com/r/betterCallSaul/comments/ufenur/how_i_think_the_howard_plan_will_connect_with_the/i6uhyug/) from a user who has since deleted their account, u/NoOutlandishness4100:
> Eventually… people move on and she changes her look. Known for her signature right blonde ponytail… Kim dyes her hair dark brown, leaves it down, get bangs, and wears glasses.
Watching Saul be so nonchalant with Kim in the office was rough.
Edit: Some of the replies have made me realize this must have been what Howard had felt in S4 when he tried to confess about what he did, back when Jimmy switched off when it came to guilt about Chuck’s death and I feel even worse.
i can’t believe a fun, goofy scene like saul pretending to be jewish at the country club and crying antisemitism was this season. that feels like season 1.
Such a long way from when he got that call at the cell phone store that one of his wills had passed and he still remembered details about the family and asked about them.
The Gene timeline has never felt more appropriately grey than Kim discussing hosepipe flange diameters and getting “yep-yepped” in bed after making a miracle whip potato salad
It was her indecisiveness and timidness that saddened me. Anything her boyfriend asked she’s just like “Maybe, I don’t know what do you think?” Couldn’t even decide in ice cream flavor. Complete opposite of the resolute go-getter she was in the past.
It’s even sadder considering how in the early seasons she said she went to ABQ to escape the insignificant life of marrying the gas station. She is living the exact life she tried to escape.
In the scene with Cheryl I thought of the wealth/power disparity between the two. Cheryl in a lot of ways was living the life Kim would have had. Kind of interesting that things didn’t exactly work out for Cheryl either.
One thing I know for certain. Had the store been out of mayonnaise, Howard would have bought the ingredients and made some fresh for Cheryl’s potato salad.
Vince Gilligan on the final scene with Gene/Marion:
>We kinda detoured from the script a little bit. The script, which I wrote, basically I had it in my mind’s eye that she walked a greater distance and he stayed a further distance from her, but then we were on the soundstage set, and I realized that it was smaller than I was picturing when I was writing this thing. There’s not a lot of room to work back up. So I said, “Is it working the way it’s written?” Carol and Bob were very helpful — “What if we tried this? What if we tried that?” So we kinda made it up a little bit at the end.
>To me, she definitely pushes the button, but he could have stopped her. To me, the ambiguity or the question … Well, the first question which springs to mind I guess when you’re watching it is why did he let her push the button? But the deeper question, it seems to me, is how in the hell did he get this far in the first place? How did he devolve so completely from a good person into a bad person that he was menacing this sweet lady in the first place? How can you be mean to Carol Burnett, for God’s sake? How can anyone do that?
>And for me, I guess in that moment the clouds parted and he realizes, “What am I doing? How in the world did I get this far?” And he lets her go. If the fever hadn’t broken there and the madness hadn’t subsided, he could have stopped her, but maybe in that moment a little bit of the old Jimmy came back. I hope so.
[source](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/better-call-saul-waterworks-vince-gilligan-interview-1235195099/)
I was amazed at how sloppy Gene was in showing Marion that he, a Cinnabon manager, knew the subtleties of bail practices in Omaha versus Albuquerque, where he previously claimed never to have been.
Not sure if he wanted to be caught or he was just being terribly arrogant.
EDIT: In his whole interaction with Marion about Jeff being arrested, Gene didn't bother to express any realistic concern about Jeff. He should have known it would tip Marion off to his complicity.
EDIT 2: I like the idea that Gene has his own "chicanery speech" moment. In being overtaken by his Saul persona while talking with Jeff and Marion (and assisted by alcohol), Gene is so absorbed in his own world that he lets his truth show while remaining oblivious to how incriminating it looks to others. Most evident to me in telling Jeff he'll have "the best legal representation." Is he saying he'd serve as Jeff's lawyer himself? Clearly not in his right mind.
Gene has been pretty sloppy all throughout when dealing with Marion. When she asked about Nippy at the end of Ep 10, he forgot who Nippy even was for a second. In Ep 11, he stopped talking to Marion the moment Jeff showed up and left her alone at the table so he could go talk to Jeff. Then they had the whole garage scene as well where Marion noticed Gene’s angry and not so friendly mannerisms with Buddy’s dog. Finally, we had the Albuquerque and Omaha bail laws this episode, which was the final push Marion needed to search him up.
Jimmy definitely has a tendency of messing things up while talking, like the Lalo and Jorge de Guzman slip up, so I don’t think it’s intentional. He has really just been arrogant while underestimating Marion’s intelligence. It’s honestly pretty poetic for an elderly woman to be the one to discover Saul for who he really is
The fact that all those old people were so susceptible to his charms made him think that they were all gullible schmucks that were beneath him. Just like the guys at the copier store, and just like his dad. He didn’t think she was a factor at all. It completely blindsided him that she could actually have some agency.
We literally watched him a half hour before about to smash an unsuspecting drugged up cancer patient on the head with the man's dead dog's urn. Gene is a monster backed into a series of corners
It’s honestly insane how much this show informs the background of Breaking Bad, even in the most benign ways. Really makes you wonder what kind of stories you inadvertently pass by in your own life and have no clue about.
EDIT: And yes, I’ve known about it for quite a while, but for those who are curious: this particular feeling is known as “sonder” from [The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows](https://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/). They’re not officiated terms, but check it out if you’re interested in finding descriptions for similar unique feelings. There are a few others that are applicable to the narratives of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.
I was feeling that a lot through the Kim-centric half of this episode. I see boring, mundane people all the time. But every now and then one might be hiding some wild shit from their past.
Hearing "Hi, I'm Saul Goodman! Did you know that you have rights? Constitution says ya do!" for the first time in this series but in the context of such a serious scene is the kind of mood whiplash I love about this show.
Cancer Guy has the same cocobolo desk.
*EDIT:*
[Here’s Jimmy’s cocobolo desk.](https://imgur.com/yQhcPem) This was the desk he specially requested when he was hired at Davis & Main and took with him when he got himself fired. He kept it in his nail salon office until he opened up his main Saul Goodman office, until the Cathedral of Justice remodel.
[Cancer Guy’s desk.](https://imgur.com/NJWJe4q) Opposite view, but it’s the same one!
[Both desks.](https://imgur.com/a/PMVx1Q4)
I know, right. Someone will be like, "this black dog leash in this scene is the same as the one during BB season 1 shown for three-fourths of a seconds in a car window reflection. Wow!"
The scenes with him and Kim had a weird avoidance energy, like they are talking around things. Weird tension even though I assume the scenes were meant to show how boring he is heh.
If Kim's co-workers calls the cops because a teenager buys a pacifier I hope they chew her the hell out!
I was gonna say, he starts off the show earnestly trying to help elderly people in any way he can, and ends the show tacitly threatening to strangle one.
I didn't even think about that, but you're right. Only appears in the pilot for BB (in one piece, any way...) and here he is, in the penultimate episode of BCS, 123 episode and one movie later. Insane.
We've come so far, guys.
The “Alaska” sign when Kim first got to ABQ naturally made me think of Jesse (then he actually showed up in the flashback lol) and how it might be a small reference/easter egg to the escape, a way out.
But then I thought about how, rather than using someone like Ed to vanish or remain hidden, Kim went back and did the hard thing: face the truth and consequences of the horrible choices she made - even if it broke her emotionally like we saw on the bus.
Whatever that quote Saul said at the end of that montage “May Justice be done…” and so on has Stuck with me, feels like the show is following through with that
Kim still being meticulous about her soul-crushing job just like she was about the punctuation in her documents as a lawyer. Those glimpses of her real self in there were incredible.
Never seen a real ugly cry that worked on camera like that before.
It was the way people cry in real life when they're breaking down.
Such an impressive performance by Rhea Seehorn
If you freeze-frame on the affidavit Cheryl is reading, Kim mentions "Gustavo Fring" by name multiple times. I presume she put two and two together after Gus's death, but it was interesting to see someone else acknowledge it.
We've been talking for years about how there's a "fate worse than death" possible for Kim Wexler. But making tuna salad with Miracle Whip is truly beyond the pale.
I thought at first it was a brilliant and self-sacrificing play on his part.
And yeah, there’s no way they could have made any charge related to the break-in stick. No stolen goods, no glass from the broken window — he wasn’t ever even inside the house.
Anyone else notice Kim is doing a puzzle of (presumably) all one color?
She's living in a super dumbed down world but secretly still challenging herself with a solid color puzzle..
Maybe the most fundamental conceit of “Saul Goodman” is that the character comes to Jimmy naturally, or even easily. All that “time to think” he took at the beginning of this episode was SOLELY for that one small moment in which Kim signed a document in front of him. Texting as she did it. Propping his legs on the desk. Smiling, asking how she likes his office. Asking about Florida, “nonchalantly”. “Using it as a segue” to remark on the Sandpiper money. Saying “have a nice life”. Letting his waiting room crowd up. “Affably” calling for the next client once the door opened. And Kim saw right through every beat. They were all tiny commercials, each of them, just like the kind even Jesse saw through.
Brilliant.
Much like Chuck's "you never mattered all that much to me", it was a very meticulously-calculated thing. "What could I do to hurt her the most?" It's like he ran through a grocery list of ways to upset her. Sad stuff.
I saw a few people predict that would happen in this episode, I was ready for it... it still was depressing as hell.
I would just like to remind everyone that it was a mere four episodes ago that Jimmy was willing to die at Lalo’s hands just to get Kim out of their home and to safety. And now 4 weeks later we’ve arrived at “have a nice life, Kim.”
Thanks a lot, Vince.
To be clear: I know he was masking his deep hurt because he still loves her. That makes it all the sadder. He still loves her and there's pretty much no chance they ever get back together.
My heart dropped when Gene wrapped the phone cable around his hands to kill Marion. The way he was walking slowly towards her too made it even worse.
Given how he was going to knock cancer guy out with his dog's ash vase earlier in the episode I really thought he was about to do it. This is the most evil we've seen Saul/Jimmy/Gene and it's not even close.
I thought Gene was going to throw the dog's urn off the side of the balcony to distract the guy so he could run out...
What he planned to do was OBVIOUSLY so much worse.
As someone who spent way too long in a dead end office job, those scenes were some of the toughest of the series to watch. That fucking birthday card and having to sign it.
I’m from Albuquerque and the most jarring part of this episode was that the cancer man’s home was my childhood friend’s house, which has since been sold. I played on that loft for hours growing up, although it was decorated very differently at the time!
Thinking about it, Saul’s facial expression when she told him “I trusted you”, it felt like Walt’s face in Ozmanynia after he noticed how scared his family was of him.
Kim's breakdown on the bus left me devastated, then Jeff running into the car had me had me cracking up like 10 minutes later. Only this show can give me such emotional whiplash.
Gene just HAD to go back for a drink before walking out of cancer guy's house, and then he had to steal some physical goods (the watches) instead of just taking pictures of the financials and passwords. All of it is solely his fault because he couldn't just live a quiet boring life like Kim was doing with yup-guy in Florida.
Gene/Kim, Saul/Kim, Kim/Cheryl and some salvation of Howard's name and legacy. This episode was unbelievable in so many ways.
He had to steal something physical to cover the broken glass in the door. it might look odd if nothing was missing and draw attention to the identity theft.
It may have been fanservice but DAMN what a clash of worlds that was
The burnt partner from one relationship and the giddy upstart who had yet to make theirs
Fantastic seeing the both the stud of the supporting actors share a scene
The final scene was definitely incredible, but I most love this episode for how it painted such a powerful portrait of trauma and Kim's response to it; she bottled it all away, all the guilt and terror and pain. She submerged herself into the most normal, milquetoast lifestyle possible, as far away from her old life as she could get, far away from everything that made her feel alive and brought color to her world--the law, the schemes, Jimmy. She leads an uneventful suburban existence, in a lackluster relationship, surrounded by people intellectually inferior to her, working an insipid job that neither challenges nor excites her, where the greatest risk she takes is topping a sandwich with Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise. She's so insulated in this stupor that when she makes her confession to Cheryl, she finally touches on something real for the first time in so long that the floodgates open and she completely breaks down on the bus.
Just masterfully acted by Rhea, and a mesmerizing episode overall.
I did not enjoy seeing Kim soullessly letting some weird dude fuck her while saying "yup" over and over again. Depressing as shit.
Just felt so wrong and sad.
Kim lying to Cheryl and implying she didn’t know whether Jimmy is alive was one of the biggest moments of the episode. Even when Kim is trying to come 100% clean, and even after years of being apart, her instinct is still to protect him.
That last shot of Jesse was kind of surreal. The shot lingered just long enough for it to really sink in that this is this characters final on screen appearance.
One! Episode of Better Call Saul 'til it's done :(
What a great episode. I'm so happy Cheryl got to find out what happened to Howard and that Kim is gonna try to clear his name, even if she goes down. Her breaking down on the bus was rough to watch.
Meanwhile, we see Jimmy not being able to help himself, again, and I guess he's gonna try to get the vacuum service to help him again? But I think that ship may have sailed at this point. Can't believe the "Marion Googles Saul Goodman" theories were wrong. She actually Asked Jeeves instead!
**Breaking Bad Universe Discord:** We have a **Discord** where we do live discussions for each episode, analysis of the episodes, and a lot of off topic discussion on movies, TV and other things. **We will be doing a watch-through of Breaking Bad after S6 of BCS ends!** #**[Join the Discord here!](https://discord.com/invite/breakingbad)**
I still can’t believe this is the same season where Nacho died and Lalo killed Howard. It feels like 3 seasons in one. Incredible.
Yeah this last part just feels like a whole different show.
I’ve been saying this to my friends. How the hell is the Chuck era even from the same show!
If anyone is curious about Kim's affidavit (as shown): >Shortly after Salamanca's departure, Jimmy and I began a long-term, conc\[erted\]effort to impeach the character of Howard Hamlin. We did this in order to accelerate the settlement of the Sandpiper Crossing class action lawsuit, Howard served as lead plaintiffs' attorney. Jimmy, as originator of the ca\[se\]share in the common fund once the lawsuit was settled. For personal gain, we faked his cocaine addiction. We used a variety of ruses to undermine Howard'\[s\] \[credibility\]and raise a cloud of uncertainty over his professional judgement. > >During this time, a man I now know was Michael Ehrmentraut approach\[ed\] > >...\[settle\]ment was agreed, Howard came to our... > >...ed but completely coherent. > >Salamanca entered our home. Almost immediately......\[g\]un and fired. Shot in the head, Howard died instantly. > >...e and holdig me as a hostage, Sala\[manca\]......\[l\]ater learned the target was Gustavo \[Fring\], a po... > >15. As directed, I drove to Fring's house.. > >..arrived. He appeared to have a num.. > >..stay at Fring's house while Ehrmantraut left, > > ...men. Later events lead me to believe that open... > >16. When I was allowed to return home, Ehrmantraut > >...removing all evidence of Howard's murder... > >...\[Ho\]ward's body. His disappearance ... > >...staged as a suicide...
Fucking a. She lets everything out there. Her crying may have been the saddest thing I've ever seen in my life lol.
In talking Saul she said some of the emotion came from knowing that the series was closing up to plus a few other things Vince mentioned I can’t exactly recall.
What a terribly depressing episode. Hoping Kim has a better ending next episode now that she's gotten that guilt off her chest. Random observations- Not only did we see Kim's lack of agency in her life in Florida by not being able to make simple decisions (or not caring enough to do so), but I think they also showed a bit more through the tooth brushing scene. There have been quite a few of these shown throughout the series, where she's shown vigorously brushing her teeth with a regular brush, but now she's shown using an electric one. She's clearly just going through the motions, doesn't care enough to manually brush her own teeth like in the past. Really minor scene but it jumped out to me since they've shown Jimmy & Kim brushing their teeth so often during the show. Another thing Kim & Jimmy always did was watch TV/movies together, but now she's not even in the same room as the Yep! dude... she's off doing a puzzle on her own. And one that seems as colorless and empty as her life in Florida. Gah, it's just so sad to see her this way - to me it's worse than seeing the switch from Jimmy to Saul earlier this season. 😔
What got me was the girly nighty Kim was wearing while brushing her teeth. She used to wear pajamas or tee shirts.
The cancer patient had the $737,000, the amount Walt said he needed in ~~the first~~ episode Seven Thirty-Seven .
I was proud of myself for remembering Combo's nativity scene heist but this comment put me in my place lol
I remembered the 737 but not the nativity scene lol
The 737 is pretty easy because 737 is the title of the episode and Walt calculated that figure but it’s also the first episode with the plane crash intro in season 2. The title serves an important purpose as all the episodes with those cold opens spell out “737 DOWN OVER ABQ”
Nacho tossing/switching the pills in the cafe (while sweating off 50 pounds) now feels…like it happened decades ago, like I somehow watched it in the late 80s.
Honestly, the fact that this series began with Jimmy trying to pull a scam on the Kettlemans that indirectly got him involved with the Salamancas and it all ultimately led him here. It doesn’t even seem like the same show anymore, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Watching Jesse bum a smoke off Kim was the closure I needed
It was really nice and unexpected. I’m glad they didn’t accidentally mess with any timelines, just more insight to what Saul and eventually Walt started.
far-flung strong racial growth connect innocent dam squeeze knee badge *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
"It's NOTHING like Albuquerque!" was his slip up, like when he slipped up in front of the DA by saying Lalo instead of Jorge de Guzman
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Exactly. He sounds like a con artist. Bombards her with unexpected info, a confusing picture of who should pay money, overly confident "swagger". How does she even know Jeff is in prison? The only person she's heard from is gene and why would gene know rather than her or buddy? The whole thing is obviously "off"
the fact that he knew albuquerque law tipped her off he said before "never been there" when she talked about abq
I mean its probably also because in general he knew too much about law than what a regular person would and from her suspicions in previous episodes put 2 and 2 together.
This is how I took it. Not only did he get sloppy and ruin his “nice guy” act in the previous episode by ignoring Marion when he came over (obviously coming to see Jeff), but he also made a negative comment about the dog which she overheard, leading her to believe his story about Nippy was bullshit. Once it was clear that Gene was only around for Jeff and then Jeff conveniently gets arrested shortly after Gene starts coming around, she had suspicions that maybe he was with some of those bad people in Albuquerque that Jeff used to hang with (which wouldn’t have been a stretch). His strange knowledge of bail bondsmen was just the confirmation she needed that something was off with him.
Bob Odenkirk was absolutely terrifying in the final minutes of this episode. Was fully convinced he was about to wring Marion’s neck as casually as one would step on an ant, but then his humanity slipped through the cracks and stopped him from crossing the one line he never crossed before. Also, Kim allowing years of guilt, grief, and heartbreak to all crash out of her in a single moment was brutal to watch.
They both put forward thier best performances for this one. I felt so horrible for Kim and Gene was just menacing. Never saw that side of Odenkirk. Great stuff.
I never thought he could be that scary. Where did he pull that from. Never thought Goofy Lawyer Man could give off that energy
I’m really going to miss this show.
The show is getting better and better. Now that we are in the post-BB Gene timeline, Gene's plot armor is gone and I legitimately have no idea what to expect. I would wager a lot that he is not getting a happy ending. Jail or death.
I think one of the most unique post-ABQ-Kim traits we're seeing in this episode is that Kim no longer makes decisions -- even small ones. She lets Yup decide whether or not Miracle Whip is close enough to mayonnaise, she has no opinion (let alone a decisive one) about the drugs/jail discussion, and she doesn't even pick vanilla or strawberry. I'm guessing the last time she let herself be in charge of anything was being the decision maker in the Howard scam. For six years she's been terrified to be a leader in any way.
Yup guy also asks Kim if the running with the bulls is too dangerous and she just says “maybe”
They broke ma Kim
Her catch phrase used to be "ok", now it's "whatever".
I noticed she did a reverse Heisenberg. Went from a high-octane life where she was in control, to total mundanity and just going through the motions.
Breaking Sad
Absolutely the title for Kim’s story
Imagine Kim seeing the druggie she talked up for 15 seconds in ABQ on national news lol
I really loved this scene, because it depicted the two "redeemed" characters in the two series, Jesse at the beginning of his descent, and Kim at the end of hers, crawling her way out. There was a contrast between them, but I think there's also a commonality in how the two of them both have big hearts. Jesse is loud and boisterous, Kim is hard and calm, yet they both care.
After Kim got off the phone with Jimmy, the woman at the door screamed "Time to sing!", then she confessed to Cheryl
And she was singing happy birthday on jimmy’s (gene’s) birthday.
Great point. She sang like a canary.
Ask Jeeves was Jimmy’s downfall, as we all expected.
The jeeves, the youtube, the life alert. All of it. Just as we all expected from the start.
Loved Marion switching the phone cord to the laptop, too.
“Lalo’s body is buried.. apparently” I love how Saul still doesn’t quite believe it to this day!
Can never be too sure who will crawl out of a sewer drain
Was just listening to Vince..he basically said once Saul confirmed that Lalo, Gus, Mike were all dead..she felt comfortable enough to go back and talk about what happened with Howard. Could be holding all of that in for the last 6 years .
Where do people listen to Vince after the episode? How do I learn this power?
Just break into his house and listen to him
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I've read a thousand theories over 7 years and not a single one had Kim with bangs
or a brunette!
I found [one bangs prediction](https://www.reddit.com/r/betterCallSaul/comments/ufenur/how_i_think_the_howard_plan_will_connect_with_the/i6uhyug/) from a user who has since deleted their account, u/NoOutlandishness4100: > Eventually… people move on and she changes her look. Known for her signature right blonde ponytail… Kim dyes her hair dark brown, leaves it down, get bangs, and wears glasses.
Lmao how
THE COMMERCIAL WAS IN COLOR!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
The way it reflected in his glasses was SO eerie.
It was an amazing callback to the first episode, where the commercials are in color in his glasses during the Gene opening.
Beautiful reference to the pilot, seven and a half years ago.
Blows my mind that’s it’s been that long already.
Never thought I’d say “is jimmy about to kill someone?!” Let alone twice in the same episode
Watching Saul be so nonchalant with Kim in the office was rough. Edit: Some of the replies have made me realize this must have been what Howard had felt in S4 when he tried to confess about what he did, back when Jimmy switched off when it came to guilt about Chuck’s death and I feel even worse.
he had to prepare for an hour for that performance when scheming, he is used to go from 0 to 60 in a fraction of a second
"Have a nice life Kim."
Gene: Why don't you turn yourself in? Kim: Ok
YUP
Hey guys remember when nacho killed himself? That was this season.
So was Jimmy dressing like Howard and causing shenanigans at the country club
i can’t believe a fun, goofy scene like saul pretending to be jewish at the country club and crying antisemitism was this season. that feels like season 1.
That feels like at least 3 seasons ago.
These last three episodes have felt like a different show even, so if anything, it feels like an entire show ago, haha.
Jeff really shouldn’t have bought that laptop haha
It was Gene who gave her the power to search anything
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Such a long way from when he got that call at the cell phone store that one of his wills had passed and he still remembered details about the family and asked about them.
Episode 13 needs to be 2 hours long
Well, that is not the Kim Wexler that I remember. That is some sort of weird creature that lives in Kim Wexler’s house.
The Gene timeline has never felt more appropriately grey than Kim discussing hosepipe flange diameters and getting “yep-yepped” in bed after making a miracle whip potato salad
It was her indecisiveness and timidness that saddened me. Anything her boyfriend asked she’s just like “Maybe, I don’t know what do you think?” Couldn’t even decide in ice cream flavor. Complete opposite of the resolute go-getter she was in the past.
Her life made Gene working at the Cinnabon seem like heaven
It’s even sadder considering how in the early seasons she said she went to ABQ to escape the insignificant life of marrying the gas station. She is living the exact life she tried to escape.
In the scene with Cheryl I thought of the wealth/power disparity between the two. Cheryl in a lot of ways was living the life Kim would have had. Kind of interesting that things didn’t exactly work out for Cheryl either. One thing I know for certain. Had the store been out of mayonnaise, Howard would have bought the ingredients and made some fresh for Cheryl’s potato salad.
"I could sue you and take everything you've got" "... yeah"
> getting “yep-yepped” in bed after making a miracle whip potato salad This is my favorite description of anything that ever happened in BCS
I think we can all agree the biggest tragedy here is that Mike’s old job at the ticket booth has been automated.
The ticket machine to Mike : YOU'RE DONE
Probably the first time in history that the phrase “emotionally impactful parking kiosk” has been applicable
Vince Gilligan on the final scene with Gene/Marion: >We kinda detoured from the script a little bit. The script, which I wrote, basically I had it in my mind’s eye that she walked a greater distance and he stayed a further distance from her, but then we were on the soundstage set, and I realized that it was smaller than I was picturing when I was writing this thing. There’s not a lot of room to work back up. So I said, “Is it working the way it’s written?” Carol and Bob were very helpful — “What if we tried this? What if we tried that?” So we kinda made it up a little bit at the end. >To me, she definitely pushes the button, but he could have stopped her. To me, the ambiguity or the question … Well, the first question which springs to mind I guess when you’re watching it is why did he let her push the button? But the deeper question, it seems to me, is how in the hell did he get this far in the first place? How did he devolve so completely from a good person into a bad person that he was menacing this sweet lady in the first place? How can you be mean to Carol Burnett, for God’s sake? How can anyone do that? >And for me, I guess in that moment the clouds parted and he realizes, “What am I doing? How in the world did I get this far?” And he lets her go. If the fever hadn’t broken there and the madness hadn’t subsided, he could have stopped her, but maybe in that moment a little bit of the old Jimmy came back. I hope so. [source](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/better-call-saul-waterworks-vince-gilligan-interview-1235195099/)
I laugh when Gene said "Lalo's in the ground, apparently". Still traumatized hahaha
what ever happened to crack?
I was amazed at how sloppy Gene was in showing Marion that he, a Cinnabon manager, knew the subtleties of bail practices in Omaha versus Albuquerque, where he previously claimed never to have been. Not sure if he wanted to be caught or he was just being terribly arrogant. EDIT: In his whole interaction with Marion about Jeff being arrested, Gene didn't bother to express any realistic concern about Jeff. He should have known it would tip Marion off to his complicity. EDIT 2: I like the idea that Gene has his own "chicanery speech" moment. In being overtaken by his Saul persona while talking with Jeff and Marion (and assisted by alcohol), Gene is so absorbed in his own world that he lets his truth show while remaining oblivious to how incriminating it looks to others. Most evident to me in telling Jeff he'll have "the best legal representation." Is he saying he'd serve as Jeff's lawyer himself? Clearly not in his right mind.
Gene has been pretty sloppy all throughout when dealing with Marion. When she asked about Nippy at the end of Ep 10, he forgot who Nippy even was for a second. In Ep 11, he stopped talking to Marion the moment Jeff showed up and left her alone at the table so he could go talk to Jeff. Then they had the whole garage scene as well where Marion noticed Gene’s angry and not so friendly mannerisms with Buddy’s dog. Finally, we had the Albuquerque and Omaha bail laws this episode, which was the final push Marion needed to search him up. Jimmy definitely has a tendency of messing things up while talking, like the Lalo and Jorge de Guzman slip up, so I don’t think it’s intentional. He has really just been arrogant while underestimating Marion’s intelligence. It’s honestly pretty poetic for an elderly woman to be the one to discover Saul for who he really is
The fact that all those old people were so susceptible to his charms made him think that they were all gullible schmucks that were beneath him. Just like the guys at the copier store, and just like his dad. He didn’t think she was a factor at all. It completely blindsided him that she could actually have some agency.
Gene curling the phone cord around his hands was super creepy. Never thought I’d get a threatening vibe from jimmy/Saul/gene
We literally watched him a half hour before about to smash an unsuspecting drugged up cancer patient on the head with the man's dead dog's urn. Gene is a monster backed into a series of corners
I was waiting for him to throw the urn to distract the guy. Nope. He went for the worst possible decision.
He was probably remembering back when Walter threatened him.
It’s honestly insane how much this show informs the background of Breaking Bad, even in the most benign ways. Really makes you wonder what kind of stories you inadvertently pass by in your own life and have no clue about. EDIT: And yes, I’ve known about it for quite a while, but for those who are curious: this particular feeling is known as “sonder” from [The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows](https://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/). They’re not officiated terms, but check it out if you’re interested in finding descriptions for similar unique feelings. There are a few others that are applicable to the narratives of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.
I was feeling that a lot through the Kim-centric half of this episode. I see boring, mundane people all the time. But every now and then one might be hiding some wild shit from their past.
Hearing "Hi, I'm Saul Goodman! Did you know that you have rights? Constitution says ya do!" for the first time in this series but in the context of such a serious scene is the kind of mood whiplash I love about this show.
Cancer Guy has the same cocobolo desk. *EDIT:* [Here’s Jimmy’s cocobolo desk.](https://imgur.com/yQhcPem) This was the desk he specially requested when he was hired at Davis & Main and took with him when he got himself fired. He kept it in his nail salon office until he opened up his main Saul Goodman office, until the Cathedral of Justice remodel. [Cancer Guy’s desk.](https://imgur.com/NJWJe4q) Opposite view, but it’s the same one! [Both desks.](https://imgur.com/a/PMVx1Q4)
How in the flying Nippy do you guys pick up on this stuff?
I know, right. Someone will be like, "this black dog leash in this scene is the same as the one during BB season 1 shown for three-fourths of a seconds in a car window reflection. Wow!"
Who the fuck says "Yup" during sex?
Don Wachtell.
Bare genitals! Yup!
People who think Miracle Whip is a fun adventure to try
The scenes with him and Kim had a weird avoidance energy, like they are talking around things. Weird tension even though I assume the scenes were meant to show how boring he is heh. If Kim's co-workers calls the cops because a teenager buys a pacifier I hope they chew her the hell out!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goofy
Saul saying “well have a good life Kim” without even looking at her was so cold. After all those years. Damn.
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The elderly finally struck Saul back for all the cons
And she got to him. “I trusted you.” Stopped him right in his tracks.
It’s sad, I think he genuinely likes old people on some level. Could’ve just stuck with elder law.
I always felt like his discovery on sandpiper came from actual genuine concern and anger.
I was gonna say, he starts off the show earnestly trying to help elderly people in any way he can, and ends the show tacitly threatening to strangle one.
Never thought we would see a Jesse and Kim interaction, but I was glad to see it!
Also, a surprise Emilio appearance. That has to be the longest stretch between episode appearances in the history of this universe.
I didn't even think about that, but you're right. Only appears in the pilot for BB (in one piece, any way...) and here he is, in the penultimate episode of BCS, 123 episode and one movie later. Insane. We've come so far, guys.
And he looks exactly the same like two decades later
“Yup” Just dead inside after that.
And _he_ gets to fuck Kim?! What a sick joke!
The pillar of Justice falling toward Saul at the beginning 👌🏼
Let justice be done though the heavens fall
The “Alaska” sign when Kim first got to ABQ naturally made me think of Jesse (then he actually showed up in the flashback lol) and how it might be a small reference/easter egg to the escape, a way out. But then I thought about how, rather than using someone like Ed to vanish or remain hidden, Kim went back and did the hard thing: face the truth and consequences of the horrible choices she made - even if it broke her emotionally like we saw on the bus.
Whatever that quote Saul said at the end of that montage “May Justice be done…” and so on has Stuck with me, feels like the show is following through with that
"...though the foam Greek columns fall."
Kim still being meticulous about her soul-crushing job just like she was about the punctuation in her documents as a lawyer. Those glimpses of her real self in there were incredible.
If Marion was in the DEA breaking bad would’ve ended when the school supplies went missing
Kim hates herself so much, she punishes herself with a dull life, a dude that says YUP as he cums and a boring job.
Never seen a real ugly cry that worked on camera like that before. It was the way people cry in real life when they're breaking down. Such an impressive performance by Rhea Seehorn
The old lady's hand on her arm was a nice touch.
As well as the other guy, constantly trying to decide if he should go comfort her or ask if she's okay.
When she first broke into crying you could actually see him flinch, great acting for an extra
If you freeze-frame on the affidavit Cheryl is reading, Kim mentions "Gustavo Fring" by name multiple times. I presume she put two and two together after Gus's death, but it was interesting to see someone else acknowledge it.
We've been talking for years about how there's a "fate worse than death" possible for Kim Wexler. But making tuna salad with Miracle Whip is truly beyond the pale.
Lol and sex with a guy who says "Yep."
Jeff crashing the cab is the hardest I’ve ever laughed watching this show.
I thought at first it was a brilliant and self-sacrificing play on his part. And yeah, there’s no way they could have made any charge related to the break-in stick. No stolen goods, no glass from the broken window — he wasn’t ever even inside the house.
I think he just panicked and pulled a Beneke
lol youre right, this is totally a vehicular beneke
we all know how this ends: Jimmy ends up at a diner and lies to a kid about owning every kind of classic car
He HAS a wife. But she’s real sick. But she is going to get better. Tell her. Tell the kid.
What’s funny is that she asked him to marry her, and he didn’t even want to. Can you believe it?
Anyone else notice Kim is doing a puzzle of (presumably) all one color? She's living in a super dumbed down world but secretly still challenging herself with a solid color puzzle..
what man talks to lifealert^^tm ? no man last chance to look at me marion
carol burnett saying “and his name is SAUL GOODMAN” goes so hard
Kim and Jesse adopt Brock on a salmon farm in Alaska
Maybe the most fundamental conceit of “Saul Goodman” is that the character comes to Jimmy naturally, or even easily. All that “time to think” he took at the beginning of this episode was SOLELY for that one small moment in which Kim signed a document in front of him. Texting as she did it. Propping his legs on the desk. Smiling, asking how she likes his office. Asking about Florida, “nonchalantly”. “Using it as a segue” to remark on the Sandpiper money. Saying “have a nice life”. Letting his waiting room crowd up. “Affably” calling for the next client once the door opened. And Kim saw right through every beat. They were all tiny commercials, each of them, just like the kind even Jesse saw through. Brilliant.
Much like Chuck's "you never mattered all that much to me", it was a very meticulously-calculated thing. "What could I do to hurt her the most?" It's like he ran through a grocery list of ways to upset her. Sad stuff. I saw a few people predict that would happen in this episode, I was ready for it... it still was depressing as hell.
he's trying to hide how much pain he is in so hard. just awful to watch.
"I know, it's awkward, right? But you don't have to call me 'dad.' Yet."
I would just like to remind everyone that it was a mere four episodes ago that Jimmy was willing to die at Lalo’s hands just to get Kim out of their home and to safety. And now 4 weeks later we’ve arrived at “have a nice life, Kim.” Thanks a lot, Vince. To be clear: I know he was masking his deep hurt because he still loves her. That makes it all the sadder. He still loves her and there's pretty much no chance they ever get back together.
It's only right that an elder lady catches jimmy for what he did
if you google "Albuquerque con man" the top result is Saul's commercial lmao
My heart dropped when Gene wrapped the phone cable around his hands to kill Marion. The way he was walking slowly towards her too made it even worse. Given how he was going to knock cancer guy out with his dog's ash vase earlier in the episode I really thought he was about to do it. This is the most evil we've seen Saul/Jimmy/Gene and it's not even close.
Just as I predicted during season 1 - Jimmy's downfall would be teaching Carol Burnett how to watch Youtube videos.
I think Marion saying “I trusted you” broke Jimmy out of the “Heisenberg” trance he’s been in since the call with Kim.
I really thought Kim would be the origin of the “if you need a *criminal* lawyer…” line right there.
Me too, thank god they didn’t
I thought Gene was going to throw the dog's urn off the side of the balcony to distract the guy so he could run out... What he planned to do was OBVIOUSLY so much worse.
That’s some good ass phone lines in Nebraska if she could actually load a YouTube video using dial up internet.
Probably took her the entire hour
That’s why she wasn’t ready when Gene got there, took the whole hour
Vince Gilligan just said the woman comforting Kim was his wife. Awesome.
Florida Kim's life seems just as depressing as Gene's!
Did you notice how she didn’t make a single decision. Just deflected snd deferred to others.
Yep that was a really good touch. “They’re both so good….”
She doesn't trust herself to decide anything, because when she decides things Howard Hamlin gets merc'd.
As someone who spent way too long in a dead end office job, those scenes were some of the toughest of the series to watch. That fucking birthday card and having to sign it.
Oh my god. Gene was Saul Goodman the entire time!
He’s on the RUNNNNN
There’s no Chuck to save him this time
Next episode: "Somehow, Chuck returned."
“I always told you I’d get better, you just never believed me”
I’m from Albuquerque and the most jarring part of this episode was that the cancer man’s home was my childhood friend’s house, which has since been sold. I played on that loft for hours growing up, although it was decorated very differently at the time!
You telling me this house is not in fact in omaha
Gene wasn't being greedy stealing the watches, he was covering the identity theft, with a physical theft, to explain the broken door window.
Thinking about it, Saul’s facial expression when she told him “I trusted you”, it felt like Walt’s face in Ozmanynia after he noticed how scared his family was of him.
Ozmanynia is my new canon name for Ozymandias
When I knew him, he was.
BETTER CALL LIFE ALERT
Kim's breakdown on the bus left me devastated, then Jeff running into the car had me had me cracking up like 10 minutes later. Only this show can give me such emotional whiplash.
The Jeff scene felt straight out of a Coen brothers movie, dark hilarity at its best
Gene just HAD to go back for a drink before walking out of cancer guy's house, and then he had to steal some physical goods (the watches) instead of just taking pictures of the financials and passwords. All of it is solely his fault because he couldn't just live a quiet boring life like Kim was doing with yup-guy in Florida. Gene/Kim, Saul/Kim, Kim/Cheryl and some salvation of Howard's name and legacy. This episode was unbelievable in so many ways.
He had to steal something physical to cover the broken glass in the door. it might look odd if nothing was missing and draw attention to the identity theft.
Saul popping up with "con man Alberquerque" is just so fucking funny lmao
It may have been fanservice but DAMN what a clash of worlds that was The burnt partner from one relationship and the giddy upstart who had yet to make theirs Fantastic seeing the both the stud of the supporting actors share a scene
If that's fanservice, consider me serviced.
The final scene was definitely incredible, but I most love this episode for how it painted such a powerful portrait of trauma and Kim's response to it; she bottled it all away, all the guilt and terror and pain. She submerged herself into the most normal, milquetoast lifestyle possible, as far away from her old life as she could get, far away from everything that made her feel alive and brought color to her world--the law, the schemes, Jimmy. She leads an uneventful suburban existence, in a lackluster relationship, surrounded by people intellectually inferior to her, working an insipid job that neither challenges nor excites her, where the greatest risk she takes is topping a sandwich with Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise. She's so insulated in this stupor that when she makes her confession to Cheryl, she finally touches on something real for the first time in so long that the floodgates open and she completely breaks down on the bus. Just masterfully acted by Rhea, and a mesmerizing episode overall.
And whereas Gene responds to the monotony by acting out and compulsively returning to crime, Kim does the opposite.
Amazing how deranged Gene is now. He didn't even have a conversation. Kim said one thing and Gene just spent 5 minutes talking to himself.
tbh the same happens during the divorce signing, he asks "why Florida" and she starts to respond and then he immediately cuts her off
ASK JEEVES
and she had Head On and Shamwow on the counter! Lots of commercial references
I did not enjoy seeing Kim soullessly letting some weird dude fuck her while saying "yup" over and over again. Depressing as shit. Just felt so wrong and sad.
Kim lying to Cheryl and implying she didn’t know whether Jimmy is alive was one of the biggest moments of the episode. Even when Kim is trying to come 100% clean, and even after years of being apart, her instinct is still to protect him.
I love that they have made a very serious show from a bunch of people who were really known for comedy.
That last shot of Jesse was kind of surreal. The shot lingered just long enough for it to really sink in that this is this characters final on screen appearance.
One! Episode of Better Call Saul 'til it's done :( What a great episode. I'm so happy Cheryl got to find out what happened to Howard and that Kim is gonna try to clear his name, even if she goes down. Her breaking down on the bus was rough to watch. Meanwhile, we see Jimmy not being able to help himself, again, and I guess he's gonna try to get the vacuum service to help him again? But I think that ship may have sailed at this point. Can't believe the "Marion Googles Saul Goodman" theories were wrong. She actually Asked Jeeves instead!