In the “Better Call Saul” recap, Jimmy and Kim make their move against Howard and Lalo begins to execute a plan of his own…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Well, we finally know what happened to Howard Hamlin.
As “Better Call Saul” has continued moving closer and closer to the events in “Breaking Bad,” the characters from the prequel that never appeared in the original series had to be dealt with and for the second time in the final season, the answers to those questions came in deadly fashion.
First it was Nacho Varga, who undoubtedly had the lowest survival rates after he turned on the Salamanca family and ended up secretly working as a double agent for Gustavo Fring. Once he set in motion the events that were supposed to lead to Lalo Salamanca’s assassination in Mexico, Nacho was as good as dead.
Of course, Nacho went out in his own way — by finally telling the psychopathic Salamanca clan what he’s thought of them all these years and then putting a bullet in his own brain before the cartel could spend the next week torturing him to death.
But the latest episode — the mid-season finale with six more episodes left to go in the series — ended in tragedy and sadness.
Howard Hamlin, who has really transformed a lot over the past six seasons, finally had his world upended thanks to a plot against him from Jimmy and Kim but far worse was his instinct to confront the married couple over their shenanigans only to meet his demise because he was in the wrong place at the absolute wrong time.
The events that led to Howard’s death will send reverberations throughout what remains of this series — particularly there’s no way Kim Wexler walks away from this situation without feeling personally responsible for what happened. Meanwhile, Gus Fring is still preparing for a final showdown with Lalo except he now has no idea which direction the smartest and savviest Salamanca of them all is coming after him.
By all accounts, Lalo is dead before “Breaking Bad” ever happens but then again leave it to this series to somehow alter expectations by potentially giving him some way to survive — if anybody can keep dodging the grim reaper, it’s this guy.
There’s a lot more to dig into this week so let’s recap the “Better Call Saul” mid-season finale with the episode “Plan and Execution”…
The Action is the Juice
When the episode begins it’s a look at Lalo Salamanca back in New Mexico but we’ll return to him a little bit later.
Where Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler are concerned, they are trying to fix the last minute disaster after learning that the judge overseeing the Sandpiper class action lawsuit mediation has a broken arm, which means their doctored photos that are supposed to depict a payoff are worthless. The photos were part of a larger scheme hatched by Jimmy and Kim to stick it to Howard Hamlin but now the entire plan is falling apart with the mediation just hours away.
Never one to admit defeat, Jimmy gathers up the actor who he hired to portray the judge along with his college film crew so they can stage another photoshoot with an accurate portrayal of a man accepting a bribe with one good wing.
Now fully committed to the caper to the point where she abandoned a meeting that could have landed her a dream job helping less fortunate souls receive competent legal counsel, Kim speeds back to town to finish the photoshoot that’s meant for Howard Hamlin.
Even when Jimmy suggests she could leave and still make it back to her meeting, Kim refuses because she wants to see this through to the end.
The photos get finished just in enough time for Jimmy and Kim to brush something over the front of each one before handing everything off to the private investigator, who it turns out has been working for them this entire time. Yes, the private eye Howard hired was another part of this elaborate plan set up by Jimmy and Kim.
Back at HHM, Howard is meticulously putting together the conference room for the meeting that will take place later that day while schooling a new intern on the science behind calming down a shaken can of soda. It’s a trick he learned from Chuck McGill, whose portrait still hangs in the office yet the intern has no idea who he is until Howard calls him the greatest legal mind he’s ever known.
The intern waxes that he hopes somebody will say that about him one day, which earns a response from Howard that there are far more important things than that in life — a lesson he’s been forced to learn while watching his marriage fall to shambles.
Just as the parties are beginning to arrive for the mediation, Howard gets called to his office after the private investigator shows up with new evidence for him. The photos are presented and Howard can’t help but notice something sticky on the front, which the private eye tells him came from the bath where he developed the prints rather quickly to deliver these to him ASAP.
The photos show exactly what Jimmy wanted — it appears the judge handling the mediation has been handed a $20,000 payoff. Add to that, Jimmy has also managed to slip Howard that heart-racing substance given to him by Dr. Caldera to send his former boss into a sweaty frenzy, which will only further belief from his co-counsel Cliff Main that he’s about an 8-ball deep ahead of this meeting.
Of course, Howard isn’t above manipulation of his own, which is why there are moments when it feels like taking him down must feel so good to Jimmy and Kim. Case in point — after Howard speaks to Irene — the original plaintiff in the Sandpiper case who Jimmy once counted as a client — he forces her to roll into the meeting in a wheelchair just for that extra dose of pity and sympathy.
When they arrive, Howard is sweating bullets but it’s Judge Casomiro sitting down and introducing himself that changes the course of this meeting forever.
It only takes Howard a moment to realize that Judge Casomiro was the person taking a bribe from his old pal Jimmy McGill, which means that this mediation is all part of a bigger setup. After the judge gives a speech about compromise, Howard pipes up and says the only person compromised in this hearing is the person who is supposed to act as a fair and unbiased mediator.
Howard comes completely unglued at this point lobbing accusations at the judge about the payoff while putting the blame squarely on Jimmy’s shoulders. But when his assistant retrieves the photos from his office, Howard is stunned to find Jimmy sitting on a park bench handing a frisbee back to an elderly man.
Of course, the elderly man is one of Jimmy’s college students dressed up with makeup on but these are a far cry from a judge accepting a bribe from a shady lawyer. Howard cries foul, realizing he’s been set up for the fall but his actions have already resulted in dire consequences.
Rich Schweikart — head counsel for Sandpiper and Kim’s former boss — tells Cliff Main that he’s reducing his offer to settle and he’ll accept that compromise for the next 24 hours or the price drops by another million dollars. When Cliff confronts Howard, he’s in a frenzy at this point after realizing that Jimmy got over on him — not only setting up these photos but planting the private investigator that was used as part of the scheme.
With Howard seething with anger and Cliff Main scoffing at turning down a settlement to place blame at Jimmy’s doorstep — especially considering Jimmy will see his pay out from the Sandpiper case reduced because of this blunder — he’s finally heard enough. The case is done — and Cliff returns to the conference room to inform everybody that a settlement has been reached.
Back in the office, Jimmy and Kim had been listening to Howard’s meltdown via the conference call line while enjoying every delicious second of him launching unfounded accusations at a judge. By the time Cliff returns to reveal a settlement has been reached, Jimmy and Kim are celebrating by having sex on the couch in his office.
It turns out Howard was right all along — this was never about money or the settlement — it was always about tearing him down. For Jimmy and Kim — much like Michael Cheritto in ‘Heat’ — the action is the juice.
Plan A
Back to Lalo Salamanca — the episode actually begins with him back in New Mexico as he sleeps one hour a night inside a shotty old station wagon while showering in a truck stop bathroom. When he’s not sleeping, Lalo is climbing down into the sewer where he walks through the tunnels before arriving at a grate that gives him a bird’s eye view to what he’s really after — the laundromat where Gus Fring is building his super lab.
It seems Lalo’s conversation with Werner Ziegler’s former employee paid off because he now knows Gus is building this lab without the knowledge of the cartel, which will continue to expand his empire even as he opposes Don Eladio’s orders.
Lalo is documenting every bit of this through a camcorder that he obviously plans to send to Don Eladio as proof that Gus is operating behind his back and his man Juan Bolsa is giving him a pass along the way. Obviously we know Don Eladio never sees that video because he still trusts Gus as his operative in New Mexico until he’s poisoned to death in “Breaking Bad” season 4.
Still, Lalo is watching and waiting to see what he needs from the laundromat until he can finally strike back at Gus Fring.
While he’s on the stakeout, Lalo decides to call his uncle Hector Salamanca to inform him about what’s happening now that he’s back in the states. After being connected to the retirement home, Lalo hangs up the line and loses his cool, perhaps for the first time ever, as he smashes chairs and screams in rage and anger.
Lalo realized rather quickly that the line to the retirement home has been bugged, which means he’s just revealed to Gus Fring that he’s not only alive but back in the states.
After calming himself, Lalo calls back to the retirement home to use his uncle as part of the setup to go after Gus while telling his uncle that he’s going to have to go back to Plan A rather than just striking at the laundromat. When the call ends, Lalo watches as Mike Ehrmantraut emerges from inside along with a crew of men as they load up in trucks bound for a charity endeavor where Gus is giving money to a youth group.
Mike plays the audio for Gus while informing him that Lalo made the call just 20 minutes ago.
As a result of Lalo’s call, he’s pulled all of his security detail from the secondary targets to focus everybody on Gus’ home and place of business. Mike believes the strike is going to come directly at Gus without realizing that Lalo knew the phone was bugged when he called back to speak to Hector.
So now Gus realizes that Lalo is alive and back in New Mexico but he has no idea that Lalo is aware that a trap is being laid for him when he finally surfaces from wherever he’s hiding.
Let’s Talk
Following a long day tearing down Howard Hamlin, Jimmy and Kim are at home enjoying a movie while cuddled up in each other’s arms. It’s been a successful bit of scheming between husband and wife but a knock on the door serves as an interruption.
Jimmy knows without even checking that Howard has arrived to confront them over everything that unfolded that day. While Jimmy suggests not answering, Kim prefers to just get this over with already.
When Howard arrives, he’s got a bottle of scotch in his hand as he tells Jimmy about a celebration he used to have with his brother Chuck McGill whenever a big case was settled. With the Sandpiper case finished, Howard says Jimmy and Kim might as well take a victory lap because they’ve accomplished exactly what they wanted — he suffered a humiliating defeat and now Jimmy will receive a handsome reward.
Of course, Howard can’t help but tell the couple how he’s already been thwarted in life because despite his outward appearance of success, his marriage is crumbling and he’s spent the past year sleeping in the guest house. He’s also in therapy but none of that matters to Jimmy and Kim because they both had personal grudges against him that had to be settled.
While Howard came to expect these types of cons from Jimmy, he can’t help but wonder what happened to Kim? He considered her one of the most brilliant legal minds yet now she’s getting her rocks off by tearing down a former boss, who proudly considered himself one of her mentors.
Ultimately, Howard believes there’s just something missing in both Jimmy and Kim but like broken puzzle pieces, they found each other to fill the void.
As Howard continues to launch into his tirade, the wick in the candle lit on the table begins to flicker as a breeze blow through the room after the front door opens again.
Lalo Salamanca walks into the living room as a shocked Jimmy McGill can’t believe what he’s seeing.
Remember, Mike told Kim that Lalo was still alive because he felt she was better equipped to deal with this news than her husband. She opted to never tell him that Lalo could potentially come for both of them and now he’s standing just a few feet away from both of them.
Howard has no idea what’s happening as Lalo says he’s there to speak to his lawyer but then the conversation turns dire as he pulls out a gun and places a silencer over the barrel. Jimmy and Kim beg Howard to turn around and leave right now but he’s still standing there trying to get his bearings.
After spotting the gun, Howard realizes he’s somewhere he shouldn’t be but just as he’s about to turn to leave, Lalo raises his weapon and fires a single shot.
Howard’s brains splatter across the room, landing on the painting that Jimmy and Kim were using as a cork board to plot his downfall throughout the season. Jimmy and Kim are stunned and terrified after watching Howard Hamlin murdered as Lalo smirks and calmly addresses them.
“OK. Let’s talk.”
~ Lalo Salamanca
It’s hard to imagine this isn’t the single moment that will decide where Kim Wexler ends up when “Breaking Bad” happens because for her this has all been about revenge on Howard but if not for this scheme, he would have never been in the room for Lalo Salamanca to shoot him dead.
There’s a whole lot of blame to go around right now but Kim will certainly take the brunt of the guilt for this one because she’s the one who orchestrated this entire plan to get back at her former boss and now he’s dead. To make matters even worse, Jimmy and Kim are still standing with a sociopath directly in front of them.
There are six episodes remaining in “Better Call Saul” with the season returning on AMC on Monday night, July 11.
