Everyone’s favorite shady lawyer is back (or about to be at least). Unfortunately, Season 6 of AMC’s Better Call Saul will be marking the end of the iconic series and content from the Breaking Bad universe for a bit. In the meantime, as we prepare for Saul Goodman’s story to come to a close, we figure it’s been a while since you’ve seen Season 5. With that in mind, if you need the refresher, say no more because we’ve got you covered.
Since We’ve Been Gone
Season 5 of this show premiered all the way back in February of 2020. It’s been close to two years since Better Call Saul’s fifth season ended and unless you’ve been binge-watching in preparation for the season premiere it’s probably been a while since you’ve seen an episode.
So what happened? What should you as the viewer need to keep in mind as Season 6 begins? Well, first and foremost, in Season 5, we begin to see Jimmy take the plunge and fully embody his new persona, Saul Goodman. He even went as far as to indirectly, and later directly, turn his former employers at HHM (Hamlin, Hamlin, McGill) down when given a job offer. In the midst of that, tensions between Gustavo Fring and Lalo Salamanca start slowly but surely to rise more and more. Little things like halting the work on Fring’s laundry project and other petty grievances soon start to escalate into bigger events like framing Lalo for murder rather indirectly delivering him to the authorities.
Saul Goodman finds himself representing Lalo and his crew as his and Fring’s rivalry escalates, going as far as coaching and helping Krazy-8 get out from under the thumb of two very familiar DEA Agents (Hank Schrader and Steve Gomez). Unrelated to his illegal dealings with the drug traffickers, his partner Kim has some trouble at Schweikart & Cokely via the Mesa Verde Bank and Trust account. Despite her best efforts, an unruly landowner who has continually rebuffed the bank from removing him from his lands proves difficult for Kim to deal with too. She would eventually turn to Saul for help as he would come to represent this disgruntled landowner (i.e. playing the game from both sides).
On the Gus/Lalo front, things get to be so bad that Nacho, one of the Salamanca’s top lieutenants, is caught in the crossfire between the two. He must find a way to spy on Lalo for Gus without tipping him off, which gets to be increasingly harder the more suspicious Lalo gets over the course of the season. Remember how Gustavo had Lalo thrown in prison? Saul, who had previously helped him out with Krazy-8, asks him to represent him too. Luckily for Saul he gets the trafficker on bail, unluckily for Saul, he has to journey through the desert to pick up the bail money. And a wild journey it was, thank goodness he had Mike (who now formally works for Gus) to bail him out of what became a dicey situation.
Everything that transpired in Season 5 would come to a head when the following events took place. There came a point during the Mesa Case when Kim and Saul should have stopped before things spun out of control. Both agreed to lay down arms…only Saul didn’t. He would go on to find a bombshell to threaten Mesa Verde with, and in the process, effectively burn Kim. This debacle would almost have them at their breaking point when in an odd turn of events, they decided to get married instead. She would eventually quit Schweikart & Cokely and leave Mesa Verde and her former firm altogether.
Nacho’s already impossible situation became just a little more impossible. After the bid to keep Lalo in prison fails, Gus decides to go scorched earth on him and devise his complete and utter demise. Using the now established trust Lalo had for him, Nacho lets Gus’ execution team into Lalo’s home/compound after having been invited there, leaving without a scratch and thinking he’s home free now. The only problem is that Lalo is able to escape the massacre at his compound. Nacho is now as high on Lalo Salamanca’s kill list as Gustavo Fring is, and it’s not hard to imagine he’ll be scorching some earth of his own in Season 6.
Going Forward?
That about does it in terms of the need-to-know plot points in preparation for the upcoming 6th season. The final season of Better Call Saul is sure to have us at the edge of our seats, but it’s still sad to hear that it is ending.
Alas, there is some hope out there fellow lovers of the Breaking Bad universe. According to an article by IndieWire, Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul “revealed that he is working on a new original show that is ‘something really different’ from his previous projects.” He went on to also say that there are “still stories left to tell” in the Breaking Bad universe, not just some he’ll be telling anytime soon as he wants to try his hand at that “something different” project. So again, the hope truly is there, but fans will need to be patient. The new season of Better Call Saul premiered on AMC and on AMC+ on April 18th.