Better Call Saul Season 6 has just begun off on Netflix and AMC, and after the first few
episodes, I'm loving everything we are seeing.
From Saul and Kim's plans to take down Howard, to
Nacho fighting to stay alive and Gus feeling the heat, the show has built on dramatic and
tense plot threads for the final season, and as the episodes go on, I hope they can really
capitalise on them.
In this spoiler review, I'm going to be giving you my recap of Better Call Season 6 episode
1, entitled Wine And Roses, and episode 2, titled Carrot And Stick,
discussing my general thoughts on the episodes.
But before I get into it, if you want to see more videos on the final season of Better
Call Saul and other upcoming shows like Netflix's Ozark, then don't forget to support this video
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But without further a do, lets dive into my recap and review for Better Call Saul Season
6 Episode 1 and 2.
So Better Call Saul’s final season starts in a fantastic way.
It may be reaching the stylistic tension that Breaking Bad simmered with, but it keeps it's
identity with moments of extreme tension, moments of hilarity and everything
in between.
It could easily just become Breaking Bad after the cliffhanger of the last season and the
fact that were every so inching towards the timeline of that show, but while
it feels like the series is being dipped into the Breaking Bad sauce, what we love about
Better Call Saul is ever-present.
So what happens in the first two episodes of Season 6, titled
'Wine and Roses' and 'Carrot and Stick'?
Well in the season 6 premiere, all of the assets in the luxurious home of Saul Goodman,
played by Bob Odenkirk, are boxed up, while a life-size cut-out of him is put straight
in the trash.
In the flash-forward opening of the episode, instead of a monocrome scene like we are used
to seeing, we get one that has transitioned to colour in which all of Saul’s assets
are taken away from his home.
We focus in on the famous bottle top, which once again highlights that this show is more
focused on the little details that evoke actual meaning rather then
using it's runtime to explain everything through dialogue as if we don't already know.
But alongside the future scenario of what were eventually leading to with Saul Goodman,
there are more plot threads in this coming together
narrative that takes a huge boil in the start to season 6.
Nacho had already attempted to cross the US border in avoiding both the cartel and
the police, and after surviving the attack by Gus Fring, Lalo goes to his doppelganger’s
house, kills him, and burns his body in an unrecognisable manner so that everyone believes
he is dead.
But he does inform his uncle, Don Hector, that he's still alive, which may be a slight
mistake on his part, because Gus Fring discovers this once he visits Hector to create a
sense of peace.
While this tension is building, we come back to Kim and Jimmy, with Wexler appearing to
be doing well as a pro bono attorney, while Jimmy appears anxious after all the
things they went through at the back part of Season 5.
He was convinced that Lalo is dead, but remains quite tense, and while having to battle those
emotions, he and Kim decide to look for a new office.
And we know that this will be the one he has in Breaking Bad, alongside that of the Statue
of Liberty inflatable that we late see in episode 2.
But in the opening episode, Saul and Kim really start to put
their plan into motion surrounding that of taking down Howard.
In a quite funny scene, Saul pretends to be interested in joining Howard’s golf
club, and when he gets access to his locker, he places a little plastic bag there, to be
disguised as cocaine, when actually just baby powder.
And to Saul's luck, Clifford Main is with Howard when he opens the locker and sees this
suspicious substance.
So already in the first episode, we've got Saul and Kim setting the seeds for the con
on Howard and Nacho is waiting in a motel, doing what he's told to
stay alive, until Gus's men can apparently pick him up.
Then comes episode 2, and this is definitely my favourite of the two they released.
It's no suprise that Breaking Bad show creator Vince Gilligan, who also directed least season's
classic episode Bagman, is once again back in the director's chair, apparently doing
3 of the final season's episodes.
And this is yet again a great one from Vince.
In the appropriately named episode, Carrot And Stick, we follow
straight from the events of episode 1, with Kim building out a scheme, which Saul agrees
to carry out and we fully see her breaking bad shift
in motion come the end of this episode.
Saul approaches the Kettleman's motorhome, one which has that statue of liberty inflatable
outside, and of course they are the couple from the
beginning of the show, and he persuades them that Howard was doing cocaine while defending
them, and that if they engage him as their attorney, he will clear Craig’s name of
whatever happened to them in the year's since.
Betsy who was anxious about taking on Saul originally in Season 1, immediately goes against
employing him, but because of their situation, it won't
be long before they take this cocaine incident straight to Clifford Main himself.
As scheduled, the next day, she and Craig go to see Main to get him to take the case,
but none of the lawyers are going to defend them.
They are told they won't have a case and this sends Betsy straight back to Saul as she realises
that he is plotting something against Howard.
This is when at the end of the episode, Kim intervenes,
showing us her complete transformation and that she has truly broke bad, with her threatening
to inform the IRS about their latest scheme.
It's only going to pick up from here, but with us seeing the inflatable outside and
the nature of Kim in this season so far, there is truly going to be some tragic and dark
twists to this scheme along the way.
But Saul's new office, his famous car with Lawyrup plate from breaking bad are explicitly
mentioned and of course briefly seen, so the endgame of this is
going to be taking form quite quickly in the episodes to come.
And the episode ends with another twist in that someone appears to be following them
in a car once they leave the Kettlemans residence.
So who could this be?
Well it’s safe to believe that this isn’t Howard, nor even Lalo, because
when he speaks with Hector and decides they need proof, Lalo is unaware that Saul has
evidence towards Gus being involved in transporting Lalo to Mexico.
So whoever is following Saul and Kim, the only person I suspect that it could be is
Gus or one of his men, prusably Mike.
With Gus discovering that Lalo is still alive he needs to directly take action to ensure
the attempt on Lalo's life is not connected to him.
So I think in the next episode Saul and Kim will be transported by one of Gus's men to
speak with him directly and try and sort out everything that is up against them.
Also, the same car is owned by Mike so it definitely looks like it's either him or one
of Fring's men.
The show's plotlines have truely come together and so have Saul and Gus.
And speaking of one of those other plotlines, we come back to the question of Nacho's survival.
This of course brewed a certain feud between that of Gus Fring and Mike Ehrmantraut as
a result of the circumstances that unfold.
Nacho is discovered by the Salamanca twins shortly after he suspects that Gus has basicly
left him there to die as a form of creating peace with
the salamancas, but we learn that when they attack, the cartel needs Nacho alive since
they don’t know who ordered the hit.
Of course Lalo and his Uncle suspect and probabaly think it's
Gus, but they want the proof.
While Nacho's trying to escape, he crashes his pick-up truck into another vehicle during
the gunfight.
Nacho isn’t likely to be dead of course, because
Mike receives a call during his showdown with Fring after the shootout occured, and he's
probabaly in cartel custody.
He informs Gus that he has received a call from Nacho and that he
wishes to speak with him, and we know that now, everything is about to kick off between
Gus and the cartel.
And if the Salamancas believe that Gus was the one who ordered the hit, then
they will of course go after him.
And this would complicate things because the cartel's leader, Eladio, quite admires the
Los Pollos Hermanos boss, but I'm sure that will come to and
end with the process of betrayal.
We'll have to see what happens, but as I said, I think this is where Gus gets in Saul because
of the evidence and this will really collide everything
we've seen so far into even more dangerous territory.
So what did I think of the opening two episodes.
Well, it's a really strong start and the writers have done an amazing job at seemlessly connecting
all different genres and tones into one engrossing storyline.
We get the traditional slow-burn yet meaningful progress of events, sprinkled with the payoff
of action that made Breaking Bad so good before it.
But the infuse of comedy and well written character struggles
to contrast it, make this start all the more hooking.
We move from insane action, to the stoic schemes of a drug boss to the heart and
descent of our two main leads.
Kim and Saul are not of two different worlds like they were for a lot of this show, they
are now apart of the same one, the bad choice road philosophy
rather than the more successful one aligned with Howard.
In a twisted way, you're rooting for Saul and Kim, even though deep down you know they
are quite unforgivable, and that's because of extroadinary writting and filmmaking on
all ends of the spectrum.
Just from the focus on smaller objects like the bottle top opener left at the side of
the road or the worlds best lawyer mug and cardboard cutout thrown in
bins, the tradgedy, yet called-for-one, is all the more approaching.
The con they pulled on Howard is fun to watch, yet the reality of it is that
this will probabaly end with something bad happening to him, even though it's not right.
Yes Howard looked down on Jimmy like his brother, but Saul and Kim are completely going beyond
it here.
It reminds us that the performances and writing of this show is only going up, becoming more
complex, more detailed and more satisfying.
The breathless tension has only been escalated, the tradgedy and laughs are only
more impactful, and having all of this balanced so well, just makes me wonder, how can they
keep raising the bar.
Years of plot lines and planning is fitting in place so well,
that when we do get the eventual fates of characters not seen in Breaking Bad, is will
be totally worth it.
Well I hope so, because up until now, the writters haven't dropped the bar.
The bar is only going up and as Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad's world collide, I expect
it to reach a monumental conclusion.
The first two episodes continue to ooze confidence, and
while it's not promissed, it's a very good indication that this show will go out guns
blazing.
And it's in characters like Nacho and Kim that
we are really feeling either the sympathy or worry, that this show needs to stimulate
reaching the back end.
Even the familiar faces from Breaking Bad are more detailed and that is
extremely telling, since Better Call Saul is a prequel series.
The fact that I honestly don't have a clear idea over how they will tackle the end of
characters like Kim and Nacho, alongside that of the recurring ones, puts
this show in a very strong place.
But the turn of the page from Better Call Saul to Breaking Bad is of course inevitable,
and with other characters like Walt and Jessie soon to pop
up, that idea will be firmly highlighted.
All I hope is that like everything we've seen so far, that they execute this smoothly and
not have it feeling like just a cool cameo.
But we fans of the show know that these writters don't tend to do that, and treat their story
with the respect that they came in with.
Now it's just time to sit back and trust them once again,
as the car speeds further and further down bad choice road.
But that was my spoiler review and recap for Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 1 and Episode
2.
The writing and pacing is absolutely brilliant here, the performances are of another
level and the building of tension is something that no other show on TV is doing quite as
well right now.
If this final season continues this run come it's last few episodes, there's
honestly a genuine debate to be had over whether it's as good or even better then Breaking
Bad.
But it's crucial to note that Better Call Saul has established it's own territory without
the need to act as simply a prequel.
This is the trap that many spinoffs, sequels and prequels of other franchises fall into
and I think that Better Call Saul really deserves as much
attention as that of it's predecessor.
Once the second episode finished I was honestly ready to dive straight into another, but I
think the developments and tension that has been
set in motion, is going to carry all the way through to next week.
I think we may have something really special on our hands come the end of this show, all
that's left now, is for Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould to land the
ending to another great show that they've concieved.
I'm giving Season 6 Episode 1 and 2 of Better Call Saul a rating of 9.25 out of 10.
But to those who have already seen the first few
episodes, what are your thoughts on the way the final season of Better Call Saul has kicked
off and what do you think will happen in Episode 3?
Let me know down below in the comments section.
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