Jimmy!
What are you doing?
You know she’s the best choice.
No I’m not!
I-I can’t.
I can’t do it.
She can do it.
You know she can do it!
You know I’m right!
Better Call Saul Season 6, Episode 8 - Point and Shoot.
Fantastic Yeah.
That was a helluva an episode start to finish, from the opening seconds until the very final
seconds.
The entire ploy by Salamanca was simple yet brilliant.
He anticipated every move to near perfection.
Starting with the mid-season finale when he knew the tapped phone would send Gus’ protection
team into red alert.
He knew that he could play on Jimmy’s affections for Kim, and when Jimmy pushed to send Kim
instead in hopes of saving her, Lalo didn’t care.
He knew her affections towards him were equally strong when she paid him an unannounced visit
concerned for his well being in the role of the Bag Man.
Salamanca also knew Gus would likely have men watching the house to stop Kim, and that
this would lead to taking Tyrus off the lab.
Salamanca was perhaps fortunate that it timed out where he went unnoticed on the surveillance
cameras, but his plan worked.
Gus was wise to have an emergency contingency plan, and in the end he was able to escape
certain death where his instinctual foresight paid tremendous dividends.
I thought the entire demise of Lalo was extremely well done.
Bravo Vince Gilligan!
Bravo to the entire team that brought us Point and Shoot.
So here are, 5 episodes to go, and with 2 exceptions, we know the ultimate fate of every
main character in Better Call Saul, either through Breaking Bad and/or El Camino.
In terms of the new main players in the prequel series, Chuck took his own life, Nacho was
willingly executed in the noble effort to spare his old man, Howard was murdered in
cold blood by Lalo, and Salamanca himself met his end at the hands of Gus Fring.
That leaves us with Kim Wexler, and Gene Takovic.
And I’m guessing that will be the heart and soul of the Final 5.
Kim might well be made of sterner stuff, but she was more than a bit rattled when thrown
into deep water.
Goodman was rattled too, but on this front he does seemingly have more experience points.
The guilt over what they did to Howard would have been plenty for them to cope with in
the aftermath of their scheme to ruin his reputation, but Howard getting murdered by
Lalo in the entire ordeal amplifies this to a tremendous extent.
Howard’s name was ruined, his life was taken in cold blood, and now his reputation will
be even more tainted in the aftermath, with poor Howard’s body presumed drowned, and
the drug scheme taking full form with the planted cocaine in his car.
I do likewise wonder if anyone will ever ultimately found the remains of Lalo and Howard beneath
the torched lab, which would lead to even more questions about his involvement in drugs.
Since the Season 6 premiere, I have been under the impression they were strongly hinting
at the compelling possibility that Kim Wexler survives into the Breaking Bad timeline as
some type of player.
Now I’m not so sure if she winds up being a player, but my confidence is growing that
Kim will indeed survive in terms of being alive.
Maybe she runs away over her guilt, maybe she winds up in prison, or maybe she does
wind up surviving as a behind the scenes player associated with Ice Station Zebra, or something
like that.
I still think that was strongly hinted at in the first half of the season.
But I do not believe she will ever be the same after this experience, and I likewise
believe this ordeal has given Jimmy McGill a huge push closer towards the finished Saul
Goodman character we see in Breaking Bad.
We know during the intense segment with Lalo that Goodman and Wexler care for each other
deepy, both willing to risk their life for the other.
This was the key detail that cued Gus to the fact that Lalo’s designs for Kim and Jimmy
were just a distraction, which led him to his final showdown with Lalo at the lab, because
Gus knows Lalo is too steadfast to be persuaded out of a strategic powerplay.
We know that when the pressure is on, they had each other’s backs.
Will that change now?
Will resentment towards one another begin to pile up?
Will the guilt drive them apart or closer together?
How the aftermath of Howard unfolds will likely lead Kim either to jail, to breaking Goodman’s
heart and leaving, or behind the scenes in Breaking Bad in some capacity.
Or something entirely different and unexpected.
Whatever happens, they need to stick to the story that ruined Howard’s good name, forever
cursed by their own ill deeds.
We also have the ultimate fate of Gene forthcoming, and we can assume there will be some elements
from the Breaking Bad timeline, as we know to expect cameo appearances from Walt and
Pinkman.
I do wonder if that won’t lead to a lot of time jumping, or if things will play out
in a more linear style, although I’m inclined to suspect the prior.
And whatever ultimately happens with Kim Wexler, either thematically or perhaps otherwise,
will almost certainly tie in with Gene’s ultimate fate.
I have no idea what is going to happen, I ain’t exactly Quasimodo over here, but I
still firmly maintain that there is a tale to be told behind that Golden Throne!
And nice to finally get more context on Jimmy’s words about Lalo and Ignacio from Breaking
Bad.
Jimmy may have been told Salamanca ain’t coming back, but he had been told that before,
and his initial experiences with Lalo were beyond traumatic.
Point and Shoot was, in my humble opinion, perhaps the greatest episode in all of Better
Call Saul.
For me, it provided that good of a viewing experience.
My only minor quibble is that my dumb ass was initially confused when Gus was executing
Lalo.
I actually thought Gus was shooting blanks or that maybe the weapon had malfunctioned,
before I fully realized what had happened.
But overall I thought it was a fantastic episode, indeed a powerhouse effort from Gilligan,
the Skipper, and the entire Better Call Saul team.
And what a well acted scene between Kim and Mike!
Tight, tight, tight, tight!
Yeah!
And I can honestly say, I am itching to watch the Final 5 episodes.
Thank you very much for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos, delicious chicken grilled or fried.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos.
Just stop!
Listen!
Stop it!
Oh my God!
Ok!
Yeah, her!
Give her the keys!
Give her the address!
Let’s go.
He is there with Jimmy!
Salamanca’s at your apartment?
Yes!
He sent me.
He wanted to send Jimmy but then he sent me.
To do what exactly?
Ignacio Varga.
He let them in.
And who did Nacho introduce me to?
You.
Oh no, no, no, no, no!
No!
It wasn’t me!
It was Ignacio!
He’s the one!
Lalo didn’t send you?
No Lalo?
Who?
Oh.
Thank God.
You gotta believe me.
Hand to God, I had to part in this.
It wasn’t me!
It was Igna–Igancio!
Stay put.
We’ll handle this.
We will handle this.
You call Tyrus, get him to the condo now.
You said you were watching us!
Where were you?
Huh?
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos, delicious chicken grilled or fried.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos.
Lalo said he was coming back.
He’s not coming back.
No, he said that he was.
He told me.
You understand me–he is not coming back.
Before he dies he will know I buried every one of you.
He was the only family you had left.
Now the Salamanca name dies with you.
There will be cocaine in the upholstery.
That’s the story you were setting up for this guy, yeah?
You keep telling the lie that you’ve been telling.
You know Quasimodo predicted all of this.
What is this?
That my friend is Albuquerque's public enemy #1.