“Better Call Saul” Season 6 Episode 5 Spoilers & Recap

AMC

Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill in AMC’s Better Call Saul.

Last week’s episode of Better Call Saul kickstarted a number of storylines for our main characters in the final part of the series: Gus and Mike set up a massive electronic surveillance system to keep Lalo Salamanca (who wasn’t there yet) to catch and kill seen since the season premiere) and have also dispatched teams of men to protect anyone who might get caught in Lalo’s crossfire (including Jimmy and Kim). The last we saw of Lalo was him went back to Mexico to obtain “evidence” of Gus’ involvement in his botched assassination attempt.

Simultaneously, at her urging, Jimmy and Kim hatch a plan of their own to ruin their old boss Howard’s career. Davis & Main’s senior partner, Clifford Main, just now Witness a coked Howard kicking a prostitute out of his car while she recklessly sped away during a lunch with Kim.

Additionally, Jimmy’s career as “Saul Goodman” has started to take off, and we’ve finally seen the introduction of the place we all know and love as Saul’s office.

Let’s move on to Episode 5 entitled “Black and Blue”:

Season 6, Episode 5: “Black and Blue”

Our Cold Open features a mysterious chemist mixing familiar substances against the backdrop of an eerie a cappella version of “In Stiller Nacht”. It turns out that we witness the making of a ruler in a glass case next to the German words “In Liebe… Deine Jungs”, which translates to “Love… Your Boys”. In classic Saul/Breaking Bad fashion, we have absolutely no idea what that means, but we’re sure to find out in a moment.

At home, Kim finds it hard to sleep, paranoid about Lalo Salamanca now that she knows he’s alive. When Jimmy confronts her about why she’s awake (and why she barricaded the door with a chair), she claims she just can’t sleep and needs to read. However, Jimmy sees through her and shares her fears about Lalo, although he still feels like he was killed. “The nuns in Cicero would send me to hell for that,” says Jimmy, “but thank God he’s dead.” Kim leads the way and removes the chair from the door.

Kim isn’t the only one paranoid about Lalo. Though he hasn’t performed since the season premiere, he seems to be wreaking havoc across Albuquerque. At work, Gus tries to go about his daily routine as a manager but clearly has trouble concentrating. After helping a customer, he must go outside to scan the area.

At the Sandpiper retirement home, a potential client of Howard and Clifford Main, Howard delivers an impassioned speech to the elders, inspiring them to keep them as representatives. Wondering at the discrepancy between the Howard he knows and the “Howard” he saw the other day, Clifford afterwards confronts Howard about what he saw, though Howard denies it (because it didn’t happen). When Clifford mentions that it was Kim he had lunch with back then, everything fits. “I have a problem,” Howard tells Cliff, “it’s just not the problem you think it is. I have a problem with Jimmy McGill.” He then tells his secretary to “cancel my week.”

In “Saul’s” new office, Francesca, Jimmy’s famous assistant, who makes her first appearance since Season 4, reports for work just before 9am. She is surprised to find out that he has married Kim and is quite put off by the lack of decor (apart from a chest of drawers in the middle of the empty floor). Despite this, Jimmy offers to increase her salary and she returns to her old job.

Jimmy is taken to the home of a mysterious client named “Mr. Ward”, whom he discovers as Howard, in front of a boxing ring (hence “HO Ward”). Howard confronts Jimmy about his numerous misdeeds and tells him to open it up. After a moment’s hesitation, he agrees. They basically beat each other’s shit (legally) but Howard gets the upper hand and KO’s Jimmy. “I’d like to think that’s the end of it,” Howard says. “Probably not.”

After that, it becomes clear that the boxing match was nothing but a ruse; a facade to allow one of Howard’s people to track down Jimmy. “I need to know everything he does and everyone he talks to,” Howard says to his henchman, who menacingly follows Jimmy on his way home in the middle of the night.

Back at home, Jimmy puts on his black eye makeup to prepare for court “first thing in the morning.” “You know,” Kim tells him. “You know what’s coming next.”

Meanwhile, the lady who owns the house that Gus is using as a surveillance base sneaks Mike into the house through the back of her car. Inside, he finds Gus, unable to sleep, angrily scrubbing a spot in the bathroom with a toothbrush. Re: Lalo, Gus says quietly, with a mischievous smile on his face, “He can’t hit. Not yet.” He then orders Mike to gather the crew for some sort of venture.