During its five-season run thus far, Better Call Saul has done a wonderful job answering fan questions following the end of Breaking Bad – covering everything from how Tuco Salamanca ended up in prison with Skinny Pete as a cellmate, to how Gus Fring created his epic super lab. As great a job as it has done, however, there are still some major threads that are still dangling going into the sixth and final season, and we’re very much hoping that they’re addressed.
What are these dangling threads? We’re so glad you asked, because that’s exactly what we’ve designed this feature to address! So without further ado, here are six Breaking Bad questions we’re still waiting for Better Call Saul to answer.
*Where Is Kim During Breaking Bad? *
As is the case with the next two entries in this feature, the case for this being a Breaking Bad question equates to, “If this character is so important in Better Call Saul, where are they through the events featured in the previous series?” Kim Wexler has been a subject of this inquiry ever since she first appeared in the pilot of the prequel show, and while it feels like we’re getting closer to the answer, it still hasn’t been firmly provided.
At the end of Better Call Saul Season 5, Kim appears to be on a Breaking Bad adventure of her very own, as it appears that the titular lawyer has successfully corrupted her with his Slippin’ Jimmy ways. So could she wind up at the end of the series serving a prison sentence? Then there’s also the fact that she is now on Lalo’s radar following the adventure that is the episode “Bagman,” which very much leaves the door open for the possibility of the show coming to an end with Kim not having a pulse. It’s unquestionably one of the threads we’re anticipating most going in to Season 6.
Is Howard’s Fate Tied Up In Kim’s?
Over the course of Better Call Saul’s five seasons, audiences have had a real up-and-down relationship with Howard Hamlin – sometimes hating his guts, and other times seeing him as a misunderstood ally. Like the case with Kim, however, it’s not entirely clear where he stands in Saul’s life during Breaking Bad given that he is never mentioned or appears. Season 5 provided a modicum of suggestion of its finale, but explicit answers remain a mystery.
Looping back to Kim’s headfirst journey into criminality, the person that she wants to screw over more than anybody in the world is Howard Hamlin, and at the end of Season 5 she doesn’t suggest that there is a line not to cross in the effort. One can take this as a suggestion that the fates of Kim and Howard are intertwined prior to the events of Breaking Bad, but we’ll just have to wait and see when the final season airs.
Will Nacho Successfully Escape To Canada With His Father?
Unlike Kim and Howard, Ignacio “Nacho” Varga is actually namedropped in Breaking Bad, as Saul essentially rats on him – shifting blame for something we don’t quite know about while being held at gunpoint over a ditch by Walter and Jesse. What he does share in common with Kim and Howard, however, is the fact that we have no idea why he doesn’t seem to be a part of the lawyer’s life anymore after he meets the creators of Blue Sky meth.
We’ve known for a few seasons at this point that it’s Nacho’s wish to escape from under the thumb of the Salamanca family and make his way to Canada with his father (he has the fake documents all ready to go), but will he actually make it there? After all, he is not only dealing with the unpredictable Lalo, but also Gus Fring, who knows that he had a part in Hector Salamanca’s stroke and controls him like a puppet. Saul’s line in Breaking Bad tracks regardless of whether or not the character is alive or dead, so it goes without saying that his arc in Better Call Saul Season 6 will be made of tension.
How Does Saul Meet Ed Galbraith a.k.a. The Disappearer?
With all options on the table being considered, the answer for the Kim, Howard, and/or Nacho questions above may simply be the existence of The Disappearer – the vacuum salesman who helps Walter White and Saul Goodman escape Albuquerque in Breaking Bad and Jesse Pinkman do the same in El Camino. There’s just one problem with this: as of the end of Season 5, Saul doesn’t know about The Disappearer’s existence.
We have admittedly seen the mysterious character on Better Call Saul already, as he was featured in the flash-forward opening of Season 5, but that doesn’t really address the question at hand here. There are an infinite number of ways that the meeting could occur, so speculating doesn’t make a great deal of sense at present, but it surely has to be something that the series will address (though how exactly that will happen following the passing of actor Robert Forster in 2019 adds a sad extra layer to the question).
Will Gene Takavic Be Exposed?
Speaking of the flash-forward openings of each season of Better Call Saul, each one has contributed to a mini-narrative that has informed us of Saul’s life after the events of Breaking Bad – and right now fans are on pins and needles waiting to see the conclusion of the last one’s big cliffhanger. Season 5 began with Nebraska-based Cinnabon manager Gene Takavic being recognized by a local as notorious ex-lawyer Jimmy McGill a.k.a. Saul Goodman, and while he considers for a moment trying to escape again (hence the Disappearer cameo), he instead makes the decision to face his problems head-on.
This leads us to two questions: what will happen to Gene when he confronts the man who recognized him, and when we will actually see this narrative play out? The answer to the former is anybody’s guess, but when it comes to the latter one has to wonder if the flash-forward narrative will be completed in the Season 6 premiere or if possibly the conclusion will be held until the series finale.
Will Lalo Survive The Series?
In the Breaking Bad Season 4 episode “Crawl Space,” Gus Fring memorably confronts Hector Salamanca that he is the only living member of his family still alive, and that was a pretty easy pill to swallow at the time. What has complicated that situation in the time since, however, is the introduction of Eduardo “Lalo” Salamanca in Better Call Saul. As Season 5 proved, it’s damn hard to kill the guy (“Something Unforgivable” particularly drives that home), and it’s hard to say as of now if he will actually be taken down before the end of the series.
At the end of the aforementioned “Something Unforgivable,” Lalo has a would-be assassin inform his handlers that the job was done and that Lalo is dead – which ultimately could explain why Gus Fring is under the impression that all of the Salamancas are wiped out. That seems rational right up until you question whether or not the charismatic/psychotic gangster will just lie low and let Fring live out the rest of his life until Walter White takes him out. Further complicating things is the fact that, like Nacho, Lalo is another person that Saul namedrops while being held at gunpoint, which could suggest that Saul believes he may still be alive.
What are you looking forward to most from the final season of Better Call Saul as it does the legwork necessary to dovetail with the events depicted in Breaking Bad? Hit the comments section with all of your thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and stay tuned for more about the amazing TV universe as we await Better Call Saul’s sixth and final season.
