Warning: This post contains spoilers from Monday’s Better Call Saul.
Well, that was a pretty eventful episode of Better Call Saul, wasn’t it?
Monday’s episode took us right back to the Breaking Bad era, with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul reprising their roles as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman as the meth cooks met shady laywer Saul Goodman for the first time. (Read our full recap here for all the details.) It also answered a whole bunch of questions we had about what happened to certain characters from Saul and Breaking Bad… and left us pondering a fresh set of questions, too. And with only two episodes left, we don’t have much time to get answers.
So to help pass the time until next Monday (when the penultimate Better Call Saul airs at 9/8c on AMC), we’re taking a closer look at all the revelations this week’s episode delivered, along with a number of unsolved mysteries we’re still puzzling over. So grab a bottle of water — it’s not laced with barbiturates, we promise — and read on to see what we now know… and what we’re still trying to figure out. Oh, and join us in the comments below to share your thoughts and theories.
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Jimmy's legal frenemy Bill Oakley switched sides
Image Credit: AMC screenshot No, he didn’t come out as gay, like Gene guessed. He transitioned from being an Albuquerque prosecutor to a defense attorney, as we learned when Francesca drove past a bench ad touting his legal services. (She also told Gene the news.) It seems like a minor detail, but there are no minor details on this show, right? Will Bill play an unexpected role in the final two episodes? Maybe Gene hires him to defend him if he faces charges in Albuquerque? Bill knew Kim, too…
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Skyler "got her deal"
Image Credit: Courtesy of AMC We never knew exactly what happened to Walter White’s wife after he drove off for his final showdown in the Breaking Bad series finale. He advised her to call the DEA and strike a deal with the feds, and it sounds like that’s exactly what she did, according to Francesca. Here’s hoping she and Walt’s baby daughter Holly found some peace.
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Jesse's ruse worked
Image Credit: Courtesy of Netflix Francesca also revealed that the authorities found Jesse’s car “down by the border” — which we know was set up by Badger and Skinny Pete in El Camino so Jesse could disappear to Alaska without a trace. So the heat’s off him, at least.
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Huell got out of that safehouse
Image Credit: Courtesy of AMC Last we saw Saul’s hulking henchman in Breaking Bad, he was stuck in a DEA safehouse after the feds pressed him to give up dirt on Walter White. He’s not still sitting there, thankfully. Francesca told Gene that Huell got to go back home to New Orleans: “Last I heard, he walked.” Hmmm… do we smell another spinoff?
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Kim is alive!
Image Credit: Courtesy of AMC Until this week, we had no clue about what happened to Jimmy’s lost love Kim Wexler after she left him a couple episodes back. But Francesca confirmed that she’s still with us, telling Gene that Kim called to check up on her — and even asked about him. Good news, right? Well…
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But what happened on that phone call?
Image Credit: Courtesy of AMC The mention of Kim sent Gene running to another phone booth to call Palm Coast Sprinklers in Titusville, Florida and ask for Kim Wexler: “I believe she works there.” We didn’t get to hear what happened next, though: We could only see Gene getting upset and yelling before smashing the phone in anger. So did he talk to Kim, and he didn’t like what she said? Or did someone tell him Kim doesn’t want to speak to him? Or did someone tell him Kim doesn’t work there anymore and they don’t know where she went?
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We recognized a couple of Gene's victims
Image Credit: AMC screenshot (2) Gene started a new scam with Jeff and his friend Buddy, drugging rich drunk guys in the back of Jeff’s cab with spiked water and then stealing their financial info to sell for a handsome profit. Gene’s first victim, Alfred, is played by Devin Ratray, who played Kevin’s bullying big brother Buzz in Home Alone. Gene’s latest victim, meanwhile — a cancer patient who Gene overrules Buddy to go after — is played by Kevin Sussman, best known as The Big Bang Theory‘s comic book geek Stuart.
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Walt and Jesse are back — and they look the same!
Image Credit: Courtesy of AMC It’s been 14 (!) years since Cranston and Paul debuted as Walt and Jesse in Breaking Bad, but the Saul makeup artists did a great job of making them look about the same as they did in Season 2 when they first met Saul. (Paul looked even younger than he did in El Camino — which actually makes sense, since it took place years later.) They also neatly sidestepped the complaints about Cranston’s bald wig in El Camino by having him wear a ski cap in all of his scenes.
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The Saul Goodman scenes fit neatly into the Breaking Bad timeline
Image Credit: Courtesy of AMC The flashbacks to Saul’s days with Walt and Jesse interlocked perfectly with his first Breaking Bad episode, almost like a retelling of that episode from Saul’s perspective. We saw Saul tied up in the back of Walt and Jesse’s RV and then the three of them inside the RV after he guessed Walt’s identity. Plus, we saw Saul inquire about Walt with his private eye Mike and then walk into Walt’s high school — the result of which we saw in his Breaking Bad debut. In fact, Saul Goodman’s first Breaking Bad episode was titled “Better Call Saul,” and this week’s Better Call Saul was titled “Breaking Bad.” How cool is that?
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Could Carol Burnett be Gene's downfall?
Image Credit: Courtesy of AMC At first, we thought the comedy legend’s role as Jeff’s mom Marion was just a cute cameo — but then she spotted Gene conspiring with her son in her garage late at night. She just got a computer with Internet access; could she go digging around and uncover Saul Goodman’s true identity? She knows Jeff was caught up in a bad crowd in Albuquerque, where Saul practiced law. And remember, when we met her in the grocery store, she wasn’t exactly a sweet old lady.
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What's that police car doing there?
Image Credit: AMC screenshot The preview for next week’s penultimate episode shows an ominous shot of a police car arriving with lights and sirens on and two cops getting out with their hands poised over their firearms. Uh-oh… did someone rat out Gene? Or did something bad happen with that cancer patient he was trying to scam? We’ll just have to wait to find out.
