Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences to my own actions.
***Unmarked Spoilers***
That was one hell of a mid-season finale. I did manage to rewatch Breaking Bad, El Camino, and the first five seasons Better Call Saul before diving into Season 6.
Unfortunately, the two majors deaths were spoiled for me due to video titles I wasn’t able to avoid. I kind of figured Nacho wasn’t going to make it. Thematically, it works. Nacho escaping ABQ would be retreading ground. Instead, his death provides an extra dimension to Mike taking Jesse under his wing. Even though Mike didn’t live to see it, Jesse got away (eventually).
Nacho’s final monologue was so good. Did it remind anyone else of the scene in Ozymandias when Walt tells Jesse that he let Jane die? Seemed intentional to me. Also, every single character in that scene ends up dead. My only criticism is the gunshot felt off. Nacho’s head doesn’t whip back so it lacked force which is odd considering…
The headshot to Howard was especially brutal with his head slamming into the coffee table as he fell, a clear throwback to Chuck hitting his head on the print store counter. Howard’s murder was weirdly surprising. I kept waiting for it yet I still didn’t see it coming because it happened so fast.
Anyway, Lalo is a much better final villain, brilliantly played by Tony Dalton as he shifts between charming and sociopathic with such ease. After rewatching Breaking Bad, Season 5 is definitely the weakest season (largely carried by the final three episodes) mostly due to how cartoonish and one-dimensional Uncle Jack and the generic Neo Nazi gang are, introduced and killed off in the same season. Alternatively, Lalo was given far more time to develop. He’s arguably as good a villain as Fring (dare I say, better).
We’ll see how the final six episodes shake out. I’m particularly interested in how the Gene thread wraps up. Unless they whiff the ending, Better Call Saul is a better show than Breaking Bad (which stalled a lot more than I remembered) though they’re both essential viewing.