History Recap / BetterCallSaulS6E12Waterworks

In Omaha, after breaking into the house, Gene finds the cancer-stricken mark lying asleep on his living room floor. He proceeds to take photos of the mark's bank documents and steal expensive watches from his mezzanine rec room. Looking over the railing, Gene sees an empty spot where the mark had been. The mark emerges from bathroom and sits on the stairs, trapping Gene. Gene decides to knock him out with a cremation urn when the man once again passes out. Meanwhile, Jeff pulls up in front of the house to pick up Gene. However, while waiting, a police cruiser pulls up behind his cab while the cops inside have a meal break. Jeff tries to speed away but crashes into a nearby parked vehicle. The cops confront Jeff as he stumbles out of the cab. Gene escapes the house unnoticed.

When Gene arrives at Jeff's house, he finds Marion in the kitchen. Hearing noise through her headphones, he seizes the computer and discovers that Marion, having surmised his identity, has been watching old Saul Goodman commercials on YouTube. Marion tries to call the police, but Gene rips the phone cord out of the wall and fashions it into a garrote, warning her against pressing her LifeAlert button. Marion says, "I trusted you," which throws him off long enough for her to press the button and tell the operator that the fugitive Saul Goodman is in her kitchen. Finally exposed, Gene flees the house.

Kim, now sporting dyed brown hair and speaking in a different accent, hosts a cookout/potluck at her home in Titusville, Florida, with her boyfriend Glenn. The following day, she drives to her job at Palm Coast Sprinkler, where she composes sales flyers. After spending most of the day going through her normal work routine, she receives a call from a man calling himself "Viktor St. Clair", recognizing quickly that it's actually Jimmy/Gene wanting to reconnect after six years. Kim tells Jimmy to turn himself in; he reacts angrily and challenges her to do likewise since anyone that could potentially harm them (namely Gus and Lalo) is dead now. She doesn't respond, simply telling Jimmy she's glad he is alive and hanging up. She then joins her co-workers in singing "Happy Birthday" to a secretary, but her mind is elsewhere.

After a blast from the past, Kim heads back to Albuquerque to exorcise her demons. Gene slips away after his robbery, only to get caught up with one last loose end...

* AndStarring: Creator/AaronPaul gets a "Special Appearance" credit, yo.

** Kim finally admits everything about what she did regarding Howard's death to both Cheryl and Bernadillo County. Cheryl asks her if she knows what will happen next, and if she'll face any sort of punishment at all. Kim replies she has no idea and isn't sure if the District Attorney will pursue anything further. The last thing Cheryl asks sends Kim off.

* HistoryRepeats: Just when Walter White [[Recap/BreakingBadS5E8GlidingOverAll thought he'd won and was out]], the discovery of an innocuous clue instead set off the beginning of the end for Heisenberg. Now, two years later in-universe, Saul's own final downfall kicks off the exact same way.

** Saul and Kim’s prank against Howard from the first half of season is revisited during Kim’s confession to Cheryl. Far from looking like an eccentric scheme, seeing the plan laid out in writing empathizes how sick, obsessive, and utterly ''batshit insane'' all of it was.

** Marion blurts out that she searched on "[=AskJeeves=]" for information about Albuquerque conmen. The "[=AskJeeves.com=]" search engine dropped "Jeeves" and became "Ask.com" in 2006.

** Jesse doesn't know Kim isn't just a lawyer with experience in criminal defense, but also "Saul's" ex-wife. This allows Kim to hear an outsider's perspective of what people think of Jimmy now: a silly local AmbulanceChaser best known for his commercials and clientele far more dangerous than any defendant she's ever handled. She runs off, but not before admitting Jimmy ''"was"'' a great lawyer during the time she knew him.

** The Insider Podcast confirmed that the famed Slippin' Jimmy [[InvokedTrope was breaking all his own rules in that house]] because he wanted to get caught. Mistakes like touching everything when he's a wanted criminal and not getting out of there when he should've, not to mention being ready to ''kill someone''.
** While waiting for Viktor to get out, Jeff sees a police car park over to the side, just behind him. With no suspicions on him whatsoever and with the cops more focused on their late-night dinner, Jeff fails to steel his nerves and drives off in a panic. The crash and all of Viktor's deliberate self-sabotage at the house implicate him.

* ThatManIsDead: A double for Kim. For herself, while she’s still using her real name, all of her fire is gone and she’s an ExtremeDoormat. And in a flashback to the divorce papers, Saul Goodman refuses to show any of his old self, and while she knows it’s an act, she blames herself for why he’s acting like this and tells Jesse that [Saul] was “good” when she knew him. Notably, she still protects him to Cheryl, but has no love for Saul or Gene at all.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: Viktor's partnership with Jeff finally lands the latter in trouble. Marion soon comes to ask what Gene got Jeff involved with, to which Viktor replies how Jeff simply got was he was asking for as a consequence, affirming himself as "the good friend" she initially trusted.

** Whilst Kim is able to confirm Howard's death and her accidental role in placing him in the wrong place at the wrong time to Cheryl, neither of them are aware of what happened to his body afterwards, and with Mike and Gus' deaths by the present and the destruction of the superlab, the odds of his body being ever recovered are non-existent.

* YouAreFat: One of Kim's fellow employees at Palm Coast Sprinklers was gifted an exercise bike for her birthday by her partner, and she doesn't take too kindly to the sentiment.

* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: After Marion shows him a "Better Call Saul" commercial on her laptop, Viktor in a last resort rips out her telephone wire preparing to use it to strangle her unless she agrees to keep his false identity a secret. He's ultimately unable to go through with it though, and shrinks back into Gene as Marion calls her [=LifeAlert=] to bring the police on his trail.

* DontMakeMeDestroyYou: After Marion shows him a "Better Call Saul" commercial on her laptop, Gene in a last resort rips out her telephone wire preparing to use it to strangle her unless she agrees to keep his false identity a secret.

** Gene's current cons have no end in sight and he has no clear goal in mind beyond eventually getting caught. His plan for Jeff to get proper legal protection isn't well-fleshed out, since he's banking on facing the consequences in some form.

** As Gene, having been exposed as wanted criminal Saul Goodman, threatens Marion not to press her Life Alert, Marion simply responds with this, causing a guilt-stricken Jimmy to relent:

** The very first episode of ''Better Call Saul'' had Gene watch old Saul Goodman ads in reminiscence. This episode, the penultimate episode of the whole series, has Gene watch more of these ads, but only because an elderly woman discovered his true identity.

** Continuing the parallels between the cancer-struck scam victim from the previous episode and Walter White: while breaking into the victim's house, Gene comes across the victim's bank account. The amount of money the victim has is roughly the same amount of money Walter needs to provide for his family's future: [[Recap/BreakingBadS2E1SevenThirtySeven $737,000]].

** As Gene's discussion with Marion tugs at her suspicions further, she asks if Buddy is facing any trouble, [[Recap/BetterCallSaulS6E11BreakingBad having seen him being yelled at by Gene in the previous episode]].

** The beginning of the end for Gene, of all things, being the old Saul Goodman commercial is reminiscent of how [[Recap/BreakingBadS5E8GlidingOverAll the copy of ''Leaves of Grass'' signed by Gale was the beginning of the end for Walter]].
*** Gene's plans being changed in the final scene of the penultimate episode by something he sees on a screen is another parallel with Walter White.

** Marion calls the police on Gene with her Life Alert, which isn’t the only time a major character in this universe [[Recap/BreakingBadS4E13FaceOff was put in jeopardy by a senior citizen pushing a button.]]

* ConscienceMakesYouGoBack: Deconstructed, as Kim has wanted punishment her whole life, and the Insider Podcast confirmed that she's over-correcting and self-destructing in her own way. While she's at least facing reality unlike Gene, there's nothing really that can be done (she's also still protecting Gene), her compartmentalising makes her slip out that Howard didn't suffer, and she breaks down completely on the bus home.

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqnHtGgVAUE Saul Goodman commercial]] Gene finds Marion watching on her laptop is the same one [[Recap/BreakingBadS2E8BetterCallSaul that was playing on Jesse's television]] when Saul made his first appearance.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: After finding the passwords he needed from the cancer-stricken man, Gene walks up to the door and is ready to leave the scene. However, the urge to self destruct (and greed) gets the better of him and he decides to take another look for things to steal. Had he just walked out at that moment instead, he could've gotten into Jeff's cab and they'd be gone before the cop car even pulled up and the shattered door glass would be the only evidence of someone breaking in. So neither of them would likely have been caught and arrested, ''and'' Marion wouldn't have been provoked to discover Gene's true identity and call the police.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: As with the previous episodes, scenes depicting Gene and the current era are all in black and white, including Kim's current situation. Any scenes during Saul's era are in color.

** Gene had already reached his lowest point following his last call to Kim, but he grows much worse when he threatens Marion as she discovers his real identity. Once he snaps out of his threatening posture and loosens his grip on her Life Alert, his smug expression fades into one of remorse. As Marion calls the cops for help, Gene looks around the room in a mixture of shock and shame before he bails.

* EurekaMoment: Marion takes mental note of Gene's sudden familiarity with the law and how the process for bond and jail time works between different cities, especially Albuquerque -- a place he's claimed to have never set foot in. This is shortly after she recalls a previous experience she had with the legal system there involving Jeff's escapades and how it caused her to max out her credit cards. After Gene's advice, she decides to ask if Buddy is in any trouble, [[Recap/BetterCallSaulS6E11BreakingBad remembering what she'd seen outside her window in the last episode]], and she proceeds to look something up on the computer...
* EverybodysDeadDave: Jimmy makes it known to Kim that Mike, Gus, Lalo and everybody else involved with their criminal lives are long dead by the time he's calling her. Additionally, by this point, much of the main cast from both ''Breaking Bad'' and ''Better Call Saul'' are either dead or in hiding, leaving Jimmy and Kim as the only main characters left.

** Now in full Saul mode, Jimmy forces Kim to wait an hour before he allows her to enter his office to sign the divorce papers and treats her dismissively throughout their final meeting in person. He isn't really any better six years later, taking her plea to turn himself in as an insult and throwing her guilt back in her face. She sees it for the pathetic façade of pain underneath both times.
** Breaking into the house of a guy he knows has cancer and robbing him was already nasty enough, but Gene decides to stay inside for a little while longer to have a look around the upper level, snatch a few watches and help himself to some alcohol. All of which was completely unnecessary, as he'd already taken the passwords and personal info while Jeff was still waiting outside.

* FauxAffablyEvil: After seeing Marion piece together who he really is, Gene reminds her about [[ShameIfSomethingHappened Jeff still being in trouble]] as he tears the phone's wiring away from her and off the wall. Gene calmly tells Marion to just trust him, since Jeff and Buddy came to "understand" him, all while wrapping the telephone cord into a garrote. He drops all pretenses when she readies her Life Alert, and he pulls her by the neck with it.
-->'''Gene:''' Now, listen: I'm still the good friend you thought I was, okay--Jeff understands me, ''Buddy'' understands me... And you will, too. It's just, you have to, uh, you know, keep things on an even keel, alright?

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Cornered, Gene prepares to either kill or knock out Lingk with an urn containing the ashes of his dead dog. Later, he threatens to strangle Marion with a telephone cord.

* InsecureLoveInterest: Jimmy/Saul/Gene really show the ugly side of this trope, Gene going off the deep end into DeathSeeker when she can't be talking to him (she loves him just as much, but she's at least aware of the reality that he's a wanted criminal), and Saul clamping down on his humanity and pain by totally ignoring her when she needs a goodbye, assuming she never cared about him at all and wanting to make her think the same. She sees right through it.

* IronicEcho: In the pilot, Gene was watching his old Saul commercials, remembering them as GloryDays with colour reflected in his glasses. Now they come back to haunt him, and his face is ''pure'' OhCrap.

** The in-depth knowledge of the law that helped Jimmy/Saul and his associates in outsmarting or understanding the authorities so many times over the years is the very thing that does Gene in here, as his suspiciously specific statement about the differences between bonds in Omaha and Albuquerque is one of the things that [[SpottingTheThread clues Marion in to the fact]] that he's been lying to her about his past.

** Gene peruses his target's home, happens upon an urn containing the ashes of the man's dog, and fiddles with it out of intrigue. Later, he decides to use it as a blunt weapon to knock the mark unconscious, which is thankfully avoided when he falls asleep again.
** As Gene and Marion slowly discard the ruse the former was putting up to gain her trust, Marion reflects on how much she trusted him ever since their first conversation about "Nippy". As he's approaching her, Gene tears the laptop's connection to the wall and prepares a garrote with the telephone wire, yet fortunately decides not to strangle her.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Gene not only goes through with robbing the guy with cancer, but spends more time inside to mess around in the hopes that he'll be caught. Thanks to Gene going off the rails of their usual burglary job, Jeff messes up and starts a whole chain of events leading to Marion realizing he's Saul and contacting the police.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Marion manages to discover who Gene Takovic really is by watching one of Saul Goodman's old coommercials that had been uploaded onto [=YouTube=] by a random person. Just like how most people who want to see said commercial would probably do.
* ALessonLearnedTooWell: Kim is slowly poisoning herself with a life opposite of what she aimed for, her old childhood belief that she needs to be punished pushed to the forefront, and Saul/Gene has fully embraced Chuck’s telling him what to do, shoving down his guilt and never apologising.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Marion telling Gene that she trusted him seems to ''finally'' trigger a realisation in him of just how low he's sunk as a person; while he was threatening to murder her mere seconds before, he simply allows her to use her Life Alert to summon help afterwards, and just runs out of the house when she does.

* OhCrap: When Gene realizes Marion has been watching his Saul Goodman commercials, the camera cuts to a close-up shot of Gene's shocked eyes, letting us know how screwed he is from having his cover blown.

* ShameIfSomethingHappened: To intimidate Marion into keeping quiet, Gene begins by reminding her about Jeff being in custody and how both Jeff ''and'' Gene will need her help with getting him out.
* ASimplePlan: Rather than sticking to the simple burglary job as they usually plan it, Gene decides to stay in the house for an even longer amount of time, pilfering a few watches for an extra score and taking a sip of alcohol. Ignoring Jeff's suggestion that the barbiturates will wear off soon, Gene finds himself in a brief game of cat-and-mouse with the guy briefly waking up. Against all odds, Gene gets out safely… while Jeff gets far too spooked by the cop car behind him and crashes into another parked vehicle. Even worse, the extra things Gene pulled during this run end up pinned on Jeff. Word of Vince and Bob is that he’s trying to self destruct and get caught.

** While waiting for Gene to get out, Jeff sees a police car park over to the side, just behind him. With no suspicions on him whatsoever and with the cops more focused on their late-night dinner, Jeff fails to steel his nerves and drives off in a panic. The crash and all of Gene's deliberate self-sabotage at the house implicate him.

* ToxicFriendInfluence: Gene's partnership with Jeff finally lands the latter in trouble. Marion soon comes to ask what Gene got Jeff involved with, to which Gene replies how Jeff simply got was he was asking for as a consequence, affirming himself as "the good friend" she initially trusted.

** After threatening to strangle Marion with a telephone cord and snatching the Life Alert out of her hands, "Gene" finally snaps out of his threatening demeanor when Marion sadly tells him how she trusted him. He relaxes his grip, letting her get it back so she can call the police, and his first instinct is to run.

** After Marion threatens to call the police on Gene, he rips the phone cord out of the wall and tries to threaten her into not using her Life Alert to contact the police. Right as he's about to rip it off her neck, she sadly remarks that she trusted him, which gives him enough pause to let go. And when she ''does'' contact the police, all he does is run out of the house.

* TalkAboutTheWeather: Jesse decides to chat about the heavy rain going on with Kim, before moving onto the next topic.

** Kim giving in to Gene’s bratty need for her to show “she has a pulse”: "I think you should turn yourself in."

** After signing the divorce papers with Kim, Saul blatantly objectifies Francesca by calling her "sweet cheeks" as he asks her to send in more clients, [[[[Recap/BreakingBadS2E8BetterCallSaul much like he will do in his debut episode]] shortly before being kidnapped by Walt and Jesse.

* EverybodysDeadDave: Jimmy makes it known to Kim that Mike, Gus, Lalo and everybody else involved with their criminal lives are long dead by the time he's calling her. Additionally, by this point, much of the main cast from both ''Breaking Bad'' and ''Better Call Saul'' have died if not in hiding, leaving Jimmy and Kim as the only main characters left.

** Vince Gilligan [[https://www.amc.com/blogs/better-call-saul-qa-vince-gilligan-on-kim-s-return-what-the-heck-has-happened-to-her--1055479 said]] that after so long of being buried, after so much SanitySlippage, Jimmy came back up for MyGodWhatHaveIDone after nearly killing Marion.

** The very first episode of ''Better Call Saul'' had Gene watch old Saul Goodman ads in reminiscence. This episode, the penultimate episode to the whole series, has Gene watch more of these ads, but only because an elderly woman discovered his true identity.