Better Call Saul

It could be that they drug him with that stuff they got from the vet and he has a bad reaction to it. Maybe he has a heart attack or maybe he collapses and hits his head.

But the plan is definitely not going to go the way Kim wants.

I hope that Howard survives and is in a position to make a counter-move to Slippin' Jimmy & Kimmy trying to ruin his life. Apparently the drug they get from the vet is just some caffeine but the next episode preview showing a vision of Chuck makes me think he'll either have a bad reaction, or it will interact badly with the medication Howard is probably on; guy sees a therapist twice a week and is clearly still very stressed out.

Super-speculation here but when Bob Odenkirk had that health scare, he said he was running lines with Rhea (Kim) and Patrick (Howard), and so far there have been zero scenes featuring all three of those characters this season, which leads me to believe that there will be more. I think Saul and Kim will hurry their plan too much and leave in something incriminating, like a reflection of Kim in a shop window while reshooting those fake pictures with the Sandpiper rep.

It wasn't until I was rereading some of the character pages on here that I got how some of Jimmy's anger at Howard isn't just guilt-slinging for Chuck's death, but envy that Howard believed he was responsible, but came to terms with it, handled it healthily, and is now in a much better place, as opposed to Jimmy, who has never really addressed it.

...

#TeamHoward

The mid-season finale was not planned as such and the split is only happening to make episodes 8-13 eligible for the 2023 Emmys, so while I don't doubt tonight will be big, it's probably not gonna be something big enough that it'd be weird if the show came back next week instead.

Just as I thought, Howard dies by Lalo’s hand.

Holy fuck.

Everything I have said has come to pass. And I'm so upset about this.

Look at me, being wrong.

Based on what Bob Odenkirk was saying about which castmates were with him when his heart attack happened, the scene they were filming was Howard's death.

BTW, Mike is responsible for this. He chose to withdraw all his men from the low-priority targets so that all hands would be protecting Gus and the lab. If he hadn't withdrawn the tail that was on Jimmy and Kim, they would've been able to call up in time to warn them Lalo was coming.

Welp. I'm sad now.

Also it's hardly the first time the one of Saul's schemes has seemingly relied on a little bit of luck - I was half-expecting the Kettlemans to talk to Howard, they definitely seem reckless enough - but Howard's PI working with Saul and Kim felt a bit like a Gambit Roulette. Half of Jimmy's plans would be thrust into chaos if certain people he bribed just decided to talk.

Honestly I genuinely am a little less invested in the rest of the show now.

I mean everything will be going downhill from this point. Jimmy identified Howard as his archenemy as a way to distract from the fact he's the worst person in his life right now and he's only got downhill to go now.

Honestly Saul and Kim both deserve to get shot by Lalo at this point. Their glee at what they did to Howard is disgusting. But at least Howard got the chance to call them out before he went. Obviously Saul is Saved by Canon but I'm really hoping that Kim gets her just desserts.

I think this is going to be one of Mike's first times being used by Saul to fix a crime scene.

Edited by dmcreif on May 24th 2022 at 7:53:37 AM

Ooh. That speech from ABQ is gonna come into play here then. "I woke up, I found him, that's all I know."

Well, here it's going to be that Mike makes the death fit in with this "legend" Jimmy and Kim have painted of Howard as a drug-addicted user of prostitutes.

Howard also wouldn't have been there if Jimmy and Kim hadn't ruined his life. If they even put the plan on hold and Kim took that other job he would be alive. This is totally on them.

Given what happened to Howard earlier that day, it feels like it wouldn't be too hard to stage it as a suicide.

It feels like the BCS equivalent of what happened to Hank. They certainly never intended to get Howard killed but their terrible actions put him in the crosshairs of one of their criminal associates.

Edited by Millardkillmoore on May 24th 2022 at 8:47:06 AM

I wonder how they are going to stage Howard's suicide. Is it going to be set up to excuse and forgive his prior behavior or reinforce it.

I feel like they have a good alibi by telling a half-truth: "A crazy drug dealer shot Howard, and we have no idea where he went."

Alternatively they’ll just bury him out in the desert and his friends and family will never know what happened to him

I love when writers like Tom Schnauz set the record straight, because it is a good reminder that sometimes things just are what they are. And that some fans really overthink things in this show.

In this case, Schnauz is shooting down a theory that Kim was covering for Jimmy's saying, "how?", when he saw Lalo by responding by saying "Howard" immediately thereafter. There was a section of fans that convinced themselves somehow that if Lalo knew that Jimmy thought he was dead that Lalo would have immediately killed Jimmy. So they came up with this theory that Kim was trying to drown out Jimmy's stunned "how" in order to save him. A theory based on absolutely nothing that makes no sense given Lalo being dead is public knowledge.

The fact that the painting that was splattered with Howard's blood (the back of which was where Jimmy and Kim were putting their sticky notes for planning the whole scam) can be seen being carried out of Saul's house by the repo guys in the 6x01 flashforward suggests that they'll roll the body up in a rug and stage the scene elsewhere. I think Mike will clean up the apartment, relocate the body, then call the authorities anonymously (as he did with the good Samaritan's body after the truck robbery). This might even involve Jimmy having to dress as "Howard" again with the wig and the fake tan so that witnesses see "Howard" leave the complex in his Jaguar.

Paints a grim picture of how Howard Hamlin will be remembered. Everyone will know him for being depressed, to the point that his marriage fell apart and he took up drug addiction and seeing prostitutes, after he lost his friend/partner/mentor to suicide. Then, after he embarrassed himself professionally to the detriment of his firm, he just...offed himself. It would definitely make the most sense to stage Howard's death as a suicide; they can't just have him "disappear" because he's too high profile to do that, and Jimmy and Kim have too much to lose to have the police investigating them for involvement in a cartel murder.

Edited by dmcreif on May 29th 2022 at 5:57:28 AM

Holy sh-t.

What I’m curious about is why Howard didn’t realize the danger of getting too close to Saul. The entire courthouse avoided him like the plague once the whole Lalo thing came out, but Howard seems completely unaware that Saul might just be a cartel lawyer.

Probably because Howard thinks Saul is a jerk but not evil.

And Howard is also preoccupied with several other more pressing issues from his perspective such as his failing marriage, therapy, and the Sandpifer case.

Edited by Weirdguy149 on Jun 7th 2022 at 10:16:59 AM

Yes, familiarity breeds contempt or in this case Howard isn't capable of imagining Saul to be involved with what he's rumored to be.

And he's aware Saul has been unfairly maligned multiple times.

Which means Howard is Too Good for This Sinful Earth.

The courthouse avoiding him, that was all the public defenders etc.

Howard was the head of a law firm, he lived in a different world, apart from Kim, where would the bridge be?