Better Call Saul, the TV series

^No he didn't, but I guess in the real world people who don't deserve to be murdered are murdered every day unfortunately.

 

We already know how he finds out about the vacuum guy, he gets it from the veterinarian's booklet.

My guess is Jimmy thinks there's a chance Kim will try to contact her family.

 

^ yes but we didn't need to know that, that's my point, so either it is just an Easter egg, or it's foreshadowing that someone will be using vacuum guy soon, most likely Kim.

 

^^^ Agree that it's this. The producers put a lot of random things in this show to add flavor & atmosphere - the reminder of the vacuum guy, however, I believe to be purely intentional.

 

Unless I'm drastically misremembering things, I didn't even feel like he deserved nearly the level of professional and psychological destruction and revenge that Jimmy and Kim leveled at him, much less being murdered.

But once that candle flickered, I was like "oh shit, he's a goner."

 

That was the best cliffhanger. The Lawyer Side of the show met The Cartel Side of the show, Lalo took one look Howard, thought, "You don't belong here!" and shot him dead. With Sandpiper settled, the Lawyer Side of the show was done. You could see it coming when they started showing more of Howard's personal life. When everyone thought he was crazy and then he said he was going to devote his life to exposing Saul and Kim. He was done. Then Lalo shows up.

I think Kim will be off-camera during Breaking Bad but not dead. In the flash-forward from BCS S4 when Saul told Francesca someone would be calling calling on November 12th, I think it's Kim. I think Gene ends up in Omaha because Kim is there. I could be wrong, but that's what I'm leaning towards.

 

Everyone thinks Lalo is dead. He can't let anyone see him alive. It's too much of a risk. Especially when it comes to someone interacting with Saul and Kim. He can get Saul and Kim to promise not to say anything but Howard? He can't take that risk. Even Saul and Kim are on shaky ground. Lalo will only let them live because he thinks it's to his advantage.

 

I think Lalo won't kill Kim unless he's ready to kill both of them, because he knows Jimmy will do anything he says as long as he's threatening to. In other words, he may be thinking of killing them both, but as long as he needs Jimmy, he's going to leave Kim alive as collateral.

The "Kim is with Jimmy the whole time" theory is interesting and kind of hinted at by the Zafira stopper still being there. But I think Kim getting Howard killed lessens the odds she willingly stays on board. Unless she really was a psychopath the whole time and just hadn't admitted it yet, but I think she just really felt like there wouldn't be any permanent consequences.

I see this episode as Jimmy and Kim's train robbery. The moment they're celebrating and feeling like invincible diabolical geniuses is the moment an innocent person gets killed. Howard is Kim's Drew Sharp.

 

I had a thought during my run today. What if Lalo isn't there to threaten or interrogate Jimmy at all? What if he's only there...to drop off the tape?

That would make Howard's death seem even more pointless, but it totally tracks. Just like Jimmy was the best candidate to deliver the money, for the exact same reasons, he's the best candidate to deliver the tape to Don Eladio in the event of Lalo's death.

 

Based on Lalo's calm but threatening statement they needed to talk, I don't think it's to drop off the tape (or just to drop it off). There's much more this meeting than that. Plus the dramatic element of the cliffhanger.

 

I think Mike will end up killing Lalo and will also hid Howard's body. Kim goes back to Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill under the guise of someone shook up over Howard's death but also to hide in plain sight. If she is back to working at a big corporate firm it hides her walk on the dark side as a fling seduced by Jimmy's con artist ways. This is one of the reasons also why they have brought Ed Begley Jr onto the show. They need another character from the firm for her to deal with now that Howard is dead.

They were still married while on Breaking Bad. It's Jimmy who ends up using the vacuum guy and that is how he becomes Gene. All he was going to do though was wait for KIm to join him there. Maybe that happens but maybe when Walter White went down and Jimmy's criminal dealings were exposed it also exposed the stuff Kim did and she got busted and he was left alone stuck in Kansas all by himself having lost everyone he cared about and his fortune.

 

Nebraska

 

Whoops that's right. I meant to say Nebraska.

 

I think Nebraska is flatter and has less trees.

 

Just a random thought about Gene. While Jimmy is leading an incredibly mundane life, presumably he still has a decent amount of money? He called Vacuum Guy after all when he thought he'd been made which implies he had at least $125K, and Robert Forster said double the price and Jimmy didn't immediately balk at that before deciding to fix things himself (is he planning to kill the taxi driver and his pal?)

I'm just wondering what Jimmy's plan is. Is he resigned to a dull life as Gene or is he letting things blow over before Gene either moves somewhere else or gets 'lucky' at the casino or the track?

Oh yes and one other interesting thing. I watched a YouTube video of Saul getting his ID at the vacuum repair shop. Jimmy doesn't suggest Nebraska. That's Ed's decision.

Jimmy "What's in Nebraska?"
Ed "You are."

So if there is going to be some kind of reconnection between Jimmy and Kim in Nebraska that implies one of the following.

1. Ed's an old romantic and he's sending Jimmy to Nebraska precisely because that's where he sent Kim.
2. They're going to retcon things to suggest Jimmy pushed for Nebraska.
3. All the references to Kim growing up in Nebraska are designed to soften the coincidence when she walks into the Cinnabon at the end of the last episode...

1. Ed showed some empathy towards both Walt and Jesse, but he doesn't strike me as the type to jeopardise his entire operation just in the interests of true love. Also presumably Nebraska is the last place he'd send Kim, unless she lied about her upbringing.
2. Doubtful, they've gone out of their way not to mess with continuity thus far if they can avoid it.
3. Seems most likely. It does explain why we've suddenly discovered Kim grew up in Nebraska. If this is how they reconnect it'll feel contrived, but I guess less contrived than if we hadn't been fed that link.

 

In the first shot of the season, did Jimmy’s mansion have a lot of women’s clothes in it? I only remember suits.

 

I remember woman underwear

 

Oh wow! That must be a part of NE I've not seen before. My mistake.