‘Better Call Saul’: Jimmy Finally Faces Howard in ‘Black and Blue’ (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 6, Episode 5 of Better Call Saul, “Black and Blue.”]

Better Call Saul continues to take viewers to uncharted territory in its sixth and final season and Episode 5, “Black and Blue,” is no exception.

In the latest installment, Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) faces off with Howard (Patrick Fabian), Kim (Rhea Seehorn) and Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) let paranoia take over, and Lalo (Tony Dalton) resurfaces, but not where you’d expect him to be. Below, we’re breaking down every key moment from the pivotal episode, so beware of spoilers.

Paranoia in Different Places

Kim struggles to sleep after learning from Mike (Jonathan Banks) that Lalo is still alive. Getting up out of bed, she peers out the windows of the apartment in search of any suspicious activities before placing a chair in front of the door. Sitting with a cigarette in the dark, she tries calming her nerves, but when Jimmy wakes up and checks on her, she flips the light on and pretends that she’s working. Sitting beside her, Jimmy mentions how thankful he is that Lalo is dead before offering to make her coffee.

(Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television)

Attempting to act normal, Kim removes the chair from the door and goes to the kitchen, but the moment sets a tone for Kim who is usually fierce and unafraid. Meanwhile, the next day at Los Pollos Hermanos, Gus is more tense than usual, looking at himself in the mirror and checking for his gun strapped to his ankle before heading out to the kitchen. Noticing the lunch rush, Gus offers to take orders, but he begins to one out until one of his workers drops some trays. Instead of reprimanding them harshly, Gus exits the building and scopes out the parking lot, and the fear coming off of him is palpable.

Howard Catches On

Howard and Cliff (Ed Begley Jr.) attend a meeting at Sandpiper with the residents who are frustrated by the lengthy proceedings of their case. As Howard addresses the crowd solo, Cliff can’t help but notice certain fidgety details about his colleague who gives a speech about honesty to the clients. Once the presentation ends, Cliff asks to have a private word with Howard. Cliff tells Howard that he can get help if he needs it, mentioning the behaviors he’s seen recently like the baggy of “coke” that fell out of his locker at the country club and the prostitute being thrown from his car.

Howard is dumbfounded until he starts piecing the picture together. Turning to Cliff, Howard notes how difficult it must have been for him to bring this conversation up, noting that he doesn’t have a drug problem but a Jimmy McGill problem.

(Credit: AMC)

Business as Usual

At Jimmy’s new office for Saul Goodman, he meets Francesca (Tina Parker), his long-time receptionist who is obviously scared of the clientele lining up outside Jimmy’s door. Letting her into the unfinished space, Jimmy tells his clients he’ll be with them momentarily before focusing on Francesca. She was under the assumption that Kim would be there and she’s reluctant to stay, but Jimmy sways her with a signing bonus and control over decor as the space becomes more put together.

Meanwhile, Kim meets with her old colleague Viola (Keiko Agena) from Schweikart & Cokely and apologizes for leaving so suddenly. Viola reassures Kim that it’s okay and that she’s been moved from Mesa Verde to Sandpiper work. She also tells Kim that while her coworkers had been concerned when she walked away, Viola admires that she’s fighting the good fight. “You make me feel better about the law,” Viola praises, unaware of the recent deeds Kim has been engaged in.

Howard’s Boxing Match

As Jimmy believes his day is ending, he agrees to make a house call that Francesca set up for him, but when it leads him to a closed gym, he’s slightly confused until he comes face to face with Howard. When the lawyer accuses Jimmy of all of the things that he and Kim have been doing, he doesn’t initially bite at the bait. He acts dumb, asking Howard what he’s talking about. It’s then that Howard challenges him to a boxing match to help get out all of their frustrations. Ultimately, Jimmy can’t resist and hops into the ring with Howard where they get a few good punches each. In the end, Howard knocks Jimmy down and says he’s mistaken his kindness for weakness. And although this was a climatic moment, the tension between Jimmy and Howard doesn’t seem to have disappeared.

(Credit: AMC)

This is proven when Howard gets into a car parked outside of the gym that doesn’t belong to him. Turning to the driver, he says he wants to know everything about what Jimmy’s up to, suggesting he’s getting involved with a private eye who will follow Jimmy around. Agreeing to take up the task, the private eye promises to check in with Howard soon. Meanwhile, Jimmy heads home to find Kim on the balcony of their apartment smoking a cigarette. She’s concerned when she sees his black eye and he describes the situation with Howard.

While he wishes he could cover his black eye, Kim tells Jimmy to keep it, suggesting that the look could work in his favor. She makes a mention of a judge, hinting at their continued scheming before Jimmy says aloud that he wishes he hadn’t been sucked into Howard’s scheme.

Surveillance Gone Wild

Returning to the house across the street from Gus’, Mike is transported in the trunk of the woman who is pretending to live there. Checking in with his team, Mike is pointed in the direction of the bathroom where Gus is cleaning the tub with a toothbrush in an attempt to take his mind off of the paranoia to little avail.

(Credit: AMC)

They agree that it’s a waiting game and that eventually, Lalo will have to show his face, but Gus still wants some reassurances as they travel to the future lab that Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) one day work in. There, underground, Gus searches the vast corners of the space with no signs of the drug kingpin who it turns out, it very far from any of the action playing out in New Mexico.

Lalo’s Side Trip

(Credit: AMC)

Instead of finding Lalo in Mexico or the United States, the episode brings him to Germany where he’s posing as an American man on a business trip. When asked by the bartender where he’s from, Lalo mentions a town that a woman at the counter recognizes. She says she almost went there, and it’s clear that this has to be architect Werner Ziegler’s (Rainer Bock) wife. Lalo introduces himself as Ben and she reveals her name to be Margarethe, confirming her connection to Werner.

She mentions her husband and how he was involved with dangerous work but the lawyers wouldn’t tell her much regarding his death. As he digs for details about the project Werner was working on, Lalo hits a dead end, sort of. Margarethe says that the only thing she has of Werner is some paperwork that she can’t make sense of in his office.

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Escorting her home, Lalo waits for an invite into her house, but she leaves him at the gate, saying it was nice to meet and suggests that if it were another life they might have a shot, unaware of how he’s using her. The next morning when she heads out to work, Lalo sneaks into the house and starts snooping around, but when she forgets her phone, Margarethe returns early and has a sense that someone is inside. Initially, Lalo begins putting a silencer on the end of his handgun, but when he spots a memento on Werner’s shelf (which was being crafted in the opening scene of the episode), he snags that and escapes out of a window. Margarethe is confused, but shuts the opened window and continues on with her life.

What will Lalo do with the instrument that he snagged? Is it the proof that he’s looking for in order to implicate Gus’s involvement with the compound massacre? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for what’s next as Season 6 continues on AMC and AMC+.

Better Call Saul, Season 6, Mondays, 9/8c, AMC and AMC+