Better Call Saul’s sixth and final season keeps picking up the pace as Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) takes the final steps into becoming crooked lawyer Saul Goodman. While last week's episode was all about the farewell of a fan-favorite character, Episode 4 brings Saul and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) back to center stage as they keep working to destroy Howard Hamlin’s (Patrick Fabian) reputation.
The duo’s plan involving Howard’s car is fully revealed in Episode 4, but “Hit and Run” also forces both Saul and Kim to confront the dangerous errors of their past, showing how their involvement with organized crime will come back to bite their ankles. Not every crime is punished, though, as Saul finally reaps the fruits of the street credit he worked so hard to build. The future of Better Call Saul is still uncertain, but while we (anxiously) wait for next week’s episode, let’s recap everything that happened in Episode 4.
RELATED: 'Better Call Saul' Season 6: Michael Mando on How Nacho Is Finally Breaking Good
Playing the Long Con
In Episode 3 of Better Call Saul, Kim and Saul come up with a plan to duplicate Howard’s car keys. Last week, we didn’t know how the car keys would help them further discredit Howard in front of his biggest business partner, Clifford Main (Ed Begley Jr.). However, “Hit and Run” shows how far Kim and Saul are willing to go to ensure the Sandpiper case ends with an early deal. While Howard is in therapy working out his issues, Saul steals the bigshot lawyer’s car, leaving a traffic cone behind to save the parking spot. From the start of the episode, we can see that Saul and Kim are in a rush, as every step of their plan needs to be done before Howard ends his therapy session.
In possession of Howard’s car, with a suit that’s identical to the ones we can find in Howard’s closet, and even using a wig to mimic Howard’s haircut, Saul drives to a dirty motel to pick up Wendy (Julia Minesci), a sex worker who previously showed up in Breaking Bad as an associate of Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). Saul’s plan involves throwing Wendy out of the car on a busy street, driving away as fast as possible to avoid being recognized. As for Wendy, she must remain behind, screaming her lungs out to tell everyone that the man behind the wheel is a cheapskate who owes her money. The idea is to suggest that Howard is involved with a meth head, further solidifying the narrative about his drug addiction.
To make sure Cliff is around when Saul drops Wendy on the street, Kim sets a meeting with her old friend and business partner to discuss a new initiative to help people who can’t afford legal defense. The lunch meeting is going well until Saul arrives and violently drops Wendy off at the curb, leaving Cliff wondering if that was really Howard. Even though Kim tries to save face and tells Cliff everything happened too fast for her to be sure, there are probably not many cars with a “Namastê” license plate in New Mexico. That means Saul and Kim were successful in their plan, and Cliff is more than ever convinced that Howard indeed has a drug addiction.
Kim and Saul’s long con moves slow and steady, making the whole affair even more believable. However, the danger of being caught is rising, as Saul almost can’t park Howard’s car back at the therapist's office. Someone removed the traffic cone Saul left behind, forcing the conman to think outside the box and rip off a sign, hoping Howard wouldn’t notice that his car was in the wrong spot. Saul manages to get away from the scene at the last possible second, and Howard is so distracted that he overlooks the fact that his car has been moved. Even so, it was a close call, and Saul and Kim should be more careful in the future if they want to avoid any legal problems.
On the other side of the town, Kim’s lunch meeting goes so well that Cliff jumps onboard her project and promises to help her set up the team of lawyers she needs to take care of cases no one else wants to take. That’s a double win for Kim, who’s proving she can succeed as a lawyer and as a con artist at the same time. Unfortunately for her, Saul’s past crimes also came back to haunt her this week.
Where Is Lalo?
At the end of Episode 2 of the sixth season of Better Call Saul, we can see there’s a car following Kim and Saul. In Episode 4, Kim finally notices people are tracing her steps and decides to confront the men inside the vehicle. The men flee the scene before Kim can call the police, having written down the car's license plate. Not too long after that, she gets a visit from Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks). Mike explains that his men have been following Kim and Saul since he found out that Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) is still alive. Kim is shocked to learn that Lalo is not dead, and now she’s afraid for her safety. Mike tries to reassure her that he’ll keep people surveilling both her and Saul, just in case Lalo ever tries to contact them.
Saul's involvement with Lalo has also become known on the streets, for better and worse. In Episode 4, Saul has a hard time at the courthouse, as everyone seems to be angry with him. The security guards force him to take off his shoes, the administration workers refuse his requests, and even at lunch, his fellow lawyers avoid sitting next to him. No one can prove Saul committed any crime, but they all know he tricked the judge into letting a murderer walk free.
Saul has become a pariah in the courthouse due to his involvement with Lalo, but his name is also becoming famous among criminals. Just as Saul is cast out from the law community, his phone begins to ring, with dozens of new clients hoping to get a fast meeting with Salamanca’s lawyer. Business is booming so much that Saul is kicked out of the nail salon and needs to look for a new place to work. We finally see how Saul gets the office that will become his kingdom in Breaking Bad, still stripped from all the ostentatious deco he’ll hang on the walls. Even though he’s no longer loved in the courthouse, Saul is happy with his new business developments, unaware that Lalo might be coming for his head.
And where is Lalo? We still don’t know where the drug lord went and what he’s trying to do — and neither does Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Episode 4 also shows how Gus is taking every precaution to stay alive, wearing a bulletproof vest underneath his shirts and walking around with a gun hoisted around his ankle. There’s also a permanent team of security personnel watching his every step, and Gus is even using the house next door as a shelter he can access through a secret passage in the basement — this way, people see him entering and leaving one house, while he’s actually in a different place. Mike tells Gus that no one could find Lalo yet, and after two weeks, maybe it’s time to consider that he’s actually dead. However, Gus knows that Lalo lives and that sooner or later, he’ll come back to take his revenge. It’s an ominous way to end "Hit and Run," and we can only hope to see Lalo again in next week’s episode.
