Better Call Saul season 6 was the show’s darkest by a large margin. Considering what Breaking Bad had revealed about Saul Goodman, Jimmy McGill’s prequel story was bound to end in tragedy. After six seasons, it was time for Better Call Saul to explain why characters like Kim Wexler, Howard Hamlin, and Nacho Varga were not in Breaking Bad.
Better Call Saul’s final season was one of tragic moments. The only exceptions were a couple of moments from Better Call Saul season 6’s finale, which reunited Jimmy and Kim and offered Saul some sort of redemption. From the early stages of Jimmy and Kim’s scheme against Howard to the Gene timeline, Better Call Saul’s final season story was a tragedy in the making. Here are the 10 darkest Better Call Saul season 6 moments, ranked from least to most harrowing.
10 Kim Bursts Into Tears After Talking To Howard’s Wife
Better Call Saul season 6, episode 12, “Waterworks” lived up to its title. Kim had been missing from the show since “Fun and Games,” when she and Jimmy broke up. “Waterworks” featured a very different Kim compared to what audiences were used to, and not just because of the new hairstyle. Kim was no longer the fearless, proactive character from previous seasons, but rather a broken person who could barely make choices. Howard Hamlin’s death took a toll on Kim, especially because of how she and Jimmy dealt with it afterward. Fortunately, after hiding the truth for two years, Kim finally came clean to Howard’s wife.
Kim’s written confession to Howard’s wife brought some closure to Howard Hamlin’s story. It also allowed Kim to finally face all the guilt she had repressed since Howard’s death. Kim’s feelings caught up with her as she was about to leave Albuquerque, leading to one of the most heartbreaking Better Call Saul scenes. Fueled with regret, Kim burst into tears. Rhea Seehorn delivered an incredible performance that highlighted how much pain Kim had been dealing with for the past two years. Kim crying at the bus was one of her final scenes on the show, showcasing how much of a tragedy Better Call Saul was.
9 Gene Drugs & Steals From A Man With Cancer
After spending a few months on the low, Gene eventually relapsed into “Saul Goodman mode.” After Jeff tried to blackmail Gene, Saul Goodman flipped the table. Gene now had two crime partners, Jeff and Buddy, to work cons and schemes across Omaha. While Gene’s original plan was simply to have something on Jeff, their schemes evolved into a regular operation. During Better Call Saul’s “Breaking Bad” episode, Gene and his partners picked up a new victim, a man who had cancer. Gene, in the worst version of himself after his phone call to Kim, drugged and stole from a man with cancer.
8 Saul Goodman Wishes Kim “A Nice Life”
Whether Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler were divorced during Breaking Bad was a mystery that “Waterworks” solved. Kim and Jimmy did divorce before the events of Breaking Bad, and Kim got to meet the “Breaking Bad Saul Goodman.” Seeing Kim enter the “cathedral of justice,” where she was treated as just another client, was a dark and heartbreaking moment. Whereas Jimmy and Kim were partners, Saul Goodman and Kim felt like two strangers talking to each other. Their history together was nothing but an elephant in the room, and all that Saul had to say after signing the divorce papers was “Have a nice life, Kim.”
7 Gene Threatens To Kill Marion
Gene drugging a man with cancer in “Breaking Bad” was already a very low point for the character, but it could still get worse. Jimmy, the main character audiences had learned to root for throughout six seasons, was now threatening to kill a defenseless elderly lady. Marion trusted Gene and welcomed him into her house multiple times. However, to make sure he would never get caught, Gene threatened Marion with a telephone cord. Whether Gene was truly willing to kill Marion is difficult to say, but Bob Odenkirk clearly played Gene as if he was absolutely serious about the threat.
6 Kim’s “Together, We’re Poison’ Line
Before the cold, emotionless divorce papers scene, Kim and Jimmy had an actual breakup. Better Call Saul season 6, episode 9, “Fun and Games” served as the aftermath for the events of “Plan and Execution” and “Point and Shoot.” Kim and Jimy saw Howard Hamling being shot dead in their apartment, were kidnapped by Lalo Salamanca, and were asked to kill crime lord Gus Fring all in the same night. Following Mike’s instructions, the duo had to keep their life going as if nothing had happened. Jimmy, who was already an expert in hiding his feelings, moved on. Kim did not.
After six seasons, Kim realized something that the show had been trying to tell since the beginning. Apart, Jimmy and Kim were okay. Together, they were “poison.” In one of the most tragic TV romances, Kim and Jimmy were as perfect to each other as they were bad to each other. Each enabled the worst aspects of the other, a combination that would eventually explode. From small cons against millionaires at hotels to destroying Howard Hamlin’s life and reputation, Kim and Jimmy grew more dangerous by the day. The first “I love you” from Jimmy was met with a tragic “I love you too. But so what?” from Kim.
5 Nacho Kills Himself
Nacho’s fate in Better Call Saul was sealed the moment Gus decided to use him as a scapegoat. In the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul universe, foretold tragedies are rarely prevented. Despite escaping from the Salamanca cousins and managing to reach out to Mike, there was no way out for Nacho. The only thing Nacho could do was make sure that his dad would not get hurt. To assure the survival of his father, Nacho accepted becoming the scapegoat Gus needed him to be. After delivering one of the most thrilling monologues in all of Better Call Saul, Nacho killed himself.
4 Lalo Kills Howard At Jimmy & Kim’s Apartment
If Breaking Bad season 5 was defined by “Ozzymandias,” Better Call Saul‘s final season was defined by “Plan and Execution.” Arguably the best Better Call Saul season 6 episode and one of the show’s best episodes in general, “Plan and Execution” saw Jimmy and Kim finally putting their master plan into practice. What Jimmy and Kim could not have predicted is that Howard Hamlin and Lalo Salamanca would both enter their apartment on the same night. Howard had nothing to do with Lalo, nor did he know about Jimmy and Kim’s connection with the cartel. Even still, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
3 Jimmy Sees Howard’s Body Inside The Fridge
Howard’s death itself was a very dark Better Call Saul moment, and it only got worse. At the end of the “Point and Shoot,” during which Jimmy had to spend a few minutes laying in front of Howard’s body, Mik’s men “cleaned” the apartment. For Mike, that was just one of many places he had to clean. For Jimmy, it was the most traumatic experience someone could encounter. Jimmy had to see Howard, who had been close to the McGill family for decades, being thrown inside a fridge. The fact that Jimmy and Kim destroyed Howard’s reputation before his death only made the scene more tragic.
2 Jimmy & Kim Lie To Howard’s Wife
As much as Jimmy and Kim were to blame for the assassination of Howard Hamlin’s character, they could be not necessarily guilty of what happened to Howard that night. Lalo Salamanca is the one who shot Howard. However, every decision made after Howard’s death can be blamed on Jimmy and Kim too. Granted, Mike ordered them to follow a story he came up with. However, the coldness with which Jimmy and Kim addressed Howard’s life was incredibly cruel. More specifically, Kim coming up with a lie on the spot and gaslighting Howard’s wife into blaming herself for her husband’s alleged suicide was as dark as Better Call Saul could get.
1 Lalo & Howard Are Buried Together Under Gus’ Superlab
Proving that Howard’s death could still get worse, Better Call Saul’s “Point and Shoot” episode ended with Howard and Lalo being buried together under Gus’ superlab. Lalo being buried under the superlab was a quite popular Better Call Saul fan theory, especially after Gus hid a literal Chekhov’s Gun there. However, no one could have anticipated that Howard would be killed and buried under the superlab too. Howard and the man who killed had the same fate, and neither of their bodies was ever found. Howard’s fate was unpredictable, poetically tragic, and by far the darkest Better Call Saul season 6 moment.
