The first episode of the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul begins inauspiciously. With no dialogue and set to a sweeping yet melodic score, we see people clearing out all the various possessions of a house. It is a house that presumably belongs to Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill, who is fast on his way to becoming the Saul Goodman we know from Breaking Bad. Mysterious and melancholy, it is one of many moments that has come to define the quiet beauty of a show.
The key to this is not actually Odenkirk. What makes it all work is a resolute Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler, Jimmy’s fellow lawyer and lover who has gotten caught up in his mess. Kim is more kind than any character on the show, motivated by doing what is right and trying to stand up for those who would otherwise be trampled underfoot. This show is as much her journey as it is Jimmy’s, maybe even more so at times.
Of course, a meal is never just a meal with these two, both in story and cinematic form. The beginning of Better Call Saul Season 6 sees Kim and Jimmy beginning to hatch more schemes. The mark this time is someone close to both of them and will require treading extra carefully — and the manner in which this planning scene is shot notably leaves Kim cast in shadow, revealing how she has fallen more into the darkness over the course of the series.
Almost in the background of all this, there is the menacing cartel leader Lalo Salamanca who is planning his comeback after surviving an attempt on his life at the end of last season. This is unknown to both Mike Ehrmantraut and Gustavo Fring , who believe the plan was successful in spite of not going as smoothly as they would have hoped. Both Banks and Esposito continue to have a dynamic relationship, even as their characters frequently sit at odds with one another.