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Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 7 is exactly the payoff that fans wanted after a few, let's say, slow-burn episodes. Not only does the mid-season finale deliver that and then some more, it also creates the perfect cliffhanger for the remainder of the series!
SPOILERS ahead:
In the final moments of Better Call Saul Season 6, Episode 7, the audience realizes that however flawed Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) may have been, there's a far bigger monster looming on his horizon. His name is Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), and he's back in the United States.
When Hamlin, who's been conned by Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), visits the happy couple's home, he chances upon Salamanca. Armed with a silencer, Salamanca silences the pain, the torment, and the humiliation that Hamlin has suffered at the hands of everyone around him. The elaborate plot hatched by Goodman and Wexler seems insignificant (even unimportant) in the light of everything else.
But there was triumph before tragedy for Saul. Clifford Main (Ed Begley Jr.) and Rich Schweikart (Dennis Boutsikaris) are stunned by Howard Hamlin's behavior. Of course, Goodman pulls the strings, portraying him as an addict who's slowly losing his mind.
By the end of the ruse, you feel a sense of sympathy for Hamlin, who's no saint but is by no means the biggest villain on the show. Such is the power of the writing in the series. Overall, Better Call Saul may just be the best-written show on television.
Bob Odenkirk pays tribute to Patrick Fabian in Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 7
While Goodman and Hamlin may be at odds, Odenkirk and Fabian are fast friends. The bond between the two men was evident in Odenkirk's tweet after Hamlin's departure, where he referred to Fabian as a prince.
While it was a given that Hamlin wouldn't make it past a certain point because he's not in Breaking Bad, the end shocked and stunned fans across the world. There was an outpouring of sympathy for a character that's grown from the devil incarnate to someone who's a troubled soul. And, of course, Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 7 convinced the world of Fabian's acting chops.
Interestingly enough, Kim Wexler's fate is similarly up in the air. She's not a part of Breaking Bad either, and one has to wonder if she will make it to the end of the series.
Will she be yet another victim of Lalo Salamanca, or does Gus Fring or some other criminal mastermind have another worse fate in mind for her?
In the age of instant gratification and fast-food content, it is heartening that there is an audience for shows that are not gratuitous.
If Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 7 was just a taste of the things to come, sign me up for a second helping.
