During the course of this season’s first half, we have been accustomed to the fact that practically every episode will conclude with the passing of a major character. The first to arrive was Nacho, followed by Howard, and then Lalo. After the explosive and action-packed episode that was presented the previous week, I spent the first half of this week’s edition thinking, Sure, yes, it is absolutely natural to take a breath before the great final push. Let’s take a step back, take stock, and refresh our memories about what’s at stake and who’s playing for what. There is no requirement for any hasty departures tonight.
In the episode that airs this week, we do some humorous things. After all, the event is referred to as Fun and Games. As a first step, we watch Gus celebrate his victory over Lalo Salamanca by unwinding in an exclusive wine bar. This was Gus’s reward for taking down Lalo (and getting away with it). Gus is a wine expert, and he appreciates the sommelier’s company because he knows even more about wine than Gus does. Is there a relationship between the two individuals themselves? Gus’s face turned to stone within five minutes of visiting the location, and he exited the building shortly thereafter, so we’ll never know what happened there. It’s possible that something just dawned on him, like the fact that he’d forgotten to turn off the heater in the Super Lab. But I think it’s more likely that Gus regarded this “fun” as being inappropriate and a sign of weakness rather than a sign of strength.
After their elaborate con against Howard Hamlin backfires in a deadly manner, Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler are forced to keep a sense of normalcy in their lives and go about their days as if someone wasn’t just executed in the middle of their living room. This is something they must do in order to continue living normally. Jimmy provides Kim with the same piece of advice that Mike once gave to him when they almost escaped death in the New Mexico desert: Eventually, there will come a day when you no longer think about what occurred. Jimmy hopes that this piece of advice will help Kim get past the tragedy. According to the investigation conducted by the police, Howard took his own life by going into the water as allegations of a crippling cocaine habit were spreading about him. During this time, Mike and the other members of Gus Fring’s cleanup crew are hard at work removing any and all traces of evidence from Jimmy and Kim’s apartment. However, the burden that Kim carries on her conscience is not something that can be removed with a simple bleach bath.
My money is on the fact that when we finally wrap this up and she starts packing, she won’t have a clue as to where she’s heading. I believe that she is only a hollow shell of a person, and she reminds me of one of those nameless and faceless persons that you will see walking down the street and have no idea that they are capable of so much more than they are showing you.
As a result, one of the legacies that I hope will be left behind is that fans, viewers, and critics will realise that what could seem very inaccessible, high, and philosophical is, in fact, very approachable, and visceral. This is because that is what the programme accomplishes for me. It takes some really difficult and abstract philosophical topics and makes them tangible. These questions make me think about them for a while, and I hope that this will be one of the book’s legacies.
Were the laughs and smiles that these characters and their relationship brought us worth it if this was where it was going to end? In light of the fact that we do not exist as characters in the Heisenberg universe, I would argue that of course it was the case. It is remarkable how much work Odenkirk, Seehorn, and the rest of their coworkers have put into developing Jimmy and Kim as personalities as well as romantic and criminal partners. When you start a programme like this, you accept the fact that it will be painful to watch these incarnations of them disappear, potentially for good. This is just part of the deal. If it hadn’t been so good for so long, it wouldn’t cause this much pain. If we hadn’t been having so much fun, like Kim and Jimmy running their latest con, or even like Walter White and Jesse Pinkman exploiting the power of magnetism, it wouldn’t cause this much pain.