The First Half of Better Call Saul: Monumental Television

*Spoilers Ahead!*

After 14 years, 13 seasons, 125 episodes, and one movie, the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe comes to an end with the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul. This season will be the longest one to date, with 13 episodes split into two halves. The first half, containing seven episodes, began premiering on April 18 and finished on May 23, and the second half is set to begin its run on July 11.

Season 6 began action-packed, resuming immediately after the events of the season five finale. The first three episodes were mostly focused on the search for Nacho Vargo, a member of the Salamanca cartel after he was revealed to be a vital part of the hacienda attack at the end of season five. This storyline is fast-paced and more exhilarating than the show has shown before. The Mexican desert setting and fast-paced action sequences give audiences a feeling reminiscent of its counterpart, Breaking Bad.

Since Better Call Saul is a prequel, many of the character’s fates are known to viewers, although, Vargo is one of the few characters in Better Call Saul whose ending was a mystery. However, the anticipated question of Vargo’s future is finally answered in episode three of season six. Where in a scene most heartbreaking, Vargo kills himself after turning himself into the cartel, in doing so saving his father and another head cartel leader, Gus Fring. While viewers found his death tragic, rising senior Rafa Sharpe said the moment “was bittersweet because Nacho went out on his own terms and was able to save his father.”

While the criminal world is the main focus of the first few episodes, the episodes following episode three are centered around protagonist Saul and his wife Kim’s misadventures as they attempt to scam Howard Hamlin. The two episodes following the death of Nacho were very slow, and unlike the adrenaline-filled episodes that came prior, however, all of that shifts in episodes six and seven. In the mid-season finale, the law aspect of the show collides with the criminal, making for an epic and legendary collaboration. Kim and Saul’s plan comes to fruition, as they trick Howard into botching the Sandpiper Elder Home case. Howard ends up humiliated and devastated and figures out the plan Kim and Saul have been executing throughout the season. The law and criminal side of Better Call Saul collide even more when Lalo Salamanca walks into Saul and Kim’s apartment and shoots Howard, making it one of the most shocking moments in television history.

In total, the first half of season six of Better Call Saul has been filled with exciting, emotional, and surprising events that have amazed all viewers of the show, as Better Call Saul takes its place as one of the top television prequels of all time, as well as earning the titles of monumental and groundbreaking.