WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Better Call Saul season 6, episode 9.
Kim’s final lie to Howard’s wife in Better Call Saul season 6, episode 9 is the cruelest one of all. Entitled “Fun and Games,” Better Call Saul season 6, episode 9 continues to explore the aftermath of Kim and Jimmy’s plot to put a dent in Howard’s reputation. What started out as a way to secure Jimmy the money he was owed from the Sandpiper case took a dark turn when Howard was shockingly gunned down by Jimmy’s former cartel client, Lalo Salamanca.
The death of Howard forced Kim and Jimmy to double down on their lies about Howard’s cocaine addiction in order to draw police attention away from the Salamancas and Gus Fring. As Mike observes, Kim and Jimmy perform these lies to the police “a bit better” than they were told to. Their performance continues at Howard’s soon-to-be renamed law firm, HHM, where they attend a memorial service and come face to face with his grieving wife.
Unsurprisingly, Howard’s wife, Cheryl, is incredibly suspicious about the circumstances surrounding her husband’s disappearance. She’s aware of Jimmy’s previous campaign against him, and he’s forced to quickly reframe his vindictive campaign into the imaginings of a paranoid addict. However, it’s Kim, rather than Jimmy who delivers the cruelest lie to Cheryl when she spins a new story about catching him taking cocaine late at night. It demonstrates to Kim just how badly her and Jimmy’s relationship has hurt people, especially as Howard and his wife’s troubled marriage was revealed to the audience earlier in Better Call Saul season 6. When Kim tells Cheryl that she “knew Howard better than anyone,” the audience knows more than Kim and Jimmy how untrue this statement actually is. It’s why Cheryl gets so upset, highlighting the tragedy of Better Call Saul‘s Howard twist.
Howard’s Death Has Turned Into Better Call Saul’s Biggest Tragedy
While Howard Hamlin was never the most likable character in the show, he was ultimately an honest man in a series full of dishonest characters. His death at the end of Better Call Saul season 6, episode 7 was so shocking because Howard was never complicit in the violence and brutality of the Breaking Bad universe. He was a perfect foil for Jimmy McGill: a flashy, successful lawyer who’d reached the heights of the legal profession while Jimmy scraped a living together from the back of a nail salon. He wasn’t part of Jimmy’s criminal world of conmen and drug cartels, and in death, he becomes an innocent victim of the enticing but dangerous lifestyle that Kim and Jimmy have been enjoying. Howard and Lalo’s joint burial makes it worse, emphasized by the more respectful way Mike handles Howard’s body compared to Lalo’s. Unlike Lalo, Kim, and Jimmy, this is not the life or death that Howard chose and it’s why his death convinces Kim to call time on her relationship with Jimmy.
The deeper tragedy of Howard’s death is how it has forced Kim and Jimmy to double down on their cocaine scam. It was always intended as a dent in Howard’s ego that would result in a big payday for Jimmy. Instead, their scam has provided everyone involved in his death with the perfect alibi and the solution to Howard’s disappearance. That solution has destroyed a man’s reputation, poured salt into the wounds of his estranged wife, and disbanded HHM, destroying Howard and Chuck’s legacy. It’s little wonder that the wide-reaching ramifications of Better Call Saul‘s Howard plan have led to Kim turning her back on her promising career as an attorney. It’s a step too far, and unlike Jimmy, she’s unwilling to completely break bad.
New episodes of Better Call Saul are released Mondays on AMC.
