Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 4 review: Was the Rhea Seehorn directed episode the calm before the storm?

3/5

Story: Jimmy/Saul (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) are still on their mission to destroy Howard (Patrick Fabian). There’s no word on Lalo Salamanca’s (Tony Dalton) whereabouts, but given that he’s suspicious of Gus Fring’s (Giancarlo Esposito) involvement in the shooting at his home, despite Nacho’s (Michael Mando) ‘confession’ that he acted on behalf of another rival, it won’t be long before Lalo comes sniffing for proof. Mike’s (Jonathan Banks) got his men on high alert, running checks on anyone Lalo could contact when he’s back in Albuquerque, including Saul and Kim. Meanwhile, the word that is out is that Saul’s Salamanca’s guy, which makes him hot property for potential clients involved in shady businesses.

Review: After all the tension and action of the first three episodes in the last season of Better Call Saul, the showrunners put the brakes on that this week. Episode 4, called ‘Hit and Run’, was Rhea Seehorn’s directorial debut. It was also an episode that focused a great deal on her character Kim and her response to situations.

Hit and Run opens with an idyllic couple cycling through their neighbourhood; the kind who are less than pleased when things aren’t perfect around them. Back home, they seem to not only have too many people around going about their business, but there’s also one room with dedicated personnel scanning the neighbourhood security camera footage. Fishy as that seems, we don’t get into the details immediately.

Instead, we hop right on to the next phase of Jimmy and Kim’s operation to destroy Howard. On the last episode, Jimmy had got someone to swipe and duplicate Howard’s car keys. Armed with the most ungainly key fob, Jimmy hijacks the car while Howard is at a session with his therapist, and puts on a show during Kim’s ‘meeting with Cliff that has the elderly man sure that his business partner is up to no good. Bob Odenkirk looked a tad too orange, though, to pull of a Howard look. Just how many spray tan sessions did he have? This bit of their long con goes without a hitch, but on her way back, Kim realizes she’s being followed. It’s not what she suspects, though.

Gus, meanwhile, is convinced that Lalo’s still alive, which, as viewers, we know, but he doesn’t for sure. No one’s seen or heard of Lalo in two weeks, and Mike’s got his men running surveillance on anyone he could contact in Albuquerque. Strangely, Gus seems quite perturbed that Lalo may be planning something big in retaliation for what transpired at the Salamanca compound in Mexico. The man’s not only wearing a bullet proof vest all the time, but he’s also carrying a concealed firearm, in case the need should arise.

Even more bizarrely, he has a tunnel leading from his house to his neighbour’s place, which, as it turns out, is the one from the opening shot, from where Gus is running surveillance on the neighbourhood in the hopes of averting a Lalo attack.

Jimmy, who is still blissfully unaware that Lalo is still alive and kicking, has got himself a name for being Salamanca’s man. So now, he’s got a long list of potential clients, each

Episode 4 felt like the showrunners had hit a reset button; everything slowed down again and it was about setting up stuff for things to come. It was like the calm before the storm. And knowing what Lalo’s capable of, we can only imagine the hellfire he’s going to unleash in his attempted takedown of Gus. But here’s the thing, Gus survives this adversary, as do Mike and Jimmy, but Lalo was not on Breaking Bad, so we know where this is headed. It’s just that Lalo, for sure, will not go down without a fight.

Verdict: A rather tepid episode on the final season, but one that allows Rhea Seehorn, as Kim, to navigate this new world that she and Jimmy find themselves in. One that is not pretty and quite dangerous.