Summary
Nostalgic and well-curated, episode 11 is a series highlight.
This recap of Better Call Saul season 6, episode 11, “Breaking Bad,” contains spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
It will be sad when this series ends for good in a few weeks. Better Call Saul has been a worthwhile investment and one that we should never take for granted. Nostalgic and well-curated, episode 11 is a series highlight.
Better Call Saul season 6, episode 11 recap
Episode 11 opens with Jimmy (as Saul) getting kidnapped and put before a ditch in the Breaking Bad timeline. In a panic, Saul states that “it wasn’t me. It was Ignacio (also known as Nacho).”
We then return to Gene’s timeline. Francesca (who used to work for Saul) berates her tenants for blocking the hole in a sink. She leaves the boisterous tenants to deal with it themselves. As she drives away, she seems anxious and paranoid, sensing that she is being followed. The clock hits three as she parks at an abandoned fuel station — she looks at the payphone, waiting for something to happen, and then, one of the phones rings. It’s Saul.
Saul gives Francesca some instructions to pick up cash nearby that was stashed away. Saul asks for a general update; she explains how she is still getting followed; she then references Skyler White, who received a deal, but then explains that the authorities are still looking for Jesse Pinkman. Saul is frustrated that everything is gone, including all his shell companies.
Saul asks for more updates, with the conversation leading to discussing Kim. Francesca confirms that Kim asked about him, which seems to emotionally impact Saul. The phone call then ends abruptly.
Saul tries to get in touch with Kim by ringing the place she works — the camera pans out, and Saul is frustrated as he shouts down the phone. We never hear this conversation.
Saul then returns to Cinnabon, back to his new life as Gene. It’s a dull, unfulfilling life for a man that used to be a rising lawyer, working with high-profile criminals. And so, Saul heads to Marion’s house again. Saul speaks to Jeff. He wants him to get some barbituates. They are back in business. It’s almost like Saul cannot help himself. He craves the criminal lifestyle he once had.
Episode 11 then heads to an evening with Saul enjoying some karaoke and a man at a bar called Al laughing at him — he did the karaoke as part of a bet with this man. Al is eager to make one more bet between them. Saul is losing the bets on purpose as he keeps sucking out the alcohol in his glass from a tube inside his sleeve; he’s not drunk.
As they leave the bar, Al wants to make one more bet on who gets the next taxi. Saul “loses,” so the friend gets the cab. The cab driver is Jeff, who offers the intoxicated man water and drops him off at his house. Another acquaintance (Buddy) as part of Saul’s crew breaks into Al’s house, finding Al passed out on the sofa.
Buddy grabs Al’s wallet and takes photos of all the items inside; cards and IDs. He then takes photos from Al’s office, including tax returns, bills, and bank statements, before ripping out one of his checks from his checkbook. Al is a wealthy man.
We then return to the Breaking Bad timeline; Saul is with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman; they are trying to hire him in their motorhome (that’s also their meth lab). Saul is impressed with their small set-up to make the trendy blue meth, but Walter wants to get down to business. As they wait for the fuel pump to cool down so the motorhome engine can get going, Jesse asks Saul who Lalo is because he mentioned that name when he was spooked out. Saul brushes it off.
Back to the Gene timeline, Saul continues to go to bars, befriending wealthy people and getting his team to infiltrate their houses and take photos of financial evidence, including identification. The water they receive in the cab is spiked with barbituates to help them get to sleep by hitting their nervous system. They sell the information of these wealthy men and, in return, earn money for it — it’s a get-rich money-making scheme: a scam. Saul seems to be enjoying the money in his miserable new life, getting strippers along the way. But working at the Cinnabon still exists. It’s not the life he had.
As we reach nearer to the end of episode 11, Saul meets another wealthy man at a bar. The man seems reasonable and morally balanced — he reveals he has cancer, which throws Saul off slightly; however, he still leads the man to the cab as part of the plan.
Episode 11 then returns to the Breaking Bad timeline — Saul is enjoying his lawyer life, and Mike visits him for a meeting. Mike doesn’t enjoy Saul’s casualness and asks him to take the meeting seriously. He breaks down all of Saul’s clients, including Walter White. He reveals that Walter has lung cancer. Mike tells Saul to stay away from him because he’s “an amateur.” Saul has an intuition about Walter, but Mike dismisses his idea about him, revealing how much they underestimated the chemistry teacher. But for some reason, Saul can’t stop thinking about him. Here we see Saul’s weakness again; he cannot help himself.
The ending
Back to the Gene timeline, Saul receives a call, and he’s alarmed. Something has gone wrong. He meets his men; they backed out of scamming the wealthy man with cancer. Buddy is not comfortable with it. Saul fires Buddy for not agreeing to go ahead with the plan. Interestingly, Marion is eyeing up the garage outside (will she be Saul’s downfall?). Saul tells Jeff they need to finish the plan, so they head back to the rich man’s house.
Jeff is anxious about returning, believing the man may be awake by now, but Saul reassures him that it will be fine. Saul offers to go in and finish the job.
As the episode closes, it returns to the Breaking Bad timeline as the chapter starts mirroring Saul from the past and present. Saul visits the school Walter teaches at. There’s a science fair. Episode 11 then flits back to the Gene timeline, and Saul breaks into the wealthy man’s house. Saul cannot help himself — his greedy ambition and curiosity always get the best of him.
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You can watch this series on AMC.
