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bombsoverbagdhad · 2 years

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Something I find especially interesting about Better Call Saul is the character of Howard Hamlin and how little about him actually changes. He’s not a flat character, he does have complexities about him, but he’s a rather static one. From his introduction in Uno to his devastating exit in Plan and Execution, he doesn’t undergo any real arcs or changes to his character, and if he does they’re very minor. Instead what changes is our perspective of him.

Through the first couple seasons we’re lead to believe that Howard is a pompous prick who puts on a friendly act with Jimmy but unfairly persecutes him, even going so far as to shut Jimmy out of a case that Jimmy delivered to HHM on a silver platter. And this impression is seemingly confirmed when Howard snaps at Kim when she questions why he shut Jimmy out of the Sandpiper case. Then, in that same scene, as Kim is about to leave his office, Howard softens his tone and tells her to come back, a hint that there’s something more going on. Then, episodes later, we get the big reveal: It wasn’t Howard who kept Jimmy from being an associate at HHM, or shut him out of the Sandpiper case, it was Jimmy’s brother Chuck, and Howard, his best friend and partner, just let himself be the fall guy.

From then on everything we thought we knew about Howard is turned on its head. Especially when Howard finally stands up against Chuck and buys him out of his share in HHM after Chuck’s tirade in Chicanery. We learn of his marital problems. We see his grief over Chuck’s suicide (which Jimmy, still processing his own grief over it and projecting his bitterness towards his brother onto Howard, cruelly lets him believe is all his fault). We see him extend olive branch after olive branch toward Jimmy only for Jimmy to respond with a smashed up car, a pathetically unhinged rant, and an attempt to ruin his career.

And then, just as we feel like we’ve finally gotten to know Howard fully, just as he’s giving both Jimmy and Kim the talking-to they deserve, his life is unfairly ended in an instant by Lalo Salamanca. Not just an unforeseen consequence of Jimmy and Kim’s cruel games, but also of Jimmy’s (mostly unwilling) involvement in the Salamanca family’s war on Gus, however small of a part he might’ve played. Victim of a game he wasn’t playing and a game that was being played with him. And so he goes from villain to one of the most tragic figures in the Breaking Bad universe: His reputation in the dirt, the firm his family helped build being dissolved, and his body buried next to the man who killed him underneath a meth lab.

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markie-foley · 2 years

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going through better call saul's instagram to cope while waiting for 6b and i Cackled at how everyone was giving joke-y answers about what crimes they'd commit and then rhea goes "embezzling money 😐" I LOVE HER

#okay Fine other cast members gave somewhat serious answers aside from rhea BUT she answered it so quickly like it required no thought #better call saul season 5 premiere #vince gilligan #bob odenkirk #michael mando #patrick fabian #rhea seehorn #better call saul #better call saul instagram #bcs #saul goodman #jimmy mcgill #nacho varga #howard hamlin #kim wexler

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kingoftieland · 10 months

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Chuck wasn’t originally supposed to be the VILLAIN! 👿

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francis-ford-kofola · 2 years

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Better Call Saul S03E10 Lantern // American Psycho (2000)

#this scene and the whole episode left me devastated #but unfortunately this was my first association when he said the line #better call saul #american psycho #chuck mcgill #patrick bateman #michael mckean #christian bale #cinematic parallels #my gifs

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episodeoftv · 8 months

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Round 2 of 8, Group 2 of 4

propaganda and summaries are under the cut (May include spoilers)

Better Call Saul: 3.05 Chicanery

Kim and Jimmy face off with Chuck and Howard at the New Mexico Bar Association hearing.

Absolutely phenomenal acting from Michael McKean. The fraught relationship of the brothers McGill comes to a head, and the tragic nature of the series becomes very apparent.

Spongebob Squarepants: 2.15 The Secret Box/Band Geeks

Curiosity is killing Spongebob as he tries to invite out what is in the box that Patrick keeps with him: Squidward wants to form a marching band.

#better call saul #bcs #spongebob #spongebob squarepants #poll #polls #round2 #r2g2

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mandowifey · 1 year

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Character Masterlist.

Note: This list will be updated regularly when I get a new blorbo.

● ● ●

Ethan Hawke:

James Sandin (The Purge)

Russel Millings (Adopt a Highway)

Arthur Harrow (Moon Knight)

Edward Dalton (Daybreakers)

Ellison Oswalt (Sinister)

Albert Shaw/The Grabber (The Black Phone)

Ray Harris (Raymond and Ray)

Ernst Toller (First Reformed)

Lars Nystrom (Stockholm)

● ● ●

The Boys Universe:

Homelander

William/Billy Butcher

Ben/Soldier Boy

● ● ●

Stephen Lang:

Norman Nordstrom/Blindman (Don't Breathe)

Commander Nathaniel Taylor (Tera Nova)

Colonel Miles Quaritch- Human & Na'vi (Avatar)

John Korver (Gridlocked)

● ● ●

Hamish Linklater:

Father Paul Hill/John Pruitt (Midnight Mass)

John Tyler (Tell Me Your Secrets)

● ● ●

Oscar Isaac:

Santiago "Pope" Garcia (Triple Frontier)

Marc/Steven/Jake (Moon Knight)

Kane Double (Annihilation 2018)

● ● ●

Pedro Pascal:

Din Djarin/Mando (The Mandalorian)

Joel Miller (The Last of Us)

Frankie 'Catfish' Morales (Triple Frontier)

Deiter Bravo (The Bubble)

Javi G (Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent)

Max Phillips (Blood Sucking Bastards)

Maxwell Lord (Wonder Woman 88)

● ● ●

John Krasinski:

Lee Abbott (A Quiet Place)

● ● ●

Patrick Wilson:

Ed Warren (The Conjuring)

Orm Marius (Aquaman)

Josh Lambert (Insidious)

Daniel Dreiberg/Nite Owl (Watchmen)

● ● ●

Jensen Ackles:

Tom Hanniger (My Bloody Valentine)

Soldier Boy (The Boys)

● ● ●

Tony Dalton:

Lalo Salamanca (Better Call Saul)

Jack Duquesne (Hawkeye)

● ● ●

Michael Fassbender:

Erik Lehnsherr (X-Men)

David / Walter (Alien Covenant/Prometheus)

● ● ●

Karl Urban:

Commander Vaako (Riddick)

Billy Butcher (The Boys)

● ● ●

Jon Bernthal:

Frank Castle (The Punisher)

Shane Walsh (The Walking Dead)

● ● ●

Jason Bateman:

Marty Byrd (Ozark)

Michael Bluth (Arrested Development)

● ● ●

Patrick Fabian

Howard Hamlin (Better Call Saul)

Cotton Marcus (The Last Exorcism)

● ● ●

Spider-Verse

Peter B Parker

Miguel O'Hara

Venom

● ● ●

Jake Gyllenhaal

Detective Loki (Prisoners)

Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Spiderman: FFH)

Danny Sharp (Ambulance)

Other Chars (Unsorted)

● ● ●

Overwatch

Cassidy

Soldier 76/Jack

Reaper/Gabriel

Hanzo Shimada

Genji Shimada

● ● ●

Critical Role (S1)

Grog

Vax

● ● ●

Baldur's Gate 3

Astarion

Enver Gortash

Gale Dekarios

Halsin

Zevlor

Cazador Szarr

● ● ●

Negan Smith (Walking Dead)

Rick Grimes (Walking Dead)

Daryl Dixon (Walking Dead)

Jamie Lannister (Game of Thrones)

Captain Rex (Star Wars)

Boba Fett (Star Wars)

Kylo Ren (Star Wars)

Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill (BCS/BB)

Barry Berkman (Barry HBO)

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european-love-hotel · 1 year

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Star Trek x Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul: A weird alternative timeline for the aliens of Star Trek, a series:

Dr Nel Agpar as Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis)

Neelix as Judge Benedict Munsinger (Ethan Phillips)

Taymon as Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian)

Henry Starling as Clifford Main (Ed Begley Jr)

Vargas as Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) (scary)

Golin Shel-La as Mike Erhmentraut (Jonathan Banks)

Q as Donald Margolis (John de Lancie)

The Clown as Chuck McGill (Michael McKean)

best for last :)

#star trek #terrifying alternate timeline #star trek ds9 #did i miss anyone??#ds9 #voyager #deep space nine #star trek voyager #tng #star trek the next generation #star trek deep space nine #breaking bad #better call saul #neelix #tuco salamanca #howard hamlin #hector salamanca

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caleblandrybones · 9 months

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Here’s your summary: Set primarily in the early 2000s in Albuquerque, New Mexico, several years before Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul examines the moral declines of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), an earnest lawyer and former con artist who becomes the egocentric criminal-defense attorney Saul Goodman, and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), a former corrupt police officer who becomes a fixer and enforcer for drug traffickers. Other main characters include Jimmy's romantic interest and colleague Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), his brother and rival Chuck McGill (Michael McKean), Chuck's law partner Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian), the drug dealer Nacho Varga (Michael Mando), the drug lord Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), and the cartel enforcer Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalt

if I reply to your dms faster will you stop this abuse

#asks

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lucillebarker · 1 year

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I asked for chaos today…

And ChatGPT said:

Here's a potential cast for the actors in Better Call Saul in a musical production of Gypsy:

Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman - Bob Odenkirk as Herbie

Kim Wexler - Rhea Seehorn as Rose

Mike Ehrmantraut - Jonathan Banks as Pop

Chuck McGill - Michael McKean as Uncle Jocko

Howard Hamlin - Patrick Fabian as Tulsa

Nacho Varga - Michael Mando as Yonkers

Lalo Salamanca - Tony Dalton as Jocko Jr.

Gus Fring - Giancarlo Esposito as Mr. Goldstone

Kim's former boss, Rich Schweikart - Dennis Boutsikaris as Cigar

Jimmy's former cellmate, Huell Babineaux - Lavell Crawford as Tessie Tura

Kim's Mesa Verde colleague, Paige Novick - Cara Pifko as Mazeppa

Jimmy's former assistant, Francesca Liddy - Tina Parker as Electra

Jimmy's former law school classmate, Kim's friend, and fellow attorney, Rebecca Bois - Ann Cusack as Miss Cratchitt

In this cast, we see Bob Odenkirk as Herbie, the long-suffering agent and love interest of Rose, who is played by Rhea Seehorn. Jonathan Banks, who plays Mike Ehrmantraut, takes on the role of Pop, one of the three burlesque strippers who teach Rose's daughter to dance. Michael McKean, who plays Chuck McGill, is cast as Uncle Jocko, the owner of the Kiddie Troupe. Patrick Fabian, who plays Howard Hamlin, takes on the role of Tulsa, a dancer who falls for Louise, Rose's daughter.

Michael Mando, who plays Nacho Varga, is cast as Yonkers, another of the burlesque strippers. Tony Dalton, who plays Lalo Salamanca, takes on the role of Jocko Jr., Uncle Jocko's nephew. Giancarlo Esposito, who plays Gus Fring, is cast as Mr. Goldstone, the agent who books the burlesque show. Dennis Boutsikaris, who plays Kim's former boss Rich Schweikart, is cast as Cigar, a producer who hires the strippers.

Lavell Crawford, who plays Jimmy's former cellmate Huell Babineaux, is cast as Tessie Tura, one of the burlesque strippers. Cara Pifko, who plays Kim's Mesa Verde colleague Paige Novick, takes on the role of Mazeppa, another of the strippers. Tina Parker, who plays Jimmy's former assistant Francesca Liddy, is cast as Electra, the third stripper. Finally, Ann Cusack, who plays Jimmy's former law school classmate Rebecca Bois, is cast as Miss Cratchitt, a dance instructor.

Overall, this cast would bring a unique and diverse range of talents to a production of Gypsy, infusing the classic musical with a fresh energy and perspective.

Me: 😐😐😐😐

#better call sondheim #still casting notices for Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee and Baby June I guess…#it’s very clear ChatGPT is not very schooled in classic theatre

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cptrs · 9 months

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bombsoverbagdhad · 2 years

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I think another thing that makes Howard Hamlin’s death so tragic is in its parallels to Nacho’s death. They’re both shot in the head, but there was a strange sort of nobility in Nacho’s death. Nacho is forced by Gus to take the fall for Gus’s assassination attempt on Lalo Salamanca, or else his father will be killed. It’s a grim situation, and there, in the desert, bloodied and facing execution at the Salamanca family’s hands, he wrenches back some measure of power. He reveals that he switched Hector Salamanca’s meds with sugar pills, causing the stroke that left him disabled, then he steals Don Bolsa’s gun and shoots himself, not giving the Salamancas the satisfaction of doing it themselves. In his conversation with Don Eladio, he talked about how he wanted to make his own choices, and he wasn’t about to let someone else choose how he would die, especially not psychotic bloodthirsty pigs like the Salamancas. All they can do is impotently shoot at his corpse.

Meanwhile, Howard‘s death isn’t heroic or honorable. He wasn’t in the game. He didn’t make any sort of sacrifice, he didn’t see it coming and there wasn’t any power in it. It was senseless and ugly. Lalo didn’t even gain any particular enjoyment out of killing him. He just did it to intimidate Jimmy and Kim and eliminate any potential witness. Howard was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, the only reason he was there was to confront Jimmy and Kim about their scheme to ruin him. If he had arrived just 10 minutes later he would still be alive.

Whereas Nacho spent his final moments protecting his father and delivering one final stab to a family of soulless killers, Howard spent his final moments searching for answers from two people he used to respect who tormented him for no real reason other than their own sociopathic pleasures. Nacho’s death was tragic, but at least one person will know of the sacrifices he made. Howard will be mourned, but he’ll be known as the drug addict who embarrassed himself and his firm and committed suicide. And with HHM set to essentially be dissolved, he’s got no legacy to leave behind, and Jimmy and Kim will be haunted by their roles in his death for the rest of their lives. And they deserve to be.

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artsformyvoid · 2 years

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Howard Hamlin Was the Moral Centrifugal Force of Better Call Saul

Howard Hamlin Is Better Call Saul’s Moral Centrifugal Force

By Darren Mooney

This article contains spoilers for Better Call Saul season 6, episode 7, “Plan and Execution,” in its discussion of Howard Hamlin.

With “Plan and Execution,” the final season of Better Call Saul reaches its mid-season finale.

It is worth conceding, as writer and director Thomas Schnauz did on Twitter, that “Plan and Execution” was never intended as the lead-in to a six-week break between the two halves of the final season. However, when lead actor Bob Odenkirk had a heart attack while filming a scene with co-stars Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian, production was halted. As a result, the release of the sixth season had to be staggered. (The scene in question was reportedly part of the next episode.)

Still, without all that context, “Plan and Execution” feels oddly fitting as a mid-season finale. The episode certainly ends on a dramatic cliffhanger, with Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) casually murdering Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) in the living room shared by Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn). It’s a dramatic plot and character beat, but it is also a seismic shift within the show itself. It is a moment that perhaps deserves to be allowed to stand for a few weeks.

The death of Howard Hamlin is a brutal and powerful piece of television, for a number of reasons. Most obviously, as with the death of Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) earlier in the season, it signals a steep escalation in stakes. As Better Call Saul enters its endgame, it is playing for all of the marbles. There’s an ambiguity to the fate of those characters that the audience hasn’t already seen on Breaking Bad, and the final season of Better Call Saul insists that not all of them get happy endings.

There is more to it than that. The ensemble on Better Call Saul is one of the finest casts in modern television, a combination of a skilled writers room working with a talented group of actors. Howard Hamlin is proof of that. Hamlin was introduced in the first season of Better Call Saul as something of an empty suit, to the point that an early punchline found Jimmy stealing Howard’s image as if to prove there was nothing underneath. However, he gradually became the show’s conscience.

Over the show’s six seasons, the production team on Better Call Saul has found surprising and compelling depths within characters who initially seemed like they might pose long-term problems for the show. The writers have been candid about the challenges that characters like Kim Wexler and Nacho Varga posed in that first season, when they had no real idea what to do with them. However, over time, these characters become multifaceted, compelling, and even tragic.

Howard followed a similar arc, evolving from an early foil for Jimmy into an engaging and sympathetic screen presence. He was something of a decoy antagonist in the show’s first season, with his antagonism towards Jimmy largely functioning to disguise the way that Jimmy’s brother and Howard’s partner Chuck McGill (Michael McKean) was the one responsible for sabotaging Jimmy’s legal career. In that first season, Howard was a proxy. He was a stand-in for the real threat.

What is particularly interesting about Howard is that he never really anchored a storyline on Better Call Saul. He was never the driving force or the audience identification character in the same way that Jimmy, Kim, Chuck, or Nacho was. Instead, Howard often existed caught in the orbit of other characters, whether doing Chuck’s dirty work or serving as the target of Kim’s righteous anger or provoking the worst in Jimmy. The audience largely saw Howard as other characters saw him.

Over the course of the show, the audience discovered a great deal about Howard Hamlin. Howard is largely defined by his deceased father, George, who co-founded the law firm Hamlin McGill. It seems that Howard’s paternal anxieties carried over to Chuck. Howard seemed to genuinely admire Jimmy, whom he called “Charlie Hustle.” He also guided his law firm through massive debt, tried to work his way through a divorce, and struggled with his depression.

All these details are revealed at the margins of Better Call Saul, rarely as the focus of the show’s attention. The firm’s financial concerns are mentioned in passing a few times and then quickly resolved off-screen. Howard is revealed to be going to therapy when it serves as a convenient opportunity for Jimmy to steal his car as part of a con. Howard’s wife, Cheryl (Sandrine Holt), appears for the first time in the episode before Howard is shot in the head.

Much like Nacho Varga played as a commentary on the tragic logic of prequels, Howard felt like a character occasionally crossing over from his own unseen spin-off: Howard’s End. One of the cleverer aspects of Cheryl’s complete absence from the earlier seasons (despite much speculation about Howard’s marital status) was that it offered a possible solution to the long-standing mystery of where Kim might be during the events of Breaking Bad: married to Jimmy, entirely off-screen.

Ignoring the clever use of the language of such television shows, Howard’s character was drawn in remarkably subtle terms. The audience was left with an impression of a life, rather than exposition. It is to the credit of Fabian as an actor and to the show’s writing staff that Howard still felt fully three-dimensional. Demonstrating the show’s knack for visual storytelling, a single scene between Howard and Cheryl reveals so much of who they both are. It’s heartbreaking.

Over the show’s run, Howard became an increasingly nuanced character, often in direct contrast to Jimmy. Howard worked through his feelings of guilt over Chuck’s suicide, while Jimmy refused to even acknowledge his feelings despite playing a much larger role in Chuck’s decline. Howard tried to make things right with Jimmy, in multiple and increasingly unique ways. Howard even reached out to Kim in concern about Jimmy’s increasingly erratic behavior.

As such, Howard became the show’s unlikely moral center. There is a small and charming moment in “Plan and Execution” where Howard pauses to explain to a young intern the importance of “centrifugal force” in preventing shaken soft-drink cans from exploding over. Given that the episode ends with Howard’s death and a strong push towards the inevitable brutality and chaos of Breaking Bad, that small character beat feels like a strong thematic statement about Howard as a person.

With this in mind, the death of Howard Hamlin carries a surprising amount of weight. Before Lalo arrives, Howard visits Kim and Jimmy to confront them about the elaborate long-form con that they pulled designed to humiliate and discredit him, an arc that played across the entire first half of the season. Howard gets to make some very valid points about how he doesn’t deserve such cruelty, as well as about how Kim and Jimmy’s treatment of him is a moral judgement on them rather than him.

Crucially, Howard’s central argument is that he will survive all that Jimmy and Kim have done to him, because he has lived through worse. “Just one more thing that ol’ Howard has to work through,” he muses. “But, yes, I will land on my feet. I will be okay. But you? Far from it. You two… you two are soulless. Jimmy, you can’t help yourself. Chuck knew it. You were born that way. But (Kim)? One of the smartest and most promising human beings I’ve ever known, and this is the life you choose?”

There is a cruel irony in all this, reflecting the stark moral universe of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Howard would have probably lived through his disgrace. He may even have rebuilt his firm’s reputation. The audience watched him do something similar after Chuck’s breakdown. However, Howard isn’t doomed because of any choice that he made. He ends up as collateral damage from Jimmy’s flirtation with the cartel, killed by Lalo for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Howard’s death is presented as a moment of almost supernatural portent. As Howard arrives, Schnauz’s camera focuses on a flickering candle flame. The candle flickers again as Lalo lets himself in. It is as though two shadows and spirits have passed over the apartment that Kim and Jimmy share. Howard’s death is the death of the moral center of Better Call Saul, the show’s last tether to basic decency and compassion.

Indeed, Howard’s final scene is even bleaker than Nacho’s death earlier in the season. Nacho’s death was heavily foreshadowed, with Nacho himself accepting its inevitability. Nacho got to go out on his own terms, pulling the trigger himself in an act of agency that the show’s prequel nature often denied him. In contrast, the death of Howard Hamlin is a surprise. He was shot through the head by a complete stranger. He dies mid-sentence. “I think I’m in the middle of something; there’s really no need to —”

Howard’s death feels like an appropriate place to break the sixth season because it feels like a break within the show. With the death of Chuck and Jimmy renouncing the name McGill, Howard was one of the last ties to the show’s origins as a legal black comedy. Howard’s murder by Lalo, a character Jimmy references in his first appearance in Breaking Bad, suggests a show completely unmoored from its start point, now fully caught in the gravity well of Breaking Bad.

Maybe it wasn’t just Howard Hamlin that died in “Plans and Executions;” it was the quirky life once lived by Jimmy McGill. It has been completely subsumed by drug cartels and senseless violence. Jimmy McGill is dead, long live Saul Goodman.

#better call saul #bbs #howard hamlin #lalo salamanca #saul goodman #kim wexler

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z34l0t · 2 years

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Closing Argument

This post contains spoilers for Breaking Bad Season 6.

Those Better Call Saul writers are some cold-hearted bastards.

Just a few episodes after a central character was given a Christ-like ending (poor Nacho — betrayed by Gus before sacrificing himself to save his family), the writers of Better Call Saul succeeded in humanizing Howard Hamlin and made him a sympathetic character, only to immediately have him meet an ignominious end.

Redemption arcs never bode well for characters in Vince Gilligan's universe. I'm reminded of Grant Morrison's JLA: Earth Two graphic novel, which proposed the existence of a universe where "evil" always prevails. The arc of the Gilliganverse likewise bends towards corruption: Characters readily fall into drug dealing, theft, infidelity, fraud, and murder. They redeem themselves only to die shortly thereafter.

That tanned, well-dressed, golf-playing Howard Hamlin ended up being Saul Goodman's nemesis (instead of one of the show's many murderous thugs) is a cynical commentary from the show's creators; it also serves to differentiate this show from other lawyer-centric ones. On a different series, in a different era of television (before Tony Soprano paved the way for small screen antiheroes), Hamlin may well have been a title character. His name seems to be a deliberate nod to L.A. Law star Harry Hamlin, just as his blonde hair and expensive suits draw easy comparisons to the slick corporate lawyer played by Corbin Bernsen on the same show. But in the Gilliganverse, with its affable drug dealers and honorable cartel enforcers, Hamlin's glowing appearance and manicured charm made him suspect. When the title character drives around in a Suzuki Esteem with mismatched doors, anyone who owns a Jag is a clear choice for an antagonist.

Hamlin's redemption arc began back in Season 4, when the writers chipped away at his perfect image to reveal a much more damaged, vulnerable character. At the same time, dishonest but relatable Jimmy McGill was slowly taking the form of the amoral, self-serving Saul Goodman we originally met in Breaking Bad. The series is post-modern in this way — actors play characters who themselves assume different roles. Michael Mando's Nacho is an embedded spy/saboteur who had to be all things to all people in public, even as he was privately held hostage. Giancarlo Esposito plays a cartel boss who hides in plain sight behind the non-threatening image of a fast food restaurateur. Bob Odenkirk flexes his significant sketch comedy chops to play Jimmy's various personas: A retirement home BINGO announcer; a helpful phone salesman; and, in one of the few instances of broad comedy presented in season 6, he even pretended to be Howard. The show's directors have a habit of showing us these characters as they're reflected/refracted in various surfaces, allowing the audience to see their duplicitous and fractured selves.

Howard, it turns out, had also been putting on a facade. His marriage was falling apart, and we witnessed how his attempts at magnanimity and reconciliation were icily rebuffed by his wife, who could barely hide her contempt for him as he struggled to maintain his sunny exterior. Though we witnessed his actual execution an episode later, this terse scene was more heartbreaking.

The divide between heroes and villains is a matter of perspective: By allowing the audience to experience Howard's, the writers automatically make black hats of Jimmy and Kim - and thus their plans to disrupt his life seem needlessly cruel and vindictive. In his final scene, Howard was allowed to give his side of the rivalry. For actor Patrick Fabian, it was a dramatic monologue; for the attorney that Fabian portrayed over the course of 6 seasons, it was a closing argument.

Howard made irrefutable points: The resentment towards him was petty, and Kim and Jimmy were both deeply ungrateful for the opportunities Howard provided them. The two decided to exact revenge on Howard for his wealth and good looks, being an exacting boss, and following the wishes of Jimmy's own brother. And in having Howard berate Jimmy and Kim, the writers were also obliquely addressing the audience who reveled in his downfall.

If you've seen enough horror movies, you probably sensed that the empty space in the top left corner of the screen during Howard's diatribe portended danger; when Lalo (presumed dead) enters the scene, it's with all the menace of a Hammer Horror vampire, candles flickering to announce his arrival as his shadow slowly occupies that dead space. That the other characters stammer ineffectually while he calmly screws the silencer on his pistol is darkly comic; Howard, having completed his redemption arc, was given one last kick by the writers as he stated the obvious ("I think I'm in the middle of something") while cravenly trying to exit the situation. The scene's similarity to a classic Simpsons scene is probably unintentional, but that doesn't make it less comedic. Or Howard's death any less undignified.

Pour one out for poor Howard. Hopefully he's in a better place —like a series on the USA Network where rich, good looking people don't exist solely to be laid low by pranksters and television writers.

#bcs s6 #better call saul #howard hamlin #analysis

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