Where can Better Call Saul go after last week’s game-changing episode? It’s back to Omaha in black and white, apparently.
Monday’s episode was all about Gene Takavic, finally giving us an update on Saul’s identity after Breaking Bad. The last time we saw Gene (in the Season 5 premiere), he was being followed by a mysterious guy named Jeff, but he told the cleaner Ed Galbraith that he would “fix it myself.” Now we see what it looks like: Gene tracks down Jeff’s elderly mother, Marion: Hello, Carol Burnett! – and thanks her with a made-up story about his missing dog named Nippy. (He also secretly cuts a wire on his motorized scooter because he’s going to have to help her home.) When Jeff gets home from work, he finds Gene laughing with Marion in their kitchen, and Gene shoots him a look of satisfaction at a bewildered Jeff. .
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Once they’re alone, Jeff threatens Gene, “All I have to do is pick up the phone, and bye, Saul Goodman.” But Gene has a better idea: he knows all Jeff wants is a bigger piece of the pie, and he promises to cut one for him. “Here’s the deal: I’ll show you the game and then we’re done,” he tells Jeff, and a new scam is born. (Gene goes home and puts on his Saul Goodman rose ring, to complete the transformation.) Gene starts taking a couple of extra Cinnabons to the mall security office, which the head of security frank hi Jim O’Heir from Parks and Rec! — gleefully gobbles up with his back to the monitors. Gene calculates exactly how long it takes Frank to finish his bread each time, and also navigates the department store at Lancaster’s Mall, counting his steps as he goes. what is this guy doing
We find out when Gene creates an exact replica of the department store’s dimensions in a snowy field, training Jeff to steal the most expensive things in the three-plus minutes it takes Frank to eat his Cinnabon. However, only take three of each item, Gene warns Jeff: That way, they won’t notice until they take inventory in three days, by which time the security tapes will have been recorded. Jeff isn’t sure about the scheme, which he thinks is crazy. So Gene invokes the Walter White story: “I’ll tell you what’s crazy: a fifty-year-old chemistry professor walks into my office. The guy is so broke he can’t pay his own mortgage. A year later, he has a cash pile as big as a Volkswagen. It’s crazy.” That’s enough to convince Jeff to take the plunge.
The Lancaster’s manager, Kathy, is on a morning tour, noticing a scratch on the floor, when she is interrupted by the delivery of a huge wooden box. She didn’t ask for it, so she calls the delivery man’s supervisor, namely Gene, to complain. Gene goes into a long story about how long it would take to come pick him up, so Kathy reluctantly agrees to keep the box there overnight. Now the stage is set, and as Frank walks into his Cinnabon that night as usual, Gene texts Jeff that it’s time. Jeff gets out of the box and runs around the store, grabbing the Armani suits and Air Jordans as they practiced. Gene watches over Frank’s shoulder as Frank digs into Nebraska football, and everything is going to work out… until Jeff confronts the freshly cleaned spot where the scratch was and makes his escape , leaving badly. Uh oh
Gene can only watch in horror as Jeff lies motionless on the tile and Frank finishes his Cinnabon. She starts to walk back to the cameras, but Gene stops her in tears, crying that she doesn’t know what she’s doing with her life. Frank has a wife to go home to, but “I have no one. My parents are dead. My brother is dead. I have no wife. No children. No friends. If he dies tonight, no one would care.” (Wow…that hits hard, knowing how true it is for Jimmy after what happened with Chuck and Kim.) Frank comforts him warmly, giving Jeff time to get to his feet and wobble before he Frank back to work. wow The next morning, Jeff sneaks out of the store after hiding in the bathroom all night, and a delivery boy picks up the box, now full of luxury goods.
Back in his garage, Jeff and his friend are laughing at their newfound riches, but Gene isn’t laughing. He reminds them that they face several decades in prison if caught, and that if they rebel against him, he will lead them astray. “You don’t have to threaten us. We’re all friends here,” Jeff pleads, but Gene is firm, “I’m not your friend.” He warns them not to try anything like this again and to stay out of his life from now on, ordering Jeff to say the words, “We’re done.” Marion almost gets them, but they pretend to be working on Jeff’s car, and Gene helps him with his groceries, with Marion telling him that Jeff fell in with some bad people in Albuquerque, but she’s glad that Gene has a good influence. She asks about Nippy, and Gene says he got him back, “After all that, a happy ending.”
Gene returns to work at Cinnabon, looking more confident than we’ve ever seen him. He takes his lunch break and heads to the department store, checking out a garishly colored shirt and tie that Saul Goodman would love. He holds it in front of him in the mirror…but finally puts it back on and walks away.
Are you satisfied with how Gene’s story ended, if this is the end? And when will we see Walt and Jesse, and maybe even Kim again, in the final three episodes? Leave your thoughts in a comment below.