Better Call Saul Season 6 Returns To Gene With ‘Nippy’

After the horrors of the previous weeks, this episode of “Better Call Saul” is relatively light and fun — it’s basically a heist movie packed into an hour-ish of TV. The tension is still there, especially when Jeff is sprinting around the mall. But the horrifying dread has relaxed, at least a little. But the darkness can’t stay away forever — too much has happened. 

In order to keep Frank from turning to the monitors, Jimmy suddenly breaks down, fake-crying and acting bereft. He’s faking it just to distract Frank — at least at first. But while he’s trying to spin an on-the-spot sob story, Jimmy says “I have no one, no family,” and then says: “My brother is dead.” Here, Bob Odenkirk does incredible work letting a sudden realization flood into his eyes. His brother is dead. When is the last time he even thought of Chuck? Jimmy continues, real emotion in his voice: “I have no wife, no kids, no friends.” It’s all true. Kim, his wife, is gone. He has no one now. He works at his miserable job and then returns to his miserable home, and looks miserable all the while. That’s not a life. That’s not even an existence. It is a routine; a programmed bit of performance theater meant only to delay the inevitable. 

In the end, Jeff is able to recover and escape. Back at Jeff’s house, Jeff, one of Jeff’s buddies who helped with the heist, and Jimmy go back to Jeff’s place. Jeff and his pal are elated at their score, but then Jimmy lets the other shoe drop: he now has the goods on these guys; he has proof of their theft. And if they don’t leave him alone, he’ll ruin them. Jeff seems genuinely hurt by this, assuming he and Jimmy were friends now. But that’s not what Jimmy wants. He wants Jeff to leave him alone and never cross his path again. Jeff, shaken, agrees.