User Reviews

Gus' mask is slipping as his paranoia reaches fever pitch. Cliff grows increasingly wary of his involvement with Howard and confronts him about recent events. Saul opens shop and we see the return of Francesca in some important groundwork for the events of Breaking Bad. Meanwhile, It appears Kim's conscience is beginning to weigh heavy on her. Howard (or shall I say 'Mr Ward') sets up a tense meeting with Saul which ends in the two punching it out in the ring; we also learn that Howard has hired somebody to keep tabs on Saul for the foreseeable. Mike and Gus speculate on Lalo's next move before taking a road trip to what will soon no doubt be a very familiar locale for any BB fan. Speaking of Lalo, he's in Germany flirting with the widowed Mrs Ziegler and breaking into her house, presumably looking for evidence of the project Gus had her husband working on which is when we see the resin incased ruler from the intro with the words "In Liebe... Deine jungs" or "Love... your boys" engraved on it. It's a tense scene which appears to be leading to the untimely demise of Mrs Ziegler but she thankfully makes it through unscathed. Overall? It's a pretty slow burn but it does an incredibly effective job of building tension and suspense for next the next instalment and giving us a glimpse into the mindsets of our major players. As per usual, acting is stellar and the cinematography and music accompaniments are wonderful. A weaker episode for this season but that's not saying much considering the consistent quality we've seen thus far. Another strong 8 to a light 9/10 from me. Thanks for reading my review and have a lovely day or night wherever you are.

Howard figures out Jimmy right away, and it leads us to a funny scene in the ring. Someone now follows Jimmy and reports to Howard. On the Salamanca front, it's the waiting game. Gus feels the breeze coming, but it's still oddly calm.

The best part comes at the end with the Lalo stuff, and a clever reveal and surprise. Margarethe comes back into the fold as Eduardo walks in German soil, looking for proof. That part was really well filmed too, with the camera just waiting outside the Ziegler house for the night to pass.

Overall, it's definitely my least favorite episode of the season, but a good foundation on which to build the next block. The writing and dialogue is still sublime, and you know something is bound to happen soon.

The menacing character we all know and love that steals every scene he is in has returned. Yes, that 4 letter name that starts with a L. Its been too long but LYLE is back baby. What a guy.

I thought there was a recognizable tension throughout this episode. I disagree that the strange music choices are negatives; they are part of a great creative process at work. I was pleased to see Lalo again. Obviously, those Germans who worked on the big lab are at the center of things and he needs to know what Gus is up to. The last five minutes are so gripping. I was pleased to see Jimmy get smacked. He is not a very lovable character and his and Kim's obsession with Howard is really something they should have put on the shelf. He was no threat to them other than his smugness and self-centeredness. I know there are people out there that hate it when someone isn't getting gunned down, graphically spewing blood. The psychological tension of this episode is striking.

I'm gonna go back and write a proper review for this episode when I rewatch it but before I do that I wanted to leave a prediction for where the season is going.

Many people including myself already feel like they've seemingly figured out where the Lalo and Gus plot is going. Basically Lalo will go to the place where Werner's mold from the beginning of the episode was being made, and someone there will tell Lalo about one of the workers for the super lab, and obviously since Lalo is spooky the guy will spill the beans leading Lalo to the Super Lab. Gus however, is already prepared, and he will turn off the lights, get the stashed gun (that's why he was counting his steps in this episode) and then shoot Lalo. This all concludes with Lalo getting buried in the south wall. I can see this happening, and I feel like maybe it'll be done in the next 2 episodes, which will leave mainly Jimmy stuff for the second half... honestly I hope this is a misdirect because this is too obvious. The moment you have Gus with a stashed Gun and Lalo investigating Werner this is the most obvious conclusion. While I suppose it would work, I don't think it's a bad ending, it ties many things together pretty neatly, also it all depends on execution, but I hope this isn't so easily predictable because this show is usually so unpredictable and I expect a little more from it being one of the best shows of all time in my opinion.

Anyways this was a good episode, but a bit underwhelming as not that much happened plot wise. As I said I'll come back to properly review this episode soon, but just wanted to leave this prediction for now.

Deliberate pacing is important to the deserved success of BCS but in this episode it went too far.

It's great to see Howard instantly deduct that Kim and Jimmy are out to get him - and while many found the boxing scene funny it just didn't seem like something Howard would do. It was cinematic but not consistent with his character.

Then came a scene with Gus pacing through his new underground lab. Pacing. And pacing. And pacing.

And then he leaves. Finally. It wasn't the most compelling minutes of the series.

The wrapping segment with Lalo digging for information in Germany had some solid will-he-kill-the-cute-dog-and-lady tension but there were some plot holes. How did this guy from New Mexico know where Margaethe goes to a bar - that kind of thing.

Of course, if the rest of the episode really grabbed you then such issues are easily forgiven.

Overall, this was an hour of very slow-burning fuse before the fireworks - something not uncommon in mid-season episodes - but the cumulative impact certainly made it the least satisfying show so far this season.

Put another way, I am extremely interested to get ample time to see what happens to Cinnabon Manager Jimmy - and I trust that set-the-table episodes like this one don't leave us short when it's time for future resolutions.

-We mounted a gopro to a garage door -We got another mount/angle from the lab ladder -To a boxing helmet

We also got

-Gus Fring scrubbing the tiles over the tub. 1 minute of him sitting at his desk, clicking the pen.

-Another overlong intro before the theme plays

Maybe i'm just having a bad day, but this episode really rubbed me wrong- and i have lost my patience and goodwill with the show.. Too many artsy slowburn scenes, too many build up scenes that are almost void of any plot. Why 13 episodes if there is so much filler?

I do like getting my slow burn on, but damn.. Often it is successful and builds to something meaningful in the show, but this wasn't it.

I think people will appreciate this episode more on rewatches. It has set up so many things while being very entertaining. It shows Howard can actually be pretty cool and Lalo isn't a complete monster (barely). So yeah it was slow but really enjoyable and an allround great episode, reminds me of "Something stupid," in how even less eventful episodes can be well-paced and fun. 9/10.

I really love this show and I genuinely believe it is the best thing on television right now. But honestly this season has somewhat lost the momentum it had going for itself. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great tension building and developments happening, but these last couple of episodes have had very little overall plot development happening in them. I enjoyed finally getting to see some actual confrontation with Howard this episode, but it almost feels like this should have happened a couple episodes ago. I feel like the Jimmy and Kim plotline has been on loop since the country club in episode 2, and it's starting to drag it's feet a little bit. I know the mid-season finale is in a couple weeks, but I really hope things start to pick up next week.

The show's a slow-burn and I love it for that very reason, but there was some really good tension and buildup happening in the first three episodes, and I feel like we have stagnated a bit in these last couple episodes. I have full faith and confidence in these writers that we will get satisfactory payoff and closure on this show in these last 8 episodes, but I feel like the show is retracing its footsteps a little bit too much, especially for a final season. I hope this is the last episode that will leave me feeling somewhat underwhelmed.

I hate to admit it, as I'm one of the fans who is consistently amazed by how good the writing is on Vince gilligan shows, but this season feels off. There were early signs that I thought were forgivable, Gus's plan at the beginning of the season was stupid, Saul and Kim were doing blatantly obvious schemes in public where they could easily be recognized, etc. But I assumed those were intentional choices. But this episode is just...really making me wonder if anything was thought through or if this season was just rushed due to COVID.

Gus is paranoid about Lalo. We get it. We don't need five scenes demonstrating that. We also don't need gus hiding his weapon in the meth lab. We know that there's inevitably going to be a showdown with lalo there at the end of the season, because they've been so unsubtly foreshadowing it. It's really bad when I feel like the average fan can probably guess most of what's going to happen 5 episodes in.

The boxing ring scene, where Howard challenged Saul to a boxing match to settle their differences, is just bizarre. Doesn't seem like something the character would do but I guess it was supposed to be funny. The show is clearly trying to set up something horrible for the mid season finale, possibly something going wrong in Jim and kimmys plan that results in something significant, possibly the death of Howard. Usually the writing isn't this on the nose.

Lalo being in Germany was a popular fan theory, and I'm sorry, but it was just really dumb both in theory in execution. A man wanted internationally for murder can just fly to Germany on a whim? I get they treat Mexico as a lawless state and that may be true to a degree, but can someone please explain how the hell he tracks down Werner's wife based on knowing nothing more than his name? It doesn't seem like Werner Ziegler would be an uncommon name and he doesn't know anything else about him other than the fact that he was German. This is never explained, and I don't think it ever will be. I think it's obvious the writers just had to get from point A to B. It's obvious, just disappointing, and I really hope I'm wrong.

Jimmy v Howard was awesome and hilarious. Howard's revenge was surprisingly satisfying. We also get to see a new side of Gus. Usually he is very calm and calculating, but now, he is very paranoid about Lalo. And then we get the Lalo scenes! I'm almost positive that he's gonna to infiltrate gus' place via the meth lab entrance. And that ending scene was so intense! I was so worried that he was gonna kill werner's wife. Overall amazing episode, one of the best this season. 9/10.

... it still surpases the average quality of TV shows. It is, still, a wonderful episode with its share of fun and tension. Yeah, it's the "slowest" show of the season in terms of pace, mouths-drop-open, tension and guts. But by no means this is bad, as some alleged "renowed critics" seem to think.

If you did watch the series for the past 7 years, why are you surprised? This is what the series always did, some slow building episodes that help create a substantial road towards the final pay-off. Haven't noticed yet?

People say "nothing substantial happened", but we saw:

• The effects of Mike's revelation on Kim, and how something seems to be "clicking" on her. Paranoia and fear. This is the game, she's in it, and it's serious. We saw her reunited with Viola, in a great scene where we can see her discomfort at being flattered professionally. We now know that Howard finding out was part of the plan (obviously) and that the plan goes ahead with a more confident and ignorant Saul and a dubious but still adamant Kim on what they're doing.

• We saw the highest levels of paranoia in Gus and his attempts to control the situation by controlling everything around him, in a similar way to the fourth episode of the fifth season. There's no way Lalo would be alive during the events of Breaking Bad...or, at least, not for Gus. Also, we had a clue as to what may be the plan to end Lalo.

• Lalo is back! In the form of a romantic TV movie! Guest starring: Mrs. Ziiiiieeeeeegler. Probably the highlight of the episode.

• And the most exciting thing that has been established here, for me: Now there is a Howard PI following Jimmy. And Mike's PIs following Kim. What if... their paths crossed?

If you want to see entertaining but hollow fireworks watch a Michael Bay movie. This is artistic filming. From the process of a slide rule being encased inside of a block of lucite for display to a garage door closing. Every shot screams it.

I decided to subscribe to Netflix to watch seasons 1-5 of BCS. I completed that in four days. I now have a better grasp of what has happened in season 6. I find it funny that neither Gus nor Mike mentioned Werner Ziegler (or his wife) as a lead that Lalo may pursue. Mike should definitely think that. Based on Gus' actions (hiding his revolver under the tracks of the backhoe underground) he should think the same thing. They know Lalo is aware of some construction project at or related to the commercial laundry building and may want to learn more about it so a call to or visit (from Gus) with Ziegler's wife would be quite intriguing. Obviously, with what happened in S6 E8, it is a moot point but the writers leaving that out in this episode was a mistake.