Better Call Saul is nearing its end when the sixth and final season concludes, and with Saul and Kim reeling from Howard’s death and Kim almost being forced to kill Gus Fring at the hands of the now also dead Lalo, it is likely to be a bloodbath before the finale.
Throughout the series, there have been some characters who have come and gone, and some that fans of Breaking Bad know will survive. But with a few flash-forwards as well that take place beyond the Breaking Bad timeline, fans know a thing or two about the future for characters like Jimmy/Saul. And it’s evident that some, past and present, deserved far better than they got.
Saul
While the true end for Jimmy, one of the funniest characters on Better Call Saul, remains to be seen and will hopefully be revealed in the finale, fans do know that after spending time working for Gus Fring and Walter White, Saul went on the run and into hiding. Managing a mall Cinnabon store in Omaha, an oddly specific prediction he made in an early Breaking Bad episode, he lives each day in fear.
Despite all his wrongdoings, Jimmy deserved better. He made mistakes but he was trying to better himself. And while sometimes, it was his self that got in the way, in others, it was everyone else’s lack of respect for or belief in him that he could change that pushed him to continue on the same crooked path. Had someone been there for Jimmy to tell him he was capable of better and set him on a good path, his life might have turned out differently.
Kim
Many of the terrible things that happened to Kim were of her own doing. Despite having a great job and being in a position of power, even finding fulfillment in doing good for people who deserved it, it wasn’t enough. Kim yearned for the thrill. Part of this had to do with her troubled upbringing and her mother who had a penchant for the same, as evidenced in flashback scenes.
Still, as an adult, Kim had the power to alter her own life and become a better person, and she was on a path to doing just that. Had she not meant Jimmy, she might have been able to continue that way and find true fulfillment in her pro bono work. When faced with a literal fork in the road, she found a push towards the risky life with Jimmy to be too much and left a potentially huge opportunity behind.
Howard
Howard, one of the most intelligent lawyers on Better Call Saul, didn’t deserve everything that was done to him. While he was pompous and arrogant, he was also charming, thoughtful, and kind. He didn’t treat people disrespectfully: he was simply of a different economic caliber and acted as such. Sometimes, it was out of ignorance.
He didn’t deserve to die for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But even in death, his name is being sullied. Mike has plans to make it look like a suicide and instructed Jimmy and Kim to frame him posthumously as a drug addict. At least in death, something could have been done to clear Howard’s name and let the world know that he was a good guy, not the monster Jimmy and Kim were trying to make him out to be.
Chuck
Even if Chuck was one of the least liked characters on Better Call Saul, fans must have some sympathy for him. It was clear that he grew up being jealous of his younger, troublemaking brother. While Chuck was out achieving high marks in school and doing great things, Jimmy was running cons that impacted his parents’ business, and that made Chuck furious.
He had a right to be mad when the son who was causing trouble and underachieving got all the attention while he got none. It was so debilitating that it caused Chuck to develop a mental illness that seriously impacted his adult life. While he was never willing to give Jimmy the benefit of the doubt, without seeing everything Chuck endured in childhood, it’s easy to pass judgment and say that his actions and terrible words towards Jimmy were unjustified.
Nacho
Nacho was mentioned in Breaking Bad but never seen, and now fans know why. He was a good guy caught up in bad things he couldn’t get out of. Through it all, Nacho seemed to be the only one with a conscience. All he cared about was his father and protecting him, so much so that he agreed to be murdered as long as Mike promised that his father would be taken care of.
Nacho had one of the most valiant deaths on the show, which was also one of the biggest bombshells from season 6 of Better Call Saul. He finally spoke out to Hector and revealed that it was he who almost killed him. He is the only one who was willing to go against Lalo, and he sacrificed himself in the name of family. Fans wished Mike had found a way to help Nacho escape to safety instead.
Hector
Hector wasn’t exactly a stand-up person. He was the leader of a drug cartel, a tyrant, and a murderer. However, no one deserves to be put in the position he was. While Nacho intended to kill him, the mix of drugs ended up giving Hector a stroke that landed him in a paralyzed state, unable to walk or talk. He could not move anything but his face and a single finger to ring a bell.
As Breaking Bad fans know, Hector eventually got his revenge by being able to partner with Walter White to have Gus killed along with him in his group home. But while getting Hector out of the drug game was one thing, he did not deserve to be injured so severely.
Mike
Mike meets his end in Breaking Bad eventually, but his life trajectory took several wrong turns along the way. While he found a lucrative career working with criminals like Gus, it was never something he wanted to do. He only did it to help ensure that his daughter-in-law and granddaughter would be comfortable for life.
He also did it out of guilt for the death of his police officer son, who followed in his footsteps and got mixed up with the wrong people and situations. Fans wish there was a better path to redemption for Mike.
Stacey
Mike’s daughter-in-law, Stacey, meanwhile, is the one who suffered the most because of Mike’s actions. Her husband was killed because he got involved in some nefarious things. That left her a single mother and a nurse who worked long and odd shifts, making it difficult to manage it all.
Mike did what he could to help, with Stacey none the wiser of what her father-in-law was up to. While Mike would always make sure Stacey and Kaylee were never in harm’s way, they didn’t deserve for their family to end up in the position they were in.
Francesca
Poor Francesca just wanted to have a good-paying job that she enjoyed going to every day. She lost her job when Kim left the firm. Then, when she found an opportunity to work with Jimmy, who she felt had something to do with influencing Kim to leave, she found herself being forced to do things she didn’t want to.
Impersonating people on the phone, dealing with criminal clients urinating in potted plants she so thoughtfully ordered, and wondering about the legalities of everything Jimmy was doing left Francesca concerned. She was good at her job and deserved something with more security.
Mrs. Nguyen
Poor Mrs. Nguyen just wanted to run her little nail salon without interruption. And while she made money on the side from allowing Jimmy to have an office in the back of her shop, it was often a nuisance. Not only did he and his clients keep drinking her cucumber water, which she insisted was for her customers only, but they would come and go at all hours. It was there that Jimmy conjured up some of his cleverest cons on Better Call Saul.
While it was not right for Mrs. Nguyen to accept the temptation to make extra money on the side illegally, she still deserved for Jimmy’s clients to treat her place of business respectfully, and for Jimmy to do the same. Instead, he would do things like have big shipments sent to his back office, using up much of her store room and causing a ruckus.