Better Call Saul Season 6 Needs To Resolve The Hank/Krazy-8 Storyline
Better Call Saul season 5 saw the return of Dean Norris as Hank Schrader, but the character's story with Krazy-8 will rumble on into season 6.
Better Call Saul still needs to finish the storyline between Hank and Krazy-8 in its final season. With each passing set of episodes Better Call Saul has increased in intensity as the prequel series catches up to Breaking Bad, and its most recent run was no different, ending with a nail-bitingly gripping installment. With season 6 confirmed to be the spin-off’s final case, there are still plenty of storylines left to wrap up. Viewers still don’t know how Jimmy incurs the wrath of Lalo, or what happens to Nacho and Kim. There’s also the Gene timeline to wrap-up, with Jimmy’s post-Breaking Bad fate still up in the air. Another major point that needs addressing in Better Call Saul season 6 is the story between Hank and Krazy-8.
Due to Jimmy’s fateful 50% off sale, Krazy-8 is busted by the police and none other than Saul Goodman is chosen by the cartel to represent him. At the behest of Lalo, Jimmy and Krazy-8 act out a con that gets Krazy-8 off the hook by setting him up as a DEA informant. Hank and Gomez take the bait and eventually accept the offer, but have no idea they’re playing along with Lalo Salamanca’s plan. In a particularly good day for Lalo, Krazy-8 is back on the streets, Gus loses 3 guys and nearly $1 million in drug money, and the Salamancas now have a direct route into the DEA. Despite Hank’s obvious suspicions, the drug bust is deemed a success, and that’s as far as the story goes for Better Call Saul season 5.
Seeing Dean Norris in his Breaking Bad role was an undoubted treat and the sparring match between Hank and Jimmy was a season highlight, but there are still many unanswered questions over this storyline. As things stand, Krazy-8 is Lalo-loyal, only pretending to act as an informant to the DEA, but in Breaking Bad, Hank and Gomez allude to Krazy-8 still being their informant, ratting out Jesse Pinkman and Emilio. The audience still doesn’t know whether Krazy-8 remains true to the Salamanca family until his death at the hands of Walter White, or whether he eventually begins informing for real, instead of providing bogus information from Lalo. From Hank’s point of view, are his reservations about Krazy-8 ever confirmed? Or does he never discover that Lalo was the one sending his team on a goose chase? As much as the two shows are beginning to line-up, Krazy-8’s story currently represents a disconnect between Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.
This is something that will need to be addressed in Better Call Saul season 6, firstly to finish off the personal story of Krazy-8, who has been part of the spin-off for some time now, and secondly to link up Hank’s prequel story to his future in Breaking Bad.
While definitive answers are certainly needed, a potential answer can perhaps be inferred based on what the audience already know. At some point in Better Call Saul season 6, the Lalo problem is going to be dealt with one way or another, and this leaves the rest of the Salamanca gang in a predicament. While most of Lalo’s goons will likely go down with him, Krazy-8 has the good fortune of being a “friend of the DEA.” When things inevitably go south with Lalo, Krazy-8 might decide to make the most of his connection with Hank and Gomez and start informing for real, weeding out his rivals in the meth game as a bonus.
At a glance, Better Call Saul has much to resolve in its final season, with multiple timelines, character fates and villainous transformations all on the cards. A lesser prequel might struggle to reconcile so many plot threads without any contradictions or gaps between both ends of the narrative, but Better Call Saul has done such an impeccable job so far, it would be foolish to doubt Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould can pull it off.
