Better Call Saul season 6 episode 7: what happens in part 1 finale? Fates of Howard Hamlin and Lalo explained

After a long wait the midseason finale of Better Call Saul, Plan and Execution, finally arrived, and what a finale it was.

The first half of the final season was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the show’s star Bob Odenkirk’s on-set heart attack, but arrived on Netflix this April.

The season had building up to a big event, as Jimmy and Kim schemed to ruin Howard, and Lalo went in search of revenge on Gus Fring.

*Major spoilers for Better Call Saul season 6 ahead*

What happened in Better Call Saul season 6 midseason finale?

Plan and Execution began with Jimmy and Kim getting their plan to take Howard Hamlin down back on track after a last-minute hiccup.

Having set up a photoshoot using a lookalike in order to make it appear to Howard that he had bribed a judge, it was revealed in episode six that the real judge had his arm in a cast, so the photos had to be reshot.

Jimmy gets his team back together for an eleventh hour reshoot and succeeds in getting the photos to Howard just in time.

Jimmy and Kim’s plan comes to fruition and they listen in on the Sandpiper meeting where Howard makes a fool of himself, wrongfully accusing the judge of being corrupt.

And indulging in a little overkill, the pair also drugged Howard so that he would look coked out of his mind when he made the spurious accusations.

After Howard bungles the meeting, the Sandpiper case is settled for less than the residents had hoped, and Jimmy and Kim’s revenge on Howard is complete.

Meanwhile, Lalo Salamanca has returned to Albuquerque after his trip around Europe.

He has tracked down Gus Fring’s secret meth lab at the laundromat and discovered the secret guards around the complex.

Hiding in a sewer he calls Hector at his care home but realises that the phone there has been tapped, so in an elaborate ruse he tells Hector that he will take out Gus that night.

Mike Ehrmantraut acts on this information and moves his men from low priority sites to Gus’ home, inadvertently leaving Jimmy and Kim vulnerable.

And then, in the final act of the episode, the threads come together in devastating fashion.

Howard confronts Jimmy and Kim at their flat, telling them that Jimmy will never be more than a petty crook and that Kim has thrown her life away chasing after him.

It is during this fiery exchange that Lalo enters the apartment - with Mike’s guys no longer protecting the site, Lalo was free to walk through the door.

Jimmy and Kim beg Howard to leave, but Howard can’t quite decide if this is still part of the pair’s plan to torment him.

When Lalo pulls a gun and attaches a silencer, the penny drops for Howard but it’s too late.

Lalo calmly shoots Howard in the head, killing him instantly, and tells Jimmy and Kim that he just wants to talk. Cut to black.

What does the midseason ending mean?

The obvious point to make is that Howard won’t be appearing in the second half of the season, unless it’s in a non-speaking capacity as a corpse.

His death is also likely to affect Jimmy and Kim going forward, being that the only reason he found himself on the wrong end of Lalo’s gun was because he confronted the pair over their plot.

The elephant (Lalo) in the room also needs to be addressed.

Unlike Jimmy, neither Lalo or Kim feature at all in Breaking Bad, so the midseason ending may forecast a bleak future for one or both of those characters.

But it will be a little while yet until we find out the fates of the characters who managed to survive the first half of the final season.

When is Better Call Saul season 6 part 2 out?

The second part of the final season of Better Call Saul will come to Netflix on 12 July, seven weeks after part one aired.

There are six episodes in the final part of the season and they will be released on Netflix weekly from 12 July, with the final ever episode of Better Call Saul being released on 15 August.