Entertainment NOW

2 • April 17 - 23, 2022 Entertainment Now By Dana Simpson TV Media S ome know him as Jimmy McGill, but everyone re- members him as Saul Goodman. "Breaking Bad" actor Bob Odenkirk returns to his complicated triple role as Jimmy, Saul and Gene Takovic in a much- anticipated new season of "Better Call Saul." The show's sixth and fi- nal season, premiering Monday, April 18, on AMC and streaming service AMC+, offers new insight into the formative years of the seediest criminal lawyer in Albu- querque, New Mexico, Saul Good- man, as he defends the guilty and commits crimes of his own before meeting up with his most famous client yet, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) of "Breaking Bad." While "Bad" fans have yet to catch a glimpse of the original se- ries' meth-cooking character and his equally guilty partner, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul, "BoJack Horseman"), the past five sea- sons of "Saul" have given viewers plenty of background information to take in. As last season began, Jimmy was still struggling to process the death of his brother, Chuck (Michael McKean, "Laverne & Shirley"), from the previous season, and had just managed to get his law license back with help from his on-again, off-again partner — both professionally and romantically — Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn, "Things Heard & Seen," 2021). Having officially adopted the name Saul Goodman on the job so as not to further tarnish his already damaged given name, Jimmy gets deeper into crime on both sides of the border while trying to separate himself from his pain and grief. At the beginning of Season 5, Jimmy managed to get sev- eral new clients by selling burner phones to criminals. Upon re- building his client base under the Goodman name, Jimmy soon be- comes the go-to man for criminal defense. While defending others, however, he becomes involved in another underhanded operation of his own when he agrees to help Kim settle a sticking point in her case with Mesa Verde Bank and Trust. Despite Jimmy and Kim's plan eventually blowing up in their faces, it does lead them to- ward a new plan: get married. Now legally bound to one another and having signed a full- disclosure honesty pact before the union, Kim and Jimmy have agreed to back each other up and share everything, no matter how dark things may get. Perhaps not surprisingly, however, those plans fail as soon as Jimmy is tasked with the dangerous job of col- lecting $7 million in cash for Lalo Salamanca's (Tony Dalton, "Mr. Avila") bail. Juárez cartel member Lalo was arrested in Season 5, thanks to Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks, "Community"), who was out for vengeance after being forced to kill his friend, Werner Ziegler (Rainer Bock, "Wonder Woman," 2017), last season. By getting Lalo arrested for Season 4's murder of a TravelWire em- ployee, Mike set up a series of events that ultimately leads into Season 6. Of course, the man behind the scenes throughout the entire series is Pollos Hermanos owner and "Breaking Bad" favorite Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Es- posito). Due to Lalo's constant attack on his businesses, Gus plans to have Lalo released on bail so that he can enlist Nacho (Michael Mando, "Orphan Black") to lead him to Mexico, have him killed and settle his cartel problem once and for all. But like most things in the Breaking Bad Universe, his plan didn't exactly go off without a hitch. Cover Story Rhea Seehorn stars in "Better Call Saul" The Goodman, the 'Bad' and the wicked: Final season of 'Better Call Saul' begins on AMC Ready Rental 3 x 4 Hayley Siefert 3 x 2 Letters & Numbers Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row,every column, and every 4x4 box contains the digits 1 through 9 AND the letters A-F. Solution on page 12.

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