‘Better Call Saul’ Creators Had 1 Concern About Season 6’s Boxing Scene
Better Call Saul Season 6 has almost reached its halfway point, and its latest episode sees Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) duking it out — but not in the way fans expected. “Black and Blue” pits the two against each other in an unexpected boxing match. It was unlike anything the AMC show’s creators have done before. And they did have one concern when it came to filming Better Call Saul Season 6’s boxing scene.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 5, “Black and Blue.”]
‘Better Call Saul’ Season 6 Episode 5 features a boxing scene
Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 5 sees Howard catching on to Jimmy and Kim’s (Rhea Seehorn) scheming, and he deals with it in an unexpected way. Pretending to be one of Saul Goodman’s clients, Howard gets Jimmy to meet up with him. When he does, Howard challenges him to a boxing match.
The boxing match is no doubt one of the most cathartic moments from Better Call Saul Season 6, finally allowing Jimmy and Howard to let their frustrations out. It doesn’t necessarily fix things between them — or change Jimmy and Kim’s minds — but it teases an even greater confrontation between these two later on.
As for the logistics of their fight, the Better Call Saul creators had never filmed something like this before. During a recent interview, executive producer Melissa Bernstein confirmed as much. She also revealed the one major concern they had about bringing this sequence to life.
The creators had 1 concern about bringing the boxing scene to life
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Better Call Saul executive producer Melissa Bernstein revealed that the creators had one concern while filming season 6’s boxing scene. According to Bernstein, they worried that the actors wouldn’t remain in character while throwing punches — but apparently, that didn’t turn out to be a problem.
“There was a small fear that these athletic guys wouldn’t want to look silly or unathletic, and of course, those were unfounded fears because they were totally in it to represent their characters to the fullest extent and to play the story to the fullest extent,” Bernstein explained.
She also revealed that Odenkirk’s work on Nobody left them “afraid his training would keep coming through and that he’d have to fight his every instinct to be this really coordinated, really lethal person.”
As it turns out, they were partially right. Patrick Fabian told Collider that he had to “keep reminding” his co-star to lose their match. But despite Odenkirk’s instinct to win, the scene came out as intended.
And knowing Better Call Saul, fans will probably hear about Jimmy and Howard’s boxing match again later. In fact, there are signs it could cause ripples in the midseason finale.
Will ‘Better Call Saul’ come back to this fight in its midseason finale?
Better Call Saul‘s recent boxing match sets the stage for season 6’s midseason finale — and it could come back to haunt Howard. The preview for the next episode shows Jimmy visiting the same veterinarian who patched up Nacho (Michael Mando) in season 4. He also found work for Mike (Jonathan Banks) earlier, and it’s clear Dr. Caldera (Joe DeRosa) doesn’t do things by the books.
If he’s looking at Jimmy, that could mean he’s getting wrapped into Jimmy and Kim’s plans. It’s unlikely they predicted Howard’s boxing idea, but they could certainly use Jimmy’s scrapes and bruises against him. If nothing else, we know that they’re creative. And even with his newly hired private investigator, Howard’s probably playing a losing game.
As Kim suggests, Jimmy could also use his bruises to further his Saul Goodman persona. It’s not as exciting as using them against Howard. However, it could help further Jimmy’s storyline heading into the show’s final chapters.
Better Call Saul Season 6 Episode 6 airs on AMC on May 16 at 9 p.m. EST
