Better Call Saul was the surprising hit prequel of Breaking Bad that focused on the law side of the Vince Gilligan universe. The show reprised Saul Goodman's character, creating an origin story around the beloved criminal lawyer. Better Call Saul also fleshed out several major characters that existed before Walter White's methamphetamine empire. Before Saul Goodman became Saul, he was Jimmy McGill, working his way up from the mail room at the law firm of Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill. When Jimmy finally passed the bar exam, he wanted to join the same law firm to work alongside his brother, Charles "Chuck" McGill, but Howard Hamlin blocked him from doing so.
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At the beginning of Better Call Saul, Howard Hamlin was the antagonist to Jimmy McGill, but it was quickly shown that Howard was a misunderstood character and much more complex than what Jimmy saw. Howard Hamlin was a villain through Jimmy's lens, but Howard was just relying on Chuck's words about Jimmy. Howard Hamlin was a straight-shooting lawyer partnered with Chuck McGill. He dealt with many challenges, some directly caused by Jimmy McGill. Toward the end of Better Call Saul, Howard becomes the main target in one of Jimmy's many schemes, ultimately resulting in Howard's unfortunate downfall.
Howard Hamlin Worked Alongside Jimmy McGill's Brother in a Joint Law Office
Howard Comes off as the Villain to Kim Wexler and Jimmy McGill in Season One
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In Better Call Saul, Howard Hamlin is a corporate lawyer who works for the well-established law firm Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill. Howard's father started the firm with Jimmy McGill's brother, Chuck McGill, and when Hamlin passed the bar exam, he joined as a fellow partner. Chuck helps Jimmy get on a straight path after numerous run-ins with the law, and he sets Jimmy up to work in the mail room. In the episode "Rico," the show flashes back to when HHM throws a party for Jimmy when he passes the bar exam. Jimmy expects that he will get to join the firm, but Howard is the one who breaks the bad news to Jimmy that HHM won't be taking him on as a partner.
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Jimmy McGill continually paints Howard Hamlin as his adversary throughout Better Call Saul; Howard seems to repeatedly step on Jimmy's career endeavors. As Jimmy McGill pursues elder law, helping retired elderly individuals, he stumbles upon fraud occurring at a retirement home named Sandpiper Crossing. He realizes that the circumstances could build into a class-action lawsuit. Jimmy takes the case to HHM at the request of his brother Chuck, hoping then that they'll partner with him. Much to Jimmy's surprise, Howard once again turns Jimmy down, even though he's handing him a major case.
"We want the Sandpiper case, not you."
- Howard Hamlin
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Howard Hamlin constantly took Chuck McGill's word over Jimmy's, leaving Jimmy to think Howard was the bad guy. With the help of Kim Wexler, Howard realizes how good of a lawyer Jimmy is, so he provides Jimmy an opportunity to work at the law offices of Clifford and Main. Howard partly provides him with this opportunity because of the guilt he felt after siding with Chuck, never realizing there were deeper personal issues before. However, Jimmy gets himself fired, tarnishing Howard's representation a little, which leaves him to take out his anger on Kim. When Jimmy sees how badly Howard treats Kim, he's permanently rubbed the wrong way by Howard Hamlin.
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Later in Better Call Saul, Chuck McGill attempts to come back to HHM after seemingly overcoming his mental struggles. Jimmy causes issues with Chuck's malpractice insurance, which leads Howard Hamlin to force Chuck into retirement, the first time he has ever gone against Chuck's wishes. Chuck reluctantly retires and relapses with his mental struggles of obsessive-compulsive disorder and electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Chuck dies by suicide in his home, one of the most tragic deaths in the Breaking Bad universe. Howard felt most responsible for Chuck's death, knowing that he forced Chuck to retire.
Howard Went Through a Rough Patch With HHM After Chuck McGill Died
Howard Tried to Save His Law Firm While Also Trying to Recover From Personal Loss
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After Chuck McGill died in Better Call Saul, guilt flowed in many directions. While Jimmy McGill was probably most responsible, Howard Hamlin expressed the most guilt. Instead of Jimmy telling Howard that it wasn't his fault, he tells Howard that it's his cross to bear, stinging Howard even further. In the episode "Quite A Ride," Jimmy runs into a disheveled Howard Hamlin in the bathroom, who repeatedly turns the water on and off. Howard tells Jimmy that he's suffering from terrible insomnia and is taking a small case, which is something he hasn't done in a while. Howard was suffering from Chuck's death physically, mentally, and professionally, as it also caused problems for HHM.
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After a stretch of looking terrible and trying to rebound within HHM, Howard Hamlin slowly seemed to be doing better. He took on deeper responsibility with his law firm, changed his way of supporting others, and even sincerely offered Jimmy McGill a position in the firm. While Howard tries to remedy his past with Jimmy, Jimmy doesn't acknowledge any of it and even humiliates Howard at the courthouse when he turns down Jimmy's job offer. This was the pinnacle point where Howard was no longer the villain and Jimmy was slowly becoming one. Patrick Fabian, the actor who portrayed Howard Hamlin, said to Variety:
It was nice to think of me as Lord Vader and then have me be deconstructed. I think there's something to the idea of 'who are you rooting for?'
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In the Better Call Saul episode "Axe and Grind," Howard Hamlin meticulously makes a latte art peace sign on his wife's coffee, but she doesn't notice and dumps it into a to-go mug. While they are in a rocky place, they still live together and attempt to keep things cordial. Throughout Howard's rough patch, it was implied that Howard had separated from his wife, unknown to the main characters in the show. This, too, painted a more humane view of Howard, who was just chasing life back to normalcy.
Jimmy McGill Harassed Howard Hamlin Through Different Schemes So He Could Get What He Wanted
Jimmy Wanted to Destroy Howard's Reputation While Expediting a Lawsuit Settlement
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In Better Call Saul Saul Season 6, Kim Wexler and Jimmy McGill slowly execute a plan to destroy Howard Hamlin's reputation. Jimmy had already done a handful of petty things to Howard, like throwing bowling balls into his car and sending prostitutes over to interrupt an important meeting that he was having with Clifford Main. However, when Jimmy wanted a quicker end to the Sandpiper Crossing class action lawsuit, he realized he could make it happen by defaming Howard Hamlin. Howard Hamlin picked up on subtle things throughout Jimmy's schemes against him, but he didn't figure out Jimmy and Kim's final scheme until after. This nearly ended Howard Hamlin's career.
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In the Better Call Saul episode "Plan and Execution," Jimmy drugged Howard Hamlin with a concentrated caffeine liquid to make it seem like he was addicted to cocaine. Jimmy had previously staged an event that Clifford Main witnessed, making Howard seem more erratic, and also planted drugs in Howard's locker that Clifford saw. During the Sandpiper Crossing hearing, which Clifford was a part of, Jimmy convinces Howard that the mediator was paid off by Jimmy. When an erratic Howard tries to prove his claims, the only evidence disappears at the hands of Jimmy's fake private investigator. The defamation of Howard by Jimmy and Kim ushered the Sandpiper Crossing settlement after the clients didn't find Howard stable.
So, tell me... why? Why go through this elaborate plot just to burn me to the ground?
- Howard Hamlin
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Howard Was in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
Howard's Fate Was Partly Caused by Jimmy and Kim
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At the end of the Better Call Saul episode "Plan and Execution," Howard drunkenly confronts Kim and Jimmy for their schemes against him. He tries to break down why they did it but doesn't fully understand why they went through an extravagant scheme just to damn his character -- until he realizes they partly did it for fun. He tells them that the settlement for Sandpiper Crossing would be huge and that he'd bounced back from worse. He even told them that he was working out his marriage with his wife, which surprised both of them because they were unaware that he was having problems with his marriage at all. While Howard angrily laments to Kim and Jimmy, the cartel villain Lalo Salamanca lets himself into their home.
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When Lalo Salamanca intrudes on Howard's conversation, Jimmy is completely shocked, since he thought that Lalo was dead. Howard, drunkenly confused, tries to warn Lalo about them as lawyers, telling him to stay away from them. Once Lalo takes out a gun and a silencer, Howard quickly changes his tune. Howard tells everyone that he probably should leave them to their affairs. He attempts to leave but is shot in the head by Lalo before he can. Howard Hamlin's death was indirectly caused by Kim and Jimmy due to Jimmy's involvement with the cartel.
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In "Point and Shoot," Michael Ehrmantraut stages Howard Hamlin's death as a suicide, leaving his car on the beach with his belongings inside. In actuality, his body was buried with Lalo Salamanca's, under Fring's superlab floor. Howard Hamlin's death scene was one of the saddest in Better Call Saul, especially after he was on the mend and pulled himself out of a bad place, just to be taken down for being somewhere he shouldn't have been. Thankfully, Kim Wexler provides some redemption for Howard Hamlin's demise.
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In the final episodes of Better Call Saul, Kim Wexler talks with Jimmy while he's on the run from the law and urges him to turn himself in. Angrily, Jimmy spins it back on her, which brings back up the guilt that she felt after Howard's death. Kim comes forward to the courts about Howard's real death, writing and signing an affidavit that clears his name from all the lies that they put forward about him. This provided closure to Howard's wife as well as closure to KIm's conscience. Howard Hamlin's story arc was one of the most harrowing in Better Call Saul, which luckily received some dignity at the end of the show.
Better Call Saul
TV-MA
Crime
Drama
The trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill in the years leading up to his fateful run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
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*Availability in US
Release Date February 8, 2015
Cast Adam Dorn , Bob Odenkirk , Jonathan Banks , Peter Gould , Rhea Seehorn , Stacy Keach , Thomas Golubić , Thomas Schnauz , Vince Gilligan , Dave Porter , Junior Brown , Rob Estrada , Gordon Smith , Michael McKean , Patrick Fabian , Michael Mando , Tony Dalton , Giancarlo Esposito , Stoney Westmoreland , Alex Désert , Elisha Yaffe , Chris Mulkey , Jim Beaver , Raymond Cruz , Teddy Eggleston
Seasons 6
Story By Peter Gould
Writers Ann Cherkis , Marion Dayre , Ariel Levine , Jonathan Glatzer
Network AMC
Franchise(s) Breaking Bad
Directors Vince Gilligan , Thomas Schnauz , Peter Gould , Michael Morris , Adam Bernstein , Colin Bucksey , John Shiban , Michelle MacLaren , Melissa Bernstein , Larysa Kondracki , Terry McDonough , Gordon Smith , Minkie Spiro , Jim McKay , Daniel Sackheim , Andrew Stanton , Norberto Barba , Rhea Seehorn , Scott Winant , Michael Slovis , Keith Gordon , Deborah Chow , Giancarlo Esposito , Bronwen Hughes
Showrunner Peter Gould
Producers Bob Odenkirk , Mark Johnson , Robin Sweet , Diane Mercer , James Powers , Alison Tatlock , Princess O'Mahoney , Stewart Lyons , Gennifer Hutchison , Nina Jack
Character(s) Self - Songwriter , Self - Mike , Self - Showrunner , Self - Kim , Narrator (voice) , Self - Music Supervisor , Self - Co-Executive Producer , Self - Showrunner / Songwriter , Self - Composer , Self - Musician , Police Officer , Self - Writer , Gus Fring , Officer Saxton , Officer Baker , Lance , Billy Gatwood , Lawson , Tuco Salamanca , Mrs. Siemasko
YouTube Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quC2GkURViU
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