The Book Reference In Better Call Saul Season 6 That Could Signal What's To Come

"Better Call Saul" has taken viewers on a journey to uncover exactly what leads Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) to become the wise-talking criminal lawyer Saul Goodman, who is employed by Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) throughout "Breaking Bad." Though Jimmy McGill takes on the name Saul Goodman at the end of Season 4, he doesn't have an immediate transformation into the well-connected underground lawyer audiences learned to love in the original series. That's all changing now, of course. Seasons 5 and 6 of "Better Call Saul" show how Saul continuously bores down into that layer of criminal activity hiding below Albuquerque's surface.

By the midseason finale, Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) and Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) remain some of the prequel's only characters who do not also appear in "Breaking Bad." As a result, fans are eagerly anticipating a conclusion to their stories that explains why they don't run into Walt and Jesse down the line. Audiences won't start to get those answers until the second half of the season starts airing in July, but the production team behind the series has placed a few clues that may offer insight into the potential journeys ahead — if you know where to look.

"Better Call Saul" viewers have noted the deliberate placement of a camera next to a copy of author H.G. Wells' novella "The Time Machine" in the cold open of the Season 6 premiere episode. Apparently, it's on Saul's reading list, as the book is seen again in Saul and Kim's bedroom in the episode "Carrot and Stick."

On Reddit, "Better Call Saul" fans have been speculating about the possible meaning of the book's appearance. Redditor u/Barcelona539 posited a theory that the series wants to draw a comparison to the book's commentary on the gap between the rich and the poor. "The Time Machine" sees its protagonist, referred to as the Time Traveller, going to the year 802,701 and seeing that human life is driven by two factions in the future: the Eloi, a rich society who live leisurely lives, and the Morlocks, working-class people who live underground and make the Eloi's wealth possible. In their analysis of the connection, u/Barcelona539 writes, "The character creates the time machine in his own laboratory. Akin to Jimmy and Kim creating their own 'device' (here, the plan to scheme) in efforts to bring the little guys, poor people the justice they deserve." They also liken Saul to the Time Traveller, noting that Wells' character struggles to return to his own time after meddling in the future the same way Saul crosses a point of no return with his criminality.

And similar to the Time Traveler, the consequences of Saul's meddling have started raining down. In "Plan and Execution," Lalo Salamanca kills Howard (Patrick Fabian) in Saul and Kim's apartment, a moment that demonstrates just how quickly the pair's plans have begun to spiral out of their control.

H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine" could serve as a hint for what's to come for Saul and Kim in the second half of "Better Call Saul" Season 6. Though half the season has already aired, audiences still don't know what happens to Kim Wexler to account for why the character does not appear in "Breaking Bad." After "Plan and Execution," it's fair to assume it has something to do with Howard's murder. As Rhea Seehorn recently told Deadline, the shocking twist serves as a deadly consequence for Saul and Kim's scheme that they certainly had not accounted for.

Redditor u/AintNoContactHiEnuf points out that in "The Time Machine," the story's protagonist befriends a character named Weena who accompanies The Time Traveller on his journey for several days. The pair grow close, but when they are attacked by Morlocks, the Time Traveler sets a small fire to distract them. The fire eventually turns into an unstoppable blaze that consumes both the Morlocks and Weena alike. While the Traveler escapes, he loses his companion along the way. 

This could provide a big-picture look at what might happen to Kim. She and Saul planted a small fire by messing with Howard's livelihood in an attempt to smear him in front of his colleagues and clients. Now, Howard's corpse is on their apartment floor. Even if Lalo spares Kim's life in the episodes to come, at some point, somebody is going to have to explain how Howard died in their apartment. The fire has turned on Saul and Kim, and it's quite possible that Kim doesn't make it through the blaze.