Ever since then the audience has been looking for every clue, any semblance of evidence that this week is the week they will appear. The plot synopsis for “Nippy” seemed to be evidence enough for many rabid fans: “A new player gets in the game”. This ended up being Gene Takovic’s potential antagonist, Jeff. Some assumed the “new player” was supposed to be Walter White.
Why would he be the new player, though? We are seeing Gene’s story right now. In this world, Walter has already gone into hiding or died. We’ll continue to learn more about the timeline of these two shows matching up during these final three episodes, but whatever we learn in the post-breaking bad events is not going to involve Walter or Jesse’s resolutions; those characters’ stories were already completed in the previous material.
Instead we were treated to a supposedly “boring” episode showing Gene pull off his first big scam in Nebraska. The episode’s only sign of Walter White was a reference to him from Gene to Jeff while they are planning the heist of the department store.
Twitter went crazy as if Heisenberg was going to suddenly teleport to Omaha right in front of their eyes in the middle of a cornfield. He didn’t, and the story continued just as it should. So now we move on to an even bigger sign that Walt and Jesse will appear this week. Executive producer Tom Schnauz confirmed the rumors titled that the 11th episode of the season will be “Breaking Bad”.
This is a great homage to the parent show, and it parallels the way Breaking Bad’s Eighth episode of the second season was titled “Better Call Saul”. You would think that if the iconic duo don’t appear this week it might just be too late, but these writers have a way of playfully messing with their fans and the audience.
Walt and Jesse are fantastic characters, and this show would not exist without their journey in the previous one. Their inclusion in these last episodes is warranted if their appearance makes sense and contributes to Jimmy/Saul/Gene’s story. I’m sure Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have something intelligent and fitting planned. Their ability to storyboard and plot perfect conclusions to their material is as good as anyone in the industry.