Starchild

Yeah, they would likely not be charged with a felony. However, their behaviour would get them disbarred. One of the trailers had Kim reciting the oath of office, which included the words "I will conduct myself uprightly .... I will never seek to mislead the judge or jury by any artifice or false statement of fact or law" Clearly what they did violated the oath. Either they weren't found out, or Kim took the full blame for it.

Yes that's what I said, though perhaps not clearly. If the FBI dug into it even just a little bit, they'd see the inconsistencies between the con and the reality, and they would suspect it might not have been a suicide (or at least the Jimmy and Kim were more involved than they'd admitted), spurring them to go deeper and uncovering everything. Since that didn't happen (or didn't seem to, since Saul is still practicing), then the circumstances of Howard's death must not have been looked at very hard. Even though it's an FBI case (car found in a different state), it seems even with their resources they didn't look below the surface.

I thought we did see Lyle in BB.

Y'all it just occurred to me that we could be seeing some Macbeth shit up in here with Jimmy and Kim. Lady Macbeth pushes her husband into an evil deed. He doesn't really want to but she manipulates him into it. At the beginning she's all steel. Then as things start to go sideways, he screws his courage to the sticking place and gets on with it, while she starts seeing invisible blood on her hands, goes nuts and offs herself. (Spoiler) I wonder if J&K will follow a similar path. After all, as I said in a comment on episode 1 of this season, this show is poetry.

At first I thought Gus' reaction was about being impressed with Jimmy's gift of gab, but I figured once he took off that it was a realization that the typically meticulous Lalo didn't care who came to kill him, so it was not the main plan. The main plan was diverting resources so he could go to the laundry and find the lab. I haven't seen any evidence that management is in their skillsets lol

There are absolutely threads there to be pulled. But is there enough evidence for a judge to grant warrants? I don't think the FBI will close Howard's case, but I can see it going cold.

It's hard to see how the con could be investigated, as it would mean a more thorough investigation of Howard's disappearance, with Jimmy and Kim at the center of it. The surface events of a cocaine-fueled suicide would be automatically suspect, and federally investigated. By the way, staging the discovery of Howard's car in another state was a brilliant move. Bannon has been rightly stating that Howard's local prominence would ensure a thorough investigation, but placing the case in federal jurisdiction makes Howard a small fish in a big pond, and it would be easy to see the FBI, with a lot of other high-profile cases to focus on, accepting the suicide theory in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, and with corroborating witnesses to his apparent instability. We know that Jimmy incurs no consequences for Howard's death (he would at minimum be disbarred for his involvement in the con). We also know that there are none for Gus either, seeing as the laundry is still a going concern in BB. The discovery of 2 bodies there would have invalidated it as a place of ongoing criminal activity, especially for someone as careful as Gus. Sadly, I think Kim and Jimmy get away with it, and poor Howard's reputation is permanently ruined, his true resting place never discovered. That kind of tragedy is on brand for this storyverse. Then again, perhaps Gene (out of guilt?) will eventually tip off the authorities, as Walt did for Hank. That crumb of redemption would be nice. But Gene doesn't know what happened to Howard's body, so with Mike, Tyrus and Gus dead I can't see that ever happening. I think Mike's look of regret down at Howard was the show telling us this is the end of Howard's story.

Lalo was a Trekkie?! OK I like him a little more now.

Kim is so good at suppressing her guilt she will probably shock Jimmy with how easily getting on with life will seem to come to her.

I'm glad that at least Mike offered Howard some respectful regret, little as it was. I don't like Lalo, but I like to watch him. So deliciously evil. I might almost miss him. I can see how in BB, Saul might still think Lalo is alive. Despite Mike's firm "he's not coming back", it's still not absolute confirmation that Lalo is dead. After all, Jimmy's been lied to about Lalo's death before, and by someone who he really trusted (though it was by omission).

Oh Howard. I feel like I'm in mourning.

Wasn't that originally Jimmy's fake organization? He could have just formalized it for money-laundering purposes, no need for Kim to be involved. Though I would find it hard to believe, after seeing the stack in Skyler's storage unit, that one person (Saul) could manage the money-laundering activities as well as the lawyering. If Kim gets disbarred because of her involvement in what happened to Howard, I guess I could see her taking on that aspect of Saul's finances and keeping a low profile during BB.

The only thing that gives me pause about the Kim-behind-the-scenes theory is that it seems unlikely that they would not have been disappeared as a couple. They're married and I would expect them to insist to the vacuum guy that they disappear together. Then again, unlikely does not mean impossible, so these clever writers could certainly come up with a plausible reason for them to disappear separately, possibly hoping to reunite later.

So the same fate as Caprica then. Looks like Westworld just might cross the finish line, and we'll finally have a show that actually visualizes a robot uprising from start to finish.

I missed that character too. I think maybe he was left out because his purpose in the original, to reinforce the Commander's war-weariness, which ultimately led to him ordering the self-destruct on his ship, was not relevant to the plot of this version, where he was executed by his superior. Finally all those people who whined about it being out of character for Spock to risk the death penalty to give Pike a better life can shut it. Solidarity! Nobody who knows me would say I'm not a real Trek fan, and Kirk has never been anywhere near the top of my favourite character list.

Didn't see the Voyager episode "Equinox", then?

Something I just thought of. Books aside, since I haven't read much sci-fi beyond Star Trek tie-ins, there are many films and series and standalone TV eps where our heroes come across a society ruled by robots who rose up against their biological creators. Think Matrix, BSG, and many episodes of Star Trek, just to name a few. But it's always something that has already happened. How many have shown us that process as it happens, especially in long form? I can't think of any off the top of my head. Caprica was set to, but was cancelled after the first season. Westworld just might be the only long form series to do it. At least that I'm aware of. I haven't seen most of the Terminator properties so not sure if anything happened there. I'm diggin' it. Oh and I still see no use for Caleb. So far, this story could have been told without him.

You should also watch the Menagerie two-parter, set after Pike's accident. It will give even more context to this one.

It does seem to evolve with the franchise runners: Classic Trek = Roddenberry Revival Trek = Berman/Braga Modern Trek = Kurtzman/Goldsman

Ha, that's fair. As someone who was (just barely) old enough to watch the final season of TOS when it aired, I consider everything after TOS and TAS to be modern Trek. But maybe the post-TOS Trek (TNG, DS9. VOY, ENT) is modern, while those series currently airing (DSC, PIC, LOW, PRD, SNW) are post-modern? Or perhaps revival (TNG, DS9. VOY, ENT) and modern (DSC, PIC, LOW, PRD, SNW)? I love that Trek has been around long enough to have eras!

With most modern Trek series, it pays to give the first season a pass on inconsistent quality, as it typically improves. And this one is already starting pretty strong, based on the characters and production design. Like Janeway with her crew, Pike is serving as a strong parental role model, setting this (along with Voyager) as a "family" series, apart from other Trek series that are more like "workplace" series. I think that's another reason people are responding very positively to SNW. Last I heard, VOY was the most popular Trek series on streaming services, and the "family" aspect is its unique differentiator among Trek series. Until now.

And Sam Kirk

Except that's exactly what it sounds like he's doing with "don't come back for more."

Talking to the cab driver that found him in Omaha?

Old Kim!