Instead artificially breaking this last season in two, I wonder why the show runners didn't just end this season with Howard getting killed and then start the next season with the Gene stuff aka the flash forward since that in a sense feels like more of a cleaner delineation storytelling wise. I dislike this season too much to want to listen to any podcasts, but was this discussed on official podcasts for the show? My apologies if this is the case.

**edit**

Was the this season already broken in two before Odenkirk had his heart attack?