For all his pompous suits and well-combed posturing as a shark of a lawyer, Howard Hamlin was always a fundamentally decent guy, deep down. It's that sense of gentlemanliness that would ultimately be his fatal mistake. In Season 6 of "Better Call Saul," Jimmy and Kim execute a dastardly trick to ruin Howard's career, framing him as a drug addict and manipulating him into mismanaging a major class action suit. They justify their actions by convincing themselves Howard has it coming, but it's clear that by this point in the series, they have completely abandoned all sense of morality. In one particularly disturbing scene, when their plan succeeds and Howard is publicly disgraced, Jimmy and Kim become aroused and make love while the live audio plays.
Howard, for his part, catches onto Kim and Jimmy's scheme before the net has closed around him. Rather than sink to Jimmy's level, he entices his fellow lawyer to a boxing gym and tells him that, whatever has come between them, they should settle it in the ring. A more honorable person might have seen it as a good faith gesture from a man who just wants to put their differences in the past. But Jimmy is undeterred and finishes out his plan with Kim.
Finally, after losing his reputation, Howard comes calling to Jimmy and Kim's apartment with a bottle of scotch in hand. He bares his heart to his tormentors, asking them, "Why go through this elaborate plot just to burn me to the ground?" Even in his lowest estimation of his former friends, Howard has no idea just how low they've truly sunk.
