Hoffman and Fensky’s deaths were predictable in one sense yet unexpected in another. These are the two crooked cops who, before the show’s events, befriended their colleague Matt Ehrmantraut. When Hoffman and Fensky offer to cut Matt in on their corruption, the young Ehrmantraut agrees. However, when the two cops become suspicious that Matt will rat them out, they ambush him, shoot him dead, and cover up their tracks to avoid suspicion.
During a flashback in the Season 1 episode “Five-O,” Matt’s father, Mike, confronts Hoffman and Fensky in a bar, claiming to know that they killed his son. As an inebriated Mike stumbles home, they pick him up in their cop car and take him outside the city, where they intend to shoot him. As it turns out, though, Mike has been sober the whole time. He pulls out a hidden second gun and, after a brief firefight, kills them both.
Now, we all know that Mike makes it to “Breaking Bad,” so it’s not like anybody thought these two small-time cops would make it out unscathed. However, the violent deaths of Hoffman and Fensky, which occur in the show’s sixth episode, totally upend the relatively low-key atmosphere of the show so far. Mike’s first murder establishes what “Better Call Saul” was setting itself up to be.