When Saul first appeared on Breaking Bad, I had a lawyer friend tell me she thought he was the most ridiculous part of the show. As she told me, there are two kinds of lawyers that go off the rails. There are attorneys with substance abuse problems and there are mob/cartel connected attorneys, and neither are usually as out-there, in a proud ambulance chaser way like Saul. But Saul has always been the broadest character and comedic relief of the bunch. Just like Walt (Bryan Cranston), he was a character that somewhere along the way had chosen to cut corners. Better Call Saul sets up the circumstances of Jimmy McGill's conversion. And, contrary to my friend's opinion, some people think Saul is scarily accurate.



The Suzuki Esteem is this show's Pontiac Aztek

With his questionable legal advice (“If a prison shanking is completely off the table…”) and incriminating maxims (“I don’t take bribes from strangers”), Saul might seem the most caricature-like creation of the show. But believe me when I tell you that I have met lawyers like this. It takes a special brew of amorality and pluck to represent a drug lord, and Saul is an only slightly exaggerated version of some very real attorneys who ply our Southwest border.

At the center of it all is male ego. There's been a lot written about how, on varying levels, the great dramas of the past decade or so have been centered around male main characters who have their own self-worth threatened by not living up to their own idea of what male masculinity is supposed to be. There is something to the alpha male fantasy of being something like Don Draper from. Of being the man you want to be, running a successful business in New York, walking into a bar, picking up any beautiful woman you want. But not even Don Draper is really Don Draper. And sometimes when people realize their life can't be the rock star or jock dream they thought it would be as a kid, there's a resentment and regret over moments lost and wrongs that can never be made whole.

Walter White was a middle-aged chemistry teacher that turned to crime after his cancer diagnosis. If one felt sympathy for Walt, it came from what we perceive to be how fundamentally unfair the situation seems. Here's a brilliant man, that contributed to Nobel Prize-winning research, working two unfulfilling jobs to support his family in barely scraping by, only for the fates to hand him a death sentence that will leave those he cares about deep in debt from medical bills. So if playing by the rules only gets you so far, why bother? If society, the universe, God, whatever, won't play fair with you, why should you play fair with it? Why not make blue poison? Why not live life your own way and screw what any Lord in Heaven may want?

Better Call Saul lets us peer into the life of Jimmy McGill both in the future and about six years before the events of Breaking Bad. Jimmy is an unsuccessful public defender that still needs to hype himself up before standing in a courtroom, with a reputation as being "Slippin' Jimmy." He's representing kids that break into school to tape and fuck mannequin cadaver heads, and his practice is in the boiler room of a nail salon that's about to be destroyed by the weight of unpaid bills. McGill has a more successful, but mentally damaged brother, Chuck (Michael McKean), who is a part of Hamlin Hamlin & McGill. Chuck seems oblivious to reality and the truth of his electromagnetic hypersensitivity condition, but is a relatively decent person who encourages Jimmy to do the "right thing" in order to escape his problems. But we, as the audience, know that Jimmy has the ability to do better. If Walter White's unappreciated talent was his scientific mind, Jimmy McGill's is the art of the deal. In almost any situation, he can find a way to negotiate for a better position. But Jimmy's problem is no one takes him seriously, and the first two episodes pile on humiliation after humiliation to the point Jimmy is desperate enough to cross over the line and start becoming Saul.



The show is (so far) lighter in tone than, but the tone changes from episode to episode. It's been said they're aiming to emulate. Basically, a protagonist who's a bit of a scoundrel but you root for him as he goes up against more malevolent forces that stand in his way, whether it be skaters looking for money or a perturbed parking attendant named Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks). And just like Garner's Jim Rockford, McGill gets his ass kicked from time to time. Jimmy's journey to Saul begins when he decides to entrap a client with an auto accident.

However, just like with Walt's grand schemes, things don't go according to plan. And when everything is said and done, Jimmy is facing a gun held by Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz).



"Let the punishment fit the crime."

Back in Albuquerque: Better Call Saul retains the overall look and visual cues of Breaking Bad , with some of that show's most noted directors, like Michelle MacLaren, returning to help out with this series. For fans, there's a feeling that you're back in a familiar place and it's aesthetically gorgeous.

retains the overall look and visual cues of , with some of that show's most noted directors, like Michelle MacLaren, returning to help out with this series. For fans, there's a feeling that you're back in a familiar place and it's aesthetically gorgeous. Saul is to Jimmy as Heisenberg was to Walt: Bob Odenkirk had an interesting interview with Andy Greenwald for Grantland , where he said fans of Breaking Bad probably like Saul much more than he does. And he makes a distinction between Jimmy and Saul by saying that he would like to hangout with Jimmy, but finds Saul to be a "clown." That Saul is a "persona" constructed by Jimmy as a means to an end. This is kinda similar to the distinction between Walter White and Heisenberg, and how it blurred over time. During Breaking Bad , there were many fan arguments over whether Walter White got lost in being Heisenberg, or if Heisenberg was who Walt truly was and the circumstances of his cancer just revealed the real person?

Bob Odenkirk had an interesting interview with Andy Greenwald for , where he said fans of probably like Saul much more than he does. And he makes a distinction between Jimmy and Saul by saying that he would like to hangout with Jimmy, but finds Saul to be a "clown." That Saul is a "persona" constructed by Jimmy as a means to an end. This is kinda similar to the distinction between Walter White and Heisenberg, and how it blurred over time. During , there were many fan arguments over whether Walter White got lost in being Heisenberg, or if Heisenberg was who Walt truly was and the circumstances of his cancer just revealed the real person? The names Jimmy McGill and Saul Goodman: One of the indignities that pushes Jimmy toward the dark side is that Hamlin Hamlin & McGill doesn't even want him to use his own name for advertising. At this point, Jimmy is just printing his name on matchbooks. But the biggest slight comes when his brother is indifferent to how insulting it is for Jimmy. As told to Walt in Breaking Bad , Jimmy chose the name Saul Goodman because clients were more comfortable with a Jewish attorney.

One of the indignities that pushes Jimmy toward the dark side is that Hamlin Hamlin & McGill doesn't even want him to use his own name for advertising. At this point, Jimmy is just printing his name on matchbooks. But the biggest slight comes when his brother is indifferent to how insulting it is for Jimmy. As told to Walt in , Jimmy chose the name Saul Goodman because clients were more comfortable with a Jewish attorney. After the end: The episode begins with a six and a half minute flash forward. It's in black and white, scored to The Ink Spots' "Address Unknown," and set at some point after the end of Breaking Bad. Jimmy/Saul is working at a Cinnabon in Nebraska, but we see that his new life is really no life at all. He lives in fear every moment of every day. And even though he gets to interact with people, Jimmy's/Saul's existence is just as much a solitary prison as Walt's New Hampshire cabin. When Jimmy starts watching his old Saul Goodman TV commercials, all I could think of was those moments were his own version of Walt cradling his Heisenberg hat, trying to recapture a moment of power while stuck in a hell of his own creation. The scene also builds the tension really well. For example, the little slit in the drapes kept me on edge, waiting for a new shoe to drop.

The new assistant manager of a Cinnabon in Omaha, Nebraska

Odenkirk wants to explore Saul's future. The bulk of Better Call Saul takes place in 2002, but there is a glimpse of Saul's post-Breaking Bad life in the pilot. Odenkirk says he's asked Gilligan and Gould to show more of that timeline. "I think it could happen. I've told Vince and Peter this," says Odenkirk. "I don't know if Peter and Vince have any thought to do that in future seasons, but I'm sure they could and I'd be open to it. I'd love it." ... Though Gilligan says Breaking Bad's final run in 2013 gave him the most anxiety of his career, he's definitely more nervous about Saul than when Bad first premiered in 2008. "I'm nervous as hell, and my anxiety grows day by day," Gilligan says, adding that the stakes were much lower when Bad premiered. "For season one, I was just amazed," Gilligan says. "It's like the first time you have sex. You're not worried about doing it right. It's like, 'I'm amazed this is even happening.'"

Primal forces of nature: Jimmy twice quotes Ned Beatty's speech from Network to Hamlin Hamlin & McGill when demanding the liquidation of his brother's claim to the partnership. However, it's significant Jimmy doesn't quite understand the implications of the speech. At that point in the story, Jimmy still thinks he can lawyer his way to a good result within a system based on legal principles. As time goes on, and as Jimmy becomes Saul, he'll come over to believing "the world is a business" where everything is negotiable.

Jimmy twice quotes Ned Beatty's speech from to Hamlin Hamlin & McGill when demanding the liquidation of his brother's claim to the partnership. However, it's significant Jimmy doesn't quite understand the implications of the speech. At that point in the story, Jimmy still thinks he can lawyer his way to a good result within a system based on legal principles. As time goes on, and as Jimmy becomes Saul, he'll come over to believing "the world is a business" where is negotiable. Embargoed: TV critics were asked by AMC not to reveal three things. They didn't want the return of Tuco, the nature of Chuck's illness, and the location of Saul's office to be revealed before the episode aired. Although Jimmy's office is not supposed to be the same nail salon he tried to get Jesse (Aaron Paul) to launder money through in Breaking Bad .

TV critics were asked by AMC not to reveal three things. They didn't want the return of Tuco, the nature of Chuck's illness, and the location of Saul's office to be revealed before the episode aired. Although Jimmy's office is not supposed to be the same nail salon he tried to get Jesse (Aaron Paul) to launder money through in . The influence of Breaking Bad: I do think the biggest balancing issue for the show is the give and take between being a prequel to Breaking Bad and trying to tell a story independent of Walt, Gus, Mike and everything else. As soon as the Hispanic woman walked into the house and said "mijo," I knew Tuco had to be behind the door. But I can see where continuous fan service will get tiring. If the show is just filling in gaps of backstory for Breaking Bad, I don't think it will work in the long-term. But these earlier episodes do a good job of finding a new path that has just enough influences from the previous series to make it all work.

Michael Mando as Nacho Varga and Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill

Nacho may have been referenced before: Nacho Varga (Michael Mando, who was Vic in Orphan Black) is a new character. However, the character may be a reference to a line from the episode where Saul's first appears in Breaking Bad. Walt and Jesse kidnap Saul at gunpoint. Saul at first thinks someone named Lalo is behind it and says "It wasn't me, it was Ignacio. Siempre soy amigo del cartel." The name Nacho is a usual shortening of Ignacio. Also, Nacho seems to have been a calming influence on Tuco that's absent by the time of Breaking Bad.

From Aaron Couch at The Hollywood Reporter