Better Call Saul & Breaking Bad: Two Epic Shows, One Intense World

By starrymag | August 20, 2018

By: Ariba Bhuvad

 

 

When “Breaking Bad” premiered in 2008 fans were curious as to what this new series had in store. After all, when we first meet Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston, he is nothing like the dangerous, intimidating Heisenberg he would transform into some seasons later. What started off as a story about an awkward high school teacher changed into something many of us never saw coming. In fact, many would agree that when “Breaking Bad” first started, the excitement and thrills didn’t truly begin until about halfway through Season Three and then continued until the series finale in Season Five.

 

There is so much to say about “Breaking Bad,” specifically it was one of the most iconic shows of our time. There really wasn’t anything like it before it existed and nothing has been comparable since it. The character development is one of the resounding aspects of the series. I mean, come on, has there ever been a character quite like Walter White? There is something to be said about a show that can take a high school teacher and transform him into a relentless drug dealer that people fear.

 

Throughout the course of “Breaking Bad” we were thrown into a dangerous world with frightening characters and the threat of Walter’s drug empire crumbling at any given moment. Every single detail that went into the show is worth praising and by the time the series ended in 2013, it went down as one of the best shows ever. During “Breaking Bad” we met a lot of shady characters, but perhaps the most colorful was Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). Here we know him as “Saul,” the sleazy con artist always looking to make a quick buck by whatever means necessary. He first meets Walter and Jesse (Aaron Paul) after Badger (Matt L. Jones) gets arrested for stealing drugs. Saul offers to help out Badger, but Walter and Jesse pay Saul a visit to to make sure that Badger doesn’t tell the DEA about Heisenberg’s real identity. This is where the partnership between Jesse, Saul and Walter begins that leads them down a path of diverting the DEA’s attention from finding out Walter is Heisenberg. Saul became an integral part of “Breaking Bad” and his ability to manipulate and con people was unlike anything we’ve seen before.

 

Sadly, “Breaking Bad” ended in 2013 after five seasons and it was quite the painful goodbye. So much took place in the final few episodes and we had a lot to process as we bid farewell to five seasons of drama, murder, mafias, drugs, Los Pollos Hermanos, the Salamancas, Gus Fring and the list goes on and on. But a little less than two years later, something wonderful happened. AMC made the decision to do a spinoff series focused on Saul Goodman, which admittedly, I was extremely skeptical of at first. Was it going to be good? Was this character even worth the trouble of having a show over? I mean, how cool would Saul really be in his life before Walter and Jesse?

 

Boy, did all my skepticism change once I began watching the spinoff, appropriately named “Better Call Saul.” The series was a bit slow to start, but something about the idea that this series was taking place before the events of “Breaking Bad” always kept a flame of excitement within me. What familiar faces would we see? What familiar places would we see? Questions like this were always ailing my mind as I patiently awaited to see where the spinoff was heading.

 

The great thing about “Better Call Saul” is that we don’t meet Saul Goodman, but rather we meet Jimmy McGill. Wait, who is Jimmy, though? Jimmy is who existed before Saul took over. Basically, Saul wasn’t always Saul. Jimmy was the calm, hopeful man that became a lawyer through attending school online and took care of his brother, Charles (Michael McKean), who suffered from an interesting mental condition. When you first watch “Better Call Saul” it’s so hard to take in that Jimmy and Saul are the same person, but it’s amazing to know that there is an eventual transformation and get to see the circumstances that lead him to the person we see in “Breaking Bad.”

 

Now “Better Call Saul” is currently in its fourth season and it seems to be where Jimmy will really start to change as a person; however, there have already been glimpses of the Saul we all know and love to hate. If you haven’t seen the series or not caught up on the episodes, I would stop reading now because spoilers are heading your way. After the death of Jimmy’s brother in the Season Three finale, fans can now understand what ultimately is the moment that Jimmy starts to change for the worse. It’s already apparent that he is disconnected from his gal pal (and total badass) Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) and has begun lying to her, not to mention the abrupt and weird interview he had in a recent episode. There is definitely something going on with Jimmy in Season Four and it will be interesting to see how his character continues to change and bring in the personality of Saul.

 

Additionally, ever since “Better Call Saul” premiered fans have been keeping a watchful eye over any cameos that may pop up from “Breaking Bad.” Of course, we all want to see Walter and Jesse, but creator Vince Gilligan has already said they will not be in Season Four, but they should make a cameo before the series ends. We have no idea when that will be, but we are excited to see it go down. Although, timeline wise it may not make sense for Jimmy to cross paths with them given how they meet in “Breaking Bad.” But, hey, any way the cameos can be worked we’re excited and we’ll hold out hope that it will be epic as expected.

 

So apart from Jimmy/Saul, who has appeared in “Better Call Saul: so far? Let’s break down the list:

 

1. Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito)–who can forget Los Pollos Hermanos and this calmly vicious villain
2. Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis)–the leader of the Mexican cartel, who is wheelchair-ridden in “Breaking Bad” but was up until recently, happy and healthy on “Better Call Saul”
3. The Cousins (Daniel and Luis Moncada)–Ugh, the creepy, creepy twins from “Breaking Bad” that were seeking revenge for Tuco’s (Raymond Cruz) death
4. Francesca Liddy (Tina Parker)–Saul’s secretary in “Breaking Bad” and Jim and Kim’s shared receptionist on “Better Call Saul”
5. Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks)–the “fixer” On “Breaking Bad” who worked for Gus

 

The cameos so far (and there are some more not listed above) have been pretty epic already, but there is room for so many more. And we hope that the spinoff series really does explore that further.

 

Even though the timelines may not make sense for Jimmy and Walter and Jesse to meet, there are some possibilities through which the cameos can still happen. In each season of “Better Call Saul” there is a flash forward scene of Saul working as a man named Gene as a manager at Cinnabon. Maybe these scenes are before Walt dies, which leaves some room for a cameo to happen. Another scenario could be that Jesse ends up meeting Jimmy/Saul/Gene at some point in the future, assuming that Jesse really does get away. We could find out what Jesse has been up to and where his life has led him since the finale events of “Breaking Bad.”

 

The options are sort of endless and we can probably speculate for days and make connections through multiple characters that would provide a means for Walter and Jesse to show up in “Better Call Saul.” But I trust the creators and I’m certain that this is one of the first things they considered and I think we can all rest easy knowing if and when the time is right, the epic crossover will happen–and it will be glorious.

 

“Better Call Saul” has really been such an amazing series and even though it has such a strong connection to “Breaking Bad” it has made a place of its own in that world. We may constantly be seeking out cameos, but the show really does have its own pace, narrative, characters and allure that the original series didn’t. It’s done a spectacular job of being unique, which is hard to come by given that its predecessor was an insane success and went down in the history of television as one of the best ever.

 

I was a huge fan of “Breaking Bad” and I’m obsessed with “Better Call Saul” and cannot wait to see where Jimmy’s journey will take us. If there is one thing creator Vince Gilligan knows how to do, it’s amazing character development. And the hints of Saul in Jimmy are already starting to surface so it only means things are about to get better, crazier and Saul-ier. But, hey, it’s Saul Good-man.