AsBetter Call Saulnears its final few hours, it has finally reached the point of fully colliding with its sequel/predecessor,Breaking Bad. The task of creating a follow-up to what is considered one of the greatest shows of all time was no easy feat for the crew ofBetter Call Saul. And yet, the blending of the two shows feel seamless and meticulous.
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Since the very first season ofBetter Call Saul,Breaking Badhas been written into its language. Nevertheless, the show has been able to forge its own path while also perfectly setting up the tragic and chaotic tale of Walter White that is to come. Theseten Easter eggs throughout the six seasons ofBetter Call Saulare the best nodsto what came before.
10Our Story Starts In Nebraska…
The very first scene ofBetter Call Sauldives headfirst into paying off a big mystery at the end ofBreaking Bad.The last time viewers saw Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman, he was getting a new identity with the help of the late Robert Forster’s Ed Galbraith. As Saul tells Walter White, he’d be lucky to be managing a Cinnabon in Omaha within time.
WhenBetter Call Saulstarts, Saul’s premonition has come true. Now operating under the name Gene, Heisenberg’s former lawyer is actually the manager of a shopping mall Cinnabon, a flash-forward that’s revisited at the start of every season, save for season 6. It became somewhat of a tradition for the show, that recent episodes paid off in dividends.
9Jimmy Believes In His Own Advice
Out of the many things Saul Goodman was guilty of throughoutBreaking Bad, one crime is giving snarky advice to his clients. In one scene, Saul convinces Walt of a scheme by comparing the situation to a time he convinced a woman he was Kevin Costner to sleep with her. At the time, this anecdote was a jest to Odenkirk’s resemblance to Costner.
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In the first season ofBetter Call Saul, viewers get to see this plot of Jimmy’s in action. After a night of conning and partying with his partner-in-crime, Marco, Jimmy wakes up to a woman in his face, berating him for lying about being Kevin Costner. Thankfully, Jimmy doesn’t stick to these manipulative ways for long when he soon begins dating Kim Wexler.
8Tuco Goes Away
Season 2 ofBetter Call Saulfinds Mike Ehrmantrautheading deeper and deeper into the world of the Mexican drug cartel. This involves encounters with the infamous Salamancas, who are notorious antagonists in theBreaking Badtimeline. As a favor for Tuco’s partner, Nacho Varga, Mike is hired to kill Tuco to prevent discovery of Nacho’s side business.
Mike takes an alternate route, coaxing Tuco into a fight as police show up and arrest him. Later, Mike is threatened by Tuco’s grandfather, Hector Salamanca (pre-stroke) to revise his testimony and lessen Tuco’s jailtime. This lines up with Tuco’s eventual return in season 1 ofBreaking Bad, reclaiming his position after recently getting out of prison.
7Saul’s Laser Tag Connection
OneBetter Call Saulfan theory was never confirmed by the show until recently after the airing of Season 6, Episode 11.Early seasons featured Mark Prokschas Daniel Wormald, an amateur criminal who hires Mike as his bodyguard during deals with Nacho. The character’s mediocre criminality made him memorable in the show’s early seasons.
Fans had always speculated that Daniel would eventually be the same “Danny” who runs the laser tag venue that Saul tries to convince Walt and Skyler to use as a money laundering scheme. It was finally confirmed by writer and producer Thomas Schnauz following 6x11, when Gene asks Francesca about the status of Danny post-Breaking Bad.
6Kim’s Attorney-Client Privilege Trick
Season 3 featured a climax of the show’s conflict between Jimmy and his brother, Chuck McGill. Kim, Jimmy’s legal and romantic partner, learns that Chuck taped Jimmy’s confession to tampering with Chuck’s legal documents. Before telling Jimmy, she advises him to put a dollar in her pocket to establish attorney-client privilege.
Related:Better Call Saul: Questions We Have Going Into The Final Season
Thankfully, this trick was remembered by Jimmy years later when dealing with Walt and Jesse. After the petty meth manufacturers kidnap Saul in the desert, Saul convinces them to become his clients, forcing them to put dollars in his pocket as well. As viewers now know, this isn’t the only time Saul likely thinks about Kim during theBreaking Badera.
5Dedicado A Max
Gus Fring’s re-entry intoBetter Call Saulin its third season becomes fruitful for the character, who was killed off at the end ofBreaking Bad’s fourth season. There are plenty of opportunities to delve into Gus’s backstory, particularly his relationship with Max Arciniega, his former Los Pollos Hermanos partner who was murdered by Hector.
Fan speculation from theBreaking Baddays linked Gus and Max as romantic partners.Better Call Saulsubtly confirms this in Season 5, where a recovering Mike finds a fountain dedicated to Max in a Mexican village. A later scene in Season 6 sees Gus flirt with a sommelier, reaffirming his need to get revenge for the death of his former lover.
4Lalo Will Return
DespiteTony Dalton’s brief tenure on the show, Lalo Salamanca quickly became one of the best villains in theBreaking Badcinematic universe. His introduction poses a threat to the criminal operations of Gus Fring, which escalate when he partners with Jimmy and Kim as his legal team. In season 6, he outright murders Howard Hamlin in front of the two.
After sending Kim to kill Gus, he ties Jimmy up, though the lawyer tries to argue that his assassination attempt was Nacho’s doing. Lalo promises Jimmy that he’ll return, although he is later shot and killed by Gus. Still, this fear lingers in Jimmy when Walt and Jesse later kidnap him inBreaking Bad, as he begs for his life and questions if Lalo sent them.
3A Secret Underneath Gus’s Superlab
The mid-season finale ofBetter Call Saulseason 6 features a dramatic cliffhanger in which Lalo kills Howard Hamlin and forces Jimmy and Kim to follow his instructions. Unfortunately, his plan goes awry when Gus kills him, later resulting in Mike and his clean-up crew having to erase any evidence of this night gone wrong.
Related:Better Call Saul: Breaking Bad Characters Who Could Show Up In The Final Season
In an ironic twist of fate, Lalo and Howard’s bodies are buried in the dirt underneath Gus’s superlab, where Walt, Jesse, and Gale later work as meth cooks. It certainly changes viewers' perspectives onBreaking Bad, not knowing that two vitalBetter Call Saulcharacters are resting in state underneath the site of so many significant episodes.
2Francesca Updates Gene
A flash-forward in Season 4 shows Saul instructing Francesca to answer a phone at a specific date and time. In Season 6, Episode 11, that flash-forward is paid off when Gene calls her to get the scoop on Albuquerque following the events of Walter White’s demise. Francesca’s description of what went down ties uplots of loose ends fromBreaking Bad.
Francesca states Skyler got her deal with the DEA, and that Jesse Pinkman’s car was found near the Mexican border, the latter a callback toEl Camino. Gene also gets updates on all his formerBreaking Badhenchman: Huell returned to Louisiana, Kuby (played by Bill Burr) went missing, and all of his former assets were seized by the FBI.
1Saul Tracks Down Walt
Season 6, Episode 11 features more connections toBreaking Badthan its title or a simple phone conversation with Francesca.The black-and-white timeline following Genealso mirrors behind-the-scenes events duringBreaking Bad’s second season episode that features Saul’s introduction, aptly named “Better Call Saul.”
Following his kidnapping in the desert by Walt and Jesse, Saul recognizes the potential of their enterprise and figures he can help them. He’s advised against it, however, by Mike, who serves as his private investigator. Saul nevertheless ignores Mike’s advice as viewers see him drive to Walter’s high school, preparing for the confrontation with the chemistry teacher seen at the end of his debut episode inBreaking Bad.
Better Call Saulairs on Mondays on AMC at 9:00 p.m. EST.
