Saul Goodman (Breaking Bad)

This article is about the fictional character originating in Breaking Bad. For other uses, see Saul Goodman (disambiguation).
James McGill/Saul Goodman
Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul character
First appearance "Better Call Saul" (Breaking Bad)
Created by
Portrayed by Bob Odenkirk
Blake Bertrand (childhood flashbacks)
Information
Full name James Morgan McGill
Nickname(s) Jimmy
Aliases
  • Gene
  • Slippin' Jimmy
  • Saul Goodman
Occupation
Family Charles McGill (brother)
Significant other(s) Kim Wexler
Nationality American

James Morgan "Jimmy" McGill, Esq., also known by the trade name Saul Goodman, is a fictional character in Breaking Bad and the titular character of its spin-off series Better Call Saul. He is portrayed by Bob Odenkirk and was created by series creator Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, a writer on the series.[1] He is a criminal lawyer. Throughout Breaking Bad, he acts as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman's attorney and accomplice. His made-up name is a play on words to better attract clients: "'S'all good, man!" becomes the faux-Jewish "Saul Goodman". He is also known for his low-budget television commercials and print advertisements in Albuquerque, wherein he advertises mainly under the tagline "Better Call Saul!". For the first season of Better Call Saul, Odenkirk was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.[2]

Character biography

Breaking Bad

Season 2

When Jesse's friend Badger Mayhew is arrested during a police sting for selling methamphetamine, Jesse and Walt contact Saul for legal representation. Walt offers Saul $10,000 to keep Badger from talking to the DEA, but Saul refuses. Walt and Jesse take more desperate measures, kidnapping Saul at gunpoint and taking him to the desert to threaten him. However, Saul quickly rationalizes that it would make more sense to have Badger killed in prison, but Walt and Jesse reject this solution. Recognizing “Mr. Mayhew” from Walt’s hacking cough, he quickly offers to be their lawyer, accepting payment of six dollars on the spot to establish a confidential attorney-client relationship.

To throw the DEA off Walt and Jesse’s trail, Saul proposes the use of James Edward Kilkely (aka Jimmy “In-and-Out”), a man who fits Heisenberg’s description and is a professional fall guy who takes the rap for other peoples' crimes for a fee. In exchange for $80,000 ($50,000 of which goes to Saul for a finders' fee) and a decoy pound of meth, Saul has Badger cooperate with the authorities and a sting operation leads to Jimmy’s arrest. When Mike figures out who Walt is, Saul–intrigued by the DEA’s interest in Walt’s product–proposes that Walt hire him as his consigliere, in the same vein as Tom Hagen from The Godfather. Walt ultimately accepts the offer.[3]

In an effort to help pay for Walt's cancer treatment, his son Walter Jr. sets up the website, www.savewalterwhite.com,[4] which requests and collects donations. Saul tells Walt that it is a perfect opportunity to launder money. Saul arranges for a wave of fake donations drawn from Walt's drug money. When Jesse discovers that his girlfriend Jane Margolis has died in his bed from a heroin overdose, he contacts Walt, who contacts Saul. Saul sends his associate Mike Ehrmantraut to clean up the crime scene and mitigate Jesse's involvement with Jane's death.[5]

Season 3

After Walt sells $1.2 million of meth to drug kingpin Gus Fring, Saul pushes Walt to take Gus’ lucrative offer to continue cooking. Saul also accepts a job from Jesse, using Jesse’s half of the earnings to blackmail Jesse's parents into selling his aunt's house back to him at a dramatically lowered price, by strong-arming / threatening Jesse’s parents and attorney with a potential lawsuit concerning the undisclosed meth lab Jesse was running out of the basement.[6]

After Walt reveals that his wife Skyler has threatened to expose him, Saul assures Walt that she won't talk due to the blowback on the family, both to herself, her children, and to Hank, but Saul secretly hires Mike to bug the Whites' house as insurance. Forced to leave early when Walt inadvertently comes home, Mike witnesses the cartel hitmen Leonel and Marco Salamanca enter with an axe and quickly relays a call to Gus through Victor to call them off. On Gus's orders, Mike does not tell Saul about the threat.[7]

Mike later brings Walt to Saul after Walt creates a disturbance at Skyler’s office, and attempts to talk Walt into cooking meth again. After Saul admits that he bugged Walt’s house, Walt attacks and subsequently fires him. Furious, Saul stops laundering Walt’s drug money. Jesse then approaches Saul with two bags of meth he has cooked himself using Walt’s procedure, and asks to set up a deal. He meets with Victor to make the exchange, only to see he has been given half of the money – the other half goes to Walt.[8] Saul sets up an intervention between Walt and Jesse, offering to give Walt a percentage of Jesse’s future deals. Walt returns Jesse’s half, coldly informing both of them that he has now accepted Gus’s offer and will be cutting Jesse out of the business. Saul quickly dumps Jesse as a client in favor of the much higher profits Walt can produce, and once again goes to work laundering Walt's money – this time for a dramatically reduced percentage.[9]

When Hank deduces the existence of the RV Walt and Jesse used to cook meth, Walt calls Saul in a panic. Saul scolds him for not having a contingency plan. When Jesse unintentionally leads Hank right to the RV while Walt is still inside, Walt calls Saul, who has his long-suffering secretary Francesca masquerade as a cop to tell Hank that Marie has been severely injured in a car accident to give Walt and Jesse time to destroy the RV. Saul later feels guilty for taking part in such a cruel ruse, especially when, in response to being duped, Hank follows Jesse home and beats him unconscious.[10]

After Walt kills two of Gus' dealers and Jesse goes on the run, Mike storms into Saul's office and intimidates him into revealing Jesse's whereabouts. Saul gives Mike a fake address, however, and secretly meets with Walt and Jesse. He expresses dismay at having been put in a difficult position.[11]

Season 4

After Jesse kills Gale Boetticher, a meth cook that Gus is grooming to replace Walt, Saul fears he will be next. He locks up his offices, hires Huell Babineaux as a guard, and starts scanning his offices for bugging devices.[12]

Saul suggests to Skyler she should buy a laser tag business to launder Walt’s drug money. Skyler dismisses the idea, and instead sets her sights on purchasing the A1 Car Wash Walt has previously worked for. When the owner Bogdan refuses to sell, Skyler and Walt ask Saul for help. Saul suggests they accuse Bogdan of harboring al-Qaeda terrorists, but Walt dismisses that plan, reasoning that Bogdan is Romanian. Eventually, they concoct a plan to force Bogdan to sell: Saul sends another henchman named Patrick Kuby to perform a fake environmental audit on the car wash and threaten to shut it down, forcing Bogdan to sell for a relatively low price.[13]

When Walt says that he fears his meth business will go under, Saul mentions that he knows someone who can, for a fee, arrange for him to disappear and start over with a new identity. Walt rejects this idea.[14]

When Walt angrily blows up the Dodge Challenger he'd bought for Walt Jr. but which Skyler insisted Walt return, Saul helps deal with the legal consequence and cover up the incident. After paying Saul for his services, Walt asks for a list of hitmen he could hire to kill Gus. Saul advises against it since Mike knows all of the contacts, and hiring outside of his network carries the risk of encountering undercover cops.[15]

Meanwhile, Skyler's former boss and lover Ted Beneke tells her that his business is being audited for tax fraud. Since Skyler was his bookkeeper, she could also be implicated. At the audit, Skyler acts completely ignorant of accounting practices. The IRS agent, believing the fraud was simply a mistake, orders Ted to pay back taxes and fines. Ted, however, refuses to comply. Skyler, against Saul’s advice, arranges for Ted to receive enough money to pay his IRS debt by having Saul manufacture a fake relative who leaves Ted a sizable inheritance. When Saul follows up, he finds that Ted is not using the money to pay the IRS. With no other options, Skyler has Huell and Kuby force Ted to write the check. They succeed, but in Ted’s attempt to flee, he trips and seriously injures himself.[16]

Gus coerces Walt into a meeting, where he informs him that he is going to kill Hank to cover their tracks, and threatens to kill Walt and his family if he tries to intervene. Walt barges into Saul's office and takes him up on his earlier offer to go into hiding. Walt also asks Saul to anonymously tip the DEA that Hank is being targeted. Saul eventually agrees, provided Gus' name isn't mentioned. Afterward, Saul gives Jesse back his money and prepares to flee Albuquerque temporarily until the fallout between Walt and Gus is over.[16]

Season 5

In the fifth season, it is revealed that Saul tasked Huell to pickpocket a ricin-filled cigarette from Jesse, but didn't know that Walt would use it to poison Jesse's girlfriend Andrea Cantillo's son Brock.[17] Saul attempts to end his partnership with Walt, but Walt backs him into a corner and intimidates him back into compliance. As Walt, Jesse, and Mike set up their own meth operation in the vacuum left by Gus's demise, Saul helps them find a new venue, and equips them with a team led by Vamonos Pest exterminator Todd Alquist. [18] Saul helps Mike when the DEA comes close to catching him.[19]

Jesse asks Saul to deliver his share of the drug money to Mike's granddaughter and the family of Drew Sharp, a child shot by Todd for witnessing a train heist, but Saul refuses.[20] After Hank discovers that Walt is Heisenberg, Saul advises Walt to kill his brother-in-law, a suggestion Walt angrily rejects because he won't target his own relatives.[21] Later, when Jesse is picked up by the police and interrogated by Hank, Saul bails him out of custody. After arranging a meeting between Walt and Jesse to discuss how to handle Hank's investigation, Saul arranges with his contact to set Jesse up with a new identity far away from Albuquerque. However, Jesse realizes Saul's complicity in Brock's poisoning when Huell performs the same bump-and-snatch trick he'd done to get the ricin cigarette, and beats a confession out of him. Saul subsequently advises Walt to call in a hit on Jesse.[17]

After Hank and Gomez are killed and Walt's criminality is exposed, Saul decides to set himself up with a new identity. He and Walt spend several days in a basement together while Saul's extractor, Ed, makes the necessary arrangements. Walt asks Saul to help him find hit-men to kill Hank's murderers, but Saul instead advises Walt to turn himself in to avoid a lengthy and humiliating federal investigation against Skyler. Walt again attempts to threaten Saul into complying, but breaks down in a coughing fit. With his transportation ready, Saul heads for a new life in Omaha, Nebraska.[22]

Better Call Saul

Season 1

Better Call Saul details Saul's life as Jimmy McGill, years before the events of Breaking Bad. It also includes flashforward scenes of Saul's life after going into hiding.

As a young man, Jimmy McGill lived in Cicero, Illinois, where he made a living from petty scams such as feigning falls in front of businesses; his skill as a con artist earned him the nickname "Slippin' Jimmy".[23] His father was the owner of a general store, but was an easy target for grifters, to the point that he lost about $14,000 in revenue and had no choice but to sell his store, about six months before he died. Jimmy went straight after his older brother Chuck pulled strings to get him out of prison on an indecent exposure charge relating to a "Chicago sun-roof" incident; he ran into a man who had previously angered him and, after getting drunk, defecated on the sunroof of the man's car, unaware that the man's children were inside.[24][25] Chuck got Jimmy a job in the mail room of his firm, Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill. Jimmy got a law degree from the University of American Samoa, and passed the state bar exam. However, one of the law firm's partners, Howard Hamlin, refused to hire him.[26]

When the show begins, Jimmy is an underpaid public defender representing obviously guilty clients in the Albuquerque court system. His office, which doubles as his home, is located in the back of a nail salon, and he is desperate for actual clients. Jimmy also takes care of Chuck, who is housebound by sudden onset of severe phobic behavior, which he calls "electromagnetic hypersensitivity," and that Jimmy secretly believes is a nervous breakdown. He often asks Howard to cash out Chuck's severance share of $17 million because he does not believe he will ever return to work, but Howard refuses. Jimmy's closest friend is his ex-girlfriend, Kim Wexler, a lawyer at HHM who provides him with inside information.

One day, Jimmy receives a promising phone call from two prospective clients, former Bernalillo County treasurer Craig Kettleman and his wife, Betsy, who are accused of embezzling $1.6 million. He tries to persuade them to hire him, but they ultimately go with HHM. Desperate for their business, Jimmy enlists the help of twin con artists Lars and Cal, intending for them to "accidentally" get hit by Betsy's car, after which, Jimmy will "happen" to be driving past and save her from the scam.[27] However, the twins mistakenly target a car driven by an elderly Hispanic woman, who happens to be the grandmother of drug kingpin Tuco Salamanca. Tuco takes Jimmy and the twins hostage and is intent on killing them, but Tuco's right-hand man Ignacio "Nacho" Varga convinces him to let Jimmy live, and Jimmy talks Tuco into breaking one leg on each twin instead of killing them. Nacho later meets with Jimmy and tells him he needed him alive for help in robbing the Kettlemans. Jimmy refuses, but Nacho senses Jimmy will eventually succumb to his criminal urges.[25]

Jimmy anonymously warns the Kettlemans, who go missing soon after with their house ransacked. Nacho is arrested, but he proclaims his innocence and names Jimmy as his lawyer, threatening to kill him if he is not released. Jimmy concludes the Kettlemans staged the whole thing and actually ran away. Acting on advice from Mike Ehrmantraut, Jimmy finds them camping in the wilderness behind their home with the stolen money.[28] The Kettlemans bribe Jimmy to assure his silence. Nacho is released, but he accuses Jimmy of informing the Kettlemans and threatens repercussions.

Jimmy plans to buy an office with the bribe money. He exacts revenge upon Howard by buying advertising space on a billboard that copies HHM's look. Howard orders Kim to serve Jimmy a cease and desist order, so Jimmy organizes a filmed publicity stunt while the billboard is being taking down and happens to save the life of a billboard worker.[29]

The stunt gets Jimmy new clients, one of whom is an elderly woman. Kim encourages Jimmy to pursue elder law. Chuck is hospitalized after an incident involving the police, and the doctor recommends committing him. Jimmy realizes that if Chuck were committed, he would become his legal guardian and thus have the authority to request and receive Chuck's severance payment from HHM, but he ultimately decides against it and persuades the doctor to discharge Chuck.[30]

Mike asks Jimmy to be his lawyer after detectives from Philadelphia question him about the murder of two police officers. Instead of legal work, however, all he asks Jimmy to do is spill coffee on one of the detectives so he can steal their notes. Jimmy does so after initially refusing, and he wonders how Nacho and Mike instinctively sensed he had a criminal streak.[31]

Meanwhile, Kim is demoted after the Kettlemans refuse a plea deal and they return to Jimmy. They threaten to expose the bribe if he does not get Craig fully exonerated. Feeling guilty about Kim, Jimmy has Mike break into the Kettlemans' home to steal the money; although the $1.6 million is his for the taking, Jimmy feels he must do the right thing and hand it to the authorities. Jimmy admits to the Kettlemans that the money and his bribe money is with the DA, and they cannot blackmail him because Betsy is guilty of bribery and she would also be arrested. Craig decides to admit guilt and accept Kim's plea deal, saving her career but setting Jimmy back significantly.[32]

Jimmy begins specializing in elder law and visits numerous nursing homes to network. He learns that nursing home "Sandpiper Crossing" is systematically overcharging its residents, revealing them as perpetrators of fraud and suggesting firm grounds for a class action lawsuit. Sandpiper bans Jimmy from the premises when he starts snooping, so he resorts to "dumpster diving" in an effort to find shredded documents, eventually finding an incriminating one. With a solid case against Sandpiper, Chuck decides to become Jimmy's co-counsel and assist him in the case. Sandpiper Crossing's attorneys agree to meet, and although they deny that the home is defrauding its residents, they concede that some of them were overcharged and are willing to compensate. However, Jimmy presents evidence of Sandpiper Crossing engaging in illicit interstate commerce, making them eligible for a RICO lawsuit. Chuck demands that Sandpiper Crossing pay $20 million in settlement fees, which the attorneys refuse. The case invigorates Chuck and he finds himself able to leave the house.

Chuck convinces Jimmy to refer the case to HHM due to its sheer size. Howard offers to give Jimmy a monetary reward, but still refuses to hire him or let him work on the case. Feeling cut out, Jimmy refuses to release the case to HHM. The next day, Jimmy informs Chuck that he will accept Howard's deal after all, having discovered that Chuck used his phone in the middle of the night to call Howard before their meeting. Jimmy deduces that Chuck called Howard to cut him out of the case, and also deduces that it was Chuck, not Howard, who had been keeping him out of HHM since the beginning. Chuck replies that Jimmy is still a con-artist at heart, and has no business practicing law. Feeling hurt and betrayed, Jimmy cuts Chuck out of his life.[33]

Jimmy returns to Cicero and spends a week pulling scams with his former partner-in-crime, Marco Pasternak. Marco dies of a heart attack during one last con; with his dying breath, Marco tells Jimmy that their week together was the greatest of his life. At Marco's funeral, Jimmy gets a call from Kim telling him that he has been offered a job with a prestigious firm. After receiving Marco's gold ring and remembering his last words, Jimmy ultimately decides not to take the job, as he no longer feels obliged to "do the right thing".[24]

Season 2

Disillusioned by the corrupt corporate law system, Jimmy closes down his law practice and spends his days relaxing at a hotel pool looking for people to con. Kim confronts Jimmy about his odd behavior, but Jimmy is adamant about closing his practice. Instead, Jimmy convinces Kim to help him con a stock trader into paying their bar tab. Thrilled by the experience, Kim spends the night with Jimmy. Afterwards, when it becomes clear that Kim does not want to participate in this behavior all the time, Jimmy changes his mind and decides to take the job with Davis & Main. Perks from his new job are an expensive company car as well as the cocobolo desk he has always wanted. Jimmy notices a switch in his new office that specifically and clearly states that it should never be turned off. He turns it off and waits a moment to see what happens. When nothing does, he turns it back on.

Jimmy is put in charge of client outreach for the Sandpiper case, though he resorts to unethical tactics to do so. This starts with him bribing a bus driver to solicit clients. When called on the potential legal issues by both Chuck and Kim, Jimmy decides to find another approach. He resorts to filming a targeted TV commercial, hiring a previous client of his and the camera crew he used for the billboard stunt. It is a success when it is aired in a test market. However, it gets Jimmy in trouble with Cliff and the other bosses, because he ran the ad without getting their prior authorization. As a consequence, Jimmy is put under closer scrutiny and given a handler in the form of junior attorney Erin Brill. His ad is also yanked off the air and replaced with an alternate ad, consisting of dishwater-dull white text on a swirly nebulous background with flat narration. Jimmy's actions also affect Kim, who is demoted by Howard to doc review at HHM in the fallout.

At the same time, Jimmy is recruited by Mike on a couple of side jobs. His first side job is when he's hired to defend Daniel Warmolt, a smalltime drug dealer who has fallen under investigation for drug dealing due to conflicts with Mike and Nacho. To get the police to stop investigating Daniel, Jimmy convinces them that Daniel's legal troubles are the result of a spat with a (non-existent) gay lover for whom he made videos of himself sitting in pie while crying. Later on, when Mike is threatened by Hector into amending his statement regarding his fight with Tuco, he has Jimmy represent him at the meeting.

Jimmy, feeling guilty for being the cause of Kim's demotion, organizes a case for her to sue HHM. But Kim feels like this would be ‘career suicide,' and she turns him down, saying that she will fix her situation on her own. However, Kim and Jimmy reconcile over another bar tab con. Jimmy attempts to quit his job at Davis & Main, but after discovering that he would lose his signing bonus if he did so, he decides not to. Instead, he decides to get himself fired, as that would allow him to keep his signing bonus. He does so by making himself as obnoxious as possible: wearing unorthodox suits to work, purchasing a boisterous blender, goes to the restroom without flushing the toilet, and playing bagpipes loudly in his office. He then moves back into his old salon office, with his cocobolo desk.

Jimmy then pitches an idea to Kim: they will become law partners and found a new firm, Wexler & McGill. Kim contemplates upon this plan, and eventually decides that she would rather be a solo practitioner, working under the same roof as Jimmy.

Better Call Saul flashforwards

Both the first and second seasons of Better Call Saul open with black and white sequences that take place after the events of Breaking Bad.[34]

After leaving Albuquerque, Saul ends up in Omaha under the alias "Gene", working as Assistant Manager of a mall Cinnabon establishment, in disguise with mustache and glasses. Keeping a low profile, Saul is paranoid that he is being watched or followed.

References

  1. ↑ "Vince Gilligan Talks BREAKING BAD, the Saul Goodman Spinoff, the Behind-the-Scenes Documentary, and More". Collider. 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  2. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (July 16, 2015). "Emmy Nominations 2015 – Full List". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Better Call Saul". Breaking Bad. Season 2. Episode 8. May 26, 2009. AMC.
  4. ↑ www.savewalterwhite.com
  5. ↑ "Phoenix". Breaking Bad. Season 2. Episode 12. May 24, 2009. AMC.
  6. ↑ "Caballo Sin Nombre". Breaking Bad. Season 3. Episode 2. March 28, 2010. AMC.
  7. ↑ "I.F.T". Breaking Bad. Season 3. Episode 3. April 4, 2010. AMC.
  8. ↑ "Green Light". Breaking Bad. Season 3. Episode 4. April 11, 2010. AMC.
  9. ↑ "Más". Breaking Bad. Season 3. Episode 5. April 10, 2010. AMC.
  10. ↑ "Sunset". Breaking Bad. Season 3. Episode 6. April 25, 2010. AMC.
  11. ↑ "Full Measure". Breaking Bad. Season 3. Episode 13. June 13, 2010. AMC.
  12. ↑ "Box Cutter". Breaking Bad. Season 4. Episode 1. July 17, 2011. AMC.
  13. ↑ "Open House". Breaking Bad. Season 4. Episode 3. July 31, 2011. AMC.
  14. ↑ "Cornered". Breaking Bad. Season 4. Episode 6. August 21, 2011. AMC.
  15. ↑ "Problem Dog". Breaking Bad. Season 4. Episode 7. August 28, 2011. AMC.
  16. 1 2 "Face Off". Breaking Bad. Season 4. Episode 12. October 9, 2011. AMC.
  17. 1 2 "Confessions". Breaking Bad. Season 5. Episode 11. August 25, 2013. AMC.
  18. ↑ "Hazard Pay". Breaking Bad. Season 5. Episode 3. July 29, 2012. AMC.
  19. ↑ "Buyout". Breaking Bad. Season 5. Episode 6. August 19, 2012. AMC.
  20. ↑ "Blood Money". Breaking Bad. Season 5. Episode 9. August 11, 2013. AMC.
  21. ↑ "Buried". Breaking Bad. Season 5. Episode 10. August 18, 2013. AMC.
  22. ↑ "Granite State". Breaking Bad. Season 5. Episode 11. September 22, 2013. AMC.
  23. ↑ "Uno". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 1. February 8, 2015. AMC.
  24. 1 2 "Marco". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 10. April 6, 2015. AMC.
  25. 1 2 "Mijo". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 2. February 9, 2015. AMC.
  26. ↑ "RICO". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 8. March 23, 2015. AMC.
  27. ↑ "Uno". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 1. February 8, 2015. AMC.
  28. ↑ "Nacho". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 3. February 16, 2015. AMC.
  29. ↑ "Hero". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 4. February 23, 2015. AMC.
  30. ↑ "Alpine Shepard Boy". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 5. March 2, 2015. AMC.
  31. ↑ "Five-O". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 6. March 9, 2015. AMC.
  32. ↑ "Bingo". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 7. February 23, 2015. AMC.
  33. ↑ "Pimento". Better Call Saul. Season 1. Episode 9. March 30, 2015. AMC.
  34. ↑ http://variety.com/2016/tv/reviews/better-call-saul-season-2-review-bob-odenkirk-jonathan-banks-breaking-bad-amc-1201685225/

Further reading

External links

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