For most ofBreaking Bad’s run, Walter White’s lawyer hid behind his carefully cultivated Saul Goodman persona; he only returned to his true identity as Jimmy McGill in one episode. Bob Odenkirk firstdebuted the character of Saul inBreaking Badseason 2, episode 8, “Better Call Saul.”After Badger was arrested for selling Walt and Jesse’s product, Jesse insisted that they didn’t need a criminal lawyer; they needed a criminal lawyer, so they recruited Saul’s unscrupulous services. Saul ended up serving as Walt and Jesse’s lawyer and money-laundering consultant for the rest of the series.
AfterBreaking Badended andSaul got his own spinoff,Better Call Saul, it became apparent that “Saul” was just an act he’d been putting on in front of Walt and his other clients. He’s really a vulnerable underdog named Jimmy who was driven to play a corrupt character after being undervalued by his brother and abandoned by the love of his life. Despite his flamboyance,Saul is a reprehensible monster; Jimmy is a sympathetic human being. In retrospect, Jimmy only emerged from behind the mask of Saul in oneepisode ofBreaking Bad.
Jimmy Drops The Saul Act After Recruiting The Services Of The Disappearer
When Walt’s criminal empire starts to collapse, he brings Saul down with it. At the beginning of season 5, episode 15, “Granite State,” Saul races to the vacuum store owned by“disappearer” Ed Galbraithand gives him a truckload of cash to give him a new identity and relocate him to another state. Much to Saul’s chagrin, while he’s waiting for Ed to sort out the documents and find him a place to live, he’ll have to stay with a roommate: Mr. White himself. While they’re laying low in Ed’s basement, Walt’s lawyer finally drops the Saul act.
“Granite State” was written and directed by futureBetter Call Saulshowrunner Peter Gould.
This is whereSaul reveals who he really is: a regular guy who got mixed in with the wrong crowd, tried to go straight, got rejected by the right crowd, and doubled down on his association with the wrong crowd. Walt tries to coerce Jimmy into coming with him, butJimmy is no longer intimidated by the legendary Heisenberg. Rather than dancing around the situation with his usual verbal eccentricity, Jimmy gives it to Walt straight: their criminal activities are over, and if they’re lucky, their best-case scenario will be a boring, mundane, uneventful life in hiding.
Better Call Saul Completely Changed How You Look At Saul In Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul Explored The Human Being Behind The Mask
All throughoutBreaking Bad,Saul served primarily as comic relief. There were hints at his backstory and motivations, but no real dramatic exploration of them. Through his contacts and connections, Saul facilitated plot points like Walt’s money-laundering scheme and the poisoning of Brock. Buthe was mainly there to make the audience laugh with his quippy one-linersand peculiar behavior. Then,Better Call Saulbrought a lot more depth to the character. Bythe end ofBetter Call Saul, Saul had evolved into every bit the complex, three-dimensional, near-Shakespearean tragic hero that Walt was in the original series.
By the end of Better Call Saul, Saul had evolved into every bit the complex, three-dimensional, near-Shakespearean tragic hero that Walt was in the original series.
And after watchingBetter Call Saul, the character plays a lot differently ona rewatch ofBreaking Bad. Saul’s tacky TV ads hit differently, because a miserable, aging Saul will one day watch those ads through a nostalgic lens — they’ll be his only remaining connection to his exciting former life.All of Saul’s quips about his ex-wife hit differently after watchingBetter Call Saul, because he was devastated when Kim Wexler left him; that’s what pushed him over the edge to close off his emotions and adopt the Saul persona full-time.
It Was Obvious That “Saul Goodman” Was Just An Act
When Saul was introduced inBreaking Badseason 2, he was purely a comic-relief figure. By the end of the series, comic relief was still his primary function, but he’d also become a much more complex character. Even without all the backstory that would eventually be revealed inBetter Call Saul,Breaking Badviewers could already tell that “Saul Goodman” was just a mask being worn by a vulnerable human being— especially when Saul was in distress. If his life was in danger, he would drop that mask in a second and beg for mercy.
Jimmy’s Cruelest Plan In Better Call Saul Felt Worse Than Anything Walter White Ever Did
Nothing Jimmy McGill did in Better Call Saul was as bad as Walter White’s worst actions, but his cruelest scheme sure felt worse than Walt’s misdeeds.
InBreaking Badseason 5, episode 1, “Live Free or Die,” it’s clear that there’s more to Saul than meets the eye. When Walt squares up to Saul in his office and menacingly tells him, “We’re done when I say we’re done,” Saul is terrified; he doesn’t know what this drug lord — who’s proven he isn’t above poisoning a child — will do to him.It was apparent that Saul was a facade, and that there was a lot more unseen depth to this character.Better Call Saultook that setup and ran with it.
Better Call Saul’s Finale Brought It All Full Circle With A “Granite State” Flashback
Better Call Saulbrought Saul’s journey full circle in its final episode: season 6, episode 13, “Saul Gone.” The episode didn’t just act as an ending forBetter Call Saulitself; it was an ending for the entireBreaking Baduniverse. It jumped all over the story timeline for a definitive conclusion to both Jimmy’s character arc and the overall narrative. Jimmy blew his cover in Omaha and Marie Schrader came back for justice. The finale went back to Saul’s stay with Walt in Ed’s basement during the events of “Granite State.”
TheBetter Call Saulfinale, “Saul Gone,” originally aired on AMC on June 14, 2025.
As they attempt to kill the time,Jimmy asks Walt what he would do if he could use a time machine. Walt initially mocks the question, but eventually answers that he would stop himself from pulling out of Gray Matter Technologies. Jimmy tells Walt that he regrets injuring his knee during a childhood scam. Upon hearing that he was pulling scams as a kid,Walt condescendingly tells Jimmy, “So, you were always like this.”Therein lies the key difference between Walt and Jimmy: Walt transformed into a murderous monster, but Jimmy was always a conman.
Therein lies the key difference between Walt and Jimmy: Walt transformed into a murderous monster, but Jimmy was always a conman.
This scene in theBetter Call Saulfinale brought the entireBreaking Badsaga full circle. It went back to Jimmy’s final scene fromBreaking Bad— his final interaction with Walt — and highlighted the crucial difference between the franchise’s two central antiheroes. “Granite State” was the first time audiences got to see the real Jimmy McGill, and the last time audiences saw the character, he went back to that moment.
Breaking Bad
Cast
Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, follows a chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin named Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as he attempts to provide for his family following a fatal diagnosis. With nothing left to fear, White ascends to power in the world of drugs and crime, transforming the simple family man into someone known only as Heisenberg.
