"Better Call Saul" ended with the series finale, "Saul Gone." The prequel/sequel series told the story of James McGill and his descent into deceit and criminality. Jimmy's transformation into Saul Goodman was filled with heartbreak, familial trauma, and many fantastic montages. Interestingly enough, the series finale doesn't just feel like the ending to "Better Call Saul" — it feels like a definitive conclusion to the "Breaking Bad" universe that started in 2008.
"Saul Gone" plays like an episode that knows it will be the last time you see the actors portray these characters on screen, and it doesn't waste any opportunity to remind you of who they are. Throughout 11 seasons of television and one feature-length film, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, and so many other talented writers and directors created a rich, character-driven world. One that feels like it's come to its natural end with the series finale of "Better Call Saul.
"Saul Gone" plays like an episode that knows it will be the last time you see the actors portray these characters on screen, and it doesn't waste any opportunity to remind you of who they are. Throughout 11 seasons of television and one feature-length film, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, and so many other talented writers and directors created a rich, character-driven world. One that feels like it's come to its natural end with the series finale of "Better Call Saul.
- 8/18/2022
- by Ernesto Valenzuela
- Slash Film
Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you have not watched the series finale of “Better Call Saul” Season 6, titled “Saul Gone.”
More than seven years after “Better Call Saul” began, and 13 years after Bob Odenkirk first popped up as the sleazy lawyer in “Breaking Bad,” his story has come to a close — and Saul is behind bars.
After a little United States v. Saul Goodman legal action, the now-reformed Jimmy McGill ended up with 86 years in prison as Walter White’s “indispensable” criminal lawyer. After going down a dark path the past few seasons, Saul finally turned a corner and confessed to all of his crimes, clearing Kim Wexler’s (Rhea Seehorn) name.
So how did we get to this (somewhat) happy ending, at least by “Breaking Bad” standards? The episode started with a flashback to “Better Call Saul” Season 5, Episode 8, where Saul and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) are trapped in the desert carrying 7 million.
More than seven years after “Better Call Saul” began, and 13 years after Bob Odenkirk first popped up as the sleazy lawyer in “Breaking Bad,” his story has come to a close — and Saul is behind bars.
After a little United States v. Saul Goodman legal action, the now-reformed Jimmy McGill ended up with 86 years in prison as Walter White’s “indispensable” criminal lawyer. After going down a dark path the past few seasons, Saul finally turned a corner and confessed to all of his crimes, clearing Kim Wexler’s (Rhea Seehorn) name.
So how did we get to this (somewhat) happy ending, at least by “Breaking Bad” standards? The episode started with a flashback to “Better Call Saul” Season 5, Episode 8, where Saul and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) are trapped in the desert carrying 7 million.
- 8/16/2022
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
“In the Envelope: An Awards Podcast” features interviews with award-winning actors and other creatives. Join host and Awards Editor Jack Smart for a front row seat to the industry’s biggest awards races! Brought to you by HBO. Breaking: It would be Bad if you miss this installment of Backstage’s podcast, and Better if you tune in right away! Bob Odenkirk, the renowned writer, producer, and actor, and star of AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan’s sequel to “Breaking Bad,” joined us to shed light on his many successes. A 12-time Emmy nominee and one-time winner (MTV’s “The Ben Stiller Show” for variety show writing in 1992), the Illinois native went from beloved sketch comedy creator-performer (“Mr. Show with Bob and David” alongside David Cross, plus its recent Netflix follow up “W/ Bob & David”) to admired dramatic actor with his memorable introduction in the “Breaking Bad” universe.
- 8/8/2017
- backstage.com
In the final scene from last night’s “Better Call Saul,” Kim (Rhea Seehorn) gets confronted by the future — specifically, the future of her current paramour, real name Jimmy McGill… but known first by “Breaking Bad” fans as Saul Goodman.
Kim doesn’t really know what she’s seeing in Season 3, Episode 6, “Off Brand,” but the audience does, thanks to years of history with the many-named character played by Bob Odenkirk. Since his introduction in “Breaking Bad” Season 2, and the resulting prequel series, Jimmy or Saul or (eventually) Gene has been a fascinating figure. “It’s just a name,” Jimmy tells Kim when she questions the Saul Goodman persona. But in conversations with Odenkirk and series co-creator Peter Gould, it’s clear that it means so much more.
Read More: ‘Better Call Saul’ Review: Watch Out, World, Because Saul Goodman is Coming
“I don’t think we had a clue...
Kim doesn’t really know what she’s seeing in Season 3, Episode 6, “Off Brand,” but the audience does, thanks to years of history with the many-named character played by Bob Odenkirk. Since his introduction in “Breaking Bad” Season 2, and the resulting prequel series, Jimmy or Saul or (eventually) Gene has been a fascinating figure. “It’s just a name,” Jimmy tells Kim when she questions the Saul Goodman persona. But in conversations with Odenkirk and series co-creator Peter Gould, it’s clear that it means so much more.
Read More: ‘Better Call Saul’ Review: Watch Out, World, Because Saul Goodman is Coming
“I don’t think we had a clue...
- 5/16/2017
- by Liz Shannon Miller
- Indiewire
Ever looked into your sad empty locker, occupied by a sock and an old water bottle and thought ‘I wonder what Rick Grimes’ locker would look like?’ Well, luckily for you your imagining days are over. Now you can literally see how the other half live, or at least what they would put in their school lockers, if they had them.
Here is a sneak peek of what we believe your favourite TV characters would be stashing in their lockers:
Rick Grimes: The Walking Dead
Rick has been through a lot and as a result doesn’t have many possessions left. This is probably why his locker looks more like the evidence room in a police station than a place for storage, holding his trusty pistol and machete, ready for any zombie action that may be thrown his way. He keeps his old sheriff’s badge on the top shelf...
Here is a sneak peek of what we believe your favourite TV characters would be stashing in their lockers:
Rick Grimes: The Walking Dead
Rick has been through a lot and as a result doesn’t have many possessions left. This is probably why his locker looks more like the evidence room in a police station than a place for storage, holding his trusty pistol and machete, ready for any zombie action that may be thrown his way. He keeps his old sheriff’s badge on the top shelf...
- 11/14/2016
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Remember when Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) was mentioned on “Better Call Saul” prequel “Breaking Bad”? No? Let TheWrap, Bob Odenkirk, Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston remind you. The above video comes courtesy of the original AMC meth drama’s Season 2, Episode 8. In the scene, Jesse Pinkman (Paul) and Walter White (Cranston) kidnap Saul Goodman (Odenkirk). They drive the criminal defense attorney out to the desert and kneel him down in front of the former James McGill’s own potential empty grave. Also Read: 'Better Call Saul's' Jonathan Banks Sums Up Rest of Season 2 With One Word: 'Violence' Immediately,...
- 3/7/2016
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
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Jimmy McGill takes one step closer to becoming Breaking Bad's Saul Goodman in the latest Better Call Saul season 2 episode...
This review contains spoilers.
2.2 Cobbler
The James McGill of Better Call Saul’s second season is already a significantly different man from who he was last year. This was not immediately clear last week, when it seemed that he was drawing back from his apparent decision to steer away from the straight and narrow for good, but Cobbler showed us a little more of just how damaged he is in the wake of the devastating events of last season’s penultimate episode. It’s a portrait of a wounded man who, even though he’s still trying, is already set on the path that will eventually turn him into Saul Goodman and any chance of turning back is long gone. He’s not there yet, but...
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Jimmy McGill takes one step closer to becoming Breaking Bad's Saul Goodman in the latest Better Call Saul season 2 episode...
This review contains spoilers.
2.2 Cobbler
The James McGill of Better Call Saul’s second season is already a significantly different man from who he was last year. This was not immediately clear last week, when it seemed that he was drawing back from his apparent decision to steer away from the straight and narrow for good, but Cobbler showed us a little more of just how damaged he is in the wake of the devastating events of last season’s penultimate episode. It’s a portrait of a wounded man who, even though he’s still trying, is already set on the path that will eventually turn him into Saul Goodman and any chance of turning back is long gone. He’s not there yet, but...
- 2/23/2016
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Two episodes were provided for review prior to broadcast
Returning next Monday, Season 2 of AMC’s Better Call Saul finds the series marking time, as only it can. Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s delightfully droll follow-up/prequel to Breaking Bad does a lot of things the acclaimed nail-biter couldn’t. Better Call Saul relaxes and breathes. It basks in the freedom of being far removed from Breaking Bad chronologically, while still being to able synthesize much of that show’s cast, geography, and tragicomic spirit into something markedly different. Both shows are races against a ticking clock, but Better Call Saul moves to the steady, controlled rhythm of the big hand.
Flashback seven years to 2009: AMC’s scrappy crime farce starring the dad from Malcolm in the Middle has survived the writer’s strike, and opened its second season with a tantalizing promise of fire and mayhem to come.
Returning next Monday, Season 2 of AMC’s Better Call Saul finds the series marking time, as only it can. Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s delightfully droll follow-up/prequel to Breaking Bad does a lot of things the acclaimed nail-biter couldn’t. Better Call Saul relaxes and breathes. It basks in the freedom of being far removed from Breaking Bad chronologically, while still being to able synthesize much of that show’s cast, geography, and tragicomic spirit into something markedly different. Both shows are races against a ticking clock, but Better Call Saul moves to the steady, controlled rhythm of the big hand.
Flashback seven years to 2009: AMC’s scrappy crime farce starring the dad from Malcolm in the Middle has survived the writer’s strike, and opened its second season with a tantalizing promise of fire and mayhem to come.
- 2/12/2016
- by Sam Woolf
- We Got This Covered
If you believe one Charles McGill, Esq., then you might just agree with my column title this week. Charles, or just Chuck to his brother James – err, Jimmy – is quite the cantankerous coot when he wants to be. And when he’s not being cranky, he’s stripping his brother’s soul away, through a cruel and twisted life-view. It’s enough to drive a guy to throw years of attempted redemption down the drain in lieu of cheap wins and morally ambiguous behavior. And it’s a damned beautiful shame.
I’m of course talking about the recently completed first season of Better Call Saul, the progenitor to Breaking Bad. To be totally fair, Saul isn’t what one might truly dub a prequel per se. Instead, it’s a same-universe flashback, fleshing out of an otherwise ancillary character into a fully developed lead, worthy of his own show.
I’m of course talking about the recently completed first season of Better Call Saul, the progenitor to Breaking Bad. To be totally fair, Saul isn’t what one might truly dub a prequel per se. Instead, it’s a same-universe flashback, fleshing out of an otherwise ancillary character into a fully developed lead, worthy of his own show.
- 4/11/2015
- by Marc Alan Fishman
- Comicmix.com
Spoiler alert: Please do not read if you haven’t yet watched Monday night’s finale. James McGill went from a more-or-less good guy to a dude with bad intentions by the end of “Better Call Saul’s” first season — sound familiar, fans of Vince Gilligan‘s New Mexican AMC universe? “Without a doubt, he … broke bad,” co-creator Peter Gould told TheWrap in an interview on Monday. “Jimmy McGill … reverted to his old life as Slippin’ Jimmy.” The Bob Odenkirk character’s brother Chuck (Michael McKean) backstabbing the protagonist was the catalyst that “really changed outlook on life,” Gould explained of the switcheroo.
- 4/7/2015
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
Better Call Saul's excellent penultimate episode sees a bond irrevocably broken. Here's our review of Pimento...
This review contains spoilers.
1.9 Pimento
It seems so obvious now. So obvious that when Howard went to burst Jimmy’s bubble in last episode’s opening flashback, he was acting on Chuck’s say-so. But because I wanted to believe, like Jimmy, that Howard was the bad guy, the major asshole standing in his way, it never occurred to me. At worst, I thought Chuck was a coward who couldn’t bear to break the news to his brother, that he’d been overruled and was embarrassed about it. But now, after Chuck’s behind-the-scenes machinations, sabotaging Jimmy once again, and after the painfully harsh words spat during their final confrontation, it’s all so obvious.
That, to me, is a mark of great writing – that rather than pick up on what’s now so obvious,...
This review contains spoilers.
1.9 Pimento
It seems so obvious now. So obvious that when Howard went to burst Jimmy’s bubble in last episode’s opening flashback, he was acting on Chuck’s say-so. But because I wanted to believe, like Jimmy, that Howard was the bad guy, the major asshole standing in his way, it never occurred to me. At worst, I thought Chuck was a coward who couldn’t bear to break the news to his brother, that he’d been overruled and was embarrassed about it. But now, after Chuck’s behind-the-scenes machinations, sabotaging Jimmy once again, and after the painfully harsh words spat during their final confrontation, it’s all so obvious.
That, to me, is a mark of great writing – that rather than pick up on what’s now so obvious,...
- 4/1/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
As we’ve discussed continually, the inherent problems with prequels is generally inevitability. We know the outcome for these characters, so how do you build stakes and emotional investment when you're already aware of everyone’s fate? Some narratives can pull it off, “Hannibal” is a great example of a prequel that works well, but more often than not, they work in the blandest, most obvious form of “this is how character X became the person you already know” (see what happened in the unfortunate final season of “Boardwalk Empire.” Will the same happen to “Better Call Saul,” the “Breaking Bad” prequel by creator/showrunner Vince Gilligan? Maybe not, because the show centers on venal lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). Also going for the show is the fact that Saul is actually named James McGill when it starts, having not adopted a new persona yet. The flipside is that we...
- 1/11/2015
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
Before Saul Goodman was Saul Goodman, he was James McGill. And according to the latest trailer for Better Call Saul, James McGill got in quite a bit of trouble. The trailer kicks off with Saul (Bob Odenkirk) on the ground in handcuffs, followed by a shot of him looking into a mirror and declaring, in his typical theatrical fashion, "It's showtime, folks." He shouts about how much money means to him ("Money is not beside the point," he says, "money is the point"), has an awkward encounter with Breaking Bad veteran Mike (Jonathan Banks), and finds himself tied up in...
- 1/11/2015
- by Ariana Bacle
- EW - Inside TV
Just a year after Breaking Bad and its antihero Walter White bid farewell to television, we now finally have our first real glimpse at the spinoff series Better Call Saul, which stars Bob Odenkirk reprising his role of scummy lawyer Saul Goodman. At the conclusion of AMC's Breaking Bad marathon on Sunday night, the network unveiled some more teasers for the highly anticipated show in the form of a music video for the appropriately titled "Better Call Saul," performed by country artist Junior Brown.
In the video, which is reminiscent...
In the video, which is reminiscent...
- 10/6/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Ever wished you could actually call Saul (as in Saul Goodman, the lawyer character from 'Breaking Bad')? Now you can.
By: CBS News
Ever wished you could actually call Saul (as in Saul Goodman, the lawyer character from Breaking Bad)? Now you can.
A billboard for AMC's spinoff Better Call Saul has appeared in Albuquerque and it features a phone number for everyone's favorite shady attorney.
Related Pics: Favorite Cast Reunions!
The ad shows Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman/James McGill (a name he used pre-Saul), and the number listed really does work -- give it a ring and you'll hear a voicemail message from Mr. McGill himself.
Better Call Saul is a prequel that follows Saul in the days before his dealings with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman -- though creators have said the show's timeline is fluid and could move back and forth over several decades, including the years...
By: CBS News
Ever wished you could actually call Saul (as in Saul Goodman, the lawyer character from Breaking Bad)? Now you can.
A billboard for AMC's spinoff Better Call Saul has appeared in Albuquerque and it features a phone number for everyone's favorite shady attorney.
Related Pics: Favorite Cast Reunions!
The ad shows Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman/James McGill (a name he used pre-Saul), and the number listed really does work -- give it a ring and you'll hear a voicemail message from Mr. McGill himself.
Better Call Saul is a prequel that follows Saul in the days before his dealings with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman -- though creators have said the show's timeline is fluid and could move back and forth over several decades, including the years...
- 7/24/2014
- Entertainment Tonight
Want to call Saul? Now you can. A billboard for AMC's Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spinoff starring Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman/James McGill, has popped up in New Mexico and it features a real number for you to call Saul. "Hello! You've reached the law offices of James M. McGill, Esq., a lawyer you can trust," a voicemail recording says when you call the number. "Kindly leave your information at the tone and Mr. McGill will phone you promptly!" A+ on marketing, AMC. Better Call Saul takes place in 2002, way before Walter White (Bryan Cranston) came into Saul's life and kind of turned everything upside down. But there will be time jumps, the producers revealed at the...
- 7/24/2014
- E! Online
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