Hi, today we’re answering some quote unquote unanswered questions for Better Call Saul.
These are questions I don’t anticipate being answered by the end of the series.
Mostly just because I don’t think they’re overly relevant really.
They were always meant to be things the audience fills in themselves.
I’ve gotten a bunch of comments though on things like how Saul got the black or book,
or the statue of liberty.
So, today that’s what we’re doing, we’re filling in the gaps based on what we know.
First off, How did Saul get the Vet’s black book?
The black book is the book that belongs to Caldera, the vet, who acted as a middleman
for many criminals, keeping all of their information in an encoded book.
Saul first becomes aware of it in 6x06 ‘Axe and Grind’ when he buys the topical solution
that dilates the pupils, used in the Howard scheme.
Caldera tells Jimmy and Kim that he needs to sell his black book, or ‘the keys to
the kingdom’ as he puts it.
Saul appears immediately impressed by the book and sees it as the potential for passive
income.
When flicking through the book, Kim finds the card for ‘Best Quality Vacuum’.
Caldera also confesses in this scene that he’s done with the criminal underworld with
it becoming too hot for him, and him wishing to pursue a career as solely a vet once more.
Based on the best quality vacuum card within the book, we can presume he will start this
new life by using the disappearer, Ed.
After the events of 6x07, it’s confirmed that Saul will receive the Sandpiper settlement
money, which is into the millions.
This inevitability being enough to purchase the book which Caldera has previously told
him he wishes to sell.
Simple.
Next up: How did Saul get the statue of liberty?
This one also seems fairly straightforward.
After 6x02 ‘Carrot and Stick’ The Kettlemans are fearful of Jimmy and Kim.
Personally, I think it’s as simple as him going over there and buying it from them,
and they accept purely because they’re afraid, but also they probably need the money.
It could be a different blow-up, but probably not.
We know Saul took some inspiration from their tax business and its very American or patriotic
vibe.
Not only does he take the statue, but he also uses the same waiting room music in Breaking
Bad.
Why did Saul’s office change?
This one is pretty much answered in the couple scenes we get of Francesca adjusting to the
new clientele Saul has taken on.
We see her unhappily look on as they put cigarettes out on the sofas, pee in the fountain, and
have their feet all over the furniture.
She also appears generally threatened as they wield knives and whatnot.
She basically seems to want some form of protection between herself and the clients.
So, she puts up the screen, and the furniture is traded out for more basic benches.
The one thing that does stay is the floor, which looks like linoleum or something, because
it’s probably easy to clean.
In terms of the appearance of the columns and the constitution on the wall, this was
more likely a result of what Kim said, naming Saul’s new office a ‘cathedral of justice’.
This along with the inspiration gained from the Kettlemans, and boom you’ve got yourself
Saul’s office.
The wall was also likely replaced so he could create a storage space for his hidden box
that he retrieves in 4x05 ‘Quite a Ride’.
We briefly see the sign ‘Saul Goodman & Associates’ go up in 6x09, with it later being replaced
by the ‘Better Call Saul’ sign, the old sign sitting in his house.
How did Saul figure out how the disappearer worked?
Saul seems somewhat uncertain on how Ed works when he introduces his services to Walt in
Breaking Bad.
Upon Saul’s purchase of the black book, it’s likely Caldera provided him with both
a key to the book, but also one of Ed’s cards, explaining the service, and also the
required phrase, before confessing that he would be utilising Ed in order to escape his
life as a middleman for criminals.
In 6x06 he says he wants out, and as far back as 4x03 ‘Something Beautiful’ that his
current spot in the criminal world was getting to be too much for him.
Once Saul buys the book, he can leave.
He can likely pay the disappearance fee of $125,000 for the deluxe package.
He probably has this amount already, and if not, I imagine the selling of the black book
would help him reach this number.
It’s highly possible that the $20,000 Saul withdrew from the bank when faking the bribe
photos could’ve been real and could’ve been the amount used to buy the book.
Alternately, the $100,000 of cartel money that Saul received from Lalo for his Bagman
job may have been what was used instead, as legal use of that money may raise red flags.
When and why did Saul buy the Cadillac?
He got the Cadillac as a result of Kim’s words to him in 6x01.
Saying that Saul drives something flashy and American made.
I think that’s really just the answer.
He likely had enough for it after receiving the settlement money, with a new Cadillac
DeVille being about $40,000.
What did Saul do with the Sandpiper settlement money?
We’ve kind of covered this with some of the previous ones.
The black book, the car, the statue of liberty and redecoration of the offices, and then
likely a large or the main chunk of the money was spent on his new house.
The house may not have been so initially flashy, but we can presume it was added to over the
years.
Based on Saul’s call in 6x11 with Francesca he had plenty of money by the end of Breaking
Bad, with one of his shell companies having $850k, along with Nail Salons, vending machines,
and the laser tag place owned by Danny.
He also seems to have over a million stashed in diamonds.
How did Saul get the diamonds?
These first appear in 1x01.
This one we can actually make a pretty good guess at based on the scene between Saul and
Mike from 6x11.
Mike discusses a ‘Lasky’ with a high-end crew that fences jewellery up into Canada.
Nebraska is only a couple states away from the Canadian border, and so it’s fairly
likely that Saul could’ve exchanged his cash for a more discrete package of diamonds
from Lasky and his crew.
It’s also possible that he just had the diamonds prior, however due to the absence
of bags of money in the Gene timeline, it seems probable he traded it for diamonds,
until he begins earning money again from his identity theft scam in 6x11.
Who were the people in the 6x01 intro?
This has been up for debate.
Some saying they were people selling off Saul’s items prior to his escape.
This I don’t buy because I doubt he could sell it in time before he flees.
Unless the money was going to be funnelled into one of the shell companies that were
later seized.
It’s possible it was all being placed into evidence or assessed for what should go in
evidence for the police, his assets being locked up, or likely liquidated.
However, this also seems unlikely with things like the black book being placed into having
no worth.
You’d think that would be analysed in some form particularly due to the size of the case.
Unless that’s more of a literal thing with it being a book.
Who did Saul tell Francesca to call in 4x05 ‘Quite a Ride’, and to tell them ‘Jimmy
sent ya.’?
This one is essentially just pure speculation but based on Francesca mentioning him in her
call to Gene in 6x11, it was possibly Oakley.
There’s some problems there though what with him being ADA at the time, and only supposedly
‘switching sides’ post-Breaking Bad.
So, alternately we can assume it was a firm that Gene was aware of.
The most likely being Davis & Main.
Cliff seems fairly indifferent to him at this point, so potentially he sends her to Omar,
if he's still with Davis & Main.
Schweikart & Cokely seems unlikely being more focused on businesses it seems.
A long shot could be someone like Ernie possibly being a lawyer now, or Kristy Esposito.
After all it has to be someone who knows him by ‘Jimmy’ and so is likely, so knew him
when he went by that name, and was friendly with him also.
There’s also someone like Erin, but I don’t buy her helping at all.
Why does Mike seem to hate Saul in Breaking Bad?
This was always a strange one to me because it never seemed like Mike particularly liked
him anyway.
From the one scene of the two of them in the Breaking Bad era though in Better Call Saul,
it becomes pretty clear.
They are great at assisting one another as criminals, but they don’t exactly get along
or really need to, as long as they do the job that’s required of them.
Saul’s interests are his own, and Mike’s are largely Gus’ at the end of the day,
they’re not always going to be on the same page.
To each other they are a means to an end, it’s a functional business partnership first
and foremost.