From New Mexico to New Hampshire with a quick stop in Nebraska – and don't forget those
trips to Mexico and Germany. The story of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul reaches
far beyond Albuquerque - and we've got the whole timeline right here.
Although both "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" take place much later than this, the
1980s set up some important events that take place later. One of the most important things
that happens during this time is the establishment of the law firm Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill. At
this time, it is known simply as Hamlin & McGill after Chuck McGill and George M. Hamlin. George's
son Howard has not yet become a partner in the Albuquerque company.
Meanwhile, in the 1980s, Walter White establishes Gray Matter Technologies with his friend and
colleague Elliott Schwartz. The two worked together in college and set up the company
after completing their thesis. The pair are later joined by Gretchen, who Walter dates
for a time. Her family's wealth leads to Walter feeling inferior, and he breaks off the relationship
and sells his share in Gray Matter Technologies for just $5,000. The company goes on to become
a multi-billion dollar enterprise, and Walt forever nurses a grudge against Elliot and Gretchen.
"But little did I understand that they were artfully maneuvering me into leaving my own creation."
Around the same time, Gustavo Fring and Max Arciniega approach the Cartel about forming
a potential partnership. Don Eladio has Max killed by Hector Salamanca after being angered
by the two up-and-coming drug dealers giving meth to his men as a way of manipulating Eladio
into meeting them. This is a defining moment for Gus, who vows to avenge his murdered partner
by any means necessary.
Jimmy McGill, later known as Saul Goodman, starts the 1990s by running a series of scams
with his friend Marco. The two con men operate in Cicero, but Jimmy is arrested and later
saved by his brother Chuck McGill after facing possible jail time. Of course, there's a catch:
Jimmy has to agree to move to Albuquerque and get a job at Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill.
"Just tell me what to do. Whatever it is, I'll do it."
Jimmy leaves for New Mexico with Chuck and begins working in the mail-room of the law
firm. For most of this time, he is a model employee and manages to stay out of trouble.
In 1997, Jimmy passes the bar after studying in his spare time and applies for a position
at Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill. Unbeknownst to Jimmy at the time, Chuck blocks this, and
Jimmy leaves to pursue a career as a lawyer on his own.
Between 1998 and 2002, Jesse Pinkman attends J. P. Wynne High School. He is a rather uninterested
student and draws the ire of Walter White after he fails his chemistry class.
Not long before the start of "Better Call Saul," Matt Ehrmantraut is murdered by corrupt
police officers. He had shown a reluctance to take dirty money and only accepted the
cash after speaking to his father, Mike Ehrmantraut, a dirty cop himself. Fearing he would turn
them in, Matt's fellow officers killed him in an ambush.
This prompts a furious response from Mike, who quits the Philadelphia Police Department
and kills the two men responsible for murdering his son. He immediately leaves for Albuquerque
to be close to his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Eventually, Mike starts working as a parking
lot attendant at the Albuquerque courthouse.
By 2001, Chuck McGill begins experiencing a purportedly unknown electromagnetic hypersensitivity
condition. This seemingly starts after he and his wife split up and divorce, leading
some to believe it may be a psychological condition rather than a physical one. Soon
afterward, Chuck takes an extended sabbatical from Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill so he can avoid
all electronics, living in a home he has gutted of wiring and devices.
The 1st season of "Better Call Saul" begins in May 2002, with Jimmy McGill attempting
to represent the Kettlemans when Craig Kettleman is accused of embezzlement. The lawyer is
tired of being a public defender and wants to start more lucrative work. His schemes
eventually lead to him meeting Nacho Varga and Tuco Salamanca, thrusting the character
into the criminal underworld for the first time.
Jimmy ultimately discovers that Craig Kettleman did embezzle millions of dollars and takes
$30,000 to keep quiet. Around this time, he also meets Mike Ehrmantraut and begins speaking
to him regularly, especially when it becomes clear that Mike is useful as a fixer and private
investigator. After eventually managing to convince the Kettlemans to accept a plea deal,
he returns their money and begins to specialize in elder law.
During this time, he discovers that the nursing home Sandpiper Crossing is overcharging its
residents and starts canvassing for a class action lawsuit. The campaign is successful,
and on the strength of it, he is offered a position with Davis & Main. However, he doesn't
last long in the safe and cushy environment and chooses to get himself fired. Elsewhere,
to help Kim Wexler get back an important bank client, he breaks into Chuck McGill's house
and changes paperwork.
Around the same time, Mike begins working with Nacho to try and get rid of Tuco, which
brings Hector Salamanca into the fold. Eventually, it becomes obvious that it would benefit everyone
if Hector is killed, but Mike is stopped by a mysterious figure when he is about to shoot
him with a sniper rifle.
In the 3rd season of "Better Call Saul," Gustavo Fring makes his first appearance. The fast-food
owner is actually a huge drug distributor and is planning on becoming the leading force
north of the border. It's revealed he is the one who stopped Mike from killing Hector,
as he has his own plans for the Cartel member. Seeing exactly how useful Mike can be, Gus
offers to hire him full-time. Meanwhile, Nacho switches out Hector's medication, and he suffers
a serious stroke, losing the ability to talk and move freely.
Jimmy, who is now operating on his own once again, is taken to court by Chuck. The older
brother wants to get Jimmy disbarred for his crimes but only manages to get him suspended
as a lawyer by the bar association. However, during the trial, Jimmy proves that Chuck's
illness is mental and causes a deterioration in his condition. Later, Jimmy manages to
get Chuck's malpractice insurance canceled, leaving Chuck with no opportunity to practice
law even if his condition does improve. Chuck kills himself at the end of Season 3 by burning
down his house with a gas lantern.
Gus begins his efforts to take over the drug business north of the border. With Werner
Ziegler, he begins constructing a secret meth lab underneath a laundromat he owns in an
attempt to control the drug trade. He also pays for a doctor to keep Hector alive, though
he ensures that the Cartel leader won't recover and will stay in his debilitated condition.
Working with Mike, Gus forces Nacho to act as a double agent against the Salamancas and
to get information on Lalo Salamanca when he arrives in Albuquerque to oversee his family's
business. Mike and Gus agree to remove Lalo from the equation so they can continue unchallenged
and neutralize the Salamancas permanently.
On the other hand, Jimmy strikes out on his own once again and changes his professional name.
"Wait, wait. Jimmy, Jimmy, what?" "It's all good, man."
After getting his law license back, he begins focusing on working directly with criminals
and is soon recruited by Lalo to represent Krazy-8 and work directly with the Salamancas.
He later has to help get Lalo out of jail when he is arrested and travels to the border
to get his $7 million bail money. Ambushed by unknown assailants, Jimmy is almost killed
until Mike saves his life, and the two make it back to Albuquerque safely. Season 5 ends
in 2004 with Kim convincing Jimmy that they need to take down Howard Hamlin.
Gus' plot to neutralize Lalo culminates in a daring late night raid on the charming psychopath's
Mexican compound. Nacho sets a fire in the kitchen as a distraction, then opens the back
gate to a squad of armed mercenaries and takes off into the night. The mercenaries gun down
nearly everyone in the compound, but Lalo is able to escape. Taking advantage of the
fact that everyone thinks he's dead, Lalo sets out to prove that Gus is working against the cartel.
Nacho, meanwhile, becomes the most wanted man on either side of the border, as the Salamancas
hunt him for betraying Lalo, and Gus cannot have him captured and interrogated. Mike arranges
for him to be smuggled back stateside, but Nacho understands that he's between a rock
and a hard place. He gets Mike's word that his father won't be hurt, and allows himself
to be turned over to the Salamancas. Rather than fully acquiesce to Gus' plan, Nacho gets
the last word in before shooting himself in the head.
Kim's plan to take down Howard has two goals: To force a settlement in the Sandpiper Retirement
Home lawsuit, which would give Jimmy a hefty windfall thanks to his finders fee, and to
punish Howard for his general attitude over the course of the show. What follows is an
intricate, coordinated plan across summer 2004 to make it appear as if Howard is a drug
addict, using planted bags of powder, disguises, stolen cars, and staged photographs. Their
plan works all too well, ruining Howard's reputation with colleagues like Clifford Main
and sending him into an emotional tailspin.
Meanwhile, Lalo Salamanca has spent the weeks since the raid on his compound traveling the
world in secret to expose Gus Fring. He knows that Gus made use of a German engineering
team the year before to build something underneath an industrial laundromat outside of town.
He knows that Nacho betrayed him on Fring's orders, and he suspects that Jimmy, who was
introduced to him by Nacho, knows more than he let on when the last spoke. The legal world
and the cartel world mostly existed separate from each other on "Better Call Saul," but
in the Season 6 episode "Plan and Execution," these worlds collide, as both Howard and Lalo
arrive at Jimmy and Kim's condo seeking answers. Lalo has no patience for Howard's side of
things, however, and shoots him within seconds.
"Okay, let's talk."
Lalo sends a traumatized Kim on a mission: Drive to Gus Fring's house, ring the doorbell,
and gun down whoever answers. This is, of course, a suicide mission whose intent is
to distract Gus and his men so Lalo can get inside the laundromat and see what exactly
is going on. However, Gus quickly realizes Lalo's plan and heads to the laundromat himself,
only for Lalo to get the drop on him. At gunpoint he forces Gus to take him into the under-construction
super lab, where Gus is able to kill the lights and reach a gun he had hidden away. The two
men fire at each other in the dark, but only Gus' bullet finds its mark; Lalo dies with
a smile on his face.
That same night, Mike and his crew remove Howard's body and clean up Jimmy's condo as
if the killing never even happened; Howard and Lalo are buried together underneath the
super lab floor, never to be found again. And while Jimmy is more than willing to compartmentalize
Howard's death and their complicity in it, Kim is unable to do so. She submits her resignation
from the New Mexico Bar Association and leaves Jimmy. The harm that they cause others when
they are together is too great; it can't be justified by their love for each other. As
Kim packs boxes, the episode "Fun and Games" ends with a devastating flash-forward to 2005,
one year later, when we see that without her, Jimmy has fully embraced the amoral, decadent
lifestyle of Saul Goodman.
"Breaking Bad" is set in 2008, with the show starting as Walter White is diagnosed with
terminal lung cancer at the age of 50. This prompts the high school chemistry teacher
to go on a ride-along with his brother-in-law, DEA agent Hank Schrader. That's when he recognizes
his former student Jesse Pinkman, and sees an opportunity to partner up with his former
student to cook meth to pay his medical bills and leave something for his family. He approaches
Jesse, and they both agree to work together and combine their talents.
"Chirality. Mirrored imagery, right? Active, inactive. Good, bad."
While things don't exactly go smoothly at first, Walter and Jesse do manage to successfully
sell meth and soon begin cooking in an old RV out in the desert. The pair eventually
run into Tuco Salamanca and enter a partnership with him to distribute the drugs. As the relationship
worsens, they eventually end up meeting Hector Salamanca and are set to be killed by Tuco.
However, Hank arrives and unknowingly saves the two rookie cooks and kills Tuco in a shootout.
With Tuco Salamanca no longer a problem, Walter and Jesse have an opportunity to expand and
take over the role of distributors. Jesse teams up with Skinny Pete and Badger to start
selling the meth themselves, and they see a good amount of success, at first. Jesse
even develops an undeserved reputation for being a cold-blooded killer, making it easier
for his gang to collect money from dealers. Yet changes in their personal circumstances
make things more difficult for them to continue cooking meth.
Skyler becomes increasingly suspicious of Walter and what he is doing in his spare time.
When she discovers he has a second phone, she initially suspects he may be having an
affair. Eventually, she discovers that he has been lying about getting money from his
former business partners to pay for his medical bills. Around the same time, Jesse enters
a relationship with Jane Margolis, and they start using drugs regularly.
In need of a lawyer to get Badger off the hook after a sting operation, Walter and Jesse
go to Saul Goodman. He is able to help them get Badger a lighter sentence when he is arrested
and comes up with a plan to make their extra income seem legitimate. After some discussion,
he puts them into contact with Gustavo Fring, and the kingpin agrees to buy a shipment of meth.
Skyler leaves Walt, prompting him to try and quit the drug business in an attempt to fix
his marriage. Gus is able to convince him to work directly for him, giving Walter a
private underground lab to work in. Jesse joins Walter a few weeks later, and the pair
continue to cook meth on an industrial scale. Despite some initial success, the relationship
between Gus, Walter, and Jesse soon falls apart. A series of decisions leads Gus to
try and cut them out of his business, but they kill their potential replacement, saving
them for at least a little while.
In a moment of triumph, Gus finally succeeds in getting his revenge on the Cartel. Taking
Mike and Jesse south of the border, he poisons the leading members of the gang, effectively
removing all competition in the meth trade and finally accomplishing his revenge. When
he returns to Albuquerque, Gus fires Walt and warns him to stay away from Jesse. Realizing
that his life is in danger, Walt tries to leave town with his family but doesn't have
enough money to pay for everyone. Ultimately, he resolves to kill Gus as a way of removing the threat.
Using Gus' hatred of Hector Salamanca against him, Walt assassinates Gus using a bomb strapped
to the old Cartel member's wheelchair. Along with Jesse and Mike, Walt takes over what
is left of the meth business and becomes incredibly successful. They discover Lydia Rodarte-Quayle
and Gus' involvement with Madrigal. After Walter has Mike and all of his men killed
to protect himself, he works with Lydia to expand his operations to Europe.
Even though Walter's business is thriving, Hank discovers that he is the elusive Heisenberg
and starts working to take him down. Ultimately, Hank and Steven Gomez are killed in a shootout
with the neo-Nazi group that Walter is working with. The group takes Jesse hostage and forces
him to continue making meth for them in captivity. To avoid being arrested, Walter flees to New
Hampshire under a new identity for six months. With his death imminent from his returning
cancer, Walter goes back to Albuquerque, kills Lydia and the Nazis, and frees Jesse before
succumbing to his wounds as police arrive at the scene.
Before "El Camino," the last time viewers see Jesse is when he's speeding away from
the Nazi compound as police close in. The movie begins almost immediately after this,
with Jesse escaping to Skinny Pete's house. With the help of Badger and Skinny Pete, he
manages to safely avoid the police, and he heads to Todd's old apartment to try and scrape
together enough money to purchase a new identity from Ed the vacuum salesman.
He finds himself $1,800 short of the necessary amount, and Ed is unwilling to do the deal
without full payment. Getting the cash together proves difficult, but Jesse is ultimately
able to get the full amount and then some. Jesse goes back to Ed and chooses to start
a new life in Alaska.
As part of the "Better Call Saul" series, each season features a flash-forward, showing
Jimmy in the present day living under his new identity of Gene Takovic. Located in Omaha,
he works as a Cinnabon manager and is constantly nervous about his former life being uncovered
or someone recognizing him. Still, the former lawyer clearly still feels very attached to
Saul Goodman, watching old commercials on VHS.
Jimmy's secret identity seems to work perfectly, and his new Social Security number even holds
up when he's taken to hospital after a suspected heart attack. However, a cab driver recognizes
him and later confronts him at the mall, confirming that he knows he is really Saul Goodman. Jimmy
calls Ed to arrange another pickup and then changes his mind, saying that he will deal
with the issue himself.
Jimmy handles Jeff the cab driver the only way he knows how to — with a good old-fashioned
con job. Using Jeff's elderly mother Marion as leverage, Jimmy makes Jeff a proposition,
a one-time introduction to the Saul Goodman-style criminal life via a heist of luxury goods
from the department store at the mall where "Gene Takovic" works. The heist goes off almost
perfectly, and the success gives Jimmy a rush he hasn't felt in months since leaving Albuquerque.
After a frustrating phone call to Kim, now living in Florida, Jimmy finds himself back
in the conman lifestyle, running identity theft scams with Jeff and Jeff's friend Buddy.
Everything is going well for weeks, until a scam gone wrong lands Jeff in jail. Jimmy
arranges for Marion to post his bail, but when he arrives to take her to the courthouse,
she confronts him with Saul Goodman commercials she found on line.
"I typed in 'con man' and 'Albuquerque' and up you popped, big as day."
Jimmy flees the house, with the police hot on his tail.
After divorcing Jimmy and leaving New Mexico in 2005, Kim spends the next several years
building a purposely bland, no-opinion kind of life in central Florida. When Walter White's
drug empire finally collapses and makes national news in early 2010, Kim reaches out to Francesca,
Saul's former receptionist, to make sure she's all right and Jimmy is still alive. When Jimmy
finds out about this in November 2010, he takes it as a sign to reach out to Kim himself.
That phone call does not go well. Kim, though glad he is alive, still wants nothing to do
with Jimmy and thinks he should confess everything and turn himself in. When he petulantly counters
that maybe she should be the one to confess, Kim does exactly that, traveling back to Albuquerque
with a notarized confession of the events that led up to Howard's death in 2004. She
delivers one copy to the district attorney's office and the other to Howard's widow Cheryl,
but the fact that there isn't any physical evidence to back up her confession means that
it's unlikely she'll be tried in criminal court. However, Cheryl implies that there's
another path she can take to get revenge.
"I could sue you in civil court. I could take everything you've got."
Nevertheless, the act of confession seems to awaken something in Kim, and when she returns
to Florida she begins volunteering at a local free legal aid office.
After fleeing Marion's home, Omaha police find Gene hiding in a dumpster. Facing a life
sentence plus 190 years for his many crimes as a member of the Heisenberg empire, Jimmy
channels Saul Goodman one last time, acting as his own attorney and claiming that his
work for Walter White was made under duress. The possibility of a hung jury or mistrial
prompts the lead prosecutor to pitch a plea deal in which Jimmy would serve less than
eight years at a minimum security prison.
At the hearing to finalize the plea deal, however, Jimmy has one last trick up his sleeve.
Inspired by Kim's willingness to confess to Howard's murder and bear the consequences,
he does likewise, admitting to the court his culpability in Walt's criminal activities,
as well as his own culpability in Chuck's suicide. That eight year sentence becomes
86 instead, but prison life seems to suit Jimmy just fine. He bakes bread in the prison
cafeteria as if he were back at Cinnabon, and he has the respect of his fellow inmates
and guards, who all call him Saul. Kim visits, pretending to be his lawyer, and the two share
a forbidden cigarette, one last time, just as they did in the first episode of the series.