To be clear you are not going forward with this?
I’m gonna fix it myself.
The Evolution of Saul Goodman, from Slippin’ Jimmy to Gene Takovic.
When we first see Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad, we are introduced to a scumbag lawyer
deeply involved in all types of shady criminal behavior.
Goodman was a dirty opportunist, driven by greed and corruption.
In Better Call Saul we would slowly learn how he made the transformation from Jimmy
McGill into Saul Goodman, and now that journey is complete.
With 4 episodes still remaining, we were given the reveal that Jimmy’s transformation was
complete when Kim broke up with him.
But that was merely the final big step in his journey.
In his first childhood flashback, Jimmy sees his old man being played for a sucker, and
despite warning his father he is being conned, his good hearted old man remains an easy target.
Jimmy learns a valuable lesson from the culprit about wolves and sheep, and when we see the
finished Saul Goodman product in Breaking Bad, he’s clearly all wolf.
But that wasn’t always the case in Better Call Saul.
At times Jimmy embraced the roll of a wolf, but the bigger lesson he took from all of
this was not to become a sucker like his old man.
But he wasn’t all wolf, not yet anyway.
The other key detail we learn from Jimmy’s past is that he always idolized his big brother
Chuck.
And even way back then, young Jimmy was seeking a shortcut, wanting to know the ending of
the story without enjoying the experience of it.
We also know that young Jimmy evolved into Slippin’ Jimmy, an opportunist conman.
His partner in crime was his good pal Marco, and together they would run their hustle.
All the fun and games came to an end for Jimmy after the Chicago sunroof incident that would
totally change his life.
Jimmy cried to his mother on the phone about being in jail, and Mom had Chuck swoop in
to save the day.
Chuck agreed to help Jimmy if he cleaned his act up, and Chuck got Jimmy a job at the HHM
mailroom.
All the fun and games with Marco were now in the past.
After beginning his job in the mailroom Jimmy’s desire to please and obtain the approval of
his big brother Chuck became a primary motivation.
He also met Kim Wexler at this time.
Inspired by Kim working the same job as him while attending law school and ultimately
becoming a lawyer, Jimmy decided to follow her example, in secret.
Jimmy always idolized Chuck, and in his mind, becoming a lawyer just like his brother would
be something that would make him proud.
Jimmy labored his way through working the mailroom while also taking courses at a correspondence
school, the University of American Samoa.
As his friendship with Kim grew closer, Jimmy finally passed the bar.
Chuck vouched for him in front of the bar committee.
But unbeknownst to Jimmy, Chuck resented his kid brother.
Chuck is around 15-16 years older than Jimmy, so for most of his childhood, he was the center
of the universe for his parents.
Then along came Jimmy!
Chuck would become a model citizen and a powerhouse intellect, unlike his degenerate kid brother.
Jimmy was a troublemaker, Jimmy was a thief who robbed his own family, and Jimmy preferred
shortcuts to hard work.
But Jimmy’s charisma made him inherently likable despite his inclination towards shortcuts.
Everyone loved Jimmy, especially their beloved mother.
Chuck’s resentment towards Jimmy was on full display when their mother cried out for
Jimmy with her dying words.
Chuck was jealous!
Chuck was the one who refused to leave her side.
Jimmy was out getting a sandwich!
And Chuck lied, never telling Jimmy what happened in her final moments.
Jimmy thought becoming a lawyer would make Chuck proud, but in reality it embarrassed
him!
It was a sick joke!
Chuck had Howard block Jimmy from getting a job at HHM, Jimmy had become a lawyer around
the same time Chuck’s marriage began falling apart, and that is when Chuck claims he was
suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
Jimmy’s desire to please Chuck took greater form, as Jimmy literally took care of his
big brother, providing him ice and goods and newspapers, and taking care of him.
All the while Jimmy was out to please his brother, his brother was actively blocking
him from becoming a lawyer at HHM, and doing so in secret, pretending he was on Jimmy’s
side and that Howard was the enemy.
Chuck wound up in the hospital following the stolen newspaper incident, and Jimmy ignored
the Doctor’s suggestion that Chuck needed help, that his problems were not physical,
they were mental.
Instead of doing the right thing and giving Chuck the chance he needed to get real help,
Jimmy’s unrelenting urge to please his older brother and gain his approval took over.
Instead of doing what Chuck NEEDED, Jimmy opted to do what Chuck WANTED.
Eventually Jimmy would learn that it wasn’t Howard, but it had been Chuck all along.
His older brother had betrayed him, the brother whose every need Jimmy had been taking care
of.
This betrayal led Jimmy down a path that brought him back to Marco, Marco’s last hoorah as
it were, where Marco claimed to have had the best week of his life.
The important thing to remember here, is after feeling a deep sense of betrayal from Chuck,
a broken Jimmy returned to his Slippin’ Jimmy ways.
Even though it was a short term plan, where he needed to cut loose and vent, he instinctually
embraced his con artist past.
Chuck and Jimmy had their back and forth, with the forged papers, and the secret tape
recorder, and the big scam when Hewl performed his reverse pickpocket swap like the smooth
operator he is.
Chuck eventually takes his own life.
By this point in the story, Jimmy and Kim are an item, they have their fair share of
scams, they become a toxic influence on one another, and this all culminates with ruining
Howard Hamlin’s good name.
Along the way Jimmy gets mixed up in the cartel, which gets Kim in the game, and that world
collides with their scheming fun and results in Howard getting shot.
They also got married following a moment where they seemed on the verge of breaking up.
All of these factors contributed towards the drive to ruin Howard, where she never came
clean to Jimmy that she was visited by Mike and, more importantly, that she knew Lalo
was alive.
So Kim Wexler was indeed the only thing preventing Jimmy McGill from going all in on Saul Goodman.
But it goes even deeper than that.
Kim didn’t just break Jimmy’s heart when she ended the relationship.
But Kim admitted she betrayed Jimmy!
She knew Lalo was alive, and she never told Jimmy because she knew he would call off the
Howard scheme and they would break up.
This was the second time a dearly loved one had betrayed Jimmy McGill, except this time
he wasn’t just being betrayed by a big brother whom he idolized - he was being betrayed by
his soulmate, his one true love.
We know this represents the final descent into becoming the scumbag Saul Goodman we
know from Breaking Bad.
And Goodman handled Kim’s betrayal not unlike he did when he first learned Chuck betrayed
him - by embracing his inner Slippin’ Jimmy.
Saul Goodman is the finished polished product, an opportunist low life wolf, preying on unwitting
sheep in cunning ruthless style.
It’s as if Saul Goodman is vicariously living the life he and Kim may have led had Howard
not become a casualty of their dirty work.
Indeed, Goodman is embracing many of the characteristics Kim had suggested for him - the car, the cathedral
of law, the location, the type of clients, the flashy style, the slogan.
It’s as if Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad is the personification of what Wexler had
in mind for the character.
It’s almost like he’s living a demented tribute to his former life of crime alongside
Kimmy Corleone.
Fast forward to Gene Takovic.
Gene is a paranoid frightened man, living a sheltered life that goes against everything
Saul Goodman once stood for.
The only real satisfaction he experiences is through living in the past.
Whether he’s watching his old television commercials, signing his name afraid to set
off alarms, suffering anxiety complications from his omnipresent paranoia, or giving advice
to a young punk where he summons his inner-lawyer - Gene is living in the past, missing the
life he lived as Saul Goodman.
Now Gene needs to contend with Jeff the cab driver.
Jeff and his buddy definitely exuded a sinister vibe, as did Jeff’s entire confrontation
with Gene.
Jeff knows who Saul Goodman is, and worse yet, he knows that Goodman has fled Albuquerque
and uses an alias.
Jeff seems shady, and this feels like a play on a common theme in the Breaking Bad universe
where one crook is quick to roll over another - easy prey, the type who won’t go to the
police.
This is exactly like what Nacho did to Pryce, except that guy wasn’t too bright and went
to the cops anyway.
Jeff has leverage over Goodman, and Goodman knows it.
The one lesson young Jimmy has always put into practice from a young age was that he
wasn’t going to become a sucker like his old man!
Now he is going head to head with a predator wolf who has Gene in a vulnerable situation.
Gene has been longing for the good old days, when he was doing his hustle as Saul Goodman
in all of his glory!
And we know his life as Goodman was lived out almost like a demented tribute to Kimmy
Corleone who helped sculpt what would become the finished product following her betrayal.
Whatever new information we learn about Saul Goodman from the Breaking Bad timeline will
almost certainly be relevant, thematically at least, with regards to the final showdown
between Gene Takovic and Jeff the cabdriver.
Will Gene Takovic embrace his inner Saul Goodman one last time?
Does he still have what it takes to fend off a predator wolf?
Or is Gene Takovic headed for a fate where he finally becomes what he fears most - a
sucker like his old man before him?
I believe whatever new information we get before Gene’s story resumes - whether it’s
from the Breaking Bad timeline, whether it’s something still from the Better Call Saul
timeline, whether it's maybe something after Breaking Bad but before Gene works at Cinnabon,
or whether it’s another childhood flashback to Jimmy, or perhaps even a flashback with
Chuck and/or Kimmy - whatever new information we get about McGill/Goodman in the next few
episodes will likely provide some very important puzzle pieces that fit in with Gene’s battle
against Jeff the cab driver, Goodman’s last stand.
Can’t wait for the Final 4!
I’m done!
I am done!
Thank you very much for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
This is Rummy’s Corner.
Except this isn’t Rummy’s Corner you friggin dumb ass.
Rummy’s Corner.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos, delicious chicken grilled or fried.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos.
He’s conning you.
Jimmy, what if you’re wrong.
Is she going to be okay?
She’ll be fine, Jimmy.
How do you know?
Just listen.
Wolves and sheep.
Figure out which one you’re gonna be.
Mom took it upon herself to call you!
I was just telling her where I was.
You didn’t cry to her on the phone?
What?
No!
You didn’t cry and beg Mom for help?
Jimmy?
No Mom, it’s me Chuck.
Jimmy!
No, Mom…
You have the power to help your brother, truly help him.
Ignoring this won’t make it go away.
We’re working together on this?
That’s up to you Jimmy.
You’re not a real lawyer!
University of America Samoa for Chrissake!
What a joke!
An online course?
What a joke!
Couldn’t keep his hands out of the cash drawer!
But not our precious Jimmy!
It couldn’t be Jimmy!
In the end you’re going to hurt everyone around you.
You can’t help it.
So stop apologizing and accept it!
And go our separate ways or we’re…
Or what?
Maybe we get married.
You may kiss.
Shit!
Oh shit!
Oh my God!
That’s not cool.
I know who you are.
You know who you are.
Let’s just get passed that.
Apart we’re okay, but together we’re poison.
Stealing them blind!
And he gets to be a lawyer!
I should have stopped him when I had the chance!
Better Call Saul.
There we go.
It’s an honor I’ll see you…
“Gene”.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos, delicious chicken grilled or fried.
Pollos Hermanos, Pollos Hermanos.
You know Quasimodo predicted all of this.
What is this?
That my friend is Albuquerque's public enemy #1.
I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but you never really mattered that much to me.
I love you.
I love you, too.
But so what?
You know who I had in my cab once?
Sammy Hagar!
And he’s even more famous than you are!
I’m gonna fix it myself.
You’re done!
You are done!