Warning: Better Call Saul Spoilers Ahead…
After six and a half seasons, Better Call Saul eventually “broke bad” in the latest episode. When the Breaking Bad prequel series first aired, Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill seemed so different from his earlier portrayal of the immoral criminal defense attorney Saul Goodman that it seemed unlikely that Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul would return to their Breaking Bad roles as Saul’s most notorious clients.
In actuality, though, Vince Gilligan and colleagues could not have ended the series without giving us a Walt and Jesse appearance. The program has since included several allusions to its original series, primarily through storylines featuring Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) and Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Even before this season of Saul began, the show’s creators confirmed it.
It was then only an issue of when and how. The wait was finally over last night with an episode simply named “Breaking Bad”.
When the program jumped into the show’s black-and-white post-Heisenberg future a few weeks ago, it basically terminated the prequel continuity. Jimmy is now in exile and pretending as the menial Cinnabon manager Gene Takovic. The camera stays on Gene as he succumbs to temptation and assumes control of a low-risk but lucrative scamming enterprise in “Breaking Bad.”
The episode is interlaced with flashbacks from the Bad period that occur in and around the events of “Better Call Saul,” the episode that first introduced us to Odenkirk’s character way back when. However, writer/director Thomas Schnauz is clever in the way he structures his works.
Before they pull him into the desert, we see Saul (the name he was using at the time) rolling about in the back of the mobile meth lab that the pair liked to use in the early seasons of the series. After the two pay Saul to assist them with the incident that brought them all together, we then return to the lab’s interior.
This gives us a bit more background: Saul explores the facility to obtain a broad idea of how they create the renowned “blue stuff” that has gained popularity in Albuquerque’s streets.
Cranston and Paul’s connection is as strong and powerful as ever; they haven’t slowed down since leaving their roles as the characters. Though it only appears for a little moment, it is delightful to see the two of them again.
