Much like its titular protagonist, Better Call Saul is slippin’ towards the end. Filming for the beloved Breaking Bad spin-off has finished, and Jimmy’s final transition into Saul is set. Given the sixth and final season has started, now is a good time to look through Jimmy’s slippin’ history. Here are the Better Call Saul moments that best foreshadow Jimmy McGill’s turn into an opportunistic swindler:
10. The Red-Headed Twins Con
Jimmy is already up to trouble in the pilot episode. Looking for his next big case (and payout), our Saul-Goodman-in-progress enlists the aid of two redheaded skaters, promising to split the payout upon his plan’s success. Basically, upon bragging about his conman credentials, Jimmy coerces the twins to skate in front of a car to get injured and thus, eventually force the driver to payout. It’s the first real swindle Jimmy tries – and, as his bad luck would have it, it leads him to a violent confrontation with Tuco (turns out the person he’s trying to con is Tuco’s grandmother!)
9. Saving Huell
This is arguably one of the best (indeed, most creative) cons in the series. However, while it is sketchy and dishonest, it’s a case where Jimmy (and Kim) act out their conning with good intentions. After Huell unwittingly assaults a police officer, Jimmy and Kim concoct a plan which involves tricking several residents of Huell’s Louisianan hometown to write letters to the court, pleading for his release. Jimmy pretends to be Huell’s pastor over the phone to the lawyers, depicting Huell as a local hero and all-around good man. Remarkably, the scheme works, allowing Huell to plead out for a sentence of four months probation and time served.
8. Jimmy McGill’s Billboard Con
Ah, Season 1 of Better Call Saul. When we juxtapose it with the currently-ongoing Season 6, it almost seems like child’s play. One of the most lighthearted moments in the show has Jimmy erect a billboard for his practice. However, that’s not the only fabrication – rather, Jimmy also pays off a guy to pretend to be in danger of falling off the billboard. Here, Jimmy can pretend to save him, giving him some noble press coverage and, thus, promoting his business. But honestly, given Jimmy McGill’s many scheming moments, this one is fairly ‘lite’ at best.
7. Setting Up Howard with the Prostitutes
Before Jimmy and Kim teamed up to skewer Howard’s saint-like name in Season 6, the newly-christened Saul Goodman was attempting this by himself. Jimmy does this via a few means. The most humorous method he utilizes is paying a couple of prostitutes to approach Howard to make him seem like a sleaze. His more psychologically disturbing endeavors include rolling bowling balls over Howard’s home fence. That last moment especially is the best sign that something more disturbing lies underneath Jimmy McGill’s psyche in Better Call Saul.
6. Going Up Against Mesa Verde (and Kim)
When Season 5 kicks off, Jimmy has a spring in his step. Now operating under his famous pseudonym Saul Goodman (and free from the shadow of Chuck McGill), the crooked conman enjoys his job. Unfortunately, he takes things too far by breaking his agreement with Kim that he wouldn’t try to secure a settlement for Everett Acker. He confronts Mesa Verde, with Kim present (and unaware he was turning up), demanding $4 million for his client. Jimmy eventually secures the settlement by blackmailing Mesa Verde with problematic ghosts of the company’s past. This only further fractures his relationship with Kim.
5. Turning the Elderly Against Irene
Jimmy’s penchant for turning on the charisma is particularly effective during his short-lived career in Elder law. Unfortunately, our Saul-Goodman-in-the-making utilizes some dirty tactics to earn big. In Season 3, the crooked lawyer tries to coerce Irene into settling so that he can get his money from the case. To do this, he alienates her from her friends by making them believe Irene doesn’t care about the settlement because Jimmy’s already been giving her gifts. It’s a low blow even for Jimmy McGill.
4. Selling Burner Phones
His lawyer license suspended, Season 4 sees Jimmy McGill sell burner phones to ordinary joes. He manages to sell them on the promise that the IRA can’t track them on these devices. It’s a temporary career that, while it shows Jimmy’s natural entrepreneurial spirit, reveals how low he can go. During this phase of his life, Jimmy ends up kidnapping teenagers and threatening to unleash Huell on them unless they help sell his phones. Probably not a time Jimmy wants to actively reflect on…
3. The Season 3 Court Session
Considered one of the greatest moments in the series’ history, Jimmy and Kim join forces to defame Chuck in a tense court case. In this instance, Jimmy gets his buddy Huell to plant a battery inside his brother’s pocket. It’s a sly move which is the ‘ace in the hole’ Jimmy needs to make his brother appear mentally limited. By staining his reputation, this allows the future Saul Goodman to re-apply for his law license in a year (which he eventually does, via some trials and tribulations, wins).
2. The Mesa Verde Con
In an Abel-Cain moment of slightly more subtle proportions, Jimmy frames his brother. Holding contempt for Chuck – and feeling that his girlfriend Kim should have been on the Mesa Verde case – Jimmy fixes up his brother’s lawyer documents to cause a data error. And, given Chuck’s history of mental illness, it’s enough to cast aspersions on his older brother’s reputation and mental fitness. It’s a pretty brutal and revenge-driven act that slowly leads to the infamous court scene in Season 3.
1. Jimmy Becomes Saul
Hello, Saul Goodman. The Season 4 Finale finally reveals Saul Goodman hiding inside Jimmy all along. After a seemingly heartfelt appeal to regain his lawyer license at a hearing, it seems as though Jimmy may have finally undergone some character development. However, his heartfelt reminiscence of his late brother is a con. After the hearing, Jimmy is quick to open the curtains and brag to Kim about how he nailed the ruse. It’s, without a doubt, the best moment in Jimmy’s Better Call Saul journey to portray how low he’s fallen since Season 1.
But that’s just our take. What do you think are the moments that best exemplify Jimmy McGill’s spiral in Better Call Saul? And what are your thoughts on Better Call Saul Season 6?
