Saul Goodman

Saul Goodman
Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul character
First appearance
Last appearance
Created by
Portrayed by Bob Odenkirk
Blake Bertrand, Cole Whitaker (childhood flashbacks)
Information
Full name James Morgan McGill
Nickname(s) Slippin' Jimmy
Aliases
  • Saul Goodman
  • The Lawyer
  • Viktor Saint Claire
  • Charlie Hustle
  • Kevin Costner
  • Mr. Cumpston
  • Gene Takovic
Occupation
  • Attorney
  • (criminal defense, elder law)
  • Manager of Ice Station Zebra Associates
  • Mailroom clerk at Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill
  • Associate attorney at Davis & Main
  • Partner at Wexler McGill
  • Mobile salesman
  • Cinnabon manager
Family
  • Chuck McGill (brother)
  • Charles McGill, Sr. (father)
  • Ruth McGill (mother)
  • Rebecca Bois (former sister-in-law)
Significant other(s) Kim Wexler
Nationality Irish American

James Morgan "Jimmy" McGill, also known as Saul Goodman and Gene Takovic, is a fictional character who appears in the television series Breaking Bad and serves as the titular character of its spin-off prequel series Better Call Saul. He is portrayed by Bob Odenkirk, and was created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould.[1] The character is an Albuquerque-based lawyer who embraces his tendencies as a former scam artist and begins to represent criminals while himself becoming involved in the city's criminal world. Saul's name is a play on the phrase "[It]'s all good, man".[2]

Biography

Better Call Saul revolves around the life of Jimmy McGill beginning around 2002, prior to (and, to a limited extent, during and after) the events of Breaking Bad. McGill starts the series as a talented but unsuccessful lawyer overshadowed by his older brother Chuck,[3] working closely with his fellow attorney and on-off partner Kim Wexler.[4] The first season follows his attempts to transform himself from a con man to a legitimate lawyer, while cutting ethical corners and facing roadblocks from Chuck.[5] He adopts the alias "Saul Goodman" during the third season of the series, though not as an attorney, but as a TV commercial producer.[6]

In Breaking Bad, the character is introduced to help Walter White launder the proceeds of his methamphetamine production,[3] and later introduces the protagonists to drug kingpin Gus Fring.[7] He is depicted as using tacky television commercials to advertise his practice, which is based in a strip mall office that features a giant rendering of the United States Constitution.[5] Until the final episodes of the series, he is portrayed as a relatively light-hearted character, mainly interested in profiting while other characters are concerned with life and death.[8] By the end of the series, when Walt's drug empire has collapsed, Saul is forced to go into hiding under a new identity.

The season premieres of Better Call Saul open with black and white flash forwards that take place after or during the final episodes of Breaking Bad, showing that after leaving Albuquerque, Saul relocates to Omaha, Nebraska under the alias "Gene Takovic", and keeps a low profile as the manager of a Cinnabon establishment.[4]

Development

The need for a character like Saul came from two paths of Breaking Bad's development around the show's second season. First and foremost, as Walter and Jesse got themselves deeper into the drug business, the show's writer felt they needed a character to be a guide for them. At this point, they had written that Jesse's dimwitted friends like Badger were selling their drugs, they envisioned what type of lawyer they would enlist should they run into trouble.[9] The creators decided on the name "Saul Goodman" as a play on the phrase "[It]'s all good, man", as in that even his most simple-minded clients would remember his name when they get arrested.[2] Secondly, they were at a point in Hank's narrative where he had suffered a major trauma in seeing a fellow agent's decapitated head, and he would no longer be able to serve as the show's bit of lightness. They thus make Saul more of a comical character to fill this void.[9] The character was originally intended to appear in only three episodes of Breaking Bad, but instead became central to the narrative of the series.[10]

Odenkirk described Saul in Breaking Bad as a "front" who "seemed to enjoy being a showy cheeseball," while in Better Call Saul, Jimmy is an "earnest, sweet guy whose brain naturally cooks up dishonest solutions to the challenges in front of him."[10] Gould described Saul as a "hermetically sealed slickster."[11] Odenkirk based the character's speaking style on producer Robert Evans.[3]

In 2014, as a publicity stunt for the launch of Better Call Saul, a billboard for "James M. McGill, Attorney at Law" was placed in Albuquerque, mimicking a billboard that appeared on the show, with a phone number connecting to a voice mail message recorded by Odenkirk.[12]

Reception

For the first, second, and third seasons of Better Call Saul, Odenkirk was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series[13] as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

References

  1. ↑ "Vince Gilligan Talks BREAKING BAD, the Saul Goodman Spinoff, the Behind-the-Scenes Documentary, and More". Collider. 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
  2. 1 2 Braxton, Greg (2017-05-27). "'Better Call Saul': Say hello to Saul Goodman — finally". latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-02-14.
  3. 1 2 3 Heritage, Stuart (2017-04-13). "Better Call Saul: a methodical look at what causes a man to become a cockroach". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  4. 1 2 Meslow, Scott (2017-04-10). "'Better Call Saul' Is Finally Becoming 'Breaking Bad'". GQ. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  5. 1 2 Graff, Harry (2015-04-09). "Standard Of Review: Nothing Was Better Than This Season Of 'Better Call Saul'". Above the Law. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  6. ↑ Gordon, Diane (2017-03-29). "'Better Call Saul' Season 3 Premiere: Jimmy McGill Gets Closer to 'Breaking Bad'". Variety. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
  7. ↑ Graff, Harry. "Standard Of Review: If You Like 'Breaking Bad,' You Better Watch 'Better Call Saul'". Above the Law. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  8. ↑ Puschmann, Karl (2017-04-06). "Bob Odenkirk on drugs, violence and becoming Saul Goodman". New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  9. 1 2 Potts, Kimberly (November 26, 2013). "'Breaking Bad' Spinoff Scoop From the Man Who Created Saul Goodman". Yahoo! News. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Saporito, Jeff. "How has Bob Odenkirk interpreted and evolved his "Better Call Saul" character after "Breaking Bad"?". screenprism.com. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  11. ↑ Patten, Dominic (2015-06-17). "'Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk, Vince Gilligan & Peter Gould On Breaking Out From 'Breaking Bad' – Emmys". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  12. ↑ "There is a real billboard advertising the services of Saul Goodman's junior lawyer self - and the phone number works - Legal Cheek". Legal Cheek. 2014-07-24. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  13. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (July 16, 2015). "Emmy Nominations 2015 – Full List". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
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