‘Better Call Saul’: Jimmy finally breaks bad
It’s the constant question among fans of “Better Call Saul”: At what point will the well-meaning Jimmy McGill fully transform into the weaselly Saul Goodman from “Breaking Bad?”
Soon, promises co-creator Peter Gould, who’s sharing exclusive photos and the poster from the new season with USA TODAY ahead of the AMC drama’s premiere Aug. 6 (9 EDT/PDT).
“It’s amazing that we’re in Season 4 of a show called ‘Better Call Saul,’ and we’ve never really seen Saul Goodman,” Gould says. “But this season, the audience will start to better understand how the fun, slightly mischievous but goodhearted man who was Jimmy became Saul, who does so many despicable things. You really start to see how that happens and what causes that.”
When we last saw small-time attorney Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk), he was deep in money woes, thanks to a one-year suspension of his law license and his butchered attempt to swindle an old woman out of her lawsuit money. He also tried (unsuccessfully) to make amends with his estranged brother, Chuck (Michael McKean), who set his house on fire and killed himself in the shocking final minutes of Season 3.
Jimmy’s surprising reaction to Chuck’s death will be addressed in new episodes, which feature new and familiar faces from the “Breaking Bad” era, when Saul became the slippery legal protector of meth kingpin Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and his lab assistant Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul).
When viewers first met Saul in Season 2 of “Bad,” “he was brought out to the desert by Walt and Jesse with a bag over his head,” Gould says. “He was put in front of a pit, and the first thing he did was beg ‘Lalo’ for forgiveness. We’ve always wondered who ‘Lalo’ is, and this season, we’ll find out.”