Better Call Saul season 5 filming: The Jimmy, Saul evolution’s not over
(We do have a vision in our mind of what Jimmy’s life could have been had he remained Jimmy, and tried to practice law the right way — or something close to it. Given his reputation and the presence of many a prominent New Mexico lawyer already, he would have likely been regulated to the bottom of the food chain — he may not have been incredibly successful financially, but he would have been able to likely keep much of what he found some value in.)
For most of this series, Jimmy seems to be of this deluded belief that he doesn’t have much. He’s not finding a great deal of satisfaction within taking on low-tier clients, or doing odd jobs in the midst of his time off. He constantly yearned for Chuck’s approval when he was alive, and he even struggled with the notion of Kim Wexler, the woman who loved him and the woman who seemed to have his back, finding an element of normalcy and security that he did not have. This was a man who was always striving for something more, but he did not know what success would look like when he found it.
Because of Jimmy’s ambiguous nature of success, this is why we find him where he is. Being Saul is something that he can cling to, something that he can profit off of, and something that he can make a name for himself doing that is separate than “the guy who lost his law license.” We think for Jimmy, fame matters — reputation isn’t that important. It’s mostly whether or not you are known. At the start of season 5, this is where we envision the quest for Jimmy beginning as Saul — trying to be known, trying to cut corners, and trying to get some raised eyebrows and funny looks. He wants to make the money as fast as he can and he wants to hang jaws on the ground.
Why is Jimmy Saul? It’s a move made out of profit, but it’s also a move made out of revenge for everyone in the legal community who didn’t want to respect him or whatever questionable credentials that he had. We want to see some of that early disdain shot in the coming weeks, and we want to see what characters like Kim and Howard feel when some of Jimmy’s dodgy way of doing things as Saul starts to pay off for him. For the next few weeks, we should see the decline of Jimmy and the rise of Saul happen — maybe by the end of the season, we see this character closer to the peak of his powers, someone who probably wants to spend every day in the office because that’s where they are the happiest. To him, that’s better than a lonely office, shoddy cases, and someone to go home to. It’s the warped mind of Jimmy, the aftereffect of years of mistreatment in his childhood, and at the hands of Chuck as an adult.
While we believe it’s going to be a while before we get any Better Call Saul teasers — AMC isn’t releasing new episodes until 2020 — this is the filming we want to envision in our mind. It’s about seeing big events happen with Jimmy as Saul, but also getting constant reminders as to why they’re happening and what the actions actually mean.
(Photo: AMC.)