Better Call Saul season 5 … and now celebrating the anniversary of Saul
As Thomas Schnauz first noted on Twitter earlier this month, April 26 was shockingly the ten-year anniversary of this character coming into our lives for the first time. That is such a crazy thing to think about, mostly because it’s crazy to think that it has been that long. Also, it’s somewhat crazy to imagine just how far this character has come. When he first turned up within the “Better Call Saul” episode of Breaking Bad, it was hard to envision him as something more than just a bit character, someone who could flutter in and out of Walter White’s life because his primary purpose was as an attorney. We didn’t get a sense that we would be seeing so much more of him otherwise.
What the omnipresence of Saul and now Jimmy McGill shows, first and foremost, is that the writers within the greater Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe are so adept at finding a way to evolve a character from some humble beginnings and turn them into the best of the past several years. Jimmy’s story has the elements of the Saul he becomes, but there’s also still a lightness here. There is a touch of humanity and a reminder that the character could have become something different. Jimmy is not someone who only had one path forward, and that was to become so dark. There were also ways in which he could have turned his fate around and found a light at the end of the tunnel. There were opportunities for him but unfortunately, he was not able to grasp them in his hands.
As we now move into the next year of Jimmy McGill’s life as a character, the next test is learning more of precisely how he becomes the Saul Goodman we first see in that Breaking Bad episode. Based on where we are at the moment within the Better Call Saul story, he has already decided that he wants to be referred to as this name moving forward. That means that we’re inching ever closer to watching this character build some sort of new empire.
Beyond this, the next order of business is to see actually the other side — more of Jimmy beyond Saul. That’s been teased at the start of many Better Call Saul seasons, but we know that there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm out there to actually see Gene, and experience a little bit more of precisely what he brings to the table.
What are you the most excited to see when it comes to Better Call Saul season 5, and are you as shocked as we are about this character’s remarkable sense of longevity? Be sure to share right now in the comments. (Photo: AMC.)