When Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould introduced Better Call Saul to viewers, it seemed like a perfect way to extend the backstory for one of Breaking Bad's most interesting side characters. But it hasn't always been easy for the creative team, considering such a huge chunk of Saul Goodman's future has already been established. And it turns out one particular Breaking Bad line has caused some major mental kerfuffles for Gilligan & Co., and it all has to do with Saul's romantic life.
I'll tell you a tricky one. Off the top of my head, there was some casual reference Saul Goodman made way back in Breaking Bad about being married twice or three times or something like that. That one has bedeviled us for sure. It was just a goofy throwaway line in an episode of BB where Saul Goodman talked about his second wife or some such and that has bedeviled us. We're trying to figure that one out. When did he [have] a wife? And who was the second wife? Who was his first wife? Blah blah blah. That was a tricky one.
If Jimmy McGill-turned-Saul Goodman was some kind of a Casanova with a sex-crazed hot streak, then this might not be such a challenge for Vince Gilligan. But that's most certainly not the case, and the most successful flirting we've seen from Jimmy involved him lying to a woman about being Kevin Costner so that she would sleep with him. Interestingly, that was also a Breaking Bad callback (or call-ahead, as it were). But one sexual encounter does not a wife or ex-wife make, so what will the deal be here?
Vince Gilligan spoke with Screenrant for Breaking Bad's tenth anniversary, and his words will almost certainly cause fans to envision a future where Saul and Kim can finally lower their guards and become a couple, but that might actually be the worst scenario possible. In the Season 3 episode "Green Light," Saul tells Walt that he caught his second wife screwing his stepdad, which means Kim would end up cheating on Jimmy, and Kim just doesn't seem like that kind of woman. Especially when it involves Jimmy's stepdad, who also hasn't been introduced yet within this universe.
We also haven't ever met Jimmy's first wife, assuming she exists, but that's less of an issue, since there are lots of things we don't know about Jimmy's younger years. But assuming he meets, marries and divorces a second woman between Better Call Saul's "now" and Breaking Bad's future, then viewers will be in for quite an awkward and presumably mishandled treat. And we can't wait.
Of course, I don't think anyone who has watched Jimmy McGill or Saul Goodman in action would ever take any of Bob Odenkirk's personas solely at their word. Jimmy's instinct and impulse for lying are some the character's most recognizable qualities, so we wouldn't be surprised at all to discover that Jimmy has never been married in his life, and that his stepdad is as real as Santa Claus. But if even Vince Gilligan doesn't even know at this point, what chance do we have?
Unfortunately, we're still not sure when Better Call Saul will be back on AMC to lay out even more Breaking Bad connections, and to lay out Chuck's fate, but Season 4's premiere date will likely get announced in the coming weeks. Until then, head to our midseason premiere schedule to see all the new and returning shows that are on the way.
