Better Call Saul: trivia that every fan should know

It arrived on AMC in 2015 with the stigma of being the spinoff of one of the best TV shows in history: 'Breaking Bad.' Six seasons later, the series 'Better Call Saul' with Bob Odenkirk surpassed viewers' expectations.

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The story of Saul Goodman reached the standards of 'Breaking Bad's Walter White. Both shows have been considered to be among the best series of the 21st century.

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On August 15, 2022, the series 'Better Call Saul' ended after six seasons. Critics called its finale 'masterful' (Empire), 'momentous' (Telegraph), and 'spot on' (The Guardian), just like they said about the show as a whole.

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And it all came from the appearance of a secondary character in 'Breaking Bad.' The sleazy but hilarious lawyer Saul Goodman was just going to be in a couple of episodes, but Bob Odenkirk's performance was so good that they decided to keep his character in the story.

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The idea of doing a series centered on Saul started as a joke whilst the writing team was drawing up its last season of 'Breaking Bad.' One of the scriptwriters suggested that it would be really fun to see how Saul managed to deceive everybody around him.

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Bob Odenkirk loosely based the character on his own agent, Ari Emmanuel.

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Curiously, that same agent had served as inspiration for the iconic character of Ari Gold from the show 'Entourage.'

Image: Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold in 'Entourage,' HBO

When the idea first came up, Vince Gilligan, its creator, conceived it as a sitcom that would consist of 30-minute episodes. Shortly, that idea was rejected.

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Michael McKean, who plays Chuck (Saul's brother), was chosen by Brian Cranston. In fact, the actor introduced McKean to Vince Gilligan at a party. Great call.

In the image, Cranston stands in the middle, and McKean on the right.

In the second to last episode of 'Breaking Bad' (titled 'Granite State'), Saul Goodman erases every trace of his identity and says: "If I'm lucky, a month from now, best case scenario: I'm managing a Cinnabon in Omaha." And that's exactly how 'Better Call Saul' begins.

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How to tell apart the good guys from the bad guys in 'Better Call Saul'? Easy: Criminals usually wear light and warm colors, while innocent people wear colder and darker tones.

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In the scenes, you can tell by the lighting and the shadows whether the protagonists are dealing with a huge or a minor problem.

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In fact, a strong visual inspiration for 'Better Call Saul' comes from Stanley Kubrick. His aesthetic is quite different from the western look of 'Breaking Bad.'

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'Breaking Bad' was filmed on 35mm to create something similar to the 'Taxi Driver' atmosphere, but 'Better Call Saul' was shot on digital 45mm with Red Dragon cameras.

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Vince Gilligan has always been a fan of playing with the names of the episodes in 'Breaking Bad'. In the case of 'Better Call Saul's first season, every episode ends in 'o': Uno, Mijo, Nacho, Hero, Bingo, Pimento, Jello...

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But there's more. If we take the first letter of every episode of the second season, we've got 'S-C-A-G-R-B-I-F-N-K', an anagram for 'Fring's Back'. And indeed, the villain returned…

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And of course, Saul Goodman's own name isn't random: if we say it quickly enough, it says: 'It's all good, man'.

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There are endless references to the original series, 'Breaking Bad.' The 'Zafiro Añejo' tequila that Jimmy and Kim try to sell to an investor at the beginning of 'Better Call Saul' season 2, for example, is the same brand used by Gus Fring to poison the Juarez cartel in 'Breaking Bad.'

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'Casa Tranquila' is the Albuquerque retirement home where Jimmy finds all his clients in 'Breaking Bad,' but it is also the same place of a violent encounter between Hector Salamanca and Gus Fring in 'Better Call Saul.'

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In fact, in 'Better Call Saul' - a prequel to 'Breaking Bad' - we find out how Héctor Salamanca ended up in his famous wheelchair in the first place.

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Vince Gilligan is considering developing the story of other characters in the 'Breaking Bad' universe. Fan favorites are Mike and Hank Schrader.

Which character do you think should have their own series?

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