Breaking Down ‘Saul’: Episode 4, “Hero”

S’all good, man.

Last night’s episode of Better Call Saul, “Hero”, takes a lighter tone when it throws us back in time and shows us Jimmy/”S’all good, man” (so THAT’S where the name came from) in his earlier Chicago con-man/stoner days. At present, he continues to negotiate with the Kettlemans, attempt friendship with Mike, and assure Nacho that he should be “grateful” for whoever kept him from robbing the Kettlemans.

Jimmy takes the money offered to him by the desperate couple, though he does offer them legal representation (to which they truthfully respond “you’re the kinda lawyer guilty people hire”). He files the cash under false legal charges (while proclaiming “upon this rock I will build my church”), and buys himself some classy new suits, some whitestrips, and a new ‘do – waging full on war against Howard Hamlin. After “rescuing” the worker who is supposed to be taking down Jimmy’s billboard and getting it caught on camera, the Slippin’ Jimmy antics are in motion once more, and Jimmy seems to be fast on his way to becoming the fast-talking, money-laundering Saul Goodman we all know and love.

So what Breaking Bad references were planted in “Hero”? There aren’t as many as we would have liked, but let’s take a look.

What do we have?

In the beginning of the episode, as Jimmy reasons with the Kettlemans, he’s only got half his shirt tucked into his pants after trekking through the New Mexico wilderness to find them.

Seem familiar? This is a nice visual reference to Breaking Bad Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot“, when Walt has only half his shirt tucked into his underwear.

A few other things you might have missed in “Hero”:

Jimmy makes his first commercial of many, something we already know is his forte since Breaking Bad Season 2, Episode 8, “Better Call Saul“. There was a quick reference to Jesse Pinkman’s Hello Kitty cell phone in the show’s intro, and Vince Gilligan also warned us that a face seen in Episode 2, “Mijo”, would later become very important. Our falling billboard man evidently was. Finally, while shopping for his Hamlin get-up, Jimmy looks longingly at a bright orange shirt we know becomes one of many loud, tacky articles of clothing in his Saul wardrobe.

Tune in next week, lawbreakers!

Jade Budowski is an indecisive sometimes-writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

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