The opening portion of the episode takes place after Breaking Bad. Jimmy McGill has moved to Omaha and is working at a Cinnabon. He has grown a mustache and wears glasses. He looks very nervous. It is unclear how much time has passed since the last episode in Breaking Bad. This part of the episode is not in color. Once it is over the rest of the episode takes place at an unspecified point in the past, before the events of Breaking Bad, before Jimmy McGill started to use the name Saul Goodman.
Jimmy McGill is a down on his luck lawyer. He gets work where he can. He works as a public defender but that doesn't pay enough. Chuck McGill is a partner in a lucrative law firm in New Mexico, where Jimmy lives and works. Chuck seems to have experinced some dort of mental breakdown. Jimmy is trying to get Chuck to force the other two partners to buy him out but they just want to send him paychecks which are considerably less than he would get if they bought out his share of the firm.
Jimmy also has one potential pair of clients bail on him. Craig and Betsy Kettleman need representation because Craig has been accused of embezling over $1 million. Jimmy hooks up with Lars and Cal Lindholm, a couple con men, to try and scam Betsy out of several thousand dollars. It doesn't exactly work out. They stage an accident, make it look like one of them was hit and badly injured by Mrs. Kettleman. It turns out that the car that hit Lars looked like but wasn't Betsy Kettleman's car.
The Lindholms follow the care and confront the driver. It is an older Latina. Jimmy didn't tell them much about the driver. The plan was for Jimmy to show up immediately after the "accident" and offer to represent the Lindholms. They don't know what they are getting into when they follow the woman into her home. Jimmy finds out when he gets to the house and is met at gunpoint by Tuco Salamanca.
Thoughts
This series is a follow up to Breaking Bad. I watched Breaking Bad but it has been over 5 years since I watched the last episode. I have not gone back and given it another run through. There are a couple familiar faces in this episode other than Jimmy McGill (aka Saul Goodman). One is Mike Ehrmantraut. He makes a brief appearance in the first 15 minutes of the episode. The other is Tuco Salamance. I recognized Mike. I'm not sure that I would have recognized Tuco if it weren't for the fact that I knew in advance that he was in this episode.
I enjoyed Breaking Bad but it isn't the sort of show that I am in any rush to watch again. Better Call Saul has not won me over yet. I'm intrigued but I'm not convinced. I'm going to give it some more time. I'm not ready to give up on it just yet but I need it to be more than just a victory lap for fans of Breaking Bad. I liked the character of Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad but it was Walter White that made that show great.
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