New York Times Profile Reveals “Better Call Saul” Plot

Finally, some actual details about the plot and opening scenes of "Better Call Saul."

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Complex Original

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We’re just a few weeks away from the premiere of AMC’s highly-anticipated Breaking Bad spinoff series, Better Call Saul, and despite the ample trailers already released the plot is still somewhat unclear.

A New York Times profile today has finally lifted the veil off the somewhat nebulous trailers and has actually given some concrete info about the show. Here’s the basic premise:


“For one thing, it is a prequel, set six years before Saul and Walter became known associates. Mr. Odenkirk is not playing exactly the same character. Instead, he is Jimmy McGill, a knock-around guy with a law degree who cannot catch a break or a decent case. The series is the story of how a guy who struggled to stay between the lines and above the belt became Saul, a criminal lawyer who is more criminal than lawyer. In the time frame of the new show, Walter is still teaching high school chemistry, perhaps to Jesse Pinkman, somewhere off screen, and Mr. Odenkirk’s character, rather than guiding the events around him as Saul did, is lost, blown about by forces beyond his control.”

And then it gets even more specific, discussing how the series itself will open:


“The show opens in the future, after Walter’s downfall and Saul’s dispossession of his greasy empire. Saul is in his own version of witness protection, tucked away in the kind of job no one sees in a place where everyone goes. He is a hunted shell of the smack-talking lawyer, who finds solace in running old tapes of his once ubiquitous commercials beckoning one and all to call Saul.”

Star Bob Odenkirk’s 13-year-old daughter has already posed the all-important question: “If it’s bad, really, how bad could it be?”

We’ll know soon enough.

[via NYT]

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