Better Call Saul Once Backpedaled on a Promising Storyline but It Kind of Worked

Better Call Saul ended perfectly, and there are very few people who would argue with that. However, many viewers also found that the pacing slowed down a bit after season 2, and some fans wish the series went in a different direction.

At the end of season 1, Jimmy McGill, later known as Saul Goodman, has a heart-to-heart with Mike Ehrmantraut. He's wondering why they didn't just pocket the $1.6 million they swiped from the Kettlemans. Mike's response about "doing the right thing" led to Jimmy's declaration that he wouldn't make that mistake again.

This line implied that we are going to witness Jimmy step onto the bad-choice road. However, Jimmy didn’t become the notorious Saul Goodman until the last seasons of the show. A Reddit user has recently expressed the opinion that it all felt like the series' writers backpedaled.

They believe that the show could have explored more of Jimmy's involvement with the cartel early on. After this episode, it seemed like Jimmy took a backseat from the criminal world, and the focus shifted more towards Mike and Nacho's stories until all the way to season 5.

However, some fans appreciated the gradual development of Jimmy's character. They felt that the ambiguity of when exactly Saul takes over Jimmy was more nuanced and intriguing. The transformation from a small-time con artist to a big-time criminal lawyer was more believable in the long run.

Another fact that has to be taken in consideration is that the creators weren’t sure the spinoff would even work, nor did they know if the show would get season 2.

“We thought he'd be Saul Goodman with the crazy office by the end of season one,” Peter Gould, one of the screenwriters of the show, revealed (via BBC Culture).

A few fans drew parallels between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. While Walter White's descent into the criminal world was more abrupt, Jimmy's journey was more about a slow transformation.

The two shows tackled character development differently, with Breaking Bad focusing on revealing the darkness within Walt and Better Call Saul showcasing Jimmy's gradual transformation.

Sources: Reddit, BBC Culture