WARNING: This contains SPOILERS for Better Call Saul season 6, episode 11.
Both the Breaking Bad show and the Better Call Saul “Breaking Bad” episode prove, sadly, that Chuck was right about Jimmy all along. While Chuck died in Better Call Saul season 3, the character continues to cast a large shadow over Jimmy’s life – even when he is not brought up. Direct mentions to Chuck have been rare in the later seasons of Better Call Saul, but Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman and later his life as Gene in Omaha echoed a lot of Chuck’s words from the first half of the show.
Of all the Better Call Saul characters who are not in Breaking Bad, Chuck McGill might be the most important one for viewers to understand who Saul Goodman really was before the events of the original show. Kim, Howard, Nacho, and Lalo may have changed Jimmy’s life in many different ways, but it was Chuck who, directly and indirectly, shaped who that character was going to be. Jimmy and Chuck had one of the most complicated relationships in the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul universe, if not the most, as viewers could never know for sure if their banter stemmed from love, jealousy, or a mixture of both.
Chuck’s death coincided with Jimmy’s business getting more and more dangerous, with Jimmy becoming involved with Lalo Salamanca and even Gus Fring a little more than a year after it. Following Howard Hamlin's death and Kim’s departure, there was nothing else left for Jimmy, and Better Call Saul wasted no time jumping right into the Breaking Bad timeline. Viewers were already aware of how much Jimmy’s moral code would change given the events of Breaking Bad, but now the Better Call Saul “Breaking Bad” episode reveals that the character is not exactly on a path of redemption. In fact, Gene is proving to be an even worse version of Jimmy, shattering the hopes of many who were cheering for the post-Breaking Bad timeline to prove that, unlike what Chuck believed, Jimmy could change.
Better Call Saul’s “Breaking Bad” Episode Proves Jimmy Will Never Change
While the “Breaking Bad” title was obviously tied with the Walt and Jesse cameos in Better Call Saul, it also reflected what was happening with Gene in the present. Gene had been trying to lay low and leave a less complicated life, but, after his mysterious call to Kim Wexler, which the episode did not reveal the content of, the character quickly shifted back to a path of self-destruction. Gene had made one last con precisely to get Jeff and his friend out of his life, but now he was asking for their help to commit many more crimes. After everything that went down on Breaking Bad - which Better Call Saul is slowly framing as Saul’s fault - it would seem that Gene would try to learn from his recent mistakes and, just for once, not to be the worst version of himself. Unfortunately, that is not what happened.
Saul & Gene Are Much Worse Than Jimmy Ever Wars
Chuck knew and was scared of Slippin’ Jimmy, but what Jimmy became after Chuck’s death in Better Call Saul was much worse than anyone could have anticipated. Jimmy always wanted to cut corners, did not like being told what to do, and would pull the most elaborated cons if it meant helping him or someone he cared about. That said, Jimmy had a moral code – he was never up for violence, he tried to distance himself from Nacho and the Salamancas as much as he could, and he still somewhat believed that his work as a lawyer could help “the little guy”. Saul Goodman, however, was as much a lawyer as he was a criminal mastermind. Saul became a player in the game, not just as the criminals' lawyer, but also as a partner of those criminals. He saw Heisenberg as a business opportunity and went to the lengths of helping poison a kid in order to help Breaking Bad's Walter White. Likewise, Gene - who at first seemed like would stay out of trouble - was willing to drug a man with cancer only to steal his money.
Chuck Was Right About Jimmy In Better Call Saul (But He Is Still To Blame)
In the end, Better Call Saul proved that Chuck was right – Slippin’ Jimmy was and continued to be a danger to himself and others. Despite all of the situations Jimmy could have not anticipated, such as becoming associated with Lalo Salamanca, he had several chances to jump out of the game. Jimmy never got better, much less let anyone else try to help him. That said, the Better Call Saul “Breaking Bad” episode also highlights how Chuck had a lot to do with how Jimmy turned out. Gene only went back to Saul Goodman schemes after hearing what was most likely rejection from Kim, showing that his desire to do these schemes is inherently linked to the turmoil in his life. Before Kim, Chuck was the most important person in Jimmy’s life, yet all the role-model brother did was hurt him. Had Chuck supported Jimmy in his career instead of actively playing against it, then perhaps Saul Goodman and Gene would have never come to be. It remains to be seen if Jimmy can still find some sort of redemption before Better Call Saul ends.
Better Call Saul continues Monday on AMC.