WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.720 So I want you to cast your mind back for a second. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:07.480 It is April 26, 2009. Oh, wow. Going way back. 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:10.880 Yeah. I mean, the global economy is just an absolute 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.179 freefall from the financial crisis. Right. And 00:00:13.179 --> 00:00:15.560 if you turned on the radio, the black eyed peas 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.219 are completely dominating the airwaves with boom 00:00:18.219 --> 00:00:20.440 pow. I remember it well. Right. And on a Sunday 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:23.239 night on this channel that honestly was mostly 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.100 known for showing old Westerns and maybe some 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:28.320 classic movies, there was this show about a high 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.679 school chemistry teacher. And it is quietly just 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:34.299 sort of struggling to find its footing. We are 00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:35.960 right in the middle of season two of Breaking 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:39.799 Bad. And context really is everything here. Because 00:00:39.799 --> 00:00:42.740 in 2009, Breaking Bad was not the massive cultural 00:00:42.740 --> 00:00:44.960 monolith that it is today. Not at all. It was 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:46.920 a critical darling, sure. And critics absolutely 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:49.159 loved it. But the viewership was modest. It was 00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:51.259 a cult hit at best, really. Yeah, it was very 00:00:51.259 --> 00:00:53.960 under the radar. Exactly. And totally. Up until 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:57.420 this specific point. The show was this gritty, 00:00:57.659 --> 00:01:00.619 almost suffocatingly intense neo -Western. Suffocating 00:01:00.619 --> 00:01:03.439 is a good word for it. It was beige. It was silent. 00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:06.359 It was incredibly grim. It honestly felt a bit 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:09.319 like no country for old men, but adapted for 00:01:09.319 --> 00:01:12.140 basic cable. You had these high stakes, very 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.180 low dialogue, and just lots of wind blowing through 00:01:15.180 --> 00:01:17.980 the desert. Precisely. It was essentially a tragedy 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:20.739 playing out in Slam Ocean. And then right in 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:23.180 the eighth episode of the second season, the 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:26.730 writers Specifically, Peter Gould decided to 00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:30.310 do something incredibly risky. They decided to 00:01:30.310 --> 00:01:33.209 basically open a side door to this intense tragedy 00:01:33.209 --> 00:01:35.969 and let a clown walk in. And that is the exact 00:01:35.969 --> 00:01:38.030 moment the universe expands. So we are doing 00:01:38.030 --> 00:01:42.129 a deep dive today into the episode titled, appropriately 00:01:42.129 --> 00:01:44.349 enough, Better Call Saul. It's a fantastic title. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.379 It really is. And our mission today for you listening 00:01:47.379 --> 00:01:49.340 isn't just to recap the plot. You've seen the 00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:51.200 show. You know what happens. Our mission here 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.359 is to investigate what I would call a creative 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:55.379 accident. A creative accident. Yeah, I'd argue 00:01:55.379 --> 00:01:57.540 it is the most successful creative accident in 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:00.319 television history. We're going to look at how 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:02.480 a 47 minute episode of television, which was 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:04.540 written essentially just to solve a temporary 00:02:04.540 --> 00:02:07.400 plot mechanics problem, ended up spawning a billion 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:10.400 dollar franchise. It really did recontextualize 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:13.280 the entire series. Exactly. It introduced a character 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:15.870 who was arguably never even meant to survive 00:02:15.870 --> 00:02:19.210 the season. That is a very fair assessment. We 00:02:19.210 --> 00:02:21.110 are of course talking about the introduction 00:02:21.110 --> 00:02:23.400 of Saul Goodman. And looking at the production 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:26.159 notes you pulled for this deep dive, it is actually 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:28.800 fascinating to see that Vince Gilligan, the creator 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.419 and showrunner, wasn't even the primary architect 00:02:31.419 --> 00:02:33.580 of this character. Right. This was really Peter 00:02:33.580 --> 00:02:36.000 Gould's baby. And that distinction really matters, 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.319 doesn't it? Because Gilligan has this very specific 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:41.419 voice. It's suspenseful. It's dread inducing. 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:44.400 Very methodical. Yes, exactly. But Gould brought 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.120 a totally different flavor. If Gilligan is the 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:49.340 master of suspense, Gould is really the master 00:02:49.340 --> 00:02:52.539 of satire. And when you drop a... a purely satirical 00:02:52.539 --> 00:02:55.060 character into a suspense thriller, the chemical 00:02:55.060 --> 00:02:57.599 reaction, yeah, pun intended there, it completely 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.439 changes the entire viscosity of the show. It 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:03.159 is like a splash of neon orange in a completely 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:05.900 beige world. It changes the entire color palette. 00:03:06.500 --> 00:03:08.520 But before we get to the man himself, I think 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:10.759 we have to look at the catalyst. Yeah, why did 00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:12.860 they even need a lawyer right at this moment? 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:17.379 Exactly. Why drop this flamboyant character into 00:03:17.379 --> 00:03:20.460 episode eight of season two? Well, the plot engine 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:24.020 really starts with Badger. Good old Badger. He 00:03:24.020 --> 00:03:27.080 gets busted sitting on a public bench that is, 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:30.259 ironically enough, advertising the very lawyer 00:03:30.259 --> 00:03:33.599 who will eventually save him. The irony is incredibly 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.120 thick there. But let's break down the whole save 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:38.439 Badger problem structurally for a second. The 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:41.400 writers were backed into a corner. Walt and Jesse 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.469 are complete amateurs at this point. We tend 00:03:44.469 --> 00:03:45.930 to forget this later in the series when they 00:03:45.930 --> 00:03:48.150 become these untouchable kingpins, but right 00:03:48.150 --> 00:03:50.900 now They're literally stumbling through the drug 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:53.520 trade using dumb luck and high school chemistry. 00:03:53.860 --> 00:03:55.939 Yeah, they're barely scraping by. But getting 00:03:55.939 --> 00:03:59.060 arrested, that is a systemic problem. You cannot 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:01.400 fulminate of mercury your way out of a holding 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:03.419 cell in the Albuquerque Police Department. Right. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:06.099 They had hit a brick wall where their quote unquote 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:08.360 science just couldn't save them anymore. They 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:10.759 needed a direct interface with the legal system, 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:13.840 but they didn't go for some high powered law 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:16.519 and order type defense attorney. No, not at all. 00:04:16.699 --> 00:04:18.879 They went straight for the strip mall and that 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:21.439 strip mall is honestly a character in itself. 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:24.180 Let's really break down that waiting room scene 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:27.160 because the set design tells us absolutely everything 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:29.800 we need to know about Saul before he even opens 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:32.199 his mouth. Oh, it is almost nauseating to look 00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:35.439 at. You have these huge pillars which are very 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:38.220 clearly fake marble. Very fake. You have the 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:41.399 receptionist, Francesca, who just looks like 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:43.699 she would rather be literally anywhere else on 00:04:43.699 --> 00:04:46.839 planet Earth. And then the wallpaper. The wallpaper 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:50.199 is the absolute key. It is a literal print of 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:53.250 the U .S. Constitution. But it's cheap, it's 00:04:53.250 --> 00:04:56.149 peeling at the edges, and it's omnipresent. It's 00:04:56.149 --> 00:04:58.449 efful. It basically screams, I wrap myself in 00:04:58.449 --> 00:05:00.410 the law, but I absolutely do not respect it. 00:05:00.750 --> 00:05:03.170 It treats the Constitution like a cheap commodity, 00:05:03.629 --> 00:05:06.009 literally like wrapping paper. And sitting right 00:05:06.009 --> 00:05:08.170 there in that waiting room, Walt is wearing his 00:05:08.170 --> 00:05:11.149 disguises. The hat, the sunglasses. Yes, and 00:05:11.149 --> 00:05:13.610 he just looks ridiculous. He looks exactly like 00:05:13.610 --> 00:05:15.610 a cartoon criminal, like he's wearing a bugler 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:17.670 costume he bought at Party City on clearance. 00:05:17.990 --> 00:05:20.980 Which is entirely the point. In Saul's world, 00:05:21.379 --> 00:05:25.040 everyone is a caricature. And then Bob Odenkirk 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:28.160 actually walks in. Now, we really have to pause 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.019 on the casting here. This is crucial for you 00:05:30.019 --> 00:05:32.019 to understand if you're listening. Bob Odenkirk 00:05:32.019 --> 00:05:35.939 in 2009 was not a dramatic actor. No, absolutely 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:38.420 not. He was Mr. Show. He was a sketch comedy 00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:40.939 legend. He was the guy you hired if you wanted 00:05:40.939 --> 00:05:44.519 absurdist alternative comedy. Exactly. So casting 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.180 him was a massive signal to the audience. It 00:05:47.180 --> 00:05:50.110 was telling them, hey, It's actually okay to 00:05:50.110 --> 00:05:52.329 laugh. Because up until now, laughing at Breaking 00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:55.069 Bad felt almost wrong. It felt too dark. Yeah, 00:05:55.149 --> 00:05:58.290 way too heavy. But Odenkirk brings this incredible 00:05:58.290 --> 00:06:00.750 rhythm, this fast -talking patter that feels 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:03.589 like it was lifted straight out of a 1940s screwball 00:06:03.589 --> 00:06:06.220 comedy. He talks faster than literally anyone 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:08.500 else on the show. He moves faster, too. Yeah, 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.779 he occupies so much more space in the frame. 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:13.220 There is a very specific line when Walt tries 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:15.620 to bribe him that I want to highlight. Walt poses 00:06:15.620 --> 00:06:18.439 as Badger's uncle, Mr. Mayhew. With the fake 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.379 cough. Yes, the cough. And he puts 10 grand in 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:24.509 cash right on the desk. He thinks this is just 00:06:24.509 --> 00:06:26.829 how the criminal world works. You pay the bad 00:06:26.829 --> 00:06:28.670 man, the bad man does the bad thing. And Saul 00:06:28.670 --> 00:06:30.930 throws it right back at him. This is the first 00:06:30.930 --> 00:06:34.310 moment of real genuine complexity for the character. 00:06:34.709 --> 00:06:37.050 He says, I'm not taking a bribe to throw a case. 00:06:37.129 --> 00:06:40.189 Which is confusing for Walt. We are told he is 00:06:40.189 --> 00:06:42.550 a quote unquote criminal lawyer. The emphasis 00:06:42.550 --> 00:06:44.930 being heavily on criminal. Why does he suddenly 00:06:44.930 --> 00:06:47.009 have ethics? Right, where do the morals come 00:06:47.009 --> 00:06:49.389 from? But it isn't ethics at all. It is risk 00:06:49.389 --> 00:06:52.480 management. And that is the true insight into 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.620 Saul Goodman. He isn't an agent of chaos. He's 00:06:55.620 --> 00:06:58.079 actually an agent of order. He knows that taking 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:00.240 a bribe from a complete stranger sitting in his 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.839 own office is a one -way ticket to disbarment 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:05.259 or a federal prison. He has a code. He has a 00:07:05.259 --> 00:07:08.300 code. It is a very twisted code, but it is undeniably 00:07:08.300 --> 00:07:10.980 there. He wants to manipulate the system by using 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:13.879 the system, not by breaking it entirely. He prefers 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:16.439 finding the loophole rather than swinging a sledgehammer. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:20.000 So the bribe fails entirely. The nice way, or 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:21.740 at least the transactional way, doesn't work 00:07:21.740 --> 00:07:25.240 out. So Walt and Jesse, being the absolute brilliant 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:27.699 strategists they are... Oh boy, here we go, the 00:07:27.699 --> 00:07:30.519 escalation. Yeah, they decide to just escalate 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:32.620 straight to violence. They decide to kidnap him. 00:07:32.860 --> 00:07:35.720 And this brings us to the desert. Moving into 00:07:35.720 --> 00:07:38.819 section two of our deep dive. The desert scene. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:41.120 I really want to spend a lot of time here because 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:44.250 honestly... We could probably spend the entire 00:07:44.250 --> 00:07:47.230 hour talking about just this one five -minute 00:07:47.230 --> 00:07:49.550 sequence. We really could. If you were looking 00:07:49.550 --> 00:07:51.329 for the Rosetta Stone that connects Breaking 00:07:51.329 --> 00:07:53.889 Bad to the prequel spin -off Better Call Saul, 00:07:54.370 --> 00:07:56.709 it is literally buried right here in the sand. 00:07:57.009 --> 00:07:59.290 So paint the picture for us. Set the scene. Well, 00:07:59.470 --> 00:08:01.670 it is night. It is incredibly dark. The wind 00:08:01.670 --> 00:08:03.910 is howling, which is a classic, classic Breaking 00:08:03.910 --> 00:08:06.949 Bad soundscape choice. Walt and Jesse kidnap 00:08:06.949 --> 00:08:09.339 Saul. They throw a black hood over his head, 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:11.420 and they drive him out to the middle of absolutely 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:14.800 nowhere in the RV. They step out, and they have 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:17.600 these cheap ski masks on. And there is a freshly 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:19.500 dug grave right there, or at least what looks 00:08:19.500 --> 00:08:21.899 like one. And they threaten to kill him. They 00:08:21.899 --> 00:08:24.160 just want to scare him into taking the bribe, 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:26.079 basically. It's a very crude tactic. Do what 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.220 we say, or else he go in the hole. Right. It's 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:31.839 very blunt. But look closely at Saul's reaction. 00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:34.700 This is the absolute key to everything that follows. 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:39.000 He doesn't say, Please I'm just a lawyer or I'll 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.279 give you the money. He starts screaming something 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:44.259 very very specific He screams. It wasn't me. 00:08:44.299 --> 00:08:47.159 It was Ignacio. It was Ignacio He shifts the 00:08:47.159 --> 00:08:50.440 blame instantly without even thinking and Then 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:52.460 when Jesse who Saul does not recognize at all 00:08:52.460 --> 00:08:54.379 because the ski mask when Jesse keeps the pressure 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:57.139 on him Saul asked the question that basically 00:08:57.139 --> 00:09:01.100 launched thousand fan theories. Yes Lalo didn't 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:03.120 send you. Lalo didn't send you. And then just 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:04.820 to double down on his panic, he starts babbling 00:09:04.820 --> 00:09:08.080 in Spanish about being amigo del cartel, a friend 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:09.860 of the cartel. Okay, we really need to unpack 00:09:09.860 --> 00:09:12.340 this, because in 2009 when this originally aired 00:09:12.340 --> 00:09:15.179 on television, those were just throwaway lines. 00:09:15.299 --> 00:09:17.679 Right. Completely throwaway. Yeah. And this is 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:19.820 so important for people listening to understand 00:09:19.820 --> 00:09:21.860 about how television writing actually works. 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:24.740 Peter Gould wrote those specific lines just to 00:09:24.740 --> 00:09:27.340 add a little flavor. Just some texture. Exactly. 00:09:27.620 --> 00:09:30.440 To show that Saul is a guy who has some genuinely 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:34.700 terrifying clients. The names Ignacio and Lalo 00:09:34.700 --> 00:09:37.460 were basically just phones. They were just sounds. 00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:39.740 They did not exist as fleshed out characters 00:09:39.740 --> 00:09:42.480 in a show Bible anywhere. They were just texture 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.440 to make Saul look more entrenched in the underworld. 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:48.299 So for literally six years, those names just 00:09:48.299 --> 00:09:50.139 floated out there in the ether. They meant absolutely 00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:53.480 nothing to anyone. Exactly. But this is where 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:56.259 the absolute genius of the Breaking Bad and Better 00:09:56.259 --> 00:09:58.799 Call Saul writer's room really comes into play. 00:09:59.159 --> 00:10:01.220 They practice this technique they call mining 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:03.320 the history. Right. When they started writing 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:06.000 the prequel series years later, they didn't try 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.220 to invent a bunch of new antagonists from scratch. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:11.139 They literally went back, looked at the old footage 00:10:11.139 --> 00:10:13.480 of this exact episode, and asked themselves, 00:10:13.899 --> 00:10:15.899 what questions did we leave unanswered? So they 00:10:15.899 --> 00:10:17.779 looked at this desert scene and simply said, 00:10:18.100 --> 00:10:21.059 well, who is Lalo? And the answer they eventually 00:10:21.059 --> 00:10:23.740 came up with, Lalo Salamanca, turned out to be 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:26.460 perhaps the most charismatic, utterly terrifying 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:28.799 psychopath in the entire Breaking Bad universe. 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:31.879 They took a completely throwaway line of panic 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:35.299 and reverse engineered an entire six season tragedy 00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:37.990 just to explain why he said it. It fundamentally 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:40.190 changes how you watch this scene now. It really 00:10:40.190 --> 00:10:42.590 does. Because when I watched this back in 2009, 00:10:42.629 --> 00:10:45.409 I just saw a sleazy lawyer who was scared of 00:10:45.409 --> 00:10:48.730 some generic drug thug. But when I watch it now, 00:10:48.889 --> 00:10:51.789 knowing exactly who Lalo Salamanca is, knowing 00:10:51.789 --> 00:10:54.370 what he did to Howard Hamlin, knowing the immense 00:10:54.370 --> 00:10:56.769 psychological torture he put Jimmy through the 00:10:56.769 --> 00:10:59.269 terror in Bob Odenkirk's voice, it's entirely 00:10:59.269 --> 00:11:01.590 different. Yeah. It isn't comic fear anymore. 00:11:01.669 --> 00:11:04.509 It is quite literally PTSD. It becomes deeply 00:11:04.509 --> 00:11:06.990 tragic. And then there's the Ignacio line. he 00:11:06.990 --> 00:11:09.309 is throwing Nacho Varga completely under the 00:11:09.309 --> 00:11:11.649 bus to save his own skin. Which is so heartbreaking 00:11:11.649 --> 00:11:14.090 in retrospect, because in the prequel, we see 00:11:14.090 --> 00:11:16.690 that Nacho actually sacrificed himself to save 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:18.889 Saul and to save others. Nacho was really one 00:11:18.889 --> 00:11:20.950 of the very few people in that cartel world who 00:11:20.950 --> 00:11:24.169 actually treated Jimmy with some base level of 00:11:24.169 --> 00:11:27.210 respect. It just shows you that Saul's sheer 00:11:27.210 --> 00:11:30.409 survival instinct will always override everything 00:11:30.409 --> 00:11:33.789 else, even basic gratitude. But let's look at 00:11:33.789 --> 00:11:37.019 the actual pivot point of this scene. Saul realizes, 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.820 looking at them, that Walt and Jesse are not 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:42.460 sent by Lalo. They're clearly confused by the 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:44.879 names. Right. He realizes they have absolutely 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.860 no idea who Lalo is. And you just have to watch 00:11:47.860 --> 00:11:50.220 the physical body language shift here. This is 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:52.259 really Odenkirk's brilliance as a performer. 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:55.519 He goes from being this trembling, sobbing victim 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:59.539 to an annoyed, high -priced consultant in a literal 00:11:59.539 --> 00:12:01.679 nanosecond. He brushes the dirt off his knees? 00:12:01.740 --> 00:12:04.100 Yes. He stands up, brushes off his knees, completely 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:07.019 changes his posture. And he says, why didn't 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:09.299 you just say so? The relief. You can hear it 00:12:09.299 --> 00:12:11.840 so clearly in his voice. Oh, thank God. You're 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:14.139 just the guys who want to save Badger. It shifts 00:12:14.139 --> 00:12:16.500 from a cartel horror movie right back to a business 00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:19.120 negotiation in a split second. And honestly, 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:21.539 this is Saul's real superpower. He reads the 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:23.659 room better than anyone. He looks at them and 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:25.779 realizes, OK, these guys are definitely dangerous. 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:28.240 They have a gun, but they are complete amateurs. 00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:30.740 And amateurs with money always need a lawyer. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:33.139 So he stands up, brushes off the dirt, and says, 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:37.320 OK. Put a dollar in my pocket the famous dollar 00:12:37.320 --> 00:12:40.279 bill scene right attorney -client privilege Yeah, 00:12:40.679 --> 00:12:43.460 it is basically a magic spell in his world he 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:46.159 takes that dollar and casts a legal shield over 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:49.580 the entire operation and Just like that with 00:12:49.580 --> 00:12:52.409 one dollar. He is no longer their victim He is 00:12:52.409 --> 00:12:54.950 their legal advisor. Which perfectly brings us 00:12:54.950 --> 00:12:57.870 to the actual practical solution for the badger 00:12:57.870 --> 00:13:00.029 problem. Because despite all this drama in the 00:13:00.029 --> 00:13:01.990 desert, they still have to keep Badger out of 00:13:01.990 --> 00:13:03.909 jail. Or at the very least they have to keep 00:13:03.909 --> 00:13:07.269 him from snitching on Walt to the DEA. Right. 00:13:07.710 --> 00:13:09.570 Which brings us to section three of our deep 00:13:09.570 --> 00:13:12.580 dive. The in and out scheme. I absolutely love 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:15.039 this concept. Saul introduces them to a guy named 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:17.480 Jimmy and about Kilkelly. It is such a cynical 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:19.919 yet utterly brilliant piece of world building 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:22.700 by the writers. Kilkelly is a professional fall 00:13:22.700 --> 00:13:25.039 guy. He literally makes a living by going to 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:26.740 state or federal prison for other criminals. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:28.519 Wait, I have to ask. Is this a real thing? Do 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:30.519 professional fall guys actually exist in the 00:13:30.519 --> 00:13:33.669 real world? Oh, absolutely. They do. Historically 00:13:33.669 --> 00:13:35.850 speaking, especially if you look back at the 00:13:35.850 --> 00:13:38.710 heyday of the American mafia in the 70s and 80s, 00:13:38.830 --> 00:13:41.690 having a stand -in was a very known tactic. Maybe 00:13:41.690 --> 00:13:44.389 it wasn't as formalized as a guy literally named 00:13:44.389 --> 00:13:47.769 Jimmy in and out, but the general concept of 00:13:47.769 --> 00:13:50.559 someone taking the rap In exchange for financial 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.659 care for their family, that is a staple of organized 00:13:53.659 --> 00:13:55.759 crime. That's just a pure transaction. You are 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.840 literally buying their freedom. Exactly. And 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:01.379 Saul's execution of this plan is brilliant. He 00:14:01.379 --> 00:14:03.500 doesn't just hire a guy. He creates a whole narrative. 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:06.460 He knows that the DEA really wants Heisenberg. 00:14:06.940 --> 00:14:08.759 But the DEA doesn't actually know what Heisenberg 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:10.759 looks like yet. Right. He's just a ghost. So 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:13.019 Saul decides to just give them Heisenberg. He 00:14:13.019 --> 00:14:15.120 dresses Kilkelly up, puts him on that specific 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.059 public bench, and fully orchestrates the bust. 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:20.679 It is entirely theatrical. Saul is essentially 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:22.899 directing a stage play for the police department. 00:14:23.179 --> 00:14:25.519 And Kilkelly is totally happy to do it because 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.240 the pay is fantastic. And apparently, according 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:30.419 to Saul, he actually likes the prison environment 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:32.279 better than living in the outside world. But 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:34.980 there is a snag in the plan, a very bald, very 00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:37.240 angry snag. Thanks, Schrader. Hank is sitting 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:39.159 in the surveillance van watching this entire 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:42.320 bust go down. The rest of the DEA guys are high 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:44.019 -fiving. They think they finally got their big 00:14:44.019 --> 00:14:47.539 mastermind. But if you look at Dean Norris' face 00:14:47.539 --> 00:14:50.100 in that scene... He is absolutely not buying 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:52.179 it. But why? I mean, the evidence is all there. 00:14:52.299 --> 00:14:54.559 The guy is bald. He is sitting on the right bench. 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:57.159 He literally has the blue meth in his pocket. 00:14:57.379 --> 00:15:02.120 Because it is too easy. And Hank's true superpower 00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:05.590 as a character is his gut instinct. Throughout 00:15:05.590 --> 00:15:08.350 the entire series, Hank is so often portrayed 00:15:08.350 --> 00:15:11.549 as this loud, boisterous, borderline offensive 00:15:11.549 --> 00:15:14.269 jock character. But beneath all of that, he is 00:15:14.269 --> 00:15:16.389 actually an incredible detective. He really is. 00:15:16.529 --> 00:15:18.669 He senses the performative nature of this drug 00:15:18.669 --> 00:15:21.190 bust. He can't prove it legally, but his gut 00:15:21.190 --> 00:15:24.029 knows this Kill Kelly guy fits the criminal profile 00:15:24.029 --> 00:15:26.659 a little too perfectly. It is such a nice reminder 00:15:26.659 --> 00:15:28.940 early in the show that Hank is actually a deeply 00:15:28.940 --> 00:15:31.919 competent adversary for Walt. Saul might be capable 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:33.779 of outsmarting the legal system, but he isn't 00:15:33.779 --> 00:15:36.799 necessarily outsmarting Hank's intuition. Precisely. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:40.539 But legally speaking, the ruse holds up. So Badger 00:15:40.539 --> 00:15:43.059 gets his sweet plea deal. He spills the beans 00:15:43.059 --> 00:15:45.899 on this fake Heisenberg. Kilkelly goes off to 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:48.899 jail. And Walt and Jesse are safe. The crisis 00:15:48.899 --> 00:15:52.360 is averted. But Saul is not quite done yet. No, 00:15:52.460 --> 00:15:54.980 he is not. And this right here is the moment 00:15:54.980 --> 00:15:57.039 that completely changes the trajectory of the 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.279 series. It goes from being a small story about 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:02.039 a desperate guy cooking meth to a massive story 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:04.519 about building a drug empire. Saul actually shows 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:07.100 up at Waltz High School. Which is a massive violation 00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:09.580 of boundaries, by the way. Showing up uninvited 00:16:09.580 --> 00:16:12.870 at a client's daytime place of work. At a high 00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:15.129 school? That is an incredibly aggressive move. 00:16:15.409 --> 00:16:17.529 And Walt is furious. He's standing in his classroom, 00:16:17.710 --> 00:16:19.330 the lighting is drab, everything is gray, and 00:16:19.330 --> 00:16:21.590 suddenly here comes Saul Goodman scrolling in 00:16:21.590 --> 00:16:24.690 wearing this impossibly loud suit looking like 00:16:24.690 --> 00:16:27.789 a walking neon sign. But Saul has a pitch ready. 00:16:28.490 --> 00:16:31.190 He looks right at Walt and tells him, you are 00:16:31.190 --> 00:16:34.289 too easy to find. He managed to find Walt in 00:16:34.289 --> 00:16:36.370 just a couple of hours using a cheap private 00:16:36.370 --> 00:16:38.929 investigator. And he points out the obvious logic. 00:16:39.070 --> 00:16:42.149 If he could find Walt that easily, the cops can 00:16:42.149 --> 00:16:45.549 definitely find Walt. And worse, the cartel can 00:16:45.549 --> 00:16:47.830 find Walt. He's essentially telling Walt, you 00:16:47.830 --> 00:16:50.129 are totally naked out here in the wild. You need 00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:53.529 some armor. Exactly. So he offers to be Walt's 00:16:53.529 --> 00:16:55.750 full -time legal counsel. But it's much more 00:16:55.750 --> 00:16:58.690 than that. He offers to be a conciliar. He offers 00:16:58.690 --> 00:17:01.669 to be a full -on advisor in, quote, covering 00:17:01.669 --> 00:17:04.349 his tracks. This is a huge shift because before 00:17:04.349 --> 00:17:06.750 this exact conversation, Walt is just a guy making 00:17:06.750 --> 00:17:09.690 really pure drugs in a camper van. After this 00:17:09.690 --> 00:17:12.309 conversation, he suddenly has access to a criminal 00:17:12.309 --> 00:17:14.509 infrastructure. Saul brings the money laundering 00:17:14.509 --> 00:17:16.410 techniques. He brings the connections to pest 00:17:16.410 --> 00:17:18.529 control companies for a legitimate cover. He 00:17:18.529 --> 00:17:21.390 brings the guys who know guys. Saul is the ultimate 00:17:21.390 --> 00:17:23.509 enabler that allows the Heisenberg persona to 00:17:23.509 --> 00:17:25.769 grow from a local nuisance to an international 00:17:25.769 --> 00:17:28.450 kingpin. It is so fascinating to me that Saul 00:17:28.450 --> 00:17:31.650 is the one actively courting Walt here. Usually, 00:17:31.789 --> 00:17:33.789 in these types of stories, the criminal has to 00:17:33.789 --> 00:17:36.369 seek out the shady lawyer and beg for help. But 00:17:36.369 --> 00:17:38.750 here the lawyer is aggressively chasing down 00:17:38.750 --> 00:17:41.720 the criminal. Because Saul sees the massive financial 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:44.859 potential. He sees the absolute purity and quality 00:17:44.859 --> 00:17:48.180 of Walt's product. He literally tells Walt, the 00:17:48.180 --> 00:17:50.559 world is your oyster. It builds down to sheer 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:54.220 greed. Saul Goodman is at his absolute core, 00:17:54.539 --> 00:17:56.740 an opportunist. He looks at Walter White and 00:17:56.740 --> 00:17:59.140 he doesn't see a man dying of cancer. He sees 00:17:59.140 --> 00:18:01.339 a winning lottery ticket that just needs a little 00:18:01.339 --> 00:18:04.359 help getting cashed. So while all of this incredibly 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:06.400 high stakes criminal maneuvering is happening 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:08.579 in the foreground, there is a very grounded. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:10.680 human element playing out in the background of 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:13.000 this episode. The subplots here are actually 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.660 quite heavy. They are very heavy and they provide 00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:17.880 the absolute necessary emotional counterweight 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:20.220 to all the fast -talking comedy of Saul Goodman. 00:18:20.819 --> 00:18:22.799 This brings us to section four of our deep dive, 00:18:23.259 --> 00:18:25.690 the human element. We really have to talk about 00:18:25.690 --> 00:18:28.289 Hank again here. We mentioned his sharp suspicion 00:18:28.289 --> 00:18:31.269 during the bust, but emotionally speaking, he 00:18:31.269 --> 00:18:34.549 is in a very, very dark place in this episode. 00:18:34.869 --> 00:18:37.470 He is deeply traumatized. He is suffering from 00:18:37.470 --> 00:18:40.769 the severe psychological fallout of the shootout 00:18:40.769 --> 00:18:43.569 in previous episodes. Right. You know, the horrific 00:18:43.569 --> 00:18:46.410 incident down in Juarez, the exploding tortoise 00:18:46.410 --> 00:18:49.230 on the cartel informant. He has completely holed 00:18:49.230 --> 00:18:51.890 himself up in his bedroom. He's brewing and bottling 00:18:51.890 --> 00:18:55.710 his own Schrader bro beer in the garage But mostly 00:18:55.710 --> 00:18:58.450 he is just hiding from the world He is having 00:18:58.450 --> 00:19:01.650 severe crippling panic attacks and Walt who ironically 00:19:01.650 --> 00:19:04.410 is the indirect root cause of so much of this 00:19:04.410 --> 00:19:07.690 cartel chaos Wall actually steps in here to act 00:19:07.690 --> 00:19:10.009 as the supportive brother -in -law. He sits down 00:19:10.009 --> 00:19:12.609 and gives Hank a pep talk It is a incredibly 00:19:12.609 --> 00:19:14.890 complex scene to watch right Walt sits on the 00:19:14.890 --> 00:19:16.369 edge of the bed with Hank and starts talking 00:19:16.369 --> 00:19:19.359 about his own fear or more accurately, his total 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:21.420 lack of it. Yeah, he says he's had quote unquote 00:19:21.420 --> 00:19:24.559 no fear ever since his terminal lung cancer diagnosis. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:28.500 Since I got the news, I sleep like a baby. It 00:19:28.500 --> 00:19:31.019 is a chilling line delivery by Bryan Cranston, 00:19:31.180 --> 00:19:33.720 because on one hand, you can see he's genuinely 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:35.619 trying to comfort Hank. He is trying to say, 00:19:36.019 --> 00:19:37.920 look, the fear of the unknown is the worst part. 00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:40.279 You just have to kick it away. But on the other 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:43.440 hand, it reveals Walt's rapidly growing nihilism. 00:19:44.129 --> 00:19:46.650 He is telling Hank that facing his own death 00:19:46.650 --> 00:19:49.470 didn't make him value life more. It actually 00:19:49.470 --> 00:19:52.569 made him value consequences a lot less. But the 00:19:52.569 --> 00:19:54.609 wild thing is, it actually helps Hank, doesn't 00:19:54.609 --> 00:19:56.670 it? It does help him. It gives him just enough 00:19:56.670 --> 00:19:58.710 mental fortitude to finally leave the house and 00:19:58.710 --> 00:20:01.109 go back to work. Now the panic attacks aren't 00:20:01.109 --> 00:20:03.650 magically and fully cured. It's really just a 00:20:03.650 --> 00:20:07.009 temporary band -aid. But it highlights that incredibly 00:20:07.009 --> 00:20:09.720 strange dichotomy in Walter White. He can be 00:20:09.720 --> 00:20:12.220 a ruthless, calculating drug lord in one scene, 00:20:12.579 --> 00:20:14.559 and a genuinely supportive family member in the 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:17.539 next, often using the exact same twisted philosophical 00:20:17.539 --> 00:20:20.859 logic for both situations. Meanwhile, Jesse is 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:23.039 dealing with his own emotional arc in this episode. 00:20:23.220 --> 00:20:25.500 He's getting much closer to his landlord, Jane. 00:20:25.819 --> 00:20:28.299 Jane Margolis, played so wonderfully by Kristen 00:20:28.299 --> 00:20:30.230 Ritter. They actually sleep together for the 00:20:30.230 --> 00:20:32.009 first time in this episode. It's a very sweet, 00:20:32.410 --> 00:20:34.829 tender moment, actually. It is. They start bonding 00:20:34.829 --> 00:20:37.869 over art, over drawing superheroes. It feels 00:20:37.869 --> 00:20:39.829 very innocent compared to the rest of the show. 00:20:39.849 --> 00:20:42.769 Yeah. But there is a key character detail revealed 00:20:42.769 --> 00:20:45.069 here that is going to become unspeakably tragic 00:20:45.069 --> 00:20:48.390 later on. Jesse learns that Jane is in recovery 00:20:48.390 --> 00:20:50.700 for addiction. She tells me she's been 18 months 00:20:50.700 --> 00:20:53.500 sober. Right. And here is Jesse Pinkman, who 00:20:53.500 --> 00:20:56.140 is actively manufacturing and dealing crystal 00:20:56.140 --> 00:20:59.839 meth, using recreational drugs constantly, living 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:02.259 this incredibly dangerous, chaotic lifestyle. 00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:05.460 And he is falling deeply in love with a girl 00:21:05.460 --> 00:21:09.059 whose very survival depends entirely on stability 00:21:09.059 --> 00:21:11.920 and strict sobriety. It is an absolute ticking 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:14.440 time bomb of a relationship. It is the dictionary 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:17.259 definition of a doomed romance. As a viewer, 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:18.900 you desperately want to root for them because 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:20.680 their chemistry is so great and they both seem 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:23.319 so lonely. But, you know, logically, this dynamic 00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:25.400 absolutely cannot end well for either of them. 00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:28.220 And finally, we have Skyler's subplot. Right. 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:32.000 Skyler is going back to the workforce. She has 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.660 taken that job with her old boss, Ted Benickety. 00:21:35.500 --> 00:21:39.519 And there is this very small very painful visual 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:42.400 detail that Walt notices on a Saturday morning. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:44.319 He's dressing up for work. She's spending extra 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:47.019 time putting on makeup. She's dressing significantly 00:21:47.019 --> 00:21:49.500 nicer than she usually does just to go into an 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:51.759 office on a weekend. And Walt notices it immediately. 00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:54.579 He actually comments on it. He does notice. And 00:21:54.579 --> 00:21:56.680 the dead silence that hangs in the room after 00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.519 he notices speaks absolute volumes. The underlying 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:03.579 implication is so clear. There's a massive growing 00:22:03.579 --> 00:22:06.299 distance between them. Skyler is actively building 00:22:06.299 --> 00:22:08.400 a completely separate life outside of the home, 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:11.259 completely outside of Walt's control. And while 00:22:11.259 --> 00:22:13.640 Walt is out secretly building his massive criminal 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:16.660 empire with Saul Goodman, his actual home life 00:22:16.660 --> 00:22:19.200 is just quietly inevitably drifting away from 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:22.059 him. It's such a stark contrast. Walt is rapidly 00:22:22.059 --> 00:22:24.440 gaining all this power and agency in the dangerous 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:26.809 criminal underworld. But he is completely losing 00:22:26.809 --> 00:22:28.930 his power and connection within his own marriage. 00:22:29.269 --> 00:22:31.869 That really is the central driving tragedy of 00:22:31.869 --> 00:22:34.349 the entire show, isn't it? The higher that Heisenberg 00:22:34.349 --> 00:22:36.849 rises, the more that Walter White simply fades 00:22:36.849 --> 00:22:39.259 away. So we have this incredibly against crime 00:22:39.259 --> 00:22:41.700 plot, we have these deeply emotional character 00:22:41.700 --> 00:22:44.559 beats with Hank and Skyler and Jane, and we have 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:47.700 the introduction of an absolute franchise icon 00:22:47.700 --> 00:22:51.799 all packed into 47 minutes. It is a lot for one 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:54.779 single hour of television to handle. Let's look 00:22:54.779 --> 00:22:56.700 at how the world actually received it when it 00:22:56.700 --> 00:22:59.880 aired. Moving into section five. reception, and 00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:03.259 legacy. The reception was huge. Donna Bowman 00:23:03.259 --> 00:23:06.759 from the A .V. Club, who really wrote the definitive 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:09.339 must -read weekly recaps of this show back in 00:23:09.339 --> 00:23:11.359 the day, she gave this episode a straight A grade. 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:13.980 An A grade. That is extremely high praise for 00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:16.000 what is essentially a mid -season world -building 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.519 episode. It really is. She specifically praised 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:21.500 the rapidly evolving role of Jesse and Walt within 00:23:21.500 --> 00:23:24.099 the Albuquerque drug world. She recognized immediately 00:23:24.099 --> 00:23:25.940 that this wasn't just a funny, quirky episode. 00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:28.119 It was a massive, structural leap forward for 00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:30.519 the narrative. It fundamentally changed the rules 00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:32.680 of engagement for the characters. And looking 00:23:32.680 --> 00:23:34.680 back at it years later, the historical rankings 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:37.759 really hold up. In 2019, The Ringer ranked it 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:41.500 the 12th best episode out of all 62 episodes 00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:44.259 of the series. That is incredibly high placement 00:23:44.259 --> 00:23:46.559 when you consider that you're putting it up against 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:49.299 absolute powerhouse episodes like Ozymandias 00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:53.089 or Face Off or Crawl Space. Strength number 12 00:23:53.089 --> 00:23:56.420 is Elite Status. It beats out some of the most 00:23:56.420 --> 00:23:59.980 explosive, action -backed season finales. Vulture 00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:01.940 also had it ranked at 25th overall, which is 00:24:01.940 --> 00:24:04.279 still very, very respectable. Absolutely. And 00:24:04.279 --> 00:24:06.279 we really cannot talk about the overall vibe 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:08.200 and legacy of this episode without mentioning 00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:10.880 the music. The music choices in Breaking Bad 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:13.819 are always so intentional and atmospheric. Always. 00:24:14.059 --> 00:24:16.059 Every track has a purpose. We had a Halle Hay 00:24:16.059 --> 00:24:18.359 by Fari's movement playing faintly in the background 00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:20.500 of the club scene, which perfectly grounds the 00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:23.799 show in that specific 2009 cultural era. We had 00:24:23.799 --> 00:24:26.109 thin m - and Skank by the Lions. And of course, 00:24:26.390 --> 00:24:29.289 Bandarilla by Colexico. Oh, that Colexico track 00:24:29.289 --> 00:24:32.930 is the absolute MVP of the episode. It plays 00:24:32.930 --> 00:24:35.349 during that tense desert kidnapping sequence. 00:24:35.730 --> 00:24:38.349 It gives the whole scene that distinctive southwestern, 00:24:38.430 --> 00:24:41.450 dusty noir feeling. It has that unique mariachi 00:24:41.450 --> 00:24:44.430 meets surf rock vibe that just screams border 00:24:44.430 --> 00:24:46.769 town trouble. It creates a vivid sense of place 00:24:46.769 --> 00:24:49.470 that is honestly just as important as the dialogue 00:24:49.470 --> 00:24:52.390 itself. So as we start to wrap up this deep dive, 00:24:52.829 --> 00:24:54.809 let's try to synthesize all of this information. 00:24:55.069 --> 00:24:57.250 What is the final verdict here? Why does this 00:24:57.250 --> 00:24:59.529 specific hour of television matter so much in 00:24:59.529 --> 00:25:01.430 the grand scheme of things? It matters deeply 00:25:01.430 --> 00:25:04.069 because it is the ultimate bridge. Before Better 00:25:04.069 --> 00:25:06.589 Call saw the episode, not the spinoff, Breaking 00:25:06.589 --> 00:25:09.049 Bad was fundamentally a small story about a desperate 00:25:09.049 --> 00:25:11.150 dying man and his former high school student 00:25:11.150 --> 00:25:14.130 secretly cooking meth in a beat -up RV. It was 00:25:14.130 --> 00:25:16.569 small, it was intimate, it was geographically 00:25:16.569 --> 00:25:19.089 contained. And after this episode... After this, 00:25:19.329 --> 00:25:21.930 it becomes a sprawling saga. Sol Goodman is the 00:25:21.930 --> 00:25:24.190 conduit that brings the entire underworld to 00:25:24.190 --> 00:25:26.490 their doorstep. He brings the cartel connections, 00:25:27.069 --> 00:25:29.329 the sophisticated money laundering, the international 00:25:29.329 --> 00:25:31.819 shipping routes, the professional hitmen. But 00:25:31.819 --> 00:25:34.599 even more than that, structural stuff, this episode 00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:37.359 miraculously introduced a character who was originally 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:40.299 designed just to be comic relief. Literally a 00:25:40.299 --> 00:25:43.059 guy in a loud suit making sleazy jokes and made 00:25:43.059 --> 00:25:45.119 him complex and compelling enough to eventually 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:47.680 carry his own profound Shakespearean tragedy 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:50.319 in a prequel series. It is the ultimate Lalo 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.799 and Ignacio seed. Exactly. That tiny little narrative 00:25:53.799 --> 00:25:56.500 seed, which was just blindly planted in the desert 00:25:56.500 --> 00:25:59.880 sand in 2009, grew into a massive interconnected 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:02.519 forest. It proves that even in the seemingly 00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:05.680 throwaway panicked moments, this show was diligently 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:08.680 building a massive mythology. It is a show that 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:10.980 heavily rewards the viewer for paying close attention. 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:13.279 Which perfectly brings us to our final provocative 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:15.000 thought for the day. For all of you listening 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:17.940 right now. Right. Think back to that terrifying 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:21.240 moment in the desert one more time. Saul is on 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:23.819 his knees, staring into what he thinks is his 00:26:23.819 --> 00:26:27.359 own grave. He begs for his life. And what does 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:30.039 he scream? He screams, I am a friend of the cartel. 00:26:30.109 --> 00:26:32.849 Amigo Del Cartel. He genuinely thinks that title 00:26:32.849 --> 00:26:35.069 is his ultimate shield. He thinks dropping that 00:26:35.069 --> 00:26:38.029 name makes him untouchable to these random thugs. 00:26:38.250 --> 00:26:40.089 Right. He thinks it is his ultimate safety net. 00:26:40.329 --> 00:26:42.509 But if you look at the long term trajectory of 00:26:42.509 --> 00:26:45.230 Walt, of Jesse, and eventually of Saul himself 00:26:45.230 --> 00:26:48.990 across both series, is being a quote unquote 00:26:48.990 --> 00:26:52.359 friend of the cartel actually safety? Or is it, 00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:54.839 in reality, the most dangerous exposed position 00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:56.900 of all? Because once you establish yourself as 00:26:56.900 --> 00:26:59.220 a friend, you are officially in the game. And 00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:01.720 once you are in the game, there is no getting 00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:03.900 out. You are really just biding your time, waiting 00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:05.740 for your own turn to be taken out to the desert. 00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:09.200 That is a deeply terrifying, completely sobering 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:11.900 thought to leave on. But that is the brutal reality 00:27:11.900 --> 00:27:14.539 of the Breaking Bad universe. Thank you so much 00:27:14.539 --> 00:27:17.099 for joining us today on this deep dive into the 00:27:17.099 --> 00:27:19.700 explosive arrival of the one and only Saul Goodman. 00:27:20.380 --> 00:27:22.339 We will catch you on the next deep dive.