Better Call Saul: A Crooked Lawyer’s Journey From Hustler to Criminal Mastermind Summary

Think you know Saul Goodman, the sleazy lawyer from Breaking Bad? Better Call Saul dives deep into his past, revealing a complex and often heartbreaking story of ambition, morality, and the choices that shape us.

Season 1: Jimmy McGill’s Origins

• We meet Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer with big dreams and a knack for bending the rules.
• Struggling financially, he orchestrates small cons alongside his brother Chuck McGill, a brilliant but reclusive lawyer.
• Jimmy’s entanglements with the criminal world begin, mainly through low-level crooks like Nacho Varga.
• We learn of his past as “Slippin’ Jimmy,” a con-man from his younger days.

Season 2: Rise of Saul Goodman

• Jimmy gets a job at Davis & Main, a prestigious law firm, but chafes under its restrictions.
• His relationship with Kim Wexler, a fellow lawyer, deepens and they grow closer.
• Jimmy’s schemes get bolder, and seeds of his ‘Saul Goodman’ persona emerge.
• Mike Ehrmantraut, a former cop turned fixer, becomes embroiled with the Salamancas, a dangerous drug cartel.

Season 3: Jimmy vs. Chuck

• The conflict between Jimmy and Chuck reaches its peak. Jimmy uses underhanded tactics to undermine Chuck’s legal career.
• Chuck’s mental health deteriorates due to his electromagnetic hypersensitivity and his obsession with catching Jimmy out.
• Gus Fring, a ruthless drug lord, starts subtly interfering in the Salamanca operations.
• Nacho grows increasingly entangled within the cartel, working as a double agent on Gus’s orders.

Season 4: Aftermath and Transformation

• Jimmy grapples with guilt and consequences of Chuck’s tragic death.
• He fully embraces the Saul Goodman persona, delving deeper into the criminal underworld.
• Kim becomes increasingly conflicted by Jimmy’s moral compromises.
• Mike begins his deep involvement working for Gus Fring.
• Lalo Salamanca arrives in Albuquerque to oversee the cartel’s operations.

Season 5: All or Nothing

• Saul Goodman is fully operating as a criminal lawyer, building a clientele of shady characters.
• Kim gets drawn deeper into Jimmy’s schemes, finding a twisted excitement in the risk.
• Lalo Salamanca becomes a dangerous threat to Gus Fring’s operation.
• Nacho, trapped in the middle, seeks a desperate way out.
• Howard Hamlin becomes a pawn in Jimmy and Kim’s plots.

Season 6: The Final Schemes and Fallout

• Part 1: Jimmy and Kim concoct an elaborate scheme to ruin Howard Hamlin’s reputation, culminating in tragedy. Lalo Salamanca plays a deadly cat and mouse game with Gus Fring.
• Part 2: Takes place mainly in the ‘Breaking Bad’ timeline. We see Saul Goodman fully established as Walter White’s morally bankrupt lawyer. Flashbacks reveal the destructive impact of Jimmy and Kim’s choices on their own lives and the lives of others. The series finale brings closure to Saul’s journey.