Vince Gilligan's "Breaking Bad universe" is ending with Better Call Saul's finale, and it might be difficult to come to terms with for some long-time fans of this character-driven crime drama. Re-watching the show that started it all, equipped with the knowledge of everything that has happened in Better Call Saul can help fill the void.
Better Call Saul lays the groundwork for many of the key plot points that take place in Breaking Bad. Aside from the big picture stuff, the show masterfully weaves in symbols, characters, and events that provide additional context for individual scenes in its source material. Some of these even reveal a whole new way of understanding certain characters' actions.
10 The Zafiro Añejo Scam
First seen on-screen in season 4, episode 10 of Breaking Bad, the fictional Zafiro Añejo tequila was the drink behind the downfall of Don Eladio and his cartel. Gus poisoned the luxurious liquor and disguised it as a gift, which ended up killing Eladio and his associates as a way of getting revenge for killing Fring's business partner. Zafiro Añejo also appears in Better Call Saul, where it takes on a whole different meaning.
In season 2, episode 1, Kim and Jimmy trick a stock trader into paying for the entire bottle at $50 per shot. It was the first scam the couple pulled together, with Kim saving the bottle cap as a reminder of that night. In Better Call Saul, Zafiro Añejo symbolized the destructive nature of their love. In Breaking Bad, it literally killed dozens of men, whereas in BCS, this tequila represented a poisonous relationship, adding more nuance to Breaking Bad's famous Don Eladio death scene.
9 Jimmy and Kim's Divorce
There is no denying that Jimmy and Kim sincerely loved each other, and their relationship was the heart of Better Call Saul. However, their love for pulling off increasingly risky scams turned them into a destructive and toxic force in other people's lives, which ultimately led to the fan-favorite couple splitting up in "Fun and Games", the ninth episode of season 6.
One of the recurring themes in BCS is Jimmy's inability to deal with painful emotions and trauma. He copes with them by repressing them under a carefully constructed mask (and scamming people). McGill invented Saul Goodman shortly after the death of his brother. His break-up with Kim was the straw that broke the camel's back, leading him to fully become Saul. These background details imbue every comical Saul scene in Breaking Bad with a hidden layer of tragedy.
8 Lalo Killing Howard Hamlin
Kim's decision to end things with Jimmy was largely motivated by the shocking result of their attempt to assassinate the character of Howard Hamlin. The entire scam culminated in season 6's mid-season finale with Howard visiting the couple, drunkenly voicing his anger with them. Not long after, Lalo Salamanca enters the apartment, seeking to use Jimmy to try and kill Gus Fring. Upon seeing Howard, he murders him in cold blood, so as not to leave any loose ends.
That moment shattered Jimmy's reality. Not only did he think that Lalo was dead, but the abrupt and unnecessary murder of Howard left the protagonist truly terrified of the Salamanca for years. This is evident in season 2, episode 8 of Breaking Bad, where Saul, while being kidnaped by Walt and Jesse asks them if they were sent by Lalo and begs for his life. Knowing just how brutally Hector Salamanca's nephew re-entered Saul's life, one can say that his fear is more than justified.
7 Werner Ziegler's Death
In Breaking Bad, Mike Ehrmantraut is Gus Fring's most trusted henchman. He is shown to kill on command, without giving it a second thought or showing any kind of remorse. In Better Call Saul, however, he is extremely reluctant to kill, even going as far as getting his face bashed in just to avoid killing Tuco when Nacho hired Mike to "take him out of the picture".
Killing the German architect he helped hire for the job of building Gus's superlab was the very first time Mike had no choice but to carry out an assassination. The touching scene of Werner Ziegler's death clearly shows how impactful and transformative this event was for the beloved character. It was the start of his journey towards becoming the cold-blooded hitman who doesn't even flinch when pulling the trigger.
6 Mike and Saul Meeting the Vet
When viewers meet them in Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman and Mike Ehrmantraut are already very well-connected in the Albuquerque underworld, but the show never actually explains how exactly they developed such a wide network of acquaintances.
As it turns out, the pair inherited most of their contacts from Dr. Caldera, a criminal veterinarian, who acted as a fixer who matched clients with providers of illegal services, such as protection gigs, burglaries, or even assassinations. In BCS, it is revealed that Caldera had the contact information of Ed Galbraith, the "Disappearer", who was responsible for helping Walt, Jesse, and Saul escape the law as Heisenberg's meth empire started falling apart.
5 Nacho Spiking Hector Salamanca's Heart Pills
One of the biggest mysteries in Breaking Bad was the origins of Hector Salamanca's condition, which rendered him tied to a wheelchair and unable to communicate except for ringing his now-iconic bell. The writers revealed that he was perfectly fine not too long ago in a retrospective scene where the cartel don kills Max, Gus Fring's long-time business partner and close friend.
In Better Call Saul, we learn that Hector was suffering from a heart condition that required him to take nitroglycerin. Nacho Varga, one of the Don's closest associates turned Gus's informant, exchanged Hector's medication for ibuprofen, resulting in the Salamanca leader suffering a stroke, which left him disabled for life.
4 "Bagman"
The eighth episode of Better Call Saul's fifth season is largely considered to be one of the best chapters in the saga of Jimmy McGill, not without a good reason. What started as a simple job of picking up Lalo's bail money from his cousins turned into Jimmy getting targeted by gunmen for hire and having to walk across the desert with duffel bags filled to the brim with cash, forced to drink his own urine and help Mike assassinate a man who was tailing them in order to survive.
It was a profoundly traumatic experience that left Jimmy terrified of the desert (this fear was also referenced on multiple occasions in Breaking Bad). More importantly, however, delivering Lalo's bail money was the job that led the Albuquerque legal community to ostracize him, which is a crucial milestone on Jimmy McGill's way toward becoming Saul Goodman.
3 Francesca Starting Out at Wexler McGill
Fans of the Breaking Bad universe got a chance to explore the origins of Francesca Liddy and Saul Goodman's work relationship in Better Call Saul. She made her debut in the prequel series in its third season when she interviewed for the secretary job at Wexler McGill. She was a completely different person back then, radiating joy and ambition, unlike the Francesca that viewers know from Breaking Bad.
Previously, fans simply assumed that her blasé, careless attitude was how she always behaved, but as it turns out, the truth is much darker. She started out as a positively-minded, hard-working person, but after working with Saul Goodman, these bits of her personality were slowly chopped away as she endured years of humiliation and unusual clientele. After seeing Francesca's character arc in Better Call Saul, it is impossible to look at her in the same way in Breaking Bad.
2 Saul Disregarding Mike's Advice
In "Breaking Bad", the antepenultimate episode of Better Call Saul, Mike advises Saul Goodman against working with Walter White on the grounds of the chemistry teacher being inexperienced and unpredictable, but Saul goes ahead and reaches out to Walt anyway, hoping to shape him into a criminal force to be reckoned with.
When Breaking Bad first aired, it gave viewers the impression that Walter White was responsible for most of his own success. In the extra scenes introduced in Better Call Saul, Heisenberg's rise was contextualized as being carefully engineered by Saul Goodman in the hopes of making a fortune off the terminally ill chemist.
1 "Bad Choice Road"
Mike gives the following "choices" speech to Jimmy in season 5, episode 9 of Better Call Saul, right after the two returned from their misadventure in the desert:
" We all make our choices. And those choices, they put us on a road. Sometimes those choices seem small, but they put you on the road. You think about getting off... but eventually, you're back on it."
Not only does this iconic Mike quote drive home the point about the consequences of Jimmy's actions, but it can be used as a lens through which one can view Breaking Bad, as well. After all, Walter White's choices drive him deeper into the Albuquerque underworld, and while he contemplates quitting "the game" on multiple occasions throughout the series, he always gets pulled back into it, no matter how hard he tries to stay away.