We catalogue every Breaking Bad callback, pop culture reference and interesting factoid we can find in Better Call Saul season 2
Better Call Saulis much more than a prequel.
It's the brilliantly told story of an exceptional yet flawed individual whose flaws and hubris set him down a path of destruction. Kind of like this other show Breaking Bad.
Despite being its own story, Better Call Saul is not shy about its Breaking Bad homages and history. As a matter of fact, it's not shy about any pop culutre references or shoutouts. With season 3 almost here and season 2 on safely on Netflix where it belongs, we've decided to catalogue all the easter eggs we could find from Better Call Saulseason 2.
This includes but is not limited to Breaking Bad calbacks, pop culture references, and other interesting factoids. Give them a look and let us know of anything we missed in the comments!
Better Call Saul Season 2 Episode 1: Switch
Official synopsis: Jimmy decides to quit the law after turning down a job at Davis & Main. Mike breaks ties with a former associate.
- This episode is directed and written by Thomas Schnauz, who goes way, way back with the Vince Gilligan family. The two have worked together on The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen and Breaking Bad. He’s been tapped to write a “revisionist take” on Jack and the Beanstalk to be produced by Vince Gilligan.
- The season begins with another black and white flash forward to Saul’s life in Omaha as a Cinnabon. Fans may have been frustrated with the lack of furthering the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe mythology but artistically it couldn’t possibly work any better. The future Jimmy performs the mundane task of taking out the trash after a day’s work and gets locked in the room with the dumpster. He can escape easily if he merely pushes open the emergency exit but that would draw the attention of the police and he can’t have that. Instead, he just sits down, dejected, until a janitor arrives and lets him out.
- The song playing during the opening scene is the slow, mournful “Funny How Time Slips Away” from Willie Nelson
- Jimmy/Saul carves “S.G. was here” on the wall of the trash room while he waits. Saul Goodman sure was here but he’s not anymore. This version of Jimmy/Saul is someone different entirely.
- Also on the wall behind Jimmy is the graffiti tag “Skribe.” That’s appeared in both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul season one. What’s the significance of Skribe? Well apparently someone in the art department likes it. Vince Gilligan’s assistant Jenn Carroll declares “you’re probably okay not obsessing over that one.”
- CREDIT SEQUENCE UPDATE: Vince Gilligan has said that the opening credit sequences for Better Call Saul are intended to look “shitty.” Each episode features a different kitschy totem from Jimmy McGill’s future life as Saul Goodman. The color routinely switches from VHS-style over saturation and black and white to mimic the ever-changing nature of Jimmy McGill, Saul Goodman and the person each one will eventually become in a Omaha Cinnabon. We’ll be keeping track of each episode’s credit sequences iconography. This time around we get a creepy inflatable statue of liberty that adorned the outside of Saul Goodman’s offices.
- The post-credits sequences picks up almost immediately where season 1 left off. And Jimmy is still wearing the pinky ring of his dearly departed friend and hustle partner, Marco
- Jimmy is called “Charlie Hustle” by Howard to impress Clifford Maine. Ironically Jimmy quits moments after being called that. Charlie Hustle was also the nickname of famous baseball player and even more famous gambler Pete Rose.
- “I know what stopped me and you know what? It’s never stopping me again,” Jimmy tells Mike and then drives off humming Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” This is a carbon copy of the final moments of season 1.
- Mike is back at the same parking garage with his pimento sandwich as he was in season 1 episode “Pimento.” This parking garage is where client Daniel Wormald picks him up so that Mike can act as silent muscle in drug deals with Nacho. This time Wormald turns up in a hilariously gaudy yellow Hummer with rims, causing Mike to quit.
- Wormald’s vanity license plate on the Hummer reads “Playuh.” According to PlateRecordsFinder.com, that plate is actually in use in New Mexico on a 2003 Mercedes Benz C240 M AWD
- Kim asks Jimmy what he’s going to do “walk the Earth like Jules in Pulp Fiction?” Vince Gilligan is a huge Quentin Tarantino fan and wears his influence on his sleeve. In Pulp Fiction, Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) tells his partner that he’s ready to retire from this life of crime and walk the Earth like David Carradine in Kung Fu.
- Kim also tries to appeal to Jimmy’s financial sense by telling him he shouldn’t quit the law since he’s already invested so much money and time in his career. “That’s the sunk cost fallacy,” Jimmy replies “It’s what gambler’s do. Throw good money after bad. There’s no reward at the end of this game.” The sunk cost fallacy essentially means that a cost has already been incurred and cannot be gotten back. So it shouldn’t factor in at all into your decision to continue or not. It’s why playing another game of blackjack because “in for a penny, in for a pound” is a bad idea.
- Ken Wins (played by Kyle Bornheimer) is back! Of course, the character’s name is not named Ken “Wins” but just Ken. “Ken Wins” is an obnoxious stock broker who first appeared in Breaking Bad season 1. A newly enlightened and angry Walter White responded to Ken’s douchebaggery by taking a squeegee to his car battery. Better Call Saul reveals that that wasn’t Ken’s first encounter with Albuquerque antiheroes.
- By the way, there is a Ken Wins New Mexico license plate in real life. Supposedly it belongs to a 1994 BMW 325IC
- Ken Wins mentions Corky Romano as an example of a “slam-dunk." Corky Romano is a 2001 mob parody movie starring Chris Kattan. It has a 6% on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $24 million.
- The expensive tequila that Kim and Jimmy swindle Ken into buying is Zafiro Anejo. It’s the same brand that Gus Fring presented to Don Eladio. Of course, that bottle was poisoned and wiped out Don Eladio’s entire crew.
- Kim wears a Kansas City Royals shirt for pajamas. Presumably she was excited in 2015 when the Royals won the World Series.
- Jimmy has tied some red string on Marco’s ring to make it fit better. Marco was a much larger man after all.
- The painting in Jimmy’s new office at Davis and Main is fascinating and he can’t seem to bring himself to look away from it. Perhaps because it depicts a figure tumbling backward and it reminds me of his “Slippin’ Jimmy” nature. The painting is titled “Geometric Abductions” and was created by a Sante Fe artist named Miles Toland. You can check out some more of his work here.
- “Hey do you think? Do we get a choice of desks? Is it possible….can we do cocobolo?” A cocobolo desk is Jimmy’s only request for his new office. Cocobolo is a hardwood of Central American trees. Jimmy expressed his desire to have one in season 1 as the ultimate sign of success.
- The episode title takes its name from the switch in Jimmy’s office that says “do not turn off.” Jimmy turns it off anyway and nothing happens. So he turns it back on. What does this symbolize? Your choice. Maybe Jimmy will fail in changing himself into a new person?
- Speaking of titles, pay close attention to each for a reason we’ll reveal in the final episode.