Follow along each week as we find every Easter egg, secret and pop culture reference in Better Call Saul season 3.
Better Call Saul is a great show for many reasons. Chief among those reasons is that it trusts its own mythology.
Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, and the rest of the minds behind Better Call Saul have correctly predicted that viewers deeply care about the mythology and history of this fictional version of Albuquerque built up over five seaons of Breaking Badand two seasons of Better Call Saul. So they highlight, reference, and remix it in every way they can over and over.
Better Call Saul is dramatically satsifying to be sure but it's also one of the better Easter egg hunts on television. After doing the same for season one and season two of Better Call Saul, we're conducting our own Easter egg hunt again for season three. This time we're doing it live as episodes air to bring you the most up to date pop culture reference and fact finding possible in Vince Gilligan's ABQ.
Better Call Saul Season 3 Episode 1: Mabel
Official Synopsis: Jimmy and Chuck’s relationship deteriorates. Kim feels the pressure of running her own firm. Mike investigates the note left on his car.
- The amplifier used at the Cinnabon is a McGohan. Just like Jimmy McGill, these vintage amplifiers hail from Chicago and have seen better days.
- Nancy Sinatra’s “Sugar Town” soundtracks the cold open. The song was released in 1966 and was written by Lee Hazlewood, who also penned Sinatra’s hits “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’,” “Summer Wine,” and many others. Lee said the song was supposedly about LSD. Zooey Deschanel performed a karaoke version of the song in (500) Days of Summer.
- White Satin Sugar is produced by the Amalgamated Sugar Company, based out of Idaho. Amalgamated Sugar erected a large illuminated sign in Portland, Oregon in 1940 in the shape of the state of Oregon and featuring the words "White Satin Sugar.” Though the sign still stands today, it no longer displays White Satin Sugar. It became a registered historic landmark in 1977 and now promotes the city of Portland.
- “Gene” is reading The Moon’s a Balloon, the best-selling memoir by British actor David Niven, famous for playing Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days, and Sir Charles Lytton, ("the Phantom") in The Pink Panther. Niven also played James Bond 007 in Casino Royale (1967). It is said that Bond creator Ian Fleming had Niven in mind when creating Bond and that Niven was Fleming's first choice to play Bond in Dr. No.
- “Gene” uses a Kansas City Royals lunchbox. Omaha hosts the Triple-A baseball team for the Royals. We also know that Kim Wexler, who is from a small-town near the Kansas/Nebraska border, is a fan of the team, wearing a Royals t-shirt in the episode “Inflatable.”
- Dylan Riley Snyder, from the Disney series Kickin’ It, plays the young shoplifter.
- After the cold open, we witness the final scene from “Klick” outside of the space blanket barricade.
- A shot lingers on Jimmy still wearing Marco’s ring.
- Jimmy references “wax on, wax off” and Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid.
- The Adventures of Mabelby Harry Thurston Peck was published in 1896-97. The story is about Mabel, a five-year-old girl, who helps the King of all the lizards and is rewarded with the ability to converse with animals. Peck was fired from a long-term position at Columbia College due to an infidelity scandal.
- Chuck says that their grandmother was reading The Adventures of Mabel“the year the Titanic sunk.” The Titanic sunk in 1912.
- Five J’s Auto Parts is a real auto salvage yard located on Broadway in Albuquerque.
- The office for the auto parts salvage yard is filled with banners and posters for the NFL teams the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers. The Eagles should make Mike feel at home since he’s from Philadelphia. We can’t really see him being a big Andy Reid fan though.
- Mike’s dismantled car is an ‘87 Caprice Wagon. Ludacris drives an ‘87 Caprice in Furious 7.
- That’s Captain Bauer, the gullible air force captain from “Fifi.”
- As Jimmy ushers some client out of his office, one elderly woman starts telling him about her flowers and mentions lily of the valley. You may remember lily of the valley as the plant that Walt used to poison Brock in Breaking Bad, framing Gus and getting Jesse back on his side in the process.
- Kim, perhaps freaking out from the responsibility in running the Mesa Verde account, struggles mightily whether to include a comma or semicolon in her legal briefing. Here is is The Oatmeal’s helpful primer on semicolons. Honestly, you’d be surprised at how loosey-goosey semicolon rules are. Just use it to connect to main clauses when you feel a comma isn’t “strong” enough.
- We also get an appearance from Caldera, the veterinarian from “Five-O,” “RICO,” and “Amarillo.” He’s played by comedian Joe DeRosa, who voiced Rufus Bellows for the video game Grand Theft Auto V.
- The episode is dedicated to Eric Justen, the re-recording mixer for Breaking Bad, who died of a heart attack last August.