Despite Better Call Saul being a prequel series to Breaking Bad, it has come to be its own show that feels independent of its roots. While so much of Better Call Saul has to do with the things that aren’t spoken, there are still plenty of great lines.
We’ve been waiting for almost two years now, but finally, season five is almost here. Until then, here are some of our favorite zingers from season four.
“Well, Howard, I Guess That’s Your Cross To Bear.” - Jimmy McGill
Season four opens with the immediate aftermath of Chuck’s death. As it turns out, Chuck’s law firm partner, Howard Hamlin, is struggling a great deal more than Jimmy to maintain composure. In private, Howard confesses to Jimmy that he believes his decision to have Chuck step down was the final straw that made him commit suicide. Howard is by no means Jimmy’s best friend, nor perhaps is the timing of this reveal particularly great. Jimmy’s simple response is, “Well, Howard, I guess that’s your cross to bear.” This signals Jimmy’s descent from the guy that used to be a crowd-pleaser into a full-fledged criminal lawyer.
“Fair? Let’s Talk About Fair.” - Kim Wexler
After Kim finds out that Howard has told Jimmy that Chuck’s death was ruled a suicide, she confronts Howard and asks him why. Howard tries to assure Kim that he didn’t mean to make things worse for Jimmy and that he wanted to be fair to him. Kim lays into him and stands up for Jimmy, not knowing that in fact, Jimmy had more to do with Chuck being let go from HHM than he’s told her. We love Kim for standing up for Jimmy, but it’s hard to watch Howard, who is trying like crazy to make the best out of a horrible situation, get lambasted.
“Are You Out Of Your Mind? You Don’t Even Know Me!” - Jimmy McGill
As Jimmy deals with the loss of his law license, he goes in search of other work. He stumbles into a company that is looking to hire a new salesman.
Perhaps to just prove something to himself, Jimmy manages to completely change their minds from giving the position to another person to giving it to him. Just when we think that Jimmy may finally be on his way to an honest line of work, he pulls the rug out from under his potential employers and tells them they’re crazy for believing him and being willing to hire him after just spending a few minutes with him. We’ve always known where Jimmy will end up and this further demonstrates why.
“From Now On, You Are Mine.” - Gus Fring
Gus Fring is the last person you want to cross. Despite his best efforts, Nacho Vargas still finds himself in the crosshairs of Gus. He leaves his house one night only to be captured by the henchmen of Gus and watch his friend die by suffocation. Gus reminds Nacho that no matter how it may seem, he’s no longer in control of things on his end in the drug business. Gus will go to any lengths to maintain control, but even he will learn the limits of that control by the end of the season.
“You Don’t Know The Full Story.” - Kim Wexler
Kim Wexler, Jimmy’s romantic interest and former colleague, is one of the few individuals whose moral compass seems to waver the least in the world of Better Call Saul. She always wants to give Jimmy and others like him the benefit of the doubt. It’s a reminder to us that even when we thought we knew everything there was to know about Saul Goodman after Breaking Bad, there was an entire backstory that gave so much more context and understanding to the individual we thought may have been the easiest nut to crack.
“You’d Be Crazy To Go Up Against Eladio.” - Lalo Salamanca
With each season of Better Call Saul has come to the appearance of some characters from Breaking Bad. This season introduced a character that had previously only been mentioned by name: Lalo Salamanca. He goes with Nacho to officially introduce himself to Gus at his flagship location of Los Pollos Hermanos.
While there, Lalo privately commends Gus for his hard work, building up not only a successful restaurant franchise but a drug business that’s doing fine for itself. Lalo notes the struggle that Don Eladio has the Salamancas and Fring’s competing drug businesses have had and seemingly warns Gus that he’s nuts to take the battle against Eladio himself. It’s a foreshadowing that Breaking Bad fans noticed and appreciated this past season.
“The Loser Has To Fall.” - Chuck McGill
In a flashback during the opening of the season finale, we are brought back to the day Jimmy became an attorney. Jimmy, along with Chuck and some associates from HHM, celebrate with drinks and karaoke at a bar. Jimmy picks the classic ABBA song “The Winner Takes It All” as his choice and invites Chuck to join in the fun. At first, Chuck resists, but eventually, he comes in for the chorus and sings, “The loser has to fall.” It’s so indicative of Chuck and Jimmy’s relationship. All their lives, Chuck was the winner and Jimmy was the loser. No matter how hard Jimmy tried, he never could win in such a way that was truly meaningful to Chuck, and that’s part of the reason his death has so little effect on Jimmy’s emotions.
“What Did I Do Wrong? I Did Everything Right!” - Jimmy McGill
In the eighth episode, Jimmy finally gets the opportunity to have a hearing for his reinstatement to the New Mexico bar. After the committee hears Jimmy and convenes in private, Jimmy approaches the chairman and asks how he did. The committee member responds that he won’t be getting reinstated this year and Jimmy pleads, “What did I do wrong? I did everything right!”
If Breaking Bad is a show about a good man trying to become bad, Better Call Saul is a show about a bad man trying desperately to be good, even when all the odds are against him. Jimmy knows how easy it is for him to be bad, but he wants to do everything to avoid those tendencies in the first three seasons of the show. A moment like this only pushes him closer to the edge.
“Jimmy, You Are Always Down.” - Kim Wexler
Jimmy calls Kim after he knows what happened at his reinstatement hearing. His anger becomes unbridled and he begins lashing out at Kim, claiming that she’s just kicking him when he’s down. Kim responds, “Jimmy, you are always down.”
Kim may be the person that understands Jimmy the best and loves him more than anyone, but even she knows that as it stands, he’s always struggling. Even when he’s succeeding, something is holding him back. It speaks to her character that in spite of this, she still does everything she can to try to help him succeed.
“S’all Good, Man!” - Jimmy McGill
Viewers of Breaking Bad may have been surprised to learn that when they were tuning into Better Call Saul for the first time, they wouldn’t be seeing Saul Goodman; they would be seeing Jimmy McGill, a public defender doing everything he could to make it by and still help the little guy. He was beginning to dabble in some shady business but virtually didn’t resemble the character he was in Breaking Bad at all.
This season it all changed, as Jimmy tried to make one last-ditch effort to get reinstated as an attorney in the season finale. He comes out of the appeal and tells Kim what he said was part of a longer con and that he won’t be practicing law under his current name. Flabbergasted, Kim asks him what’s going on, to which Jimmy replies, “S’all good, man!” The moment fans had been waiting for several seasons finally came.
