‘Better Call Saul’: The 22 Best ‘Breaking Bad’ Easter Eggs
A Cinnabon in Omaha
Saul Goodman said it in “Granite State,” the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad, as he bid client Walter White adieu: “The fun’s over. From here on out, I’m Mr. Low Profile, just another douchebag with a job and three pairs of Dockers. If I’m lucky, a month from now, best case scenario: I’m managing a Cinnabon in Omaha.” Flash forward, in the Better Call Saul premiere, and Saul is, in fact, the visor-wearing manager of a Cinnabon outlet inside a mall in Omaha. Except now, he goes by the name Gene, as we learn from his nametag.
(Photo: AMC)
There Goes the Neighborhood
Gale Boetticher, Walter White’s ill-fated lab assistant, lived at 6353 Juan Tabo Avenue in Albuquerque. In fact, it was at his Juan Tabo abode that one Jesse Pinkman shot and killed him, in an act that began in earnest Jesse’s unraveling. In “Uno,” when Saul Goodman is arguing with the court clerk about the paltry sum of his public defender payment, he holds the check up to the window, and it reveals his address: 160 Juan Tabo NE. At least we know, as per his Cinnabon gig, that Juan Tabo was a bit kinder to Jimmy/Saul/Gene.
(Photo: AMC)
Dude, Where’s My (Other) Car?
In Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman drove a white 1997 Cadillac DeVille, with the New Mexico license plate LWYRUP. In the Better Call Saul premiere, we see Jimmy McGill walking out of the courthouse and into the parking lot, where he’s headed towards a shiny white Cadillac DeVille… before every so slightly shifting his step towards the car parked right next to it: a 1998 Suzuki Esteem, yellow, except for the orange-colored back passenger door, and looking like it has seen far better days. Jimmy later says of his ride, “The only way that entire car’s worth $500 is if there’s a $300 hooker sitting in it.”
(Photo: AMC)
Loyal to Loyola’s
Loyola’s Family Restaurant is a real eatery in the ABQ, a frequent stop for diners traveling Route 66. In Breaking Bad, it was also a favorite haunt of Mike Ehrmantraut, whether he was meeting with uptight Lydia, or trying to lay some mentorship on Jesse Pinkman. In Saul, Loyola’s diner is once again a hotspot, from Saul’s first meeting with Betsy and Craig Kettleman to a shout-out in “Pimento,” when newbie drug dealer Price tells his hired bodyguards it’s a good place for a pee break before they head out on their appointment with Nacho.
(Photo: AMC)
Kick the Can
Walter White takes out his frustrations by punching a metal paper towel dispenser in a public bathroom after getting bad news from his doctor in Breaking Bad.
In Better Call Saul, Jimmy takes out his frustrations with Howard Hamlin on a metal garbage can outside the elevator bank at the HHM offices. Oddly, despite the obvious dents in both, no one replaces the damaged towel dispenser or garbage can.
(Photo: AMC)
Chef Tuco
Psycho that he is, Tuco Salamanca is also a caring nephew, who cooks tasty burritos for his Tio Salamanca (and Jesse and Walt) in Breaking Bad. In the “Mijo” episode of Saul, Tuco is seen in the kitchen of his abuelita’s home, chopping veggies and frying ‘em up to make his grandma a delicious-looking burrito dinner.
(Photo: AMC)
It’s All Good, Man
In “Hero,” episode 4 of Better Call Saul, a flashback to a Slippin’ Jimmy scam reveals the origins of Jimmy’s future moniker: He tells Stevie, the mark in a fake Rolex scam he and a pal pull, that his name is Saul. “As in, s’all good, man,” Jimmy says.
(Photo: AMC)
Fashion Crimes (or, the Fashions of Criminals)
In Breaking Bad, Gustavo Fring sports a yellow, long-sleeved shirt and tie combo while carrying out his duties at Los Pollos Hermanos, while Saul Goodman is a fan of bright (think orange) shirts and ties while representing his (almost always guilty) clientele. In Better Call Saul’s “Hero,” Jimmy goes shopping for a suit that will out-Hamlin Howard and his Hamlindigo blue attire, but while he’s in the clothing store, a Gus-ish yellow button-down shirt hangs on the wall, and Jimmy picks up a neon orange long-sleeved shirt and looks at it longingly. No worries, Jimmy… soon, you’ll have a closet full of ‘em.
(Photo: AMC)
The Nurse
In “End Times,” the Season 4 Breaking Bad episode where Jesse’s favorite kiddo, Brock, ended up in the hospital after having been poisoned (by Walt, unbeknownst to Jesse), a nurse played by actress T.C. Warner tosses Jesse out, because he’s not related to Brock. In the Better Call Saul ep “Alpine Shepherd Boy,” after Chuck is tasered by the police and taken to the hospital, Jimmy shows up and frantically tries to shut down anything that’s being powered by electricity, and a nurse — yep, played by T.C. Warner, this time wearing her hair in a braid — gets a security guard to come to the room.
(Photo: AMC)
Trains and Tarantulas
In Bad, 14-year-old Drew Sharp was murdered by “dead-eyed Opie” Todd, who was afraid Drew had witnessed Walt and company’s train heist while Drew was riding his bike out in the desert, looking for a tarantula. In “Five-O,” the instant-classic Mike backstory episode of Saul, Mike arrives in Albuquerque via train, after a bartender pal in Philadelphia had warned him to be careful of the tarantulas in ABQ, which is a “big minus in my book,” he says, for the place Mike plans to call his new home. If he only knew…
(Photo: AMC)
Thank You, Nebraska!
As he predicted in Breaking Bad, that Cinnabon in Omaha saved Saul after he lammed it post-Walter White. But before all that, the Cornhusker state offers Jimmy McGill another important opportunity. In the “RICO” episode of Better Call Saul, Jimmy’s case against Sandpiper is made when he finds a document that proves the New Mexico-based company’s practice of overcharging its elderly clients includes syringes purchased from a business in Lincoln. That equals interstate fraud, which equals possible RICO charges, which means a potential multi-million dollar payday for old Jimmy.
(Photo: AMC)
The Caviar of the South
In Bad, while on a stakeout in Season 4’s “Cornered,” Mike offers Jesse a pimento cheese sandwich. In “Pimento,” the penultimate episode of the first season of Better Call Saul, Mike shows up for a freelance security gig with a little brown paper bag. Is it carrying his gun, or some other weapon? Nope… it’s his lunch, a pimento sandwich — “the caviar of the south,” he says — which apparently makes a fine snack during criminal-related activities of all kind.
(Photo: AMC)
ABC… Easy as 1-2-3
Better Call Saul creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould went through great effort to construct a clever hint about the upcoming introduction of Breaking Bad supervillain Gustavo Fring to Saul: They named Season 2’s episodes so that the first letter of each title, when rearranged, would spell out “FRING’S BACK.” But BB/Saul fans are also a very clever bunch, and when one viewer figured out the anagram and shared it with fellow devotees of Gilligan’s universe, he and Gould acknowledged the puzzle right away, and apologized for underestimating just how smart their viewers are.
(Photo: AMC)
They Call Me Domingo
In Saul, anyway. In Breaking Bad’s first season, drug dealer Krazy-8 meets the business end of a bicycle lock when Walter White strangles him with it. In the Season 2 Saul episode “Gloves Off,” we meet Krazy-8 — then known by his real name, Domingo — when he takes time out of his 9-to-5 job as a furniture company driver to deliver the profits from his side hustle, dealing drugs, to Nacho and krazy, er, crazy Tuco.
(Photo: AMC)
World’s Really Quite Good Lawyer
Saul Goodman sips from a mug that proclaims him the “World’s Greatest Lawyer” in Breaking Bad, a mug we’re assuming that, like Michael Scot’s World’s Best Boss cup in The Office, Saul purchased for himself. But in Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill has a slightly more modest sense of his skills, thanks to the coffee tumbler Kim gifts to him in Season 2’s “Cobbler,” which declares him the World’s 2nd Best Lawyer. Teases fellow lawyer Kim, “Second is still very, very good.”
(Photo: AMC)
For the Love of Clean Money
The company Saul sets up to distribute laundered money profits in Breaking Bad is called Ice Station Zebra Associates, and it’s how he first passes along Walter’s drug money to Skyler. In Better Call Saul, we learn the name is inspired by Jimmy and Kim’s love of the 1968 Rock Hudson/Ernest Borgnine movie of the same name, which they watch together in Season 2’s “Amarillo.” It’s also the name of a then-fake company they talk about with their grift victim, Dale, who writes them a $10,000 check after they hornswoggle him for an investment later in Season 2’s “Bali Ha.”
(Photo: AMC)
Top Gun
On Saul Goodman’s recommendation, Walter White meets Lawson (guest star Jim Beaver) in Breaking Bad. The premium gun salesman eventually provides Walt with the machine gun he uses to wipe out Uncle Jack and his gang — and save Jesse Pinkman’s life — in the BB series finale. In Better Call Saul, we learn how Saul knew about Lawson: He is a contact of Mike Ehrmantraut’s. In the Season 2 Saul finale, Mike goes to Lawson to buy the sniper he plans to use to kill Hector Salamanca, until he gets that mysterious “Don’t” note.
(Photo: AMC)
Tequila!
Gustavo Fring uses a beautiful, expensive bottle of premium tequila to exact his revenge on Don Eladio, the crime lord who had murdered Gus’s friend and business partner in Breaking Bad. In Season 4’s “Salud,” Gus, Mike, and Jesse travel to Don Eladio’s Mexican estate, where Gus presents him with a bottle of Zafiro Anejo, which he has poisoned. In Better Call Saul‘s Season 2 premiere, “Switch,” Jimmy and Kim pull a scam on an obnoxious stockbroker named Ken, who’d been talking loudly on his Bluetooth headset in a bar. The duo not only gets him to spend his evening making a (fake) deal with them, but they also get him to expense a whole bottle of very pricey tequila shots; yep, Zafiro Anejo (a fake brand created by the Breaking Bad writers).
(Photo: AMC)
Ken Doesn’t Win. Again.
Stockbroker Ken is an Easter egg himself. Before he shows up to be outsmarted by Jimmy and Kim in Saul, he steals a parking space from Walt in Breaking Bad‘s Season 1 episode “Cancer Man.” A dejected Walt meets up with him again later in that installment, with much different results. Ken, driving a convertible with a “KEN WINS” license plate, pulls into a gas station, talking loudly on a headset, and honking impatiently at an older woman walking in front of him. When Ken gets out of his car and goes inside the station, Walt can’t help himself: He jams a windshield cleaner under the hood and into Ken’s car engine, setting it on fire.
(Photo: AMC)
Pink Piggy Present
Mike cares about nothing as much as he cares about granddaughter Kaylee, and in the Better Call Saul Season 2 episode “Amarillo,” he gifts her with a cute little pink pig stuffed animal. The toy is apparently a favorite of hers, because we know she still has it in Breaking Bad. In Season 5’s “Madrigal,” Mike uses the battery-operated animated toy to distract a hitman who’s lured him to a friend’s house to kill him.
(Photo: AMC)
The Dog House
Jesse Pinkman loves to nosh and conduct business at real-life Albuquerque hot dog stand The Dog House on Breaking Bad. The eatery pops up on Better Call Saul in Season 2’s “Fifi,” when Jimmy and Kim go there for a snack and to discuss her business, namely whether or not she should quit HHM.
(Photo: AMC)
Killer Plants
In the Better Call Saul Season 3 premiere,”Mabel,” one of Jimmy’s elderly clients shares with him every little detail about a family member’s confirmation party, right down to the flowers decorating the soiree, which includes lily of the valley. Breaking Bad fans know all about that notorious plant, which grows in Walt’s backyard, and which he uses to poison the adorable Brock, making it look like Gus is the perpetrator, thus turning Jesse against Gus and ensuring his loyalty to Walt in the process.
(Photo: AMC)
The writers of Better Call Saul knew Breaking Bad fans would be looking for any little throwback to the mothership series in the Saul Goodman prequel, and from the very first episode, they have filled the Better Call Saul basket with Breaking Bad Easter eggs aplenty.
In celebration of Saul Season 3, and, you know, actual Easter, here are our 22 favorite BB Easter eggs, from Season 1 through the Season 3 premiere episode, “Mabel.” Caveat: These are not the only Easter eggs from the series, so feel free to share your favorites in the comments. Oh, and a hint about an Easter egg from next week’s new Saul: You’ve heard a lot about the impending debut of a major Breaking Bad character; but ahem, he isn’t the only familiar face joining the Saul universe. A certain important female from Jimmy McGill’s future also makes his acquaintance in next week’s “Witness.”
Better Call Saul airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on AMC.