Saul Goodman was an instant hit from his introduction of the second season of Breaking Bad, and it’s hard not to see why.
In a drama that only became darker and darker as it went along, Saul was one of the few sources of comic relief, adding some memorable levity that proved essential to Breaking Bad’s winning formula.
While the Saul/Jimmy we see in spin-off series Better Call Saul is years off assuming that persona, his own award-winning show has packed in plenty of memorable moments for Bob Odenkirk’s character.
Here are five of the best moments from Season 2, which arrives on DVD & Blu-ray on Monday 14 November from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and is available on digital now.
Buy Season 2 on DVD on Amazon here.
Buy Season 2 on Blu-ray on Amazon here.
1. The Ken con
Coming from Season 2’s opener, at a time where Jimmy had abandoned any pretensions of lawyerly professionalism, this moment is a prime example of Jimmy’s conman instincts and ability to cook up a convincing lie in seconds.
Along with the help of his on-off girlfriend/co-worker Kim, Jimmy successfully cons a sleazy businessman, Ken – the same guy whose car will eventually be destroyed by Walter in Season 1 – into paying his expensive bill by concocting an elaborate back-story involving deceased relatives and a $1.4 million inheritance, all without missing a beat.
2. Squat Cobbler
Another elaborate lie here, but this one is a whole lot more ridiculous. In episode two, ‘Cobbler’, Jimmy is faced with getting the police’s spotlight off Mike’s foolhardy and vainglorious crime partner, Daniel, by any means necessary.
The means in question involve one of Jimmy’s more memorable lies, in which he creates an alibi for Daniel involving ‘private videos’, involving Daniel performing an act that Jimmy calls ‘the Squat Cobbler’. Defined by Jimmy, ‘it’s when a man sits in pie’.
It’s safe to say that no matter how ridiculous his lies can get, they’re never unoriginal.
3. Getting fired
Coming from Episode 7, ‘Inflatable’, this montage goes to show that no-one gets fired quite like Jimmy. In an attempt to finally wriggle out of the high-flying lawyer job that’s stifled him all season, Jimmy embarks on a quest to lose his job by acting as obnoxiously as possible in the workplace.
That involves wearing interesting colourful suits to work, using a juicer during meetings, and ‘causing a situation in the bathroom’, all of which does, eventually, annoy his boss enough to fire Jimmy and allow him to pursue his dreams. It’s a long con, but it works out pretty nicely in the end.
4. Fifi
Fittingly, this is from Episode 8, titled ‘Fifi’. In order to produce a commercial that takes up almost the entirety of the season, Jimmy uses his trademark ability to deceive in order to gain access to a rare warplane called the Fifi by bringing a ‘veteran’ who’s not able to talk onto the base.
As it turns out, the guy isn’t a veteran, talks all too often and only came onto Jimmy’s radar because of some… questionable public behaviour, but Jimmy and his intrepid crew of two film-school hipsters manage to get the shot of the plane nonetheless, with the military members none the wiser.
5. The commercial
Finally, after glimpses of its production throughout the season, Jimmy’s full commercial is shown to us in the season finale, ‘Klick’, and it’s essentially a masterpiece of filmmaking, making a pitch for Jimmy’s elder law firm so convincing that it’s easy to ignore that most of it is filmed on places that Jimmy snuck into, and most of the people depicted as great citizens aren’t exactly the finest people when we’ve seen them elsewhere.
It’s Jimmy’s big moment before it all goes horribly wrong for him in his constant feud with his brother Chuck, and affirms just how much fun Better Call Saul can be alongside all the dark drama elsewhere.
Buy Season 2 on DVD on Amazon here.
Buy Season 2 on Blu-ray on Amazon here.
The new three-disc Season 2 set contains all ten episodes, along with cast & crew commentaries on every episode, a gag reel, a table read with the cast of the episode “Switch,” and two featurettes. Blu-ray exclusive content includes additional featurettes and the full-length versions of all four legal commercials created for the show, plus the provocative and hilarious new bonus scene: “HSC: Beaches ’n’ Peaches.”
What was your favourite moment in Season 2? Let us know below…