A Throwaway Scene in Better Call Saul Season 1 Cements Jimmy McGill as TV's Greatest Lawyer (2024)

When debating TV history's best lawyers, anyone familiar with Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul would be quick to name Saul Goodman (real name Jimmy McGill). While the former series constantly showed how amazing he was at his job, helping keep Walter White's activities under wraps and getting even his most obviously guilty clients completely off scot-free, it never quite showed him doing the work behind it all. Instead, that was saved for Saul's solo spin-off series.

Before he fully embraced his Saul Goodman persona and became the "criminal" lawyer that the fans love so much, he was a small-time public defender Jimmy McGill. He didn't have any of the tailored suits, fancy cars, assistants, or the lifestyle that most would imagine lawyers like Howard Hamlin could easily afford. Saul didn't even have a legitimate office or place of residence. Instead, what he did have was the showmanship and never-ending hustle that made him into perhaps one of the most authentic lawyers on television. There was one scene in particular during Better Call Saul's first season that perfectly illustrated why.

Updated on August 28, 2024, by Ajay Aravind: Jimmy McGill got his alter ego from the phrase "it's all good man," a phenomenal distillation of his entire worldview. This frivolous attitude of his has two outcomes: Saul genuinely helps struggling clients without proper representation, but he also sinks deeper and deeper into a grave of his own making. However, it's that multi-pronged personality that drives the show forward, at least until the series finale. Other TV lawyers are great, but none of their character arcs feel as believable as Saul Goodman. As such, we have updated this article with some more relevant information.

Jimmy McGill's Lawyer Career Had an Extremely Humble Beginning

He Started as a Petty Conman named Slippin' Jimmy

Before admiring his hard work, it's important to remember where exactly Jimmy was in life at the start of the acclaimed Better Call Saul. To put his past life and image as an ex-con behind him, he had put himself through online law school and passed the bar while holding down a full-time job in the mail room at his brother Chuck's firm. This already highlighted his extreme dedication. Despite Jimmy's success in passing the bar, Chuck secretly refused to have him join the firm, fearing that his brother lacked the proper sense of morality to be a "real lawyer" and that his "Slipping Jimmy" days were not truly behind him. This led to Jimmy's attempt to make it as a successful lawyer all on his own, which was much easier said than done.

Starting as a public defender, Jimmy's lifestyle, both personal and professional, was just about as humble as one could imagine. He lacked the necessary equipment and access to resources that make private attorneys so successful in certain cases. Most of the time, from plea bargaining to trying to avoid paying for use of the courthouse parking lot, things didn't quite go his way. While most other lawyers drove luxury vehicles, Jimmy was stuck with a yellow Suzuki Esteem on its last legs. Not having the means to rent or own a legitimate residence, he even resorted to sleeping in the utility closet of Mrs. Nguyen's salon, which he turned into a makeshift office/bedroom. While his personal life lacked creature comforts, his professional life was a constant revolving door of business and repetition of defenses, especially during the early parts of Better Call Saul Season 1.

A Montage in Better Call Saul Season 1 Showed Jimmy's Hard Dedication To His Work

Season 1, Episode 2, "Mijo"

The second episode of Better Call Saul's hit first season, titled "Mijo," features perhaps one of the most well-done montages in the Breaking Bad universe. It has since been dubbed the series' "It's Showtime" sequence. While it doesn't have much of an effect on the overall story of the episode or the show itself, it demonstrates the amount of coffee-fueled hard work Jimmy puts into every case he's dealt with and many of the struggles that real-life lawyers go through in their line of work. With their lack of resources and influential notoriety, the job of public defenders is often seen as a thankless one.

Considering their daily caseload and how they spend far more time in courtrooms than the average private attorney. However, the "It's Showtime" sequence is certainly one of the more realistic media depictions of a PD's day-to-day life. Throughout the montage, Jimmy is constantly shown reciting the famous All That Jazz quote, "It's showtime, folks!", as his way to hype himself up for each defense. Unfortunately, he's often met with countless heavy struggles, especially while navigating the bureaucracy of the criminal court system.

Constantly and desperately trying to negotiate plea deals with defense attorney Bill Oakley, he's repeatedly given "petty with a prior" as the only possible outcome. Oakley only agrees to an alternative one time when Jimmy offers him his bag of chips as compensation. When he's seen meeting with his clients, a vast majority of these encounters take place right outside a shared jail cell. Jimmy even goes out of his way to lend his belt to one of his more disheveled clients to make him more presentable for the judge. This one particular detail adds even more to the montage's realism. This practice of loaning belts and ties to clients who don't have access to acceptable and courtroom-mandatory clothing accessories is very common among public defenders, especially in lower-income areas.

The Breaking Bad universe has been punishing to many characters, and on top of all the hustle and hardship Jimmy faces, only to collect small meager paychecks from the courthouse clerk, he endures the constant hassle with Mike Ehrmantraut to avoid paying for parking lot access. In nearly five minutes, the audience knows exactly what kind of lawyer Jimmy McGill was in the years before his Saul Goodman persona took over and corrupted him. Not only that but despite the struggles of the job, the montage just makes it fun to watch him work.

What Makes Jimmy McGill TV's Best Lawyer?

The Series Finale Shows What He Was Always Destined to Become

At least at one point, Jimmy McGill was one of the most realistic lawyers ever portrayed in TV legal dramas. Even though the positions of private attorneys grant them the privilege of access to all the expensive suits and cars that Davis & Main and even Saul Goodman & Associates would get him later, Jimmy had to start at what's considered the bottom of the lawyer ladder. Most lawyers may look at their clients and cases as just another client or case in their career, but it seems that Jimmy saw both of those things as something more personal. He may have rarely managed to succeed in getting his clients off or getting them a more lenient sentence, but having been in their shoes before in his days as "Slipping Jimmy," he knew exactly how it felt to be in their position. As such, Jimmy saw each of them as an opportunity to save them the way Chuck had previously saved him.

Although it came at many great costs, Jimmy finally did get to become the lawyer he always dreamed of being. As illustrated by the montage, his life was drastically different and more difficult as a small-time public defender. But during that time, he was also an arguably much harder worker as well as a much more decent and empathetic human being. Despite what Chuck said in Better Call Saul Season 1's penultimate episode, Jimmy was about as much of a "real lawyer" as any other. While his life outside his work was not as personally or financially stable as that of a private attorney could afford to be, it was clear that Jimmy McGill was already worthy of the "world's greatest lawyer" title long before he ever became Saul Goodman. This evolution is finally realized through the series finale, "Saul Gone," which shows him ready and prepared to help the other inmates in his prison.

There Are Other Great Lawyers On Television

Only One Other TV Lawyer Stands On Equal Footing With Jimmy McGill

There are numerous legal TV shows out there, with hundreds or even thousands of characters — especially . However, there are very few TV lawyers who have garnered as much respect and admiration as Better Call Saul's Jimmy McGill. Diane Lockhart might belong to the executive class, but the stalwart lawyer's character arc remains solid and engaging through The Good Wife and The Good Fight. On the other side of the sociopolitical spectrum is Woo Young-woo, an incredibly brilliant and neurodivergent lawyer who strives to prove her worth. Extraordinary Attorney Woo's Season 2 is slated for release in 2024.

Although many of the lawyers in Boston Legal might be Armani-wearing, Cuban-smoking, and Mansion-owning white men, some of them certainly fight like hell for the downtrodden. James Spader's Alan Shore is a notable example of legal heroism, although William Shatner's Denny Crane shouldn't be forgotten, either. All things considered, however, the only TV lawyer to stand on equal footing with Jimmy McGill would be Annalise Keating from How to Get Away with Murder. Easily one of Viola Davis' best roles, Annalise showcases the limits of her personal and professional determination across the show's five seasons, a transformative journey like no other.

• 

  Better Call Saul

  The trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill in the years leading up to his fateful run-in with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.

  Release Date

  February 8, 2015

  Rating

  Seasons

  6

• 

  Breaking Bad

  TV-MA

  A chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family's future.

  Release Date

  January 20, 2008

  Seasons

  5