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The first season of the American television drama series Better Call Saul premiered on February 8, 2015. It consists of 10 episodes, each running approximately 47 minutes in length.

Story[]

BetterCallSaulOfficialAMCPoster

Season 1 promotional poster

After the events of Breaking Bad, in a black and white scene, Gene Takavic, formerly known as "Saul Goodman", is working at a Cinnabon in Nebraska. He looks nervous, as if at any moment the police might catch him. When a man stares him down, he really starts to sweat only to soon realize the man is not affiliated with law enforcement. Gene then goes home, where he is alone, and watches one of his old "Better Call Saul" commercials as he starts tearing up.

Jumping back in time to 2002, public lawyer Jimmy McGill is working an absurd case of three college students having sex with a head. Because of this, he does not have a lot of money and gets ticked off when he is asked to pay a small parking fee. However, Jimmy catches a break when Craig Kettleman, a high profile treasurer, is accused of stealing 1.5 million dollars and goes to Jimmy for help. Meanwhile, Jimmy gets in an accident with two skaters (Lars and Cal) who he figures are trying to scam him. He tells them that they are messing with the wrong guy. After The Kettlemans decide on HHM, a law firm co-founded by Jimmy's brother Chuck and George M. Hamlin, over Jimmy to represent them, Jimmy offers the brothers a deal. Jimmy puts together an idea where one of the boys will get hit by Mrs. Kettleman's car and then he will come in to save the day. However, things do not go as planned and the boys end up ditching Jimmy and following the car involved in the hit and run. Instead of ending up at the Kettleman's house, the boys end with Tuco Salamanca and his grandmother. ("Uno")

Oblivious to the situation at hand, the twins continue to seek their money from Abuelita. Tuco takes this as an insult to his grandmother and beats the boys with a cane. Soon after, Jimmy shows up and explains to Tuco why he should keep him alive. Obviously impressed by his argumentative skills, Tuco takes Jimmy to the basement where the twins are tied up. Instead of killing them right then and there, Tuco takes them, and Jimmy, to the middle of the desert. Again, Jimmy tries to reason with Tuco and gets his and the two boys' death sentences reduced to a broken leg for each of the twins, telling Tuco that the punishment should fit the crime. When they are released, Jimmy drives the two boys to a local hospital. After a long night, and unable to focus because of the images of Tuco breaking the boys' legs, Jimmy crashes at Chuck's. The next day he goes to the courthouse and again is seen struggling to make money. ("Mijo")

In a flashback, Chuck helps Jimmy get out of jail for property damage, assault charges and potentially being labeled a sex offender. Chuck warns Jimmy to stop making a fool of himself. Fast-forward to the present day where Jimmy makes an anonymous call to the Kettlemans warning them of being robbed. The next day, after hearing about the Kettlemans gone missing, Jimmy goes over to their house to investigate. Nervous that Nacho is involved in all of this, Jimmy waits at a payphone for what seems like hours, for Nacho to call him. Eventually, he is chased down by who Jimmy thinks is Tuco but turn out to be cops. Jimmy is then brought to the courthouse to meet with Nacho. Nacho tells Jimmy that if he is not out of custody by the end of the day, Jimmy is a dead man. Then, after a talk with Mike Ehrmantraut and an investigation of the Kettleman residence, Jimmy realizes that the Kettlemans were not kidnapped, but rather ran away from home. Knowing this, Jimmy walks through the wilderness, finally finding the Kettlemans. ("Nacho")

Jimmy is seen in a flashback scamming a man with a fake Rolex watch. After finding the Kettlemans and their money, Jimmy is tempted to take a bribe to not tell anyone. It is later discovered that Jimmy took the bribe and he uses it to get his hair done and buy a new suit. Jimmy further uses the money to purchase a billboard and uses a logo very similar to that of HHM. Jimmy and Howard Hamlin meet with a judge who rules that the billboard be taken down. Not done yet, Jimmy hires a couple of film students to film him in front of the billboard, illustrating the HHM is big corporate law firm dominating the little guy. During the shooting, the man taking down the billboard falls and Jimmy goes to save him. Jimmy, who staged all of this, becomes a local hero. When Howard sees this, he immediately knows what Jimmy is doing. Jimmy then visits Chuck and tells him that he has been getting a lot more clients recently. However, Jimmy purposely does not bring in the local paper for Chuck to see. Suspicious, Chuck runs outside to retrieve the paper from a neighbor's house. ("Hero")

The cops arrive at Chuck's house after getting a call about a stolen newspaper. Chuck is tasered and taken to the hospital. Jimmy visits Ricky Sipes, one of his potential clients, where he is told by Ricky that he wants to secede from the United States. Jimmy's next client, Roland Jaycocks, has a talking toilet that he wants to sell. Finally, Jimmy goes to Geraldine Strauss's house where he is successful in getting a small amount of money from her. After a long night at the nail salon, Jimmy and Kim Wexler go to visit Chuck in the hospital and eventually Chuck is released. Mike, on the other hand, gets a visit from the police at his house. ("Alpine Shepherd Boy")

In a flashback, Mike is seen grimacing in pain from a fresh bullet wound. It is later discovered that Mike got this wound in a shootout between him and the two officers that killed his son, Matt. Throughout the episode, Stacey demands that Mike tell her why Matt was acting weird before he died and why he was hiding cash. Mike eventually tells her that it was his fault because he told Matt to take illegal money from his partner although Matt initially refused. In a previous scene, Mike and Jimmy meet with investigators about the death of Matt's partner, Fensky, and Hoffman. Mike tells Jimmy to spill coffee on the investigator so that he can steal his notepad. Although Jimmy refuses initially, he decides to do it anyway. After figuring out why the detectives are in town, Mike goes to Stacey's house where he tells her what she wants to know about Matt. ("Five-O")

Jimmy returns the notebook to the investigators, claiming that he found it in the parking lot. Mike is hard-pressed by Abbasi to give information, but he does not budge. A few days later, Jimmy stops by Chuck's house to drop off groceries and finds Chuck standing outside. Chuck tells him that he is trying to build up a tolerance to electromagnetic radiation. Jimmy, who is now trying to be a "good lawyer", tours Kim on a potential new office space for the two of them. However, Kim politely declines Jimmy's offer due to how much she owes HHM. Back at HHM, Kim cannot convince the Kettleman's to take a deal that would force them to plead guilty, so the Kettleman's leave HHM, which ticks Howard off. The Kettleman's call Jimmy to meet them at Loyola's. Jimmy, who does not what the Kettlemans as clients, and also wants to help Kim to get her clients back, tries to convince the Kettlemans to go back to HHM. However, because Jimmy took the Kettleman's bribe, he is forced to take the case. Knowing he can't get them a better deal than Kim, Jimmy hires Mike to steal the Kettleman's money. The next morning, Jimmy goes over to the Kettlemans to tell them that their money is missing. This forces the Kettlemans to go back to HHM and take the plea deal. ("Bingo")

In a flashback, Jimmy is working in the mail room at HHM and gets the news that he passed his bar. Chuck, however, does not want Jimmy to work as a lawyer for the firm because he knows Jimmy took a shortcut. Still, Chuck acts happy for Jimmy. While celebrating with Kim and a few other colleagues, Jimmy is informed by Howard that he will not be hired by HHM. While meeting with Mrs. Landry, Jimmy realizes that Sandpiper Crossing is overcharging their residents. Jimmy goes over to Sandpiper, where they are shredding documents. In the bathroom, he writes up a demand letter informing Sandpiper Crossing of pending litigation against them. Jimmy gets the shredded paper out of the garbage at Sandpiper and brings them to Chuck's, where Chuck pieces it together by morning. Richard Schweikart and a few associates meet with Chuck and Jimmy, and Chuck demands a twenty million dollar deal, or they will go to court. Schweikart declines. Meanwhile, Mike visits Caldera. ("RICO")

Chuck begins to get more comfortable going outside. Jimmy wins an argument against Schweikart in regards to the Sandpiper case. However, when Jimmy gets back to Chuck's house, he realizes that the case is too much for them two to handle alone, so Jimmy agrees to pass the case to HHM. In the middle of the night, Chuck makes a mysterious phone call which we later find out is to Howard, telling him not to hire Jimmy. When Jimmy is rejected by Howard, he is furious. Later, after a conversation with Kim, Jimmy discovers that Chuck is the reason he is not working at HHM and so he decides to give the case to HHM, although agitated with his brother. Meanwhile, Daniel Wormald hires three guys, $500 each, to protect him on a drug deal. Mike injures one guy, scares away another, and becomes the only one going with Pryce, demanding $1500 for his services. The deal goes smoothly and Mike attributes this to the extensive research he did on Nacho before the deal went down. ("Pimento")

In a flashback, Jimmy tells Marco that he is moving on with his life and going to work with Chuck in Albuquerque. When Jimmy returns to Albuquerque, present day, he gives over the Sandpiper Crossing case to Howard. At Bingo Jimmy rants about his attempt at a “Chicago Sunroof” and how that landed him in jail. Fed up with Chuck, Jimmy revisits Marco in the same bar in Cicero. The pair spend the week scamming others, just like old times. On the final scam before Jimmy plans on heading back to Albuquerque, Marco dies of a heart attack. At the funeral, Jimmy gets a call from Kim informing him of a job opportunity at Davis & Main. Jimmy returns to Albuquerque, and just before entering the building for his meeting with Davis & Main, he twists the ring on his finger. He leaves, suggesting that he is not ready to give up Slippin' Jimmy. ("Marco")

Credits[]

Starring

Cast Portrays Ep. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Bob Odenkirk James McGill 10
Jonathan Banks Mike Ehrmantraut 10
Rhea Seehorn Kim Wexler 9
Patrick Fabian Howard Hamlin 8
Michael Mando Nacho Varga 4
Michael McKean Chuck McGill 9

Episodes[]

Trivia[]

  • Each title of Season One's episodes ends with the letter O, save for "Alpine Shepherd Boy". Its original title was "Jell-O", but was renamed because of commercial licensing issues.

Promotional Photos[]

Promo Images[]

First Look[]

Character Portraits[]

Awards and nominations[]

Ceremony Category Recipients Result
2015 American Film Institute Awards Top 10 Television Programs of the year Better Call Saul Won
5th Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Actor in a Drama Series Bob Odenkirk Won
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Jonathan Banks Won
31st TCA Awards Outstanding New Program Better Call Saul Won
Individual Achievement in Drama Bob Odenkirk Nominated
67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series Kelley Dixon ("Five-O") Nominated
Kelley Dixon and Chris McCaleb ("Marco") Nominated
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series Phillip W. Palmer, Larry Benjamin, Kevin Valentine ("Marco") Nominated
67th Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Drama Series Better Call Saul Nominated
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Bob Odenkirk Nominated
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Jonathan Banks Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Gordon Smith ("Five-O") Nominated
2016 Gold Derby Awards Best Drama Series Better Call Saul Nominated
Best Drama Episode of the Year "Five-O" Nominated
Best Drama Actor Bob Odenkirk Nominated
Best Drama Supporting Actor Jonathan Banks Nominated
73rd Golden Globe Awards Best Actor – Television Series Drama Bob Odenkirk Nominated
Producers Guild of America Awards 2015 Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama Better Call Saul Nominated
66th American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television Skip Macdonald ("Uno") Nominated
Kelley Dixon ("Five-O") Nominated
22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series Bob Odenkirk Nominated
68th Writers Guild of America Awards Drama Series Better Call Saul Nominated
New Series Better Call Saul Nominated
Episodic Drama Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould ("Uno") Won
20th Satellite Awards Best Drama Series Better Call Saul Won
Best Actor in a Drama Series Bob Odenkirk Nominated
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or TV Film Jonathan Banks Nominated
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Film Rhea Seehorn Won
Location Managers Guild Awards 2016 Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary TV Series Christian Diaz de Bedoya Nominated
2016 Guild of Music Supervisors Awards Best Music Supervision in a Television Drama Thomas Golubić Nominated
31st Artios Awards Best Television Pilot – Drama Better Call Saul Nominated
20th Art Directors Guild Awards Excellence in Production Design for a One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Series Tony Fanning ("Five-O",  "Marco",  "RICO") Nominated
52nd Cinema Audio Society Awards Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Series – One Hour Phillip W. Palmer, Larry B. Benjamin, Kevin Valentine, Matt Hovland, and David Michael Torres ("Marco") Nominated
Golden Reel Awards 2016 Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Sound Effects and Foley for Episodic Short Form Broadcast Media Kurt Nicholas Forshager, Mark Cookson, Jeffrey Cranford, Tim Chilton, and Jerry Trent ("Five-O") Nominated
Better Call Saul Seasons
BCS S1 Nav BCS S2 Nav BCS S3 Nav BCS S4 Nav BCS S5 Nav BCS S6 Nav
Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6
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