Things You Only Notice On Better Call Saul When You Rewatch The Series

"Better Call Saul" is, of course, a spinoff of "Breaking Bad," chronicling how young and spirited lawyer-in-training Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) becomes the conman criminal lawyer Saul Goodman known to viewers of the series' predecessor. Whereas some components of the show likewise tie into "Breaking Bad," like its storylines featuring Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) at their center, newcomers like Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) and Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) have helped elevate the series beyond merely a collection of Easter eggs into a compelling drama in its own right.

So, while "Better Call Saul" includes plenty of nods to "Breaking Bad," like a plaque in Season 5 that sheds new light on a "Breaking Bad" Season 4 storyline, plenty of other moments still connect to one another in surprising ways entirely within the "Better Call Saul" universe. In fact, some moments that may have appeared innocuous on first watch become significant on a second or third viewing, knowing the fates of the characters involved.

The opening scene of the pilot episode of "Better Call Saul" takes place not in the series' primary timeline, but after the events of "Breaking Bad." Jimmy, in black-and-white, is working under the assumed identity Gene Taković at a Cinnabon restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska, a fate detailed leading up to the climax of "Breaking Bad."

While the Nebraska location of Jimmy's Cinnabon restaurant at first seems like it may merely have been a location chosen because of the state's low profile and distance from his New Mexico home, a later episode reveals that Jimmy might have reason to be in Nebraska more than other nearby states. The Season 5 episode "Wexler v. Goodman" flashes back to Kim's childhood for the first time, revealing that she grew up in Red Cloud, Nebraska. Kim's fate is still uncertain, and in fact, something toward which the series has been building since her introduction. Jimmy's proximity to Kim's birthplace in the future, then, is perhaps one of the few hints as to the direction Kim's story might go after the events of "Better Call Saul" and "Breaking Bad."

Season 3 of "Better Call Saul" introduces chicken and drug kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) to the series, who viewers with even a passing familiarity with "Breaking Bad" should recognize as one of its predecessor's most memorable villains. While Gus' arrival may have come as a surprise to some, his addition to "Better Call Saul" was directly foreshadowed at numerous points during the prior season.

The most overt sign of Gus' eventual inclusion is a note left on Mike's windshield in the Season 2 finale, imploring him not to murder Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis). While it's quite possible for viewers to guess that the note was left by Gus without yet knowing about his impending addition, a repeat viewing makes it all the more obvious that it was Gus who left Mike that note.

Less blatant, however, is the fact that the first letters of every episode title in "Better Call Saul" Season 2 spell out an anagram for "Fring's Back," meaning that eagle-eyed viewers could have learned of his return by looking closely at the list of episodes prior to the season's release.

"Better Call Saul" Season 1 Episode 6, tilted "Five-O," reveals a defining moment from Mike's life that theoretically continues to shape him even in "Breaking Bad" — the death of his son Matty. The episode details how, while Matty attempted to approach his police job with a sense of righteousness, he was unwittingly implicated in a dirty money scheme and killed by his coworkers, who feared he might make their wrongdoing public. As a result, Mike shows some resentment toward cops he encounters in his everyday life.

While this is plenty understandable to viewers in the wake of learning of this backstory, Mike actually demonstrates his indignation with the cops a few episodes earlier, in Season 1 Episode 3. Amidst an investigation into a missing family, Jimmy gets into and loses a fistfight with Mike. The cops that show up to the scene encourage Mike to press charges against Jimmy, which they then hope to leverage in their search for the missing Kettleman family. Mike, however, not only doesn't oblige, but treats them with clear contempt, which becomes all the more significant after learning of his son's fate later on in the season.

In Season 3 Episode 10 of "Better Call Saul," Jimmy's brother Chuck (Michael McKean) meets a tragic end when he intentionally kicks over a gas lantern, igniting a number of nearby papers on fire, eventually burning down his home with him still in it.

Upon a second watch, viewers with this incident in mind will notice this death foreshadowed a number of times throughout Season 3. For instance, in Season 3 Episode 4, Jimmy hires Mike to covertly photograph the state of Chuck's home. One of Mike's photos is of the very same gas lantern featured prominently in the season finale. Furthermore, one episode prior, Jimmy threatens to burn down Chuck's home in an attempt to destroy taped evidence Chuck possess of Jimmy admitting to wrongdoing.

On first watch, the photo appears to carry no greater implications, just as Jimmy's threat seems to be merely hyperbolic. However, knowing Chuck's eventual fate in Season 3 makes both of these moments all the more sinister upon a second viewing.

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