Better Call Bob? Why Bob Odenkirk returning as Saul Goodman is a bad idea
During his recent Nobody 2 press duties, the irrepressibly nice Bob Odenkirk has been asked more than once about his signature character: the bizarrely coiffed ‘criminal lawyer’ Saul Goodman.
For 36 episodes of Vince Gilligan’s incredible crime epic Breaking Bad, Odenkirk played the oily, devious cartel lawyer with hilarious aplomb. Goodman was the kind of guy who would sail his own mother down the river if it guaranteed him a payday, and Odenkirk successfully inverted his natural humble affability to play a guy who was all ego, bad jokes, and secrets.
Despite every Breaking Bad fan loving Goodman’s antics, there was trepidation when a spinoff called Better Call Saul was announced. Initially, it was pitched as a half-hour comedy, but somewhere along the way, Gilligan and co-creator Peter Gould decided to give the titular character a tale every bit as fascinating, labyrinthine, morally murky, and thrilling as Walter White’s transformation from dying chemistry teacher to ruthless meth kingpin. What emerged was a six-season descent into criminality that many critics and fans argued may have actually been better than Breaking Bad.
I don’t quite share that opinion, but I did love Better Call Saul, and the fact it can be mentioned in the same breath as Breaking Bad is a victory in and of itself. So, when Odenkirk was asked about returning to play the artist formerly known as Jimmy McGill, who the series left sentenced to prison for his crimes, he told Today, “That part turned my life around, and I’ve given more to that part than anything I’ve done”.
He praised Gilligan and Gould as two of “the best writers who ever worked in TV” and admitted, “If they were to think of something in that world, of course, I would do it”. However, he tempered this slightly by saying he’d only agree to return if Goodman/McGill stayed behind bars. “He’s not getting out,” he said bluntly, adding, “If there’s another Saul show, it takes place inside prison”.
Now, as a superfan of the Breaking Bad saga, which includes Better Call Saul and the Netflix movie El Camino, the idea of a prison show starring Saul Goodman sounds cool on some level. As much as it pains me to say it, though, I think another Goodman show would be a mistake.
For one thing, that prison idea would stretch credibility past breaking point, because Goodman was thrown in the clink in Better Call Saul‘s prequel timeline, not the flash-forward timeline the show often explored as well. In essence, the Goodman that is in prison is still supposed to be younger than the version of the character in Breaking Bad, a part Odenkirk began playing 16 years ago. Sorry, guys, but no amount of wig work, de-ageing CGI, or tasteful lighting can plausibly make the 62-year-old Odenkirk look that much younger these days.
More than this, I believe it would be a fool’s game to try to repeat the magic trick again. Against all the odds, Gilligan and Gould took a character mainly used as comic relief and played by an actor mostly known for sketch comedy and transformed him into a layered, complex protagonist who could support six seasons of drama.
Odenkirk developed with the role too, stepping up as the show asked more of him both emotionally and physically. Trying to repeat that would only leave the character and the actor with less space to grow, which isn’t ideal given that change is what defines the leads in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
In my humble opinion, Goodman shouldn’t be brought back, unless the character simply appears as a cameo or guest star in a new Breaking Bad universe show. That might be fun for fans to see, and it wouldn’t place as much pressure on Odenkirk, similar to how Bryan Cranston has been able to pop up as White a couple of times.
Instead of going back to either of these characters, if there ever is a third show, I think there are a few other paths to furrow through the arid Albuquerque desert. Maybe it could focus on Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman, last seen driving off into an uncertain future at the end of El Camino? Perhaps audiences could be taken inside the inner workings of Madrigal, the mysterious billion-dollar conglomerate that bridged the gap between the cartel and Gustavo Fring’s Los Pollos Hermanos chicken empire?
Lastly, could they craft a prequel spinoff about the late Robert Forster’s vacuum store owner/extraction expert? What kind of sinister criminal characters did he give new identities to over the years? To me, these are all more viable options than more Goodman, as much as we love that conscience-challenged scumbag.
