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A quick ‘Better Call Saul’ refresher before AMC’s Season 3 premiere
On Thursday (March 9), the Season 3 trailer for “Better Call Saul” finally hit — stoking our “Breaking Bad” hopes and dreams.
As was previously teased in Season 2’s episode titles — a delightful little anagram from Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould — Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) is about to make his triumphant return, giving viewers a deeper look into the drug lord’s backstory — showing once and for all just how Mike (Jonathan Banks) and Fring team up.
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But aside from that big turn of events, the teaser also gives us further insight into what to expect when the 10-episode run premieres in April. As we wait for the show’s return, here’s a reminder of where Season 2 left us…
Chuck & Jimmy: The battle of the McGill brothers
The biggest twist of the proverbial knife came in the “Better Call Saul” Season 2 finale, when brother Chuck McGill (Michael McKean) pulled his own con on Jimmy — leading the good-hearted, dysfunctional lawyer to admit to a big lie: Jimmy’s cut-and-paste job on a set of important legal documents didn’t just put Chuck’s sanity in question, it was the final blow to Chuck’s trust in his younger brother.
Jimmy always lived in Chuck’s accomplished shadow — but the recorded confession Chuck got from Jimmy will most certainly lead to a destructive showdown between the brothers. Will this be the moment that sparks Slippin’ Jimmy’s facade to crack, ultimately leading to the birth of one Saul Goodman?
Kim Wexler’s career aspirations
The relationship between Kim (Rhea Seehorn) and Jimmy sure is a complicated one: It’s obvious she has feelings for McGill, but her own aspirations to break from legal firm Davis & Main — with the lofty goal of creating her own firm with Jimmy — will probably rear its ugly head in the long run.
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As we see in the clip above, Wexler’s ultimately the one running the show — and we have a sneaking suspicion Jimmy will only slow her down. Not to mention, the dynamic visual contrast between Kim’s big boss desk and Jimmy’s smaller workstation really shows us where things stand. While Jimmy’s conflict with Chuck has set him down an emotionally unstable path, it’s quite possible a breakdown with Kim Wexler could be the final factor that drives Jimmy to break bad.
Mike’s in over his head with some Salamanca drama
Watching Mike get deeper in the Salamanca drama of Season 2 — his dealings with Nacho (Michael Mando), the failed murder attempt on Hector (Mark Margolis) — leads us to the inevitable: Mike Ehrmantraut, in all his shady cop glory, is about to meet Gus Fring. It’s a chain of events that obviously needs to play out. Even though we know where the story ends up, watching this partnership develop will be one of the biggest draws of Season 3.
We can’t help but wonder: Was Gus Fring the one who stopped Mike from pulling the trigger — leaving the “DON’T” note on that windshield? “Breaking Bad” teased a deeper relationship between Hector and Gus: A Season 4 flashback found the man murdering Fring’s business partner, leading eventually to their final explosive confrontation in that hospital…
Los Pollos Hermanos, open for business
In short: All this has paved the way for the triumphant return of one Gustavo Fring. If he did indeed leave that note on Mike’s car, then he’s aware of Ehrmantraut’s skills and recent work with Nacho. We know where Gus ends up, but in this pre-Walter White (Bryan Cranston) world, the intrigue behind the man’s fast food manager facade — and burgeoning drug-lord clout — has us champing at the “Breaking Bad” bit.
From Nacho to Hector to the sinister Salamanca brothers, the stage has been set for Gustavo Fring’s triumphant return. With Jimmy’s continued work with Mike — and Mike’s inevitable business ties with Fring — the connective tissue is firmly in place to set up the next phase in Saul Goodman’s tragic story.
“Better Call Saul” Season 3 premieres Monday, April 10, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.