Breaking Bad: One Saul Goodman Catchphrase Was Inspired By Kim Wexler

As Better Call Saul season 6 continues building toward Breaking Bad, 'Black & Blue' reveals Kim Wexler was responsible for a Saul Goodman catchphrase.

Breaking Bad: One Saul Goodman Catchphrase Was Inspired By Kim Wexler

As Better Call Saul delves deeper into its final season, more surprising Breaking Bad connections are coming to light – but few would’ve seen this one coming. As a prequel to Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul has the unique job of constructing a character in reverse. The spinoff’s debut season begins with Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill as a distinctly different man and then, over the course of 6 seasons, pushes him closer to the “Saul Goodman” viewers already know. Predictably, that process has kicked up several gears in Better Call Saul season 6. Jimmy moves into his Breaking Bad office, earns himself a grimy new clientele, and hires Breaking Bad‘s Francesca as an assistant.

Another vital piece of the Saul Goodman jigsaw falls into place during Better Call Saul season 6’s “Black & Blue.” Howard Hamlin finally realizes Jimmy is framing him as a drug addict, so arranges a fake client meeting at a boxing gym. When Jimmy arrives, Howard challenges his former employee to a match and, using the term very loosely, wins. A sheepish Jimmy McGill returns to his and Kim Wexler’s apartment beaten black and blue.

A concerned Jimmy leans over the bathroom mirror trying to cover his bruises with make-up. He tells Kim, “I gotta see if this will work, I got court first thing in the morning.” Kim, however, sees the black eyes and grazes as a marketing opportunity. Acting out some fantasy commercial, she semi-playfully suggests, “I’m Saul Goodman. Pow – *punches* I fight for you!” Although Jimmy chuckles, he practices a fighting stance in the mirror and warms to the idea. Thanks to Breaking Bad, we know Kim’s spark of inspiration sticks, since Saul’s future TV ads use this very catchphrase. Back when Breaking Bad was airing (long before any spinoff was envisioned), AMC produced short minisodes of fake “Better Call Saul” commercials, and variations on Kim’s “fighting for you” gimmick are a recurring catchphrase.

In one ad, Jimmy even dons boxing gloves in an appeal to amateur fighters, asking gems such as, “Has someone else’s face got in the way of YOUR foot?” and “Did the barbed wire in your last cage match lead to the heartbreak of hepatitis?” That clip ends with Saul promising, “I’m Saul Goodman – and I’ll fight for you,” copying Kim’s line from Better Call Saul season 6 almost verbatim. Another goes with, “I fight for YOU, Albuquerque!” Though these hilarious TV commercials were little more than gags designed to further Saul’s corny persona upon release in 2010, Better Call Saul imbues them with greater relevance. We now know the boxing theme and combative catchphrase were both influenced directly by the woman Jimmy loves (and most likely loses) in the years before Breaking Bad.

More intriguing is just how much of Saul Goodman’s persona Better Call Saul reveals came from Kim. Aside from the “fighting for you” catchphrase, Kim foreshadowed Saul’s Cadillac by suggesting a fancier car, pushed Jimmy toward getting his own office near the courthouse, and Ice Station Zebra Associates – the holding company of Saul Goodman & Associates in Breaking Bad – is named after one of Kim’s father’s favorite movies. Then there’s the painting from Kim’s apartment in Saul Goodman’s luxury home, and the tequila stopper that he kept in a dresser draw. Kim Wexler’s soul is woven throughout Jimmy’s Breaking Bad life, but she’s nowhere to be seen. Is Jimmy paying tribute to a deceased loved one? Or is Kim secretly the mastermind behind Breaking Bad‘s Saul Goodman?