'Better Call Saul' Could Finally See Jimmy Adopt His 'Breaking Bad' Alias

Better Call Saul is supposed to be a spinoff about Breaking Bad's Saul Goodman, the lawyer who really puts the "criminal" in criminal lawyer. And yet, two seasons in and audiences have yet to see the well-meaning Jimmy McGill adapt the persona of Saul Goodman and begin hustling his way into a career as a legal consultant for meth dealers. If Jimmy becomes Saul Goodman in Season 3 of Better Call Saul, then the show still has a lot of ground to cover — and fast. The spinoff's deliberately slow pace has been great for storytelling, but I'm curious to see how these two different names for the same character will finally link up.

It's already known how Better Call Saul will end, or at least how Jimmy McGill will go from being an up-and-coming lawyer to Gene, a Cinnabon manager in Omaha. Audiences have also learned how Jimmy became a lawyer, but not how he became the lawyer known as Saul Goodman. Better Call Saul promises to tell that story, as well as the story of what kind of hijinks one gets up to while managing a Cinnabon in the midwest. However, the biggest piece of the puzzle still missing is Jimmy adopting the identity of Saul, which could very well be coming in Season 3 with the help of a familiar face.

Jimmy cannot land a win. No matter how hard he tries to excel at being a lawyer and to form a healthy friendship and relationship with Kim Wexler, his brother will undermine him or his con-artist instincts will lead him to suggest a risk that is met with disdain. Now, with much of Better Call Saul Season 3's promotional material featuring a great deal of prison imagery — especially Jimmy McGill behind bars — it looks like Jimmy might be reaching his lowest point yet.

And this may be when Gus Fring comes in. Gus is known by Breaking Bad fans for being the kingpin of one of America's largest meth rings, owning the popular chicken establishment Los Pollos Hermanos, and for being very particular when he wants something. As Gus begins associating with Mike Ehrmantraut and inches closer to Jimmy, these two may provide each other with the help they need to stay afloat. By the time they're both introduced in Breaking Bad, Saul and Gus are acquaintances, and Better Call Saul looks to be introducing these two major New Mexico crime figures to each other. With his past behind him and a future collaborating with a criminal mastermind in front of him, a name change and a new life may be exactly what helps Jimmy make the transition.

This may be all a little too obvious for the show, which has mastered the art of subtlety over its first two seasons. Where Breaking Bad was loud and explosive, Better Call Saul is quiet and contemplative. Where Breaking Bad might zig, Better Call Saul zags. When Saul is introduced, it won't be through a high-energy montage. It will probably be something more akin to a name written on a piece of paper, with no one watching.