'Better Call Saul' Season 1, Episode 4 - 'Hero' and the Origin of the Name 'Saul Goodman' Recap

Saul. S'all good, man.

That is the origin of the name Saul Goodman, the alias that Jimmy McGill comes up with when he starts his legal practice. We learn this in a flashback to one of Jimmy's nights on the town. We watch the master at work as he and his accomplice con a drunk guy Jimmy met at the bar.

Back in the present, the Kettlemans (who are hilarious btw) maintain that they are keeping the money that they absconded with. Jimmy won't take a bribe from them, but he will take a retainer if the Kettlemans will hire him. Unfortunately, that tactic doesn't work: "You're the kind of lawyer guilty people hire," they say.

Still, the bribe gives Saul the opportunity to start building his empire, so to speak. "Upon this I will build my church," he says. From there he gets himself a hairdo, some teeth whitening, and a brand-new suit, one of many to come.

Oh, and his first billboard...one of many to come.

The problem is, the billboard (and the suit) look exactly like Hamlin's, quite purposefully on Jimmy's part. He gets a cease & desist letter over it, and the arbitration doesn't go well for him. Neither do his attempts to get a news outlet to cover his story.

He ends up landing some students from UNM, but it's enough considering he hired a guy to help him fake a heroic rescue of the billboard worker taking down his ad.

That brings in the news vans, which in turn brings in some messages and potential clients for Jimmy. It also means that Jimmy has to go to great lengths to lie to Chuck about it all. Chuck even braves the dangerous outdoors to pick up the paper and find out what Jimmy was hiding.

Saul line of the week: "You assume that criminals are going to be smarter than they are. Kinda breaks your heart a little." Wait until you meet Walter White, buddy.