Attention: contains SPOILERS for the 6th season of the 10th episode “Better call Saul”.
“Better Call Saul” finally confirmed exactly when Saul’s experience as a “Genie” takes place. The answer comes through a series of details in season 6 of “Better Call Saul,” the 10th episode of “Nippy,” which suggest a fairly accurate time when Gene’s department store robbery scheme takes place. On this timeline, the black-and-white segments of the gene occur earlier than many might have expected on the timeline of the Breaking Bad universe.
From the very beginning, “Better Call Saul” is framed by black-and-white scenes featuring Gene Takavich, the last personality to be adopted by the man formerly known as Jimmy McGill, and then Saul Goodman. Gene is the identity Saul gained when he went into hiding, and the monochrome scenes suggest he finds this new life as a meek Cinnabon employee heartbreakingly boring compared to his exploits as a criminal defense lawyer. In season 6 of Better Call Saul, episode 10, the opening sequence, similar to a VHS tape, turns blue, which means that the series has finally caught up with Gene’s place on the timeline where he spends the entire episode.
The same episode “Better Call Saul” contains several hints as to when the action takes place. Most notable are Gene’s conversations with the guard about Nebraska Cornhuskers football. During their first conversation, the guard mentions that the team lost to a Texas team without a rating — a game that took place in real life on October 16, 2010. Thus, this scene should have taken place in the week after this game and before the one mentioned above. Oklahoma State game on October 23. Then the Huskers continued their winning streak, which restored the guard’s mood, but in real life ended in defeat by Texas A&M on November 20, which means that the penetration of the converted Jeff into the department store occurred less than a month after Gene delivered his first pair of Cinnabons to the guards. Since Nebraska left the Big 12 Conference after 2010 and would not have played the same opponents, these scenes could not have happened a year later than in 2010. References to “Martinez”, rookie quarterback Taylor Martinez, once again confirm the Fall of 2010.
How long after “Breaking Bad” does the chronology of genes occur?
There are several other details that point to October 2010 for the Gin mall robbery scheme in “Better Call Saul.” Gene is pictured browsing old sports pages to improve small talk, with a reference to MLB’s ALDS, which also puts a montage in October 2010. The Air Jordans that Jeff stole are also 2010 models. The appearance of snow on the streets may make a date in early October unlikely, but it also corresponds to the period, since in 2010, an unusually early first snow fell in Nebraska (via the University of Nebraska – Lincoln). The first snowfall that year fell on October 10, which means that Gene quickly began to develop his plan after talking with Jeff.
The interesting part of this date is that it connects Jin to the timeline of the Breaking Bad universe. Since Bob Odenkirk plays Gene as a much older and more broken man, in the first seasons of “Better Call Saul” it was initially assumed that he had been living incognito for many years. However, the events of Breaking Bad take place between 2008 and 2010, and the series finale takes place on September 7, 2010. This means that Gene’s story takes place just over a month after Walter White’s death and probably just a few months after Walter White’s death. Saul changed his identity.
The most significant impact of the time frame shown in season 6 of Better Call Saul, episode 10, is that Gene was forced to return to his old habits after just a few months of mundane life in Omaha. Although Gene had practical reasons to involve Jeff in his plans, the episode shows that he is more charismatic and enthusiastic when planning a crime. So understanding the timeline of “Better Call Saul” helps to understand Saul’s character and how his new life as a Genie did little to change who he eventually became.
“Better Call Saul” airs Mondays at 21:00 on AMC and AMC+ channels.
