The 25 best episodes of 'Better Call Saul,' ranked

Everybody is on the top of their game in “Fifi.” Kim does a killer job getting the big Mesa Verde account, but then Chuck uses his weight to keep it with HHM. Jimmy, in turn, uses his lack of ethics to mess with Chuck to do a solid by Kim. Oh, he also sneaks onto an Air Force base to shoot an ad under false pretenses. Busy times for Jimmy.

We think of Saul Goodman as the amoral lawyer from Breaking Bad, or at least we did when season one began. In "RICO,” though, the man still known as Jimmy McGill is doing right by his clients. He is legitimately looking into elder abuse. Not bad for a guy who got his law degree from the University of American Samoa.

Season premieres of Better Call Saul are always interesting because we know we’re going to get a look at Cinnabon Gene, Jimmy/Saul’s lot in life after he has to disappear with the help of Ed in Breaking Bad. The flash-forward in “Mabel” may be the best of the bunch, where Gene points out a shoplifter to protect his identity. He also can’t help but yell legal advice to the shoplifter as he’s being escorted out of the mall.

Jimmy escapes disbarment, but this is one of the episodes that are more about Nacho. This is a big episode for him, as he becomes jaded by the drug game. This is also where he first sees his out, as he might be able to kill Hector Salamanca, though he will have to do it surreptitiously. We know what happens to Hector before Breaking Bad; this is the first time the pieces are put into place.

Mike is so clever in “Sunk Costs.” His ploy that gets Hector’s drivers arrested is practically a work of genius. Chuck thinks he’s been clever and, in a way, has been. He thinks he can push Jimmy into disbarment, but as you already know, Jimmy manages to avoid that. We’ll get into how later.

Early in Better Call Saul, Jimmy is trying not to, well, go full Saul. However, he can’t help himself from pushing the envelope a bit. In this episode, we see what’s at Jimmy’s core with a flashback to when he and his buddy Marco used to con people at a bar with a fake Rolex.

Is Jimmy done as a lawyer? He considers it in “Switch,” the second season premiere. Instead, he dreams of a life where he and Kim just pull cons. They con a jerk into buying their meal and drinks, and Jimmy just wants to chase that high. Kim has more grounded goals in life.

Saul Goodman is in full effect in “50% Off.” The title comes from the fact that Saul offers half prices on his legal services to new clients. We get a fun montage of two doofuses committing crimes left and right, figuring they will use Saul when they get arrested. It’s less fun when Nacho shows up looking for some legal help, though.

Jimmy has a somewhat more comedic story arc here involving trying to steal a high-priced Hummel figurine with the help of a sketchy dude named Ira. The real actions come via Nacho, who now has to play the Salamanacas and Gus Fring. This includes being shot to fake an ambush. It’s rather intense.

Jimmy and Chuck have a complicated relationship. They are starting to reach new levels here, but the brotherly relationship doesn’t go away entirely. Chuck is on Jimmy’s tail, so much so that Chuck goes to a copy store looking for evidence. While there, his medical condition leads to his fainting. Jimmy wants to intervene, but he’ll be found out if he does. It’s a rough place to be.

This is the first time we see a flash-forward that isn’t to Cinnabon Gene. Instead, we flash forward to what Jimmy was up to during the Breaking Bad episode “Ozymandias.” It’s intense and a great way to kick off an episode. That alone gets “Quite a Ride” onto this list.

The season two finale brings Gus Fring back into the fray, which pleased a lot of Breaking Bad fans. Hey, Gus is a great character. Jimmy also rushes into the copy store, as mentioned earlier, and feels guilty about what happened. We find out Chuck recorded Jimmy giving a confession, which he was doing to appease Chuck’s fragile mental state. Chuck, meanwhile, wants to destroy his brother. Sometimes it’s hard to parse who the worse McGill brother is.

Jimmy has an existential freakout in the season-one finale, not for the last time. Not sure about being a lawyer, he headed back to Cicero, Illinois, where he reunited with his old con partner Marco. They have a wild week of scamming and conning, which ends when Marco dies. This moment has a lasting impact on Jimmy, who effectively decides to break bad in the wake of his friend’s death.

Mike is a man who is willing to make sacrifices. He goes through all the possibilities in any plan. Here, Mike and Nacho are considering murdering Tuco, who you likely remember from Breaking Bad. Tuco is an unstable force in the world of the Albuquerque drug game. However, Mike realizes a hit would draw too much attention. Instead, Mike hits Tuco’s car and basically goads Tuco into beating him up. This gets Tuco hit with an assault with a deadly weapon charge, which lands him locked away in jail for quite some time.

This is the first episode of Better Call Saul. It starts to put the pieces in place. We get our first look at both Cinnabon Gene and Jimmy McGill. It’s all fresh and new, yet familiar. The show begins to justify why it exists, making it a worthwhile watch.

Jimmy and Kim get married! Sure, it’s not sweet. It’s actually an example of how toxic their relationship can be. So much of the fifth season is about Kim getting deeper into Jimmy’s “Saul Goodman” world. This is also a great episode for Gus, who helps Nacho meticulously burn down a Los Pollos Hermanos as part of Gus’ plan to keep Nacho as his informant.

This Sandpiper case that was Jimmy’s big lawsuit finally concludes here, though it takes a bit of manipulation. Not a moment too soon, either. In all her diligence, Kim is working two jobs to try and put money on the table while Jimmy can’t practice law. This episode ends with a heavy-duty bit of intensity as Kim falls asleep while driving and crashes her car. It’s shot excellently, like so much of Better Call Saul.

The second-to-last episode of the fourth season is about pieces being put into place. Jimmy’s appeal to have his suspension lifted is denied, so Kim tries to help Jimmy’s apology seem more sincere. Lalo has arrived, and we start to realize how clever and dangerous he is. He’s the one member of the Salamanca family with charisma and social skills. After so much drop-of-the-hat violence from that family, Lalo feels like a much-needed change of pace.

Kim is representing Mesa Verde. Saul is representing Everett Acker, a man who won’t move off his land so that Mesa Verde can build a new bank branch. Kim thinks she and Jimmy are working together, but Jimmy is in true Saul mode. He blindsides Kim, who realizes he used her like a sucker for his con. This is when Kim suggests they either break up or get married.

The journey of Jimmy and Chuck comes to an end. Chuck, having lost to Jimmy in his attempt to get him disbarred and having basically been forced out of HHM, has nothing left. This drives Chuck back to the peak of his mental illness, and the episode ends with Chuck, wrapped in his space blanket, kicking over a lantern to burn down his house with himself inside.

This is what many consider to be the first great Better Call Saul episode. It’s also one of the first episodes to focus on Mike. It’s a flashback that traces how he ends up in Albuquerque. It involves him killing some corrupt cops and avenging his son. Mike will never get over what happened, but we watch him take the full measures he needs.

The season-five finale is. Season five turned out to be a huge one for Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler. Given what we know about Saul from Breaking Bad, people imagined a world where Jimmy broke bad, went over the edge, and pushed Kim out of his list. The twist at the end of “Something Unforgiveable” is that Kim seems to be the one primed to break bad. Those finger guns stick with us.

Season four ends with Jimmy doing the Saul thing. He talks to a woman up for a scholarship in Chuck’s memory but knows that her shoplifting arrest from her childhood is keeping her from being considered. Jimmy advises that she has to do whatever it takes to get ahead because everybody else will try and keep her down. Jimmy also seemingly gives a sincere speech about his brother to get his suspension lifted. Then, Kim sees the façade drop. Jimmy was not being sincere and says he won’t practice law under the name Jimmy McGill anymore. It’s all good, man.

“Bagman” is the most Breaking Bad this show has ever gotten. It’s action-heavy and thrilling. That moment when Mike shoots the gunman in the car, and the vehicle flips in front of Saul. It’s a set piece for the ages.

A legal drama in miniature. We get the big battle between Jimmy and Chuck in Jimmy’s disciplinary hearing. It’s a battle of wits. We don’t know who is ahead. They go back and forth. In the end, Jimmy is able to trick Chuck into a freak-out. Jimmy used his knowledge of what makes Chuck tick to win. The look on Chuck’s face when he realizes Jimmy had gotten to him and won their showdown? It’s maybe the quintessential Better Call Saul moment.