# Better Call Saul Episodes 1 and 2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074 "2015-02-07T23:03:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/161 "2015-02-12T21:54:45Z")
I have a question: who was the woman “Saul” was having a date with in Ep 2, when the snapping bread sticks made him ill? Have we seen her before? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/162 "2015-02-12T21:59:17Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Also, it’s not the same make and model of car, they are just very similar. From the Internet Movie Car Database, [here](http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_784930-Mercury-Sable-1988.html)is the car pulling out of the driveway, and [here](http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_784932-Dodge-Ram.html) is the car hitting the skateboarder. Similar color and shape, but one has the Ford badge on the front, the other doesn’t. This raises a question. The one pulling out of the driveway appears to have a front plate. The one hitting the skater does not. I may be getting into production mistakes territory with this but, does Arizona have front plates or not? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/163 "2015-02-12T22:04:44Z")
Found the answer, assuming this page is correct. It lists 19 states that only require rear plates. One of them is Arizona. > **[License Plate Laws](https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/license-plate-laws.html)** > > General license plate laws are straightforward and may vary in prohibitions and consequences for each state. Get the full guide here. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/164 "2015-02-12T22:05:12Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > This raises a question. The one pulling out of the driveway appears to have a front plate. The one hitting the skater does not. I may be getting into production mistakes territory with this but, does Arizona have front plates or not? Arizona doesn’t require front plates. [http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2013/10/how-many-states-require-front-license-plates.html](http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2013/10/how-many-states-require-front-license-plates.html) Edit: ninja’d! ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/165 "2015-02-12T22:10:47Z")
It’s irrelevant if Arizona requires front license plates since the show takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The answer still stands though since New Mexico doesn’t require front license plates either. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/166 "2015-02-12T22:18:10Z")
Of course. Why the hell was I thinking Arizona? I know it’s in New Mexico! ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/167 "2015-02-12T22:20:38Z")
If you want a contrived coincidence; how lucky were the skateboarders that the truck they were hanging onto followed Abuelita most of the way home? I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything, it was just a convenient story device, but a little contrived. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/168 "2015-02-12T22:29:14Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Also, it’s not the same make and model of car, they are just very similar. From the Internet Movie Car Database, [here](http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_784930-Mercury-Sable-1988.html)is the car pulling out of the driveway, and [here](http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_784932-Dodge-Ram.html) is the car hitting the skateboarder. Similar color and shape, but one has the Ford badge on the front, the other doesn’t. Good detective work! This makes the coincidence much less troublesome for me, personally. Still wonder where the Treasurer’s wife went, but maybe she was just a few minutes behind and they missed her when they went to chase Abuelita. > [@Malthus](#): > > I have a question: who was the woman “Saul” was having a date with in Ep 2, when the snapping bread sticks made him ill? Have we seen her before? Not sure but I think it was the same woman whose cigarette he smoked outside the HHM office in the first episode. I’m still not sure who she is, but [Kim Wexler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Call_Saul#Cast_and_characters) is a major character we haven’t seen much of yet, so probably her. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/169 "2015-02-12T22:32:55Z")
The montage of Jimmy drinking coffee, getting ready and saying “[It’s showtime, folks!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5URCGyMINg)” in the mirror is of course an homage to _All That Jazz_. Very nice bit. I paused the DVR to inform **Mrs. FtG** with this and was even more pleased when Jimmy then told someone “It’s from a movie.” As to the need to see _BB_ beforehand: I think it would already help in understanding who Mike is (e.g., would a newbie even know that the parking lot guy’s name is “Mike” and why he gets second billing)? Plus knowing what a whackadoodle Tuco is helps set up the tension in the 2nd episode and no doubt later. It does seem odd that Jimmy would stick out his neck to save the skateboarders. Sure, it would be nice if they didn’t die but the chances of himself getting back on Tuco’s bad side would be too large to ignore. So, proto-Saul has a conscious, apparently. The descent of Jimmy (already reformed once) into Saul while becoming rich is the storyline of this series. And while he doesn’t have cancer, someone else does. It’s a bit too repetitive. When does his Skyler show up? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/170 "2015-02-12T22:51:17Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I have a question: who was the woman “Saul” was having a date with in Ep 2, when the snapping bread sticks made him ill? Have we seen her before? In the show? No, and unfortunately it doesn’t appear that we will see her again any time soon. > **[Jamie Luner | Actress, Producer, Soundtrack](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005168/)** > > Known for: Murder in the First, Melrose Place, All My Children You may have seen Jamie Luner in Growing Pains, Just the Ten of Us, Melrose Place, or All My Children. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/171 "2015-02-12T23:16:55Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The montage of Jimmy drinking coffee, getting ready and saying “[It’s showtime, folks!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5URCGyMINg)” in the mirror is of course an homage to _All That Jazz_. Very nice bit. > I paused the DVR to inform **Mrs. FtG** with this and was even more pleased when Jimmy then told someone “It’s from a movie.” As was I, back in post #87: > [@Sherrerd](#): > > Loved the shout-out to \*All That Jazz \*in episode 2. As for BCS having a setup similar to that of BB: it doesn’t seem that way to me. The main character having cancer–a death sentence, essentially–provides a very different story than does the main character having a relative with mental issues. (Who in BCS has cancer? Was it mentioned that Saul/Jimmie’s brother has cancer that causes his mental issues?) BB was about a man who knew he was probably going to die, and wanting to provide for his family–but turning down opportunities that wounded his pride, and choosing instead to go down the road of becoming an instrument of death. (His meth had to have killed more than just the ones we saw die.) In the end, it was all about Walter; the fiction that he was ‘doing it for his family’ was stripped away. BCS is more about a man who slides into the facilitation of illegal activity because he can’t find success in conventional, ‘straight’ activity. We viewers are going to be looking for an answer to the question: if he had the gifts and abilities that let him become a prosperous counselor for criminals, why couldn’t those gifts and abilities have brought him to the top in law-abiding circles? Similarities can always be found. But I can’t see this show as being repetitive (as you suggested). ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/172 "2015-02-13T03:58:22Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > It never crossed my mind that the Abuelita was driving a totally unrelated duplicate car. I simply assumed that it’s the same car, and (as you suggest) there is some connection between the Treasurer (or his wife) and Tuco (or his abuelita). > > I’ll be very surprised if it turns out to be an unrelated second car. The tags are different. It’s not the same car. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/173 "2015-02-13T04:40:41Z")
Jimmy says to the twins that it’s a Sable. When you see the front of Abulita’s car, it has a Ford emblem on it. Definitely not the same car. My aunt lives in Holiday Park. While it’s not huge, it’s like 20 or 30 streets and there’s no way Jimmy could turn into Holiday Park and stumble on the Tuco house (you see him drive by but notice the car and back up). ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/174 "2015-02-13T04:51:19Z")
With the whole Abuelita coincidence, even before that scene I was thinking that even back when the show is set a first generation Taurus/Sable is way to dumpy a car for even a non-crooked county treasurer to be driving around. When we see the kindly Hispanic lady in the car, I assumed “aha! It must have been their housekeeper.” Sure we later learned she shouldn’t have to work, but maybe she just likes it and Tuco lets her to help hide what line of work he’s in. Of course that interpretation makes the whole thing Jimmy/Saul’s fault for being such a dolt he thought some people who just bought a freakin’ luxury sailboat with embezzled money would still be tooling around in an (at least) 15 year old station wagon. I don’t think that’s reading _too_ much into it given that Gilligan and co. paid really close attention to matching characters with cars in Breaking Bad. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/175 "2015-02-13T04:58:18Z")
Hmm, okay, so looking at the IMCDb pictures, the car Abuelita is driving is in fact a 2nd generation Taurus whereas the car at the treasurer’s house is 1st generation Sable. Serves them all right for not knowing their 1980’s Ford products I guess! ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/176 "2015-02-13T04:59:57Z")
Although also notice the glaringly anachronistic stick figure family in this shot: [http://pics.imcdb.org/9679/zmercurysablegs.jpg](http://pics.imcdb.org/9679/zmercurysablegs.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/177 "2015-02-13T05:17:47Z")
Those weren’t around in 2002? Here is [thread about them](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=360574) from 2006. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/178 "2015-02-13T05:49:11Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Those weren’t around in 2002? Here is [thread about them](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=360574) from 2006. Hmm, they’re certainly a more recent development in my part of the world. Interesting that the old thread seems to conclude that they were originally a Hispanic thing, so maybe the stick figure family epidemic would have hit Albuquerque early. I do still think the outdoorsey stick figure family with the tent is probably anachronistic. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/179 "2015-02-13T10:49:01Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Lemon zest for garnish, never lemon juice. He’s like an animal in the fucking jungle. Yes, this one is different from BB in that we know how the mighty have fallen even before we know how they became mighty, at least. That Caddy we see in the opening credits won’t be there forever. FWIW, I don’t think that Jimmy/Saul ever became a bad person in the same way that Walter White ends up becoming. If I were to translate their personalities to D+D alignments: WW stars out believing he is Lawful Good, but ends up realizing he’s Chaotic Neutral, at best. Jimmy starts out seeming to know he’s Lawful Neutral, I can’t think of anything in his story arc that we already know about that makes him anything but maybe Chaotic Neutral, but he never seemed to stop being a lawyer in BB. > [@What\_the](#): > > I assumed it was simple syrup. Not knowing anything about the drink until I read these posts, I googled it and it seems that you use less Drambuie if you want it less sweet. Might it say something about Jimmy if he wants it extra sweet? I’m pretty confident in my assessment. I just re-watched the scene, and the container is shaped like a lemon, it’s probably meant to be ReaLemon, or whatever they ship locally in Omaha. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074/180 "2015-02-13T11:24:51Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > (snip)I’m pretty confident in my assessment. I just re-watched the scene, and the container is shaped like a lemon, it’s probably meant to be ReaLemon, or whatever they ship locally in Omaha. You’re probably correct. He already used about three times more Drambuie than I ever used in a Rusty Nail, if he puts simple syrup on top of it he won’t be able to pee outside for fear of attracting ants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/better-call-saul-episodes-1-and-2/712074.md?page=10)