Hero (Better Call Saul)

"Hero" is the fourth episode of the first season of the AMC television series Better Call Saul, the spinoff series of Breaking Bad. The episode aired on February 23, 2015, on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.

"Hero"
Better Call Saul episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 4
Directed byColin Bucksey
Written byGennifer Hutchison
Featured music"Unsquare Dance" by Dave Brubeck Quartet
Original air dateFebruary 23, 2015 (2015-02-23)
Running time47 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

Plot

Opening

In a flashback, Jimmy and Stevie leave a bar. As they enter an alley, Jimmy tells his companion that his name is Saul Goodman. In the alley, they discover a wallet with cash next to a barely conscious drunk man. Stevie takes the cash, and Jimmy takes the man's Rolex watch. Jimmy estimates it to be worth more than the wallet, leading Stevie to trade the found money plus some additional cash of his own in exchange for the watch. After Stevie runs away with the watch, a cheap counterfeit, Jimmy and the "unconscious" man return to Jimmy's residence to congratulate each other and split the proceeds of their scam.

Main story

Jimmy gives the Kettlemans the option of hiring him as their lawyer, but they refuse. The Kettlemans instead offer Jimmy a bribe if he does not reveal that they stole the $1.6 million, and he accepts. Nacho is released from police custody and accuses Jimmy of warning the Kettlemans, for which Nacho says Jimmy will face "consequences". Jimmy says he warned the family only for the sake of the children, and that Nacho should be grateful that the warning prevented Nacho from committing kidnapping or murder, for which he probably would have been charged, since he was noticed while conducting surveillance on the Kettleman home.

In his office at the nail salon, Jimmy cooks his books to make it look like the bribe he took from the Kettlemans is legitimate payment for his services. He spends the money on a personal makeover and a billboard advertisement which shares obvious similarities with Hamlin Hamlin & McGill. Kim confronts Jimmy over the imitation, and Howard Hamlin sues him for trademark infringement. The court rules in HHM's favor, and Jimmy is ordered to remove the billboard within 48 hours.

After failing to persuade any news outlets to cover his predicament as a human interest story, Jimmy hires a freelance media team to record his video plea for sympathy. During filming, the worker removing the billboard slips and falls, and is held up only by his safety harness. Jimmy climbs up and pulls the worker to safety while passersby watch and record, as does his media team. It is revealed that the accident was staged by Jimmy as a publicity stunt, which Howard and Kim see through when they watch it on the television news. The stunt works, and Jimmy acquires numerous new clients.

Jimmy visits Chuck and brings him his newspapers, but hides the local one that includes a report on the "rescue". Chuck congratulates Jimmy on his newfound success, but becomes suspicious when he notices his local paper is missing. Jimmy dismisses it as meaningless, but after he leaves, a suspicious Chuck braves exposure to electricity to run to his neighbor's driveway and steal their newspaper (leaving a $5 bill as payment), which leads to his discovery of Jimmy's scam.

Production

The episode was written by supervising producer Gennifer Hutchison, who was also a writer and producer on Breaking Bad.[1][2] It was directed by Colin Bucksey, who directed four episodes of Breaking Bad.[3] This is the first episode chronologically in which the name Saul Goodman is used.[4]

Reception

Upon airing, the episode received 2.87 million American viewers, and an 18-49 rating of 1.4.[5]

The episode received positive reception from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 reviews, it received a 95% approval rating with an average score of 8.19 out of 10. The site's consensus reads, "'Hero' marks the essential early evolution of Saul's conning skills, beginning his amusing transformation into the well-known Breaking Bad personality."[6]

gollark: Plus, I could use the thing I discovered with ender chests for nigh-unlimited storage space.
gollark: Milo is pretty great. Though I am considering rewriting my old not very good storage system because it had some advantages.
gollark: It is kind of irritating that you need to have the entire OS installed for one useful program, but it is really very good.
gollark: PotatOS contains all the programs and useful bundled libraries which nobody will ever need.
gollark: It's a shame Ale's `cget` never really took off.

References
  1. Littleton, Cynthia (December 20, 2013). "'Breaking Bad' Writers Join 'Better Call Saul' Staff". Variety. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  2. Couch, Aaron (February 23, 2015). "'Better Call Saul' Writer on Jimmy's "Terrifying" Plan, Saul Goodman "Reveal"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  3. Hibberd, James (July 11, 2014). "'Better Call Saul': New photos, details from 'Breaking Bad' spin-off". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  4. "Better Call Saul episode 4 review: Hero". Den of Geek. February 25, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  5. Kondolojy, Amanda (February 24, 2015). "Monday Cable Ratings: 'Monday Night RAW' Tops Night + 'Love & Hip Hop', 'Better Call Saul', 'Black Ink Crew' & More". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  6. "Hero". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
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