You are not the friend. You're not capable of being the friend. I had a friend, but now I don't. You are not the friend.

I think it’s because of how Jimmy and Kim got Howard killed, Mike must’ve lost any respect he had for him after that since Howard wasn’t in the game. That’s probably why Mike was so vague if Lalo was dead or not as he wanted Jimmy to be scared as some sort of punishment

Mike liked Jimmy McGill But he didn’t like Saul Goodman

Mike gave up on Jimmy when he got Howard killed, and probably after hearing he only cares about money if he had a Time Machine

Mike was like "I must be loyle to my capo"

In the commentary for season 6, episode 11, Peter Gould stated that Mike only works for Saul because Gus wanted him to. Mike wanted nothing to do with Jimmy after Howard Hamlin (whatever happened there) but Gus wanted to maintain access to Sauls services without having direct contact with Saul. They were going to do a few story lines about Mike Jimmy & Gus during the post-Kim breakup, but they didn't end up doing that.

I like how everyone is blamed for Howard's death except for Lalo

They loved each other like brothers in law

They weren't ever friends, but they each had skills that helped the other.

A lot of people talk about how Mike wouldn't threaten Saul in BrBa after BCS, but I always interpreted it as Walt being such a destructive presence it led to the termination of their pseudo-friendship

Ah yes the dynamic duo: Dave Clark and Viktor St. Claire

I don't think Saul completely didn't care, he just knows what world he is in. You can't sit there and cry when your PI, then partner of your meth empire, dies. Walt took things to a level Saul would never, but it's not like he hasn't been around the block. So Mike disappearing wasn't as a giant shock. It's how he lost Howard.

I think Mike working for Saul in Breaking Bad as a private investigator makes great sense actually. Mike is very cautious about his money laundering as seen in BCS with his employment at Madrigal. Mike likely did the PI work for Saul to have another legitimate source of income, plain and simple.

I think Mike kept Jimmy at arms length when he was a fast-talking PD. Then he distanced himself even more as Jimmy fell more and more into the Saul Goodman persona.

4:20 I always interpret this scene as Jimmy trying to play it off more casually out of fear of Walt

Idea for next video:Were Waltuh and Finger lovers?

''Saul, don't make me beat you 'til your legs don't work.'' Yeah, I say those words to my friends all the time.

I feel like they had as much of a friendship as their relationship allowed.

Even better; they were lovers…

I think Mike's treatment of Saul in Breaking Bad is entirely explained by the fact that Saul engaged with Walt against Mike's express advice to "let it go". If Saul had listened to Mike, none of the events of the series would have happened.

He was the closest thing that mike had to a friend, mike appeared to have associates not friends

Extremely simplified: Mike and Jimmy were friends, but Mike and Saul were not. I think that they card about each other even in breaking bad, but they are both shadows of their past selves.

a) By the time of Breaking Bad, I don't think Mike is doing odd jobs for Saul because he needs the money for his family. I think he's doing the odd jobs for Saul to keep in the loop on criminal happenings around town. b) When Mike says to Saul, "don't make me beat you 'till your legs don't work", he IS being friendly. He's saying "I don't want to do this, but you and I both know I will have to" c) When Saul suggests sending Pinkman to Belize, like Mike - He is terrified of what Walt... You couldn't very well stand up to Heisenberg in that moment and say "hey, you killed my friend!" I think they are friends, or as friendly as you get with work acquaintances that you know might be killed tomorrow because they made a misstep in "the game".

I assumed Gus would tell Mike your job is also to playcate the lawyer on quiet weeks since this is the closest Gus can be to hearing about the "friend of the cartel" legal issues without having to be near the courthouse.

Mike loved Jimmy as if he was his brother-in-law.

Dude this was great!!! Nice video essay!! Keep it up Kino

Absolutely fascinating...thankyou for posting :).

i really really appreciate this videos existence because i love the characters of this show and i feel like i never see youtube videos discussing something entirely based on the relationship between two characters. thank you! although i am a bit biased because i love mike and read way too far into every aspect of his character. ive always been so frustrated by how thanks to mike's rocky introduction into brba, theres just a fundamental problem with everything he and jimmy do together in bcs, and you can't really fix it without retconning stuff out of breaking bad. i'm so glad you touched on that in this video because i think that's the real root of the problem with these two, and kind of a lot of intricacies of mikes character in general? nothing life ruining but when you think ab this show for a little too long you notice things. theres a little bit of this with him and gus as well. (although jimmy really gets the short end of the stick when it comes to old man relationships.) its refreshing to see somebody else talk about it! i know this is a long comment, i'll be done soon but one last thing about 8:47 . i love the placement of the bad choice road clip after this statement, it made me think about the sentiment that mike gives in that scene in a different light than i usually do. it is technically a Jimmy And Mike scene, but i feel like i've never considered it as solely about their relationship? and it's a really interesting take to apply it to the fact that bagman is their last big thing together and after bcs they sort of stop caring about each other because of their OWN character development. if only it was more in the text...but alas. anyway you've given me some GOOD FOOD! the gears in my brain are turning. thank you

8:55 Nice editing here!

I mean whatever the case I think Mike still doing odd jobs for Saul can be explained by him in return using Saul for all of his criminal connections with the encrypted book and "legal" services for Gus

Mike told Saul Lalo would be dead by this time tomorrow and Lalo shows up and Mike knew he was alive, this leads to Kim and Jimmy breaking up. Saul probably could of used knowing Lalo never got killed.

Only thing I’d disagree is with Mike being loyal to Gus because Gus is more “honorable” - I think Mike was loyal to Gus because Gus was more practical and reasonable unlike Saul and Walt, who would destroy everything if they felt like it The reason I bring this up is because idk if Mike would be ok with Gus having children running around selling his product (Thomas aka Andrea’s brother), in BCS there’s enough proof that Mike often disagrees with Gus’ way of operating but he still works for him due to his capabilities as a professional - unlike Walt.

Jimmy was human, Jimmy cared for the law, he also did his best to keep an honest image, and reputation of himself. Saul encouraged the worst of Jimmy's character traits. Saul used every loop hole and rode the corrupt wave of cash that was keeping the cartel out of jail and eventually laundering their money through Walt. Saul lied, cheated and manipulated his way to cheap and fraudulent success. With these differences in mind. I believe Mike didn't mind Jimmy. Their "trip" through the desert felt like an honest and vulnerable dialog that helped them at least understand one another at a base level. If it weren't for Jimmy's world being shattered by Lalo, I feel like they could have become truly solid with one another just before Breaking Bad happens. But alas, that's not how the story goes. Saul is everything Mike was both a knowing participant of, and a passive bystander to. Pure, greedy and toxic corruption of a system that was supposed to stand for something better. The Law was supposed to disincentive crime. Yet a facade of care for the law can also shade the enforcers of said law from the judging eyes of those who still hold the law sacred. We all know Mike did his best to move past this, and still views himself mostly above corrupt people such as Saul. As good of a lawyer he really is for the Cartel/Fring, it makes sense that despite this fact he grows to despise Saul anyways.

Perhaps Mike stayed in touch with Jimmy to keep his options open. He didn't want to keep all of his eggs in one basket in case things went sideways with Gus. Maybe part of him was hopeful Jimmy would see the light one day, and become the man he once was. Jimmy was eventually able to do that, but not before Mike moved to Belize.

Great video. Good job man

Feel like you could just chalk it up to BrBa being made first and BCS being made later. I feel like their relationship would be a little different if BCS was made first or something

I assume they're like the Mythbusters, Saul is Adam and Mike is Jamie, they don't really like each other but they work together really well.

Great vid

As i sit and watch BB for the 100000 time.....i never thought of this from the very first opening credits of the pilot. Walk is standing there with a shirt on, no pants, in the middle of the road with a crashed RV on the side of the road. very very odd if you ask me. The ABQFD goes flying by. No one stops? ok. they are on the way to a fire. BUT do they not talk with the local PD or DEA? Wouldnt that be something they would notice as suspicious? They find the gas mask not to far from there.....Wouldn't Hank have asked knowing that the fire was down the road from where the mask was found if anyone had seen anything? Sure they found crazy 8's car at the fire which lead to the call to the DEA, but why would they not say oh yeah, on our way we saw this RV crashed in a ditch...............Why is this HUGE HUGE point never ever asked about or brought up again? Think about it. AND one more thing.....who called the fire in? It wasnt Walt as he didnt know it was the FD coming up on him, so who called? Was it the house that was very far away with the Cow House? who called? And that quick????

Was just thinking about this on my recent BB watchthrough.

The way I always saw it wasn't that they were friends, or even friendly, but they had both respect and disdain for each other due to events they both were involved in. They are both in the game, but they also both had lives outside the game, unlike most of the other people they associated with.

You forgot to mention their interesting conversation about going in the past and what they would change while walking thru the desert.

Mike never liked Saul or respected him. I think Mike first caught a glimpse of who Saul was after he said he was sorry to hear of Chucks passing and Saul brushed it off and started talking about scamming an innocent person.

personally, i think they were capable of being friends in the early seasons of better call saul. thing is, jimmy and mike have always had a purely business relationship. the issue at hand is almost entirely related to the fact that by breaking bad (no pun intended), they were both entirely different people and, more importantly, they were true criminals. if they weren't criminals, a friendship could've perhaps blossomed, but it couldn't. real, true criminals don't have friends because they go where the money is; they have no more boundaries, and that's where both mike and saul were by breaking bad, as conveyed with better call saul, hence why they were never actual friends. it's honestly one of the sadder aspects of both series' to me because, especially with jimmy, i can't help but always think "what if jimmy had made better decisions and a *few* less mistakes," because he had a genuine heart in before some of the main catalysts that contributed to his transformation to saul goodman (e.g. the mistake with irene and chuck's death) all that said (and after finishing the video), this is a VERY GOOD analysis. you demonstrate great understanding of both series, the ethics, and their characters, and i find your perspectives to be very agreeable, especially that of most the decline of jimmy and mike's relationship being on saul. keep up the good work!

In BB Saul was shown to be more of a “ear to the streets” for Mike. So I think that’s why Mike kept him around and did jobs here and there for him. Especially since Saul had represented associates of the Salamanca Cartel. Even Gus asks about Saul, as “the lawyer” in BB. I think Mike being intertwined with Jimmy even though he works for Gus makes a lot more sense than it seems.

Mike was a guy who lost his son to corrupt cops and then he had to kill Werner in the same principle so he REALLY hated collateral damage of innocents. So I think that after Howard's death, Mike kind of became an associate to Saul rather than a good friend.

3:25 that transition was actually Kino with Jimmy's head being in the same place

Mike, Gus, and Saul are my three favorite characters. The more I see Mike, the more I like him. Like Marlon Brando in the Godfather, you don’t kill civilians, women, and children. The rest are fair game. This was an interesting code of ethics.

Mike’s relationship with Jimmy in Breaking Bad wasn’t an oddity, as Saul provided legal advice for Gus through Mike, and probably would’ve been a lawyer for anyone in that organization. He even browbeats Mike for using outside council, without telling him.

Mike and Jimmy seemed to just do favors for favors… Even if Saul is selfish and focused solely on money, it’s beneficial to have a good lawyer like Saul on your side (Mike did turn to Saul when the DEA was on him)

With all these Better Call Saul focused vids with Chuck, Soy Boy Lalo and now Mike and Jimmy, Kino are you building to Better Call Saul series logs?

I always thought it was a situation of having to be on the same side- to keep Gus and Jimmy out of trouble (since they also did business together). In this business, the less people, the better. Mike was a person that could keep up communication with all parties and keep distance between them when possible. The more people he worked “for” the more reliable his information is… so it was mutually beneficial between all parties to share one really solid man.

This is more great content.

Mike and Jimmy were never truly friends. They were only close because they both recognized each other's qualities. Mike certainly cared like Jimmy, Mike is not a cold, emotionless person. But if by any chance Saul did something stupid, or didn't do what Gus wanted (to the point of threatening to break Saul's legs for not telling him where Jesse was hiding) he would go on the rampage. Mike just loves his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. He would do what he need to protect them. Jimmy? He'll do whatever he can, but he wouldn't sacrifice himself for it or anything like that.

I would like to see on this channel in the future of the episode reviews of six feet under it is another good show

Mike liked Jimmy but kept him at a difference. And Mike does have a certain fear of gus. When it comes between gus and Jimmy (Jimmy who is protecting 2 unpredictable characters), Gus comes first

I think Mike liked early seasons Jimmy but hated what he became. I also imagine Mike only worked for Saul because Gus probably wanted to keep tabs on him. I think as Jimmy became Saul, and especially once Kim left him, he stopped caring about friendship or loyalty even to the one who saved his life.

I think Mike and Jimmy stopped being friends once Jimmy asked Mike if his mother was still giving the two for one discount in the epileptic wh*rehouse

Could you please do a setup tour?

Love your videos and hate to be a hater and as fun as theorizing in universe is the obvious answer is that being a prequel the story of their relationship came long after BCS was written.

It seems that Mike disliked Saul. Mike disliked everyone except Kaylee.

Mike fs had some respect for season 1 jimmy at the very least

Remember in season 5 of BB when Mike hired another attorney and Saul got pissed? Just another layer in these 2 guys dynamic.

Good video 👍👍👍

I guess Mike was both disgusted at what Jimmy has become but is still attached to tge guy he used to be. So he keeps working gor him occasionaly to keep taps in him, but still gives him a lot of tough live because, well, Jimmy has turned into an asshole.

I don't think Mike had or considered anyone a friend. Jimmy desperately needed friends

Wouldn't Mike being a cop see through Jimmy's facade and instantly recognize that he is a compulsive scammer who only cares about money? Mike must have arrested slippin Jimmy types more times than he can remember.

They were as much friends as Tony Soprano and Johnny Sac were.

Jimmy said to Kim in S2 E2 that he was helping a friend out. That friend being Mike

They seemed closer in BCS than they did in Breaking Bad

They were best friends, like us

Do mad men next

Mike was willing to be friendly with Jimmy, but Mike would not with Saul.

Great ending

ALSO!!! if Crazy 8 was an informant for the DEA, why did he never tell them about Jessie? He could have called in before he went to the cook site. He could have told them A LONG TIME AGO who captain cook was. And with that.....when walt went missing, how did hank never put two and two together when he tracked down Jessie's car with the plates....The Captn Huh?????

I mean the real answer for this is obviously breaking bad was first but this is cool too

Here’s a fun question. Which of these two characters have met more main characters? Keep in mind Mike met Eladio & Jimmy didn’t. And Jimmy met/knows Howard but Mike doesn’t.

nop, but the closest after his best friend pass away

It seemed like they were becoming friends when Jimmy said “Who’s got your back? This guy” I feel like Jimmy broke bad and lost his humanity, which prevented him and Mike from being friends

It shows that Mike liked Jimmy more when he was Jimmy and not Saul. After what happened to Howard, he looks at him with nothing but contempt and as an actual pawn in his life and Gus' enterprises.

I think it's just that the writers for BCS were stuck in a corner and didn't have many options on how to handle character writing. When it came time to write their own version of saul post-bb they fumbled hard, so i don't think they were equipped to handle writing a character who ends up less fleshed out in the future.

Mike is not friends with people like Saul.

So, obviously, Mike only did the "small side jobs for Saul" during Breaking Bad because it helped Gus' interest. Even going back to Jane's overdose. Gus was aware of Jesse and it furthered Gus' interest to not have Jesse incarcerated.

No. Because Mike threatened Saul in Breaking Bad.

Obviously they are not friends. They are colleagues and have a closeness and shared histories, but they would never willing spend time with eachother. I have no idea who woupd think they are buddies, it would be like saying gus and mike were friends. It is clearly a transactional relationship.

Nah it aint that deep. They just had to figure out the best way to make mike and jimmy's relationship happen on better call saul. Breaking bad just had them 2 guys that worked together from time to time without a past. BCS just gave them one.

They were in the way of the traditional bickering odd pairings. Other than Kim, Mike was the only person to believe in Jimmy and is disappointed he was hellbent to prove Chuck Right, as Mike was aware of what was going on between them.

Yeah I’m convinced they had sort of a friendship, then Mike said “fuck this guy” after the Howard incident.

Colleagues would be the better term.

My interpretation after all is said and done is that they liked each other well enough tough Mike became less attached to Jimmy the longer he was his „Saul“ character. He stayed around as a PI tough because he liked the smaller, breathier Jobs from Goodman which are way less dangerous and morally demanding than his work for Gus. Also his „Enforcer“ Job probably never took so much much of his time during peacetime after the Superlab finished and Lalo was dead. And last but not least it was easy money for him on the side which we shouldn‘t forget was his first motivation in any case. That way it all makes sence.

A way I like to think of it is that Mike had respect or liked Jimmy, but hated Saul/what Jimmy became

Mike works for Jimmy because he is the best criminal lawyer out there. If he keeps Jimmy at arms length, he can use him to help him or anyone in his and Gus's network out of trouble. In all reality, it's a mutually beneficial partnership with nothing else there. Mike doesn't respect Jimmy and Jimmy doesn't have any feelings towards Mike. They're just colleagues.

Mike didn’t have friends

Short answer: No. Jimmy feared Mike and Mike just despised Jimmy or Saul Goodman as he becomes.

i feel like the short answer is no

Nobody really had "friends" in either of these shows.

Mike always had some code of honor. Saul had no honor.

It’s a mixture of 3 things for me: firstly Mike lost a lot of respect for Jimmy after he got Howard killed as he wasn’t in the game, Secondly, how he fully embraced his Saul persona after Kim left him showing very little of his previous Jimmy McGill identity, finally due to his continual working relationship with Walter white which he was against from the start and advised Saul not to pursue him, making his life incredibly harder once Gus wanted Walt dead

they were lovers actuallyyy

Yes. Until Mike told Saul Lalo was going to die. That ruined everything for everyone.