I’m not sure how many of you this matters to, but Bob Odenkirk took to Reddit today to peddle his new book
From Odenkirk:
“Saul spin-off? Don’t know. Really. I trust Vince Gilligan when he says he has a good idea for it, an idea that motivates him to want to work on it. Vince, obviously, can do anything he chooses at this point, so it’s a massive honor that he would put any mental effort into a Saul show. Peter Gould is a Breaking Bad writer who wrote the first script that Saul appeared in, and, I believe, Peter is interested in a possible Saul show. So…that’s a lot of goodwill and energy making it a possibility. But still, this is a creative endeavor we’re talking about, and then there’s the business side that would have to be worked out…so many hurdles. I am thrilled that people like the character enough to want that show to happen.”
At first blush, it seems like an incredibly difficult thing to pull off, given the nature of the role, and the position he holds in the Breaking Bad universe. But, always supportive of people fucking with accepted business models, I’d love to see them give it a shot, even if the result was just an abbreviated six-episode run on Netflix… As for ideas as to how they could do it, I have two. The first is kind of stupid and campy. The second one is pure gold.
One: I’m seeing it being like the Love Boat or Fantasy Island, with different washed-up guest-stars making their way into Saul’s office each week, and asking for his help hiding assets, disposing of bodies, suing fast food joints, etc. (Can’t you just picture Dustin “Screech” Diamond as a meth addict who wants to orchestrate a lucrative slip-and-fall at a McDonalds? Or, how about Kim “Tootie” Fields as an shrewd entrepreneur from back east looking to open a handjob emporium on the outskirts of Albuquerque?)
Two: What if, post witness-relocation, Saul Goodman turns up at a high school in the American Midwest? Paranoid that he might be found out at any time, he attempts to stay clean, but the temptation to backslide is just too great. He begins, somewhat unwillingly, by steering his non-college prep kids into profitable lines of work. And it grows from there. The illegal enterprises flourish under his watch, as the stolen goods begin to flow through his office. Answers to tests are sold. School sporting events are fixed. Occasionally a teacher will suspect him of wrongdoing, but they’re quickly dealt with, either through drug set-ups, or ones involving the attempted seduction of young people in his employ. I’m envisioning him as part Fagin, part Morris Buttermaker, part Tony Soprano… His empire grows, and, along with it, his deception. And the threat of exposure, both past and present, always looms… His journey, as I’m seeing it, would kind of mirror that of Walter White… The more I think about it, the more incredible I think that it could be.
