History Characters / BreakingBadSaulGoodman

* KickTheDog: In order to get fired so he can keep his bonus, he makes Davis & Main's office a living hell, culminating in him playing bagpipe in his office. While funny, this was a complete [[UngratefulBastard dick move]] on a law firm that was more than accommodating toward him. The only silver lining is that it wasn't prolonged compared to Chuck's actions.

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed. [[spoiler:Saul is one of the few characters in the series to make it out to the end with his life and limbs intact, and at first glance, he seems to be the only ''not'' emotionally damaged from the events that happened. His big consequence is having to now live the life of a Cinnabon manager. Compared to the suffering of all the other characters, Saul makes it out well. But then the flashforwards of ''Better Call Saul'' show that he hates his new life as a fugitive, does not dare to form friendships or any other relationship in the city where he lives now, and is terrified of being discovered, becoming absurdly paranoid. Now he will spend the last years of his life looking over his shoulder every minute and brooding over his GloryDays as a lawyer and celebrity.]] That said...

** BeingEvilSucks: On the flip side, Jimmy's increasing amorality and ruthless behavior end up pushing away Kim, leaving him very wealthy and successful but completely alone and unhappy.

** Walt's journey had him apply the chemistry skills he used to make major breakthroughs for science towards cooking meth, while Jimmy's story has him take his skills as a conman into a lawyer's world. Both characters adapt their abilities into new professions with impactful results, but Walt goes from a legitimate career into a criminal one while Jimmy wants to transition from criminality into professional work. And while Walt was once a successful chemist who missed out on a chance to head a major company and is now doing a job he sees as beneath him, Jimmy mostly got by on cons and without regular work and enjoyed his time in the mailroom at HHM even if it wasn't what he wanted to do long-term and grows in stature and success as the series goes on.
** Walt ended his life alone and hated by his family, only next to the meth lab that was the true love of his life. Jimmy takes his own "Granite State" advice to not leave his wife hanging, and [[spoiler:once he hears that she could be in debt by confessing, he uses his DesperatelyCravesAffection for good, takes all their crimes for himself, and he and Kim end the series uncertain of what the future will be, but ultimately rekindled and still deeply in love]].

** Double Subverted, ultimately. [[spoiler:Even after getting arrested, Saul could have talked his sentence down to a slap on the wrist by playing up how he was coerced by Heisenberg, but he eventually chooses to [[TheAtoner bear the full consequences of his crime]] at the last minute to regain Kim's respect.]]

* ManChild: Jimmy is in his forties, but seems mentally stuck at twelve years old, having bad impulse control as well as a tendency to make excuses, possessing no idea of his identity beyond appeasing people, and his first instinct when he doesn't get his way is to still throw a tantrum and act like a brat. [[ProneToTears Or]] [[CrocodileTears cry]]. [[spoiler: He makes actual steps to grow up in "Saul Gone".]]

** As confirmed by WordOfGod, Jimmy [=McGill=] is still in there somewhere and never really left; he just got shoved down under thick layers of trauma, bad choices, and {{fatal flaw}}s, with Saul actively trying to behave like he has no humanity.

* UngratefulBastard: The insider podcast points out that cancer guy was the ''only'' nice bar guy to him, and that reminds Viktor of his father being foolish enough to fall for grifters and conmen, resulting in him continuing with the scam against him out of spite, even being almost willing to kill him.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Mike. As revealed in the prequel series, Mike used to put his loyalty to Jimmy above his loyalty to Gus, even going as far as potentially defying Gus' order to save Jimmy. Comes this series, and Mike has no problem threatening to break Saul's legs. While they still work together, it's clear that the relationship between them is purely professional now. This was eventually explained by the writers as Mike was fond of ''Jimmy'', and was disappointed in him running further into "Saul Goodman", hellbent on proving Chuck right about him. And on Jimmy's side, he eventually finds out (and feels betrayed) that Mike and Kim had kept the fact that Lalo was alive a secret when he'd asked to be kept in the loop.

* VillainousBreakdown: He goes through this in 5B. [[spoiler:Jesse assaults him after having found out about Brock, Huell goes missing, and Walter is exposed. Deciding it is too much of a risk, he opts out for a new identity in Nebraska]]. Ironically, the more Saul breaks down, the more Jimmy comes out.

* TemptingFate: In the penultimate of ''BCS'', a flashback shows him going to see Walt because he wants a distraction from all the trauma that's been dredged up from being kidnapped again, and also because he wants a chance at another Lalo that isn't crazy and won't hurt him. Not only does Walt end up treating him like both Chuck and Lalo did (and Saul eventually getting needy for an "attaboy") but that makes a lot of the resulting deaths his fault.

* WoundedGazelleGamit: Jimmy pushes his emotions down so much that he can only admit how he's feeling as part of a ruse to get something.

* WoundedGazelleWarcry: Jimmy pushes his emotions down so much that he can only admit how he's feeling as part of a ruse to get something.

** Inverted to the point of being stamped on when he mans up in the finale and admits that whilst he was terrified of Walter White, he also proceeds to take credit for Heisenberg's entire empire, stating Walt couldn't have build it without him. Essentially Saul's version of "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. I was alive.".

* SelectiveObliviousness: Odenkirk explained it as Jimmy has high emotional intelligence and can read other people easily, but he can't apply that to himself, and if the guilt gets too much then usually he'll try to run and hide, most obviously into a whole other persona.

** His attempt to bring Mesa Verde back to Kim results in a chain of events where [[spoiler:he becomes disbarred for a year and loses his client base in the process, also leading to Chick's suicide.]]