Magic Man (Better Call Saul)

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"Magic Man"
Better Call Saul episode
Promotional poster
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 1
Directed byBronwen Hughes
Written byPeter Gould
Featured music"Welcome to My World" by Jim Reeves
Original air dateFebruary 23, 2020 (2020-02-23)
Running time54 minutes
Guest appearances
  • Ed Galbraith
  • Huell Babineaux
  • Max Arciniega as
    Domingo "Krazy-8" Molina
  • Javier Grajeda as
    Juan Bolsa
  • Josh Fadem as The Camera Guy
  • Hayley Holmes as The Make-Up Girl
  • Peter Diseth as Bill Oakley
  • Don Harvey
    as Jeff
  • Roland Buck III as Bobby
  • Ben Bela Böhm as Kai
  • Stefan Kapičić as Casper
  • Sasha Feldman as Sticky
  • Morgan Krantz as Ron
Episode chronology
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"Winner" 		Next →
"50% Off"
Better Call Saul season 5
List of episodes

"Magic Man" is the first episode of the fifth season of the AMC television series Better Call Saul, a spin-off series of Breaking Bad. The episode aired on February 23, 2020, on AMC, in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.

Plot

Opening

After leaving the hospital, Gene Takavic suspects he is being followed and spends several days away from Omaha. He returns and stakes out his apartment but resumes his normal routine after finding nothing suspicious. After Gene returns to work,

Ed Galbraith
for help but changes his mind and says he will handle the problem himself.

Main story

Bill Oakley
.

Don Eladio
and the cartel trust Gus, so he should consider the matter closed.

Because of Lalo's presence in Albuquerque, Gus stops work on the underground meth lab. Mike sends Werner's men home, warned to remain silent, and fully paid for the half-completed job. Gus informs Mike that Werner's widow accepted their story about a fatal construction accident and says she was well-compensated. Gus offers to continue paying Mike during the construction delay, but Mike declines, frustrated with Gus's seeming lack of compassion for Werner.[1]

Kim's pro bono client facing years in jail rejects a 5-month plea bargain and Jimmy offers to trick him into accepting. Kim declines, but later uses Jimmy's idea herself, then vents her frustration at letting Jimmy talk her into it.

Production

"Magic Man" was dedicated to Robert Forster, who played the disappearer Ed.

The episode was dedicated to Robert Forster, who died in October 2019. Forster played Ed, the disappearer from Breaking Bad, reprising his role in this episode, as well as the film El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.[2] Showrunner Peter Gould, who had written and directed Forster's prior appearance on Breaking Bad in "Granite State", had wanted to bring Forster's character into Better Call Saul for some time but could not figure out a way to do so. As his writing team found a way to do so within the fifth-season premiere, he learned that Vince Gilligan had written in the character for El Camino.[3] Originally, Forster's role was a vocal cameo only, given the cost of rebuilding the vacuum shop. However, with El Camino's production, producer Melissa Bernstein recognized they would be shooting the vacuum shop and that Forster would be available, and thus arranged for Gilligan to film the Better Call Saul scene concurrently, months before any other Better Call Saul fifth season scenes were to be filmed. Gilligan's production role was uncredited in the episode.[2][3] In addition to dedicating the episode to Forster, Gould invited several of Forster's family and friends to the screening of the premiere.[3]

The episode was directed by Bronwen Hughes, who had directed the 2008 Breaking Bad episode "Crazy Handful of Nothin'".[2]

The background music used during the quick-cut montage in which Saul sits in a tent and gives away his remaining phones is trumpeter

soul-jazz hit "The Sidewinder", and the song played during the flashforward is "Welcome to My World" by Jim Reeves.[4][5]

Reception

"Magic Man" received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, it garnered a perfect 100% rating with an average score of 8.7/10 based on 20 reviews. The site's critical consensus is, "Jimmy McGill is dead, long live Saul Goodman in a doom-laden premiere that wrings heartbreaking juxtaposition between the 'Magic Man' himself embracing his sleazy stride and the haunted fugitive he will inevitably become."[6]

Ratings

An estimated 1.6 million viewers watched "Magic Man" on its first broadcast, a 4% increase over the fourth season finale episode, though down 10% from that season's premiere. Viewership was aided by the mid-season premiere of The Walking Dead that led in the show.[7][8]

Notes

  1. ^ During the events of "Smoke".

References

  1. ^ Bowman, Donna (February 23, 2020). "Better Call Saul's penultimate season kicks off the lawyering career of Saul Goodman". AV Club. Retrieved December 12, 2023. 'You keep your goddamn retainer,' he spits at Fring after getting the debrief about Ziegler's wife and the hiatus in building the lab.
  2. ^ a b c Sepinwall, Alan (February 23, 2020). "'Better Call Saul' Season Premiere Recap: 'Magic Man'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Snierson, Dan (February 23, 2020). "Better Call Saul creator on that game-changing Gene scene, return of Breaking Bad character". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  4. ^ "Better Call Saul • S5E1 Soundtrack". WhatSong. February 23, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  5. ^ Coates, Lauren (February 24, 2020). "Better Call Saul is back in full force with season 5 premiere "Magic Man"". Culturess. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  6. ^ "Magic Man". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  7. ^ Metcalf, Mitch (February 25, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 2.23.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on February 25, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  8. ^ Baysinger, Tim (February 25, 2020). "'Better Call Saul' Ticks Up to 1.6 Million Viewers for Season 5 Premiere". TheWrap. Retrieved February 25, 2020.

External links

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