X-Files - Howard Gordon And Vince Gilligan: Mulder and Scully and Jimmy and Kim

 

 

Everyone knows that Breaking Bad couldn't have existed without The X-Files for a very simple reason: Vince Gilligan remembered Bryan Cranston from his brilliant work in 'Drive' back in Season 6 of the series and decided to cast him as Walter White when AMC was more interested in having someone like Matthew Broderick or John Cusack play the role. There are to be clear more indirect and direct ways that Breaking Bad came together over the years but I'd like to look at a different perspective with my retrospective on Gilligan.

One of the more fascinating questions behind both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul was how does a seemingly ordinary and good person become a monster. One of the reasons that Better Call Saul was one of the greatest shows of all time – to the point that some will even consider it might have been better than Breaking Bad -  is that we are watching the saga of how Jimmy McGill, who is a criminal and a lawyer when we meet him but not the 'criminal lawyer' he is by the time we meet him in Breaking Bad, ends up becoming Saul Goodman. By the time we reach the end of Breaking Bad its clear that Walter White was always a monster; it just took the cancer for it be fully realized. Better Call Saul tells a better and in many ways sadder story: it agues that Jimmy McGill could have been a good man but what other people thought of him pushed him into who he was.

Gilligan didn't spend as much time connected to Better Call Saul as he did Breaking Bad: he was only writing and directing the show through Season 2 and after that he more or less left in the hands of a superb writing staff. But it's difficult for me not to think that Saul doesn't have more direct connections to Gilligan's work on The X-Files then Breaking Bad does, at least thematically.  There are two big parallels between the two shows and I think its worth looking at each individually.

Let's start with a link that until fairly recently I didn't realize. Arguably the most important relationship on Better Call Saul is the one between Jimmy and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) To be sure it's clearly a romantic relationship from their first meeting sharing a cigarette outside HHM. But Gilligan, perhaps in a tongue and cheek way reference to his days on The X-Files more or less implies the relationship without showing any real sex or even many kisses during the course of it. Even their marriage takes place at a courthouse and makes green card weddings seems more romantic.

But just as with Mulder and Scully its clear the longer Saul goes on that Jimmy and Kim are soul mates. The biggest difference – and the one that makes Saul so gutting by the time they reach the final episodes – is that Mulder and Scully made each other better when they were working together. By contrast the longer Jimmy and Kim are in each other's orbit the more toxic they become to the point that Kim famously says when she leaves him: "I love you. But so what? We're no good for each other!"

As with The X-Files Kim is the grown-up in the relationship particularly in the first half of the series. Much of the time she's the one who saves Jimmy from his worst impulses, which he is always giving into. Both of them are in the same profession, like Mulder and Scully, but both got into it for different reasons. At her core Kim Wexler wants to do good and spends much of the second half trying to do pro bono work and be a person for the people. Jimmy is very much a bad seed whose already been arrested for petty larceny and saved by his brother Chuck. Jimmy ends up becoming an attorney by going to mail order school, something he shouldn’t be able to accomplish by any standard, but he gets into it far more to impress his brother and Kim because he loves the law the way they do. Considering how much Mulder is willing to bend the limits of the Bureau to achieve his goals to the point he's basically an outcast by the time of the Pilot, it's hard not to see the parallels between not only him and Jimmy but also Saul Goodman.

Jimmy is an outsider by the standards of the high-ranking people within New Mexico's legal community. It's clear from the start of Season 1 and pretty much the entire series that Jimm McGill is always going to be considered a joke no matter what he achieves in life. The big difference is that, unlike Mulder throughout the X-Files, Jimmy actually spends the first three seasons trying to work within the boundaries of his profession and actually doing things we would never think Saul Goodman capable of when we first meet him in Breaking Bad. This is most clear in RICO. In Alan Sepinwall's critical companion to the series Saul Goodman v. Jimmy McGill:

In both the past and present of RICO Jimmy accomplishes something in the legal field that should be impossible for a man of his background and means. In flashback, we see he managed to get a law degree and pass the bar, without letting Chuck or any of the HHM bosses know about it ahead of time. And in 2002, he uncovers evidence of a widespread scheme of overcharging by the Sandpiper Crossing company against the elderly residents of its retirement communities. This is impressive work in both timelines…when the Sandpiper employees begin shredding documents…he has to scribble a demand lawyer on the only thing he has handy – rolls of toilet paper – and then go hunting through Sandpiper's garbage to find the evidence.

This is incredible when it happens. However:

And in both cases, the substance of what Jimmy has done doesn't matter to members of the legal establishment. All that counts is who he is and the unconventional way he goes about things…No matter how hard Jimmy works, no matter how resourceful he proves to be, it seems the legal establishment will keeping looking down on him like he's someone who belongs in the trash.

It's hard not to think of Mulder in his basement, trying to figure out the next method the Syndicate will use to colonize Earth when one thinks of Jimmy in the dumpster during this episode. And just like Scully is the only person who believes in him there Kim is the only person who supports him then.

Like Mulder Jimmy McGill's life is tied to his relationship to his family though in Jimmy's case its his brother Chuck who is still alive at the start of the series but suffering from what he believes is an allergy to electricity. (As X-philes know Michael McKean has a critical role in the world of The X-Files playing Morris Fletcher, an oily Man in Black in multiple episodes of the series and on the spinoff The Lone Gunmen. All of his episode were written by Gilligan.) Much of Jimmy's actions in the first season and indeed the first half of the series are based on his relationship with Chuck, who he truly cares for, is more then willing to help him and wants the best for him.

But Chuck thinks Jimmy is more of a threat to the world  then the conspiracy thinks Mulder is to it. (The fact that Breaking Bad will prove that Chuck is absolutely right does nothing to make the viewer like Chuck anymore.) Indeed by the end of the first season Jimmy's relationship with Chuck has been forever poisoned when Jimmy learns that Chuck has betrayed him with HHM. When Chuck shouts out the world can't deal with 'Slipping Jimmy with a law degree!" – its one of the most painful moments in Saul  because 'his own brother…has no interest in the good version of Jimmy McGill."  This is an inverse of Mulder's search for Samantha being one of the only things that makes him relatable during the series: he can be such a horrible person most of the time, its only the belief he'll find Samantha at the end of this that makes him likable. And its worth noting the death of Chuck has the reverse effect on Jimmy that Samantha's death has on Fox. That's mainly because of their last meeting in the Season 3 finale:

"In the end, you're going to hurt everyone around you. You can't help it. So stop apologizing and accept it, embrace it…I don't want to hurt your feelings, but the truth is, you've never mattered that much to me."

After this Chuck, who seemed to be making progress with his mental condition, destroys his house and then commits suicide. And it is this action that becomes the tipping point into Jimmy embracing Saul Goodman, though it takes a lot longer to get there. He's free, but this freedom leads him to become the man who will end up officially turning Walter White into Heisenberg.

Its clear in the first three seasons what is tethering Jimmy McGill to the world of being good person is three separate things: the one that is most critical is his love and craving for Kim's approval. Kim is very much a stickler for the rules when we meet her and like Scully Saul shows as she begins to bend them more and more in part to coming around to Jimmy's way of doing things. The difference is Mulder and Scully brought out the best in each other with the need for each other's approval and were working for good. By the time we reach the penultimate season of Better Call Saul it is Kim who suggests to Jimmy the idea of wrecking Howard's career to speed up the Sandpiper settlement. In theory she's doing it for the right reason – to set up a pro bono defense practice – but when she suggests it Jimmy is so stunned that he actually tries to talk her out of it.

It's worth noting by this point Jimmy is far closer to being the man Saul Goodman will be. He's already become a lawyer for Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) a man who clearly terrifies him every time he sees him, has just arranged for him to receive bail on a murder charge, has gone into the desert to get it – and was nearly killed by the cartel. (The last part takes place in Bagman, which Gilligan directed.) Jimmy nearly died there and the episode before Lalo showed up at their house and he's clearly terrified. Kim, by contrast, matches to talk Lalo down from killing them both (a very Scully like thing) and the two of them have just relocated to a hotel room far away. But the fact that Kim has put Lalo in the rearview mirror so quickly frightens us nearly as much as it does Jimmy.

And its worth noting this scene has a parallel from the (first) series finale of The X-Files where Mulder and Scully are on a bed in a motel (in Roswell, New Mexico) talking about everything the conspiracy has taken from them. Scully gives an inspirational speech to Mulder. In this case, it would be as after all of this Scully turned to Mulder and said: "You know, we've played by the rules long enough. Let's form our own Syndicate  and destroy the FBI."

Like in that scene by this point Kim and Jimmy are married. Kim is wearing her Kansas City Royals nightshirt, her hair is down, she's utterly relaxed "as far removed from the controlled, coifed professional attorney the rest of the world series" (One of the most famous moves Rhea Seehorn had was a power ponytail.)

And it's worth looking at Jimmy's reaction. He keeps trying to talk her out of it, and this is the man who introduced her to the con. Kim greets this with a terrifying smirk. Then he tries warning her about what it would mean for Howard, and in turn how that would make Kim feel, suggesting she couldn't possibly be okay with it in the light of day. And Kim replies: "Wouldn't I?"

The irony is that Jimmy is absolutely right, though not for the reason he believes at first. They do pull off the con and Howard's reputation is utterly ruined by the episode Plan & Execution. And anyone who watches this episode remembers just how it ended:

Howard shows up completely drunk his career in tatters and he tells them: "You're perfect for each other. You each have pieces missing." This hurts for the record, mainly because by this point the viewer is so invested in the state of the souls of Jimmy and Kim in a way the viewer never once worried about Mulder and Scully's. But even as bad as it is, we know Jimmy and Kim could have lived with it.

The tragedy is at that moment the other part of Jimmy and Kim's life has come back to bite them. Because Lalo has found his way to the McGill apartment and he has business with Kim and Jimmy. The moment the two of them see him they are terrified but Howard, who knows nothing of the cartel, doesn't. Howard is confused but he thinks his position in 'the real world' protects him. Lalo kills him without a thought – and then goes right back to his conversation with Kim and Jimmy.

Anyone who has watched The X-Files knows how easily it is to be erased when you get in the way of the Syndicate or a conspiracy and anyone whose watched Breaking Bad knows how much collateral damage can comes simply by getting in a way of the wrong people even if you are completely innocent. (The clearest parallel is Drew Sharp, a twelve year old who is killed in 'Dead Freight' when he shows up in the aftermath of a train robbery and Todd shoots him before anyone even orders him.) Mulder and Scully have no doubt caused some of these deaths throughout the run of the series the more they work to uncover the truth. But in the case of Howard Hamlin his death is the direct result of their actions. Jimmy thinks he can live with it. Kim can't. After his memorial (which is blamed on him being a drug addict) she first gives up her legal license and then divorces Jimmy.

Mulder and Scully would lose multiple family members as the result of their quest: Mulder's father was murder by the Syndicate and Scully's sister was killed by accident. But as the viewer knows those deaths made them double down on their desire to find the truth. In the case of Kim and Jimmy the death of Howard is so shattering that Kim can't live with him or herself any longer. And as a result Jimmy McGill is officially dead and only Saul Goodman remains.

Now since Gilligan basically left the series after Season Three, I can't say how much of the Mulder-Scully parallel could have been his. What I know is that many of the creative staff with Better Call Saul had been part of Breaking Bad and many of them also worked with Gilligan on The X-Files. Thomas Schnauz, who'd been writing with Gilligan on The Lone Gunmen and the final season of the series, was one of the key writers for the show and Michelle McLaren who was one the critical directors for the series was also part of The X-Files roster in the last few seasons. (She directed John Doe an episode set in a Mexico town in an episode written by Gilligan. Cue Mark Snow.) And I don't think it’s a coincidence that Rhea Seehorn quickly became the MVP of Saul very much the same way Gillian Anderson became the iconic character she was on The X-Files.

The way that so much of the Kim-Jimmy relationship is a mirror image of Mulder & Scully would seem to be a parallel but could be (as Scully would say) just a coincidence. What makes me think there's a larger influence on Better Call Saul comes from many of the individual episodes he wrote and the theme linking them. That will be the subject of the second article about The X-Files and Better Call Saul.