Walter White Wednesday 51

I have to admit, I'm a little crispy right now.  Between making a major deadline with the Wanna Cook? project (face it, if it's aired, we've written about it and our recaps, "did you notice?" and other extras have all gone through the first stage of line-editing to make the resulting work stronger and clearer) and several medium-to-large projects at work (April is indeed the cruelest month), I was concerned that I didn't have gas in the tank for "Walter White Wednesday" this week.

Really - what I want to do right now is go home, lock the door, and hunker under the covers for a few days - and that can't happen.  (See the aforementioned "medium-to-large projects at work" reference above.)

But then I came across THIS bit of news!

While remaining super tight-lipped about the final eight episodes, Vince Gilligan has said that Saul survives the end of Breaking Bad and a potential spin-off is in the very early stages!  Yep - Saul Goodman will not be at the receiving end of the heavy artillery we saw in Walt's trunk in "Live Free or Die."  As Gilligan puts it, "I like to think of Saul as a cockroach in the best possible way.  This is a guy who's going to survive while the rest of us have been nuked into annihilation.  He'll be the worst-dressed cockroach in the world."

Worst-dressed cockroach?  I'll let you decide!

Cockroach?  That's slander!  About 5 grand worth!

Damn, I love coffee with my shady justice!

C'mon - trust me!  I'm a LAWYER!

We can work this out!  Spinoff?  Prime time?
What's my percentage?

Walter White Wednesday 49

Greetings, Breaking Bad fans! My co-author, Ensley F. Guffey, and I are at the end of a 30-day push to get cleaned-up versions of the episode guide parts of the book to the editors at ECW and I'm pleased to report that we're on track. But we're always said that Wanna Cook? is more than just a recap of Breaking Bad episodes, and this week I'm going to show you. This "Walter White Wednesday" is a sneak peek at the "Extra Ingredients" section. This portion, which is included with each episode, is where we take brief references made by characters and give them a deeper look.  Here's one from the Season 5 opener "Live Free or Die":

Towards the end of this episode, Walt insults Saul by telling him that he’s not Clarence Darrow. In fact, Walt sneers at his advertising tactics and says that Saul’s nothing but a “two-bit bus bench lawyer.” Ouch.

"Attorney for the Damned"

Clarence Darrow (1857 – 1938) was a firebrand attorney who was best known for defending teenage “thrill killers” Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in 1924 and for defending John T. Scopes in the famed “monkey trial” in Tennessee a year later. An ardent believer that everyone, no matter what crime had been committed or what sacred cow had being tipped, had the fundamental right to a zealous defense by a sharp, committed attorney, Darrow is a model to idealistic lawyers to this day.  (Also, in keeping with Breaking Bad's use of poetry to advance the plot, it's worth noting that Darrow's longtime law partner was the poet Edgar Lee Masters, who wrote Spoon River Anthology. He also wrote three poems about Darrow.)

Darrow was not without his faults, both personally (he conducted a lengthy affair) and professionally. In 1911, he defended the McNamara brothers in separate trials. The brothers, who were active in the early labor movement and had a violent streak, were accused of causing a fire that killed 21 people when an incompetently-built bomb went off early.  Although he managed to save the brothers from the death penalty, accusations that Darrow was involved in bribing jurors in both trials have strong evidence to support them and have dogged his reputation ever since. 

The Leopold and Loeb case involved two well-off young men who killed a 14-year-old neighbor for the sheer excitement of it. Nathan Leopold was 19-year-old law student at the University of Chicago and Richard Loeb was the youngest person to ever graduate from the University of Michigan – these were not underprivileged, downtrodden youth. Darrow, who was a vocal opponent of the death penalty, had an unusual and risky strategy – he convinced both Leopold and Loeb to plead guilty to avoid a jury trial and concentrated on saving the murderers from the death penalty. His closing argument lasted for 12 hours and neither murderer was sentenced to death. His closing argument was published and became a best-seller throughout several editions.  

In 1925, Darrow defended John T. Scopes on the charge of teaching the theory of evolution in a public educational institution in defiance of Tennessee law. (The trial is the basis, albeit a loose one, for the play Inherit the Wind.) Darrow lost that one, although Scopes’ conviction and $100 fine were reversed by the Tennessee Supreme Court a year later.

Darrow had a fascinating career beyond these two cases and he routinely chose unpopular clients and causes, causing his friend Lincoln Steffens to refer to him as “the attorney for the damned.” Years before the Civil Rights movement would gain steam, Darrow was unafraid to dive headlong into racially-charged cases, such as successfully defending blacks who were accused of murder when a lynch mob arrived to drive them from their home in an all-white neighborhood.

Darrow was an articulate, shrewd, passionate lawyer. However, strong evidence exists that Darrow’s handling of the McNamara cases involved shaky ethics. Despite that lapse – which is a doozy, should it ever be definitively proven – Walt’s right. Saul is no Darrow, although he certainly defends his clients and he can be articulate when circumstances warrant.

But Walt’s wrong in his other name-calling. Judging from Saul’s percentages, the “two-bit” appellation Walt throws out is downright unfair. Further, Darrow was known to take cases for the Constitutional principles behind them – Saul uses the Constitution as office wallpaper.

So there it is!  Don't forget - even with the push, Ensley's continuing to post "Meth Monday" over at his blog and there's "Walter White Wednesday" here!  

Walter White Wednesday 31

One of the standout elements of Breaking Bad is the show's use of humor.  I maintain that without the lightness added by funny moments, Breaking Bad would simply collapse under the weight of its own shock, horror, and despair.  Certainly disposing of a person you've killed by dissolving them into human sludge isn't funny.

But add a couple of guys hosing human goo off each other in kiddie pools and you've got comedy gold!

"We never covered this in chemistry class, Mr. White."

OK, that isn't quite true.  Often the humor in Breaking Bad is darkdarkdark.  Even so, it still provides leavening for the pumpernickel-dark narrative bread that makes up so much of Walter White's downward spiral.

One of the lighter elements would be Saul Goodman.  Saul is pretty much the walking definition of "shyster," although he's also a really good attorney who zealously advocates for his clients.  (Incidentally, the problem is not that his clients are drug dealers, sleazeballs, and other skating-the-edge types, but that Saul actively helps them advance their schemes and plots.) But Saul's appearance on screen lets loyal viewers know that we're in for a few light moments.  He dresses like he's auditioning for Guys & Dolls, his office is a cartoon, his dialogue is laced with funny bits ("Hey, whoa! You're a Chatty Cathy today!" to Skyler when she's beginning to talk too much on an unsecured phone line), and he doesn't hesitate to put his own interests first, as when he insists Walt and Jesse put $5 in his pocket before he talks, so everything's covered by attorney-client privilege, despite the fact that the two have clumsily kidnapped him and are threatening him with grievous bodily harm.

Gilligan & Company know a fundamental truth - we can only handle so much darkness before the giggles begin to well up inside us.  Knowing that is one reason we can not only accompany Walt on his journey into damnation, but cheerfully pack a picnic for the trip.

Walter White Wednesday 4

. . . which is also known as “Better Call Saul!”

Saul Goodman (played by Bob Odenkirk) is the slimiest example of the bottom-feeding creature known as a "shyster worm."  As Jesse so eloquently puts it, Goodman (who is definitely NOT a “good man,” heck, it’s not even his real name) is a criminal lawyer.  Emphasis on the first word in the term.  His ethics are suspect, his marketing tactics distasteful, and his office is tacky. 

And yet, I find myself liking the guy.*

A little disclosure is called for at this point.  I’m a lawyer, duly admitted to practice in both the state and Federal courts of my home state.  My dues are current, I regularly attend my continuing legal education sessions, and I’m clean as a whistle with the State Bar.  I know – and can quote chapter and verse from the relevant Rules of Professional Conduct to support my contention – that Saul is a sleazebag who is in violation of several important sections of the rules governing lawyer behavior.  But he’s such a good example of how not to be a good example that I’ve decided to take today's post to talk about him.

Lawyers are the butt of a lot of jokes - a few of them are even funny.  But the sad truth of the matter is that everyone hates lawyers until they need one.  Then the bottom feeder/ambulance chaser is suddenly transformed into the stalwart defender of the Constitution - and I've seen that happen over a simple speeding ticket!  Walter has much bigger issues to deal with and thus, viewers are introduced to Saul, who has a very (shall we say) flexible attitude toward the New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct.

Professional responsibility is such a big deal in the legal profession that I had to pass two Bar exams before I was eligible to be sworn in to practice law.  One was a dreadful two-day affair that tested me on my knowledge of everything from secured transactions under the Uniform Commercial Code to estate law and civil procedure while the other focused entirely on my state’s Rules of Professional Conduct.  Trust me, the lawyer-client privilege is real and very nearly limitless.  There are a few boundaries and Saul skips gleefully over several of them, including taking an active part in an ongoing criminal enterprise.

But he does protect his clients’ money.  Funny thing, that.  The State Bar has the ability to punish misconduct by attorneys through admonishment, reprimand, censure, suspension and (most harsh) disbarment.  (Aside:  Being disbarred is an extremely serious punishment, since many lawyers really aren’t equipped to do much else other than practice law.  Seriously.)  At any rate, the single act of misconduct that is most likely to result in disbarment is misuse of client funds.  Don’t mess with client cash – ever.  (If you do - be prepared to pick up stakes and move to another jurisdiction and cross your thieving fingers that they'll take you.)  And on that point, Saul acts appropriately.  He takes his share off the top, but stores everything else safely for later pickup by his clients.  Saul is sharp, knows how to poke holes in a weak case (and the job of a defense attorney is to make the prosecutor do his job, which is to meet the burden of proof), and provides a zealous defense for his clients, which is another of the professional responsibilities of an attorney.

By the way, you can thank the Southwest United States for Saul’s goofy ads.  The 1977 case of Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (433 U.S. 350) was the landmark case which approved lawyer advertising.  Prior to then, it was thought that advertising by attorneys was vulgar and would “tarnish the dignified public image of the profession.”  (Really, I can’t make this stuff up.)  While I am all in favor of letting people know that they have the right to representation, I think a Pandora’s Box may have been opened with Bates.  I submit Saul Goodman's “Fatty Fat Fat” as Exhibit A.

*SPOILER ALERT – I try to keep these posts "spoiler free," so skip this if you haven't gotten to Season 3 yet.  If you have, read on.  I find myself especially liking Saul early in Season 3 when he buys the house viewers have come to think of as Jesse’s for our favorite currently-clean tweaker – and at a discount, no less!  Saul knows the law and he knows how to use it to his clients’ advantage and – like it or not – that’s what lawyers get paid to know.