I agree with all this. In many ways, he was FAR more brilliant than his brother. Certainly had tougher skin, more sound mind, and far more clever. All this despite graduating from an obscure law school, he punched far above his weight class.
This prequel was incredibly well done. In the end, he was a stand up guy although it cost him dearly.
Good point about the contrast between brothers. I didn't particularly care for that storyline / plot, but it was necessary to fill out his backstory as a character. As you noted - the obscure law school vs. someone seemingly far more well-versed. Not being on his level ... an afterthought of sorts.
What's crazy too is it would have been so much easier to just do a Breaking Bad sequel of some sort. The El Camino movie gave us more of Jesse's story. But as far as taking a secondary character from BB and making him the central focus of the prequel ... it's a lot harder than it sounds. But with Bob Odenkirk having his background in comedic acting and writing ... it's cool to see him showing off his dramatic chops as well. He can balance it well, and there was plenty of good material to work with across from the likes of Kim, Nacho, Howard, etc ... and funny seeing him (Odenkirk) doing his action movie era now in his 60s with Nobody, Normal, etc.
He had his major health scare just over 5 years ago ...
On July 27, 2021, Odenkirk was hospitalized in Albuquerque after having what he described as a "small
heart attack" on
the set of
the sixth season of
Better Call Saul. Three days later, on July 30, Odenkirk reported that he would "be back soon", and on September 8 he reported he had returned to work. In 2022, Odenkirk revealed that he had two
stents placed in his
coronary arteries shortly after the
widow-maker heart attack due to
arterial plaque build-up, which he had been diagnosed with in 2018. He also said that his condition was more severe than had initially been understood, disclosing that his
heart stopped and he required
cardiopulmonary resuscitation and
defibrillation to recover a pulse.
Better Call Saul showrunner
Peter Gould later stated that had Odenkirk not recovered, he and the producers would not have continued on and likely would have dropped the show.
variety.com
