Better Call Saul: A Close Look of Every ‘Gene in Omaha’ Flash-Forward So Far

Season 1

We watch Cinnabon workers meticulously roll out, slice and ice their delicious wares as we catch the eye of a weary, balding gentleman in glasses behind the counter. It’s Saul! Or, um, “Gene,” as his name tag informs us. He humbly sweeps the floors and blends up a beverage… and then he notices a tough-guy customer eyeballing him. Has he been discovered? No, the guy walks right past him and hugs a woman. Whew.

Later, Gene returns home to an empty house to eat dinner and watch TV, and something sparks in him the desire to reminisce. He digs around inside a hidden wall panel and pulls out a shoebox of mementos, including photos and a Band-Aid box (which we later learn he used to collect coins in). He takes out a VHS tape and slips it into his VCR, sitting down to watch it. It’s a compilation of his old TV ads as Saul Goodman. Is he taking a wistful trip down memory lane… or gearing up for a fresh fight?

Season 2

Gene is back at work at Cinnabon, closing up shop for the night and taking out the trash on his way out. But as he throws the garbage bags in the dumpster, the door closes and locks behind him, trapping him inside the trash room. He spots an emergency exit, but a sign warns that if he opens it, the police will be notified — and he doesn’t want to risk that. So he waits inside for hours until a custodian opens the door and lets him out. We see that he scrawled a message on the wall with a screw, though: “S.G. was here.” Guess he’s not ready to give up his identity as Saul Goodman just yet.

Season 3

Gene slogs through another day at Cinnabon before enjoying a packed lunch on a mall bench. There, he spots a teen carrying a stash of stolen DVDs under his coat. The teen hides inside a photo booth, and when the cops ask Gene if they’ve seen him, he silently points to the booth. The cops haul the shoplifter away, but as they do, Gene loudly blurts out some free legal advice: “Say nothing, you understand? Get a lawyer!” The whole thing must’ve been a lot for him to process, too, because when he gets back to Cinnabon, he promptly faints, crumpling to the floor.

Season 4

We pick up right where we left off, with Gene being carted off in an ambulance. He’s uncomfortable lying in his hospital bed, casting paranoid glances at the cops passing by. The doctor tells him it was just a false alarm and sends him home… but before he can leave, a chatty nurse tells him the computer is rejecting his driver’s license number. She asks for his social security number, and he looks ready to flee when she says there’s another problem. But nope, she just messed up and entered the number wrong. Another close call, though.

A relieved Gene gets into a cab, but his paranoia resurfaces when he notices his driver has an Albuquerque Isotopes logo hanging from his rearview mirror. (Uh-oh… did he follow “Gene” from there to Omaha?) The driver is staring him down, too, so Gene abruptly gets out early and walks away, but he notices the driver isn’t leaving. He stops walking and stands on the sidewalk, trying to catch his breath.

Season 5

A still-jittery Gene makes his way back to his car in the mall parking lot and drives home, quickly pulling out that secret shoebox and opening the Band-Aid box to reveal… a substantial stash of loose diamonds! He also screws Missouri license plates onto his car and monitors the police scanner as he drives off, taking refuge in a roadside diner and calling Cinnabon to tell them he won’t be back to work for a few days. He then holes up in his house for a while, listening to the scanner and making sure he’s in the clear.

When he finally feels safe, he goes back to work at Cinnabon, but he’s startled when a guy named Jeff — the same guy who was driving his cab — recognizes him as Saul Goodman from his TV ads in Albuquerque. (Jeff will look a little different when we see him next, by the way.) Gene tries to say it’s not him, but the guy insists, and Gene finally recites his “Better call Saul!” catchphrase to appease him. Jeff tells him to call if he ever needs a cab; he’s “never more than five minutes away.” Hmmm… sounds like a thinly veiled threat to us.

Panicked, Gene calls the “cleaner” Ed Galbraith to order another identity wipe. Ed tells him it’ll be double the price, though, since this will be his second disappearance. Gene agrees to that, and Ed says he’ll be picked up where he was dropped off. But then Gene changes his mind, firmly telling Ed: “I’m gonna fix it myself.” So what will that look like? We’ll find out in Saul‘s final episodes, we hope.