The Better Call Saul Season 1 Episode Detail That Went Right Over Our Heads
By Daniel Kim
"Better Call Saul" fans who take a closer look at every Season 1 episode title will note that each of the 10 episodes' titles ends with the letter 'o', except for "Alpine Shepherd Boy," the midway point in the season. However, there was no grand design for the Season 1 title theme.
On an episode of the "Better Call Saul Insider" podcast, executive producer Vince Gilligan said that the "Better Call Saul" writing staff decided over lunch one day to name each episode of the season a word that would end in the letter 'o.' Gilligan said they formed this idea while making "Alpine Shepherd Boy," and that they originally wanted to name the episode "Jell-O" in reference to the advertisements Jimmy puts for his elder law practice on Jell-O cups at a nursing home: "Need a will? Call McGill!"
Gilligan and the writers said they came up with the idea to end every episode of the season with an "O" at the lunch table, and that this episode — which ultimately wound up the only one with a title that didn't follow the pattern — was the one that gave them that idea. "We were not allowed to name the episode Jell-O," Gilligan said on the podcast. "It kind of harshed our buzz and slowed our roll in terms of ending every title with an O [this season]."
Instead, the episode's final title is a nod to the figurine that Mrs. Strauss (Carol Herman) presents Jimmy with, who she calls the Alpine Shepherd Boy. Gilligan said the production went with that tile because the episode's writer, Bradley Paul, approved of it as a secondary option.
