What You Didn't Notice About Better Call Saul's Theme Song
As we slowly creep toward the release of the 6th and final season of "Better Call Saul," it's worth taking some time to revisit the story thus far as it relates to Jimmy McGill and his inevitable transformation into the infamous Saul Goodman. While "Better Call Saul" is in many ways a prequel to "Breaking Bad," the larger heart of the show is this transformation — fans have spent five seasons watching Jimmy turn away from his life as an honest lawyer and become a smarmy, manipulative con-man who will do anything to get what he wants.
Along the way, he also managed to make connections in the seedy underworld of New Mexico; connections that would eventually lead to his partnership with Walter White and his inevitable downfall. Thus, the story of Jimmy McGill is one of fading morality, and the way that kind of manipulative nature can wreak havoc on one's soul. By the end of Season 5, there's not much of the original Jimmy left, and one of the more subtle ways the writers chose to portray this shift in his character is actually through a small detail in the show's intro.
The intro is supposed to look like a decaying VHS tape
For the most part, the intro sequence plays out the same way each episode: the intro melody plays while the camera focuses on a Statue of Liberty balloon, which fans will recognize as the same balloon that appears in "Breaking Bad" atop Saul Goodman's office. The main change between seasons is the overall quality of the footage, with static appearing across the screen, the shot momentarily losing color, or the focus going in and out. By the time Season 5 comes around, the intro is utter chaos, skipping frames, losing color, and cutting all over the place.
According to fans on Reddit, this loss of quality over time is supposed to represent Gene Taković (Saul's alter ego post-"Breaking Bad") wearing out his VHS tapes as he constantly rewatches his old commercials. From what we see in "Better Call Saul," we know that Gene desperately misses his old life, and this subtle detail in the intro reinforces just how much he romanticizes his past -– refusing to accept how chaotic and wrong his life truly was.
Some users also suggested that the loss in quality is supposed to be a metaphor for Jimmy's own loss of morality as the series progresses. As u/12frets puts it, "The erosion of the tape also parallels the erosion of Jimmy's identity, as Saul becomes increasingly dominant." Whatever the case, it's clear that this shift is meant to symbolize something, though perhaps it's up to the audience to decide what that might be.