The Most Unexpected Deaths In Better Call Saul Ranked

Nobody expected "Better Call Saul" to become the show it is today. When AMC announced back in 2013 (via Variety) that Saul Goodman would be getting his own prequel spin-off, most people would have expected little more than a pale imitation of "Breaking Bad." Who could blame them? Saul mostly exists in "Breaking Bad" to provide some much-needed comic relief as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman's lives become ever darker and his character certainly doesn't hold the same depth as, say, Gus Fring or Hank Schrader. A spin-off for this guy? Really?

Well, look where we are now. "Better Call Saul" has run for six seasons, garnered dozens of award nominations and wins, won the near-universal approval of critics, and provoked confusing feelings about Tony Dalton in the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world. Not bad for a show that started out as a joke.

One of the most remarkable things about "Better Call Saul" is that, while it could have coasted along as a screwball comedy or a courtroom satire, co-creators Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan instead chose to bring it closer to "Breaking Bad" in tone. By the fifth and sixth seasons, the show had become just as tense, brutal, and shocking as its older sibling, if not more so. Need proof? Take a look at the show's many deaths, which range from the predictable to the jaw-droppingly surprising. These are the most unexpected deaths in "Better Call Saul," ranked.

Considering so much has taken place in "Better Call Saul" over the course of its six seasons, you'd be forgiven for forgetting about Ruth McGill. As her name suggests, Ruth is the mother of Jimmy and Chuck McGill, although she only appears briefly in the Season 2 episode "Klick."

The episode opens with a flashback. Jimmy and Chuck are in a hospital, sitting beside their dying and comatose mother. Jimmy heads out to get them both some food and while he's gone, Ruth wakes up. She calls out for Jimmy, and although Chuck assures her that he's there, she asks for Jimmy again — and then she passes away. The devastation on Chuck's face is unmistakable, but it's nothing compared to what comes next. When Jimmy returns and learns what has happened, he asks Chuck whether she said anything before she died. Chuck simply tells him, "No."

Few moments in "Better Call Saul" encapsulate Chuck's relationship with Jimmy better than this, and his heartbreaking resentment towards his younger brother later becomes vitally important to the show's plot. That said, nobody can call Ruth's death unexpected — after all, it's kind of the whole point of the scene.

Werner Ziegler never stood a chance. Mike Ehrmantraut hires this affable engineer to supervise the construction of Gus Fring's meth superlab. First appearing in Season 4's "Quite a Ride," Werner and his team of German workers toil to get their job done, working in secrecy for months with no outside contact and few opportunities to relax. While the rest of the crew just about makes it out the other side, Werner begins to crack.

Werner's first big mistake comes after Mike convinces Gus to allow the workers a night on the town to recuperate. After leaving him alone for a minute, Mike finds him drunkenly explaining the technical specifications of the superlab project to a patron at a bar. After a stern word (and an implicit threat) from Mike, Werner apologizes and swears never to do it again. Soon, a homesick Werner attempts to flee the construction site to return to Germany to see his wife, Margarethe. Finally, Lalo Salamanca calls Werner and tricks him into revealing the involvement of a man named "Michael" in Gus' secret project. By the time Mike catches him, it's too late, and, on Gus' orders, Mike executes Werner with a shot to the head.

It's a tragic end for a character who couldn't cope with the pressures of Gus and Mike's world. But Werner is given more than enough chances to apologize, move on, and finish his job, yet – perhaps because he underestimates Gus, or perhaps due to his worsening mental state — chooses to push his luck time and time again. The consequences are hardly surprising.

Once Jimmy's closest friend, the fact that Marco Pasternak is neither mentioned nor appears in "Breaking Bad" offered a pretty good indication of his eventual fate. Marco shows up in "Marco," the tenth episode of Season 1, during which Jimmy returns to his hometown of Cicero after suffering a nervous breakdown. Like Jimmy, Marco is an expert con artist, and the two quickly return to their old ways.

After a week-long scamming binge, Jimmy decides to return home. Marco, disappointed, asks that Jimmy at least take part in one last scam before he leaves — but it all goes wrong. Marco is supposed to pretend to be unconscious, but when Jimmy attempts to bring him back around, he doesn't wake up. After Jimmy calls for an ambulance, Marco wakes up, tells him that this was the greatest week of his life, and passes away.

No death is meaningless in "Better Call Saul," and Marco's heart attack — as well as the week that preceded it — compels Jimmy to give up spending his life trying to do the right thing. In that respect, Marco is a necessary sacrifice the show had to make to bring Jimmy that much closer to Saul. Nevertheless, the sudden nature of his death, right in the middle of a complex and deeply satisfying scam, means it does come as something of a surprise to the unassuming viewer.

"Bagman" is by far the best episode of Season 5 of "Better Call Saul" and arguably one of the entire series. The plot finds Jimmy tasked with picking up Lalo's bail money — some $7 million in cash — at a rendezvous in the Mexican desert. For a while, it seems like the drop has gone off without a hitch. Jimmy meets the cousins at the designated meeting point, takes the money, and heads for the border.

On the way home, he is forced to stop by an SUV filled with armed men, led by a gangster who is named in the show's credits as "Jefe." The men search Jimmy's car, quickly finding the money, while Jefe orders one of his men to kill Jimmy. Of course, we all know that Saul Goodman doesn't die in the Mexican desert in 2004, but that doesn't make what happens next any less surprising. Half a second before he can pull the trigger, Jefe's henchman is shot in the neck by a hidden gunman. Then the next one goes down, and then the next, and in the space of about a minute, every gang member but one has been wounded or killed.

Of course, only one "Breaking Bad" character could ever pull off a stunt so ruthless and efficient, and the rest of the episode deals with Jimmy and Mike's journey home through the unforgiving desert. It's a remarkable and thrilling episode that proves full well that Vince Gilligan can still surprise people — and it all begins when that first shot rings out.

In the sagas of Jimmy McGill and Walter White, the most shocking and tragic deaths are often those of innocent bystanders. Drew Sharp in "Breaking Bad," for example, or the passengers of Wayfarer 515. Equally, there's something to be said for the people who died largely unnecessary deaths for the benefit of more evil characters, such as the Gale Boetticher or even Mike Ehrmantraut.

Fred Whalen falls into both of these categories. An employee at a money transfer office in Albuquerque, Fred is drawn into the world of "Better Call Saul" when Mike interrogates him about Werner Ziegler, who stopped in his office to make some calls during his escape from Gus' superlab. Later, Fred is visited by Lalo, who is attempting to track Werner himself to find out what Gus is up to. When Lalo asks to see the security footage of Werner, Fred becomes suspicious and suggests that Lalo — who claims to be a friend of Mike and Werner — call the police instead. At that point, Fred's fate is sealed. As Fred takes a phone call, Lalo climbs into the ceiling, leaps down into his booth, and murders him off-screen.

Shows such as "Better Call Saul" and "Breaking Bad" often feature characters who make a point of not harming people who aren't "in the game." Lalo, though, is different, and his brutal and unnecessary murder of Fred Whalen is a frightening and sudden reminder that he is anything but an ordinary gangster.

The relationship between Jimmy and Chuck McGill is the cornerstone of "Better Call Saul." Chuck is a renowned lawyer and co-founder of Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill. Despite his brilliant intelligence and high-flying career, Chuck harbors a deep resentment towards his troublesome younger brother. Meanwhile, Jimmy cares for and adores his older sibling. However, when he turns against him as their relationship deteriorates, Jimmy becomes so vindictive and desperate in his attempts to outdo him that it inadvertently leads to Chuck's death.

The first few seasons of "Better Call Saul" deal with the back-and-forth between Jimmy and Chuck, who constantly scheme against each other as their fraternal bonds grow weaker. This culminates with Chuck's humiliation in the courtroom — a consequence of Chuck's belief that he is hypersensitive to electromagnetic fields — and Jimmy's disbarment. Seeking revenge, Jimmy leaks the details of Chuck's apparent condition to HHM's malpractice insurer, leading to a potential increase in the firm's premiums. Howard Hamlin, Chuck's colleague and fellow partner, then buys out his share of the firm and forces Chuck to retire.

This is all par for the course in Jimmy's "Better Call Saul" storyline. While Chuck's admission that he never cared for Jimmy during the latter's attempt to make things right come as a harsh surprise, the real shock comes after. Chuck, having lost pretty much everything, intentionally knocks over a lantern, burns down his own house, and kills himself in the process. Chuck's death may have felt inevitable, especially considering its role in Jimmy's fall from grace, but it is both heart-wrenching and startling.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.