Summary

• Saul worked at Cinnabon in Better Call Saul to lay low and avoid drawing unwanted attention.
• Gene's life as a Cinnabon manager was boring yet perfect for staying under the radar.
• Cinnabon was featured in Better Call Saul with no monetary exchange between the brand and the show.

The Better Call Saul Cinnabon scenes were flashforwards showing Jimmy McGill working minimum wage as Gene, and when fully explained, these black and white sequences reveal an incredible amount of thematic depth. Introduced in season 2 of Breaking Bad, Walt and Jesse's "criminal lawyer" Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) would become one of the most important characters in the series. He was also one of the few major figures to end the show alive, making the smart move to get the hell out of dodge — or in this case, Albuquerque — before things really hit the fan.

In Better Call Saul, viewers got to witness Saul's journey from small-time hustler Jimmy McGill, to briefly respectable attorney, to Saul Goodman, the go-to lawyer for the New Mexico meth trade. As Better Call Saul went on, it became more like Breaking Bad, and even contained several scenes set after the events of its parent show. The Better Call Saul Cinnabon scenes showed Jimmy clearly couldn't stand his existence as the manager of the eatery, leading many viewers to wonder why he was there. However, all was revealed by the end of Better Call Saul season 6.

Why Jimmy Is Working In A Cinnabon As Gene

Jimmy's Dull Life As Gene Was An Attempt To Lay Low

Managing a Cinnabon was an entirely unremarkable position and unlikely to attract attention.

Saul Goodman spending his time after Breaking Bad in Omaha as Gene in the Better Call Saul Cinnabon scenes was a direct callback to the final conversation between Saul and Walter White before they parted ways for good. Both men were holed up in a bunker owned by Ed, the man who specializes in making people disappear and giving them new identities. Saul says to Walt, lamenting their perilous situation at the time:

"If I'm lucky, a month from now, best case scenario, I'm managing a Cinnabon in Omaha."

Sure enough, that's where he ended up in Better Call Saul. Saul fears for his life and his freedom, thanks to the many criminal acts he committed alongside Walt and the many enemies he made in the underworld along the way. Nebraska is over 700 miles from New Mexico, making it less likely people will recognize Saul, or as he's now called, Gene. As for the job, managing a Cinnabon was an entirely unremarkable position and unlikely to attract attention.

While Saul retained some of his ill-gotten diamond gains, he couldn't live a life of extravagance, or he'd draw unwanted attention. The name Gene is also not only a pretty common name, but it sounds nothing like Saul. Put all this together, and it makes a perfect recipe for Saul to stay under the radar and live an honest, albeit boring life. That said, Better Call Saul season 5 made it quite clear that it was only a matter of time before the Gene facade is found out, with the Better Call Saul series finale finally paying off that tease.

Walter White's Better Call Saul Season 6 Appearance Brought The Gene Timeline Full Circle

Saul Started His Life As Gene Shortly After His Final Conversation With Walt

The official Better Call Saul Twitter page announced that fan favorites Walter White and Jesse Pinkman would make a cameo in season 6 of Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad prequel. These cameos brought the Gene timeline full circle and finally explained the significance of the Better Call Saul Cinnabon scenes.

Walt and Jesse's first cameo happens in season 6, episode 11, "Breaking Bad" — a perfect callback to Jimmy's first appearance on Breaking Bad, in an episode titled "Better Call Saul." The episode flashed forward to the Gene timeline, in which Francesca explained to him that Skylar White took a plea deal, and Jesse probably fled to Mexico.

The episode then flashed back to 2008 and saw Walt and Jesse's cameo chronicling the first time the trio met in Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston's Walter White then appeared again on Better Call Saul one final time, in the series finale. The scene occurs after Saul is able to get his 30-year sentence reduced to 7, and the flashback took place during the Breaking Bad series finale. This conversation between Walter and Saul happened while waiting for Ed Gailbraith to set up their new identities, which is when Saul would technically have started his new life as Gene.

Did Cinnabon Pay To Be In Better Call Saul?

No Money Changed Hands Between Cinnabon And AMC

Saul's fateful words at the end of Breaking Bad were paid off when flashforwards in the spinoff revealed the Better Call Saul Cinnabon scenes. What probably isn't widely known is that Cinnabon and AMC struck up quite the deal from Better Call Saul's inception, resulting in an exclusive business partnership. Co-creator Peter Gould admitted that Saul's Cinnabon line at the end of Breaking Bad was meant to be a throwaway. However, Cinnabon's social media manager made a clever move by posting a Tweet just eleven minutes after the Breaking Bad series finale.

Executive producer Melissa Bernstein reached out to Cinnabon when Better Call Saul was in development stages, according to vice president of Global Marketing for Cinnabon Jill Thomas (via The Wrap). Thomas admitted that the company didn't take the line as an insult, saying:

"If you truly understand the character you know that no matter where he is, it’s a purgatory for him — because he isn’t able to be his true self."

In a truly unique sponsorship, no money was exchanged between AMC and Cinnabon, with actor Bob Odenkirk even working at one of their locations in character as Gene from Better Call Saul.