Better Call Saul: 10 Things You Only Notice Rewatching Season 1
5. Jimmy's Bad Knees
One of the big questions going into Better Call Saul was who Lalo was, and why did Saul Goodman think he'd sent Walt and Jesse to kill him? Aside from the introduction of Ignacio 'Nacho' Varga - "He was the one!" - that information is light on the ground in Better Call Saul Season 1. So, you'd be forgiven for not recognising a deliberate call back to Jimmy's kidnapping.
In the episode appropriately titled "Nacho", Jimmy is arrested for his involvement with Varga. Thrown to the ground as the cuffs are thrown on him, Jimmy complains that he has bad knees. He refers to the exact same ailment when Walt and Jesse drive him out to the desert and get him to drop to his knees in front of an open pit.
Better Call Saul's writers have explained that Jimmy's bad knees are a result of too many bad falls as Slippin' Jimmy, whose backstory expanded upon when Jimmy chastises the two con-artist skateboarder twins earlier in Season 1. Slippin' Jimmy was another of James M McGill's alter-egos, who staged falls to cash in on compensation payments. Slippin' Jimmy reappears later in the series, and is responsible for Saul Goodman's bad knees.