What's the Deal with the Skribe Grafitti in the 'Better Call Saul' Season Two Premiere?

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 15, 2016 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 15, 2016 |

I’ve been covering Breaking Bad callbacks, Easter Eggs, and cool little details from Better Call Saul over on Uproxx for a few years now, and the one that has me most intrigued, so far, recurred again in tonight’s season premiere of Better Call Saul.

It involves the graffiti, but not this particular bit of graffiti. This is a screenshot from Better Call Saul last season.

Notice the “JPi” spray-painted onto the pay phone? We’ve actually seen that before.

Quite possibly, that’s just a cute little Easter egg callback to Jesse Pinkman, a way to get him into Saul without actually casting him (he’d have been 18 at the time Saul used that pay phone).

I’m more intrigued by this, however. Here’s another shot from Better Call Saul last season:

And again, here’s a shot from Breaking Bad (from the same room as the above Breaking Bad screenshot):

Who the hell is Skribe? What does it mean? Is it a cute Easter Egg, or is it foreshadowing? Will we find out who Skribe is?

The only clue I have so far is the Urban Dictionary definition for Skribe: “Somebody who has an unhealthy fascination with sheep.” That obviously makes no damn sense in this context. We do know, however, that a “scribe” is someone who cuts glass, so it could be a reference to “meth,” which is nicknamed “glass,” but it would have to refer to someone in the meth trade as far back as 2002, when Saul was set.

It’s obviously important enough, however, that it shows up in marketing for Saul.

But now it’s appeared yet again. In the flash-forward sequence at the beginning of this week’s episode, we see Saul once again working at the Cinnabon in Omaha. When he takes out the trash, he accidentally locks himself in the trash room, but rather than exit out the emergency exit and risk a run-in with authorities, Saul sits and waits for the night janitor to come through. When he leaves, the camera lingers on this shot:

The SG obviously refers to Saul Goodman. That’s not what’s most interesting, though. Zoom back and you’ll notice, again, the Skribe graffiti.

What the hell is that?