Marco Pasternak is a memorable recurring character in the Breaking Bad spinoff series Better Call Saul. While he doesn’t play a major role in the overarching plot of the show, Marco makes several appearances throughout the series as an eccentric client of Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman’s. His obsession with baseball cards provides some lighthearted comic relief amongst the darker criminal dealings often depicted. There is also a sense of melancholy and loneliness to Marco that makes him a surprisingly complex character.
Marco first appears in Season 1, Episode 5 of Better Call Saul. Jimmy is working out of a back office at the nail salon run by his friend Kim Wexler. Marco walks in seeking legal counsel, claiming he was scammed out of $1,500 worth of rare baseball cards. He explains that he met a man at a sports memorabilia show who said he had a collection of valuable rookie cards from the 1950s that he wanted to sell. Marco brought the cash to make a deal, but when he opened the box at home, he discovered the cards were actually worthless common cards.
In this initial meeting, several traits that define Marco’s character are established. He speaks in a slow, deliberate manner about his passion for collecting baseball cards as a lifelong hobby. But it’s clear he lacks much worldly sophistication and was easily taken advantage of by the scammer. Jimmy sees an opportunity to make some easy money and agrees to take Marco’s case, even though he knows it’s a lost cause. This introduction sets Marco up as a naive but likeable client that Jimmy is more than willing to exploit.
Over the course of Better Call Saul, Marco makes return appearances whenever Jimmy is in need of a quick cash payout. Each time, Marco brings a new baseball card-related issue for Jimmy to handle, even though the cases have little merit. In Season 2, Episode 8, Marco comes to Jimmy claiming his prized 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card was damaged at a sports memorabilia grading service. He wants Jimmy to sue them for the card’s $50,000 estimated value. Of course, the case goes nowhere and Marco ends up paying Jimmy’s inflated legal fees.
In their interactions, Marco’s wide-eyed enthusiasm for his baseball card collection is on full display. He’s able to rattle off obscure stats and trivia about any player or year. But his child-like view of the hobby also makes him an easy mark. Jimmy exploits Marco’s naivete for personal gain without regard for whether Marco’s cases are legitimate. This dynamic highlights Jimmy’s slippery moral code as he transitions into the unscrupulous lawyer Saul Goodman. At the same time, Marco represents the type of innocent client that Jimmy’s con-artist tendencies prey upon.
Beyond his function as a recurring client, Marco’s character provides glimpses into his personal life and background. He lives alone in a modest apartment packed floor to ceiling with memorabilia, suggesting a solitary existence revolving around his collecting obsession. When Kim visits to discuss one of his cases, the disheveled state of his home further hints at Marco’s lack of social skills and domestic abilities.
In a memorable Season 3 scene, Marco runs into Jimmy at a sports card show and excitedly shows off a rare 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner card he bought, the sport’s most valuable trading card. But his purchase was made possible by taking out a high-interest loan from a shady collector. This foreshadows Marco getting in over his head financially and underscores how his card passion can become an addiction.
The last time Marco appears is in Season 4, when he seeks Jimmy’s help claiming his card collection was destroyed in a house fire. Jimmy suspects insurance fraud but goes along with it to get a payday. Their meeting reveals Marco has fallen on hard times, living in a run-down motel. His sad circumstances are a far cry from the more prosperous collector he portrayed himself to be in early episodes. This acts as a coda showing how Marco’s naive nature has ultimately not served him well.
While Marco Pasternak plays a small role in the grand scheme of Better Call Saul, his character offers an endearing portrait of an eccentric outsider. His unabashed fandom for baseball cards and memorabilia is genuinely heartwarming. But the character also serves as a cautionary tale, as his naivete and lack of worldly knowledge make him susceptible to scams and financial ruin. Through Marco, the show explores how obsessive hobbies and passions can both bring joy and act as means of escape, while also enabling self-destructive behaviors if not kept in check. Most of all, Marco Pasternak is a memorable and complex character who enhances the rich tapestry of personalities that inhabit the Better Call Saul universe.
