Jimmy McGill’s Conflicts and Defense Mechanism by Anna Freud in Better Call Saul (2015)

Conflicts trigger strong emotions and lead to hurt feelings or discomfort (Segal & Robinson, 2023). Defense mechanisms are a psychological process that protects the individual from negative emotions, which usually occur when a person is confronted with a situation or event that is considered stressful, threatening, or emotionally challenging. This research aims to uncover the conflicts and defense mechanisms in response to the conflicts depicted in the main character of Better Call Saul (2015), Jimmy McGill. The Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s series, Better Call Saul (2015), served as the data source. The process of watching, taking notes on the scripted dialogue, and screenshotting the scene from the series was used to collect the data. The collected data were examined and analyzed based on the chosen theory, which are the conflicts in literature theory based on Islam (2016) and the theory of defense mechanisms based on Anna Freud. The results of this research indicate that Jimmy McGill experiences three conflicts; two of the three conflicts are mostly (person vs. person) conflicts, which are categorized as external conflicts; the other one is (person vs. himself) conflicts, which are categorized as internal conflicts. In response to the conflicts, Jimmy McGill demonstrated three forms of defense mechanisms, which are regression, denial, and sublimation.