Vince Gilligan’s “follow-up” to the enormously-successful “Breaking Bad” was to do a prequel about that show’s unscrupulous lawyer, Saul Goodman. Better Call Saul was a motto and a lifestyle for Goodman, played with zeal and zest by Bob Odenkirk, prior a mostly comedic actor. Odenkirk was one of the most likable parts of “Breaking Bad,” especially when the show dipped a little too harshly into Walter White (Bryan Cranston’s) megalomania. He was shady, but overly so, and paled in comparison—menace-wise—to White’s ‘Heisenberg.’ But the “Breaking Bad” world was so intoxicating, I gleefully delved into first “El Camino” (Aaron Paul’s Jessie’s story) and then “Better Call Saul.” The latter was not at all what I initially expected, but was lovable, chaotic, and rewarding in equal measure.
Watching “Breaking Bad,” I had no idea who Jimmy McGill was—Saul’s origin—yet Gilligan and co-writer Peter Gould show us in sweeping colors. What struck me watching the show’s opening (it would run for 6 seasons and be nominated for 63 Primetime Emmy’s) was how different from “Breaking Bad” it feels. Part of it is the absence of Walter White. Without that intense, harsh personality, the show—just like “El Camino”—feels much calmer. But also the show is tonally different. Jimmy McGill is a small-time lawyer who can never catch a break. Over the course of “Better Call Saul,” he will fail at doing the right thing while unintentionally succeeding at the wrong thing. By the show’s end, he will be seeking the wrong thing, only in the 11th hour drawn back to the light.
A Con Artist Finds his Path
Jimmy is a con-artist and Odenkirk truly makes him someone we can align with. He used to be called ‘Slippin’ Jimmy,’ a fraudster who would take a fall and con unsuspecting folks out of money. In fact, in the first episode, “Uno,” he will entice to local hoods to help him with a similar scam after they pull one on him. However, the event—like so many others in “Better Call Saul”—will land him in hot water. He must talk his way out of execution at the hands of “Breaking Bad” alum Tuco Salamanca (Raymond Cruz) after he inadvertently runs a scam on his grandmother.
What differs in “Better Call Saul,” however, is Jimmy’s fall is slow and gradual. He’s a struggling lawyer, picking up public defender cases, while taking care of his mentally ill brother, Chuck (an excellent Michael McKean). Most of the first three seasons deals with brother v. brother tension. At times, McKean becomes as big a bear to towards Saul as Walter White was towards his family in “Breaking Bad.” Chuck is Jimmy’s older brother, name partner at Hamlin-Hamlin-McGill, and though Jimmy has a law license, he wants no part of him tarnishing the firm. He’s a by-the-book lawyer with an encyclopedic knowledge of the law. It means more to him than anything: including, perhaps, even his brother. The pain Chuck will cause Jimmy in series’ first half is no joke. But he sees Jimmy’s criminal pull: “He’s not a bad person,” he’ll tell others. “He just can’t help himself.”
A Smattering of Lovable Performances and Characters
The crux of “Better Call Saul” involves Jimmy’s association with, on the one hand, Chuck, the firm’s Howard Hamlin (a great Patrick Fabian), and an associate, Kim Wexler, who is played by Rhea Seehorn, to me the series’ best actor. The series draws her friendship and romantic relationship with Jimmy throughout the show realistically. She’s not wholly moral—just like Saul—and Gilligan and Gould make her a realistic person. Their relationship will span the length of all six seasons, and the way it comes to a “end” (or not) is expertly done by the show’s creators.
Alongside this, we get to see on a more intimate basis beloved characters from “Breaking Bad” such as Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks, great as usual) and Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito, scary and likable in equal measure). “Better Call Saul” also introduces us to one of my favorite side characters of all time, Ignacio Vargo or “Nacho,” played fondly and believably by Michael Mando. Nacho is a Cartel money collector for the Salamanca family. He’s like Saul/Jimmy in many ways: for most of the show he wants out of the Cartel life, but finds it impossible to do so. Especially when Fring gets his hands on him. Later, “Better Call Saul” will also introduce a previously-unseen member of the Salamanca family, Lalo, played with glee and sociopathy by Tony Dalton. He reminded me of Pedro Pascal in all the best ways.
Jimmy McGill or Saul Goodman?
“Better Call Saul” is a tale of three shows: Jimmy McGill, then Saul, and then back—kind of—to Jimmy again. It’s a wild ride. Part of the fun is watching how unscrupulous McGill can be—and how utterly good he is at it. He runs cons on unsuspecting people one minute, yet sincerely wants to help some old folks who are getting robbed by their nursing home the next. He will initially vehemently defend and help his brother—a shut in with severe mental illness who believes he is allergic to electricity. But later, when it is apparent he’ll never earn Chuck’s respect, he’ll actively try and hurt him. Kim is the same way, too, balancing between legal and illegal throughout. She’s not a victim—just like Jimmy, she enjoys her bad side. The way “Better Call Saul” shows both sides of complex people is its greatest asset.
Yet what’s interesting about the series is that, while I LOVED Saul in “Breaking Bad,” once I was presented with Jimmy McGill—his true self—I liked him more. As he devolves more and more into Saul Goodman (derived from a con he used to run… he’d tell his marks, “S’all good man”), the more you realize the character is slowly losing what is left with of his soul.
The series is also bookended by black and white sequences. Those who have seen “Breaking Bad” will know that Saul went into hiding after Walt went down. Most of the first half of the show will see him working as a manager at Cinnabon, living a boring life. It reminded me of Henry Hill at the end of “Goodfellas.” He’s pathetic, depressed, and lifeless. Yet Gilligan and Gould will bring this story back—while never leaving black and white—and the show’s end does Saul/Jimmy justice in ways I felt we never got with the end of Heisenberg in “Breaking Bad.” Or maybe Jimmy’s arc was less tragic. It’s up to the eye of the beholder.
A Last Foray into the World of ‘Breaking Bad’
There are too many ancillary characters to mention here, alongside “Breaking Bad” cameos that are fun and add to that story in meaningful ways. We see Hank and Marie Schrader again (Dean Norton and Betsy Brandt), Walt and Jessie Pinkman (Cranston and Aaron Paul), alongside “origin” stories for Saul’s pickpocket Huell, played lovingly by Lavell Crawford. Lawyers on both sides of the aisle, from Rick Schweikart (Dennis Boutsikaris’) to Cliff Main (Ed Begley Jr.) are fun to watch. For stretches the show will remind you of “Suits” with all its firms and lawyering. But then it will become its own vehicle, delving into the destruction of Jimmy McGill and the birth of Saul Goodman.
All-in-all, “Better Call Saul” is good but bittersweet. Having finished “Breaking Bad” and “El Camino,” this was my last foray into Gilligan and Gould’s devilishly irresistible world. The show will have its ups and downs, but it is lighter—most of the time—and less soul crushing than “Breaking Bad.” That Odenkirk initially did not want to reprise the role, given the show’s success, is one of the most interesting bits of trivia I read. From start to finish “Better Call Saul” is hilarious, alarming, all-consuming, and intoxicating. Once it’s over—despite your feelings for where Saul ultimately ends up—it’s a saga you wish you could live again. For now, I’ll just imagine ‘Slippin’ Jimmy’ is up to his latest con and hope, somewhere down the line, he finds his inner peace.
“Better Call Saul” is currently available to watch on Netflix.
