One quote that comes to mind when I think of how ‘Better Call Saul’ compares (or doesn’t compare) to its predecessor, ‘Breaking Bad,’ is back when then Vice-Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen quipped to his opponent, Dan Quayle, that “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” So after taking in the latter for 2 full seasons and getting a good feel for BCS and it’s multi-layered characters, I can honestly say it’s still no Breaking Bad. However, it’s still pretty darn good, and that’s the best complement I can give to all involved in this series (actors, writers, producers, etc).
In terms of last night’s season three premiere, I felt it did a great job in laying the foundation for what’s to come the remainder of this season. For starters, the always dysfunctional relationship between Jimmy Mcgill (Bob Odenkirk) and his brother Chuck (Michael McKean), is continuing on a path that can only lead to dire consequences for both– Chuck finally has evidence of his brother admitting to a felony and on tape, however, Chuck’s colleague at HHM, Howard Hamlin, played wonderfully by Patrick Fabian, feels that it’s by no means a slam dunk to be able to use said evidence against his younger brother. Even better, you’ve got Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), trying to piece together who not only left that note on his car from last season (Don’t!), but also how this person has been tracking him to begin with.
For those who have watched this series, it’s obvious where some of this is headed and that Gus Fring’s return will be upon us soon enough, but that’s the kind of added excitement I feel the series hasn’t had in abundance over two seasons. And the other layer of brewing tension is that of Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), and how her relationship with Jimmy will play out prior to him ultimately becoming the full on sleazy lawyer we grew to love from a distance in Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman. So many pieces to the puzzle are now percolating at an all time high and if last night was any indication, this series is about to “Break Bad” on its own in ways we haven’t quite seen before.
All that being said, as brilliant and smart showrunner Vince Gilligan is, I’m of the mindset that what we witnessed last night could have been reached a little sooner. On one hand this series is the ultimate crock pot of slowly building up the character’s arcs and actions that have consequences down the line, but my devil’s advocate to that is it wouldn’t have hurt the show to have picked up the pace a little more with Jimmy’s unavoidable transformation into Saul Goodman– More importantly, I don’t think adding Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) to the equation sooner would have hindered or hurt the other outstanding cast members of BCS.
Time will indeed tell if this show is able to stand toe to toe with Breaking Bad and as much as I have my own critiques about certain choices (such as overtly long musical cues), this show still kicks some major ass and I implore any of you out there who gave up on it early on, or haven’t even given it a real shot, to do so. The tension building from last night’s episode proved this series will keep getting better and better. Nuff said!
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