*Spoilers ahead for both episode.*
Uno
Spinoffs of popular shows are very tough to pull off. It’s a constant tightrope walk of attempting to satisfy the fans of the previous show while also doing something different. Throughout the years we’ve seen more spinoffs end up like Joey than Fraiser. Thankfully, Better Call Saul seems likely to end up in the latter’s camp. Confidence is the key when making an audience sign on for another show with a character it’s already spent a few years with and Saul has it from the first shot.
Starting with a flash forward to the aftermath of Saul Goodman’s exit from Breaking Bad we find him living in a sort-of purgatory at an Omaha area Cinnabon. He’s balding, he’s grown a horrible mustache, and he spends most of his days doing the same dull routine, only being snapped out of it when he see someone who might, finally, be the man who has come to take him away in. The entire opening is shot in black-and-white to match the sad, melancholy feeling of Saul’s fate. The only color seen at all is when he puts in the tapes of his old commercials, attempting to relive even a second of those times.
From there, we’re off to the races! It’s back to good ole’ Albuquerque, 6 years before Saul, currently going by his given name of Jimmy McGill, has his fateful meeting with Walter White. There’s some of the usual Saul Goodman in McGill, especially in his introduction in a beautifully paced courtroom scene that feels less like an episode of Law & Order and more like what being in court is actually like. Jimmy tries his best to defend his three teenage “knuckleheads” but all the prosecutor has to do is simply replay the tape of the trio sawing off and having sex with a cadaver’s head and the case is over.
The show portrays McGill as a man who is making far less money than he probably expected when he got into the law game. He meets Mike Ehrmantraut for the first time when arguing over having to pay three dollars to leave the courthouse parking lot. It doesn’t help that he’s got a, painfully cramped, office in the back of a Vietnamese salon and that he’s scouring the newspapers for clients.
One of those clients, Craig and Betsy Kettleman, are being investigated for the disappearance of county funds. Craig is ready to sign with Saul until he is prevented by his wife, the panic that Bob Odenkirk shows here is great. The deal is just within his grasp only to have it snatched away, it doesn’t help that the couple later turn up in the offices of Hamlin Hamlin & McGill. A rival law office that Jimmy has issues with.
Those issues refer to his brother, Chuck, who has been on leave with an odd medical ailment that requires him to get rid of all the electronic devices in his household. The scenes in his brother’s home are well designed and serve as a nice introduction to their relationship.
Eventually, Jimmy decides he’s going to scam Mrs. Kettleman with the help of two dimwitted skateboarders who attempted to extort him earlier. In true Vince Gilligan fashion, things take a bit of a turn and by episode’s end Saul is being held at gunpoint by Tuco Salamanca.
The pilot to Better Call Saul is enthralling and entertaining, sure, it’s a little less high stakes than the pilot of Breaking Bad but by the end those stakes have been upped.
Much like the previous show’s pilot, this episode is all about Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill. Odenkirk deftly reenters the body of the man and plays him with all the sadsack charm and toothless guile we’ve come to expect. These first 42 minutes prove that Odenkirk has what it takes to lead this show just as well as Bryan Cranston lead it’s predecessor.
There’s still work to be done but with a debut as impressive as this, Better Call Saul is on its way to being a spinoff all fans can be proud of.
Mijo
I felt some slight reservations when Tuco held a gun to Saul and pulled him into his house at the end of the previous episode. After all, the last thing I want is for this series to become a bunch of sly nods to Breaking Bad. Luckily, the show put my reservations to rest by the time Tuco and Saul are negotiating about how much punishment the crazed drug dealer can deal to Saul’s two “clients.” Before we get there, however, we get to spend some time seeing just what happened before Saul ended up on Tuco’s doorstep.
Tuco’s abuelita enters the house being assailed by the two skateboarder idiots from before. Tuco convinces her that he’ll handle this and that she should go upstairs and watch her shows. Handle it he does, by knocking the duo out with her walking aid. Not too much later, Saul comes knocking and gets thrown into the house and forced to explain himself.
I was curious to see how much tension Gilligan and his crew could rinse out of a situation where we knew both of the major players involved could not die and while there is a good deal of tension here, it never stems from that. The situation becomes less about “who’s gonna die” and more “how can Saul manage to get out of this.” In a way, that’s more in line with Breaking Bad but Saul plays it ten times better than Walter ever did in this situation.
Walter was always brash, he believed no matter the situation, that he was the smartest man in the room and he let the people around him know it. Saul is much more complimentary, Saul’s schemes might be a little lacking compared to Walter’s but he makes up for it by being able to tell one hell of a fake story. As he does when he’s dropped in the middle of the desert.
The New Mexican desert conjures up so much imagery from Breaking Bad that it’s a bit risky to have it show up in just the second episode, but it ends up paying off when Saul manages to save himself, and his “clients,” from certain death thanks, in part, to Tuco’s level-headed comrade, Nacho.
What happens next is easily the highlight of the episode as Saul and Tuco have an equal parts tense and hilarious negotiation that sees his clients go from getting Colombian neckties to a broken leg each.
While McGill tries to tell himself that he did good. (“I just talked you down from a death sentence to six months probation. I am the best lawyer ever.”) He can’t shake the incident from his mind. As evidenced when he attempts to go on a date but is distracted by a man constantly breaking breadsticks.
Jimmy ends up getting sauced and showing up at his brother’s, forgetting to take his cell phone out of his pocket. When he awakens in the morning his brother chastises him for not only that but the hospital bills of the skateboarders in his pocket. Throughout their morning conversation Jimmy pleads with his brother to “take off the space blanket,” referring to a plastic blanket his brother has wrapped around him, seemingly to guilt his brother about both the cell phone and the medical bills.
We’re given another montage as Jimmy returns to public defense work and we see the repetitiveness of his days. It’s a fun little montage even if it calls back to the series that spawned this one a bit and gives us a little more Mike to boot.
Jimmy returns to his office one day only to have Nacho show up. Nacho wants to take the 1.5 million the Kettleman’s have stolen, something he mentioned when trying to save himself in the desert, and he wants Jimmy’s help. McGill rebuffs him and Nacho decides to leave his number just in case things change.
It’s clear from the end of this episode that we’re heading down a path where McGill must decide what kind of man he’s going to be and while that can seem oddly similar to Walter White’s character arc, I have a feeling Jimmy’s will be just different enough to make this an enthralling watch.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- It’s nice to know how Saul got his love for salons. He was already seeing the value in them long before trying to convince Jesse Pinkman to launder money through one.
- “The only way that car is worth $500 is if there is a $300 hooker in it.”
- I’m not sure what Hamblin’s deal is yet but I already love that he has that smarmy, “I’m your best friend” lawyer vibe going.
- It was great to see Raymond Cruz back as Tuco and he was particularly hilarious in the negotiation scene. Here’s hoping we see some more of him down the line.
- Speaking of Cruz, the way he pronounced “biz-natch” had me laughing each time.
- While both of the montages were fun they seemed to be a bit padded out.
- Chalk this one into the “great callbacks” category but the guy Tuco yells at for helping him is the same one he beats to death in front of Walter and Jesse.
If you’d like to give me feedback or just chat about Better Call Saul you can email me at theSuperAlbino@gmail.com or hit me up on Twitter @JesseSwanson