Is It Worth Calling Saul?

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“Breaking Bad” fans who long for the days when Walter White was “in the empire business” can finally rejoice in the recent premiere of “Better Caul Saul.”

The spin-off series, which takes viewers back to 2002 when attorney-at-law Saul Goodman was just a lowly litigator going by his real name, Jimmy McGill, and trying to make ends meet, is six episodes into its new season. It holds a lot of promise and has displayed significant potential. But is it worth calling Saul? Will it live up to the hype? And, more importantly, are we in store for another jaw-dropping six years?

Speculation aside, Bob Odenkirk, who plays Goodman, is a talented actor who is more than capable of carrying the show. A dynamic, out-of-this-world character, Goodman was a fantastic addition to the “Breaking Bad” cast. His antics, mannerisms and legal savvy were a great complement to Walter’s somber and serious demeanor.  He encompassed everything that is a literary foil.

He had an inflatable Statue of Liberty above his strip-center dwelling office, and the Declaration of Independence surrounded by fake pillars behind his desk, all of which would make the Founding Fathers wish they were thrown down a moon door. Finding out how someone has gained that much self-confidence and disregard for normal conventions is an enticing plot line in itself, and it’s sure to be an action-packed, blunder-filled narrative.

(Little known fact: Odenkirk used to write for “Saturday Night Live” and is credited as the author for the classic “Matt Foley” skit, one of the best SNL sketches of all time.)

“Better Call Saul” takes place six years prior to the events depicted on “Breaking Bad” and follows Goodman/McGill in his journey to become the billboard-donning, catchphrase-slinging “legal” practitioner that we later meet through White.

With a few episodes down, it’s clear that “Better Call Saul” has a lot of potential.

It features a side plot between parking attendant Mike Ehrmantraut, the future head of security for Los Pollos Hermanos, and Goodman. Yet another great player in the “Breaking Bad” world, Mike was a key asset to Gus Fring’s operation, and indignantly put up with Walt and Jesse’s budding enterprise. All we know is that Mike was a former cop, but his origin and intertwining with the dark side is a mystery. This back story is slowly developing and appears promising.

The brilliant Vince Gilligan, the creator and executive producer of “Breaking Bad,” holds the position once again.  If you were able to attend his talk at the O’Connell Center when ACCENT brought him to campus, consider yourself lucky. The man behind the crime drama that the Guinness Book of World Records has called the greatest show of all time is a literary genius. What he was able to do with “Breaking Bad” was an unbelievable feat for a cable television program.

Gilligan created multifaceted emotional connections between the audience and the characters like few other writers or directors could. Will we ever be as annoyed as we were with both Skylar and Marie, feel as much sympathy as we did for Jesse’s woes or relish in the trepidation of what Heisenberg plotted to do next?

And who could forget the eerie yet perfect camera angles that made the cooking of meth seem like a dignified art? What would “Breaking Bad” have been without the seamless interweaving of chemistry for the show’s plot line? (I will never look at an Etch-a-Sketch the same way ever again.) Slapping his name on the “Better Call Saul” credits is a virtual guarantee that the show will live up to some of the expectations set for it.

The debut of “Better Call Saul” set the record for the highest-rated scripted series premiere in basic cable history with 4.4 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic and 6.9 million viewers overall. Before the show even started, AMC ordered a second season.  While ratings don’t always equate to show quality (“Breaking Bad” was almost canceled after season one due to poor viewership), I believe the show is worth giving a shot.

If you haven’t seen “Breaking Bad,” you probably should not watch “Better Call Saul.” I highly suggest starting “Breaking Bad” immediately, even if your asshole friend already spoiled the ending for you.

But if you have, spend the next few days catching up on the first six episodes and tune in Mondays at 10 p.m. Or don’t, and wait to binge-watch it when it comes out on Netflix like you did for “Breaking Bad,” bitch.

Feature photo courtesy of: Mash Work