Television

Standard Of Review: If You Like 'Breaking Bad,' You Better Watch 'Better Call Saul'

“You don’t want a criminal lawyer. You want a criminal lawyer.” If you like Breaking Bad, watch Better Call Saul.

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“You don’t want a criminal lawyer.  You want a criminal lawyer.”
– Jesse Pinkman, in the Breaking Bad Season 2 episode “Better Call Saul”

“I’m a lawyer, not a criminal.”
– Jimmy McGill, in the Better Call Saul Season 1 episode “Mijo”

The introduction of attorney Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) was an important turning point for Breaking Bad (there will be some Breaking Bad spoilers in this column, but if you have not already watched Breaking Bad, what are you doing with your life?). Prior to that point midway through the show’s second season, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) mostly had to contend with criminal low-lifes like Tuco (Raymond Cruz) and Krazy-8 (Maximino Arciniega). They still had no idea what they were doing and seemingly had no ability to move into the upper echelon of the crime world. Saul changed all that. Not only did his legal expertise greatly strengthen their criminal enterprise (for example, Saul taught them how to launder money, which, as we know from Office Space, is the No. 1 problem facing neophyte criminals), but he also introduced them to drug kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). As a character, Saul never had to do much emotional heavy lifting, but he was integral to the plot and provided some much-needed darkly comic relief.

When AMC announced that it was developing a spinoff to Breaking Bad that would focus on Saul’s life as an attorney, I had mixed feelings. Some spinoffs are wildly successful; for example, Frasier was spun off from Cheers, The Jeffersons was spun off from All in the Family, and The Simpsons was (arguably) spun off from The Tracey Ullman Show. On the other hand, some spinoffs are complete duds (like the Friends spinoff Joey). Breaking Bad is my favorite television show of all time (I know fans of The Wire think that this opinion makes me as crazy as Tuco, but I think that The Wire is second best), and I was worried that it would be tarnished. None of the other major dramas in the golden age of television (such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, or Friday Night Lights) had deigned to create a spinoff. Why did Breaking Bad need to?

Moreover, I was worried about focusing a show on Saul and his legal practice. Saul was great in small doses in Breaking Bad, but I thought his schtick might get tiring over the course of a full hour. And while I respect Odenkirk as a comic performer (he is best known for co-creating the influential sketch comedy show Mr. Show with David Cross, and he was also fantastic in the Season 1 Curb Your Enthusiasm episode “Porno Gil”), he is no Bryan Cranston, and I did not know if had the acting ability to be a leading man.

Nevertheless, I truly miss having Breaking Bad on television, and I was excited to spend more time with this character. I was also heartened to learn that Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan would serve as co-showrunner with Peter Gould, and that Jonathan Banks would be reprising his fantastic Breaking Bad role as perpetually grumpy and exasperated investigator Mike Ehrmentraut. I therefore watched the first two episodes (which aired Sunday and Monday nights) with a wary but hopeful eye.

Better Call Saul is set in the early 2000s, years before the events of Breaking Bad. In fact, Saul Goodman is not yet even named “Saul Goodman.” He is Jimmy McGill, a very small-time attorney who is a long time away from being featured in the ubiquitous “Better Call Saul” Albuquerque television advertisements as portrayed on Breaking Bad (and for purposes of this column, I am going to refer to the title character as “Jimmy” instead of “Saul”). Jimmy has no client base and is forced to accept dreary public defender assignments from the court for $700 apiece. He lives with his brother Chuck (Michael McKean), who was formerly a name partner at a local law firm but now is a recluse due to a mental illness.

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Foreshadowing Saul’s future lack of moral scruples, Jimmy attempts a scheme to convince a local man accused of embezzling money to retain him as his attorney. But when the con goes south, Jimmy accidentally falls in with a group of criminals, including Nacho Varga (Michael Mando, best known as Sarah’s loose cannon ex-boyfriend “Vic the Dick” on the BBC America series Orphan Black). Nacho attempts to hire Jimmy, and provides Jimmy’s first step on the road to being a criminal lawyer.

So far, while I do not think that Cranston has to worry about Odenkirk coming close to his four Emmy wins, Odenkirk is surprisingly solid. Jimmy is much less confident and more twitchy than the more confident Saul on Breaking Bad, and Odenkirk does a great job portraying Jimmy’s desperation and struggle. For example, Jimmy has so little confidence in himself that he needs to practice every conversation with a client or a judge. Moreover, through the relationship between Jimmy and Chuck, Odenkirk provides the character with emotional vulnerability that did not exist on Breaking Bad. McKean (another actor mostly known for his comedic work) is excellent so far, and I am excited to see the interplay with him and Odenkirk. Banks does not have that much to do in the first two episodes, as Mike merely works as the courthouse parking garage attendant. Nevertheless, Banks has some great line deliveries in a hilarious recurring gag about Jimmy not having the correct number of stickers to have his parking validated.

Even The Wire aficionados would have to admit that Breaking Bad is probably the most visually striking television show of all time, and Better Call Saul carries on in that spirit. I often say that there is no better feeling on earth than watching a television show’s opening credits and discovering that Michelle MacLaren is the episode’s director, and MacLaren certainly does not disappoint in Monday’s episode, as there is a gorgeous, Breaking Bad-esque scene that expertly utilizes the New Mexico desert landscape. Allowing MacLaren to film in New Mexico is almost not fair at this point, akin to letting LeBron James play basketball on a five-foot rim. Her episode also includes a fantastic montage of Jimmy working as a public defender for various Albuquerque low-lifes, intercut with the inner workings of the courtroom coffee machine.

Mindful of the fact that only two episodes have aired (and that Breaking Bad’s first season was merely good but not spectacular), I have two qualms with the show so far. First, there are no female characters of note. Rhea Seehorn appears in the main credits as Chuck’s former firm colleague Kim Wexler, but she is barely on screen in these first two episodes. Anna Gunn was so fantastic in Breaking Bad as Skyler White that I really hope that Wexler gains prominence going forward so that the show is not so male-centric.

Second, I worry that the show is veering dangerously close to Breaking Bad fan service. The cold open to Sunday’s pilot episode is an allusion to what happens to Saul on Breaking Bad (albeit filmed in gorgeous black and white by Gilligan). In addition, a minor Breaking Bad character (besides Saul and Mike) has already showed up in these first two episodes. I do not want Better Call Saul to devolve into a series of easter eggs enticing Breaking Bad fans with the prospect of seeing their favorite characters one more time. As much as I love Cranston, Paul, Gunn, Esposito, and Dean Norris, I don’t want to see them on Better Call Saul. I do not know whether Better Call Saul is going to have a “legal case of the week” or is going to utilize more serial storytelling (though I strongly suspect the latter), but I believe that the show should be independent of Breaking Bad and contain new characters and plot elements. I am equally guilty, having mentioned Breaking Bad 29 separate times in this column, so hopefully Better Call Saul can step out of Breaking Bad’s shadow.

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Gilligan always has stated Breaking Bad documented one character’s journey from Mr. Chips to Scarface. We know that Better Call Saul’s arc from Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman will not be as dramatic. Nevertheless, I am very excited to see where Gilligan and Gould take Better Call Saul, so I plan to write about it two or three more times over the course over the first season. In the meantime, if you like Breaking Bad, watch Better Call Saul. And if you do not like Breaking Bad, I will be as exasperated as Mike Ehrmentraut during every conversation with Walter White.

Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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