Photo Courtesy of Gage Skidmore, Wikipedia
“Better Call Saul” debuted on AMC Feb. 8 with high hopes and expectations from viewers worldwide. The new series is the highly anticipated spinoff of the very successful Emmy award winning series “Breaking Bad” which aired from 2008 until late 2013.
“Breaking Bad” is a tough show to follow considering most viewers will be comparing the two, as “Better Call Saul” is the prequel. Although the premiere was not as potent as the “Breaking Bad” premiere many years ago, creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould are in control, which should comfort watchers.
“It started off very slow,” John Cosenza, senior, said. “I feel like shows always start off slow. I’m gonna keep watching it … and I have hopes for it getting a lot better.”
The series starts off seeing Saul before his involvement with the main characters in “Breaking Bad” where he is better known as Jimmy. The overall portrayal of Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) is still there, but somehow there is something different about him. Viewers get a glimpse at Jimmy before he was a big shot lawyer, before he truly mastered his field of work; it is a new side to him that the audience has never seen.
Much like Walter White’s journey, Saul's (in this case Jimmy) is the story of a man stuck in a corner filled with the passion of unappeased talent and looking into the eyes of death; however, on this journey he is everyone’s bottom boy and all his talents for diction and rant can’t seem to get him past this point. Not only is he unlikeable to most characters on the show, but he also does not have much positive appeal from a viewer’s standpoint either.
“I like that his journey is started similar to Walt’s because fans can relate to that because they grew so fond of Walt during those five seasons,” said junior DeAna Laudicino. “The fact that the show also gives answers to questions left open in 'Breaking Bad' is pretty cool too, and that Mike [Jonathan Banks] is in it as well.”
Jimmy is not as quick as the Saul viewers have come to know and love; his life is utterly depressing and he is struggling through it. The show is actually quite comical with spot on dialogue that consist of subtle jokes. The first three episodes proved to be dramatic, fun and just like the show before it, always leaving with a cliffhanger at the end of each episode.
The new series is almost a gift to “Breaking Bad” fans. The announcement of it had fans so excited after rumors of a nonexistent sixth season came about and killed the hopes of fans. Saul was a minor character, and viewers knew enough about him to know his purpose but not enough to understand his story. Saul was comic relief, which “Breaking Bad” needed, making him the perfect character for a prequel spinoff.
“I think it’s awesome that they can do whatever they want with Saul’s story because they never explained anything about him in ‘Breaking Bad,’” said junior Michael Caporaso.
Just three episodes in, “Better Call Saul” is well worth tuning in to Monday nights at 10 p.m. The series may be off to a slow start but enough problems have been created already that the rest of the season seems promising and is sure to be talked about just as much as “Breaking Bad.”
mcalicch@ramapo.edu
